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Hey everyone this new byc member is having some rooster issues. She wants them to get a good home. Please stop in and give some words of encouragement for her and her polish and silkie roos. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4063720#p4063720

Since her thread got locked for not being in proper auction format here is the link to her website where the pics of her polish and silkie roos can be seen if anyone is interested in giving them a good home. http://www.cityfarmfanatics.blogspot.com/
 
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The new coop is coming along! Wind last week slowed things down a bit. I was determined to do this as close to free as possible. We were able to salvage several sheets of siding and a tin roof from an old coop at a neighbors house, a dog run was donated by another neighbor, and the 2 x 4s were all free. We had to buy 1 piece of roofing, 2 sheets of siding, nails, joist hangers, a whirlybird (the old roof had one that was missing the spinning part, so we decided to go ahead and put one on.) and, of course, hardware cloth. The hardward cloth is expensive! The dog run is parts from the donated run and a 12'x6' run I already had. Mine has a roof that will fit on at the coop end. My boss said he will donate shade cloth to cover the rest of the run. The shade cloth will go over wire - it is not intended to be protection from predators, but from the sun.) I have a good-sized fig tree in a pot that will be planted nearby for shade. This has been a great experience for DH and all the boys. Two of my sons have worked in construction in demolition, but no one has ever done building before. I think things are turning out very well, especially for a first project. Everyone has commented that they would like to do another project together like this. Hmmm. Maybe I can talk them into sheep and goats!

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I am sad.
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Not quite at the magnitude of
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but definitly feeling very
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and very sad
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I suppose I failed to do my homework this time
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. But I am still sad
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We got our baby chicks, only one day old and waited until dark to introduce them to broody Squiggles. Well, it was a disaster. First I got pecked, which doesn't happen and then she pecked the first little one we put in. So we took it out and waited for it to get even darker. When tried again putting this one in back of her. We weren't sure if she was pecking at it and it took a minute to find a light. Well, Mother said "she killed it". In fact it is fine, but what Mother saw was Squiggle with the little chick's neck in her beak. So Mother grabbed Ms Broody, got pecked and we got the little one out.

Well, that was it for Mother. She was done. No more chances for Squiggles in her book. We set up a brooder and have our six little tiny ones that were born only yesterday running around. Wow are they little. They are happy and well and we sure had a lot of fun with them. So there are some
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happy momments in this story. In fact, it is quite joyful to have six tiny little chicks.
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Still I keep wondering if I had waited for Squiggles to set for the full 3 weeks before trying to introduce babies or even if I had waited until well after dark if it would have gone better. And part of me wants to try again. But, of course. we are now well bonded to our six infants and are short on bravery. If I ever try this again I'll pick a less grumpy broody. Squiggles has always been the grumpiest broody. I thought that meant she'd be the best mother....

So, I feel stupid. And I am amazed at how much joy the six little ones provide. I like them.

The breeder said they shouldn't eat for 3 days, but they were pecking at everything in sight so I gave them wet food. I hope that is ok. It has been a few hours and I just checked all for pasty butt. They are all clean. They have drunk water too.

So, good news, I have some babies!
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bad news, I am concerned I have a killer broody. ... and I am not exactly sure where I failed.

Also, when I got my first chick's, they were older. I got them from Mesa Feed Barn who gets them from a hatchery. These little ones are so very tiny.

It was fun to watch them with the wet food, it was pasty and got on their beaks and they would pick it off each others beaks.

Sooooo....all that said, I am feeling very humbled and ready to listen if you have some wisdom for me.

Holly
 
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Cheerful it just may have been that she viewed the little chicks as intruders if she is sitting on eggs or what she considers to be an egg. I had my little bantam fight me over a poop ball. Broodies are sometimes grumpy cause well they are in protect mode. Momma hens will gently peck at the chicks to put them where they want them or teach them. They don't have fingers to point the right direction ya know lol. I am sorry that your broody didn't take them but you could try again in the day time by cupping the chick in your hand where she can't see it and then placing it under her. Only a few times have I ever been successful in matching a momma to a new chick. Usually it don't go too well.
 
