Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, I'm sorry to hear about your sick chicks, I hope the antibiotics help fast. Many of the chickens diseases are airborne, so you could have picked up something at the fair & brought it home, who knows. I also have read that the Denaguard is good, but haven't tried it myself. I have Tylan so that's what I have used before for respiratory stuff.

tweety, I wouldn't worry about the soft shell, I had a couple of those when my birds were just starting off laying.

Well I made the trip to Arkansas City to deliver the chicks & didn't get all of my money, oh well I figured at least even if the lady doesn't send me the rest I don't have to feed these 5 any more & that would make up for it plus not having them in my utility room either. The grandmother was kind of a ditz & I'm not sure about the girl that got them either, but you can't pick & choose too much when you need to get rid of chicks. I did get the part to fix my feeder the turkeys broke, so I guess the drive was worth it. I also bought another feeder for the new pen that I'm putting the Ameraucanas in too while I was down there. I'm going out shortly to work more on that pen, I need to get it done ASAP so I can uncrowd the grow-out pen. I don't like to see birds crowded, it's just an invitation for problems I feel like. I had seen a free dog house on CL today & inquired about it, but they said it was already gone, darn it was a nice one too. I'll just have to keep watching.

 

[schellie69]

I would have loved to get some silkie/cochins (sp) mix my dd would have loved them. I have a couple of broody's but all the girls keep wanting to lay their eggs in that nest box so I end up with broken eggs and I have tried to move the broody with no luck I keep hoping for some chicks they would be barn yard mixes but it would be great to have some new chicks. I am still looking for a few breeds like Maran's Ameracuana's and Easter eggers. Just to add some color to my basket. I did find a home for my little rescued pheasant so that is one project done.

I need to finish re-planting my fall garden. I managed to get all the weeds out from around my tomatoes and peppers. I am hoping to get the rest of the garden done this week plus all my house projects. I hope everyone is staying cool.

 

[medawinks]

I love reading about all of the GP dogs doing their jobs. It is so true how different breeds are better suited for different situations. While we fell in love with Danz's polar bear dogs, city life is not a good place for a dog like that. I love having a big do to alert me to intruders, but mine have to be able to be happy just being walked and taken to a bark park

Pikeman, good luck with the Marans guessing game! I had one cuckoo marans from the feed store and it was really obvious by 6 weeks that he was all roo. I waffled back and forth on him till that point, but I am such a newbie that it probably was quite obvious to more experienced folk long before that....

The guessing game is still going on at my house, also. I have a bantam Cochin roo I have waffled on for a month, hoping it would be a pullet too. So far it hasn't crowed or acted like a roo.... But it sure looks like one. What do you guys think?

We are clueless on our silkies too. This red one is the one Danz gave Sera.
one

It looks very similar to our other two 4 month old silkies. But nothing like Bloom, who is our only laying chicken so far.

They are all misted and not too pretty right now, but they are cooler!

HE chicken, I am so glad Tory is turning out to be a win in more than one way! I ca definitely understand the desire to both protect the birds AND the family. If we lived in the country, a GP would definitely be a dog we would look for, but it is so true that breeds are designed for different purposes and shouldn't be acquired without serious thought. I live my big dogs, because they alert me to strangers on my property and also are unconcerned about routine people and vehicles but also don't alert to unfamiliar vehicles on the street- until they park in my drive Standard poodles may look like sissy dogs, but when they stand at the door and bark a low bark similar to what you describe the GP bark to be- they are just what I need No shedding, no need to roam, and happy to just take a walk around the block If they didn't think my birds were toys to be played with and also protected them as well as they do my kids and I - they would be perfect, but they are family

 

[medawinks]

Hawkeye, I am sorry you chicks are sick! Can I ask, however, what the meds are that you talked about and why you thought of them. I have some Duramycin I used when mine had a respiratory? bug when they were little that the vet gave us. Yes.... I took one to the vet. Can you tell me what symptoms your have so if I see something similar here I might be a smidgeon less clueless

 

[cherwill]

125 posts since I was here last?! Sorry, I can't do it! I skimmed a little (very little), so HELLO to the new people and my condolences to those of you who've been victims of fox attacks. I asked DH about how they did things when he was growing up and he said they didn't have foxes. They had coyotes those weren't able to get into the pens or coops. He said he's heard that foxes will tunnel under the fencing. He said most of the losses they had were from racoons.

