2018 Newbie Chat!

[CannedMonster]

Another question...

Last night Prince was making a different noise I never heard before. It wasier a cooing. I would compare it to lets say a cat purring. He seemed really happy.

Is this him talking to the girls? He started it before I bribed them with treats to go into the coop, but it got louder and continous on e I tossed the food in.

Yes...chickens “purr”.
And it’s adorable!
Obviously it’s not quite the same as a cat but it sounds like a purr or even a cricket singing which is how my little Cricket got her name.
She used to sing so much!
My birds will do this occasionally, usually when they are relaxed and happily sitting in a spot they like.
Sometimes just one sings and sometimes many of they are doing it back and forth.
They even seem to sing in response to me talking to them too.

 

[CannedMonster]

Lol, you have unique chickens! I don't lock mine up, the little coop door is always open. They go in around 6 pm now, which will be 5 tonight. I don't know when they get up because I don't get up that early! They do have an east facing window in the coop so I'd guess they get up pretty early. When I get up they're always out in the run.
I found something out in another forum that I didn't know. Age wise, my chickens will start to lay in the middle of winter. I'd always thought that they would actually start in spring because of the short days. But I found out that in their first year, they lay when their hormones tell them to, regardless of the time of year. But only their first year. So I should have eggs this winter! I will watch for eggs but wait and see...sometimes there are conflicting opinions here and the truth is hard to come by, lol. And of course, all chickens are individuals.
I put leaves in my run yesterday, luckily. It's supposed to rain all day here. I got some beautiful yellow leaves from my neighbor's yard, lol. He didn't mind that I raked them up, haha.

My sex link Red, and my SLW were all hatched in late August.
Red started laying at 20 weeks in January and the Wyandottes started a couple of weeks later.
My 11 teenage girls should start in December, I think.
I’ve tracked their ages on the calendar so it’ll be cool to compare with yours.

 

[CannedMonster]

DH and I did a thing this week....
we needed a permenant home for Pig. Once our two young pullets are old enough to defend themselves I’m going to put them into our large coop. I’ll in turn switch two of our adult barred rocks into this new aframe tractor to be with Pig.View attachment 1581195View attachment 1581201 View attachment 1581206 We found an old port window antiquing
that was the perfect touch. What do you guys think?

That is awesome!
I really really love the color of your blue paint. It’s just gorgeous.
May I ask the brand and color name?

Is there a way to add handles right below the hatch so two people can pick it up and move it if need be?
Is that Sweet PDZ in the coop part?
I love that stuff.

Also that would make a great breeding pen or a grow out coop. Or even something for a broody with chicks.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Wow! 18 weeks?! Most pullets aren’t even laying that young.
That’s less than 5 months old.
I’ve heard Leghorns will start laying that young but I don’t know about broodiness that young.
Pippin is probably about 7-8 months I think.
I don’t know for sure as I didn’t raise her from a day old chick and my friend really doesn’t pay much attention to their ages except in years.
Thanks for your compliment on Frodo.
Sadly, he’s not in nearly the prime condition he was in when he went to live at my friends property.
I’m really not happy about that but I can’t blame her because the other rooster I gave her, Hector (a dark Brahma bantam), is doing fine.
He is a perfect rooster. I should’ve kept him!
I’ll post a photo of Frodo when he lived with me:
View attachment 1581315
As you can see he has good color in his comb and wattles and he was a bit thin as he’s always been a very active little cockerel but he wasn’t emaciated as he is now He was probably only 4 months old in this photo. His feathers have grown out a lot more now at about 9 months.

4 months
View attachment 1581322

As for Pippin...she’s going to have to wait to be a mom.
I don’t trust her hormones yet as she constantly switches boxes and sometimes doesn’t even sit on the (fake) eggs.
I pick her up several times a day and put her down in the run so she can drink and eat. But she very quickly goes right back up to the nest.

Flippin heck! That is a stark difference to how he is now - even his feathers are sharper and brighter in colour..... no wonder hes been so poorly, obviously something he was (or wasn't) eating at your friends has caused him to deteriorate steadily, hopefully he'll make it back up to good health now he's back with you.
i don't know what age Lilah was when she started laying, I only know she was 18 wks when she hatched Roo and I got her when she was 20 wks and Roo was 2 wks.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

That is awesome!
I really really love the color of your blue paint. It’s just gorgeous.
May I ask the brand and color name?

Is there a way to add handles right below the hatch so two people can pick it up and move it if need be?
Is that Sweet PDZ in the coop part?
I love that stuff.

Also that would make a great breeding pen or a grow out coop. Or even something for a broody with chicks.

I’ll get a picture of the paint name and color once I’m home. It’s my favorite exterior color, it hides dirt so well! The coop part is laminate flooring with a light layer of sweet pdz. It’s the best! I scoop out the poop once a day and replace it as needed! We have it on the poop boards in our big coop too!

