Colorado

[Mountain Momma]

Has anyone experienced a mini molt at 9ish months? I think that's what is happening to one of my girls. Her tail is gone and so is a lot of her neck/head feathers and in there place is a whole bunch of pin feathers. There is no sign of pecking (the usual problem around here) and no sign of mites/lice/bugs. It's just weird because all of my birds got the once over almost 2 weeks ago and there was no sign of this on her then. I also handled them all the first night of the storm when I put jackets on them to protect from pecking while they were cooped up and I didn't notice it then either.

It's amazing how I seem to experience something new with my chickens every other week or so.

How was everyone's weekend?

Maybe an allergy to the jacket?

 

[Pozees]

I'm still lurking and following along. Guess I'm just spending more time over on the Cochin thread. Anybody want some???

FYI - Here's a list of the members with the most posts on this thread:


wsmith

759
coloradochick

531
Wifezilla

386
coloradogal

288
Rock Home Isle

262
Chick_In_The_Burbs

259
Minchi

256
gardendufus

254
Coopa Cabana

223
kmatt87

183
ONSTAD1

178
dennarahl

172
Pozees

163
mrsengeseth

156
MyKidLuvsGreenEgz

154
colowyo0809

145
wattsjadajoe

145
ryan820

131
ShysCreations

120
alpinefarm

117
Mtn Margie

108
mynamesjenelle

107
farmerlor

106

Hello! I have a blue cochin hen, I call her, very originally, Blue She has a very sweet and silly personality, and of all the hens I have, she is the most fun to watch run I call her Li'l Lotta at times. I just adore her. She is just a Big R/hatchery girl, obtained from a local couple only a month or so before she began to lay, and I am half-secretly hoping she goes broody next spring so I can get her some eggs to hatch (no rooster here at this time). Do you have a favorite color?

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Quote:

759

coloradochick

531
Wifezilla

386
coloradogal

288
Rock Home Isle

262
Chick_In_The_Burbs

259
Minchi

256
gardendufus

254
Coopa Cabana

223
kmatt87

183
ONSTAD1

178
dennarahl

172
Pozees

163
mrsengeseth

156
MyKidLuvsGreenEgz

154
colowyo0809

145
wattsjadajoe

145
ryan820

131
ShysCreations

120
alpinefarm

117
Mtn Margie

108
mynamesjenelle

107
farmerlor

106

Hello! I have a blue cochin hen, I call her, very originally, Blue She has a very sweet and silly personality, and of all the hens I have, she is the most fun to watch run I call her Li'l Lotta at times. I just adore her. She is just a Big R/hatchery girl, obtained from a local couple only a month or so before she began to lay, and I am half-secretly hoping she goes broody next spring so I can get her some eggs to hatch (no rooster here at this time). Do you have a favorite color?
Yes, my focus is primarily Golden Laced Bantams, but I have some black bantams available (3-4 months old) out of a breeding project working on Blue Laced Reds. There is a link to my website with pictures in my sig line.

 

[Pozees]

Had a productive Saturday. Got the management area cleaned up, the garbage barrel emptied, the plucker modified. Did some work on the wagon we use to haul things around and generally started getting ready for this weekend's chicken processing. We have 8 EE roosters and 4 Dom roosters to process. We will wait on the Turkey until the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Talked to my brother who lives in VA via facebook. I asked him if they were ready for the storm, he said they put the garbage cans away...... He was sort of nonchalant about the whole thing. I hope his attitude doesn't backfire on him. From the latest storm projection maps, they will be right on the edge of the heavy stuff.

One of my cousins passed away on Saturday. she had cancer and when it decided to act, it did so quickly. Beth and I had a sober Sunday thinking about the whole cancer thing.

On a lighter note, we had a great time at dinner on Friday for our anniversary. Beth didn't eat much, and we went right home afterrwards because she was worn out, but it was still very nice. Thanks again BYC Colorado People!

Boy, Wendell, kind of brings it home, huh? I hope her passing was as gentle as possible given the circumstances. My sympathies.

Hope your brother manages in the storm. We have been watching coverage of the swinging crane in NYC among other things. Scary. My folks and some of the rest of my family are in NY but upstate and not in the path, although I did warn my mother to keep the phones charged just in case.

Will there be a time you will process chickens for those of us with no facilities, for a price? I have thought a few times about getting broilers, but until I re-align Bob's thinking to accept that if we eat chicken, it is better to eat that which we KNOW has been fed well and raised kindly, I will hold off. He is still at the stage of preferring arm's length eating. He has learned a lot about chickens in the last few months, and a lot of it has been surprising to him, I think especially how absorbing they can be, and how utterly delightful and entertaining. On one hand, only having 7 has been an easy introduction, as he has learned to tell most of them apart, which he originally thought impossible; on the other hand, he has learned to tell them apart and he would notice one missing He is an old softie when it comes to animals, and openly grieved when he accidentally ran over a cottontail with his tractor. It's hard to fault a person for feeling so strongly about living things, but I am hopeful that at some point he will realize the value of eating what we raise as opposed to trusting a large conglomerate to do the right thing by its livestock (which we know they don't). I consider it a common attitude. We have grown detached from our food sources as a society. Connecting what we eat with how it is raised is important. We will get there.

 

[Pozees]

Did anyone else get the promo from Meyer's today, free shipping on white broilers if you order 25 due to Hurricane Sandy cancellations? Pretty good deal - $1.29 each.

 

[larca83]

Very excited to announce our first eggs! I found 2 small brown eggs in the coop on Sunday. Picked up a cold egg, brought it inside...went back to the coop an hour later and found another one, this one warm. My first fresh, warm egg! My girls are 25 weeks old.



Eggs on my counter. Sorry - not sure why it's rotating my photo!

 

[WendyGeisler]

 

[Auntie]

Hey guys, I'm probably still considered a newbie, as far as past posters go. Only posted twice, maybe three times? With wsmith, who's postings have changed my want of Barred Rocks to Doms. I keep up with you all every night, constantly learning (and laughing) but you're all so into your flocks I feel like I'm betraying this thread by looking at my flock as "food" only. And you all seem like such great long-time friends, I didn't want to just barge in with my ramblings.

I started raising RIRs fifteen years ago and switched to BRs, then Javas, which didn't do well in our Colorado winters; not to mention they had no meat on them when butchered no matter how much feed and kitchen scraps they got. Tried the Leghorns, which was like raising over-sized white roadrunners. Nasty buggers! Now I'm back to BRs, with a few cochin roosters from a bad purchase this past summer. I like the heritage birds for the historical value, like my Narragansett turkeys (I also love America history). My garden follows suit with heirloom vegetables, some dating back to the 1600s. Now, through this thread, I see that Doms fit in better than my BRs, since BRs originally come from a mix of Doms and a couple other bird breeds. So thank you, wsmith, for making me do the research and rethinking my flock.

 

[WendyGeisler]

Here are some pictures of my hail netting that we used over the garden in the summer. We are also using it over the chicken run and it has been great for ventilation but also allows some shade and water to pass through, also really inexpensive

 

[dennarahl]

Maybe an allergy to the jacket?

I don't think so because they've been wearing these jackets off and on for about 6 months. But, stranger things have happened with my allergies, so it's hard to tell. I'm starting to see the same signs in a couple of the other girls. They're all of a sudden losing and growing new feathers on their faces, so I do think its a mini molt. I'm taking a wait and see approach while they still seem happy and normal otherwise.