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  1. farmergal

    tragedy... what happened???

    I am so, so saddened and confused. A week ago, my bantam broody hatched out 1 chick on her own (the eggs had originally started under another broody who abandoned the eggs, hence the low hatch rate), and I grafted 6 others from the feed store onto her. She'd been broody for over a month so it...
  2. farmergal

    what the heck?! broody kills chicks 1 week after hatch...

    I am so, so saddened and confused. A bantam broody hatched out 1 chick on her own (the eggs had originally started under another broody who abandoned the eggs, hence the low hatch rate), and I grafted 6 others from the feed store onto her. She'd been broody for over a month so it wasn't like...
  3. farmergal

    when are my sheep "done"? (errr, bred?)

    So, I am new to the sheep thing -- I brought my first sheep (babydoll southdowns) home around February. I've had the ram separated from the ewes since July so I wouldn't end up with lambs too early. Since our climate is pretty mild, I figured Feb/March would be a good time to lamb. And...
  4. farmergal

    "Spazzy" the keet -- what to do?

    I have a six-week-old guinea keet who has a problem that no one (at the feed store, local guinea breeders, etc.) seems to have seen before. At about 10 days old, he started shaking. The shaking kind of impaired his ability to function with the group of 12 keets and chicks he was living with...
  5. farmergal

    Droopy, skinny WL hen getting worse -- what to do?

    I have a flock of approximately 80 birds, and about a week ago I noticed a WL hen looking out of sorts. Her comb -- normally a perky, huge, red comb -- was looking shriveled. Her wings seemed to sag a little. And when I picked her up she had obviously lost quite a bit of weight. One other...
  6. farmergal

    Shaky Chick, getting worse... what to do?

    A week and a half ago, I noticed that one of my lav guinea keets was a bit funny -- it had a weird tremble to it. Well last Saturday (9 days ago) the tremble developed into a full-on shakiness that happens all the time except when the keet is sleeping. I've talked to several chicken and guinea...
  7. farmergal

    Babydoll Southdown Sheep -- breeding question

    Does anyone have Babydoll Southdown Sheep? Or maybe even the regular-sized southdowns? I am wondering when/if I need to separate my ram from my ewes to control breeding. I've read that sheep breeding is triggered by shortening daylengths (which is happening now since the solstice was in June)...
  8. farmergal

    only the good die young... a warning about chicken-sitting.

    I hope this sad story serves as a lesson to all chicken owners... to really, really make sure that people who watch your chickens while you're away know what to look for. My fiancee and I went back east to a wedding in New Jersey this weekend. We paid someone $50/night to let the chickens in...
  9. farmergal

    help me choose a blue orp to keep... (new pics)

    Tomorrow my roosters are going to freezer camp, and I'm trying to decide which Blue Orp roo to keep (out of three). One I thought was a hen for the longest time -- he was a slow grower and late developer, not traits I want to pass on for a bird that's supposed to be dual purpose. The bodies on...
  10. farmergal

    lesbian chickens?

    I Googled "lesbian chickens" and only came up with a couple of hits, so I am turning to the great knowledge of BYCers on this topic... Here's the story: I have a barred rock, Tux, who is one of my sweetest hens and also one of the hens that my roosters rarely mount. Rare is the rooster who'll...
  11. farmergal

    help! Aussie puppy fear biting, afraid it will become a problem

    So when I brought my 8-week-old Aussie pup (Kea) home, she was pretty much perfect -- friendly to everyone and very docile. After about 3 weeks though, she started getting nippy -- and not just mouthy, either... she would growl too. She's now 14 weeks old. A bit over a week ago, I picked her...
  12. farmergal

    Help -- V-Day presents!

    Valentine's day is tomorrow and I still haven't gotten anything for my fiancee. (I know, I'm a bad girl!) I don't have much money and he hates if I spend money on him anyway... so does anyone have any ideas for sweet gifts or gestures for Valentine's Day? He's a farmer so he's pretty...
  13. farmergal

    New BST Policy -- questions

    I was just reading through terrielacy's new guidelines for posting to BST... and had a couple of questions. 1) Is feedback on a seller considered "chatter"? I think it can be really useful when someone chimes in "I just hatched out some of these eggs, and the fertility rate and packing job...
  14. farmergal

    how to make a hen go broody?

    I've read lots of posts about breaking hens of broodiness... but is there any way to encourage a hen to go broody? I just bought a couple of silkies hoping that they would be my natural incubators, and I'm wondering if I have to just wait and see, or if there's some trick to encouraging them to...
  15. farmergal

    OK to use higher protein meat grower (game bird) feed?

    Hi all, My feed store was out of unmedicated flock raiser, so they suggested I use their meat grower instead. (It was that or pay $30 for 50lb of organic. ) I just bought one bag of meat grower (which around here lasts less than a week), is it okay to give it to my birds for one week? I've...
  16. farmergal

    silkie with worms?

    Hi all, I just got back from the Stockton Poultry Show and brought home 3 pretty partridge silkies. They're in quarantine right now, in a chicken tractor away from the flock during the day and a plastic box in the garage at night. When I put them out in the chicken tractor this morning I found...
  17. farmergal

    help! favorite hen has eye problem

    My favorite girl, Hope (who survived a fox attack and was nursed back to health with the help of BYCers) has a strange thing going on with her right eye. I noticed another bird pecking at it, and I'm worried if I don't fix it the flock is going to make it much worse. The eye socket (where the...
  18. farmergal

    sexing salmon faverolles -- can pullets have grey?

    When can you really tell the sexes of salmon faverolle chicks? Mine are 6 days old, and I've been watching their wing feathers really closely. Only 1 chick of the 6 doesn't have any grey or black on the feathers. (Its wingfeathers are a light, almost pinkish color.) The other six all have...
  19. farmergal

    UPDATE: BBS Orps and Sal Fav hatch (pics pg 3)

    This morning, one of the chicks expanded the pip to a half-dime-sized hole. The chick has been sitting there for 12 hours with this large-ish hole... beak moving, so I know she's alive, but hasn't made any progress. She sometimes seems to "attempt" to -- that is, move her beak back and...
  20. farmergal

    anybody else waiting impatiently? (for chicks, not Santa) :)

    10 of MissPrissy's BBS Orp eggs in my bator will be 21 days as of tomorrow night!! I keep checking the bator (I woke up in the middle of the night and checked) and looking for pips, but nothing yet... Anybody else waiting? When should the eggs start a-rocking? a very anxious 'mama hen' who's...
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