Chicken (Poultry) Addiction Anonymous *Chat Thread*

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Good Morning Peepz!

What a lovely Morn'in!!

I zipped down to the mailbox this morning and picked up my Olive Egger eggs from Kelly, and my pair of Lavender Cochin Bantams. One of my OE eggs from a friend is zipping, 2 hatched yesterday and one the day before. A Splash colored Cochin baby hatched under a broody yesterday, and another baby hatched this morning/last night. It looks like a Self Blue ( Lavender ), it's so cute!

My favorite chicken, Beepbeeb went missing and I thought she had been killed, but she popped up the other morning and she was all fluffed up and clucking like a mad momma (

) so I figure she has a nest somwhere out in the pasture.

Just what I needed more chicks!

(

)

I have eggs in the Brinsea due tomorrow or the next day, I'm really looking forward to these White Ameraucanas!

I'm getting more Peafowl Eggs this weekend, I already have 3 cook'in in the GQF, I'm hopeing they'll be a few more than 3 this time. One of my Buff Orpingtons went broody last week and the person(s) who were taking care of them didn't take her eggs away so I'm going to have More BO babies at the end of this month!

I have some neighbors coming over sometime today, they're going to come look my chickens over and decide which kinds they like. Then I'll start some eggs for them next week.

Oh my word, I can't believe how fast my little chicks are growing!

They already have wing feathers in and they eat and poop so much! I have to clean the broody every stink'in day!

Well enough jabbering...I need to go clean house.

 

[crunchynut]

We have our very first chick (ever)!

He/she is very vocal and looking for some company I think. Hopefully the other two with pips will join it soon!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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[daisychick]

Meagan, did you get any Pekin ducks in your assortment? I have 4 and they are getting huge!

I was also wondering if your ducks are tame or do they run away from you. I handled all my ducklings for their first 2 weeks of life and they are still skiddish an run from me.

I want them to be as tame as my geese. How friendly are your ducklings?? Mine only come to me when I am feeding them.

 

[gryeyes]

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<------------- looking in that very same mirror!

 

[daisychick]

Rambling about my ducks again. I messed up and got the geese first so I am spoiled at how much they really like me. My geese are always under my feet and follow me everywhere. They "talk" to me constantly. Then I got the ducklings and was excited to have mini followers too. But no such luck. They only want me when I have the feed bucket.

After they are done eating they run in fear like I am a monster.

I have tried to hold them and they get so nervous, they "throw up" and empty their crop on my lap.

First time with ducks and I thought they would tame down easier.

 

[gryeyes]

On an entirely different - but still poultry addiction related - subject, I am proud to report I have finally infected my friend who lives 265 miles away. She is on disability and suffers from scleraderma, adult onset diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis due to the scleroderma, but I just know chickens would work on getting her off her butt to do something (move around more), AND lift her spirits.

She had to have her first colonoscopy so I drove down to spend two days with her and be her driver from the out-patient procedure. She's a year younger than am I and managed to avoid the colonoscopy experience for six years. Anyway, she's a home-owner, has a big yard WITH AN UNUSED 6 X 10 dog run in the back yard! She's got a large dog, Maggie the german shepherd mix, who is a 10 year old house dog that only goes outside to do her business and occasionally bask in the sun. She and Maggie have visited me and Maggie is WONDERFUL with my chickens. She can walk right through a cluster of 'em without giving a hoot about them being chickens.

It took some time working on her, post surgically Mwaaaahaaaaahaaaa! to convince her she needed chickens. I countered each of her lame arguments. First, I will choose the coop and set it up in the CHICKEN RUN for her, secure the run with hardware on the bottom and in an apron, secure the top with chicken wire, provide the feeders and waterers, AND the chickens. I told her 3 would be fine, hens only, no roosters. She lives in the city limits and we do hear other roosters around her..... I recognized two in a crow off as bantam roosters, btw.

I won't go into all the arguments I countered, because it took some convincing. She's really depressed and more apt to do more of nothing than to "have to care for more pets." I reminded her of the time she had six dogs and four cats. Chicken feed will cost less than what she's feeding just Maggie, for one thing. Like I said, there were a lot of lame objections.

Then suddenly, she said, "I would want four, not three. Three is an odd number, they each need a buddy. I would want four, two regular sized and two bantams."

Since I returned home and we continued discussion on the issue (on-line, instant communications on a daily basis), the plan has changed to FOUR LF and two bantams, and instead of me picking out the chickens for her, she will drive up and make her own selection from my flock. She knows she cannot have any of a specific group, but I have plenty of youg'uns from which she can pick her own flock. She won't be up for a few months, so that gives "us" plenty of time to plan.

She's really excited about it now. I sent her to review Henderson's Handy Dandy Chicken Chart at http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html and she's been perusing it. She likes my Buffy the Vampire Slaying Buff Orpington a lot, so BO may very well be one of her choices.

So, although the 530 mile round trip and special request vacation days off were a pain, the trip has really paid off. Oh, in addition to assisting my friend with her medical procedure stuff, of course.

Cool, huh? I've infected somebody else!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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No Pekin ducks for me. This is my list (so far) : Runners, Cayuga, Golden Star Hybrid, Rouen, Buff, Blue Swedish. Waiting on the Welsh Harlequins and Saxony next week AND I'm hatching mixed Crested Magpie x Khaki Campbell/Runners (going to be awesome!) and mixed Crested Cayugas. In about 2 weeks I'll have itty bitty BBS Cayugas and Chocolate/Black/Blue Call ducks! I can't wait!

This is what sucks...duck math is NOT like chicken math. No way in Hates will I be able to keep them all.

The WH and Sax's will stay, and only a few of the others. I'm not looking forward to rehoming these guys.

My ducklings have been handled and talked to daily. They seem unsure of what my intentions are, now that they are outside!

When I feed them, they come running right up to me yelling at me "it's about time"!!! But they won't let me pet them or pick them up like I was doing indoors.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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Whoops, just read this! Yes...you explained what I'm going through to a "T". They are interested in the food, but not the person.

I am hopeful these geese will be like my puppies...if what you and Allen say about yours is true for mine, I will be in heaven! I love an affectionate/attentive animal. These geese are constant talkers and sooooooo flippin' sweet!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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You are a great friend!!!! Chickens could be a saving grace for her. I firmly believe that! Give yourself a pat on the back for convincing her to raise chickens. She'll thank you later!