Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[AnneInTheBurbs]

What color are the egg shells? I don't recall what you had in this bunch. If you don't have the egg shells, then you need to look at their legs.
For the blue one, are the legs dark or are there any feathers down their legs? (dark legs = blue ameraucana, feathers = blue marans)
For the chipmunk striped ones, yellow legs = welsummer, olive green (willow) legs = rhodebar pullet
Definitely no male Rhodebars in that group of 3.

There is actually four chicks, if you look at the second picture, there are three stripey ones. The gray one has feathers on the legs, so that is a Maran. Fingers crossed for a pullet! The two eggs that hatched were a tan-cream color (you had told me those were Rhodebars) and the other two were a terra cotta dark brown. I should be able to sex the Maran (I hope!) because I remember the ones I raised for Rose were fairly easy to sex a few weeks in. Not sure about the legs colors on the others, I will have to check when Mama brings them out of the broody box. Met hanks again! This is so much fun !! :yiipchick

For the lice I would treat everyone with a dusting of sevin/permithrin powder... that is just my 'go to' for any parasites.  It is imperative you treat the broodies before they sit long since they are at high risk for heavier infestation since they aren't out to dust bath as much. DE is a good aid in prevention or reduction of biting parasites but it probably won't do much to eliminate an existing problem.  there are numerous threads on BYC about treatment alternatives for mites and lice which should help you decide what works for you.... if you type 'sevin for lice' in search block it will bring up a few.

I second this! The powder was quick, safe and did the trick. My girls got a bad infestation over the winter into spring, and I suspect it was because I had not good place for them to dust bathe over the winter.

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My experience has been that chicks hatched within 4 weeks or less of each other are easier to combine. Older birds are easier to combine when they are the same size, have free ranged near or even with each other and are combined at night.


ETA: no babies yet.


Didn't you take your goat to the vet? What did they say?

Nope, haven't called the vet. I checked on them about 4am, she didn't rouse as quickly as the others, which has me a little concerned. I'm going to check again when the rain lets up a little more, I don't want to lure her out in this weather.

Hoping for a kid to drop!

My last two chicks have hatched! One last night and 1 this morning. It looks like all but one were fathered by my lavender ameraucana roo. The last one that hatched is all yellowish with maybe a faint stripe down its back and odd colored legs (yellowish/grey). I believe my little oegb managed to get my white silkie too lol. So her two eggs hatched out with two different daddys . I'll get some pictures later but it looks like I probably have 2 black, 1 lavender, and 1 blueish fluffy cheek babies and then 1 yellowish oddball lol

Congratulations! Having chicks hatch is just too much fun! Your kids are so fortunate to experience all of this.

 

[Debby27]

Debby:

I also found a den....I did a home made mustard gas bomb...no effect on my problems.....my understandings is there maybe more than one den...one for feeding and one for kits/sleeping...and if one leaves more may move in.....so far, playing a radio disrupts the foxes aggressions...but they are out there waiting for the opportunity....my pooch alerts and will chase them if I allow it, (he's looking to chase them not kill them), so I only free range when I am home.....for my two cents, they are probably still in your area.....

Hi Tom,
Yeah we know it's only temporary. It's just odd that for almost 3yrs we didn't see any and now they are everywhere. I free range mine now at different times of the day. (I am on hiatus from my job right now) So I can do that. We don't have a puppers right now, but are in the process of getting a new one. I had a Rottie yrs ago that a fox took a liking to...lol...would come to the bedroom window at nite and yip at her to come out and play...was the weirdest thing I had ever seen

. We haven't seen hide nor hair of them since the "bombing", but like you say, they are prob. still around. And yes, I told my BF, they have dens all over the place, they looked but couldn't find another one.

 

[dheltzel]

There is actually four chicks, if you look at the second picture, there are three stripey ones.

The gray one has feathers on the legs, so that is a Maran. Fingers crossed for a pullet! The two eggs that hatched were a tan-cream color (you had told me those were Rhodebars) and the other two were a terra cotta dark brown. I should be able to sex the Maran (I hope!) because I remember the ones I raised for Rose were fairly easy to sex a few weeks in. Not sure about the legs colors on the others, I will have to check when Mama brings them out of the broody box. Met hanks again! This is so much fun !!

