2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

It sounds like it's been a rough transition but like chooks said it's a learning curve so dont beat yourself up too bad. This is after all the Newbie thread lol. hope things get better!

Thank you

 

[Anna Ranieri]

@Anna Ranieri when I scramble my eggs I don’t add anything. Both dairy and fats like oil and butter are very bad for chickens.

Oh, I didn't know this - thank you so much for telling me

 

[Anna Ranieri]

It is so nice this week! We will be hitting the mid 70s or around 23C. I love coming to read about everyone's birds! I feel like I know everyone here so well I really enjoy this thread and the camaraderie.

Me too and I miss you guys when you go quiet.
So pleased for you having the nice weather but could you please send some over here

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I talk a lot about you guys to my daughter, telling her what great people you all are and this evening I told her about the kind words of encouragement from @ChooksNQuilts @Cbarr00 and I read them to my daughter and I also read my post to my daughter and realised it is full of typo's, it's a wonder you guys could read it there are so many! I should have proof read it first - sorry guys.

 

[Cbarr00]

I went out to feed the flock and collect eggs, as I was leaving Bear mounted my EE Dwight Jr and she let him albeit with a little protest. Oh my! I wonder if eggs are in my near future from my EE! This is the first time I've seen him successfully mate.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I’m struggling with my neighbors.
Today I found their ten chickens wandering my property. I shooed them back into their run so they wouldn’t spread anything they might have to my flock. Upon closing them in their run I found they have no food, no water, and their enclosure is full of feces. When I knocked on their door, I found no one was even home. They still aren’t home and it’s dark. If this continues I’m going to intervene.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Hi guys, can anyone please tell me, when you scramble eggs for your birds, do you just use egg or do you add milk and butter? I'd like to see if they will eat some now they are somewhat older.
We had quite a bit if rain early afternoon and it did us the world of good because it melted all bathe snow, the day warmed up to about 3°c so we decided to let the ducks out for a while as Napoleon's feet are back to normal, needless to say they were happy yo be outside and were doing so well I considered sleeping them out, but unfortunately we haven't been able to because Napoleon now has wet feather! For those unfamiliar with this, it's when a duck is no longer water proof. We haven't given him a complete check over yet but aim to tomorrow, we are as confident as we can be that it isn't trouble with his preening glad nor is lice but I do think it may be down to stress. We've done all we can for him this evening and he is settled nicely with his flock in my bedroom, I am going to sleep on the sofa tonight so they eill be completely undisturbed (as I snore) and tomorrow we will bathe him and see if the treatment we've given him has been enough to stop it in its tracks.
I admit I've done terrible with my birds this winter and have made so many mistakes and have let them down badly. To start with I didn't notice his feet knackering, my only defence is that he has natural black markings on his feet which are just his markings and my eyes sight isn't very good at all so I just didn't notice. We still don't know what or why the extra black happened but we doubt very much that it was frostbite because once frostbite turns black it is incurable and his has clears up just from being indoors in the warm. Another mistake I made is not checking over my bedroom thoroughly enough, Jughead crawled under a pushchair I have stored in my bedroom ready for when my next grandchild comes in May, and although I covered it I didn't do so well enough and Jughead crawled under it, couldn't find his way out again and panicked when I lifted the pushchair to let him out and as a result now has a crack in his beak. Fortunately the crack hasn't gone all the way through and looks more like a deep scratch, and could very well be and it is clean and not bothering him at all so we are leaving it because ducks beaks more often than not will heal by themselves (don't know if it's the same with chickens?) But we are keeping a close eye on it. Tjhen there was when I wentbin yo take gheir eggs while they were still in the room, then this morning I was using my tourch rather than scare them by putting the light on and when I put it on the bed to get dressed, it shone on my window (curtains were open) and made a shadow of me which looked gigantic and scared them out of their wits and then lastly, when I got Napoleon for us to examine his feet, I had covered a table with a plastic rubbish back so I could stand him on it while my daughter and I examined his feet, he got spooked when I picked him up and carried him out to the table, he got spooked by the bag and by us both touching and turning his feet to examine them and when he tried to fly ( he's a runner duck which can fly even though they are not supposed to be able to) I was worried he'd get hurt so tried to grab him and ended up causing him to fall to the floor, the fear in his eyes is heart breaking for me to even think about and I should have just let him go at the first moment he struggled. I noticed his feathers were ruffled beyond recognition which is a clear sign of stress in a duck and then I let them out at which he went straight to his pool and got soaked and couldn't dry off and with the cold wind and still low temps I had to bring him in again - it's a wonder he hasn't flown away with all the mistakes I've made this week!

We all make mistakes. What I always leave out of my story about Amber dying is that I was the one that spooked them into flying about, causing her to fly up in a panic and hit her head on the coop. There was just too much guilt to put it in the narrative. I was removing the cardboard that covered the nest boxes because her comb and wattles had gotten very red and I thought she'd start laying soon. When I brought it out of the coop door, it scared them all.
I enjoy reading the threads about hatching eggs. People make lots of mistakes hatching, especially the first time they try. They just have to take it as a heart breaking learning experience and go on.
I now don't move as fast when I'm in the run and am always very careful with anything they haven't seen before.

Edit: I use only eggs, no butter or milk or salt

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I’m struggling with my neighbors.
Today I found their ten chickens wandering my property. I shooed them back into their run so they wouldn’t spread anything they might have to my flock. Upon closing them in their run I found they have no food, no water, and their enclosure is full of feces. When I knocked on their door, I found no one was even home. They still aren’t home and it’s dark. If this continues I’m going to intervene.

Oh no! It's so hard to imagine someone neglecting their chickens like that, especially when I'm out there, scooping the poop board and giving some greens every day, no matter the weather.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I’m even more aggravated today. Talked with my neighbors late last night when they finally arrived home. I was met with resistance and anger. They claim it’s the country, their chickens can go where they please. After asking them about the negligent conditions of their coop they responded with “They’re just chickens, they’ll find their own food and water if they want it that bad.” I’m appalled.
On a lighter note, my single egg incubating died. Upon candling it last night I found a blood ring in it. So seven more eggs in the bator.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

We all make mistakes. What I always leave out of my story about Amber dying is that I was the one that spooked them into flying about, causing her to fly up in a panic and hit her head on the coop. There was just too much guilt to put it in the narrative. I was removing the cardboard that covered the nest boxes because her comb and wattles had gotten very red and I thought she'd start laying soon. When I brought it out of the coop door, it scared them all.
I enjoy reading the threads about hatching eggs. People make lots of mistakes hatching, especially the first time they try. They just have to take it as a heart breaking learning experience and go on.
I now don't move as fast when I'm in the run and am always very careful with anything they haven't seen before.

Edit: I use only eggs, no butter or milk or salt

Awwwww hun it's the guilt that gets us every time but like Chooks said, we all have the best intentions.
Napoleon is about 75 - 80% water proof again so we are making progress. I had the ducks outside all day as it's warmer than has been in a while, we are back in the minus as of this evening so I have them sleeping in again tonight.
We let the chickens in for a short while, they were curious about where the ducks have gone so we let them in to investigate, they gave us their approval before heading on out again to eat their pre- bedtime mealworm snack.
I tried them with scrambled egg again, no one is interested. I already knew my chickens won't eat a chicken egg so opted to scramble some duck eggs for them, Pedro ate a little but that's it, nothing more, I left it out for them just in case the wanted to go back to it but no one has.
I scrambled some chicken eggs for the ducks, the weren't interested either, my duck hens took a bite then spat it out - didn't think my cooking was that bad