2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

So of course I'm back to worrying about these guys because I leave when it's dark and come home when it's dark. I drive home like a speed demon and hold my breath until I see they are ok.

I asked my boss if I could come in later and just stay later. He looked at me and said I don't care what time you come in. I was like wow, I couldn't ask for more. I figure at least they will be out there for a couple hours in the evening. I'm choosing the best of two evils. I figure there is more traffic and other dogs barking in the early evening versus the super quiet in the morning. I'm really bummed about the neighbors moving. I counted on the kids making noise, they did fires and let the dog in and out, so I feel they were a good distraction for the raccoons and oppossums. They have thwarted my plans.

Oh dear, I can understand your worry, I hope all goes well for you. Really nice of your boss to be flexible and I agree with you about the mornings being worse b'cos it is so quiet. As for your neighbours moving, lets hope your new neighbours will be around enough to make the noise you need.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Yes, they are safe to eat and are very good for baking!

Thank you, I needed to be sure

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Any of you have advice? Should I cull? Is it mites? Is it disease? She also has water diarrhea

She seems perky enough, I'm wondering if having the diarrhea makes it uncomfortable when she walks so she's lifting her legs higher for comfort, just a thought though as I have no experience. Have you thought about starting a thread in the sick chicken forum, I know a lot of people have received a lot of good, solid and helpful advice from the experts who frequent those forums.

 

[Cbarr00]

Any of you have advice? Should I cull? Is it mites? Is it disease? She also has water diarrhea

I would post this is the emergency section.

 

[Cbarr00]

Thank you Roo is 18 weeks and two days, she's pretty big so maybe she is at her full size or at least almost, she seems to grow so fast, at least compared to my others she has. I've seen pictures of Buffs bigger than a cat,I really hope she won't get that big, I cant imagine any chicken that size would manage to get around very well.

We had 3 meaties earlier this year, talk about not being able to get around. We didn't know what they were when we bought them and the employees at tractor supply, where we bought them, recommended them to us. They got so big so fast and our Texas heat was not kind to them. We culled them around 6 weeks old (the norm is 8-10 weeks) so they wouldn't suffer in the hot weather. They were so big they would sit to eat because the weight was too much. and jumping resulted in a thud to the ground. Here they are around 5 weeks. The same age as all the other chicks around them.

 

[CannedMonster]

Awwww wow, a female Angus how wonderful! Do you know for definite she is a she? I only know you are always spot on at sexing but I thought you usually wait until they're a bit older - I remember with Roo you said she is female when she was only a few weeks old. We now jokingly call Roo our horse, she is massive compared to the others, she is bigger than all bar two of my birds (my drakes) - purely out of curiosity I've been searching google trying to find out at what age BO's stop growing but nothing really clear. The only BO sites I've been able to find so far are unreliable, i.e. they said BO's don't lay until 35/40 weeks but @Cbarr00 has informed me this is incorrect so I don't see the point of reading them when the information is incorrect. I don't mind at all what size she gets, I'm just curious - I saw the flock she came from and they are pretty big (very docile too) however my friend who we got her from said (at that time) she was quite a bit smaller than they usually are.

I’m pretty sure.
At two-three weeks the boys combs started growing a lot.
Hers is still small.

Buff Orpingtons are a heavy breed.
I always understood that they get pretty big lol.
I never wanted any because everyone had them.
But now I think about getting a couple because everyone says they’re so sweet. Like the Golden Retriever of chickens

 

[CannedMonster]

Ohhh my gosh photos of pure beauty and cuteness I'm not very good at this sort of thing but I can see the resemblance to Angus and Emily, especially Angus although Winter's beak looks the exact of Emily's. You are in for a win either way b'cos all your NN's are stunners all have beautiful faces, gorgeous colours and great temperaments and with Pippin raising her, she is being taught by the best.
May I ask, purely out of curiosity why you didn't have Pippin hatch one of her own eggs?

I didn’t recognize that she was getting broody at first.
Plus I had to decide whether to let her brood eggs at all or try to break her.
I decided to go ahead with it and she had laid one of her own eggs but she was still unsure of what she was doing and kicked it into a corner of the nest box and it got cold so I took it out to eat it thinking nothing could develop.
I found out later that as long as it’s not frozen and it’s not cold for longer than 10 hours it may still develop.
She did have an egg from Itsy but it didn’t develop past the first few days.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Any of you have advice? Should I cull? Is it mites? Is it disease? She also has water diarrhea

Did you post about this a week or so ago in the illness section? If not someone else had the same thing going on with a video also. What did everyone say, if it was you.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Loving everyone's pictures! @Anna Ranieri , do you have a picture of Roo? I still think of her as a little chick, lol, hard to picture her as a big chicken!
I've been so busy with Christmas and my son is getting married on the 29th. Yes, we're having 2 weddings in 1 year, lol. BBZZZZTT in June and her brother in December.
I do read everyone's posts, but sometimes hard to reply to all of them.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Oh! I forgot to say! We had trimmed Amber's feathers around her eyes the other day. Yesterday while they were out in the yard, I noticed some red under her feathers by her beak and thought I'd check it out to make sure someone hadn't pecked her and there was bleeding. Well, it was a wattle!! She's got red wattles! Bright red. I didn't notice when we were trimming her because I was holding her head I guess, or else I was so focused on not hitting her in the eye with the scissors that I didn't see anything else. I can't find her comb in all those feathers, lol, but I'm hoping maybe she'll be an early layer? When I pet her, she sort of squats maybe? I'd thought it was just from me petting her, it doesn't really look like the squat my daughter's large fowl do but I have no idea if Polish bantams look different doing it or not. They'll all be 18 weeks next Tuesday. Guess I'll open up the nest boxes, I'd been planning on doing that soon anyway...just in case...but telling myself it'd be a long time till there were eggs in them.