Colorado

[suncatcher]

Happy First Day Of Winter to everyone!! T minus 0 and counting upwards now, days will be getting longer! YAY!!!

COLD wind blowing here today, and I thought it was supposed to be warmish?????

 

[Mtn Margie]

Holy OMG! I would be so freaked out. It is huge. I am glad it came out.
How is she this morning?
Could it have been something that got in her eye and the body encased it like an oyster would a grain of sand so to speak?
Glad she had you both there to help her out.

A Chicken Pearl! Gotta be worth something!

Hope the hen is doing better. That would have be uncomfortable to have stuck in her eye.

 

[suncatcher]

Update on the eye problem. The chicken has been inside for the last couple days. We've been putting medicine on it but it kept getting worse. I would open the eye but it was just red, nothing else. DD just brought her downstairs about 5 min ago and said, "look". The chicken's eye was half white. We brought her into my bathroom and put a q-tip of Vet Rx up into the roof of her mouth like I had read somewhere on BYC. The white stuff started coming out more. I brushed it with a tissue and a big chunk came out. Then the whole eye turned white. I squeezed her eye and a marble sized hard chunk came popping out. So gross but I'm sure she feels a ton better! We put medicine back on it and still have her inside. Hopefully it will clear up now.

Here is the chunk that came out. I couldn't find anything in my bathroom to give it scale except a fat hair tie thingy.

Geesh, I have no idea what that is, but wonder also if it is something that got in her eye and then became calcified, if that is even possible!

eta, is it hard or soft???

 

[suncatcher]

I would think any of the cold hardy breeds would be a great start, but if your coop is insulated, any breed would do fine in it. Get what you like and are attracted to, as you will be looking at them running around in your yard, and something pleasing for you to watch is important.

Agree on getting them all at once, but you can always add other chickens, is just tricky, and you may end up with two little flocks that stick together in their own group. I have ordered seven from My Pet Chicken, they arrived safe and sound, this was the end of summer though.......

 

[21hens-incharge]

Happy First Day Of Winter to everyone!! T minus 0 and counting upwards now, days will be getting longer! YAY!!!

COLD wind blowing here today, and I thought it was supposed to be warmish?????

I also thought it was supposed to be a bit warmer.

A Chicken Pearl! Gotta be worth something!

Hope the hen is doing better. That would have be uncomfortable to have stuck in her eye.

LOL I knew someone would link that to a Pearl.

Perhaps a good name for her.

 

[swift081702]

We're moving to Kiowa, 10 acres and can't wait to have chickens again! We had to sell our chickens when we moved back to Colorado 5 years ago and then again 4years ago when our current HOA said not allowed (the chickens move to the city of Denver). We're looking for Austraulorps, purebred as kids want to participate in 4H. Does anyone know of a good breeder in Colorado? Not looking for hatchery birds. We already have a cooped picked out and plans are on their way for us to build. My husband has built two coops and praying this will be the final one he'll have to build. This will also be our first time with meat birds...can anyone recommend a good processor?

Look forward to learning from you all!!

 

[trsturself]

Holy crap is right! Did you try emailing a picture of this to whoever you got her from and asking if they know what it is? That is so creepy and bizarre! Good job for getting it out!

I would think any of the cold hardy breeds would be a great start, but if your coop is insulated, any breed would do fine in it. Get what you like and are attracted to, as you will be looking at them running around in your yard, and something pleasing for you to watch is important.

Agree on getting them all at once, but you can always add other chickens, is just tricky, and you may end up with two little flocks that stick together in their own group. I have ordered seven from My Pet Chicken, they arrived safe and sound, this was the end of summer though.......

We're moving to Kiowa, 10 acres and can't wait to have chickens again! We had to sell our chickens when we moved back to Colorado 5 years ago and then again 4years ago when our current HOA said not allowed (the chickens move to the city of Denver). We're looking for Austraulorps, purebred as kids want to participate in 4H. Does anyone know of a good breeder in Colorado? Not looking for hatchery birds. We already have a cooped picked out and plans are on their way for us to build. My husband has built two coops and praying this will be the final one he'll have to build. This will also be our first time with meat birds...can anyone recommend a good processor?