My first EE egg! It's really tiny. Dorothy or New Sophia finally started laying, which means the other should also be laying soon. Blanche and Rose are a couple of months younger, so we have a while yet with them. We're starting to get a few more eggs a week from the older hens, too, so I actually used a few today to make zucchini muffins instead of saving them for weekend brunch!



And here's a picture of Stan and Doug, my niece's ducks. It was taken a couple of weeks ago, after she came back from camp and reclaimed them from me! They have a smaller wading pool in their duck yard. When my SIL emptied and cleaned last week, she moved it to a different spot a couple of feet away and they couldn't find it until she put them in it. The duck yard is pretty small; it shouldn't have been that confusing.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I love reading about all of the GP dogs doing their jobs. It is so true how different breeds are better suited for different situations. While we fell in love with Danz's polar bear dogs, city life is not a good place for a dog like that. I love having a big do to alert me to intruders, but mine have to be able to be happy just being walked and taken to a bark park
Pikeman, good luck with the Marans guessing game! I had one cuckoo marans from the feed store and it was really obvious by 6 weeks that he was all roo. I waffled back and forth on him till that point, but I am such a newbie that it probably was quite obvious to more experienced folk long before that....
The guessing game is still going on at my house, also. I have a bantam Cochin roo I have waffled on for a month, hoping it would be a pullet too. So far it hasn't crowed or acted like a roo.... But it sure looks like one. What do you guys think?

We are clueless on our silkies too. This red one is the one Danz gave Sera.
one

It looks very similar to our other two 4 month old silkies. But nothing like Bloom, who is our only laying chicken so far.

They are all misted and not too pretty right now, but they are cooler!
HE chicken, I am so glad Tory is turning out to be a win in more than one way! I ca definitely understand the desire to both protect the birds AND the family. If we lived in the country, a GP would definitely be a dog we would look for, but it is so true that breeds are designed for different purposes and shouldn't be acquired without serious thought. I live my big dogs, because they alert me to strangers on my property and also are unconcerned about routine people and vehicles but also don't alert to unfamiliar vehicles on the street- until they park in my drive Standard poodles may look like sissy dogs, but when they stand at the door and bark a low bark similar to what you describe the GP bark to be- they are just what I need No shedding, no need to roam, and happy to just take a walk around the block If they didn't think my birds were toys to be played with and also protected them as well as they do my kids and I - they would be perfect, but they are family

I know nothing about cochins, so I can't tell you if that is a boy or girl. It looks girly to me, but what do I know?! Your little red silkie however does look like a girl. I really don't think that is a boy. I think standard poodles are gorgeous! They would be excellent house pets, I'm sure!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, I am sorry you chicks are sick! Can I ask, however, what the meds are that you talked about and why you thought of them. I have some Duramycin I used when mine had a respiratory? bug when they were little that the vet gave us. Yes.... I took one to the vet. Can you tell me what symptoms your have so if I see something similar here I might be a smidgeon less clueless

They were sneezing-- a very cute little "choo!" sound. Then I held them up to my ear and I could hear some "crackling" sounds in their lungs. So that tells me respiratory. Knowing that, I know I need Tylan, Baytril or Denagard. Tylan is best used as an injection, as well as Baytril. I have used Baytril before-- I injected my birds into the breast for 5 days, once a day. I was reading where people have had much better luck with Denagard over Tylan and Baytril, which surprised me. I found many sites where people think it's fantastic stuff. I still think for a much more seriously ill bird, that you are better off with Baytril injections. Oh, and don't feel bad, I took in two birds to the vet last year-- but only because it was that or lose them. They are the ones I put on Baytril injections the vet gave me.

