California - Northern

[debs_flock]

Hmmm, I've been using an elbow and a one foot section with a cap on the end. We then cut a slot out of the foot long section. I'll still keep using them like that for chicks/growouts, but I need to experiment with your design. I wonder if I could put the fitting the other way round, if it would serve as a rain cap over the feed station.

 

[Meg2000000]

Hi all and I hope that you are enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day weekend! Our daughters graduated from Saint Mary's College of California on Saturday! It was a wonderful ceremony followed by a huge party on the the front lawn at the college. Happy families, Beautiful smart young people who accomplished something grand and to top it off I got to chat with members of my beloved Gaels Men's basketball team. It was a wonderful wonderful day!

Home now and thinkinking about Curly and who I should provide for him in his pen when the time comes.

So here is his personal ad. Hoping you guys can give me a hand

Handsome young blonde cockerel seeks partners in life:


Must be docile and sweet. Would prefer not to ever take a long walk on the beach since I have a bit of a limp but candidates are welcome to wander about my large yard as they wish, just don't go too far as I am not sure I can protect you as well as I should. Willing to share meal worms, yogurt and watermelon and the occasional shad. I am not opposed to fuller figured gals but think I will be of the greatest service to gals on the smaller side.

breed recommendations??? something that isn't a great forager and bears confinement is preferable. I think that Curly's mama was either a BO or a Delaware and his dad was either Ray or a smallish Golden Comet roo. He is so much lighter than anyone in my uncles pen that I am leaning towards him being from one of my Del girls.

Thanks!

Cute ad! And lots of congratulations to you and your kids!!!

So I shouldn't have separated him then? He just seemed relentless in his pursuit I mean the others are flaring up at each other but it isn't as vicious and they don't go looking for a fight.

I also have 2-3 beautiful Wheaten Ameraucana roosters. Their feather patterns are striking. Again..... I wish I could keep a rooster or two. Meanie pecked at me this morning when I went to clean up his water and food that he spilled. If I could keep one I don't think it would be him. I don't like bullies....

I would have separated him too. I have a cockerel that is 5 weeks old and is the same. He's been that way since the first few days of his life... running around relentlessly chasing and biting others. Even when the others try to run away he chases them to bite them. Hope he tastes good though. haha!

he looks very sweet!

i'm feeling bad for poor Max Jr, his mama keeps trying to ditch him (he's 5 weeks today), and he wanders around cheeping forlornly while looking for her...

Aww poor little Maxie.

Here are the newest additions to my waterfowl flock. First, the box in which the 3 goslings and 8 Barred Rock chicks (presumably all male) arrived.

Meet Zoe, Dora and Ariel.
.

Then a couple shots as soon as they got settled.

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Because I now have a 10' by 15' pool for the waterfowl, I took the "turtle sandbox" kiddie pool and scrubbed it clean, then put it on my deck. It sat in the sun - about half full - until the water was as warm as bathwater.

.
...

Although all three girls did some submarine swimming, Ariel (the smallest) was the most excited about swimming underwater.

Today, I added more water and a concrete block for resting, but haven't taken those photos yet. It's overcast, and I am not sure the water will warm up enough for a swim today. Fooey.

Thank you for the pictures and congratulations on your new little ones!! I have never seen them swim underwater. Soooo cool!

Since DH isn't re-acting to this little one, she is staying. He claims to have allergies, if he sees a cat, his eyes will start itching. Rose just loves to sleep in his lap. Was a nightmare introducing her to 3 dogs that have never lived with a cat before, let alone a 7 week old spitfire. We lost our last cat 8 years ago.

Awww! I wish my boyfriend would stop being allergic to cats (although the only time he gets cat allergies are at my parents house... hmmm) ha! I had cats growing up and miss it!

Had to share some broody pics. "
"Time for a nap kids, follow me" , clucks the hen.


Now the tricky part...trying to get all 20+ chicks under one hen, LOL.



Trisha

Trisha she is gorgeous! And what a good mama with all of those chicks. And people thing one kid is hard!

Took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend to finish covering the run. All that's left is doors and one corner! The green coop roof is growing in GREAT! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

WOW JANE! That looks amazing! Your chicks will loooove it!

Ugh. Every freakin night my chicks knock over their water(which is up on a wood block), meaning they have nothing to drink at night(from whenever the knock it over until I get up) and it leaves the sand wet. But if I take it off the wood block, they fill it with so much sand that they can't get any water.
These chicks are driving me nuts!

Maybe try getting a bigger brick? We use bigger pavers to put waterers on. My chicks only knock them over if they're close to empty anyways. Good luck!

Hi, where are you guys in the East Bay? I'm in Pleasanton.
Demaris

Welcome Demaris! I'm in Concord!