Look forward to learning from you all!!

I don't know why it missed a bunch of stuff I said to quote. Oh well, it was all on the same subject.

From my reading that stuff in her eye is puss (it's like a firm cheese texture) either from a sinus infection (the sinuses are located right behind the eye) or an eye infection. I'm guessing eye infection from running into something or being pecked, since her other eye shows no signs and she is not sneezing, wheezing, and no nasal discharge.

My .2 on chicken breeds. Our friendliest large fowl are our EE, BR, BA, and cochin. Our favorite bantams are silkies, D'Uccle, and D'Anver. Both ours and our friend's are all very friendly. Our friendliest large ones were our first chicks and got A LOT of attention. The others hardly got any until they were older. I agree with everyone else, most breeds do just fine here. The thing to watch for is the large single comb breeds. They can get frost bite easier. Our maran rooster has a bit of frostbite and our friend's leghorn does too.

Welcome Swift. We're in Elizabeth. Our BA is friendly and we showed her in 4H last year. She is a hatchery bird (cackle) but looks good. We were in douglas county and there was a ton of chickens at the show. We went to see the Elbert county fair this year and there were hardly any birds there. The judge in our show said the BA that were there were very hard to judge. He said in any other show they would've all taken first place. We ended up with 4th because he said she was a little too large for the breed. They should be skinnier. Our BR got 2nd place, our partridge rock got 1st, and our D'Uccle got 1st place in breed as well as Honorable Mention for all bantams. If your kid is going to do showmanship (it's required in douglas county, I'm not sure yet about Elbert county), a bantam is nice because they are easier for the kid to hold and show. We are planning on breeding a heritage breed BR rooster with our hatchery BR hens this spring if you are interested in a chick or two from that. We'll also have some marans (blue copper over black copper). Our roo has a tail that is too upright so he's not SQ but he has good color and temperament. Our hen doesn't have enough copper in her neck, but good shape. So we're hoping we'll get some good chicks out of them. Since they are a new addition to the SOP there shouldn't be too much competition especially in Elbert.

 

[trsturself]

We're moving to Kiowa, 10 acres and can't wait to have chickens again! We had to sell our chickens when we moved back to Colorado 5 years ago and then again 4years ago when our current HOA said not allowed (the chickens move to the city of Denver). We're looking for Austraulorps, purebred as kids want to participate in 4H. Does anyone know of a good breeder in Colorado? Not looking for hatchery birds. We already have a cooped picked out and plans are on their way for us to build. My husband has built two coops and praying this will be the final one he'll have to build. This will also be our first time with meat birds...can anyone recommend a good processor?

Look forward to learning from you all!!

Oops, meant to comment on the meat birds. We will be doing meat birds this summer also. The only processor I've heard of is Simla. They charged us $3/bird. Kinda pricey. I think this year we're going to try setting up a processing party with other local meat bird people and do them ourselves.

 

[Percheron chick]

We're moving to Kiowa, 10 acres and can't wait to have chickens again! We had to sell our chickens when we moved back to Colorado 5 years ago and then again 4years ago when our current HOA said not allowed (the chickens move to the city of Denver). We're looking for Austraulorps, purebred as kids want to participate in 4H. Does anyone know of a good breeder in Colorado? Not looking for hatchery birds. We already have a cooped picked out and plans are on their way for us to build. My husband has built two coops and praying this will be the final one he'll have to build. This will also be our first time with meat birds...can anyone recommend a good processor?

Look forward to learning from you all!!

Why don't you plan on hitting the Poultry show at stock show. Probably the best bird show in CO all year.

 

[laceykins]

  Why don't you plan on hitting the Poultry show at stock show.  Probably the best bird show in CO all year.

I can't wait for that! Do you know if there is any event where there will be chicks for sale at the stock show?