Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[stake]

Anybody ever have this happen?

One of my BOs has stopped laying ....she seems really healthy...so, I have caught her three times doing the rooster dance, with the wing display...I also heard her making noises like a roo leading girls to food for my baby chooks which had their first outdoor play date yesterday...has me scratching my head...otherwise she seems normal in all activities...

BTW, my big roo does the dance for the junior roo too....maybe all of my birds have gone nuts?

 

[chiques chicks]

Eastern Central PA

Welcome from Lancaster county!

 

[chiques chicks]

3 more chicks died today. I'm going to treat for coccidosis just in case. The only other thing I can think of is the cold, they are a month old and were inside until last Saturday. Maybe the damp cold has been too much for the weaker ones.

I keep heat on my outside ones. That may have contributed. Is treat anyway.

 

[chiques chicks]

Hi. I am from Lackawanna County and new to the chicken hobby.I am especially concerned about keeping them during the brutal PA winters.

Welcome! Many of us had ours out this past winter and got through it. Some chickens are better suited for weather extremes.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi. I am from Lackawanna County and new to the chicken hobby.I am especially concerned about keeping them during the brutal PA winters.

Hi and welcome from cambria County! I'm also a chicken newbie and Hubby and I were concerned about the cold too. We're still building our coop but I think we may have gone way overboard with insulating and protecting their coop lol. Especially since our babies are 7 weeks old now. They've been outside in the garage for a week now with no heat at night and are perfectly fine and happy. Every step of the way is a learning experience but it's so much fun!

 

[troyer]

They had the option to be inside a coop in a dry draft free unheated coop, but they preferred being outside.

 

[fisherlady]

Anybody ever have this happen?

One of my BOs has stopped laying ....she seems really healthy...so, I have caught her three times doing the rooster dance, with the wing display...I also heard her making noises like a roo leading girls to food for my baby chooks which had their first outdoor play date yesterday...has me scratching my head...otherwise she seems normal in all activities...

BTW, my big roo does the dance for the junior roo too....maybe all of my birds have gone nuts?

The wing tipping is a dominance show thing, mostly associated with roosters but I have seen hens do it, though rarely. The noise over food is one we hear a lot of from the broodies, it is like a 'pook, pook, pook, took, took, took'.... with pitch, speed and intensity changing based on how good the treats are that they found. BOs are known to be broody types so it wouldn't surprise me to hear of her taking youngsters under her wing. If she does you will be a happy camper, because it will give the newbies a great 'in' for the rest of the flock to have a hen babysitting them.
I'm not sure about her not laying, could be 2 or 3 things
.... check her feathers for signs of molting, some birds do spring molt and it would cause her to stop laying
.... check her underside below the vent for signs of distention to see if she could be internally laying
.... check her chest to see if she has begun plucking a broody patch, she may be in the beginning stages of going broody, stick a medium dog crate into a corner of the coop somewhere or fix up a floor nest somewhere with some fake eggs in it and show her... she may decide she wants to set.

We have multiple roosters, and they wing tip each other frequently (except the lowest 2, they would get beat up if they try!)

 

[SilkieSensation]

Question:  I started a batch of fermented feed... today was the third day, and when I went to stir it, it reeks, I mean really reeks.  I just used water, bc my Walmart is out of the acv w/ mother.  So is it bad?  I have no idea what it should smell like, so maybe I'm a wuss, but I figured I better ask you all.

If you aren't getting bubbles then dump it. You can use yeast if you can't find upacv.

Anybody ever have this happen?

One of my BOs has stopped laying ....she seems really healthy...so, I have caught her three times doing the rooster dance, with the wing display...I also heard her making noises like a roo leading girls to food for my baby chooks which had their first outdoor play date yesterday...has me scratching my head...otherwise she seems normal in all activities...

BTW, my big roo does the dance for the junior roo too....maybe all of my birds have gone nuts?

Gender confused birds...hmmmm

 

[chiques chicks]

Hi and welcome from cambria County! I'm also a chicken newbie and Hubby and I were concerned about the cold too. We're still building our coop but I think we may have gone way overboard with insulating and protecting their coop lol. Especially since our babies are 7 weeks old now. They've been outside in the garage for a week now with no heat at night and are perfectly fine and happy. Every step of the way is a learning experience but it's so much fun!

Welcome!
Insulation is fine, but provide lots of ventilation, even for the winter.
I have open windows in my coop year round and openings in eaves. They are far tougher animals than they look.
And everyone here LOVES pictures! Coops, chicks, chickens, other animals, lots of stuff. Just saying.

Edit : duh, didn't see who posted that! I only slept four hours, can you tell?

 

[GR Chicks]

Did you see bubbles when you stirred it, sounds like the fermentation process starting, but again, my nose does not work so I have no clue what it should smell like.......

No at first it looked like a loaf after 12 hours, then I stirred it, and the same the next day, but when I stirred it was when it really stunk.... then yesterday it smelled bad and I just don't know what to do, I don't want to feed bad feed to my babies.