California - Northern

[CALI CHICK]

Can you drop off the dead one to UCD? It is free and you will not have to guess what she died from.

Mine earlier this month was like that and it was Mareks Cancer. Yours is a bit young for that but you never know.

I checked for egg bound once, but it wound up being mites. It is mite season too. There are so many things going on.

Necropsy is free and a great way to see what happened and what the general health of your flock is.

Let me know if you need the contact information.

Ron

BB died Sunday morning and has already been buried by the chicken sitter. Is it too late to take her to UCD?

 

[debs_flock]

someone pointed out to me, early in my chicken adventure, that barn cats have been coexisting with chickens for centuries...

It would probably be fine if they were my own cats, these are feral and pretty wild. They hunt for all their food, I think that makes a difference.

Deb

 

[jbirds2012]

i think i'd have to agree with you. we live in paicines ( ok, all together now !!! WHERES PAICINES ??? ) gosh, if i had a nickle for every time i heard that. well, it's in between the coast and the central valley. so we live in central cal. not coast, not valley. yea, i guess that would explain it.

 

[jbirds2012]

Hi all!
New here. I'm from Siskiyou county. I was reading the first few pages of this and I have to tell you that the way we divide the state up here is like this: Northern CA is from the Oregon border to the Williams area, Central CA is Sacramento to Monterey, and Southern CA is everything south of Monterey. And the Central Valley is the entire San Joaquin Valley.

i think i'd have to agree with you. we live in paicines ( ok, all together now !!! WHERES PAICINES ??? ) gosh, if i had a nickle for every time i heard that. well, it's in between the coast and the central valley. so we live in central cal. not coast, not valley. yea, i guess that would explain it. ok, i think i did it right this time

 

[chickee]

I have seen posts in the past here on BYC where double yokers did hatch out two live chicks, but it is very unusual. I just set some eggs for a friend (Golden Cuckoo Marans, Bresse and bantam BLRW) and one of the Bresse eggs is huge and I am thing it has a double yoke. That would be neat if I hatch twins!

There is a Cream Legbar breeder close to me and I am very tempted to buy some eggs from her! Good thing my incubator is full.

Look at the size of the other Bresse eggs (marked PB) compared to the big one on the end. It looks even larger out of the incubator!

Hey, squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? So clucky chicken guy gets the Legbar eggs!!

(How many did you order?)

On a completely unrelated topic, will two chicks ever hatch and develop from double yolker eggs? We had a double yolker the other day and it just made me wonder.

 

[zooweemama]

just an interesting note, i've got two cats that are voracious predators, little Henry has been known to catch as many as 3 gophers in a single hour -- and i'd never trust baby chicks around either cat -- but they are turning out to be great with the chickens, haven't lifted a paw to swat or chase any of them, not even the two light sussex chicks when they were only 6-7 weeks old so more cat-snack-sized. in fact, the two cuckoo marans have started chasing Henry, as a game, rather than the other way around!

someone pointed out to me, early in my chicken adventure, that barn cats have been coexisting with chickens for centuries...

here's my other cat, Sophie, hanging out with the two silver pencilled rocks i got from Cheryl:

We have an outdoor cat that adopted us, Odie. He eats squirrel, moles, gophers, rats, mice, lizards, snakes...all that. But he lays among the ducks, geese, chickens and snoozes. Completely content. If he gets hungry he goes away and hunts, drags it back to show us sometimes and then eats. LOL He's a good boy. Wish I knew how old he was.

 

[cherylcohen]

just an interesting note, i've got two cats that are voracious predators, little Henry has been known to catch as many as 3 gophers in a single hour -- and i'd never trust baby chicks around either cat -- but they are turning out to be great with the chickens, haven't lifted a paw to swat or chase any of them, not even the two light sussex chicks when they were only 6-7 weeks old so more cat-snack-sized. in fact, the two cuckoo marans have started chasing Henry, as a game, rather than the other way around!

someone pointed out to me, early in my chicken adventure, that barn cats have been coexisting with chickens for centuries...

here's my other cat, Sophie, hanging out with the two silver pencilled rocks i got from Cheryl:

I guess the cat knows better than to mess with the head birds!

