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  1. france

    Help need a chick for lonely school chick

    Our school has a project with chicks. They got 2. One died. The other is very upset. We need a chick or two for a couple of weeks. If hens I can buy and keep myself. School is outside Annapolis Md. Bad time of year I know. Thank you!
  2. france

    Moving to Maryland - Need Feed Recs

    We are in the process of moving and our chicken feed is not sold in Maryland. We use a soy free organic layer pellet. I am going to bring a bunch of ours with us but eventually we need to switch. Can anyone make some good recommendations for similar feed available there? Thanks!
  3. france

    Ermine (Stoat, Short Tailed Weasel)

    What can you tell me about ermine? We have a late 1700's colonial. Think old stone foundation and lots of holes. When we first moved in there were signs of rats including rat poison left by previous owner. There were no signs of mice anywhere. The first couple of years we knew there were...
  4. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    My second andalusian died. None of the other 13 hens are exhibiting symptoms. I am due to deworm again this coming weekend. Still no signs of worms. I have added probiotics to their water and will give them some yogurt as a treat a few times over the next week. I looked up Vent Gleet...
  5. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    I have not introduced any new birds in two years, and then it was just chicks who were in another barn until they were big enough to be introduced to the flock. I have not been exposed to other chickens nor have other chicken owners been around my flock. My two andalusians were the least...
  6. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    My other andalusian is presently just about dead. I have no idea what is going on :( Thankfully the rest of the flock is fine.
  7. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    My andalusian hen died yesterday. I found her in the run. She just slowly went downhill day by day. But now my other andalusian hen is showing the same symptoms! She cannot jump up, wings hang, scrunched up, messy bottom, just kind of sits in the corner except to eat. I got them both from...
  8. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    Thanks for the reply! She is still the same. Though actually allowing me to come near her. My andalusians have always been very aloof so this is new. None of my chickens are laying now. Between the shorter days and finishing up their fall molt I have not seen an egg in two weeks. I do not...
  9. france

    Help Second Hen Sick! was Injured or Sick Hen?

    I have a 3 yr old andalusian. She is walking around with her body all scrunched up and head pulled down. Her wings are hanging down some but not dragging. Her crest is totally laying flat on her head. She is making sad little noises. But she is eating and drinking and getting around fine...
  10. france

    Transporting our Flock 10+ Hours

    We are still working out the details and this could happen anytime. We have 15 hens of various breeds and ages 2-5. I have a couple of big dog crates I can use. They will travel in a horse trailer (basic two horse, full divider, with horse on the other side) or in the back of a pickup truck...
  11. france

    Standard and bantam in same pen?

    This has been my experience as well. In our case the rooster is a silkie. He is quite the gentleman and we always feel bad for him when the big girls just dump him to the ground :) We had a problem with one of our hens going after a little, and clueless, silkie hen. I never could figure out...
  12. france

    They Always Laid Eggs Year Round Before....

    Fred's Hens : Light. Autumn is turning to winter and while the temperatures are irrelevant, the lack of sunlight hours is shutting them down. A hen is photo-reactive, that is her retina signals her brain to produce an egg. Not enough hours of light means a shut down. They often molt and...
  13. france

    They Always Laid Eggs Year Round Before....

    Quote: This is the one thing I had not thought of. I see no evidence of parasites. Will look into this more closely thanks!
  14. france

    They Always Laid Eggs Year Round Before....

    Quote: The 1 yr old and 2 yr olds are molting. The two yr olds did lay through last fall when they were 1 yr olds. Which is why I am concerned because my present 1 yr olds are not laying and neither are the ones who should have started last month.
  15. france

    They Always Laid Eggs Year Round Before....

    I have about 20 hens. Some 2 years old, some 1 year old and some that were due to start laying last month. Each fall my egg production falls but I still get at least 2-3 eggs per day. Then when it gets really cold we put in a heat lamp in mid December and the egg production jumps up again...
  16. france

    We Did Not Rest The Birds for Days - And They Were Wonderful

    We had a local guy come and process all 42 cornish x for us. I talked to him about how to deal with the birds when he was done. This is a 3rd generation butcher who has been processing chickens since he was 8. Once they were plucked and placed in large garbage cans of water he said leave them...
  17. france

    Rubbery chicken

    We soak our birds in very cold water for 5-8 hours after processing. Adding more cold water periodically. Then we can freeze or eat. We have had no problems with rubbery birds.
  18. france

    Freeze CX After Brining or Processing?

    We soaked ours in cold water for 5-8 hours after processing and then froze. They were 9 weeks old. They were great, super moist when we thawed and ate them. I cannot imagine a brine would mean you would have to rest longer.
  19. france

    Our First Experience with Meat Birds

    This is a summary of our experience with meat birds this summer. We bought 45 cornish x chicks about 10 weeks ago. We kept them on an organic broiler feed from day one on advice from our feed store. The first 2 weeks they were kept in a modified horse stall on shavings but then we moved...
  20. france

    Chilling before evisceration

    We had a processor out today. He killed 10 birds, then he scalded them in a big barrel holding 2 per hand, then held them on a plucking machine one at a time, they were put into a barrel of cold well water as they came off the plucker and then he would grab one at a time and gutted etc and then...
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