2018 Newbie Chat!

[No More Empty Nest]

Not allowed to due to the complaint investigation - I am not permitted to make any changes, adjustments, extensions etc. I have two drakes, two hens and they are paired.
I no longer have any problems with the boys, they are well behaved and no longer harass the chickens, however the girl ducks are still bullying the chickens, they get very possessive over their boys, food and their pools and can hassle the chickens when they got too close to any of those, however they are at their worst when chickens are foraging, when the chickens find something, i.e. bugs, worms, the girl ducks will attack the chickens and steal it from them.

Can you plant a garden? Plant some really thick bushes between them.

 

[CannedMonster]

I got 3 eggs today.
That means I have a new layer!

I just don’t know who.
It’s either one of the bantams or possibly Lucy, one of my partridge Rocks.
She’s been checking out the boxes lately and hanging around over there.
It was a light brown egg, kinda tan I guess.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I have a question for fellow bantam owners. I accidentally bought pellets instead of crumbles. Are they ok to give to 15 week old bantams? I have enough crumbles in my home made 5 gallon bucket feeder to mix them with so it won't be a sudden change.

 

[PNW_Peepers]

I have a question for fellow bantam owners. I accidentally bought pellets instead of crumbles. Are they ok to give to 15 week old bantams? I have enough crumbles in my home made 5 gallon bucket feeder to mix them with so it won't be a sudden change.

I’m not a bantam owner but I work in a feed store. Crumbles are just crushed pellets. The materials used in it are the same. As long as your birds have grit they’ll be fine, they probably won’t even notice a difference.

 

[emrya]

I have a question for fellow bantam owners. I accidentally bought pellets instead of crumbles. Are they ok to give to 15 week old bantams? I have enough crumbles in my home made 5 gallon bucket feeder to mix them with so it won't be a sudden change.

my bantams have been on pellets since about 15 weeks so I would say you are ok.

 

[CannedMonster]

I have a question for fellow bantam owners. I accidentally bought pellets instead of crumbles. Are they ok to give to 15 week old bantams? I have enough crumbles in my home made 5 gallon bucket feeder to mix them with so it won't be a sudden change.

I think they’ll be okay.
I switched to pellets to keep the wild birds from eating their feed and the wild birds still ate it
I’ve noticed that Purina Flock Raiser pellets are smaller in size than some other brands.
Mine really seem to like it.

 

[Cbarr00]

Duck re-homing fell through, very long story so won't bore with the details but basically we tried everything we could to get them moved to the new home but doors kept slamming shut in our faces and I'm hoping this is a sign from God that He wants us to keep our birds. Spoke to a duck behaviour expert who told me my ducks can be trained not to go after the chickens and he gave me a set of instructions to follow and so far things are going really well. First instruction was to establish myself the alpha, using duck behaviour methods, starts off having to hold the drakes flat to the ground for about 15 seconds (obviously without hurting them or putting them at risk) then slowly loosen my grip, if they struggle as my grip loosens I have to tighten it again for a further 15 seconds and repeat until they get to not struggling when I loosen my grip and when I let go will stay there for a second or two before running off. Secondly to establish that the chickens are mine and no other male can have them, its the same holding them down stuff but this time with firm instruction "No!" and I use "leave!" boys haven't tried to mate with them at all since doing this and now if they charge at the girls, or try bite them, I order "no" or "leave" and so far they will pause, look at me, sometimes walk off, sometimes resume going for who ever they were going for at which I again order no or leave and eventually they back off, but it is becoming more and more that they back off straight away, and makes life so much easier. Not so easy with the duck hens though, they are proving to be more of a challenge, for starters I can never catch them to even try pinning them to the ground, plus they are very sneaky, they tend to wait till no ones watching then sneak up behind - ducks use their neck and head to flatten the opponent to the ground in order to demand dominance and to bring their competitor to submission, most of the time the chickens manage to bend their bodies in such a way they just slip out from under the ducks but there is the odd occasion when the ducks manage to get the better of them, I've taken to waving my stick at them, the duck hens have always been scared of my stick so will run away. I still hope I get to keep all my birds and with the duck training going so well it is so easy to protect my chickens and keep them safe. Same can't be said for the chickens though, Pedro and Jellybean are relentless at going after Roo and the last couple of days Pedro has been bullying Roo loads, the stick doesn't work on them anymore, they either jump over it or stand on it and if I do anything to try chase them off they just look at me, give me the side eye then continue what they were doing, I think we can safely say I am way down low on their pecking order, lol. Thankfully since they started laying both Pedro and Jellybean will crouch submissively if or when I manage to put my hand on them, so are easier to pick up. Today I decided to give poor Roo a rest from being chased and banished Pedro and Jellybean to the run for the whole day and only let them out for the last two hours of the day before bedtime. Both didn't like being shut in the run and were well hacked off about it but soon settled down and got on with dust bathing, eating, drinking and scratching, however they do, do a lot of pacing up and down getting upset bcos they want to be in the garden with everyone else. Roo loved the freedom, she went anywhere she wanted, pecked at and ate anything she wanted without the two bully girls coming after her and chasing her off, she was so happy following Lilah around and not having to hide at all and seemed to flourish before my very eyes and it was also lovely for me to see her frolicking, and to be able to watch her running around instead of her hiding all of the time, so I have decided I am going to give her regular freedom by locking the two girls in the run for a few hours every third day, this way Roo will have a regular break from them but at the same time it wont be so much that they get distressed or stressed out from being locked in.