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Yes...chickens “purr”.
And it’s adorable!
Obviously it’s not quite the same as a cat but it sounds like a purr or even a cricket singing which is how my little Cricket got her name.
She used to sing so much!
My birds will do this occasionally, usually when they are relaxed and happily sitting in a spot they like.
Sometimes just one sings and sometimes many of they are doing it back and forth.
They even seem to sing in response to me talking to them too.

Mine aren't purring so much now the frosts are here, they usually purr when basking in the sunshine and when dust bathing when it warm. I've heard three of mine purr but haven't yet heard Lilah purr.
Have you heard yours growl like a dog? Lilah does it when there's potential danger, or she thinks the flock under threat i.e. we have a lot of sea gulls, crows, and magpies around us and if they start circling above our garden the drakes put out their warning call and get themselves into defense mode and Lilah growls and if the enemy gets too close she lets out this almighty continuous cluck, so loud can be heard up the street! But the rest of the flock respond to it, they form ranks (including the ducks) and get ready to attack, they saw off a neighbours cat a few weeks ago, it ran for its life and hasn't been back in since, although it only lives across the road from us. The other noise I recently heard for the first time is like a scream, its when Lilah is in the nest box, and one of the others disturbs her (usually Pedro trying to take a peek at what Lilah is doing) and if the ducks make too much noise while she's laying. Have you heard any of these sounds from your girls?

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I’ll get a picture of the paint name and color once I’m home. It’s my favorite exterior color, it hides dirt so well! The coop part is laminate flooring with a light layer of sweet pdz. It’s the best! I scoop out the poop once a day and replace it as needed! We have it on the poop boards in our big coop too!

I like the sound of this "sweet pdz" I'm now googling it and looking to see if we have it (or an alternative) here. Do you know if it is safe to use on ducks too?

 

[No More Empty Nest]

My sex link Red, and my SLW were all hatched in late August.
Red started laying at 20 weeks in January and the Wyandottes started a couple of weeks later.
My 11 teenage girls should start in December, I think.
I’ve tracked their ages on the calendar so it’ll be cool to compare with yours.

Mine were hatched Aug 20. They'll be 11 weeks tomorrow, 20 weeks Jan 7. This will make the winter months much more tolerable, lol!

 

[No More Empty Nest]

DH and I did a thing this week....
we needed a permenant home for Pig. Once our two young pullets are old enough to defend themselves I’m going to put them into our large coop. I’ll in turn switch two of our adult barred rocks into this new aframe tractor to be with Pig.View attachment 1581195View attachment 1581201 View attachment 1581206 We found an old port window antiquing
that was the perfect touch. What do you guys think?

That's a beautiful coop! I love the port hole. I wanted to put a round or hexagon window above the door in mine, but I couldn't find one small enough. Maybe I should go antiquing!

 

[CannedMonster]

Mine aren't purring so much now the frosts are here, they usually purr when basking in the sunshine and when dust bathing when it warm. I've heard three of mine purr but haven't yet heard Lilah purr.
Have you heard yours growl like a dog? Lilah does it when there's potential danger, or she thinks the flock under threat i.e. we have a lot of sea gulls, crows, and magpies around us and if they start circling above our garden the drakes put out their warning call and get themselves into defense mode and Lilah growls and if the enemy gets too close she lets out this almighty continuous cluck, so loud can be heard up the street! But the rest of the flock respond to it, they form ranks (including the ducks) and get ready to attack, they saw off a neighbours cat a few weeks ago, it ran for its life and hasn't been back in since, although it only lives across the road from us. The other noise I recently heard for the first time is like a scream, its when Lilah is in the nest box, and one of the others disturbs her (usually Pedro trying to take a peek at what Lilah is doing) and if the ducks make too much noise while she's laying. Have you heard any of these sounds from your girls?

I have heard Angus scream.
It’s very startling!
He also makes a humorous gurgling/chortling sound that I love because it’s ridiculous and hilarious.
I always try to mimic him when he makes it and he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
The continuous clucking is often done when any of them spot a predator to let the others know there’s danger about.
I also believe the purpose of this behavior is to communicate to the predator that it’s been spotted and might as well give up because it’s lost the element of surprise.
You can’t ambush prey if they know exactly where you are lol.
My bantams do this too but it’s not as ear piercing as the larger birds.
When they do this (it’s usually a cat that’s been spotted) they will actually try to follow the cat until they can’t see it anymore.
I’ve seen footage of wild prey animals that will also follow the predators at a distance so they can keep an eye on them.
Angus also makes sounds when they’re all going to bed in the coop and it’s somewhat chaotic.
He sounds like a dad telling his kids to settle down
Silkie used to make a sound when everyone was free ranging and they would all silently and quickly go under the tarp area.
All the bantams and all the teenagers!
It wasn’t even a loud sound.
I can’t really describe it but the response from the others was immediate.
I’m hoping Oliver has learned that from Silkie since he would respond to it also.
Angus has never gotten that kind of a disciplined reaction but his 3 girls never listened to Silkie.