2018 Newbie Chat!

[llombardo]

How old are they when they molt? Not one of mine have had any noticeable feather loss(I see a couple feathers here and there)

I give mine all flock, oyster shell on the side, and mealworms about twice a week. Thus morning I threw out some corn.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

How old are they when they molt? Not one of mine have had any noticeable feather loss(I see a couple feathers here and there)

I give mine all flock, oyster shell on the side, and mealworms about twice a week. Thus morning I threw out some corn.

Mine are moulting at the moment, doesn't seem to be a hard moult though just seems to be taking ages. Roo won't moult for a long time yet but her feathers are changing and she is still going through the juvenile moulting and will do until shes about 5 months.
Mine have access to oyster shell but only the laying hen eats it the others don't touch it but it might be because they are not laying yet. As for the mealworms I give them but probably way too much

 

[llombardo]

Mine are moulting at the moment, doesn't seem to be a hard moult though just seems to be taking ages. Roo won't moult for a long time yet but her feathers are changing and she is still going through the juvenile moulting and will do until shes about 5 months.
Mine have access to oyster shell but only the laying hen eats it the others don't touch it but it might be because they are not laying yet. As for the mealworms I give them but probably way too much

I wonder why mine are not molting. The three older ones are just shy of 8 months and the 4 younger are just over 6 months.

I hope it don't start in the near future here, the weather has been steadily not warm.

 

[llombardo]

So I got 4 eggs today. Not sure which 2 younger ones are laying. If I had to guess its both the brahmas--one for sure.

My chickens are turning into night owls. I get home about 6 pm, they go out in the side area and scratch around. They are so used to this routine that they are dancing at the gate. After about an hour they are all standing there waiting to get back in. I'm trying not to use the light in the run until after they are in the coop. I ran a seperate cord for the light in the coop. So I can plug and unplug from in the house(love it) for the last couple days I turn the light on at 6am and go to work. I'm still local so I've been coming home at about 10 to let them out. I turn the light out at 9pm and they are active until then. I figure when I move to the other place(postponed until next week) I will come home for lunch at 10 ish and let them out, so I don't have to worry about them with predators in the dark morning and night. Ideally moving after the time change would help me out here. In the evenings when its not freezing, there is lots of people activity around me, so predators may(I'm hoping) stay away.

Tonite all of them decided not to go in the coop. My chickens are completely comfortable in the dark(along with the ducks--they are swimming until 9 pm in the dark without an issue) I finally bribed them with mealworms and explained to them they had to go in, because things want to eat them.

We still have some squabbles but it's about 90% of the time they get along. I was really hoping they would get to this point before winter. Hopefully by winter we will be at 100%

And the rabbit is still in there. Doesn't seem to want to leave. Hangs out with the chickens. They seem to like the rabbit, so I guess it will be staying as long as it likes. There is water in the run and I've been leaving some food for it, do g want the poor thing to starve.

 

[ShellyBlanco]

I’m a newbie. I got my Silkie flock (8)last summer but they were all older chicks between 8-15 weeks. I just incubated And brooding my first batch of chicks now. I hatched 9/12 of my flocks eggs on 1/18. All nine are doing well. I have them in a dog crate made brooder with a MHP for heat. Chicken math is a real thing and hatching is addictive! My husband talked me into setting another batch, so this morning I put another 12 in the bator. So as I’m integrating this batch into coop I’ll have newbies in the brooder. It will be chicks chicks everywhere chicks, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

I have a White Bearded Silkie Roo and a White Bearded Silkie pullet. She is almost seven months old and hasn't laid an egg yet. Is that unusual? My Roo is topping my flock of 10 RIRs right now along with his RIR Rooster competition. The RIR Roo tried to top my little Silkie pullet and the Silkie Roo went nuts on him while she was screaming all the way to "Daddy" (my husband).

