Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

HHmmm how long did it take and how much of them did you get wet? I am afraid of getting them wet and have them chill

If you are putting them back under a heat lamp, I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[sharol]

If you are putting them back under a heat lamp, I wouldn't worry about that.

I had them under a heat lamp, so the dampness wasn't too big an issue -- it was still 90 degrees under the lamp in that end of the brooder. I used a fruit dish (small Fiesta dish) and warm water, and just tipped their little bottoms into the water and soaked a few seconds. It is sort of like removing dried chicken poop from a dog's tail (another story). Soak and gently scrape it off as it gets soft. I was afraid I would hurt them if I just yanked it off. Do it in a warm room (heated bathroom??) and then get them back under the heatlamp quickly.

Once I put ACV (apple cider vinegar (organic, with the mother) in the water, the problem went away (may have been a coincidence).

 

[HEChicken]

I had them under a heat lamp, so the dampness wasn't too big an issue -- it was still 90 degrees under the lamp in that end of the brooder. I used a fruit dish (small Fiesta dish) and warm water, and just tipped their little bottoms into the water and soaked a few seconds. It is sort of like removing dried chicken poop from a dog's tail (another story). Soak and gently scrape it off as it gets soft. I was afraid I would hurt them if I just yanked it off. Do it in a warm room (heated bathroom??) and then get them back under the heatlamp quickly.

Once I put ACV (apple cider vinegar (organic, with the mother) in the water, the problem went away (may have been a coincidence).

I run a sink of warm water in the bathroom, deep enough they can stand in it just up to their bottoms. Like Sharol, after they've soaked enough for it to soften, I scrape it off. I tried plucking once but the skin on newly hatched chicks is very tender and can break easily and bleed, so I preferred the soak method.

 

[cherwill]

Sigh, I feel like predator alley tonight. I have been keeping Lucie outside on a tie and letting her off in the evening because she is such a good worker and I hate for Molly to be alone out there. Well I let her off the tie tonight and was filling feeders and as I walked into the horse pasture Lucie came flying up past me growling this awful noise that scared me half to death and took off after a COYOTE standing right past my last pen!!! She hauled butt chasing him all the way up the hill through the neighbors pasture all the while making the most evil noise I have ever heard come out of a dog. Then she stood on the hill and barked for 20 minutes to make sure he got the message. Good girl Lucie!

Good dog! My weim has the best growl when she's serious. It starts as a such a low rumble I thought it was distant thunder the first time I heard it. If I heard that from a strange dog, and saw the face that went with it, I'd be scared to death.

 

[sapphireblu76]

Josie- Congratulations!!!!! And good job, Lucie! Sarge gets that growl and his whole body language changes instantly. He goes from being a big goofy boy begging for pettings to BIG, HULKING force to be reckoned with tearing off through the field! Wish I would've seen your bird list sooner, I would have loved to have the Marans and some Silkies. It's probably best that I didn't, though. I need to focus on what I have, at least until spring

Verna-My offer still stands if you need us

Trish-Sounds like you've been super busy!

ChicknBaron-Good luck and sorry about your loss

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry! I just skimmed.

I got straw put down in all the pens, Friday, and the hoses all drained. Had to put my 2 Yoko/Phoenix in with the Reds, so they would have an option of somewhere warm to sleep. The work on the coop was thwarted by miscalculation of concrete needed. 12 bags and only covered about 1/4 of the floor space *facepalm*

I could just strangle the guy at Lowe's that told us how much we would need! I thought, perhaps we weren't supposed to make the floor so thick, but I *distinctly* remember him saying 4 inches thick. Even if we had only gone 2 inches thick, it still wouldn't have covered the whole floor!

But, anyway...At least I had a back up plan. Hooray for dog houses and straw.

Found my first shell-less egg today. I have read about them, but had never seen one...they're so weird! It was the first egg from my last banty Cochin to start laying. Now all three are finally laying

One of my 3 Barred Rocks has started laying, but still nothing from my EE's

Hopefully soon. The four I sold to a friend of mine have been laying for almost 2 weeks now, but they free range 5 acres and mine are penned, so maybe that makes the difference.

I have 4 dozen duck eggs sold, 2 sets of 2 dozen, as soon as they get laid...uhhh, well, you know what I mean! This will be my first time shipping eggs, so wish me luck. I really want these to hatch for her! That should pay for my feed for a couple of months, if it stays at about $12 at the co-op. I figured it out, and I'm going through a little over 50# a week (goodness, when did they start eating so much!).

I have 6 roos that NEED to go! I think I'll process the BR this weekend, but I have someone that wants one of my 2 RIR and one of my 3 Black Australorps, so I hate to butcher any of them until they have made their choice of them. I just can't afford to keep feeding them, when they are supposed to be feeding us.

One more day until lock-down for my last batch of Marans eggs.

Louise, my Splash Copper Marans hen, has gone into molt, so no more eggs from her for awhile. I'm planning on keeping some of this batch of chicks to have more stock to choose from by spring. I think I'll put some Red eggs and Banty Cochin eggs in next, maybe some duck eggs to fill out the tray. That will give me something to sell at Yoder at the end of the month. They won't bring much, I'm sure, but it will be something.

Hopefully we will have baby Lop bunnies by the 21st.

That will be exciting, I've never had baby bunnies before. Then I just got a Satin buck, yesterday. He's such a love. Just loves to be held and cuddled. He's the favorite with the kids right now, as he's used to being carted around by a 3 year old

.

Okay, everyone. Stay warm and try not to work too hard!

 

[mommahen10]

Tweety, that granddaughter of yours is so beautiful! She looks like such a happy baby.