They are looking great

 

[zooweemama]

I'm back home in California!

We saw some beautiful places and had some wonderful adventures (like boulder-ing, hiking and shooting) but it's great to be home.

I am really sad that one of my silkie chickens died Sunday morning (26th). BB was found dead in the coop when the sitter was getting the cockerels out (to take in the house at 6:30 AM). There wasn't any blood or injuries to her so I'm guessing she was egg bound? I wish I had been home to observe her...We might have noticed something because we are often outside with the chickens. She had only layed about 10 eggs in the previous two weeks. Her first egg was layed on August 9 and the sitter said she had layed 2 eggs at the begining of our vacation (around the 20th and 21st) but hadn't layed any since. The other 10 chickens (6 large fowl and 4 silkies) were all perfectly fine, fortunately. Our other blue silkie, Mysty Blue ironically gave us her first egg this Wednesday. It had a lot of blood on it so I gave her a soaking bath and put A&D ointment on her vent. Then I gave her some scrambled eggs with spinach, garlic and olive oil for breakfast. Now we are worried about Mysty Blue becoming egg bound. What are the signs of a chicken being egg bound?

Oh, Buffy, our Buff Orpington is broody again so I put 4 of BB's eggs under her..........just in case they are fertile! Might as well give Buffy something to sit on. The 2 silkie cockerels are crowing and starting the mating dance but we haven't actually seen them mate. It would be awesome if BB left us some fertile eggs before her death.

Has anyone ever had a pullet attack them? Our 17 week old Welsummer, Ginger, ran up to my son today and pecked and scratched him with her claws and beak. It was really strange. She does not attack me and has never done this before (our vacation). We wondered if Ginger was upset because he hasn't been around to give her treats (mealworms) or if it was a pecking order thing?

It's really nice to be back in beautiful California which cannot be beat for its forests, lakes and rivers. And, I sure missed my BYC friends.

I'm sorry you lost a chicken. And the attack thing IS weird! Huh! I hope someone can help!

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

Until you get to the Oregon Boarder, there is always a place further north.

When I lived in Red Bluff and went to Shasta College, students from McKinleyville called us Flat Landers.

I am going to look up were you live. I used to get Green(unroasted) coffee beans from Los Osos, CA.

Ron

 

[ronott1]

I have seen posts in the past here on BYC where double yokers did hatch out two live chicks, but it is very unusual. I just set some eggs for a friend (Golden Cuckoo Marans, Bresse and bantam BLRW) and one of the Bresse eggs is huge and I am thing it has a double yoke. That would be neat if I hatch twins!

There is a Cream Legbar breeder close to me and I am very tempted to buy some eggs from her! Good thing my incubator is full.

Look at the size of the other Bresse eggs (marked PB) compared to the big one on the end. It looks even larger out of the incubator!




Quote: From what I have read, it is hard to hatch a double or triple yolker. I would still try it.

You can tell a double yolker. There will be a seam where the two shells come together. Look for a flat spot at the middle of the egg. Yes, double yolk eggs is when two eggs get formed together. Usually, the hen will only lay one of these every two days.

That is what mine did.

Ron

Quote: Cats will usually leave Large Fowl chickens alone. I did read of a large Feral Tom that would get one each night as the hens went up into the coop. It seems rare--LF hens can really hurt a cat.

Quote: It is probably too late. If another one dies, double bag and put him or her into either the refrigerator or an ice chest with ice.

Yes, I am so sorry you lost her. It is always sad.

The pecking thing--getting ready to lay that first egg? Some pullets get a bit weird but settle down soon after they start laying.

I had one of the Basque give me a little peck. 10 min. later she was taking borccoli from my hand!

Ron