Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[Debbie292d]

Awe, I'm sorry that happened. Usually, everyone gets an answer or several. If that ever happens to you, be sure to post again under your same post, like reply to yourself but ask for help again.

Thanks for letting us know though. There are tons of us that try to help everyone we can.

 

[Kimlovesherchicks1224]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

Hi Everybody! It's been a hot minute since I've posted! Since my last post I am sad to report that I lost all of my original hens except one in a dog attack. After the attack I got two more but one went missing so I currently only have two hens in my coop.

 

[Debbie292d]

KC, hope you find time to hang out here! There's a lot going on in a site popular like this one. Take good care!!

Agree! BYC is the best place on earth to learn and care for poultry!

 

[Debbie292d]

Good to hear from you Nifty-Chicken! Introducing Gorgeous George. We have not had a rooster since starting our BYC coop 4 years ago. Lo and behold, this amazing homeless rooster flew over our fence and discovered a harem of hens just waiting for a fellow like this to come along! He liked it so much he stayed. Gorgeous George is a real sweetheart. Not mean. He is the ideal addition to The Cackleberry Inn! Thanks for reaching out. Fun reading up on all the belated correspondence. God Bless you all

Awe, Curious George apparently knew a great place to be when he saw it. That's a great story!

God Bless you as well!

 

[Debbie292d]

I love this group! So much good info when I need it!

Hiya We're so glad you're here! I couldn't agree more with you!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hello, nice of you to check in. Still raising chickens, have 6 new chicks in the brooder, we are down to 2 full grown hens, so adding to our flock. We have been putting up netting over our enclosed garden area, had an eagle kill one of our chickens, was so traumatic for me, we are trying to make it as safe as possible for them. First time this has happened in 10 years. Wondering how old our chicks should be to release with the other hens?

Hiya, Cathylynn

So sorry about your chicken. I do know the feeling and it's so sad and disheartening.

Integrating chicks with adults can be tricky. With our silkies, we don't even try it until they are at least 4 months, preferably 5. Other breeds can do it sometimes sooner. A trick I know others do is put the chicks where the adult can see them and interact even but not touch for a week or two so they all get used to each other.

When we've done it too early, we put a wooden box in our coop big enough for the chicks and an opening only they could get in. That way they'd be in the coop, but could get away should a chicken chase them. It seems once they are the same size, then it's all good!

Good luck!

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm also still around. My computer purged my saved password so I just looked as a guest several times. I just reset it to ask a question and saw the message. I found I was spending too much time here when I joined and had to break the addiction. I didn't mean to totally disappear.

At one point I had 23 chickens. I'm down to 10 and sadly soon it will be 8. Many of my girls were in the 6+ years range. One of my 10
year old hens died peacefully in her sleep last week. I have another 7 year old that seems to be on her way out and a 4 year old with Salpingitis. No surprise because her shell gland never worked properly.

It's Spring and the summers here can be short so lots to do outside.

I hope everyone is happy, and healthy!!!

Hiya! Glad to hear from you, and thank you!

Sorry about losing your aging chickens. I sadly have lost a few like that through the years too. Be careful with the one with Salpingitis as the cause of it can sometimes be contagious, such as lash eggs.

You could always either get a rooster if you don't have one and let a hen sit on eggs or get a few chicks the next time you're in a store that sells them. I buy hatching eggs to get new genes in my flock.

Whatever you do, I wish you and your chickens the best!!

 

[Debbie292d]

It's been a few years since I've logged on, but lately just been studying the genetics in a small experimental bantam flock I had received from a friend, long story short, predators got the original birds, but I have their decedents now to a 5th generation down the line (the lineage was developed using Silkies, Cochin bantams, and Duccle bantams), but currently my line has brahma, Jersey Giants, and Easter eggers added in for larger size birds, eggs, and docile temperaments... and funny enough the pullets I hatched out last year from this line lay light pink eggs, and brown eggs with white speckling, and 5 of the 7 pullets went broody on clutches of anywhere from 3 eggs to 25+ eggs (the larger clutches I had no knowledge of until I didn't see them on the roost, and went looking), and they've hatched 40+ chicks in the past month...

