Colorado

[suncatcher]

Congrats on everyones successful hatchings! So many cute little fuzzy chicks, one forgets how adorable they are!

 

[yawningreyhound]

FROSTBITE! The 18 below day did one girl's wattle in. The owner of the Er where i work put her on metacam for a few days along with a topical to prevent infection. She's totally tolerating treatment.we're just keeping her comfortable and watching for infection. The split on the right has already healed up. I think some will slough still. But she's eating and perky.

I hate this darn weather.

What's everyone think about switching to a different water system where the wattle stays dry?

 

[Dnetschke]

I may have a juvenile Silkie male, I'm going to start trying to figure out this weekend if I can tell - there's one I've been suspecting is a male. Is there a certain breed you were hoping for? Seems like someone else had a male Silkie they were trying to rehome, too, a white one I think?

How did your hatch go?

Beautiful sunny WARM day looks to be the forecast!

I too wondered if people who butcher their extra roosters put them up the last few weeks, and if it makes their meat anymore tender????

Dnetschke, What kind of Bantams are you looking for?

Pozee, how big will your rooster grow out pen be? I have toyed with the idea of building one, but have not done much research as to how much room they need, etc. I know if you hatch them or grow them out all together they usually get along, but have only done it with three or four.

I'm open to most bantam roos, but I dont think a Silkie would do good with my girls. They're already bossy, I need a really Dominant roo for this flock.

Hatch went relatively well for my first go. hatched 3 out of 20 eggs. 1 lethargic chick passed the first night, the other 2 look great!

Just set the second round. I think I have 18 set. I'm hoping for another 2 to 3 chicks minimum.

 

[suncatcher]

 


I may have a juvenile Silkie male, I'm going to start trying to figure out this weekend if I can tell - there's one I've been suspecting is a male.  Is there a certain breed you were hoping for?  Seems like someone else had a male Silkie they were trying to rehome, too, a white one I think?

How did your hatch go?

Beautiful sunny WARM day looks to be the forecast!


I too wondered if people who butcher their extra roosters put them up the last few weeks, and if it makes their meat anymore tender????


Dnetschke, What kind of Bantams are you looking for?


Pozee, how big will your rooster grow out pen be? I have toyed with the idea of building one, but have not done much research as to how much room they need, etc. I know if you hatch them or grow them out all together they usually get along, but have only done it with three or four.

I'm open to most bantam roos, but I dont think a Silkie would do good with my girls. They're already bossy, I need a really Dominant roo for this flock.

Hatch went relatively well for my first go. hatched 3 out of 20 eggs. 1 lethargic chick passed the first night, the other 2 look great!

Just set the second round. I think I have 18 set. I'm hoping for another 2 to 3 chicks minimum.

Was that on shipped eggs? I can't recall....

I have two extra Gold Laced Bantam Cochin cockerals, they will be a year in April. PM me if you are interested, and I can send you pictures of them.

 

[Pozees]

Frostbite will usually heal on its own, and in general you are better off to leave it alone, as any touching or rubbing can actually make it worse. I have had a couple look really bad and in a few days they started to heal, ending up with virtually no sign they ever had it, all nice and pink/red again. One keeper in Indiana has been giving updates on her male's frostbitten wattles, which looked kind of bad and now are almost completely healed a month later (BYC user Leahs Mom). She posted pics on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread just a couple of days ago.

 

[Dnetschke]

These were hatched off my roos eggs. It appears that he only can or prefers one hen.

 

[yawningreyhound]

Thanks pozee! its looking better by the day. The avian specialist on vin, the goto boards for vets, said to wait before doing anything too. Just to pain medicate and prevent infection. Since it had the split on one side and severe edema on the other, we chose the topical. Two days and it's so much better. I'm a tiger about pain management...the thought of her suffering would've affected my sleep!

Now to prevent further. I thought we were over our super below 0 times....sillyme. I ordered a watering system where they don't have to get the wattles wet which just seemed like a recipe for disaster at 18 below. And it was!!!
Thanks

 

[yawningreyhound]

yawninggreyhound - my layer coop is from the same person.  First thing we did was add insulation and inner walls in including a ceiling.  The insulation we used was that stuff you buy in a roll that looks like foil around bubble wrap.  If I put enough birds in there it raises the temp over outdoors by maybe 10 degrees.  If your birds are draft-free they will be fine.  If you want to supplement heat safely look for a ceramic heat emitter in the reptile section at the pet store, but now that we are past the sub-zero nights I would not worry.  If we have another cold snap it won't hurt to prepare, but as I said a couple of days ago, if I didn't have chicks out in the coop I would not have supplied any extra heat.  This is the first time I have done so, it is a minimal amount of heat in place only to ensure ambient temp in the coop stays above zero, which is about all it's done.  Chickens are tougher than you think they are

Good to know. This summer I'll try to fix the actual coop I was given. You could throw a cat thru all the illfitting doors of which there's 4!!!!! Plus the access door. You sit inside and you can read a book!
in the meantime we're using the storage coop as I showed you and I'll make further adjustments to it to make it less airy. Crazy to think of all the chicken s trying to live in one of those coops if someone didn't know to amend them!

 

[yawningreyhound]

Love you coop!  We have the exact flooring.    Hope yours holds up better than mine has.

Yeah, that crap is so thin. Dh wanted cheap. I'm replacing as soon as one corner pops up. The dollar per tile is so much thicker. And I left the sheeting that comes on the Foamular so I think I can peel it all up at least once.

 

[urbanfarmer101]

Yeah, that crap is so thin. Dh wanted cheap. I'm replacing as soon as one corner pops up. The dollar per tile is so much thicker. And I left the sheeting that comes on the Foamular so I think I can peel it all up at least once.

My girls spilled their water and it froze, so where ever the water went, now the tiles are coming up. I am heading to Habitat Re-store to get a single piece of flooring to put down. Can I just say "gurrr".