A Note of Caution

[perchie.girl]

I was in the Coop yesterday settling in some new residents. My Coop partitions are made of Chainlink Dog kennel panels. While I was finishing up the Guineas did a slam dance and hit the chainlink (boy chasing). One of the males jammed his head through the links on the chainlink and effectively caught himself. Much like a goat with horns who sticks his head through a wire fence only to find he cant back out.

I have small mesh wire around the outside so nothing can reach in to grab a bird but there are places inside my chainlink coop that are only chainlink. So this guy was caught by his beak and horn on top his head. He did get free but there will be a time when these guys will need assistence from me.

So I would recommend if you are using chainlink to line the side the guineas come in contact with either chicken wire or hardware cloth. Just so someone doesnt hang themselves.

deb

 

[PeepsCA]

Yikes, never had that happen before, he must have just caught himself at the only exact right angle to get stuck (leave it to a bone head Guinea!). Thanks for the heads up, I have my chain link pen lined with 1" chicken wire already... but it's on the outside attached with a million zipties, hopefully nobody head butts/body slams the wire and manages to get their head stuck, cuz they will be very stuck!

19 Welsumers now too!?! Wow, major flock growth!

 

[zazouse]

Seen that happen many times when i had to pen some .
I have seen birds get their head caught between two chainlink panels at the corner, they miss the landing and fall right between them and can hang themselves, i have been lucky and been there when it has happens so no losses yet.
Had a bird fall upside down between two conex boxes, that did not come out so well..i found it too late thats the problem when ya have so many birds can't keep an eye on them all, all the time.
Theirs alot of hazards when free ranging

 

[PeepsCA]

I've never had any chain link hang ups or deaths, but I have found a Hen hanging with a toenail stuck between 2 layers of wire... a layer of 2"x2" kennel wire and 1" chicken wire, right where they were ziptied together. Somehow she managed to get her toenail in there just perfectly. The rest of the flock beat her head up pretty good before I found her in the morning. I coated her head with Blu-Kote and put her back in with the others for a while before I let them all out for the day... she was fine, just looked funny. They left her alone, but I am sure were laughin' at her, lol.

I've also rescued a few hanging free range dummies that happened to find a stray hay tie or feed bag string, get it wrapped around a leg and then get stuck in their roosting tree. One bird took a day to recover it's equilibrium, and had a sore leg/limp for several days after. When I found it, it was not moving, thought it was dead!

So I try to be really careful and throw away all the hay strings and feed bag strings because of this... and even then I had one that got both feet tangled up in a ball of wadded up horse tail hair that I had brushed out of my horses one day (it was in a bucket, sittin' up on the tail gate of my truck so the birds WOULD NOT GET TANGLED IN IT! Dang nosy birds!). The bird was hopping around like a kangaroo rather efficiently, took me over an hour to catch the dang thing

And people call me crazy for doing a roll call with my birds AM and PM, lol. (I'm actually checkin' for idiots!).

 

[perchie.girl]

Yep 19.... I found out that the feed store would order from the hatchery exactly the amount of males and females you want. And you dont have to pay for shipping or for that one little female that spraddled and didnt make it. So I have 14 females and 5 males. and somewhere along the line I wound up with Two silky Roos one Barred rock Roo and one Auracana roo and an Auracana pullet. I need to update my breeds. I passed up on the Sumatra Eggs when I found the Auracanas on craigslist. The gal sound familiar and I went back through the San Diego meetups.and found that i knew her. So I PMed her and Yep it was her she needed to clear out her bachelor pen to turn it back into a grow out pen. Oh and she talked me into taking the barred rock.... Both the roos are sweet. That Auracana Roo is reallllly pretty They are sharing with my two separated guineas. They are used to having guineas in their flock.

The Wellies are getting their own breed pen and as soon as I figure out which roos I want with the hens three of the boys will go into the bachelor pen. Almost there.... to getting them out of my bedroom that is. most of the fuzz is gone but not all the feathers are in.

deb

Yikes, never had that happen before, he must have just caught himself at the only exact right angle to get stuck (leave it to a bone head Guinea!). Thanks for the heads up, I have my chain link pen lined with 1" chicken wire already... but it's on the outside attached with a million zipties, hopefully nobody head butts/body slams the wire and manages to get their head stuck, cuz they will be very stuck!

19 Welsumers now too!?! Wow, major flock growth!

 

[perchie.girl]

This is the roo the flash kind of washed out his coloring. The pullet is the same color as his chest. He is about 5 months old and has a Mighty Crow.... LOL.

 

[perchie.girl]

Seen that happen many times when i had to pen some .
I have seen birds get their head caught between two chainlink panels at the corner, they miss the landing and fall right between them and can hang themselves, i have been lucky and been there when it has happens so no losses yet.
Had a bird fall upside down between two conex boxes, that did not come out so well..i found it too late thats the problem when ya have so many birds can't keep an eye on them all, all the time.
Theirs alot of hazards when free ranging

I found Miss peggy once between a cage I had in the coop and the back wall not quite upside down but definately uncomfortable. since then i either jam stuff hard up against the wall or leave about six inches walk through space. I know thats impossible with Conex boxes but we all know if there is a way.... they WILL find somehow to do themselves in.

deb

 

[PeepsCA]

Handsome bird deb! Are the Wellie Hens good broodies? If so I might want some eggs from you... lol

 

[perchie.girl]

There may be exceptions but I dont think so. If you want broodies Game bird crosses are usually very good. Cochins and Silkeys are a good choice. But for brooding guineas I would suspect game bird would be better at keeping up with Da Mob.... hee hee. Sumatras seem to go broody at the drop of a hat. I still haven't given up on them. And they are wily enough to free range along with the Guineas.

here is a great chart that lists chickens qualities in spreadsheet form....

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

deb

Handsome bird deb! Are the Wellie Hens good broodies? If so I might want some eggs from you... lol

 

[PeepsCA]

I've been considering Silkies for broodies, and some kind of docile/easy going laying Hens for eggs when my Guineas aren't laying, they'd just need their own coop/run/yard where the Guineas can't access and can be free ranged separately (add yet another project to the list, lol). But... I'm afraid once I get into "collecting "chickens" I'll go crazy like I did with Guineas!

Thanks for the chart