Blue Andalusian thread!

[Thassa]

He is with a flock of 30 hens so he only gets layer rations and oyster shell is always out anyway. I can't really separate him out for any length of time because he is top boy. Could I maybe add liquid calcium of some sort to the water? He will be a year in July.

 

[Lacy Blues]

He is free ranged? He probably doesn't each much of the lay pellets then, correct? When I was able to free range any birds at all, they only at them first thing in the morning because they were hungry and then again in the evening before going to roost, they would fill up on them. So, not a huge part of the diet.

You could probably add liquid calcium to the water but I have no experience with it and therefore cannot guide you in that case at all.

Are your hens laying good hard shells on their eggs? They're getting enough calcium? There is a possibility that you could provide yogurt (plain and unsweetened) often. Its got a good calcium content to it and its really good for them in other ways too. That can get expensive.

Also, apparently meal worms are quite high in calcium but you'd have your whole flock on your lap for those!

If there is a way to separate him just for a few minutes to give him either mealworms or yogurt or both so that he is sure to get it all, that would be a possibility as well.

 

[Thassa]

He spent a good portion of the winter inside (due to frostbite on his comb) when I really noticed him walking funny, he has just gone out in the last few weeks and became head boy. We just lost our 3' deep snow cover in the last week so there really isn't much to eat yet but being top rooster I'm sure he doesn't eat as much as he should since he is too busy keeping his eyes on everyone. I can easily do yogurt, and the ladies do love it too. I can get the largest containers of plain at Aldi for $2 each.

Maybe I'll start saving water when I hardboil eggs too, that must have a good amount of calcium in it.

 

[Lacy Blues]

If you have tons of extra eggs, you can hard boil them and then smash them up shell and all. I smash them into a plastic dish pan and then take my pizza cutter to them. It takes a few minutes but it makes short work of big pieces and they get the shell along with the extra eggs.

 

[Thassa]

I do that with all my bantam eggs since I generally sell all of my large ones (or try). They either get hard boiled and served with shell or scrambled with shell. Hard boiling is less work in mass quantities though. The pizza cutter is a great idea! I usually use a potato masher but that just makes a mess.

 

[ted_marr]

Blue Andalusian s. I've had many over the years. Right now I have a Splash rooster with four hens (1 Splash, 2 whites, and one Blue. I just emptied my incubator this morning and hatched 30 little ones out of 36 eggs. Not too shabby.

 

[Chickie Lady]

Here are some pictures of my oldest blue Andalusian chick. She is very friendly and loves to be petted and recently has gotten to where she loves to be held too. I named her Sylvia, but am now questioning whether she is a girl at all as someone mentioned to me that she looks like a cockerel. I would love to hear what you all think. I guess Sylvia is kind of a funny name for a boy...lol. She is a little over 6 weeks old. I have 6 more Andalusian chicks also who are 5 weeks old. I will post pics of them later. They are a bit more skittish than this one and it's harder to get good pics. I know in some of these pics it looks like she/he has some white feathers. She actually doesn't. I think it is just the sunlight making her/his lighter blue feathers look white. What do you all think of my girl/boy?

 

[Lacy Blues]

Chickie Lady, HE is a pretty good looking little guy! Definitely a boy!

 

[Chickie Lady]

Thanks Lacy Blues. I am kind of shocked. I wasn't really planning to keep another cockerel, but I think I will have to keep him. I have gotten very attached and so far he doesn't act like a roo at all. He isn't showing any type of roo behavior yet. He isn't even trying to crow yet like my little bantams that are close to the same age. I also have 2 bantam cockerels and an Australorp cockerel that I want to keep. Also a Rhode Island Red cockerel that was supposed to be a pullet. Not sure about keeping that one yet. They are pretty but have a reputation for being mean so will wait and see. Oh boy. I may have to get rid of some that I planned on keeping. I guess I will just wait and see what happens. If it looks like there will be problems as they get older, I will just have to rehome some. Well, I guess this explains why he is so much bigger than my other 6 that are only about a week or so younger. Also the tiny spurs I noticed a couple days ago. Again, thanks so much for your help.

 

[Chickie Lady]

Guess I will have to change that name from Sylvia. Hmmm...maybe Sylvester.