Search results for query: *

  • Users: hensonly
  • Content: Threads
  • Order by date
  1. hensonly

    hen had avian leukosis...I have questions...new chicks coming THIS WEEK! Help, please!

    I have three hens and a roo, four years old, gold sex links. I have six Dorkings, about a year and a half old. The Dorkings were dying young and quickly. I sent the latest one out for necropsy, preliminary report came back today: Avian Leukosis. I understand it's a virus, so no vaccine...
  2. hensonly

    electric poultry fences, and combining different breeds/ages

    Hey, all I have two coops, both occupied at present. They are adjacent, they share a fence. For various reasons I don't want to combine my current flocks. One of the flocks was supposed to be my self sustaining dual purpose birds, until my roo died suddenly in November. NOw, of course, if I...
  3. hensonly

    cage bird diet question

    Hey, A friend of mine has recently begun caring for some cage birds owned by her sister. There are parakeets, doves, pigeons, and I think a cockatiel or two. It seems they've been getting seed of some sort, and have never had any grit. Is this possible? I gave my friend some of my chicken grit...
  4. hensonly

    feed for old hens?

    Hey, all, I have four sex links, three and a half years old. They lay only occasionally - should I still be giving them layer feed, or would they be better on something else? The few eggs they do lay are either shell-less or so thin that they are broken in the nest box. About once every week or...
  5. hensonly

    Will broodiness stop, or must I break it?

    I have some 8 month old pullets, three of whom are showing broody behavior. They sit unless I evict them, peck me and growl if I put my hand in. They're not deadly serious about it; they don't peck hard and if I take them out of the nest boxes and don't let them back in, they will, after a few...
  6. hensonly

    Yippee! Albany, NY now hen-friendly!!

    The Albany, NY powers that be have just voted to allow city residents to keep up to 5 hens per back yard!! Now the mayor just needs to sign off on the new law, and it will go into effect. Yahoooo! I live north of Albany, on 60 acres and have had chickens for three years, so this doesn't affect...
  7. hensonly

    dirt floor broody box?

    HI, I'm hoping to use my hens to hatch chicks next spring. I read in a book recently that when setting up a broody nest box, the nest should be built directly on the ground. Straw or shavings, yes, but on the dirt, no floor in the nest box. The reason stated was that the damp ground allows the...
  8. hensonly

    Pullet eggs change color??

    Hi, I thought eggs started out whatever color they were going to be... But here's the deal: I have 11 pullets,just 6 months old today. I got my first egg just before they turned five months. I have mostly Dorkings and two Orps. At first I got a mix of brown eggs and tinted white. I have at...
  9. hensonly

    Transport cage question

    Hi, I'll be taking some spare roos to be processed very soon. I have a transport cage with one door, on top. Any tips or tricks for getting the birds into the thing? Last time, I used dog crates and it was easy - only getting them OUT was a pain. I don't like to inconvenience my processer guy...
  10. hensonly

    hen size/egg size question

    HI, I got four Orpingtons in with a batch of another breed (with my permission). They are now 5 months old, and one of the pullets is absolutely tiny. She is also not shaped like a chicken, never mind an Orp. She looks like a white dove that got in with the chickens by mistake. She's also a...
  11. hensonly

    best source for poults?

    HI, all, I've had chickens for three years, and am thinking about trying some turkeys....is there an especially good or especially bad hatchery or other source for poults? I'm in upstate NY. I keep reading that poults are so fragile...is the poult mortality rate higher than for chicks, when...
  12. hensonly

    putting on leg bands?

    Hey, y'all, simple question (I hope!) How do you put on leg bands? Do I need a special tool? I jus tneed to be able to tell my roos apart... I have 26 straight run dual purpose birds, and I plan to keep one roo (and the pullets, of course!). I have an assortment of colors, but some are...
  13. hensonly

    put 13 wk olds back on starter??

    HI, all, I have 26 dorkings, 13 weeks old yesterday. I know they aren't as fast maturing as the hatchery birds, and they seem a reasonable size for their age (not that I have lots of experience!!). But I've had a couple of incidents of tail-feather picking (pine tar took care of it) and I was...
  14. hensonly

    Picking just one roo to keep...???

    HI, I have a flock of thirteen week old dual purpose birds. I want to keep one roo for producing the next generation in a year or so. How do I pick just one?? I have twenty six, straight run, so roughly half are going to be roos. I will be processing the extras in late winter, but I don't know...
  15. hensonly

    Conversing chicks

    I have 26 nine week old Dorkings. Since I got them, they have kept up a constant low-level peeping. They do this every minute except when they are sleeping.They don't all talk all the time but there are always some of them peeping. This is my third batch of chicks and none of the others have...
  16. hensonly

    Ok, now I'm worried...

    HI, I have 25 chicks, 2 weeks old. I'm planning to take them out of the brooder, hopefully today, and let them have the run of the chicken house(the brooder is in one corner of the chicken house). I had meat chicks in there this summer, they were processed in July. I disinfected the chicken...
  17. hensonly

    iron in the water?

    HI, I have well water, and it seems to have a lot of red residue which I assume is iron...I'm on my third batch of chicks, never had a loss until this time. Only one chick, at five days old, and all the others seem fine, so probably the water is ok for them. Still, you know how when you lose...
  18. hensonly

    EEK! Chicks coming sooner than expected! (Yippeee!)

    A couple of months ago, I ordered some chicks from Sandhill Preservation. They say on their website that when they know which hatch they will fill your order from, they will send a letter. Then, the day the chicks ship, they call that evening and let you know that they actually did ship them...
  19. hensonly

    managing a dual purpose flock

    I just ordered a batch of chicks(25 straight run) which will grow into a dual purpose flock, hopefully mostly self-sustaining. I have two coops, adjacent, sharing a fence for part of their run. My current laying flock (8 hens, 1 roo) are in the smaller coop. The new chicks will go into the new...
  20. hensonly

    Ok, anyone need cheering up? This should help!

    Saturday, a friend brought her 20 month old Newfoundland dog over, so we could help her start teaching him how to pull a cart. He did beautifully, first time in harness and we were able to hook him up to the cart and he pulled it around our mowed fields. The funny thing happened as we...
Back
Top Bottom