I've been using Duramycin since I just ordered the Denagard and I do not have it on hand yet. AND.... this evening I only have TWO chicks sneezing and crackly lungs!!! So the Duramycin must work better on chicks that are not on layer feed. I was told by a Pigeon breeder (this guy knows his stuff-- he travels the world to judge and sell his birds) that Duramycin binds to calcium and makes it ineffective. So if you are feeding layer food, you would have to switch food before it would be effective. So I just figured that's a lot of work, why not just find a drug that worked no matter what kind of food they are eating? OH, and I didn't just take his word for the calcium binding, I actually did find a couple of sources that mentioned it as well. So just something to keep in mind. I would still keep Duramycin on hand no matter what-- because it's easy to get ahold of and it's cheap!

125 posts since I was here last?! Sorry, I can't do it! I skimmed a little (very little), so HELLO to the new people and my condolences to those of you who've been victims of fox attacks. I asked DH about how they did things when he was growing up and he said they didn't have foxes. They had coyotes those weren't able to get into the pens or coops. He said he's heard that foxes will tunnel under the fencing. He said most of the losses they had were from racoons.

My first EE egg! It's really tiny. Dorothy or New Sophia finally started laying, which means the other should also be laying soon. Blanche and Rose are a couple of months younger, so we have a while yet with them. We're starting to get a few more eggs a week from the older hens, too, so I actually used a few today to make zucchini muffins instead of saving them for weekend brunch!



And here's a picture of Stan and Doug, my niece's ducks. It was taken a couple of weeks ago, after she came back from camp and reclaimed them from me! They have a smaller wading pool in their duck yard. When my SIL emptied and cleaned last week, she moved it to a different spot a couple of feet away and they couldn't find it until she put them in it. The duck yard is pretty small; it shouldn't have been that confusing.

Congrats on the eggs!!! Cute!! And so funny that the ducks couldn't find the pool when it had been moved all of a couple of feet. hehe!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

OH!! and good news!! I had several chicks last night with the cute little sneezing and crackly lungs. (no drainage, no eye weeping, nothing like that) Anyway, I haven't gotten the Denagard in yet-- it's being shipped. But I think the Duramycin must have worked on the little buggers, because only TWO are still sneezing with crackly lungs. So I'm feeling MUCH better. Whatever the heck they got-- it didn't last long and wasn't too serious. I was preparing for the worst! Last winter really made me jumpy!! LOL I wouldn't have bought the expensive stuff if I'd known this would kick in like this. But at least I'll have it on hand if anything else happens later on. I wonder what kind of illness/disease only lasts a couple of days with minimal symptoms. Anyway, I'm relieved. I hope the two that are still sneezing feel better soon. I'm sure it helps that they are on chick feed which does not contain the amount of calcium that layer feed does. I wonder if that could be why it worked so fast? My experience with this stuff has been very poor and no help at all with respiratory illness.

 

[JosieChick]

Medawinks- Get a full body shot of the cochin and how old is it? Boy cochins get their combs in really early, I have some that are six weeks old that are red as can be and already trying to crow. It is more like a squeek! All those silkies look like pullets to me. The only one I am iffy on is that white one, but it looks girly right now. Hey you guys aren't in the market for another silkie are you? I have this little splash silkie pullet that I hatched early this spring and she is the tiniest little thing I have ever seen. She is at least five months old and she is teensy tiny. It is like she just stopped growing. She is the sweetest, spunkiest little thing but the boys are trying to mate with her and she is too small. I really don't want her to get hurt and was trying to think of someone who doesn't have roos that would give her a good home and I keep thinking of you guys. If you don't have room at the silkie sanctuary that is fine too but I thought it wouldn't hurt to check.

Cherwill-Welcome back! I got on and read through 19 posts this morning and was too tired to reply, couldn't remember what I had read!!! Congrats on the egg, aren't the colored ones fun? Those ducks are adorable! It can be a confusing world being a young duck....

