2018 Newbie Chat!

[CannedMonster]

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

Thank you.
I will miss him.
It’s been a strange day.
If I thought he had an illness in any way I wouldn’t have buried him but he was perfectly healthy and then this...
I’m actually not sure if it’s illegal here but people do it a lot with small animals and it doesn’t seem harmful.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

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).

Welcome to our little thread!

 

[No More Empty Nest]

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.

One of mine started molting a couple weeks ago and the others are too now. They are 10 weeks old. It's a slow kind of molt at this age I believe. Just more adult feathers coming in. Feathers all over the coop and run.
Speaking of feather picking, Amber's head is looking pretty good. She has one spot that's not really bald but the feathers were broken off near the scalp. Her new feathers above it have just about covered it up. i haven't put an anti picking stuff on her head in a couple weeks now. She does still have some purple tint in her feathers, lol, still a rock star.
I'll get a picture off my phone to put up here tomorrow. It's past my bed time now.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

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.

There's no need to worry, the age yours are they won't moult again until they are about 16 -18 months old, and moulting usually takes place late summer or early autumn - although they might lose the odd feather here or there, throughout the year. Mine are still in their second juvenile moult, some chickens juvenile moults are barely noticeable other than they change colour/rooster gets their saddle feathers etc. Some birds juvenile moult quicker than others, my two are very very slow, there is a hard moult which is when the bird loses loads of feathers and can even be bald for a time and will typically take anything between 4-12 weeks or there is a soft moult which is where they only lose a few feathers here and there over a long period of time, which in my two's case has been over 3 months but they hopefully are coming to the end of it as there are hardly any pin feathers left and as far as I can tell have all their adult feathers now. Pedro has always had an awful time in her first juvenile moult and through this one, her second juvenile moult, just is that some birds do. As you know ducks are different and typically moult a couple or so times a year.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

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?

Strangely enough she doesn't touch her at all during confinement, only while they are out foraging in the garden - its usually at the start of the morning about an hour or so after I've let them out for the day, and again in the mid afternoon, other than that she leaves her alone. She seems to like the stronger feathers and isn't interested in the fluffy feathers. I need to find out the measurements of my garden as I have no idea at all but what I can say is, it isn't a tiny garden, and is such that if all 8 birds wanted to sit separately away from each other they'd have plenty of space to do so, however they seem to have their favourite spots and will stick to them - I don't think its a space issue because there is a part of the garden they don't really go to, I often I walk them around the garden to the parts they don't use and I have dug up a patch big enough for the ducks to drill or the chickens to dust bath in as I am hoping they will expand their range, but so far they've only expanded a short way out from their typical spots - Lilah on the other hand makes use of the whole garden and takes Roo with her. Put it this way, I've seen farms with way more chickens in a space smaller than my garden, so hopefully it isn't a space issue.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

@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.

Awwww that's a lovely memorial for him and will be nice for you to remember him by. Although sudden death syndrome is awful as is any death of a loved one, the small mercy of SDS is that it is so quick and without suffering as would be with a sick bird. He had a wonderful life with you and one worth living so please try to remember that you made his time on earth a happy time

 

[Cbarr00]

Sunni did not make it. She was fine at midnight and gone by 5 am. I'm not doing well. She was my little ray of sunshine.

I'm so sorry!

 

[Cbarr00]

OMG guys Silkie just died!!!

I was in our side yard and all the birds were foraging in our backyard and I heard him squawk loudly and saw him frantically flapping his wings.
But he didn’t run. He couldn’t seem to get up.
I ran over and so did Angus.
All the other birds were disturbed by what was happening with Silkie but they weren’t running from anything.
There were no predators or anything.
No other birds were next to him.
By the time I got over to him (mere seconds!) he had passed.
He even had a bit of food in his mouth.

DH and I believe he had a heart attack.
I can’t believe it... He was only 8.5 months old.

RIP dear Silkie. You were loved!!
You had a great life even if it was short.
I’ll miss your beautiful crows!!!!

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Oh no I'm so sorry!

 

[llombardo]

So my sister kindly came over to help me put together the winter shelter for the ducks and to finish the chicken coop.

I moved Prince around so he wasn't near anyone. His legs are pretty pink and that is my sign his testestorone is raging. I stay away and do not mess with the girls because I don't want to set him off.

Well my sister was in a hurry and none of the chickens wanted to go back in the run. She says I will gather them, I tell her I wouldn't do that. Well of course she didn't listen and Prince flogged her as she was trying to grab one of the girls. He backed off and she turned her back, I said don't ever turn your back on a rooster. He started to come back at her and I stopped the second flogging just in time. He didn't leave any marks but she felt it. She said he has done strong legs.

So I'm not sure how this will go with him. He is young and really is good for the most part. He was fine until she messed with one of his girls. He was really trying to protect them. I'm not making excuses for him at all, but after a long day I made the mistake of letting her do something I was not sure about. I'm quite sure he could do some major damage and has not, so he is definitely giving a warning.

The good news is the shelter for the ducks came out good. I put he pool in the shelter for now, so I didn't have to take it down yet. Once I empty if for the winter, I'm putting the straw in the pool for them to lay in. The ramp works perfect for them to get in and out.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

So my sister kindly came over to help me put together the winter shelter for the ducks and to finish the chicken coop.

I moved Prince around so he wasn't near anyone. His legs are pretty pink and that is my sign his testestorone is raging. I stay away and do not mess with the girls because I don't want to set him off.

Well my sister was in a hurry and none of the chickens wanted to go back in the run. She says I will gather them, I tell her I wouldn't do that. Well of course she didn't listen and Prince flogged her as she was trying to grab one of the girls. He backed off and she turned her back, I said don't ever turn your back on a rooster. He started to come back at her and I stopped the second flogging just in time. He didn't leave any marks but she felt it. She said he has done strong legs.

So I'm not sure how this will go with him. He is young and really is good for the most part. He was fine until she messed with one of his girls. He was really trying to protect them. I'm not making excuses for him at all, but after a long day I made the mistake of letting her do something I was not sure about. I'm quite sure he could do some major damage and has not, so he is definitely giving a warning.

The good news is the shelter for the ducks came out good. I put he pool in the shelter for now, so I didn't have to take it down yet. Once I empty if for the winter, I'm putting the straw in the pool for them to lay in. The ramp works perfect for them to get in and out.


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I understand the worry but sounds to me like Prince is doing his job and doing it well. The fact that he only warns and doesn't do the damage he is capable of doing is proof he isn't aggressive and shows he has good restraint and control of his emotions. I'm sorry for your sister having to experience that and I am glad she is ok but at the same time I'm thinking this has been a good opportunity for you to see he doesn't attack without good reason. Imo you have yourself a very good keeper for your girls in him and the more you learn him, the more you can anticipate his moves. Can't help feeling very proud of him actually.