What pedro and jellybean are doing seems to go way beyond pecking order stuff. When my chicks were first left alone by my broody the other chickens had a hay day teaching them what's what. It has all since calmed down and everyone goes about their day. Here's an article about bullying and how to stop it. You're on the right track locking them up while roo free ranges.

https://www.hobbyfarms.com/when-to-intervene-with-a-chicken-bully/

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I think they’ll be okay.
I switched to pellets to keep the wild birds from eating their feed and the wild birds still ate it
I’ve noticed that Purina Flock Raiser pellets are smaller in size than some other brands.
Mine really seem to like it.

Our store has Nutrena and some pieces are pretty big. I'm going to mix it with the crumble, which I still have a lot of in the feeder. They can take whatever size they want. If after a while, all that's left is big pieces, I can always smash them a bit, lol.

I had a time getting them back in the run today, lol. Stupid me, after they made their circle of the yard, they all walked back into the run. I figured I have more time, you guys can stay out longer. I sat down on the picnic table and they all came back out. Then when I wanted them to go back in, oh wow. They usually come running when I call them and shake the treat bag. Then I scatter the treats around in the run and they eat them. Well, they came running but Pearl stopped outside the door and wouldn't come in. So I tried enticing her with the treats. She would only come just so far. So I started to go out to herd her in. Whoosh, there's Diamond flying over my head out of the run. Then the rest run out because, well, everyone else is out!
I call them again and shake the scratch grains bag, maybe Pearl just wasn't into meal worms today. They come running, now Opal won't come in. Again, she would come close to the door, even in far enough for me to close it, but when I tried to, she'd run back out. So once again I started out to herd her in. Whoosh, there's Diamond flying over my head, and everyone else running out. Too funny!
I did finally get them in he third time. but they sure got extra rations of treats thrown in the run today! I think that was their plan all the time.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

What pedro and jellybean are doing seems to go way beyond pecking order stuff. When my chicks were first left alone by my broody the other chickens had a hay day teaching them what's what. It has all since calmed down and everyone goes about their day. Here's an article about bullying and how to stop it. You're on the right track locking them up while roo free ranges.

https://www.hobbyfarms.com/when-to-intervene-with-a-chicken-bully/

Thank you, I found this very informative and encouraging as its pretty much what I am already doing. Pedro has chased Roo a couple of times since I started banishing her to the run after attacking Roo, but Pedro hasn't attacked her since, so hopefully this is a sign of progress. Jellybean hadn't attacked nor chased Roo at all after her time in the run until earlier this evening, shortly before their bedtime, Jellybean pecked at Roo and pulled out a feather so I marched Jellybean straight into the run and shut her in for the remainder of the free-ranging time, which she was none too thrilled about and after some pacing up and down like a caged tiger she finally gave up and put herself to bed early. I am going to continue with this method, especially after reading this article and the positive results it can have. I think it may be a slow process, however there are a few positives showing already, one of which is that Roo isn't hiding as much as she used to, and today spent the majority of the time in the open. Lilah (Roo's mum) will intervene at times, usually when the others get too rough with Roo, and being the alpha hen no one dare disobey her. Lilah has never chased, nor pecked Roo and I don't believe she ever would. Roo is the only one out of all my birds (including my ducks) who can steal a tidbit or any food from Lilah, and Lilah does nothing except snatch it back if she gets the chance, none of the others would dare to even try take anything from Lilah, and I sometimes wonder if there's an element of jealousy - that the lowest in the pecking order should get such privileged treatment from the alpha - I've read that chickens and ducks can get jealous, but whether or not it is true I don't know.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Can you plant a garden? Plant some really thick bushes between them.

This might be something worth looking into in the future, our weather is way too harsh to try grow anything at the moment - we still don't have snow but we have hard frost at the moment.