California - Northern

[debs_flock]

P.S. - I was kidding about the ugly - I think he is very handsome! If you want to see weird - go look at Turkens(Naked Necks) and Showgirls.. now THATS wierd! (Sorry Chiqita) There are also some really ugly Cornish out there somewhere.. saw ones that looked like they had diseased legs and faces - ugh!

Hey now, don't be picking on my cute little showgirls, Priscilla at the fair.

And do they go broody?
This was her mother Earlene with earlier siblings.

 

[liz9910]

Hey now, don't be picking on my cute little showgirls, Priscilla at the fair. And do they go broody? This was her mother Earlene with earlier siblings.

Can they see better than Silkies? I always felt bad for my Silkies because they had such limited vision

 

[Flowers of Abba]

Pipsqueak . And not camera shy. Half the size of my Martha and still dive in and went for her. Can anyone identify with this not so great phone picture? We mostly have falcon and eagles here and never in my yard!

 

[tommysgirl]

Good Monday morning...my last of the summer. Heading back to work in 1 week. School starts on the 14th

In response to moulting question, this would be the first time my older birds have gone through it but there are quite a few white feathers on the poop tray so I think the Del girls are but they don't look raggedy yet.

One of the NH bachelors is looking absurdly sparse around his neck so he appears to be moulting

Ozzie was trying to make time with Vivian and instead of chasing him off she moved away...progress!

When will he learn to "treat" them? When I hand feed treats he would take EVERYTHING if the big girls would allow it. He doesn't seem to understand when I tell him that is counterproductive to his ultimate goal.

Are Polish loud? My polish cross talks to me non-stop when I am out with them.

I love the mental image of a big pumpkin with a bunch of holes cut into it and a flock of chickens with their heads inside.

Curly's quarters have been started. I hope they will be ready by the time Beakface is done mothering the chicks so that I can put them in with Curly if things go south for them in the big run without her protection. I see that she is tolerating even the young girls chasing them a bit now so I imagine that is part of the letting go process and we aren't too far from that point.

Question: My EE, Rose had a cool blue beard growng in and someone is plucking it. I suspect Norma Rae because I have seen her pecking at the neck feathers of another pullet who just sat there and let her. Their coop/run are big enough to handle the number of birds. They are getting a flock raiser with 20% protein and free range for most of the day so it's not a spacing or dietary thing.

Is it just curiosity and..."Here you have some feathers where they don't belong, let me help you out?"

 

[Flowers of Abba]

Let me get ten ft away. When u realized it was a predictor I went for the pellet gun. Boy am I rusty.

 

[tommysgirl]

Pipsqueak . And not camera shy. Half the size of my Martha and still dive in and went for her. Can anyone identify with this not so great phone picture? We mostly have falcon and eagles here and never in my yard!

Scary thing to witness I bet. Glad he missed her. It is hard to tell but could it be a juvie Coopers Hawk? Do you have Osprey and are you close enough to the water to be in their path?

 

[debs_flock]

Quote:
Most of them can, but it depends on the individual bird. Priscilla has no problems seeing, her eyes aren't blocked at all. I have a paint roo with a very full beard, his vision is blocked almost as much as any SQ silkie. Pet/feed store quality usually don't have too many problems, they aren't nearly as feathered as SQ.

 

[ronott1]

Good Monday morning...my last of the summer. Heading back to work in 1 week. School starts on the 14th

In response to moulting question, this would be the first time my older birds have gone through it but there are quite a few white feathers on the poop tray so I think the Del girls are but they don't look raggedy yet.

One of the NH bachelors is looking absurdly sparse around his neck so he appears to be moulting

Ozzie was trying to make time with Vivian and instead of chasing him off she moved away...progress!

When will he learn to "treat" them? When I hand feed treats he would take EVERYTHING if the big girls would allow it. He doesn't seem to understand when I tell him that is counterproductive to his ultimate goal.

Are Polish loud? My polish cross talks to me non-stop when I am out with them.

I love the mental image of a big pumpkin with a bunch of holes cut into it and a flock of chickens with their heads inside.

Curly's quarters have been started. I hope they will be ready by the time Beakface is done mothering the chicks so that I can put them in with Curly if things go south for them in the big run without her protection. I see that she is tolerating even the young girls chasing them a bit now so I imagine that is part of the letting go process and we aren't too far from that point.

Question: My EE, Rose had a cool blue beard growng in and someone is plucking it. I suspect Norma Rae because I have seen her pecking at the neck feathers of another pullet who just sat there and let her. Their coop/run are big enough to handle the number of birds. They are getting a flock raiser with 20% protein and free range for most of the day so it's not a spacing or dietary thing.

Is it just curiosity and..."Here you have some feathers where they don't belong, let me help you out?"

Your boy may be a slow learner, LOL! He should get it though.

I have read that EE beards just look too delicious sometimes. I doubt the feed will help. They make feather pulling clips that you can put on the beak of the offending chickens. They can eat but not pull out feathers.

 

[PetRock]

Here is a pic off the internet of a juvenile Cooper's hawk:

We have one hunting in our backyard. It actually swooped me and the birds one day last week. Two days later, I went out early in the morning to let the chickens out. I always let the young ones out in the aviary first then give some sprouted seeds to the Bobwhite quail. Every one of the quail in the two big pens were frozen in place. I could have picked up any one of them. They didn't even move a muscle when I waved my hand in front of them. I walked out into the yard and there was that Cooper's hawk sitting up in our cork tree scoping out the yard. I chased him away and didn't let the chickens out in that part of the yard for quite a while after that. I have a new respect for my quail. The young chickens were just running around in the covered aviary while the hawk was there but the quail knew better!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Chickemamma
Showgirls still go broody. Maybe not quite as much. But when they are not broody they lay every day or every other day.

Those sq silkies only lay if they feel like it. They like to sit in the nest box but do not feel compelled to do anything.

I was pleasantly surprised today - two eggs from the SQ coop - so I guess my girl feels like it. That is two eggs in the nest in the last two days...

Quote: Ok Deb, are you saying that is NOT weird?

And that one is even homozygous for NN - so no bow-tie!

I didn't say the Showgirls were ugly - I said they were weird.. and that's my story and I'm Sticking To It