First Time Chick Parents, Spring 2016

[Jensownzoo]

@jensownzoo I'm so sorry for all your bad luck, my goodness!

My girls range from 17-19 weeks, several are getting ready lay I think I'm so excited for my eggs after all this work!

I had to share this pic of my one, Goldie, she literally lands on me every day when I bend over to put food in the trough. She's such a lover and makes me laugh.

Thanks. It's kinda expected as your number of birds goes up, but I'm a bit sad that the bad luck seems to be targeting my favorites.

I have a Sicilian Buttercup pullet that is named Polly because every time I go out into the yard with anything resembling a feed bucket, she's flying up to land on me for first dibs. I've finally gotten to the point where I hold my forearm up for her like a falconer so she doesn't choose my head to land on!

 

[Jensownzoo]

Somebody knocked the top off the 5 gallon bucket waterer in the grow-out pen...so of course a 3 month old Crested Cream Legbar cockerel jumped in and drowned himself.

 

[AmandaMBG]

Somebody knocked the top off the 5 gallon bucket waterer in the grow-out pen...so of course a 3 month old Crested Cream Legbar cockerel jumped in and drowned himself.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Yeah. Making an ice cream run now. Sometimes I wish I drank...

 

[AmandaMBG]

Yeah. Making an ice cream run now. Sometimes I wish I drank...

Hahaha you and me both

 

[mamatink7]

What do I do?? I've got 4 18 wk Olds (16 may) that cannot be added to the older girls! No matter how much I try, the LO get pecked on trapped and pushed into a corner when I put them altogether. I've been putting them separate in the run for 5 wks and last 2 wks been putting them all in same large run area, started short times with monitoring then longer and monitored then both left alone. Today all day they were all out in run. Seemed alright by noon so I decided to try for tonight. It was awful! So I pulled 3 of the 4 back and left the little golden comet with the big ones. She seems to be most able to never get pecked on or bothered as the others do.

Please help!! Been trying this for so long and can't stand the thought of waking up to 3 LO gone by morning. The hardest is golden laced wyandotte, it's so bad for her she hides in a corner or flies onto me or another one-more of an observer. She's the only one I've ever almost lost (1 wk old nearly died, I nursed her back with dropper)

 

[Jensownzoo]

Try putting one of your older girls in with the newbies in their divided run instead. Then she'll be outnumbered. Once she's accepted them, add another one. Integrate the whole flock together once you have enough of the older girls okay with it as you feel comfortable. There will be fighting as they find their places in the order, but this way would prevent them from being ganged up on.

 

[mamatink7]

Try putting one of your older girls in with the newbies in their divided run instead. Then she'll be outnumbered. Once she's accepted them, add another one. Integrate the whole flock together once you have enough of the older girls okay with it as you feel comfortable. There will be fighting as they find their places in the order, but this way would prevent them from being ganged up on.

thank you for your advice! Just checked in the coop & litte GC is actually sleeping on the perch! None of the other girls ever slept there before lol. I just hope things will settle soon, so painful to watch.

 

[Jensownzoo]

*facepalm*

Soooo....been getting these eggs that are smallish but have a really hard shell in the nesting boxes. For months. Today I just figured out that they're guinea eggs. Thought they were part of the pullet egg spectrum of weird eggs.

How did I figure this out?

Last night one of the guineas was over the fence and couldn't figure out how to get back (she FLEW over, why she didn't think to FLY back I have no idea). This has happened before and usually they'll roost in a tree overnight, realize they can fly back down into the yard, and are back with the flock in the morning when I get out there. This particular guinea is apparently a bit special, so I had to tromp over into the woods, scare her into climbing halfway up the fence herself, then boosting her over the rest of the way. And then I noticed one of the funny eggs by the fence where she had been pacing. Light bulb moment!

For some reason I wasn't expecting them to start laying until next spring, plus I thought they'd disappear into the woods to hide a nest instead of using the nestboxes. I'm always learning with these birds!

 

[chuckachucka]

Hi I have an issue I would like anyone's advice on. I have a group of nine six week old chicks with their mother hen and they are all quite well feathered now apart from their heads. Yesterday I noticed one of the chicks has a bald patch on the back of his head/top of his neck at the back which would have been fluffy not feathery. Its a clear strip of bald skin. How has this happened? Is it the fluff falling out, or has he been pecked by the others? Is this a sign of illness? I'm worried.