California - Northern

[SpringPeeper]

With my prior two broody experiences I kept the chicks around until way after they were weaned. On Tuesday I sold Normas three boys at 2.5 weeks and tomorrow I am anticipating selling the 4 girls from her hatch. They will be 3 weeks old. What should I expect from mama? Will she shake it off or do they do the chicken equivalent of mourning? I am feeling badly for her. I didn't intend to do this as I was going to keep a boy and a girl but then they were popular. Am I a terrible home wrecker?

I've had hens be 'done' with their chicks as early as 3 weeks. Hopefully she isn't too upset by it. By three weeks, it doesn't seem to stress them out as much to not be able to keep constant tabs on them. A lot of mama hens are still willing to play mama hens for double or triple that time, but by three weeks they don't seem to have that crazy NEED to anymore.

 

[dragonlady12]

Welcome think you can get a few more species/breeds in there LOL.

Sure. Why not? LOL

 

[chiqita]

Too funny! Pretty bird, despite the punk rock dye job.

We got the Cackle Hatchery shipment today! Exciting. Lots of beautiful assorted frypan chicks, most relatively easy to identify, but one that has me a little confused. I may post him here for opinions when I find my dang camera I JUST had out, ugh. Out of the box of 50 meaties and a few breed-specific pullets I ordered, of COURSE the only DOA was one of my pullets, and one other is looking shaky- both Faverolles. I did find an unmarked Faverolle mixed in with the frypan birds. Probably a cockerel, but I can hope. The rest of the chicks look great, though.

Ok how the heck is a fav a frypan bird? Or are they just all boys of muxed breeds? Or is my brain missing something?

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: I think the implication is it was a packing peanut. One less chick for them to dispose of.

 

[member 142084]

Ordered from Cackle once gave me an chick out of place once. I ordered Buff Orpingtons, And there was 1 extra, plus one yellow chick.. turned out to be a fryer

I got my Golden comets from Healthy hatchery and they are all in good Shape, not a single one has died yay!

 

[BCollie]

Hey guys, can I feed my chickens Honeydew seeds?

 

[Audio51]

Audio, I can't bring myself to eat quail eggs. I have no problem selling them or drying them to sell as ornamental eggs. They are just so pretty to look at. Since DH made the mistake of saying he would like more quail I guess I'll have to cook some 17 days.

I don't eat many bantam eggs either, I blow out plenty of them.

The Bobwhite eggs were just plain old white eggs. I would probably not have a problem eating those. The Coturnix eggs are beautiful! I don;t know how I would feel about eating that. But thren,,,the Ameraucana eggs are gorgeous too and I don;t have any problem eating them.

my new babies

Very nice birds, Nikki! They will make a nice addition to yur flock!

Quote: Maybe it thought to was a quail..

Because sometimes mistakes are funny. I read somewhere that food die could be used to mark chicks. I had one chick that was acting funny. It was hard to spot because that group of chicks all looked alike. I thought I'd get smart and use food color. All I had was the food gel used in fondant. Then the chicks all slept in a pile and I got this.

Are they all like that now?

Actually California has three distinct areas. Northern California is a line drawn from Sacramento across the state. Southern California is all that area below a line drawn across about 20 miles south of Bakersfield. The rest is Central California. You have to remember that most folks in Southern California believe that the Golden Gate Bridge is the Oregon border. LOL. Having been raised in Northern California (Yreka, Redding, & Chico) there is a noticeable change in culture and attitude below it. One can actually cut the state up left to right rather than up and down. The coastal range and the Sierra Nevada's separate the Central Area from the Left Coast and the Mountain Folks. The Coastal area is typical the liberal bastion, the Central area the more conservative leaning, and the Mountain area where the Ultra right constitutionalists live.

Welcome to the group!!

With my prior two broody experiences I kept the chicks around until way after they were weaned. On Tuesday I sold Normas three boys at 2.5 weeks and tomorrow I am anticipating selling the 4 girls from her hatch. They will be 3 weeks old. What should I expect from mama? Will she shake it off or do they do the chicken equivalent of mourning? I am feeling badly for her. I didn't intend to do this as I was going to keep a boy and a girl but then they were popular. Am I a terrible home wrecker?

I think she will be ok by the next day. When I kicked the banty cochin out of the broody cook after she killed chicks, she was over it in about 2 days...but the chicks were still within sight and sound with the other broody. She just couldn't get in with them

Quote: There is no such thing as too many

 

[Audio51]

OK....I did it...I processed my first meatie....all by myself. It is now resting comfortably in the fridge. It was not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Took me about an hour and half from start to finish, but the next ones will go faster now that I know what I am doing. Plucking took the longest of course. He was 4.4 lbs pre-process and finished out 3.6. I found a great thread here with pictures that really helped. Here he is...ready to bag and tag.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Skinny, sickly chicken but very full crop? Just treated for mites/lice which I know they have bad right now. Could the mites be the culprit for her condition? Didn't go through this last year

 

[ronott1]

Hey guys, can I feed my chickens Honeydew seeds?

Yes, Mellon seeds are very good for them to eat. I give them pumpkin seeds in the fall.

Make sure they have grit of course.