2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

I had to laugher the chicken biting, who would think they would? Prince got me one time when he was younger. He thought I had food and the girls were pecking around, so he joined in. Dorothy will peck at me if I put t hand in front of her. We are just waiting for the weather to break here. Meanwhile they are all still in the house and they seem pretty happy. Mornings are pretty funny here. As soon as my alarm goes off the dogs start moving around, a couple bark, the roosters start crowing, ducks are quacking and cats meowing. It is literally like feeding time at the zoo....

Here they are roosting for the night

View attachment 1666911

Lovely photo, gorgeous darlings, so beautiful
Made me giggle when reading about them calling in the mornings and thinking how lovely it must be to hear them

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I've got a problem. For the past week or so, my sweet cochin Diamond has started biting me. Not pecking, but biting my hand, chomping and holding on. Today she bit me and i pulled my hand away and she was hanging from it! She's also been pecking hard at my jeans and shoes. I've been trying to walk towards her and push her back when I'm in the run. Today I picked her up after she bit me and carried her around in a football hold. But only for a couple minutes of a trip away from the coop. I didn't have gloves on and my hands were getting pretty cold by then.
Any ideas? Do they ever get ornery right before they start laying? Hoping for that reason, haha.

Mine sometimes do this, (ducks also) never aggressively though, more like they think they'll find treats - could this be what Diamond is doing?

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Ducks are doing well, feet are back to normal and all are healthy. Napoleon is about 90% waterproof now, which we are very pleased about and we are confident he will be 100% waterproof after he goes through his late winter moult in about 4 or 5 weeks time.
Pedro and Jellybean have completed their third day separated from the flock and Roo has grown a lot in confidence which we are pleased about. We are going to give it a couple of days more, then will reintroduce Pedro back into the flock then if all goes well we will then reintroduce Jellybean a day or two after. This method has a high success rate although isn't 100% and we are hoping it will be a success for us too, not sure what else we can do if it isn't, so just hoping apon hope that it will be

 

[Cbarr00]

Well my aunt lost her last rooster so we gave her Bear. She needs him for breeding purposes and he is a feisty little breeder. Lol. The girls were gathered at the coop door trying to figure out where he went. Hopefully they wont go too crazy without a male to keep things in order. I think she only has 4 hens left so hopefully he will be happy. I'll be checking in on him tho. He was a pretty little fellow.
I heard someone going crazy out in the coop this morning. Just squawking like mad. I thought maybe a dog was running around scaring them so I looked out. Nothing was there. I finally realized we must have a new layer out there. I haven't heard that kind of racket since my older girls first started laying. I was feeding the baby so I didnt get to check it out but I will later.
My FIL wants chickens so DH and I are gonna build him a coop. We've got a lot to do to get it ready but it will be a fun project to keep busy.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Well my aunt lost her last rooster so we gave her Bear. She needs him for breeding purposes and he is a feisty little breeder. Lol. The girls were gathered at the coop door trying to figure out where he went. Hopefully they wont go too crazy without a male to keep things in order. I think she only has 4 hens left so hopefully he will be happy. I'll be checking in on him tho. He was a pretty little fellow.
I heard someone going crazy out in the coop this morning. Just squawking like mad. I thought maybe a dog was running around scaring them so I looked out. Nothing was there. I finally realized we must have a new layer out there. I haven't heard that kind of racket since my older girls first started laying. I was feeding the baby so I didnt get to check it out but I will later.
My FIL wants chickens so DH and I are gonna build him a coop. We've got a lot to do to get it ready but it will be a fun project to keep busy.

That's really nice that you're going to build a coop for your FIL. My daughter built mine for me, using the knowledge she gained from the mistakes she made on hers. Or rather, things she thought would work out better.

I think maybe, possibly Diamond squatted for me?? She normally does kind of sink down following my hand when I pet her. But this time she went full body down before I even touched her. Does that sound like a squat?
They will be 25 weeks on Monday, the little freeloaders, lol.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Mine sometimes do this, (ducks also) never aggressively though, more like they think they'll find treats - could this be what Diamond is doing?

This is pretty aggressive, much harder pecking than the others do on my jeans and she grabs and holds on. She seems a little better after I carried her around. I'll do more of that.

 

[CannedMonster]

We have 2 eggs under Minnie, who is seriously broody.
I know because she won’t get off the eggs even at night.
She’s in a nest box in our big coop.
I don’t know if they’re her eggs or not.
I will try candling them next weekend.

Cleo is doing very well. She’s still in the prefab with Pippin and they mingle with the flock during the day.
She’s 10 weeks and starting to get some beautiful reddish/brown feathers around her bib and shoulders.

We have started building the new coop which will be in the side yard.
It’s a 4’x8’ that is raised 2’ off the ground. It will have 2 windows and two large doors in the back to make it easy to clean.
We got the plans off of a website called CleanCoops.com
They cost $35 and you can download them and print them.
Color printing is best since the drawings are color coded for clarity.

So excited to get this project finished.
I just need to decide which rooster goes in that one with his girls.
Angus...or Oliver

 

[Anna Ranieri]

This is pretty aggressive, much harder pecking than the others do on my jeans and she grabs and holds on. She seems a little better after I carried her around. I'll do more of that.

Oh I see, maybe it is hormones then, and she's trying to dominate you. I noticed changes in Pedro and Jellybean from about a month before they started laying, no biting me though, just things like no longer getting onto my lap nor jumping onto my shoulder/ back when i bent down, still dont to this day although Pedro has stood on my lap a couple of times since but not for long.
Good idea about continuing walking around holding her, won't take long for her to get the message they learn pretty fast. Please keep us posted, would like to follow how you get on and I hope all goes well for you

 

[Anna Ranieri]

We have 2 eggs under Minnie, who is seriously broody.
I know because she won’t get off the eggs even at night.
She’s in a nest box in our big coop.
I don’t know if they’re her eggs or not.
I will try candling them next weekend.

Cleo is doing very well. She’s still in the prefab with Pippin and they mingle with the flock during the day.
She’s 10 weeks and starting to get some beautiful reddish/brown feathers around her bib and shoulders.

We have started building the new coop which will be in the side yard.
It’s a 4’x8’ that is raised 2’ off the ground. It will have 2 windows and two large doors in the back to make it easy to clean.
We got the plans off of a website called CleanCoops.com
They cost $35 and you can download them and print them.
Color printing is best since the drawings are color coded for clarity.

So excited to get this project finished.
I just need to decide which rooster goes in that one with his girls.
Angus...or Oliver

so exciting!

 

[Anna Ranieri]

That's really nice that you're going to build a coop for your FIL. My daughter built mine for me, using the knowledge she gained from the mistakes she made on hers. Or rather, things she thought would work out better.

I think maybe, possibly Diamond squatted for me?? She normally does kind of sink down following my hand when I pet her. But this time she went full body down before I even touched her. Does that sound like a squat?
They will be 25 weeks on Monday, the little freeloaders, lol.

When my girls squat they lift their wings slightly, they don't open their wings though ( really hard to describe) just kinda like lift them from their body. I'd never seen a squat before but we able to recognise when my girls squatted because it's easy to see how a rooster could mount them that way, if you see what I mean. Any way, either way I'm hoping you'll get your eggs real soon