Colorado

[jgurshtein]

Thanks for the insight! I will give protein a shot...

 

[trsturself]

trsturself, are we gonna be neighbours?
Good luck with the house.

Maybe! We'll be southeast of downtown.

We had 7 showings on our house today and 3 scheduled for tomorrow already. Really hoping for a couple offers before the end of the weekend!

I do fermented feed. I keep a 2 gallon bucket near their trashcan of feed outside. I feed whole grain food. I feed 3 scoops in the morning and the girls all love it. I throw about 1/2 scoop to the chicks too. They eat it up but I also give them crumbles when they are really young. I just ran out of crumbles though so the chicks outside will be getting fermented feed too. I just replace a couple scoops into the bucket after I feed and stir it. Easy and so much less waste!

I think our silver partridge from Pozees eggs is a male. It is getting dark red splotches and it's comb is already popping out. It's too bad he's really pretty but I don't think we need 3 roosters.
I took a pic and will post it from my phone after this post. I'm really hoping the lavender looking one is a girl. I love her coloring. I haven't been able to get a good pic of her though.

Update on the broody... I came home from a work trip last night and DH said she had a million eggs in there and more broken ones.
I picked her up and he was right. I think there were 5 eggs from the others girls in there plus there were 4 in the other nest box. Since we are only getting 5 eggs a day max, she was obviously hoarding them. The nest box was disgusting. So I brought out a small crate, put it in the coop, filled with shavings and moved the eggs and her in there. She pushed the eggs around and sat on them but this morning she was not sitting on them and really wanted out of the crate. I tried putting her back in there after letting her out to eat (even though she had food and water in there with her) and she was freaking out so I opened the door again. I didn't want her stepping on the eggs. DD went to check to make sure she went back in there about 30min later. She said she was in the nest box instead of the crate! So we moved everything back to the nest box (freshly cleaned). Better her sit on them and risk broken ones than her abandon them! I checked on her in the afternoon and she was outside and our BA was in there instead. Argh! This evening she was back in there and I took out the extras.
Moving them at night did give me the opportunity to candle the eggs though. We have 10 blue eggs left that were all developing. We also have 2 light brown eggs that don't look like anything going on but I'm not sure which was the cochin egg and which is from our Partridge Rock, or if they are both from the partridge rock so I left them both in there for now.

 

[alebuela]

Hello Onstad,

A wonderful work and a great suggestion! One thing that might be needed: I bought a 4-hen coop from Costco and put it together easily with the help of a friend. Trouble is, since then I got more chicks and now have six, with the idea of having a maximum flock of eight here in Denver. I read that a really good kind of coop is actually a "cote" that goes up, encouraging the birds to get up off the floor of the coop to eat, drink, roost, and poop in the poop hammocks, as well as to lay in a secure place. What do you think about the idea of making a "pop top" addition for the Costco-style coops so that up to eight hens could be accommodated by building up? (Not out, as I have a very limited space for a coop/cote)

If there are others who have a problem similar to mine, it seems that the roof could simply be raised and the second storey built of sturdy plywood with a larger access door for the human.

I look forward to hearing from you - and others - about the feasibility of such a project.

All good,

Alebuela

 

[Wendi C]

What you are describing i believe is sour crop. You can find some good threads here on byc for that. I had a chicken with sour crop last year. What i did involved holding her so her head was facing to the ground and masaging the crop towards her mouth to expell the contents. Then feeding some active culture yogurt and a small amount of feed. It may take a few times doing this to get it under controll.

Thanks samsr- I tried the massage last night and again this morning, but nothing came out. I put her in the brooder by herself with some probiotic water this morning and will watch her throughout the day. This morning her crop was a little smaller and not so squishy. She not acting any different- lots of energy and wants to eat, but I'm going to withhold her food for a bit so I can make sure things are "passing" through.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Hi All,
My 1-year-old RIR is quite an eater, but this morning when I let her out of the coop, her crop was enlarged and felt like it was filled with water. I've been reading about the difference between impacted and sour crops, but I'm wondering if this a normal thing for big eaters- she was first at the food try today. Most of the posts note that their chickens are lethargic with an impacted crop, but she's acting normal. Should I just keep and eye on her or remove her from the group without feed? Any thought would be appreciated.

In six years of chicken keeping, I have had two birds that got an enlarged/ sour/ impacted crop, whatever name, all generally related. They were both black colored birds - different breeds. LOL! But really, either a genetic predisposition, or what I am thinking could be a cause is overeating. My two birds were low on the pecking order, very wimpy, and they seemed to start getting it when spring came around and they were eating much more than they could process at a time out free ranging. . One lived about three years and I just made sure that she stayed on processed foods and the other one went fast so I am thinking there was a perforation in the crop. Good luck with your chicken.

 

[trsturself]

Here is our silkie from pozees eggs. Leaning towards a male.

 

[Camp Leader]

Brand new about 3 days old (32 in that box)

Still new and cute.

This is Saturday 5/3/2014

The meaties update:
They are starting to move outside, I am only putting the food outside. About half are staying outside after eating. the other half head back inside take a drink and lay down. The run for them is small, I'm kinda hoping if they have to move around a little bit, like people, a little exercise will get them through without the heart troubles I've read about. I did some weighing. Picked three: just grabbed one, then picked one bigger and one smaller. They weighed out at 1 lb 2 oz, 1 lb 6 oz, and 2 lb 1 oz. Tomorrow morning they are 4 weeks old. About 50 lbs of chick starter feed a week to date. The 2 pounder was a bit exciting.

 

[Mtn Margie]

I take it those are the fast growing CX? Or slower grow? I hope they continue to do well. I have only raised red broilers on my hill and they did great - nice big thighs.

 

[Minchi]

Anyone see this bit of devastating news?

http://chicksontheright.com/posts/i...st-lost-their-rights-to-do-so-because-amerika

 

[kismetspawn]

Anyone see this bit of devastating news?

http://chicksontheright.com/posts/i...st-lost-their-rights-to-do-so-because-amerika

Considering the crap that's gone on in MI for the past few years and the fact that the state is virtually bankrupt and lots of citizens still can't find jobs, this comes as a big shock! Hopefully CO stays smarter than MI!