Arizona Chickens

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pastrymama said:
so i went out last night to candle eggs under the plethera of broodies
barnie.gif
i ended up tossing 3/4 paint silkie eggs under the two broody silkie girls and 1/4 EO eggs under the basque girl. i went to check on the harlequin duck, who is not due until halloween, i had kicked out her 2 broody mates since they all kept stepping on the eggs and cracking them. much to my surprise, she was sitting on a brand new runner duckling! mama duck bit me and flew out of the box, so i put the baby in my pocket and went in the house. the fireman looked at me like i was up to something and i simply explained that i didn't know where it came from. it was too early and they weren't following the rules. 28 days for duck incubation, not 23!!!!! he tells me i have lost control of my farm. i put the baby back with psycho mama and hopefully baby is still fine this morning. i haven't been out yet. i need to go get baby duck feed since i am unprepared.
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Congratulations! I know this maybe a stressful time going through all this, but this is just funny to me. Not laughing at you, just laughing at mother nature versus books/internet guides. That's were I get all my information anyways. However, I am finding they are just that, good guides, but not what actually happens. I have to laugh at the fireman's comment. "You've lost control of your farm!"
lau.gif

Did any of us ever have control of these creatures we have living in our yards?
smile.png
Most everything I do revolves around my chickens.
I need to let them out in the morning, refill the water, make sure they have food, check for eggs. Are any of them sneezing, limping, loosing feathers? Are they all there? We just got new chicks so...Why are they making so much noise..are they okay? Do they have sticky butt? Do they have water? Gotta replace the shavings, fresh water, add food. Take them out for outside time. Are there any predators around. And on and on and on.
 
Training on Nipple Waterer.

I reinstalled my "reburbished" homer bucket nipple waterer a couple of days ago and they don't want anything to do with it. I even put peanut butter on the nipples. I've gone out several times a day and snapped them over (my son trained them with scratch to come at the sound of snapping) and work the nipple to release water but they don't even care. Now they are out there yelling their heads off because I won't refill their old waterer.

Help!
 
noodlegirl said:
Training on Nipple Waterer.

I reinstalled my "reburbished" homer bucket nipple waterer a couple of days ago and they don't want anything to do with it. I even put peanut butter on the nipples. I've gone out several times a day and snapped them over (my son trained them with scratch to come at the sound of snapping) and work the nipple to release water but they don't even care. Now they are out there yelling their heads off because I won't refill their old waterer.

Help!
Click to expand...

It can be a bit tough to train an older bird to use the nipples. I had a hard time with it myself. However, if you're ever going to do it, this is the time of year. As you've done, withhold all other sources of water. That will increase their thirst drive and facilitate learning. A couple of hours should work. What I did was sit outside the pen and reach through with a narrow stick and tap at the nipples to make water come through. It took me some time, doing a few 20 minute sessions separated by 20 minutes with no training. Eventually, they all picked up on it. After that you have to keep other water sources away for at least a few days, if not permanently. You may also have to do the training again tomorrow as they will easily forget overnight. It's ever so much easier to have them on nipples from about day two or so after hatching. They learn it very quickly then. Also, does your bucket have a tiny hole in the lid to allow air in? Without one a vacuum will form preventing water from coming out. It sounds like you do since you note that you were able to release some water from the nipples, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

ETA: Oh, make sure the old waterer is out of their sight. It will also help if the new waterer is in the same place as the old.

Another edit: Hmmm...is that bucket HD orange? I wonder if it might be harder with that color. The contrast of a white bucket with the red nipples might be easier for them to learn from. Anybody else have nipples in an orange bucket that chickens successfully learned to drink from?
 
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pastrymama said:
so i went out last night to candle eggs under the plethera of broodies
barnie.gif
i ended up tossing 3/4 paint silkie eggs under the two broody silkie girls and 1/4 EO eggs under the basque girl. i went to check on the harlequin duck, who is not due until halloween, i had kicked out her 2 broody mates since they all kept stepping on the eggs and cracking them. much to my surprise, she was sitting on a brand new runner duckling! mama duck bit me and flew out of the box, so i put the baby in my pocket and went in the house. the fireman looked at me like i was up to something and i simply explained that i didn't know where it came from. it was too early and they weren't following the rules. 28 days for duck incubation, not 23!!!!! he tells me i have lost control of my farm. i put the baby back with psycho mama and hopefully baby is still fine this morning. i haven't been out yet. i need to go get baby duck feed since i am unprepared.
hide.gif
Click to expand...

lau.gif
What a fun early surprise!
 
Gallo del Cielo said:
It can be a bit tough to train an older bird to use the nipples. I had a hard time with it myself. However, if you're ever going to do it, this is the time of year. As you've done, withhold all other sources of water. That will increase their thirst drive and facilitate learning. A couple of hours should work. What I did was sit outside the pen and reach through with a narrow stick and tap at the nipples to make water come through. It took me some time, doing a few 20 minute sessions separated by 20 minutes with no training. Eventually, they all picked up on it. After that you have to keep other water sources away for at least a few days, if not permanently. You may also have to do the training again tomorrow as they will easily forget overnight. It's ever so much easier to have them on nipples from about day two or so after hatching. They learn it very quickly then. Also, does your bucket have a tiny hole in the lid to allow air in? Without one a vacuum will form preventing water from coming out. It sounds like you do since you note that you were able to release some water from the nipples, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

ETA: Oh, make sure the old waterer is out of their sight. It will also help if the new waterer is in the same place as the old.
Click to expand...
Thanks Gallo,
They are about 18 mths. I'm hoping they will catch on soon. This is where I wish I had built the 4' pen/house taller cause the bending over is killing me.
 
Good one Pastrymama! and congrats Gallo!

Here is the first chick I have been allowed to see, a little silkie, I saw legs and toes...and the evil mamas....I am going to go put a chair out there I think...and fire up the bator just in case :)


 
noodlegirl said:
Thanks Gallo,
They are about 18 mths. I'm hoping they will catch on soon. This is where I wish I had built the 4' pen/house taller cause the bending over is killing me.
Click to expand...
This may sound silly, but I was at a swap meet a few weeks ago and bought a couple of those grey colored folding metal chairs. They have been a God-send. You may want to just put a chair out there to sit on.

I made my first waterer out of one of the orange buckets from HD, but I had added an extra hole for the pipe extension I had planned. I had thought to make an extension for the (now) broody bantam, but it turned out she didn't need it and didn't want it, so I replaced that whole bucket with one I received from a market that I shop at. They are now saving their buckets from me as I have been making waterers for others that have never seen them. All my watering buckets are now white, but I have to say, I don't think the color effected the chickens at all. The first group took maybe fifteen minutes to learn what it was, and the since the two runs are close together, the second group was attacking the nipples even as I was adding water to their bucket.

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