Colorado

[P-Funk]

Wow. I was just gonna write and say good morning. Hi all you newbies! Buff, the babies hatched 3/27 have just started laying, so no need for eggs here. you'd be surprised how many friends you can make if peeps know you have fresh happy eggs. Sorry, I just woke up from surgery and am pretty doped up if none of this makes any sense. Anyway, again, good morning!

P.S. Mikey, I just found my first ever half eaten egg 2 days ago. If it happens again the girls will be rearranged to different coops.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Wow. I was just gonna write and say good morning. Hi all you newbies! Buff, the babies hatched 3/27 have just started laying, so no need for eggs here. you'd be surprised how many friends you can make if peeps know you have fresh happy eggs. Sorry, I just woke up from surgery and am pretty doped up if none of this makes any sense. Anyway, again, good morning!

P.S. Mikey, I just found my first ever half eaten egg 2 days ago. If it happens again the girls will be rearranged to different coops.

Really? Happy post surgery! You are making more sense that I do not having a doped up excuse....

 

[Mtn Margie]

if you could when they are ripe would be best. Thank you.

Here you go Ginger

 

[Denverchickee]

I know I have posted about this before but it's getting worse and thought I'd see what y'all thought.
This buff Cochin is super mean to me and the lower ranking birds. She was hatched 3/3 according to guy I purchased her from, so about 22 weeks. She has become the largest in the flock. I bought a Egyptian with her as well, who she holds down with one foot and grabs the back of her neck. And now she has taken to picking on my little Old English Game hen (she is the smallest). Then yesterday she started picking on one of the EE. She hasn't challenged the 4 top hens yet. (18 months)
But she has even started being that way to me as well.
I'm about to change her name to soup. Should I try separating her from the rest for a few days?
I'm not sure if she is laying yet, I have some eggs that I have not ID'd yet. But I think they are too dark to be hers.
Someone else mentioned she looks like a Cochin/Orp cross, if that Is true would the eggs be darker than a Cochin?
Opinions please!!!!!!!!! Thanks

 

[Pozees]

Denverchickee, it depends on how committed you are to keeping her in the flock. Taking her out of the run and/or putting her in a "jail" run inside the larger run for a few days might help. Picking her up and carrying her in front of the others might help. For sure, any time she challenges your leadership/authority, put your hand flat on her back and make her squat as if you were the rooster, and hold her down until she stops struggling. If she tries to out and out attack - comes at you kicking out as if she had spurs - fling her off with your foot.

She does look like a cross, but it's always hard to predict how that affects egg size/color.

Chicken keeping is not supposed to be a hassle, it is supposed to be a pleasant and productive activity for you and your family. There is not only no reason to keep a mean chicken, there is every reason to not keep her. It creates chaos in the flock and can limit the productivity of the rest of your girls, and in some cases keep them from getting enough food, water, and exercise. If you are unsuccessful at correcting her behavior, particularly once she begins laying, which I would think should be anytime now, she should be relocated, whether to someone else who wants to give her a try, or to your freezer. Last year one of our list members was able to relocate a mean hen to someone who had a rooster, which seemed to have corrected her idea that she was in charge of all she surveyed.

I'm not being mean, and I apologize to anyone who thinks I am. I am of the very firm belief that mean chickens have no place in any flock, but especially one where an unsuspecting person might be harmed or frightened. I had dogs for many years, and felt the same way about a dog that was willing to bite a human or terrorize other dogs. They are not balanced/healthy mentally, and most often are unhappy or fearful, which is a terrible life for them and for all around them.

 

[Pozees]

Preston, I'm with Margie, you sound less dopey post-op than I sound most days just doing my usual thing LOL Hope everything is okay!

 

[Minchi]

Okay time to play name that predator. We have found a few bunny corpses the past few days. One was a lawn mower...... The other I think was a rabbit. We found the intestines and the lower jaw in our driveway. Not much blood outside where those pieces were located and no bloody foot prints, just one smear near by. Any idea what did the killing?

 

[Mtn Margie]

I know I have posted about this before but it's getting worse and thought I'd see what y'all thought.
This buff Cochin is super mean to me and the lower ranking birds. She was hatched 3/3 according to guy I purchased her from, so about 22 weeks. She has become the largest in the flock. I bought a Egyptian with her as well, who she holds down with one foot and grabs the back of her neck. And now she has taken to picking on my little Old English Game hen (she is the smallest). Then yesterday she started picking on one of the EE. She hasn't challenged the 4 top hens yet. (18 months)
But she has even started being that way to me as well.
I'm about to change her name to soup. Should I try separating her from the rest for a few days?
I'm not sure if she is laying yet, I have some eggs that I have not ID'd yet. But I think they are too dark to be hers.
Someone else mentioned she looks like a Cochin/Orp cross, if that Is true would the eggs be darker than a Cochin?
Opinions please!!!!!!!!! Thanks

Are you sure it is a hen? My first roo did not crow at all for a good long time, actually not until about a year old because??? Not sure, but if there are no eggs and a seriously aggro attitude,
maybe? I would isolate "her" and see if you can get an egg or at least it would help to reset her lines in the flock. If she is out for a couple of weeks, maybe she will have have a different attitude. Sometimes it takes more than one "time out" to get the desired behavior and sometimes they just go good with fresh bread.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Okay time to play name that predator. We have found a few bunny corpses the past few days. One was a lawn mower...... The other I think was a rabbit. We found the intestines and the lower jaw in our driveway. Not much blood outside where those pieces were located and no bloody foot prints, just one smear near by. Any idea what did the killing?

That all is a very vague depiction of the scene. Could be anything eating bunnies from feral cats to ???? Maybe the lawn mower killed the rabbits and something else came by and cleaned up the parts? Crows do nice work cleaning up......

 

[Minchi]

That all is a very vague depiction of the scene. Could be anything eating bunnies from feral cats to ???? Maybe the lawn mower killed the rabbits and something else came by and cleaned up the parts? Crows do nice work cleaning up......

The half bunny was a clean cut, intestines and all. This was the whole intestinal system, clean of everything else and then the lower jaw. That was all there was. I figured that a cat would be messier.