Hooray on pullet!!! Had my fingers crossed. Golden Laced! I love her boots especially. She preens them all the time too. Thanks so much for the quick response and feedback.
Back Story: I purchased chicks from the local feed store in mid April. I would have put them at about 3-7 days old based on down and tail feathers sprouting etc. I bought 2 RIR pullets, 2 Barred Rock Pullets, and 2 "Bantams" straight run. Of the "Bantams" 1 was clearly a full sized green legged...
Just a small backyard flock of 6..
2 Rhode Island Reds
2 Speckled Sussex
2 "Bought Ameraucanas but they're probably EEs"
The girls are waiting at the gate so they can free range in the yard.
Far Right - Penelope "Beardface" us our alpha hen she has a fierce look to her, but is good natured...
my speckled sussex loves slugs.. ugg.. glad they are getting eaten tho.. in general mine really like fruit and veggies we toss out - watermelon rinds, apples, cantalope, grapes, tomatoes, giant zuch's. They are generally suspicious of everything, but our precocious RIR Sophie beta tests...
I have 3 boxes and my none of the 6 seem to have picked a favorite yet.. I can tell their eggs apart and watch them on the nest. They will take whichever, but they will still fight over a boxes if one happens to be occupied. I am about to think it is a sibling rivalry and they just want what...
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Have you ever seen what roosters do to each other? They will fight to the death.. and besides they fly back really far with very little effort so 10 feet is nothing ...
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Honestly... you should try it. Especially after you almost lost an eye after getting flogged in the face.. or had a 3" spur burried in your thigh. Mine lofted a good 10 feet and I only had girlie size 5 1/2's keds back then. He came back for more 3 times and never lost a feather or...
I had a couple last week that I think were pecked by a blue jay.. the jay just broke a small hole big enough to eat a bit and left it the rest. I tossed it out for the girls when they weren't looking but made sure it was well crushed so they didn't get any ideas.
My girls are 6 mos old and one of the speckled sussex still tries to tuck under the the others on the roost.. seems to be for comfort, warmth or security like when they are chicks. One of the RIRs stands most of the time anyway, so this seems to work out for the two of them.
I use cedar shavings in ours.. haven't had to change out the nests yet (been about 3 mos) because they are still really clean. I did add some additional shavings as the girls built up their nests when they finally started laying.
We feed ours recycled crushed egg shells, but we live in Oregon and can get oyster shells cheap enough or free that it is a non-issue to get some to supplement their diet.. on a side note when I had chickens growing up we let them have crawdad shells after we were done with a crawdad feed and...
one of my ameraucana v. ee hens sounds like a geiger counter when she clucks and bawks.. I am new to this breed, but all the other hens are sing songy and she just clicks along
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She is a very sweet hen despite her brooding.. I just went out to mess with her and got some pics of her all puffed up. I stuck my hand under her to see if that would get her to move and made it extra lumpy underneath her. She just jostled and resettled to try to get my hand tucked...
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wait till he is roosting.. or borrow a smelt net from someone (really long handles and wide cloth mesh nets work good for catching errant chickens)
I have a small flock of 6, 6 mo pullets in our backyard "farm" - 2 RIR, 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 "bought Ameracaunas but they are probably EEs." One of my Ameraucana v. EEs, Olivia just went broody after laying for about 3 weeks. It has been a while since I had chickens, but never had one go...