Colorado

[COChix]

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.

Quite gross what the hell is it?

 

[uzisuzuki]

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.

Holy crap. I wonder what that is & how it got/developed in her eye.

 

[laceykins]

I'm still trying to figure out what breed(s) to get for my "starter chicks." I want them to be very friendly and pet like, and also to be at least somewhat decent egg layers. I live by myself so I dont need that many eggs per week. I'm only starting with three chicks. I was gonna start with two, but I'm taking your advice and getting one more. If it goes well, I'll eventually add a fourth. I wanted to know your experience, particularly in Colorado, on what super friendly breeds also do well in winter. I'm in Centennial, not the mountains, and will have a nicely insulated, draft free coop whether they are super hearty or not...just makes me feel better. Also, a large part of their run would be completely covered year round. I'm looking at silkies, bantam Orphingtons, and wanted to check out a few other breeds too. I've looked at all the breed info online, but wanted to ask for first had opinions on what breeds do particularly well in Colorado. Would silkies be miserable on cold winter days? Any advice or experiences are welcome!!

 

[laceykins]

Holy crap. I wonder what that is & how it got/developed in her eye.

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!

 

[uzisuzuki]

I'm still trying to figure out what breed(s) to get for my "starter chicks." I want them to be very friendly and pet like, and also to be at least somewhat decent egg layers. I live by myself so I dont need that many eggs per week. I'm only starting with three chicks. I was gonna start with two, but I'm taking your advice and getting one more. If it goes well, I'll eventually add a fourth. I wanted to know your experience, particularly in Colorado, on what super friendly breeds also do well in winter. I'm in Centennial, not the mountains, and will have a nicely insulated, draft free coop whether they are super hearty or not...just makes me feel better. Also, a large part of their run would be completely covered year round. I'm looking at silkies, bantam Orphingtons, and wanted to check out a few other breeds too. I've looked at all the breed info online, but wanted to ask for first had opinions on what breeds do particularly well in Colorado. Would silkies be miserable on cold winter days? Any advice or experiences are welcome!!

From what I've reading here, it might be better to start with 4 instead of waiting to add one later. Adding to the flock is apparently quite the process & if you think 4 is a good number for you, it's better to just raise them all together as chicks. Also, are you ordering the chicks or buying them local? If ordering, you probably won't get away with an order of 4 (as I found out last month when ordering mine for the first time).

From what I've gathered here & with my owns short experience with 2 "not cold hardy" breeds (1 Sebright & 4 Polish), chickens of all kinds are extremely resilient and given that you provide them a well ventilated, draft free coop, any breed you want can make it here in Colorado. I would wager that, much like my Polish ladies, as long as you keep Silkies clean & dry they'll have no problem in winter.

 

[laceykins]

From what I've reading here, it might be better to start with 4 instead of waiting to add one later. Adding to the flock is apparently quite the process & if you think 4 is a good number for you, it's better to just raise them all together as chicks. Also, are you ordering the chicks or buying them local? If ordering, you probably won't get away with an order of 4 (as I found out last month when ordering mine for the first time).

From what I've gathered here & with my owns short experience with 2 "not cold hardy" breeds (1 Sebright & 4 Polish), chickens of all kinds are extremely resilient and given that you provide them a well ventilated, draft free coop, any breed you want can make it here in Colorado. I would wager that, much like my Polish ladies, as long as you keep Silkies clean & dry they'll have no problem in winter.

Thanks for your insight. I've been hearing that chickens are all somewhat cold Hearty, but just wanted to make sure there aren't and "fancy type" breeds that would be miserable here. I really only want three chickens total but want them to be happy. Hopefully three is enough for a micro mini flock, lol.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Thanks for your insight. I've been hearing that chickens are all somewhat cold Hearty, but just wanted to make sure there aren't and "fancy type" breeds that would be miserable here. I really only want three chickens total but want them to be happy. Hopefully three is enough for a micro mini flock, lol.

No worries! I'm not much help as I literally came into chicken keeping by accident in October, but this board has a LOT of info on just about everything you ever wanted to know about them & for the most part everyone is extremely friendly & willing to offer help/advice if you ask for it. Although, the one big piece of advice I was given recently here that has helped is that there are a lot of opinions from people here about how you should manage a flock to treating for worms to never buy a rooster if you're new to chickens that are given as Chicken Gospel.

If there's a particular breed you want first hand accounts from, there's a section on this site for "user" reviews of breeds, as well as actual board threads that are breed specific that I found incredibly helpful when ordering my chicks for next year.

 

[21hens-incharge]

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.

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.

 

[Ashdoes]

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!

Go to Mypetchicken.com and use their little "pick a breed for me" quiz. You can tell them exact qualities, and they'll list and show you breeds that fit those traits We ordered our very first chickens from them, and they were great...expect the wyandottes, they were the unfriendliness birds ever, and very mean to the the other chickens. I have heard that the friendliest flock to have is salmon favorelles. Think I spelled that right.
Uzisuzuki is right, it would be pretty awful for the new chicken, if added all by herself to an established flock.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I'm still trying to figure out what breed(s) to get for my "starter chicks." I want them to be very friendly and pet like, and also to be at least somewhat decent egg layers. I live by myself so I dont need that many eggs per week. I'm only starting with three chicks. I was gonna start with two, but I'm taking your advice and getting one more. If it goes well, I'll eventually add a fourth. I wanted to know your experience, particularly in Colorado, on what super friendly breeds also do well in winter. I'm in Centennial, not the mountains, and will have a nicely insulated, draft free coop whether they are super hearty or not...just makes me feel better. Also, a large part of their run would be completely covered year round. I'm looking at silkies, bantam Orphingtons, and wanted to check out a few other breeds too. I've looked at all the breed info online, but wanted to ask for first had opinions on what breeds do particularly well in Colorado. Would silkies be miserable on cold winter days? Any advice or experiences are welcome!!

From my experience it is very difficult and sometimes near impossible to add a single chicken to an established group. I would go with the 4 to start as well.
Silkies from what I know of them are not the best layers. If you want decent size eggs bantams are not the right choice either. My Black Australorps are good producers but not the kind to come up and get petted. The delawares I have are super friendly and good producers, but they are large 6+ pounds. The Speckled Sussex are also friendly and good producers if you are looking for some color in the chickens. Again that is a large bird.
Something to remember is no two chickens are exactly alike and can vary from the norm for the breed.
Some are so broody that you will rarely see an egg from them at all and others are so friendly it is hard to shake them off your pant leg just to walk through the yard.
Since you don't need that many eggs per week you may find lesser layers are the right choice for you. There are weeks in the summer that I wash over 100 eggs out of 20 hens with 4 being lesser layers. This winter has been a dry one for eggs here. I have not seen an egg from my gals since September.
I can only speak from my experiences and hope this is helpful for you.
If you had 4 good producers and you got only 2 eggs a day that would be 14 eggs a week. Chickens vary and that number could be as high as 28 eggs from 4 hens on a super week. Just something to think about when making your choices.

edited to add..
Ash had a good suggestion on the breed chart at mypetchicken.com. I also agree about the wyandottes. The only friendly one I have ever had was a columbian wyandotte and that is only ONE out of the dozen I have had.