And my other animals are ducks (3 Muscovy, 1 white pekin), of which 8 mule ducklings have been hatched from
The white Pekin bonded to the white musckovy drake, while the other two musckovys (both Black with white chest feathers) just started laying eggs, and started incubating their eggs

A single yearling female brown chinese goose (incredibly bonded, and docile), we call her "Mother Goose"

a happy flock of turkeys (a breeding pair of Royal Palms, the tom is named palmer, a 7 month old tri color mottled slate tom named "Bucket", and a 4 year old dilute rusty black hen named "Rusty") Bucket is Palmer's son from last year's clutch, sadly bucket's mother (a Blue Slate hen) was killed by a feral cat while she was on a nest (Bucket got his name due to being the only one in his clutch of 10 that was laid in a water bucket, along with surviving a power outage in the incubator 2 weeks before hatching)

a yearling breeding pair of guineas (a pied male, and a pearl grey female), and surprisingly they are very tame, they follow me around and ask me for a handful of grain when I feed the goats (and i've hatched out 5 babies from them this year, surprisingly looks like 3 females 2 males)

a large white rabbit (wishing i knew her breed, looks like a rex)

a small herd of mixed breed goats
Buck (that's his name) is a yearling Kiko/Savannah mix (is proving himself well already)
Lilo a 1.5 year old Oberhasli/Spanish doe, she's due around May 23rd (with her first baby) from Buck (she's bigger than Buck, but she's very bonded to him)
Ruth, a yearling Kiko/Spanish doe (Buck's half sister), she's much like a puppy just by attitude
and little Rosie, a solid red 1.5 month old Nubian/Boer bottle baby doeling

my 2 amazing farm guardian dogs (Snowy is a 2 year old 50/50 German Shepherd/Pyrenees, and Sandy is a 6 month old 3/4 Pyrenees, 1/4 St.Bernard puppy), Snowy has been protecting the farm well, but we got Sandy to help Snowy out due to large bobcats, and feral dog packs in the area

And lastly, but not least keeping pigs as well (a halter trained potbellied pig "BlackBerry," sweet as can be, and a kuneKune Boar named Admiral Spottington (he has a pedigree due to his mother not being registered, but his sire was), and their 6 piglets from July of 2023), 2 of their 8 piglets were reserved by 2 families before they were even weaned, both had Mickey/Minnie shaped spots on their shoulders (and one was male, the other was female), and now Mickey is a breeding boar out in Tulsa, and Minnie became a housetrained pet somewhere in Arkansas

Whoa, you sound so busy it's no wonder we've not heard from you, but thank you for the wonderful update!

That's so scary all the preditors you have there. Luckily you've got dogs as do we to keep them at bay. We use a lot of solar motion lights too.

 

[Debbie292d]

They probably should have gone out two weeks ago, but it's been so chilly and I didn't want them to get cold! (I should know better by now as this is my 5th batch of chicks, but I can't help it!)

I do the same thing. One day it's 70F and we move them out, then today it's 42F and they are too young to be outside, so back inside they came. Now we put a cozy coop radiant heater in their mini coop so they can huddle up against that when they get cold.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hey everyone! We've been doing good, but we did have three losses last year. Fortunately the current flock is staying healthy and happy. We're currently dealing with all of the joys of the Oklahoma tornado season so lots of storms pretty regularly here.

I've been fighting the urge to get chicks since our coop and run setup are at capacity, but I'm loving everyone's chick photos! Keep em coming

Hiya, and thanks for stopping in.

Yeah, that chicken math is real! I hear you! Hubby has built two mini coops with their own little runs for grow-out pens. This winter, I have to hope to have the right number to fit in the main coop, but that's months away!