Consolidated Kansas

[cubbysan]

Had a little scare last night with one of my hens. My daughter went down to the coop to say hi to one of the hens and she was in one of the nesting boxes. She stopped laying a few weeks ago, and she has many feathers pulled out ( she is the roosters' favorite ), but other than that, she is active and loves to eat. At first we thought maybe she was trying to lay an egg, but then she just looked very flat. We were looking through the coop, and she just looked dead, no matter how much banging we did. I went to go get my husband, my daughter was all upset, finally my daughter upset the roosters enough, and there comes Bonnie jumping out of the nesting box. It was about a half hour before they all go in for the night, I guess she just went in early and fell asleep.

It also made me realize I NEED to rehome my roosters. I have two RI Reds about 8 months old and they don't let us near the females. I also have an 8 month old EE, who I hate to give up. We were in denial for a long time that she was a he ( we still call her she ). She/he had always been very affectionate until lately too. At the beginning she/he was at the bottom of the pecking order, now I notice the other two roosters allow him to protect too. When I first bought the chickens, I knew there would be roosters that I may not want. I can't eat them - not there yet, and not sure if I ever will be. The one thing that I hate about being a pet owner or animal owner, is when we have to play the part of God.

I am hoping that between the bantam chicks and the silkie chicks, the roosters that come out of my brooders will be a lot easier to handle. The RI Reds would be great if we free ranged, but we don't.

Now to write up a craig's list ad, my daughter says I need to put "not for butchering" in the ad, but I know I will never find homes for them that way. I think I would just rather not know.

 

[cubbysan]

I've seen a few holding their wings out to the side like they're hot too. I think they are acclimatized to the cold weather and will gradually get used to the hot weather as it warms up. Plus, they probably still have some of their winter fluff to lose. I hope.

I have been noticing the same thing with my heavily coated golden retriever. This time of the year he always pants more, almost to the point that I think something might be wrong. It is not necessarily hot, but I do think they need to adjust.

 

[RoosterLew]

Does any one on here know how to make fodder?

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/easy-ways-to-sprout-seeds-for-your.html#

 

[RoosterLew]

Cubby, any pics of your EE Roo?

 

[cubbysan]

Cubby, any pics of your EE Roo?

I'll take some tonight if the weather holds up. He is light grey with black specks and orange around his neck.

 

[HEChicken]

I have a good friend and she places the order and we get a deal on shipping - then I just pay her. She usually orders from McMurrey - but I know she didn't this year. They have an awesome setup for butchering. A plucker, water, tables, and an old freezer filled with ice and water is used to store the cleaned birds. There is also a bagging system that use for bagging the chickens when we're done - we do a heat seal - tried a vacuum seal last year and it worked well, but the heat seal is much tighter. I have pictures of the whole setup on my facebook.

Thanks sunflower! Wow, that question must have been a few pages back.....in the meantime I've decided to delve into heritage birds, picking a couple of breeds that were originally used as America's Meat Bird, prior to the invention of the Cornish Cross. While much slower to get to processing size, they are said to also be much tastier, so I am anxious to find out. I decided not to do any of the currently popular meat birds like Cornish Cross or Freedom Rangers, in favor of birds that are self-perpetuating and less likely to have the health issues associated with rapid growth. We'll see how it goes - its all an adventure, right?

 

[HEChicken]

Good morning everyone we have been busy tilling, cleaning flower beds. Looks like everyone has been busy. My shipped eggs hatched yesterday 6 out of 7 not bad. Mrs broody pants has the other six under her they still haven't hatched maybe another day or two. I candle them yesterday they still look goood except one. I have her seperated in a small coop next to main coop. Can she have medicated chick feed or or unmedicated?

That is an excellent hatch rate from shipped eggs! Congratulations!

Had a little scare last night with one of my hens. My daughter went down to the coop to say hi to one of the hens and she was in one of the nesting boxes. She stopped laying a few weeks ago, and she has many feathers pulled out ( she is the roosters' favorite ), but other than that, she is active and loves to eat. At first we thought maybe she was trying to lay an egg, but then she just looked very flat. We were looking through the coop, and she just looked dead, no matter how much banging we did. I went to go get my husband, my daughter was all upset, finally my daughter upset the roosters enough, and there comes Bonnie jumping out of the nesting box. It was about a half hour before they all go in for the night, I guess she just went in early and fell asleep.

Now to write up a craig's list ad, my daughter says I need to put "not for butchering" in the ad, but I know I will never find homes for them that way. I think I would just rather not know.

Is it possible she is broody? Not laying, spending a lot of time in the nest box, looking "flat" and pulling her feathers out are all signs that she is trying to set.

I agree on the Craigslist ad. I saw an ad one time that was sorta funny. A woman had a couple of turkeys to rehome and was realistic about what might happen to them, saying something along the lines of "If you're not going to keep them as pets, lie to me". I got a chuckle out of that.

 

[Trish44]

Yeah I agree about the CL ad, you really can't have any control over what people do with your birds or animals after they leave. I have seen the same kind of ad for goats & thought, well I guess the people can lie when they buy them.

I guess we have a cold front coming in this afternoon & it's going to get a lot colder temporarily & very windy, ugh. I just moved all my male rabbits outside last night now I may have to move some of them back in, at least the ones in hutches that don't have a nest box attached. That is about 4 of them. I guess I kind of jumped the gun with getting them moved, I was just wanting to be done with the mess in the garage.

Well I have a busy day today, everybody hopefully have a good day. Danz, I hope your birds are getting better & Hawkeye I hope your day goes better.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I guess we have a cold front coming in this afternoon & it's going to get a lot colder temporarily & very windy, ugh.

I am a lot farther west than you are, but the cold front came through here sometime last night. The high yesterday was in the 70's, and we had storms in the area (not here, sadly). There were even tornado warnings in the next county over yesterday. Today, the high is about 20 degrees (and is already dropping), the winds are gusting to around 40mph, and they're calling for light snow all day long. It is COLD out there compared to what we've had recently.

 

[cubbysan]

That is an excellent hatch rate from shipped eggs! Congratulations!
Is it possible she is broody? Not laying, spending a lot of time in the nest box, looking "flat" and pulling her feathers out are all signs that she is trying to set.

I agree on the Craigslist ad. I saw an ad one time that was sorta funny. A woman had a couple of turkeys to rehome and was realistic about what might happen to them, saying something along the lines of "If you're not going to keep them as pets, lie to me". I got a chuckle out of that.

You know, that thought crossed my mind this morning when there was an egg from my Polish Crested in that nest box. I think my Polish Crested usually lays in the afternoon. I did not realize that they set flat like that. Good to know because we are growing out some silkies - I guess we will have a lot of scares from them!

I guess I am going to have to put something like that in my CL ad. What I am afraid of most, is somebody taking them to rooster fight. Not sure if there is any or much of that around here.