So, the 2 dark eggs hatched 1 Blue Copper Marans and 1 Welsummer. The light eggs are both Rhodebars, if the 3 "stripey ones" look a lot alike, then you have 2 Rhodebar pullets, a male would look very obviously different (much lighter overall with a clear white spot on his head). They will all be sexable by their combs at about 4 - 5 weeks of age, having known females makes if easier, if the Marans comb get larger than the others, then he's a boy.

Hoping you have 4 females there

 

[stake]

Hi Tom,
Yeah we know it's only temporary. It's just odd that for almost 3yrs we didn't see any and now they are everywhere. I free range mine now at different times of the day. (I am on hiatus from my job right now) So I can do that. We don't have a puppers right now, but are in the process of getting a new one. I had a Rottie yrs ago that a fox took a liking to...lol...would come to the bedroom window at nite and yip at her to come out and play...was the weirdest thing I had ever seen

. We haven't seen hide nor hair of them since the "bombing", but like you say, they are prob. still around. And yes, I told my BF, they have dens all over the place, they looked but couldn't find another one.

Debby:

One more thing is the 'vixon's call'....(you can google) at night a male will call to attract its/a female.....the mating season is over, but I herd it two nights ago and was able to spotlight the PIA....my limited understanding is that foxes are hard to trap/hunt mostly because they do not have a set pattern...and whatever deterrents you devise (aside from building fort knox), they will adapt to....my two cents....

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Thanks!

So, the 2 dark eggs hatched 1 Blue Copper Marans and 1 Welsummer. The light eggs are both Rhodebars, if the 3 "stripey ones" look a lot alike, then you have 2 Rhodebar pullets, a male would look very obviously different (much lighter overall with a clear white spot on his head). They will all be sexable by their combs at about 4 - 5 weeks of age, having known females makes if easier, if the Marans comb get larger than the others, then he's a boy.

Hoping you have 4 females there

Thanks! Me too. Will keep you posted as I can't keep them all.

 

[stake]

There is actually four chicks, if you look at the second picture, there are three stripey ones.

The gray one has feathers on the legs, so that is a Maran. Fingers crossed for a pullet! The two eggs that hatched were a tan-cream color (you had told me those were Rhodebars) and the other two were a terra cotta dark brown. I should be able to sex the Maran (I hope!) because I remember the ones I raised for Rose were fairly easy to sex a few weeks in. Not sure about the legs colors on the others, I will have to check when Mama brings them out of the broody box. Met hanks again! This is so much fun !!

I second this! The powder was quick, safe and did the trick. My girls got a bad infestation over the winter into spring, and I suspect it was because I had not good place for them to dust bathe over the winter.
Congratulations! Having chicks hatch is just too much fun! Your kids are so fortunate to experience all of this.

Anne:

The 'stripey' ones are called chipmunk pattern...For Rhodbar and Legbars, a white dot on the head means male (though this is sometimes false in Legbars), also a well defined pattern indicates a female and a blurry pattern indicates male....I think the chipmunk pattern is also called 'e wildtype' by the folks who are into the genetics...

 

[Debby27]

Debby:

One more thing is the 'vixon's call'....(you can google) at night a male will call to attract its/a female.....the mating season is over, but I herd it two nights ago and was able to spotlight the PIA....my limited understanding is that foxes are hard to trap/hunt mostly because they do not have a set pattern...and whatever deterrents you devise (aside from building fort knox), they will adapt to....my two cents....

yep.....they are hard to trap once it's on to you it's over for that trapping scenario....well we just have to be vigilant and keep our chickies as safe as we can....thanks for all the info, it's always nice to up on stuff you didn't understand or know.....

 

[My peeps]

For the lice I would treat everyone with a dusting of sevin/permithrin powder... that is just my 'go to' for any parasites.  It is imperative you treat the broodies before they sit long since they are at high risk for heavier infestation since they aren't out to dust bath as much. DE is a good aid in prevention or reduction of biting parasites but it probably won't do much to eliminate an existing problem.  there are numerous threads on BYC about treatment alternatives for mites and lice which should help you decide what works for you.... if you type 'sevin for lice' in search block it will bring up a few.

Can we still eat the eggs while treating with this?

 

[BullChick]

Sevin is food grade. I don't think anyone holds off on the eggs. I don't.

 

[winc564]

So, is this regular Sevin like I would sprinkle on my plants?

Also, since this is my first flock, do I need to worm them? If so, please advise on product and process.

I really wanted to raise some meaties. Now, with the avian flu, I don't want to contaminate my flock. Thoughts?