Colorado

[Mtn Margie]

As an FYI, a woman in Tucson said she lost a hen to heat stroke last week in 112 degree temps, almost lost a second, saw her staggering around and plunged her into a bucket of cold water and saved her life. Good emergency technique to know just in case.

recommended for people as well, cold - not ice water, don't want to send them into shock.

 

[annav410]

Great ideas and suggestions.

I will check on them first thing when I get home tonight and keep an eye out for any stress. I work full time but I get home usually close to the hottest time of the day (4-5pm) so I am hoping I can keep an eye on them. My teenage boys are also home this summer so I might have them check on them if we get over 95 degrees.
~Anna

 

[Minchi]

Great information Pozees!

Important information for Parker residents!!!!

I was talking with the Planning department and found out that Chickens are actually not allowed in Parker right now however they are about to have a vote on the issue, looks like they will be discussing it tomorrow night. Below is the information my dh found.

http://www.parkeronline.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2190

Edit- I found information in the charter that allows them.

 

[pichuris]

Trying to catch up few more pages to go.
Glad to see new faces to the group.

I only have him with 4 hens. His problem could be a few different things, from too much fluff, to no swimmers. I have mayah's microscope, I just haven't gotten around to checking. I will keep him until spring at least.....

Yeah, he should be producing fertile eggs by now. I've got Delaware roosters born in October who are already producing fertile eggs and I believe Abe is older then that if memory doesn't fail me.

Hello everyone!

I currently live in Boulder, and am quite interested in starting a BYC Coop! I live near Table Mesa and Broadway, and would love to meet any people who currently have BYC in the area. I am totally new to this, but would love to get involved. Thanks!!!

That moose doesnt look so good. It looks like it has mange or something. Kinda naked.

I was thinking the same thing. Wondering if the drought was really making it hard for them.

Mesz5,

!!!!

It's been an eventful couple of days here on Fountain Creek. School is out and a group of teenagers has discovered that I and one of my neighbors are keeping chickens. I was putting together one of those tumbler type composters in front of my shed Tuesday. This is a spot that can't be seen from the county property which borders my back fence. Heard some noises and my dog started going crazy, so I peeked around to find two kids about to walk in my back gate. I asked them what they were doing and they said they were going to come to my door to see if I wanted to sell any of my chickens. I told them no, and never to just walk in my gate again.

Yesterday, I was in the house about 4:30, with my dog, when all of a sudden she rushes out the dog door doing her "I didn't give you permission to be in MY yard" bark. So I go out the front door to find my next door neighbor. He tells me he just ran off a coupla kids who he saw were inside my gated and latched run, chasing my chickens. I went to the back to find out they had left in such a hurry they left my run door open. Good thing I saw that before either the chickens or my dog discovered the easy access.

So I get in my car, drive down 4 doors to warn the other chicken keepers (who don't really speak English) that there are some kids around messing with people's chickens, only to find out right after they had left my property they had jumped into their run (has much easier access from the public lands than mine). The teenage boys that live there had chased them off. Then we all started patrolling the walking path that follows Fountain Creek looking for them. Found a group of kids (6 or so) and the boys from down the street said two of them were the ones that jumped their fence. But they were hesitant to call the sheriff, and the two that I had seen the day before were not in that group of kids, so I had no basis to call, since I had not not seen the ones in my coop yesterday.

So today I put padlocks on every gate/door/eggbox I could find. It will be a PITA for me to carry keys around with me all the time in case I want to pop into the run, coop or check for eggs, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Was advised by the Sheriff that it would be a bad idea (altho not illegal, just a potential lawsuit from an irate parent) for me to restrain these kids if I actually catch them in my yard again. I'm tempted to set a trap for them, lock them in the coop if I can entice them into it, and THEN call the sheriff. Also have half a mind to carry my revolver around, unloaded of course, just to get it into their minds that I'm willing to defend my property. These kids are not the older dangerous juvenile delinquents, look like they range in age from about 8 to 14. LOL, didn't ask the sheriff what he thought about my revolver idea. He was so discouraging about simply restraining them long enough for them to get there, I didn't EVEN want to hear his opinion of my letting them see a gun.

SIGH, I worried about this stuff last year, but when nothing happened, I thought I was safe from the local juveniles. My Bad.

Yeah, not able to restrain anyone against their will unless you are law enforcement or security. Not a good idea about the weapon. Unloaded or loaded any type of brandishing of a weapon is considered felony menacing. Like the word means it is considered a felony and no bueno to have on your record.

Update on the hatch:
So my little ones are doing well. I did lose 2 within a few days after hatch but now I have 23 spunky barnyard mix chickies.
Received my shipped eggs and have 3 broodies working on them. My mean OEG wanted nothing to do with them after putting her in the broody pen. Oh, well just glad I was able to fit all 26 eggs between the three. Couple more weeks and more chicks.

Just wondering if anyone has ever thought or done a fertile egg swap. We would just exchange eggs and each person would be responsible for the shipping so no money is ever exchanged. I have a lot of barnyard mix eggs. Just curious.

