Colorado

[COChix]

Is there anyone wanting to source Organic Non-gmo corn for the winter for animals? My feed guy is possibly looking at picking up a load and just was curious if we were interests. I might be depending on pricing and amounts required to order. If you are interested please contact Tim Moore @ Happy Hens Biz in Brighton. 303-829-5948

 

[rf12345]

I'm definitely positive I wasn't cut out for chicken ownership.

same here. however all the illness stuff is scary for me as I've never seeing any issues with mine before and had it super easy.
thank you and best of luck whole heartily.
I found these links
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/treating-eggs-in-three-steps/
this is about saving the breeders. it looks like fancy chicken breeders did something similar. I'm not an expert, that's the link I found, looks like the magazine has very good reputation
I also found this for eggs and medication
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24853528
regarding withdrawal period. I do not know if it is helpful.

i think I'll do culture like another member does it routinely, I just do not know all the contacts yet and proper words to use to explain what kind of testing do I need.
And also it looks like my respiratory can be related to the fact that the coop window was closed (beating is happening on the head...)... and maybe there is not enough ventilation at the roof top vents (I do not have it closed), but when I went there, I can smell quite strong chicken poop smell when I open my chicken door in morning right at the door, detected via broken chicken door string.... and I also ditched all the bedding and went with sand and with every other day poop removal. I can see drastic improvement. I wonder if it is ventilation after all... and also too much scratch... cause I found that my 2 gallon bucket of scratch is empty all the sudden... i wonder if my helper was extra generous with the scratch grains (darn what chicken does not love milo dah....). I'll do testing for the sake of it as a routine anyways even if it was environmental, so i can put it at rest and do not worry.
so on the mach and pumpkin and carrots they go...
Does anyone know the source of reasonably priced fish oil for vitamin A or other source? they do free range, but it look like they did run out of the hoppers and with the hawks they do not go venture far from the trees.
and where can I read about the dosage so I do not mess it up
thank you everyone for the advice, I appreciate it very much

 

[suncatcher]

Wow, lots of posts to catch up on here....

Stuff happens, we all deal with it the best we can. Just keep on trucking!!

I wonder if it could be mice eating your chickens feathers LS???? They could be sitting on them during the night munching away.

Beautiful day here today, much warmer than yesterday!!

 

[Mtn Margie]

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Wow, lots of posts to catch up on here....

Stuff happens, we all deal with it the best we can. Just keep on trucking!!

I wonder if it could be mice eating your chickens feathers LS???? They could be sitting on them during the night munching away.

Beautiful day here today, much warmer than yesterday!!

So true about the mice. I had seen them after my birds in my old coop. New coop has one chink left in its armor. Bucket traps work wonders. It did seem to start in the fall with the mice as well.

 

[COChix]

Slow flock dynamic changes happening. We have Rocco and the feather eaters isolated In the small coop and 1/2 the run. I sealed up the coops with scrim plastic covering the Windows and large openings. That is plastic we use to cover our greenhouses, which allows in a lot of light, heavy duty and weather durable. Put a grate cover over back window due to north wind coming in. Now that we have the roosts higher there have been more direct drafts on them. Lessons learned before the bitter cold. Left top front south facing vent halfway covered, there is an eve so that get sheltered a lot. This is a temp home, we will be moving them soon. Anyway, last night, took Saffron our Welsummer out of the nest box and put her on a roost. She had been sleeping in a nest box for at least a month. She was the worst molted girl and being picked on. So I let her be, but last night I wanted her to see the dynamic change with the bully's out and the coop being warmer. I was glad to see she stayed all night. Tonight she and the other EE that was sleeping in a nest box was also on a roost. I am hoping that is the just the beginning of things being better. It has seemed less stressful on everyone so far, except Rocco and the two girls isolated.

Tuesday, time will be spent in the metro area getting that coop winterized and some roosts for the coop and run built. There is plenty of space, we will have 13 birds, there are six existing nest boxes and an enclosed run already. We will be processing two of my BF mom's birds that are three and non-laying. Their will be one bird to try to integrate with our existing flock. Might consider integrating ours in with her three and then processing her two later. Afterall, integrating one bird is harder than multiples. Just something I have learned the hard way after an injury.