I must have hatched a "Squishy" egg. When I went out to check the babies I could only see three. They had tipped over a heavy stoneware bowl I was using for the feed. When I picked it up to re-fill it I found the fourth chick. It was chilled and wobbly, fell head first into the water!. Tucked it under my sweatshirt to warm it up and let it dry out a little. This morning it is running around like nothing happened.

Aww. What a strong little guy!

At fair 2 years ago we had a SS roo we had to call the owner to come take care of it. We would have sent it home but had to wait for P/T testing to be done. It was out for blood. When the guy came to pick it up after fair he used a stick to pin it's head to the back wall so he could grab it. I don't care how close it may have been to SOP, the temperment would have determined his fate at my house!

HAHHA omg! I would never own a rooster that was mean like that. Temperament is really important to us.

This year will be the first time that I will be using leg bands to separate hens... I don't want to mess around with buying the wrong thing over and over. I have seen aluminum adjustable, plastic spiral, all weather plastic, plastic bandettes,.... oh my goodness.

What works well , how hard are they to put on?

P.S. :links are always more than welcome

Kandi

I've used the plastic kind that just pop off when they get too tight on the babies. On the older ones I use the plastic spirals. You have to be really careful with those though. Last year my boyfriend broke his leg and had to have multiple surgeries over a week stay in the hospital. Needless to say, my chicks got ignored pretty much and within the week one of the bands cut through a chickens leg and got infected. I had to pull out the sharp spiral band from inside it's leg while tons of puss and watery stuff was coming out. It was the grossest thing ever. It healed right up with a couple days of spraying Vetericyn but it was really scary. Also, if the bands get too tight, I've had to use the tip of a credit card to get them off.

summing up my recent two months of broody craziness: in a way it was a perfect storm of we-don't know-what-we're-doing, with me being fairly new to chickens and never having hatched anything, and FIVE broody girls, staggered over 4 weeks or so, none of whom had ever been broody or hatched or raised a chick before. in short, chaos.

i think i set a total of about 40 eggs under the various girls, and quite a number never hatched -- not sure what combination of fertility problems, shipped eggs, or operator error (having too many eggs & unable to keep them all warm, or other chickens wanting to lay their eggs in the same nest, etc) contributed to that -- and a total of nine, i think, have died (weak at hatch & didn't thrive, or injured/killed by other chickens, most likely one of the broodies) -- and one broody hen i had to give away to a neighbor, as for whatever reason(s) everyone else would no longer tolerate her. outcome now is 4 mama hens with a total of 11 chicks -- all of whom seem healthy and vigorous and are happily trotting around outside the run (whenever i'm home to help supervise) learning how to scratch for bugs and etc.

lessons learned: i don't think i'll try to manage more than two or three (at most!) broodies at a time again; i'll stick to giving them 8 eggs or fewer unless they seem a lot more experienced/capable as they get older; i think my attempts to keep two of the broodies with their chicks inside enclosures, ostensibly to protect them from being picked on, backfired, as the chicks were able to wiggle through the mesh of the enclosure & then were in the flock on their own without mama's protection, and got hurt. the ones that i just left alone & didn't try to move or protect, ironically, did the best. (isolating them from the flock completely, i'm sure, works even better, but i didn't have space for that, and then they have to get re-introduced at some point -- at least all the broodies & little ones now are already fully integrated into the flock.)

i also can see the idea of using an incubator to hatch some extra eggs, then popping the hatchlings under the broody along with whatever she hatches herself could be a good idea, if i really wanted to be sure i got lots of chicks.

so, more drama than i'd anticipated, but i'm sure we (the chickens and me) will all be better at it the next time!

and thanks to all on this thread for help/suggestions at various times!

Laura - You have done such a good job with them. You have been so patient! It sucks that you had to go through all of that drama but you aren't the only one that got some good info off of your questions!

I've had a rough week, but been thoroughly enjoying everyone's chicks, ducklings, coops, and stories, so thanks for the pleasant distractions!

My 7-year old Italian Greyhound was diagnosed with acute kidney failure last Tuesday and given about a month to live. Apparently her kidneys are congenitally abnormal, but up until very recently her bloodwork was looking just fine and no one had considered doing the expensive ultrasound that they discovered the abnormality with. I "rescued" her from a backyard breeder on Craigslist 4 years ago, and I'm a bit curious how much the woman knew and didn't tell me. Regardless, I've been doing all sorts of research and trying everything to extend this little dog's life. I just can't imagine coming home and not being greeted at the front door by a wagging tail! I know you're all chicken people, but if anyone has had a dog with kidney failure and knows any tricks, I'd love to hear them.