 

[samsr]

I am getting ready to go on Vacation to TN for a week then up to Michigan for a few days. Is there anyone that would like for me to take some eggs and drop them off along the I70 / I80 corridor or bring some back from the Jackson TN, Grand Rapids area area? I don't know if there are some breeders around these areas or not. But free shipping and carefull handling would be priceless for fertile eggs. I just thought I would offer. I will be driving and will have the room. Send me a PM if you are interested and we can work out the details.

 

[trochefarm]

Great information Pozees!

Important information for Parker residents!!!!

I was talking with the Planning department and found out that Chickens are actually not allowed in Parker right now however they are about to have a vote on the issue, looks like they will be discussing it tomorrow night. Below is the information my dh found.

http://www.parkeronline.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2190

Edit- I found information in the charter that allows them.

I read this on the Parker forum, and got so excited. I just looked at it again, and it's dated 2012. I'm guessing it didn't go so well? :-(

 

[trochefarm]

is anyone else having egg laying issues with their hens the last couple of days. Mine have only laid 2 eggs for the last couple of days. This would be out of six hens that usually lay between 4 to 6 a day. We got six Sunday. The kids and I did spray them down Sunday with some all natural lice remover stuff. Maybe this freaked them out. I guess time will tell. I just thought I would check and see if something was in the air or something.

I know this was posted days ago, but I'm just catching up with my light reading. I wanted to mention the problem I'm having with one lady, my easter egger. Nearly two weeks ago, she was looking lethargic and not eating, so I moved her inside for a few days, gave her vitamins, etc. The first day she was inside, she laid an egg. Nothing more the next few days she was inside, which was fine. Even after moving her back into the coop, though, she has laid nothing ... until yesterday... but nothing today. So, in two weeks, I've gotten one egg from her. She's eating fine, and very active. She's only a year old, and she is not molting. I'll give her a little more time to see if she picks up again. If not, I'll need to make a very hard decision soon. I really don't want to be feeding a chicken that isn't laying. I feel cruel even thinking that. :-(

 

[gardendufus]

So in the heat, I water down my run twice a day to try to control some ground heat. I also freeze water bottles and put them inside the waterers I have to keep the water cooler for them.

Mtn M, I considered the dust bathing in an unusual way, but kind of discounted it when she did her little waddle across my 18' run and back again, hopped up on the container I keep my wood ashes in and walked around on it in the same manner, hopped down (without standing up first) and continued to waddle around the run. I have seen no signs of this activity today, so maybe it was a 'one of'' kind of occurrence. I've begun to wonder if she might have been injured, maybe strained a muscle or something when those hooligans were chasing them around the run the other day. One of them might have gotten hold of one of her legs or something.

So the now almost 12 week olds are beginning to redden up, well the SS have had red combs for awhile, now their faces are getting pretty red. My Austra Whites are getting wattles. It's so nice watching them become young ladies. My first group of chicks last year never got into the chest butting that everyone was talking about their chicks doing, but this group is doing it all the time, obviously trying to figure out who in their group will be the leader. So far it's a fight between the Black Astralorps and the Austra Whites for dominance. The Sussex and Partridge Rock don't seem to want to jump into the fray. And NONE of the younguns is willing to challenge the older girls for position YET. I have a feeling it's coming tho. LOL

 

[maggiemo]

Trochefarm; I am starting to look at my flock and think the same thing. I have one Welsummer I am almost positive has never laid. She is about 14 months old, she molted when she was 7 months old and is a beautiful big bird. She just doesn't lay. I have never seen her in the nesting box and her pelvic bones are very narrow and her vent is pale. I have another Welsummer that lays really poor quality eggs. Grainy shell and dark on one end and light brown on the other. I also have a silver leghorn that lays a very small egg maybe twice a week.
I know they are not going to go through the winter with the rest of the flock. But I don't know when to say when....

 

[Pozees]

Trochefarm; I am starting to look at my flock and think the same thing. I have one Welsummer I am almost positive has never laid. She is about 14 months old, she molted when she was 7 months old and is a beautiful big bird. She just doesn't lay. I have never seen her in the nesting box and her pelvic bones are very narrow and her vent is pale. I have another Welsummer that lays really poor quality eggs. Grainy shell and dark on one end and light brown on the other. I also have a silver leghorn that lays a very small egg maybe twice a week.
I know they are not going to go through the winter with the rest of the flock. But I don't know when to say when....

These decisions are not easy for anyone, at least no one I know personally. If you are breeding, this sort of hen really can't be considered unless she can be bred to a cockbird out of a stellar layer, and if you only have your flock for eggs, hens like this are money down the drain. I would suggest you advertise them for free on Craigslist for someone who wants a lovely yard ornament, if you can tolerate the possibility they will grace someone else's dinner table, or process them yourself if you can. Some chickens are beautiful but do not produce, at which point (and 14 months is plenty of opportunity, they should be laying well at this point) there are decisions to make. If the rest of your flock is laying well, are you willing to feed a non-productive hen for the pleasure of looking at her? Some are, some are not, there is no shame in either.