Snow heading our way on Wed, to the added hour of sleep, but of dark so early!

 

[suncatcher]

Sometimes integration goes slowly for some reason.... glad they are fitting in again.

We have had ice on the waters left out over night these last few nights, guess winter is coming after all! Can't say I am looking forward to it, but it is what it is!

Did you order your green house plastic on line? Or buy it local? I am looking for something a little more substance than the regular plastic.

 

[COChix]

Sometimes integration goes slowly for some reason....  glad they are fitting in again. 

We have had ice on the waters left out over night these last few nights, guess winter is coming after all!  Can't say I am looking forward to it, but it is what it is!

Did you order your green house plastic on line?  Or buy it local?  I am looking for something a little more substance than the regular plastic.

Got it at Home Depot, we ordered rolls at the beginning of summer for our greenhouses. It is reinforced scrim 6 ml.

As usual, I am kicking and screaming into winter.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Got it at Home Depot, we ordered rolls at the beginning of summer for our greenhouses. It is reinforced scrim 6 ml.

As usual, I am kicking and screaming into winter.

Thank you for posting this - as we were putting on the metal roof for the main pen, I was thinking I need to get that plastic bought and put up before the weather changes for the winter (and because I only get paid once a month).

And thank you for the kind words, everyone. I have been getting discouraged that maybe I did the wrong thing in keeping Odysseus and Damien and then subsequently ending up with everyone else since they all have MG now, but there were/are a lot of things going wrong right now and that hasn't helped my perspective. One day at a time.

 

[alebuela]

Greetings Colorado Earthlings! It feels like I've been lost in space, although tonight I FINALLY caught up on reading all of your touching posts. @uzisuzuki I've been thinking of you lately, since I wound up with a darling, dainty gold-laced Sebright pullet, and have fallen quite in love with my little Fannie. And you've been such a wonderful inspiration in your chicken and pea fowl and dog and horse and other animal love that I can say you most definitely have inspired my with how right you are in your chicken husbandry (wifery?) @21hens-incharge I've been thinking of you and this crud that you've had that I hope you can recover from soon. I, too have a little hen who's very sight-impaired - my Schocki, the Chocolate Bantam Orpington, got pecked by one of the no-longer-in-my-flock hens, right in the eye. It's all milky white, like a cataract, and she really can't seem to get the mealworms when it's that time. However, she waits patiently until all the greedy gobblers have taken their turns at the food dishes, and then she eats - all day long! @COChix I've been thinking of you as well, because Meggli (aka Nutmeg) is huge - the largest of my hens - and although she, like EVERYONE ELSE, is in molt and therefore not laying, she's very healthy and seems very happy. You've mentioned your move to Englewood, and I wonder when and whereabouts and how you will get all your things and creatures moved? @Latestarter I'm sorry to hear of the ongoing problems with the egg eating and possible cannibalism. The question of mice is an interesting one, and I wonder whether that really could be the cause of that really distressing behavior. Last December, right around the time that my pullets became hens, one of the neighborhood cats decided to have a litter of kittens in my back yard, behind my chicken coop. The kittens grew up very respectful of my hens, and I haven't had any problems with mice in my home or around my yard since that peaceable kingdom came about.

And there's much more. I wound up purchasing 4 chickens at Wardle's about a month ago, since my older flock was in molt and not producing any eggs, and so now I have a Splash Wyandotte hen, the little Sebright, and Red Star and White Leghorn pullets. I'm still not getting any eggs, but now all my babies are out of quarantine and my yard is full of lively chickens and poo. Sigh.

I'm just barely going to have my coops weatherized and the heated water bowl cleaned and plugged in by the time the cold and wet arrive on Wednesday. I hope for all of you - all of us - the best possible winter and a swift return to healthy, happy, and fully laying flocks!