He's definitely more alert now than he was this morning. Possibly he was trampled when I grabbed him. He could have been in a fight, for sure, but there's no wounds.
Can Marek's show up randomly like this though? Wouldn't I have seen sick birds when my first homebreds hatched with no vaccinations?
She/he (likely a rooster with my luck lmao) definitely could have eaten something toxic, they free range on about 3 acres. We have had a lot of rain the last few weeks and there are mushrooms popping up everywhere, I actually have seen some local goat breeders dealing with poisoning from that...
I have a large mixed flock of 20+ birds. They range in age from 8 years to 8 weeks. Earlier this week, I found my beloved silkie rooster (been here 2 years with no problems) half dead from an unknown cause. He had wounds on his head and back, which appeared to be from the other chickens, but...
I have a silkie roo in with my full sized hens with no problems. He definitely seems to prefer the smaller hens, judging by how often he mates them, but he also services the Brahma and Orpington. I'm on my 4th broody hatch this year with very good success rates! I kept one of his sons since my...
I have a white silkie roo and absolutely love the babies we get from him. Friends all want some, too! Most have crests, feathered legs, 5 toes and/or black skin. Here are the two I kept out of our first hatch. Buff Orpington and barnevelder hens!
Of course the pictures posted backwards!
I really love how all of the mixes turned out. I have 2 broodies right now and I can't wait to see how they turn out!
I'm hoping everyone agrees this is a pullet. It's a barnyard mix out of my white silkie roo and judging by her coloring, a barnevelder hen. These babies hatched around May 1st. I'll also include a picture of the buff/silkie mix that I'm 100% sure is a roo for comparison.
She looks just like the starlight green egger I had. She was a beautiful, friendly bird and shaping up to be a great layer of big, green eggs. Unfortunately a fox killed her a few weeks ago. I will definitely get another in the future though!
Mine are all still babies. My rooster is a white silkie and hens are barnevelder, welsummer, buff Orpington, cream legbar, BYM (black copper marans x Easter egger) and golden cuckoo marans. I have a ton more pictures but don't want to overwhelm the thread lol.
I have a speckled Sussex that hatched out 11 chicks starting May 2nd. She is not a very nice hen (she will peck if she thinks you have food), but she's approachable so I thought maybe it would work out since she would teach the babies not to be afraid. Well, the babies aren't afraid but she has...
They could also be eating them. It only takes one to break an egg, discover how delicious it is, and teach the rest what to do. I've had times where there was no evidence at all of egg eating, but when I watched the nest, sure enough, that was the problem. You can blow out the inside of an egg...
I got these chickens from a friend. They hatched around January 25th. I believe one is a starlight green egger and one is a prairie bluebell egger. The brown one has me a bit worried, because the neck feathers look a little pointy in person, and she (?) has recently become very bold.
I'm looking for breed ideas for the brown and gray pullets (hopefully!) a friend gave me. I think they're probably a Prairie bluebell and a Starlight green egger. She got rare and colored layer assortments. Any ideas other than what I already assumed?
I have a 5.5 year old buff orpington that came out of the coop today unable to walk on one of her legs. It's not red or swollen. It is a bit warm but I think that's from holding it against her body. She drank some water but isn't eating. She's a bit puffed up but otherwise doesn't seem stressed...
Nellie's wings still look like this. She stopped letting us handle her not long after this post. She used to want to be held, but not any more. I don't know if her wings will ever be normal again, but she seems healthy.
We unfortunately had a bear break into our coop over the weekend. It took off with an adult hen and a 12 week old pullet. Everyone else seems fine, except my favorite pullet Nellie. She's still eating, drinking, running around, begging for snuggles and in general just being the best chicken...
Well, it seems like a black bear got into my coop last night and took off with 2 chickens. I don't think anything else could rip a nest box door off the hinges, and there was black fur everywhere. I have an electric net/charger that I've never set up. It's pouring rain right now. I'm terrified...