In chicken-related news, I've been awakened early the last two days by predators in the backyard pestering my chicks! (They're about...3 months old and fully grown, so not really "chicks"). Yesterday I heard some clucking and peeked out to see a cat in the yard, which my tiniest Sebright hen was walking TOWARDS with murder in her eyes. Kayle is the pluckiest little thing, honestly. I sprinted out to intervene in pajamas and underwear, clapping and yelling. Good thing none of the neighbors were up early to see! This morning I heard my chickens complaining before I even let them out of their coop for the day, and kind of rolled my eyes as I peeked out the window, thinking the chicks were being a bit dramatic for 7 am. There were two MASSIVE crows hopping circles and flying around the coop, totally terrifying my babies! Of course, I had to run back out and chase them off in my pajamas again. I swear, if there is a raccoon or a snake or something out there at 7 am tomorrow morning, I won't even be surprised. It's just been that kind of week.

I am so sorry to hear about your dog. I wish I was far enough in my studies to be able to help you. Suffering animals break my heart.

 

[PetRock]

Thank Debi! Those are cool. About how far up do you have the open ends of the pipe? And does the food go all the way to the bottom or do you block it right below the openings?

I cut a circle from a flexible kitchen cutting mat and glued it at the bottom of the v part of the y so the food wouldn't sit in the base. We have been using these for almost 2 years and I have no complaints at all. About twice a year, I let them empty them out and I clean out any dust. My 2 feeders that are in the run open in the area underneath the coop so have a coop rain cover. We also cover our run in the winter with a tarp to give the chickens and the feeders a no rain zone.

 

[PetRock]

Hmmm, I've been using an elbow and a one foot section with a cap on the end. We then cut a slot out of the foot long section. I'll still keep using them like that for chicks/growouts, but I need to experiment with your design. I wonder if I could put the fitting the other way round, if it would serve as a rain cap over the feed station.

We tried the elbow thing with a 2 foot section that had a hole cut in the top of it. We struggled with the right angle, etc. and we just weren't happy with it. Then we made these feeders with the y piece and have been very happy with them!

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: They had two different elbow pieces. The one is a 90 degree angle and one we bought is a much steeper curve. We've made six so far and they are working well. The food hasn't backed up in them, the chickens are able to peck at the corner and keep everything flowing. I'm afraid in our grow out pens, there wouldn't be enough feeding space with a Y, the one foot section works well. We have two of the feeders in each grow out pen, so there is around 4 feet of feeding space (two feeders, each side).

 

[lizanne]

can you get a better pic of the medium? may be a boy

congrats

Here is the questionable one. It has a white spot on it's head, like the other boys....

 

[GallusGirl]

Thanks! These both sound great, and look readily available! I'll inquire at the vet tomorrow. My little one is already on the Aluminum Hydroxide, Famotidine, and Sulfate for her stomach, although I'm hoping that with time the gastric distress will pass. Basenjis are such unique creatures!

Hi, about your dog's kidney failure. I have a 16.5 year old Basenji with kidney failure. I've been keeping her going, happily, for over two years now on two medicines that I get from Amazon. She's 20 lbs. She takes Azodyl , 2 am and 1 pm, emptied out of the caplets that they come in and put in her food. Azodyl has to be refrigerated. She also takes Epakitin powder, 2/3 scoop am and pm in her food. She's been doing great on these.
She started throwing up her dog food so the vet wanted to calm her tummy and protect the lining from losing too much protein or something like that. So, the vet just added Aluminum Hydroxide Gel 320mg/5ml last week. She get 5ml squirted into her grumpy little mouth before each of her meals. It smells minty and I know she hates it. She also takes one 5mg tablet of Enalapril at night wrapped in a Greenies Pill Pocket. She will also start taking Pepcid OTC 1/2 of a 10 mg tablet 2x a day to protect her stomach and intestines from irritation caused by kidney disease.
She's doing amazing, people are shocked when I tell her age, She acts about 5 years old and begs like mad. We call her "the pushy old broad" ;-)
Ask your vet about this stuff. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Demaris

 

[ronott1]

Here is the questionable one. It has a white spot on it's head, like the other boys....

From my limited hatching of the Crele Penedesencas, that one does not look gray enough to be a Cockerel. The dot is not what you look for.

Jason is the real expert though.....

 

[PetRock]

They had two different elbow pieces. The one is a 90 degree angle and one we bought is a much steeper curve. We've made six so far and they are working well. The food hasn't backed up in them, the chickens are able to peck at the corner and keep everything flowing. I'm afraid in our grow out pens, there wouldn't be enough feeding space with a Y, the one foot section works well. We have two of the feeders in each grow out pen, so there is around 4 feet of feeding space (two feeders, each side).

I have only used the y ones with adult or close to adult birds. The babies and grow outs all have the old fashioned kind of chick feeders and dog bowls. I have extra PVC pipe around here and an assortment of elbows. I may have to talk DH into making one like yours for the grow out pen.

 

[lizanne]

From my limited hatching of the Crele Penedesencas, that one does not look gray enough to be a Cockerel. The dot is not what you look for.

Jason is the real expert though.....

That one is weird. It's lighter than the girl, but darker than the boys....