California - Northern

[Audio51]

oh never mind, deleted my post, this thread moves so quick!

It definitley does!

Cute fuzzies everywhere!

Nikki....these are adorable! Did you hatch them or buy them? What kind are they?

Last Sat, I lost one of my oldest hens. She was a hatchery Silver-laced Wyandotte and was 4 1/2 yr old. She seemed fine when I let the chickens out at 6:30 and I saw her eating the wet feed with supplements that I give them at around 7. 2 hours later, Monet found her dead in the middle of the yard. Since it was Sat, I soaped her up, bagged her, and kept her in a cooler with ice until Mon. FedEx was open on Mon but I didn't realize until I got there that they were not doing any pickups that day. I feel sorry for the tech who had to open that box on Wed afternoon. I asked them to test for all kinds of things. The prelim report came in last night. The result was death due to intra-abdominal hemorrhage secondary to liver rupture (Fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome). They said that she was an over-conditioned hen with lots of fat. I weighed her before packing her up and she weighed 7 lb. I guess that I killed her with kindness and too many treats. This is not the first older hen that I have lost to this. I have been giving my flock some dietary supplements that are supposed to help with liver health such as mild thistle seed powder, kelp powder, alfalfa powder, etc. I do give my flock sprouted BOSS but not very much of it. The grandkids love to feed their leftovers to the girls so I guess I should curtail that. Does anyone have experience with counteracting this condition?

Aww...so sorry you lost her.. It sounds like she had a great life. WHen I died I want to come back as one of your chickens....

I'm going to try uploading a couple of pics I took of my broody-tease (yes, she seems to be at it again!) I'm on my phone, so we'll see...





If nothing else, the golf ball we found under a tree a few days ago and put in a mast box is nice and warm...

Adding: it worked! She's much less flattened out than she usually is when I get all excited, though. I also have a couple short videos, but I will put them up later.

She looks pretty pancaked to me... Sure hope she sticks!

I'm finally on my computer, so I can get my YouTube links

Wow...you could loose a finger that way. Mine screech but don't peck thankfully.

I cannot bring myself to apologize for picture spam this time.
All I could do was scream "NO!" and fall down crying when I found you lifeless. I spent a good portion of yesterday and today crying because I will never again see you come running every time I called your name, I'll never again see you fly up to eat from the food pail as I carried it back to the coop. I wish I could see you just one more time walking through my house when the back door got left open. I wish you would fly over the fence again just so you could go scratch around in the grass while my dog tries to herd you back to the coop - and you totally ignore her because you know she's all bark and no bite. I love how you liked to perch on my arm, and I love how you always started 'talking' every time you'd see me. You will always be my favorite bird, there will never be another you.
"I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day."
Rest in peace my sweet Carolina.

Awww...so sorry to hear you lost her. She was definitely a beautiful girl. Wouldn't is be a great way to honor her by submitting a picture for the calender. I think the one of the 2 on the fence would be perfect!

The accepted Center off Ca. be found in the San Joaquin Valley in Madera Co. which also may be the backyard chicken capitol of the State as well.

Welcome to the group!

Wow, have you guys seen Papa Brooder's Chocolate Orpingtons? They're so beautiful.

I have been tempted by them too....but they are pricey. Probably a good thing. I have too many and just sold my Rock Island grocery store egg Trio yesterday...

Thought I'd share here too. My very first extraction of my honey. I'm so excited and it's delicious!

Well, they were starting to draw out comb on the 2nd super, but no honey in it. I only extracted 8 frames because the outer 2 frames were only capped on one side. Now I have to figure out what to do with those frames because I'll need to take the super off the hive to treat for mites.

It's hard to do the work and take pictures, but here is what I got with my phone. It looks like I'll end up with 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of honey. It's still draining and straining, but I came in to have lunch. Keep in mind this is my first time harvesting, so I'm certainly not a pro at this.


