California - Northern

[zooweemama]

So sorry you lost a chick.

I'd give the injured one a few days to recover. Chances are he'll get better on his own. If for some reason he takes a turn for the worse, then I'd bring him in and give him the pamper treatment until his leg improves.

As for processing, I don't go longer than 20 weeks as the meat gets tougher after that. I do try to get close to 20 weeks though, because they put on size pretty rapidly between 13 and 20 weeks. All depends on how filled out you want them.

That Marans boy sure is pretty. Depends on your goals - if you are just breeding for your own likes, then it wouldn't hurt to keep him. But if you are wanting to breed to SOP, then I don't think you would want to keep him. I'm not all that familiar with breeding Marans as they are not a breed I am working with.

Thanks for the response! I still have a few more weeks so I will watch how he feathers and his temperament. If I kept him for myself - it would need to visually knock my socks. He is totally not SOP. He actually looks like an entirely different Marans...not Black Copper. Kinda neat.

I was able to ship off my dead chicken to UC Davis- the people at the Fed Ex place were SO nice! Never once did they ask what was in the box. Hope is still hanging in there. She won't make it though.

 

[lawatt]

Thanks for the response! I still have a few more weeks so I will watch how he feathers and his temperament. If I kept him for myself - it would need to visually knock my socks. He is totally not SOP. He actually looks like an entirely different Marans...not Black Copper. Kinda neat.

I was able to ship off my dead chicken to UC Davis- the people at the Fed Ex place were SO nice! Never once did they ask what was in the box. Hope is still hanging in there. She won't make it though.

he looks like a birchen marans, i think? love those silvery feathers...

and so sorry for all the illnesses you've been dealing with!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

One of my favorite places for wine. What winery were you at?
Sad news, the sick Marans chick I got last week died. I hope the rest are OK. Then one of my 4 week old WCB Polish (one of the nicest) drowned in a small water tub today. They've been drinking out of this water tub since they were tiny. Not sure why it got stuck in it today.

oh so sorry about that

 

[zooweemama]

And then Hope just died. Losing Hope does make me sad. She was our comeback kid. All the other chickens, except Sleepy (who has been off longer than Hope) are fine. Sleepy is still kicking around. Sent off the necropsy today so hopefully I will find out this week what's up with my peeps. I would love to have some answers. They all have fresh water, fresh food, misters to stay cool in the heat...they can free range and they love hiding under the fruit trees picking at fresh fallen pears.

Anyhow. Hope everyone else is doing good! See my monster duck egg?
http://instagram.com/p/Proy-QuJS8/?...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=282366635119873

That was our first duck egg sized duck egg! All the rest are medium sized chicken egg sizes up until today when some kicked down that fatty.

Anyone else looking forward to fall and pumpkins and wood smoke and orange leaves?

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Injured chicken question. Yesterday I was bringing the chickens some chopped kale and while they were eating one of my Marans cockerels dive bombed one of the Orp cockerels (2 weeks younger and a little smaller). Knocked him clean over and skidded and rolled. Then when he (Orp) tried to get up he kept flopping over. He eventually did get up. Loses balance sometimes and def favors his left leg. This morning he is getting around fine but I do notice him still favoring his left leg. Should I leave him alone? I looked at his leg and didn't see anything amiss but I am not really sure what I would be looking for anything in the leg. Didn't seem swollen but I haven't inspected closely this morning. I def notice the cockerels becoming more aggressive with one another now. The cockerels are all now 13 and 15 weeks old. I should be culling soon right? (freezer camp, I mean)

Also I have this one cockerel who is TOTALLY wrong as a BCM but he is really starting to look kinda cool.





He is looking even more tan around the neck now too. This image is 2 weeks old.

He is starting to look more like this...
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&...175&start=0&ndsp=43&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0,i:110

Should I hang on to him? He is getting big, feathering nicely and his coloring looks a lot like the birchen...seems a shame to eat him for some reason! LOL

sorry about the orp.
I like this one almost looks like a birchen pattern to me with a little different coloring

 

[HighNDryFarm]

And then Hope just died. Losing Hope does make me sad. She was our comeback kid. All the other chickens, except Sleepy (who has been off longer than Hope) are fine. Sleepy is still kicking around. Sent off the necropsy today so hopefully I will find out this week what's up with my peeps. I would love to have some answers. They all have fresh water, fresh food, misters to stay cool in the heat...they can free range and they love hiding under the fruit trees picking at fresh fallen pears.

Anyhow. Hope everyone else is doing good! See my monster duck egg?
http://instagram.com/p/Proy-QuJS8/?...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=282366635119873

That was our first duck egg sized duck egg! All the rest are medium sized chicken egg sizes up until today when some kicked down that fatty.

Anyone else looking forward to fall and pumpkins and wood smoke and orange leaves?

I'm sorry....I'm glad the waiting for the inevitable is over but it's still hard. I know you take good care of them. You've done so much to give them a good home and you're enjoying them. I sure hope they find something conclusive and that it's something you can fix!

Your reference to fall brought a wonderful feeling. I love the change of seasons....all of them, I'm a fan of change!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

And then Hope just died. Losing Hope does make me sad. She was our comeback kid. All the other chickens, except Sleepy (who has been off longer than Hope) are fine. Sleepy is still kicking around. Sent off the necropsy today so hopefully I will find out this week what's up with my peeps. I would love to have some answers. They all have fresh water, fresh food, misters to stay cool in the heat...they can free range and they love hiding under the fruit trees picking at fresh fallen pears.

Anyhow. Hope everyone else is doing good! See my monster duck egg?
http://instagram.com/p/Proy-QuJS8/?...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=282366635119873

That was our first duck egg sized duck egg! All the rest are medium sized chicken egg sizes up until today when some kicked down that fatty.

Anyone else looking forward to fall and pumpkins and wood smoke and orange leaves?

Amy Beth,
not sure if this would cause it but are the chickens eating the pear seeds?
Probably just starting to fall but some seeds contain trace amounts cyanide ( apples and pears do I believe) I know peaches do.
Not sure if it would be enough to make them ill but may be worth checking into.

 

[Happy Chooks]

And then Hope just died. Losing Hope does make me sad. She was our comeback kid. All the other chickens, except Sleepy (who has been off longer than Hope) are fine. Sleepy is still kicking around. Sent off the necropsy today so hopefully I will find out this week what's up with my peeps. I would love to have some answers. They all have fresh water, fresh food, misters to stay cool in the heat...they can free range and they love hiding under the fruit trees picking at fresh fallen pears.

Anyhow. Hope everyone else is doing good! See my monster duck egg?
http://instagram.com/p/Proy-QuJS8/?...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=282366635119873

That was our first duck egg sized duck egg! All the rest are medium sized chicken egg sizes up until today when some kicked down that fatty.

Anyone else looking forward to fall and pumpkins and wood smoke and orange leaves?

What about moldy feed? Did you recently start a new bag? Could be botulism.

So sorry you lost Hope, especially after you did so much to save her.

 

[Chooklet]

Chiquita - guess what followed me home from Lindsay last night?

SO tiny - maybe a button quail? Or just a very young coturnix?





with a one-week old olive-egger

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Chiquita - guess what followed me home from Lindsay last night?

SO tiny - maybe a button quail? Or just a very young coturnix?





with a one-week old olive-egger

cute