ChicknBaron, How are you holding up today? Baby cribs turned upside down make a quick frame to keep a few chickens safe, especially helpful to give you some time to build something better. I must say, I never realized you were 15 and you sound very smart. That's awesome news about finding the missing one, that has to be a huge relief.

HEChicken, I agree that these predators can be very intelligent, I think it's scoping things out and planning an attack. I wouldn't mess with it. I found myself saying "YES" outloud when I read about that life cycle in bucket thing, that's an awesome idea. How did you handle the smell? But I think that this may be helpful in another way too. The other foxes would know their pack member was dead there and that may scare them off too.

Josie, that's awesome!!! Congrats!!! I would have assumed that she had changed her mind about the turkeys and that it was okay to sell. She didn't hold up her end of the deal. That's terribble about th hawk, they're so mean. I'm sorry. Is it this time of year that they are worse. I'm missing a chicken too, mine aren't anything special but I did notice one to be gone with no trace.

All this talk about guns, I've never shot one. We have them locked up, but if we needed to shoot something my boys are responsible enough and I always call on them. I think I should learn how thhough, they won't always be here.

maidenwolf, it's just a little bit and it's not blocking anything I leave it and watch it. It can sort of create a shelf that catches more though which gets higher and higher, so definitely watch it. When I remove it I get it wet and let it soak in to make it easier. Someone told me that stress can be one of the causes of pasty bottom so I try to make it less stressful. I drip water from my fingers onto the poop and let it soak in, it may take a few times. The chick is minimally wet and I usually just hold them while I'm waiting for it to soak in.

cherwill, I've never done salsa that way but now I'm going to have to try it. Happy Birthday btw, but that didn't sound like a very fun day. I don't like being out in the cold.

Danz, I'm sorry about your car, it has to be one of those weird things you know is right but it still kinda stings. I'm sorry you aren't feeling so well.

I have a weird question. I have a 5 mo old pullet, at least I think she's a pullet, she has very little comb and what's there is still gray. Other girls in her hatch's combs are already pinkish/red. Does that mean anything?

Our new coop is done, and chickens moved there. Next we get the brooder room ready because we should have chicks in 2 weeks. I candled 56 eggs this evening, 49 showed development or development and movement which I am guessing is a heartbeat. A few showed no signs of development, and a few had air cell irregularities but I don't know what that means. Two looked like they had no air cell, one had an air cell more towards the top/side than in the middle. Our eggs vary in color and some are speckly and it's just so hard to see through.

G'night.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thanks everyone or the advice on the poo bottom. I will be working on that today.
The four new pullets are doing great. They have cleaned themselves up and now have shine back to those once dirty feathers and the black australorp has taken to me. She jumps on my shoulder everytime I go to visit. The others are still very scared and I feel terrible for them, I am working on them and hopefully they warm up I dont want them to be scared of me.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, I agree that these predators can be very intelligent, I think it's scoping things out and planning an attack. I wouldn't mess with it. I found myself saying "YES" outloud when I read about that life cycle in bucket thing, that's an awesome idea. How did you handle the smell? But I think that this may be helpful in another way too. The other foxes would know their pack member was dead there and that may scare them off too.

I have a weird question. I have a 5 mo old pullet, at least I think she's a pullet, she has very little comb and what's there is still gray. Other girls in her hatch's combs are already pinkish/red. Does that mean anything?

There was surprisingly little odor. I forgot to mention, I put some dried cut grass in the bottom of the container before putting the fox in, and then I covered it with some more dried grass. That seemed to cut down the odor considerably. If I walked over and peered in, the smell was strong but as soon as I walked away, I couldn't smell it any more. However since most other animals have a much better sense of smell, you may be right that others in the area could smell it and were repelled. I never thought of that!

Pullets combs get bigger and redder in the week or two prior to starting to lay, so it sounds like the pullet who is still little and gray, may not be as close as the others to starting to lay.

It sounds like you are going to have a good hatch this time - that's a lot of development!

Well, I took the .22 with me this morning to go and do chicken chores, but the predator I saw yesterday did not make an appearance. We had our pasture mowed yesterday so the long grass he was standing in yesterday morning is no longer there, and he would have had to come out more in the open. I also had the binoculars with me and I scanned the edges of the hedgerow carefully but didn't see anything. There are so many rabbits in there - I wish they would just content themselves with catching and eating those.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I have read a lot about people getting food for their birds from the co-op. I don't like how much "dust" I get when I buy a bag of food from Orscheln's, so I'm looking into getting food from the co-op. I have 9 ducks and a goose. What do you suggest I get from the coop? I don't have enough birds to make it worth buying in bulk, but losing less food to dust/crumbs would probably make it worth the switch. My co-op said that they don't have any mixes that they sell specifically for birds but that they could custom-mix something for me. Any suggestions on what I should ask for?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I have read a lot about people getting food for their birds from the co-op. I don't like how much "dust" I get when I buy a bag of food from Orscheln's, so I'm looking into getting food from the co-op. I have 9 ducks and a goose. What do you suggest I get from the coop? I don't have enough birds to make it worth buying in bulk, but losing less food to dust/crumbs would probably make it worth the switch. My co-op said that they don't have any mixes that they sell specifically for birds but that they could custom-mix something for me. Any suggestions on what I should ask for?

Wow that would be nice to have something custom mixed. I want to look for a feed place that will do that. I am surprised mine doesnt mix their own feeds. They sell nutrena prducts which I like because the crumbles are not ground to a powder like purina. But You are right there is so much dust in the bottom of my feeders, what I have been doing is when it is just dust left I put it in a bowl and when I have enough I mix it with water (warm if its cold out and cold if hot out) and give them a hot/cold cereal with it and they love it. So that is my solution to the dust problem, but I also spoil all of my animals and I know not everybody is into that,