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Hi Holly - Just because she didn't accept them, doesn't mean you failed - not all broodies make good mamas and not all broodies will take in babies during the night (some may realize the difference between wet chicks coming out of the eggs and dry chicks appearing out of nowhere).

How long has she been broody? It might make a difference if you wait at least 2-3 weeks, but then again, it might not. If you do decide to try again; wait until dark - try taking the eggs out before putting the chicks under her (make sure they are less than 1 week old) - put the chicks all the way underneath her (inside her wings) and then just sit back and wait. If she does get agressive with them, you will need to remove them again.

I've had 3 broodies in the last 1-2 months. Broody #1 adopted 6 chicks wonderfully; broody #2 also happily took in 6 chicks; we gave broody #3 four chicks to raise and the next morning, found 1 dead chick in the nest next to her and the 3 other babies (not sure what happened, but she's been fine with the other 3). I got lucky - my broodies probably aren't as smart as yours or just more desperate
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Cheerful,
Sorry to hear about your chicken mess. Who really know what goes threw a broodies head or if she really would have taken care of them.
Best of wishes with your brooder and chicks. Don't sweat it either, at least they were fine when you took them away.

Thanks for asking about the DMV. It went well for me. Unfortunately I gave my older sister a ride too. She forgot all of the required IDs and we had to make a trip back to the house and up to the DMV again.
The process ended up being fairly long with her. We were there a good two-three hours. Haha. What is family for right?
 
Good morning everyone!

Congratulations on the little one, AZKat!

I have my first broody! I'm so excited! Although, I'm trying to keep a cool head here since she just appeared to go broody yesterday...I'm worried she might lose interest. She's a hatchery quality white P. Rock. Anyway, I have a lot of reading to do on broodies. I assumed I wouldn't get one since all my birds so far are from hatcheries. I have to travel to Houston tomorrow for my pre-op stuff...so I hope my hubby faithfully checks on her. I'm so nervous!!!
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Good morning all! Everyone seems to be well.

AZKat - sounds like things are going well at your house! So glad to hear that!

Laree - they had that waterer at Western Ranchman the last time I was there. They can also order it in if they don't. But, yeah, you can make one out of a 5 gal bucket. Handy hubbies are great! I have one myself. He has the waterer and the mister set up so we don't have to fuss over them. The mister will come on at regular intervals on a timer. The garden is on a timer, too.

Speaking of gardens - Cheerful- so sorry to hear about yours. Nothing like having all your hard work dug up as if you did it all just to provide them with a good time.

So sorry, too, that your chick intro didn't go as planned. You never know with broodies. Ours already had 2 chicks, so since chickens can't count (we assume) she didn't know the difference.

Your hand raised chicks will be friendlier with you than they would have if the broody had raised them.

I am a little worried about the wet food you gave them. I remember reading that wet food will breed a nasty bacteria in a very short time. I wouldn't let them have that for more than 30 minutes before removing it. They will actually be fine with dry crumbles. They will only eat what they need. Enjoy those babies and we want pics!

I wanted to share our weekend adventure!! I know some of you like to hike. Mahonri, you and your boys simply must hike Picacho Peak!! It is, sadly, one of the state parks that will be closing and is one of the most wonderful hikes in AZ. It is scheduled to close June 3.
It is a very challenging hike (they rate it as "difficult") but doable. I did it after not doing much of anything the last 3 months. I hurt from head to toe, but I loved it!! It involves some cable assited rock climbing. You can get an idea by googling "picacho peak hike" and view images. There are some great pics of the trail online. The view from the top is 360* and spectacular!!
The hike takes you up the foothill to the right of the peaks and over the saddle, back down the other side and up again. So you hike all around the mountain! It is 4.2 miles round trip, but it takes about 4 hours to do.
Trail head
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From part way up
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Summit Biochick - we can see your house from here!!
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I think it was RRR that had the garden mis-hap with the dog. Thank you for the tip on the wet food. I have changed out it for dry. You know, I think I might like having friendlier chickens. Thank you for the reminder. It has been fun to have them in the house...of course, I know they will out-grow their box quickly.
 

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