Chicken (Poultry) Addiction Anonymous *Chat Thread*

[featherz]

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Just checked - she was born Jul 12 so 22 weeks old. YAY.

My australorp and SLW are the same age and are getting red also. No squatting from those but I doubt my SLW will ever squat for me - she's queen of the roost.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

Cool!!

 

[featherz]

Sniff. I culled a leghorn this morning. My first time. My hubby's a big softie and I could not make him do it, so I did. I used the broomstick method and had to do it twice. Ugh!!!

. I necropsied my poor chicken and she was definitely an internal layer - her oviduct was full of cooked egg material so it was a good call but I still feel horrible. I know they CAN recover from this, but she's had it twice and looked more miserable every day.

/sigh. I'll go out and see if I get my first green egg today.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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My white leghorns are wonderful. I think it's because they were my first chickens and I babied them since I had the time to do so. Now they follow me around like dogs.

I have to cull one soon (sniff) as she's apparently an internal layer, but other than that they are great birds and I love the big floppy 'hair' combs.

This is reassuring! I'm going to suck it up and try to make them love me!

When I went to put them in the brooder, one jumped out of the box and gave my husband and me a heck of a run around the basement trying to catch it!

Lil' stinker. Hopefully this isn't an indicator of things to come!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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AWESOME featherz!

Craig (DH) just came in this morning with the first blue egg in months! Straight from a black Ameraucana that hasn't laid for me before. I'm on cloud nine today!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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Fantastic Morgan! I made the mistake of getting sick of my girls laying this summer...we just had too many eggs. After getting almost none this fall, I have come to appreciate every single egg we've gotten this month. I go out into the coop to give my girls treats, chest and back scratches, and an egg laying pep talk! Seems to be working.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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BUMMER! I'm so sorry.

This is where being a nurse has to come in handy...doing your own necropsy. I've never heard of the broomstick method...I'll research it so I'm not left to my own imagination. I hate to see them go that way. I had a dominique that passed this summer from the same thing. I felt helpless for her.

 

[featherz]

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BUMMER! I'm so sorry.

This is where being a nurse has to come in handy...doing your own necropsy. I've never heard of the broomstick method...I'll research it so I'm not left to my own imagination. I hate to see them go that way. I had a dominique that passed this summer from the same thing. I felt helpless for her.

I don't want to depress the whole thread

, so I'll just say the broomstick method (learned on here) is supposed to be best for those (like me) who can't bring themselves to chop off a head.

. Bird on ground, broomstick over neck, step on broom, pull legs up. I didn't pull hard enough the first time (kept hearing forum voices in my head about heads popping off) and she was still alive - I had to yank another time.

. She was only about 7 months old and had only laid a few eggs since september - she had a blue comb and was dripping egg gunk - she got better for a while, then relapsed. She was miserable and I know I did the right thing, but I wish I had done it correctly.

On a more positive note, at least 10 of my NY hatch eggs appear to be viable (some are still too close to call) and my other chickies all seem perky today.

Mugs - how old are your new leghorns? I got mine as day olds and as I didn't have any other chickens I was bringing home treats for them almost every day. That's how I got goofy friendly leghorns - they were skittish up until laying age but never flew into trees or any of the other leghorn type behaviors..

 

[Muggsmagee]

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BUMMER! I'm so sorry.

This is where being a nurse has to come in handy...doing your own necropsy. I've never heard of the broomstick method...I'll research it so I'm not left to my own imagination. I hate to see them go that way. I had a dominique that passed this summer from the same thing. I felt helpless for her.

I don't want to depress the whole thread

, so I'll just say the broomstick method (learned on here) is supposed to be best for those (like me) who can't bring themselves to chop off a head.

. Bird on ground, broomstick over neck, step on broom, pull legs up. I didn't pull hard enough the first time (kept hearing forum voices in my head about heads popping off) and she was still alive - I had to yank another time.

. She was only about 7 months old and had only laid a few eggs since september - she had a blue comb and was dripping egg gunk - she got better for a while, then relapsed. She was miserable and I know I did the right thing, but I wish I had done it correctly.

On a more positive note, at least 10 of my NY hatch eggs appear to be viable (some are still too close to call) and my other chickies all seem perky today.

Mugs - how old are your new leghorns? I got mine as day olds and as I didn't have any other chickens I was bringing home treats for them almost every day. That's how I got goofy friendly leghorns - they were skittish up until laying age but never flew into trees or any of the other leghorn type behaviors..

I actually appreciate knowing about this...the chopping off of the head bothers me too. Freaks me out, actually. Kudos to you for having the guts to put her down. I hope when the time comes, I can do it too.

My pullets are about 2 months old. They look TINY. Little skinny legs....narrow body. I am going to have to go back and get some buff leghorns at the farm...they were so cute.

That would be so cool to have a New Years hatch. I hope one of my BYC friends is the big winner.

 

[featherz]

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Your hubby could probably do it. Mine can't even kill a spider so I couldn't make him do this. He'd be depressed for the next year.

My leghorns are so scrawny compared to the chickens I got at the same time (RIR). It's a good thing they are in the same coop - the RIR's keep the leghorns warm.

My RIR's are still laying small to medium eggs (started in september) and the leghorns lay eggs twice the size, which is amazing considering the relative size of the chickens.

I don't think I'll win anything in the NY hatch - I still have a chance to have the 'first chick hatched' but my hatch rate is pretty dismal - last minute shipped eggs can do that. Out of 24, I'm at 10-12 viable right now. I just hope at least TWO hatch so I don't have a chick with a stuffed animal for a playmate!