Coffee's ready...

[Sissy]

Good morning Good morning all you flock tenders,
I havent been on in a while so much going on silkies sitting and still
no hatch its 21 days.coops being readed for the cold months
missed what happend here, so I will have catch up
rain all night an its getting chilly here.

 

[chics in the sun]

I'm sending silkie hatching vibes your way, Sissy!!

 

[math ace]

chicks in the sun

She is adorable ! What is she ?? Very nice blue lacing

 

[chics in the sun]

She one of my little Blue Plymouth Rocks from Halo's eggs. Check out her page to see what she will look like - they are SO pretty. I just can't decide if I should keep two of them - one dark and one lighter one, or just one like I had planned on originally. I really didn't expct both Ameraucana's to hatch and both be pullets. And since one is standard and one has feathered legs, obviously I have to keep BOTH of those girls. I was only planning on keeping two or three of Sunshine's babies. Heck, I wasn't even sure she woudl stick with it and hatch them to begin with!!

Chicken Math is too complicated!!

 

[oesdog]

Chicks she is lovely - If I was there I sure would take her home with me!!!!!!!!

Its been raining something awful here and everything is soooo muddy.
I was going to ask you guys if you have any ideas with a wee issue I have with my baby chickies.

My wee ones - Blue and Omlet
The problem I have lately is that they both don;t seem to be eating the Layers???????? They just seem to scatter it over the floor of their pen and then wait for it to go soggy and ganky - so I end up moving the pen. But its such a waist of food and they NEED it!!!!!! Omlet especially as I have to be so careful about her food intake because of the problem she has with her breast bone curving. They seem to rumage through their food and take only the poultry grain which doesn;t contain enough for them. Tonight I went out to put them to bed and both their crops are empty???? Even though there was pleanty of food out all day and they both got fish treats as well today. I have to give Omlet stuff hight in B1 and B2 so fish and banana's tend to be on the menu a lot!!!! Thing is these two are getting further and further behind in theor development. I had to slow Omlet down to try to correct the curve but she is walking alright now and she seems fine. But she is thin and so is Blue. It worries me as last time I took them to the vet he practically acused me of starving them???? They get everything the other chicks get and more but the others are twice their size even though there is only a weeks age gap between them?????????? Any suggestions. - I cannot give too much Protien to Omlet because if she grows too fast the breast bone will bend and throw her off her feet again and I can;t risk that so it has to be a good ballanced diet with extra B1 and B2. Blue is just a lanky roo boy and he feels like a bag of bones too????? Why are they not growing well when they don;t have anything different to my other chickens and they are all fat!!!!

Oh yeah guys I got my first egg in weeks today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only whoever laid it didn;t use the egg boxes??????
It was a big egg so I don;t think it was Mable or Betty yet? Could have been Bertha though as it was laid in the place she was brooding the chicks.
I am just pleased that no harm will come to my girls ( Funny DH threatens them with the Axe and then wont kill the extra Roo boys because he knows them????)

Better go - Jess is starting to cry.
Oesdog

 

[math ace]

Quote:
KEEP them until the personality starts to show more. . . Then you can decide who to sell. Getting rid of girls is a piece of cake. Roos - - - not so easy to do !

 

[chics in the sun]

I don't know what to tell you, Oesdog. I'd be worried, too. Can you put out just the layer and see if they will eat it if it is all that they have?

Math Ace - I can only keep them for so long before the coop is going to get a bit too crowded. I have a total of 72 square feet, plus the little 4 x 4 roost area, and I already have the six full-grown girls in there. They free range for a few hours a day, but still - way too small for seven more half-grown chickens!! I think I may offer 'buy a pullet, get a roo free' at my swap.

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
I already did that and they didn;t seem to want to touch it much. I am sure they ate some of it but most was just kicked about the pen floor???? Its not that they are not eating - They are like a pair of fussy kids?????? I just know that its been really hard with these two to keep them alive and growing and there is only so much I can do. I would feed them eggs if the other darn girls would LAY SOME!!!!!!!! Gosh you all know how hard its been for me to keep wee Omlet alive she has to grow if she is ever going to fend for herself in the BIG girl pen? - And that ole Blue the roo boy isn;t big enough to mount an ant let alone my vicious old buzzard Gerty!!!!

I just don;t understand why their crops feel empty even though I put food in for them???? Why why why don;t they darn well eat it NOT play with it????
If I let them free range they stuff themselves on grass and worms!!!!! I was thinking I would maybe mash the layers in yogurt and banana and whip it up like a fancy treat???? Originally I got them to take the layers because I left them with very little Poultry grain and mostly Layers. Now thats not working at all. They MUST eat it!!!!!!!
I just don;t want them to get sick again as at the moment they are both really healthy if a bit scrawney!!!

I may get them more fish and those frozen prawns need pealled so that would be a good source of protein for them????? I worry about them - They are my babies.
It would have been so much easier if they had come from under a hen! I mean Berthas babies are so much bigger and stronger. I am just not a chicken!!!!! I totally regret doing the incubator hatch. I feel very much that I am mum and Dh feels like he is dad and we call them the kids!!! - I am soooo never going to take eggs from under a hen again!!!!! - Unless I really have to cause she is sick or dead or can;t care for them. I am never going to stop worrying about " the kids" am I???? I just can;t keep feeling bad and throwing a bowl of food in their night box can I . It will atract mice and rats. But they feel so thin and their crops are deffinately not bulging like Bertha's kids are??
Oh one should NOT compare ones mothering skill with another mother should one????

Oesdog -

 

[math ace]

Quote:
YOU HAVE to KEEP the broody leghorn - - -

but how attached are you to the grown production red and the OEG ? ? ?
How many roos did you hatch ??
When can you add onto your run . . .

 

[annaraven]

stupid question oesdog:
are you using pellet? The reason I ask is that mine won't eat pellet. They'll only eat the, um, other kind. Maybe that's the problem for them?

In any case, I hope you figure it out!