adding gunnies to a year old flock

[Joe.G]

I got mine at a year old, they were locked in the coop for 4 weeks, they came back the first night and the second night they stayed in the trees, after that they have come back to the coop every night. I think they stayed out that night because I had my GF put them in since I was out and she spooked them.

 

[swampducks]

As the previous poster mentioned they need to be kept in their coop for a few weeks till they really get the idea that it's home. Occasionally, mine will roost in trees but often I can tempt them back down by shaking the food can. I do often have to shake it to get them in before dark though. Trick is to get them to follow you inside before that point right before dusk when they go to roost. Stubborn little idiots.

 

[PeepsCA]

As the previous poster mentioned they need to be kept in their coop for a few weeks till they really get the idea that it's home. Occasionally, mine will roost in trees but often I can tempt them back down by shaking the food can. I do often have to shake it to get them in before dark though. Trick is to get them to follow you inside before that point right before dusk when they go to roost. Stubborn little idiots.

Yep, gotta stay one step ahead of them at all times, especially before dark or they are in the trees!

 

[wvgal61]

Oh I have just bought 4 about 6 months old, and my hens are about 5 months old, now I am not sure about mixing them

. When you say coop do you mean the building or the coop and run? And will it be ok to clip their wings so they will stay in the pen? I want to put a top on as soon as I can get home, My husband is in the hospital getting cancer treatment at the moment.

and we haven't been home in 2 months. The guy is holding them for me til he gets out. That was suppose to be 2 weeks ago , then last week, then today so hopefuly maybe this week coming

.He may have to do another round of chemo. Sorry for being long winded.

 

[swampducks]

Lookee what I got! Fourteen little guys out of 35 eggs. I didn't candle or anything, just stuck em in and waiting. Started hatching on day 27. Used the dry incubation method. Plus I have 8 more pearls coming from Townline Hatchery via my feed store next week. Were supposed to come last Wednesday so I'd have everyone the same age, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

 

[PeepsCA]

Nice little batch of Pieds!

Dry hatch huh? What exactly was your method, and what did you raise the humidity to for lock-down,or did you?

 

[swampducks]

I pretty much followed Bill Worrell's dry incubation method for chicks listed here on BYC. Only difference was I had guineas which are 28 days instead of chicken's 21 days. I locked down on day 24 and they started hatching on day 27. I have this ancient round gray metal incubator I use for the final hatching which has a shallow tray with a wire mesh cover that I filled with water, I'd guess it holds between 3/4 and 1 cup of water. I'm guessing it made the humidity about 65%. I don't have a really accurate hygrometer. I also laid down paper towels inside for better traction. I still have a couple with bad leg spraddle, don't know if the traction of lack of it was to blame but next time I'm getting some of that rubbery shelf liner you can get a dollar store really cheap.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method

Took a couple more photos today. The solid brown ones are the pearls I got from Townline Hatchery in MI through my local feed store last week. They're a week younger, but everyone is doing well except the ones with the gimpy legs. I guess they're doing as well as can be expected. I figured the bandaid method of holding their legs together would work out better than it did. Sure it got the legs under the body, but it seemed to make them unable to use their feet. Took them back off after 2 days. A third one I had used a bandaid on lost his on his own and I can't tell him from any of the others.

 

[PeepsCA]

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out... I've always been super leery of the dry incubation methods when it comes to hatching keets... but I may try it someday when I don't have a waiting list for keets and orders to fill!

Your keets look great, were you able to fix all of them that had splayed leg issues? It takes the keets a little while to figure out how to walk with the braces on, I typically have to pick the braced keets up on and off thru the day for a couple days til they get the hang of walking again, with the braces on.

 

[swampducks]

The ones with the splayed legs aren't really splayed anymore but they just walk around on the elbows. They aren't using their feet at all, I have no idea what to do. I pick them up and can bend their legs without seeming to give them any pain, I don't know if maybe they're paralyzed or what? I can't see myself giving them PT several times a day, I'm sort of a do the minimum kind of gal and you're on your own. They don't seem to be suffering, but I can't think they'll be able to keep up once they all get a bit bigger. Probably will have to cull them.

 

[PeepsCA]

Possibly slipped tendons in both hocks... 1 slipped tendon is sometimes fixable, but they usually don't recover from a double case of it. So yah, culling them would be the right thing to do IMO. Bummer for you and the keets, but eventually they'd end up with sores on their hocks and infection etc etc