125 posts since I was here last?! Sorry, I can't do it! I skimmed a little (very little), so HELLO to the new people and my condolences to those of you who've been victims of fox attacks. I asked DH about how they did things when he was growing up and he said they didn't have foxes. They had coyotes those weren't able to get into the pens or coops. He said he's heard that foxes will tunnel under the fencing. He said most of the losses they had were from racoons.

My first EE egg!
And here's a picture of Stan and Doug, my niece's ducks. It was taken a couple of weeks ago, after she came back from camp and reclaimed them from me! They have a smaller wading pool in their duck yard. When my SIL emptied and cleaned last week, she moved it to a different spot a couple of feet away and they couldn't find it until she put them in it. The duck yard is pretty small; it shouldn't have been that confusing.

HEchicken- I will keep you posted on stealthy undercover broodies!!

My girls are always sneaking eggs on me. I had one hen go broody in an open bag of shavings. I had no idea she was setting eggs in there and the other girls were laying elsewhere so it didn't occur to me that I was getting shorted eggs and she always came out when I went out with goodies until the chicks hatched in the shavings bag!! Oh yeah, pics below of those pullets, I haven't hatched very many but they all kinda look like this. I kept the pullets in hopes that they would eventually be good broodies. It is in their genes for sure! Both the cochin and silkie hens love to sit!

Hawkeye-I feel like you asked me something but can't remember what....


So, funny story for anyone interested. We butchered a bunch of roos this weekend and I was bringing them up in a carrier and setting them in the shade and we would go and get each bird as we were ready to process it. I was on a roll plucking a bird and DH says I can get the last one out of the carrier. I said ok, just be careful because he is quick. He walks around the corner and I hear the carrier door open and a scream and flapping and then DH says a bad word. He comes around the corner with a sheepish look on his face and I can hear the roo running and screaming back to the backyard. He says "I'm really sorry, it got away from me." I laughed so hard and told him I guess that one was pardoned from being butchered today. It is a little tiny serama cochin cross (product of stealthy broody serama hens) and it had moved in with the big girls several days ago. When we went back he had run all the way back to the pens and jumped back in with the girls! I figured I don't have a roo in there with them right now so they can probably handle him!

Here he is:


Silkie/cochin pullets


What naughty LGD puppies do on their time off...



What? This bag of trash was already over here, I'm not chewing on garbage. No, no you misunderstand. I am just inspecting it for safety purposes....

 

[medawinks]

Cool!!! More new eggs!!! I can't wait till mine start laying . Congrats everyone with new eggs!!!! ! Zucchini bread sounds like a great idea. We have some of Bloom's (our only laying bird- a silkie) eggs that I had been saving for an omelette. I may be a copycat and use some of our garden zucchini too

Thanks, Hawkeye! The little crackles and swollen shut eyes are what we had here. Just 2 got sick and they were chicks I brought home from Orschelens, but I hand fed them for almost 2 weeks and wasn't sure they would make it. One was the white silkie we have and the other was a salmon Favarolle pullet. The pullet didn't make it, but the silkie did. It is now almost 4 months old and I pray it is a pullet. I can't figure this Silkie gender thing out at all....

The sweet little red silkie us my Sera's buddy. She carries that bird everywhere. Danz thought she was a pullet. Our Bloom has a big reddish black comb, however and looks nothing like her or our other silkies. She is friendly to everyone, where as the others only like to be held on their own terms.... I want my splash to be a pullet too. I just love all the poofs it has... It is now getting a bit of a bulge on its comb but it is nothing like Bloom's.

The cochin is really a sweetie. If it does crow, I may try to cage it inside.... Don't know. It is too tiny to consider selling it to anyone to eat.

I guess we will know when they crow or lay that egg

On a side note, my Sera was amused with my taking pics of the chickens faces. Asked if they needed surgery too

If they did, she wants her "magic doctor" to help them. I have said that I think he has magic fingers