Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Beekissed]

She was definitely an extremely odd bird! Never saw anything like it in my life. Of course, the other cull was also full of too much fat around the vent area, so I've been feeding my birds a little rich in order to get some fat on their old bones for winter after they had been half starved. The crisis is obviously over and I can go back to their regular rations, I believe.

 

[galanie]

Shufflin' through old photographs and found this one of Al when he was young....

Dang Bee............. you hit the nail on the head with that one, I love that pic. When my Daughter was very young maybe 6-10 yrs old and I was working with her on her horsemanship, I would sometimes be firm. Then I would see her bottom lip begin to quiver and I would say Cowgirl up sweet pea and she would be OK. Those were special times, now she is a carded member of the PRCA barrel racing circut and she's tougher than bag of rattlesnakes in a 5'7" Blonde hair blue eyed cutie pie and still a daddy's girl. She still to this day ask's me for tips when she's at the gate gettin ready to run and I get all squishy inside as I go over a run strategy. Talk about a proud Dad by george LOL.


The boy in the pic all growed up and still ridin. that's me and my 17 hand stallion called Stilts takin a break after a long ride.

That dude is 17 hands?? You must be 19 hands! Dang.

 

[al6517]

She was definitely an extremely odd bird! Never saw anything like it in my life. Of course, the other cull was also full of too much fat around the vent area, so I've been feeding my birds a little rich in order to get some fat on their old bones for winter after they had been half starved. The crisis is obviously over and I can go back to their regular rations, I believe.

I think the folks who were keeping them for you may have had a hand in their condition uh Bee, are they the same birds were talking about, your rehab flock ??. I must say after looking at your pic's the one of the neck was the weirdest Ive seen and in the oddest place too.

 

[al6517]

Iam 6'2" Sarah and when he is not slumping I can't see over his whithers at all, he's a badass for sure and my best bud.

 

[galanie]

Iam 6'2" Sarah and when he is not slumping I can't see over his whithers at all, he's a badass for sure and my best bud.

I love him already. I used to show horses.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

Given their daily routine yours will probably not fall into the most likely to be fat category, but if your not sure and know without a shadow of a dought how to properly handle a bird for inspection. I feel for it............... a calm hand and feel the fat, it feels much different than normal muscle and will also show to an extent in the look and behavior. I think  her bird may have had a genetic problem, which IMO has led to it's propensity to lay on fat in an extremely rare fashion. Most normal chickens will almost never get fat just all by themselfs even with excersize restraints and full feeders, but they can and some do but you have to a totaly blind to not realize your doing something wrong if they are fat. mine never do and their some beefy bast***s. I wouldn't worry but it helps for one to know how to properly examine a bird for any internal deformities/abnormalities.

Thank you, Al! Ok, so proper handling and examining is probably not something that you can easily explain... And it would probably help all of us newbies out to have a live demo rather than an explanation. Something we can get at a poultry show? So what I intend to do, since I have no idea what I'm looking for really, is to examine my birds the way I usually do: upside down. They go limp so I can sift through feathers and check vents and scales on the legs... Now I'll just add in a thorough physical examination of the "feel" of the bird. I can compare differences among the different breeds and individuals, and I'm thinking fat would feel more squishy than a firm muscle tissue? Silly as this post now seems, I think I already do most of this. I'm used to checking my other animals over and so I've gotten into the habit of trying to feel under those feathers for any abnormality. Much more difficult on a chicken that it is on one of my dogs though!
Tell me if I'm way off base... Bc it's a very good possibility! Thanks again

 

[al6517]

Oh that's cool, I was never into the show horse deal but I sure have been to a few and like looking at the good ones. Naw stilts was a weird purchase, I was at the racetrack in OKC with some friends and he was in the 7th race as a cheap claimer, I liked him when I saw him in the paddock before the race being saddled, so I claimed him as a 3yr old and brought him home. He came in 3rd by the way LOL, that was a long time ago and I think he was glad to have his own pasture and fillies to court here at the ranch.

 

[delisha]

I was a bit curious about all of that neck fat. I don't think I have ever seen fat on a neck before. I bet it tasted pretty darn good. I did understand the greasy feel of removing intestines for a fat bird. My old Cornish X's had that yucky feel at butcher when they were over 3 years old.

I sold all of my Cornish X's chicks and they get picked up Saturday. I am so glad they are going.

They are driving me and the rest of the birds crazy. 30 Cornish X's chicks leave so much poop behind. Even though it does not smell and it is not runny, it is still more poop than all of my adults will do in the coop for a year. Even as cold as it has been I have been letting them out of the coop to free range. They don't stay out very long, but it is enough for me to do some fluffing and adding of bedding. I dumped a whole gallon of water in the coop from them monsters trying to climb up on me and peck my shoes. lol..It was funny ..but not.

 

[al6517]

Quote:


Yeah exactly now there you go see you already have it down, it's not hard by any stretch just more common sense in the way you handle them for inspection as normal. It's just alot of newby BYCer's are so clumsy and awkward when handling birds cause their so fearful they will hurt them or cause them to have to go into therapy if held upside down LOL. That's why I phrased it the way I did no offense just habit.

Now you said the fat will be squishy but not always the case, as fat sit's for longer periods years let's say it becomes much more firm and hard, so taking the age of the bird into consideration will help too. Birds with little to no excersize will also become soft just like a human couch potato LOL.

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

Yeah exactly now there you go see you already have it down, it's not hard by any stretch just more common sense in the way you handle them for inspection as normal. It's just alot of newby BYCer's are so clumsy and awkward when handling birds cause their so fearful they will hurt them or cause them to have to go into therapy if held upside down LOL. That's why I phrased it the way I did no offense just habit.

Now you said the fat will be squishy but not always the case, as fat sit's for longer periods years let's say it becomes much more firm and hard, so taking the age of the bird into consideration will help too. Birds with little to no excersize will also become soft just like a human couch potato LOL.

I think I learned all about upside down handling many hundreds of pages ago on this here thread of Bee's See how much we learn from you all!! I actually examined my 6&7 week old chicks upside down for the first time last weekend. Not sure if it's too early to do that with their growing bones? Prior to this, ive always held them over the back and flipped them over in my palm, legs up. They're as big as my banties now, so they've outgrown my palm method and I held them full-on upside down by their legs. I was dusting them and checking for bugs - never found any but dusted anyways. They weren't too happy with the hanging by their legs, but I can handle two at a time now in the same hand without feeling like I'm going to drop anyone or break their legs. I'm really happy to hear I'm on the right track.

And thanks for the input on the fat. My birds are all very active, and also less than a year old, so they probably don't have hardened fat quite yet. But I'll start comparing them and continue to do so... Give me a few years at this and I just might be able to tell the difference between a fat bird and a skinny bird myself!

Thanks again