I'm starting to think the poor girl is spraddle legged. Odd, I thought that happened very early, but I really didn't notice it until a day or two ago. They were on newspaper for 2 or 3 days over wood shavings, and have been on wood shavings since. I checked some other postings for spraddle legs...
One of my chicks, an australorp pullet, not quite 3 weeks old, is showing some strange behaviour. In the last couple of days, I have noticed her sitting/squatting/crouching so that her lower legs are touching the litter, then she'll rock back on her knees(?). Sometimes she'll catch herself, and...
Hi Picco, I have 3 out of the 4 BLR Wyandottes that I ordered fro MM, but as they are only 2 weeks old, I don't know what I have. They only offered straight run. If I end up having two cockerels, I only intend on keeping 1. Would you be intersted in the other, if there is one?
Wow! I never knew that. My Grandpa used to mix up dye (maybe it was RIT, not sure) in a pail, then dunk(didn't put their heads under water) his white silkies (chickens, not underwear!) and work it in with a brush. He had yeloow, red, and blue. He would take them to the livestock auction and sell...
If you aren't in it commercially, and the price of feed doesn't bother you, then I don't see replacing them every year. Maybe three, who knows. This is my first year with chickens, so I will learn as I go. I suppose part of the mindset is how attached one gets to them. If the really are your...
Got them cleaned up this morning, about 6 of them. I don't think any of them were truly blocked, just poop stuck to the skin and wee fuzz below the vent. I used warm water and a washcloth, which helped, but I still had to pull a little bit. They didn't like that! Must be like pulling off a...
I have some chick that aren't quite 2 weeks old yet. I was just down to see them after work. They are all active and look fine, but some have a lot of poop built up on their rears. They are very skittish, but I managed to get hold of one of the worst. The vent is clear, but the poop is stuck to...
Hi Finch, I have in-laws in Boston, NY, which shouldn't be too far from you. Have you ever been to the Springville livestock auction? Do you have peacocks for sale? (for future reference)
My dad used to say, well, he still does, "Sweatin' like a hen drawing rails" I guess those would be fence rails, as a lot of the fences where I grew up were made out of split cedar rails.
Hi, I live in Kendall, which is about a 1/2 hour northwest of Rochester, just into Orleans county. I would like to find out who all is into chickens in my area. Thanks.
thechickenfarmer, I don't know if Monarch of the Glen is still on. I missed some of the later episodes
Lunachick, My wife's name is Ginny, also. Just Ginny, not Virginia, or Ginger, though we sometimes call her that.
I'm a male, and I'm the one who wanted chickens. It took me a while to get get wife to break down and agree, even though her granny and brother had/have chickens. We finally moved to the country 3 yrs ago. My wife needed more room for her addiction, daylilies. I've always liked animals, and my...
Well, my wife and I used to love watching Monarch of the Glen on PBS. The head of the family, or clan, was known as the laird, a Scottish form of Lord. We call our little 7 acre slice of heaven Thistle Dew, partly because of the Scottish part of my heritage, and because it's a neat play on words...
Do you have a McMurray catalog? There are some decent pictures in it. Otherwise, try "feathersite" and look at the chicks of the breeds that you ordered. I had about 1/3 of the chicks that I got from McMurray die, and I did what they said. However, it did take three days to get them from Iowa to...
I have two Cuckoo Marans that survived from my first shipment of chicks. One is lighter and one is darker. I thought the darker one was a male because it is bigger than the light one, but now, at 5 weeks old, the smaller lighter one appears to have the beginnings of a comb and the larger, darker...
This is my first year with chicks. I ordered 5 different breeds from McMurray. They do have a great selection. I ordered online and the available dates were early March or late May. I didn't want them that late, as It gets to be gardening time, but early March wasn't too great either. I decided...