I chose to extract in our well house. It is a sealed building with lighting, so it seemed like a good choice. All set up and ready to go:


Borrowed extractor and double sieve ready.


The person I borrowed the extractor from had this homemade cappings tank. My hot knife, which was very handy once I figured out how to use it correctly.


I chose to use a fume board to get the bees out of the supers. I chose the non-toxic spray Fishers Bee Quick. It worked really well, only a few bees left on the frames to brush off. You spray it on the felt on the underside of this board on top, and the bees clear out of the super in 2-5 minutes.


Frames of capped honey.




After I took the knife to them, but before using the cappings scratcher.




Ready to go for a spin.


And the honey begins to flow out of the extractor into the sieve.


Frames after extraction. They went back into the hive for the bees to clean them up.


Getting more honey now. Pretty amber color.


Had to take a break and let the sieve catch up.


Cappings draining into the tub below, so I can take the honey from that too.


I'm glad I did this in the morning, it was starting to get hotter and the bees were less patient. I had the smoker ready to go, but I didn't need it. No stings either, though 1 bee was trying like heck to get me.

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

This brings back so many memories for raising bees with my daughter for 4-H. We have an Apiarist who lived nearby and he was the leader for the project. We used all of his equipment for extracting.

Hi Ya'll. I have not been on BYC for awhile so I thought I would stop in and say Hi! Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Hi! Hope all is well with you!

@BCollie i just hatched 10 chocolate orp chicks from Jeff. There's no way i'm keeping them all. I plan to grow them out & I'd be happy to let you know if i get any chocolare orp pullets. The chicks are so fat & round!

What perfect timing! Sounds like it was meant to be...

 

[BCollie]

Quote:

BCollie, my Wyandotte's didn't start laying till 6 months but Dude's comb and wattles were much redder. I also don't see the wing bars that my juvenile males developed. I got rid of the young ones earlier at about 2 months but I could see the bar coming in on them. I think you have a pullet.

Yay! I'm glad you guys think it's a girl because that's the one of the 4 Wyandottes that I have that I want to keep. I was thinking though that the saddle feathers(second picture) and the neck feathers look more pointed than they do on my hens? That's why I was wondering. That, and because one of the four has no comb and hardly any wattles to speak of, so she's definitely a girl and makes the other 3 look VERY boy-ish.

 

[chrissyr]

@Chrissyr, thank you, she definitely was. I feel bad sending her in for necropsy instead of burying her. But I have to know what the CoD is.

I agree. To know is peace of mind.

 

[Happy Chooks]

What do you guys think, is this chick a girl or a boy? 5 month old.

Pullet.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

 

[ronott1]

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

It must be the year of the chicken dinner!

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Hi Ya'll. I have not been on BYC for awhile so I thought I would stop in and say Hi! Hope everyone is having a great summer.

howdy

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

i hear you

 

[caychris]

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

Well I got rid of 1. 5 more to go. One of my Pita Pintas is starting to Crow now too and he is outside at least he has a rather short quite crow, at the moment, my singing hens are louder than him.


My 2 porch sitters went into the coop last night. I wonder if it had anything to do with the male delaware in the cage opposite them. He is gone now and things are back to normal.

 

[ronott1]

Well I got rid of 1. 5 more to go. One of my Pita Pintas is starting to Crow now too and he is outside at least he has a rather short quite crow, at the moment, my singing hens are louder than him.


My 2 porch sitters went into the coop last night. I wonder if it had anything to do with the male delaware in the cage opposite them. He is gone now and things are back to normal.

Congrats Chris!

Yes, removing one chicken can really help sometimes.

 

[DoubleMM]

It's pretty bad when you remove 6 cockerels from your coop, then go out the next morning and it doesn't even look like you made a dent in the cockerels out there.

At least 5 more Welsummer boys are still in there and an uncountable amount of Barnevelder males.

I thought this was supposed to be the year of the pullet!

I too have had a big year of cockerels... Wish my kids would stop naming them... perhaps then...we could eat them.