Hi everybody, just checking in.
Last week I acquired a bunch of babies. I had 8 silkies shipped, they are about 4 weeks old and absolutely adorable. I was supposed to get them weeks ago, but the weather did not cooperate. They are so much fun to watch. Their personalities are so different from the last batch of mixed chicks we raised. A couple of them had bare butts so I was a little concerned. I contacted the breeder and she said that they had poopy butt at the beginning, so she carefully plucked them back there to keep them clean.
I also bought 6 bantams at TSC. Unfortunately we already lost one, but the others are doing very well. They are SO TINY. One of them looks like it is going to be a frizzle. Yesterday its new feathers started to come in curly. It is going to be fun to see what these babies end up turning out to be. We got a variety of colors, and 4 of them have feathered feet.
We are getting new neighbors and was so happy to hear that they are planning on raising chickens too. They have two little girls and you can tell they have been doing their research, telling me all kinds of chicken facts.
Congrats on the new chicks. And it's always nice when you have neighbors that share common interests.
Accckkk this weather I think is just taking it's toll on everything, the ups & downs are causing illness. Whatever has gotten hold of my laying flock is working quickly. I had put them on Denagard yesterday & it seemed like some of them were better but then today more were worse again & I lost one of my Barred Rock hens & my beautiful Black Copper Marans rooster that I had gotten from Eileen today. I found them both dead in the coop this afternoon. There are more that are not looking good tonight, so I changed them all to Tylan to see if that would do better for them. I'm going to make them stay in the coop & run tomorrow so they will just drink the medicated water because if they go out they will drink the water I leave out up by the house. I also noticed my Speckled Sussex rooster sneezintg tonight too, so if he spreads it to everyone in the new coop I could potentially lose my breeding stock of all my Cream Legbars & Swedish Flower Hens. I'm treating them all now, this is awful! I have those 3 little pullets in the pen in the main run too & they've all been exposed so I had to treat them today too as a precaution. I'm waiting to see who will start sneezing next. I hope I don't have to start all over with birds, I just can't afford it. I wish they all had been laying & at least I could have saved some eggs & incubated them just in case, but unfortunately none of the ones that are more rare are laying right now. I'm feeling really down about it all tonight.
Oh Trish that is just awful. I hope you find something that works.
I swear the next time I have a big break out of sickness that kills any birds I am going to send one off to K-state for a necropsy. It may not be fast enough but it sure would be nice to be able to find out what made them sick and what drug was the right one.
I hope the tylan works for you.
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I have missed alot of posts.. This has been a busy site.
Everyone is talking about the snow,,
I am so over the snow.. I hope it just rains and moves out...
Me too! I am over cold and winter weather all together. I have crocus blooming and dafodils with buds that will get frozen off.
Michelle, I've been in KS 13 years but this seems like a weird winter/spring to me. I would say that normally winter is Jan/Feb and by March its pretty much spring. But this year we had such a mild January and then Feb really turned on the winter weather and now in March we're still getting snow in the forecast. I think we're all done with the weather and so ready for it to be spring already. I look at my garden patch and my coop and my lawn and my horses and just want to get on with things but with another snowstorm in the immediate forecast, I have to put all those things off again.
Danz, sorry about the little chick - nothing you could have done about it.
Hawkeye and Danz, sorry you are feeling sick. The frequent ups and downs in temp probably don't help a bit.
Feeling better now. I figured out the problem. I had an antique in here and it was kind of musty. I am so allergic to mold that is was causing me to run a fever and have some asthma. I cleaned some of the parts in Oxine and that must have been where it was because after that I feel okay.
A quick update. All of the "Spice Girls", that is what DD calls them, are doing fine today. Since it is snowing here they haven't come out of the coop. Part of me thinks this is because of the attack yesterday. Tomorrow should be a normal day before the next snow storm hits. Yes, I said snow storm. The forecasters up here don't know how much yet, but that we will get snow. What a way to ring in Spring!
Glad your ladies are fairing well.
I will contact one of my 4H members, I don't know what waterfowl he has, but may have a harlequin.
Where've you been Rosie! Got your birds all moved yet?
When I finally bundled up and went outside to do chores I had a nice time. It was one of those days that even though we were getting some moisture the wind wasn't blowing crazy. I got some trash burned finally and that makes me really happy. I had time to just enjoy my birds and spend time looking at them. Seems I am always rushing around and don't have time to appreciate them.
My feeding buddy, a hermaphrodite chicken with a beak that grows in circles is not doing well. He is loosing weight and loosing his energy. This poor bird has all kinds of abnormal things about him and looks strange as heck. But he rides in the wheel barrow with me when I feed. I can pick him up and carry him around. He will usually come when I call him and jump in the wheel barrow or a feed barrel. I've gotten very attached to him. So along with his weird beak that has to be clipped off ever so often he has some kind of growth under his beak that makes it very hard for him to get food. I think that is what is killing him. He seems to eat non-stop but his crop is always empty. He is really loosing weight and it just breaks my heart to see him going downhill. I honestly am very hurt and upset that I can't do anything for him. I tried giving him yogurt this evening but he wouldn't taste it.
It is so dumb to get attached to these birds because you know that they won't live long. This guy is probably about a year old now and because he couldn't eat right grew really slowly. I have just enjoyed him so much. Even DH said this evening if we just knew a vet that worked on birds he would take him to get him fixed. So I am not the only one who has gotten attached to this bird. I don't think he will last more than a couple more days and I sure will miss him.
I made several nests today by cutting rings from a big plastic barrel. I just cut them with the jig saw and set them down and filled them with Straw. I put three of them in with the midget turkeys, and two in with the peafowl. The turkeys took an interest in them right away. Now if they will just lay in them that will be great. I also put one in the lemon cuckoo house to see if the girls would use it as well.
I am just gathering a few kinds of hatching eggs but my incubators are filling up fast. I'm thinking with all these new breeds I need a couple more!
All my eggs have hatched except for 3 - I'll give them another day to hatch before calling it quits. (I have duck eggs in there too - Never hatched duck eggs, let alone with chicken eggs!)
