Colorado

[Latestarter]

I believe a BA is a Black Australorp.

 

[coop410silkies]

Me, too. They are amongst the favorite of those I have raised. Greetings and welcome to all you newbies; you have subscribed to great birds of a feather.

@ LS: I hope you are staying in Colorado, in which case I shall be happy for you. I got some good ideas from the people responding to your egg eating dilemmas. I can't believe you are leaving two great hen haciendas and are going to make more. Hope your girls are starting to earn their keep. My Silkies are the only ones laying; the rest are going on a diet.

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks @coop410silkies . The haciendas will be going on the market sometime around late April I'm estimating... I have a bunch of "sprucing up" to do before I can list the place. I need more land, more "space" between me and neighbors, and to lower my cost of living. It has just gotten too crowded here, too restrictive (politics/regulations/fees/taxes), and too expensive in general. Love the climate and the views, but simply can't afford it.

If I were staying I'd be building sloped egg drop/hide contraptions to place inside the nest boxes. There's plenty of room for them as the boxes are ~18" wide x ~20" deep x ~24"+ high (at the inside hen entrances). Learned a LOT constructing these 2... will incorporate all that I've learned into construction of the next one(s)

Still battling egg eaters, but I'm starting to see a couple more eggs every other day or so. I think I've turned that corner and hopefully they'll really pick back up over the coming weeks.

Diet

I need one of those as much as the danged birds do! I haven't been able to do FF for them in over a month! The amount of dry feed they waste is astounding! I think the coop bedding is now almost 50% pellets and grains they don't care for dry. I'm sorely tempted to just stop feeding them at all for several days and let them eat some of the feed they'd scratched and head sprayed out into the bedding! I want to make sure back into more or less consistent (well) above freezing daytime temps before I go back to FF. I gotta tell you, I miss it, and think they do as well.

 

[Latestarter]

We had a pretty nice day weather wise today, so I took a rib eye out of the freezer and plan on grilling it for dinner. Went up to Monarch Casino last night for their buffet dinner with prime rib & lobster and to blow some coin in the (no longer real) one armed bandits. The prime rib was good (just good) and the lobster was plastic. The worst lobster I've ever had in my life. It was cold, and seriously felt and tasted like rubber. I couldn't eat it. I complained to the manager and she apologized. Needless to say, I won't be doing lobster there again.

 

[21hens-incharge]

LS,
Bummer your trip up there was met with a sorrowful dinner.

I am doing the FF still. I put some out in the morning but not so much that they cannot finish it before it freezes then again in the afternoon when I get home. I had stopped for a while and just started back up 3 days ago. I keep dry pellets available too just in case I cannot get out there or someone is hungry.
Sadly I lost Sarah. My Dark Brahma less than a year old. I had not had time to do the weigh ins for over a month and when she was laying prone in the coop last night realized I cannot miss the weigh ins any longer. She was thin but not super thin. I found her at 5:30 pm and she was gone by 8 pm. She had been fine when I fed in the morning. Got up and ate and did chicken stuff in a chicken like fashion. NOTHING odd in the am. I watch them for about 20 minutes in the am because of the EE I lost a while back. I want to know everyone is doing well before I leave.
Chickens are brutal to any that are not well. She was being pecked at mercilessly.
I set her up in the garage but knew she had little chance.

I am heartbroken over her loss. I am beginning to question every tiny aspect of keeping chickens. I bought vaccinated chicks. The FF is more of a wet mash as I make it the night before use so no way it could have been spoiled. I feed high quality feed. Summer is Nutrena layer pellets, winter/molting is Feather fixer then back to the layer once molting is done. I had been weighing them twice a month. I keep a watch for mites or lice. I don't feed a ton of treats only 2 cups a day for what was 30 hens. I clean the coop once a week. Fresh water every morning.

Makes me ask WTH else could I be doing to keep these birds alive.

I have now lost 3 this winter. One old leghorn (Salt), the chicken known as "grandma" and now Sarah.

Sorry that got long. Thanks for "listening".

 

[coop410silkies]

@21hens: I am so sorry for your loss(es). I, too, lost a few birds last year, not just this winter, and at least 3 were from an unknown and unanticipated cause. I know this doesn't help, but I can surely feel your frustration and sorrow and wish I could help.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have been beating my brains out trying to figure out if it was something I did or did not do but should have.

I never had losses like this with my old flock back some 15 years ago. I lost only 2 birds in 5 years then. One was a broody bantam and unexpected super cold snap. The other drowned in the cattle tank.

I knew nothing about keeping chickens back then. Must have been dumb luck that they managed to survive despite having me as a caretaker.

Just down right frustrating and disheartening.

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts.

I will get over it and move along but SHEESH and DANG IT ALL TO %*(#.

 

[Latestarter]

Oh man! Sorry you lost another one 21hens... It just goes this way sometimes... no matter what you do. There was a spell last year when I lost several for no apparent reason. All healthy one day and gone the next. Seems the more you know and more you learn, the more you question yourself. Kinda easier to just be dumb and whatever happens, happens...

Hang in there!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thanks LS. I appreciate knowing I am not alone in the random loss of birds.
I think that is what is bothering me .... it is so darn random.

 

[lomine]

Sorry about losing your birds 21hens.