 

[CannedMonster]

Awwww hi hun, I am so sorry for your loss, I'd just been reading about sudden chicken death syndrome and how it is common and unexplainable - can imagine how hard it is for you, you have my deepest sympathy.
Thank you for replying to my post, I have them on British grower feed which I think might be the equivalent to your flock raiser feed. There is oyster shell available but she doesn't eat it but this might be because she isn't laying yet, or just that she's so fussy. I've often read that chickens eat just about anything but this isn't the case with her. Do you recommend any particular high protein supplement - just for the record though she won't eat cat food, tuna, eggs, or peas but will eat mealworms.
I put out wheat for the ducks for a supplement they need and also some corn scratch mix for the chickens as a treat and enjoyment, I hadn't realised she and my duck had been eating the whole lot! They should only have about a couple or so tablespoons a week each, but no one else was getting a look in because they had been gorging themselves on it and I missed it. It has taken less than two weeks for them to get in this condition. I don't know how long Pedro has been eating the moult feathers but I noticed them disappearing from their cage about just over a week ago and she has been pulling them from Roo for about 3 days now. I could use a repellent but I'd have to cover Roo from head to toe because shes not picking from one spot, she just sneaks up on Roo and grabs whatever she can. She tried nibbling the tip of one of Jellybean's tail feathers but Jellybean didn't let her, and she wouldn't dare try at Lilah (although my duck hen does and has managed to get the odd feather) so I'm guessing Roo is the easy option. My drake will take a run at Roo but she's way too fast for him, he also tried to nibble one of Jellybean's feathers but she doesn't let him, his deficiency shows more in his tripping over a lot and being extra clumsy - I have some special duck food on order but have to wait for it to come. I am totally to blame, I took my eye off the ball and I feel so bad for them. The others are good eaters and will fill up on good stuff and only nibble at the treats - I'm so worried I won't be able to get them back to good health.

No treats at all then.
For anybody.
They will eat their feed or nothing.
No animal will starve itself.
I’m amazed she won’t eat high protein items like eggs, tuna, etc.
My birds seem to instinctively know it’s a good thing to eat.
It may just be a bad habit now.
Another thing that causes feather picking is space issues.
Is she doing it only when they’re confined or does she do it when they’re free in the yard?
How big is your yard?

 

[CannedMonster]

I had a siniliar experience with Prince. Luckily i was there and he went in front of me and collapsed.

I truly believe he choked on something. Once I put my finger down his throat to clear the air way and rubbed his neck, his comb started turning red again.

I'm very sorry about Silkie.

I remembered this as I read it.
I kind of freaked because I thought maybe he actually wasn’t dead, just unconscious, and I let him die because I didn’t help him.
But I remember that when I lifted him there was no heartbeat at all.
So he wasn’t unconscious.
Also, I looked up Sudden Death Syndrome in chickens and a telltale sign is convulsions and extreme wing flapping for just a few seconds before they die.
That describes what happened to him exactly.

 

[CannedMonster]

@Anna Ranieri
I read about Sudden Death after you mentioned it.
I believe that’s exactly what happened!
The biggest telltale sign is convulsions/extreme wing flapping seconds before the bird passes.
I’m comforted to know that I didn’t do anything wrong and there’s nothing I could’ve done for him.
It was quick and he was happily foraging with the flock when it happened so I guess he died happy.
He was buried next to the house in the side flower bed.
There’s a large rock place over the grave and I will put something there to remember him.
There’s also a bulb planted there.
Daffodils or tulips, I think.

 

[Geranium]

@ChooksNQuilts I'm so sorry. How awful.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

@Anna Ranieri
I read about Sudden Death after you mentioned it.
I believe that’s exactly what happened!
The biggest telltale sign is convulsions/extreme wing flapping seconds before the bird passes.
I’m comforted to know that I didn’t do anything wrong and there’s nothing I could’ve done for him.
It was quick and he was happily foraging with the flock when it happened so I guess he died happy.
He was buried next to the house in the side flower bed.
There’s a large rock place over the grave and I will put something there to remember him.
There’s also a bulb planted there.
Daffodils or tulips, I think.

I'm so sorry. How sad you must feel. I have pets buried in the back yard too (probably illegally, lol).