California - Northern

[Happy Chooks]

I woke up to a nice surprise this morning: five little ducklings following one of my Cayugas. All but one of my ducks are Cayugas; I have one Call drake in the waterfowl flock. (He has taken a big Cayuga girl as his wife.). There are too many drakes - many of the girls have bald necks. Three different ducks have been on nests in various places in the yard - one of 'em is now a momma.

She has taken them all over the yard today. They are so freaking' cute!

Ducklings are just too cute for words. Congrats!

Newbie question time.

My 7.5 week old chicks (9 of them, soon to be 6) are living in their permanent coop/run as of a week and a half ago. The only time they go in the coop is at night to sleep. They all huddle together on the floor in the corner closest to the automatic door. Based on the lack of disturbance/poop in the rest of the coop, they aren't exploring the rest of the coop at all. There is a poop board with a roost too. Since it has Sweet PDZ on the poop board I can tell that they haven't gone up there either.

So, my question is... Will they figure out what/where the roost is and learn to use it on their own, or should I start sticking them up there at dusk? The only reason I haven't yet, is that it is still pretty cool at night (40's), and I figured they were huddling down there for the warmth.

It is normal for them to huddle when you move them to a new place. It's their way of feeling secure. In time, they will explore the coop and find the roosts. You can place them on the roosts to help them get the idea, but make sure they are not too high for them.

Okay, I think this'll be the last Nelly/chick picture for a while.

Adorable picture. I love the look on Nelly's face.

 

[chickee]

darn 1 of my silver ameraucana eggs was stinking . bummer. from past hatching when you have a stinker that is a bad omen

Oh no!

How do the rest of them look? Hopefully the others won't be affected. How many are growing?

 

[lawatt]

news from the coop this morning -- i've found bits of two hatched eggshells (different colors) under Frances, and one of them is an icelandic/showgirl cross, no feathers on the neck -- oh my!! the other eggshell was a bresse, but i haven't seen an all-white baby yet... need to get her moved to a better nest.

BUT more distressingly: one of Speedy's four two-day-old babies (living inside a wire exclosure pen with her) has been scalped -- the whole top of its head is completely bare and a bit bloody. i have no idea if Speedy did this, or if another chicken outside the exclosure tried to attack the baby through the wire -- quite upsetting. the chick itself seems a bit subdued but otherwise undistressed, pecking at bits of food -- but i'm not sure what i should do. leave it alone? bring it inside the house under a heat lamp? is it likely to heal?

and since i don't know who attacked it, and have at least five additional baby chicks under Frances and more soon to hatch under Daisy, i'm not sure how to avoid further chick-attacks...?

 

[ronott1]

news from the coop this morning -- i've found bits of two hatched eggshells (different colors) under Frances, and one of them is an icelandic/showgirl cross, no feathers on the neck -- oh my!! the other eggshell was a bresse, but i haven't seen an all-white baby yet... need to get her moved to a better nest.

BUT more distressingly: one of Speedy's four two-day-old babies (living inside a wire exclosure pen with her) has been scalped -- the whole top of its head is completely bare and a bit bloody. i have no idea if Speedy did this, or if another chicken outside the exclosure tried to attack the baby through the wire -- quite upsetting. the chick itself seems a bit subdued but otherwise undistressed, pecking at bits of food -- but i'm not sure what i should do. leave it alone? bring it inside the house under a heat lamp? is it likely to heal?

Bresse are yellow when they hatch--look for a yellow chick.

The scalped chick should recover. If there if no blood, wash and use betadine or a triple antibitotic without any of the cane pain relievers. I used vetricyn gel after that. If possible, twice a day.

Thank you for the update.

 

[lawatt]

Bresse are yellow when they hatch--look for a yellow chick.

The scalped chick should. If there if no blood, wash and use betadine or a triple antibitotic without any of the cane pain relievers. I used vetricyn gel after that. If possible, twice a day.

Thank you for the update.

Ron, part of your posting seems to be missing -- the scalped chick should... what? be ok? come indoors?

thank you!!!

 

[ronott1]

Ron, part of your posting seems to be missing -- the scalped chick should... what? be ok? come indoors?

thank you!!!

Oh, Sorry!

The chick should recover fine. Further thoughts: There might be a big scar where feathers won't grow and maybe the comb will be messed up too.

Chickens are tough and it is great that the chick is eating and drinking. I would make sure the access by the outside birds is tighter(maybe some 1/4 inch wire) but leave her with her Mom for now. The other chicks would not cause that much damage and the mom would have caused more.

 

[lawatt]

Oh, Sorry!

The chick should recover fine. Further thoughts: There might be a big scar where feathers won't grow and maybe the comb will be messed up too.

Chickens are tough and it is great that the chick is eating and drinking. I would make sure the access by the outside birds is tighter(maybe some 1/4 inch wire) but leave her with her Mom for now. The other chicks would not cause that much damage and the mom would have caused more.

the two mothers (Speedy and Eleanor, who's chicks are two weeks older) are incredibly aggressive toward each other through the wire, necks ruffled and pecking and really agitated -- so i suppose i will leave Speedy & her chicks in the enclosure for now. eventually they'll all have to figure it out, though...!

good news: looked again under Frances and found the all-yellow bresse chick -- so she now has one bresse, one showgirl/icelandic, and four araucanas. two bresse and one marans egg still haven't hatched -- i'll leave them under her for today but maybe remove after that, as they will then be two or three days behind the others that did hatch... and soon the other hatchlings will need to be moved to a better nest where they have easier access to food and water.

(i should add that Frances is being incredibly dedicated, since she sat on her first eggs for 27 days, and now three more on the ones that Speedy abandoned! but she still has not left the nestbox)

 

[ronott1]

My Daughters found a project--Someone put up a You Tube video with instructions for making Stargate SG1 Worm hole cookies. Of course we had to make them.

To be authentic, Blue Jolly Ranchers are used but we did not want to be limited to blue.



To make, use Butter cookie or sugar cookie dough--either home made or store bought.

Use a big cutter for the outer ring and a smaller one for the center.

Crush the jolly rancher candies--we used double sandwich bags and the flat part of a meat tenderizer. Use a cookie sheet with parchment paper--fill the hole with the cracked candy and bake at 350 for around 12 min. Depending on the cookie recipe and oven, the time could be shorter or longer.

Very fun project!

 

[debs_flock]

My Daughters found a project--Someone put up a You Tube video with instructions for making Stargate SG1 Worm hole cookies. Of course we had to make them.

To be authentic, Blue Jolly Ranchers are used but we did not want to be limited to blue.



To make, use Butter cookie or sugar cookie dough--either home made or store bought.

Use a big cutter for the outer ring and a smaller one for the center.

Crush the jolly rancher candies--we used double sandwich bags and the flat part of a meat tenderizer. Use a cookie sheet with parchment paper--fill the hole with the cracked candy and bake at 350 for around 12 min. Depending on the cookie recipe and oven, the time could be shorter or longer.

Very fun project!

LOL, just shows the generational difference.

When I was growing up (and in the old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50's), they were Stained Glass Cookies............................now they are space aged worm hole cookies,

 

[PetRock]

LOL, just shows the generational difference.

When I was growing up (and in the old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50's), they were Stained Glass Cookies............................now they are space aged worm hole cookies,

I remember making them! Fun to make, not so easy to eat! Very cool cookies, Ron!