BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

We had -11 the other morning. I have 8 week old chicks in the coop and they are still under lights. I was hoping to reduce the lights but it looks like they will be on them for another 3-4 weeks. By that time they will be too big for the brooder so the tough will have to survive.
 
Beer can. I would find a way to play hooky and visit the other side of the mtn. lol We learn more when others teach a listening student. In this area such teachers are beyond rare. So much of my learning is trial n error. Thank goodness i did apply myself in college but a degree in animal science is just the first step. Ive learned much more from others in the years since but still bits n pcs at a time. Im at the point of butchering my own lambs but need an experiened teacher to go the next step.I would jump at a chance even if it was on the other side of the mtn. And i often ignore dh and do what i need to do....maybe that is the benefit of some 30 yrs together....i wish i had ignored the dh at times earlier in the relationship .....
 
WHY, WHY, WHY
yuckyuck.gif
 
OK, this is a little weird. I was doing my daily poop scoop today in the cream legbar coop, and found a little drop of dried blood on the edge of the sand tray that hadn't been there the day before. However, there was zero blood in the poops. I looked up, and against the wall of the coop by the upper roost was all this scattered dried blood (including underside of roof). A little bit of blood in the bits of bedding below but not much.




All birds seem healthy, foraging well all day - I examined all three pullets in great detail (to their chagrin), no blood, no hidden injuries under feathers (cockerel does not have long spurs yet either), vent fine, no dried blood that I could see around nose or mouth. Got three nice eggs first thing this AM. The only thing is that Paula was in the coop right before I was scooping, scratching around on the plywood floor and pecking. like she was looking for something. Dumbledore also went up a bit. They never go in there during the day except when laying. Didn't pick Dumbledore up, but got a good look at him, no blood that I could see, and he also seems fine. (He also tends to sit more to the left of this on the roost).

So, I guess it's between one of my birds having a really bad bloody nose overnight and shaking her head all over the place (which I should probably go look up), vs. them finding a small frog or baby mouse in the coop (though why it would be up on the roost is beyond me). Anybody seen anything like this?

- Ant Farm

Most of the time when I see something like this it's the result of new feathers coming in on one of the birds, and the other birds picking at those new feathers to get to the blood. I have a a few EE without tails right now because some of the other birds kept pecking at their new tail feathers.
 

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