California - Northern

[ronott1]

Hey all! Back from backpacking! It was AMAZING!

Our girls held in their eggs while we were gone. No eggs yet. They're 19 weeks old now.

Question:

Two of our roosters have no sickle feathers! They were there last week. Is it common for roos to pull other's tail feathers out? Will they grow back? Is this bad? The Orpington roo is the only one left with sickle feathers so I'm assuming he is the culprit....

They may have gone through the last molt.

Give them a couple of weeks.

Welcome back

 

[Nikon]

Nikon you are famous. Look what is the featured coop this week on the home page! https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-bed-breakast Congratulations!!!

Wait, what!? Just got back into civilization two days ago and decided to TRY and catch up after being in the wilderness for a week.

 

[Nikon]

Ignore: Random ramblings of a person not used to being back in town.

 

[tommysgirl]

Love that show!

We do too. We watch as a (shrinking) family. Daughter #2 was just hired to work in a similar situation, Eventing Barn, in Newton NJ. Just about 35 minutes away from her sister!! This is the best news for all of us. Haven't decided when D2 is hitting the road but probably within a week or 10 days, then our son leaves for school on the 16th. If you would have asked me if they would all be up and out by summer's end, even 2 weeks ago I would have said "Nope" and now look!

Time for more chickens???

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: I cannot look at these birds without seeing the image of a little old lady in a fur coat in my head.

 

[zooweemama]

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.

I love love love Showgirls!! I wouldn't mind having maybe 2 girls. hehe I have 2 Naked Necks and I think they are awesome sauce. And the fact that people shutter when they see them gives me sick pleasure. I personally find them pretty. But then again I like hairless cats even lol.

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!

This is what was picking off our chicks. Once they got passed 6 weeks old it stopped eating them for some reason. I am assuming we were/are dealing with younger hawks. I've heard the big adults will go after ducks and full grown chickens.

 

[zooweemama]

My camera loves Red. My Orp X Marans cross.


My juvie CLs. Aren't they looking lovely? I have 2 roos and 1 girl.


Just the girl


Of course at least one of my beloved Appleyards.



I love that i got Red in mid blink.


Irene. I have NO idea why her face is so exposed. We didn't trim her face. Her sister Mabel has a huge puffy face. Go figure. They are pretty darn good layers!

 

[ronott1]

My camera loves Red. My Orp X Marans cross.


My juvie CLs. Aren't they looking lovely? I have 2 roos and 1 girl.


Just the girl


Of course at least one of my beloved Appleyards.



I love that i got Red in mid blink.


Irene. I have NO idea why her face is so exposed. We didn't trim her face. Her sister Mabel has a huge puffy face. Go figure. They are pretty darn good layers!

Very nice looking chickens!

No Naked Neck pictures today?

 

[zooweemama]

Very nice looking chickens!

No Naked Neck pictures today?

They were being elusive. Red follows me around so she is an easy target. Irene was following Red for some reason. Maybe she learned that Red follows me and gets treats and wanted to be a part of that event. One of them (NN) is laying eggs in a hidden nest. I can't find the nest which is driving me nuts.

 

[tommysgirl]

My camera loves Red. My Orp X Marans cross.


My juvie CLs. Aren't they looking lovely? I have 2 roos and 1 girl.


Just the girl


Of course at least one of my beloved Appleyards.



I love that i got Red in mid blink.


Irene. I have NO idea why her face is so exposed. We didn't trim her face. Her sister Mabel has a huge puffy face. Go figure. They are pretty darn good layers!

So so pretty! I sat in the coop this morning taking pics. I will post them later...so there won't be a direct comparison between my shots and zooweemama's