Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Sharol, I'm sorry for your loss. RIP Lucy.

Wow it was a cold one this morning! I really worry my rain barrel will be ruined. I should have brought it in before the freezing weather started but it was so full of water then, and if I emptied it, it would have made a big, muddy mess, so I left it and hoped for the best. I've been draining off water as I could but with temps only slightly over freezing, it was basically a big ice block with only a little thawed around the edges, so each time I tried to drain some off, I only got about a gallon at a time. Then last night, with it being so very cold, I'm sure it froze back into a solid block again. If I can just get it fully thawed and emptied, I'll get it dumped out and put away for the winter.

I was amazing at that little chick who hatched last Friday. Yesterday morning it was out running around when it was only 21 degrees, eating and drinking alongside Mama but not looking the slightest bit cold! I do have them in a very protected pen but even so…I know the broody raised chicks do better at regulating temp than when we raise them in a brooder but still….its amazing that at this age in a brooder it would be at 95, yet here it is running around outside looking comfortable when its only 21!!!

 

[ashncarson]

I had a question about one of my newer chickens. She is a silkie/d'uccle cross. We got her on the 16th and since then she had hardly left the coop. She might go out on the landing of the doorway and then fly over to the roost in the run, and then will go back into the coop a minute or so later. She gets feed and watered in there since I did not want her starving and seems to eat and drink fine, and acts good as well. When we first put her with the others one of my older chickens jumped on her back and grabbed her feathers (this was 2 weeks ago)

Could she just be scared of the others? They all roost together at night, but at seperate ends of the roost. Are some chickens just loners? Should I take her out and then close the coop door to see what happens? I have also never heard her make a sound, are they quieter birds?

 

[chicken danz]

Sharol I'm so sorry about Lucy. I know it is very hard when you get attached to one of these birds. I think sometimes people assume because I have so many that I don't make attachments. But I do. There are some birds that are like just any other pet I own and I feel like I've lost a family member when they pass. My heart goes out to you! She was a very pretty girl.
Cherwill I wish someone would clean my house!! I might be able to get it done before Christmas with luck. I am so far behind it's ridiculous. And since I have some some chicks and two pullets in the house right now it is worse than ever. I would just die if I had company right now.
I have eggs due to hatch tomorrow. Thank goodness there isn't a huge number of them. I need to get a place ready for them in here. I have some 2 week olds in here but they are too big to go with new chicks. I had some wheezing in my brooder house and I don't want to put anything else in there until I can get those birds out. I've been spraying it down each day with disinfectant and it seems to be working. In fact a couple I was sure were wheezing seem to be over it. Not sure where it came from but I want to be sure it doesn't spread. Not worth taking a risk for sure.
I really need another grow out pen and a warm house for them to go to but I am just out of space.
AshnCarson the nest box looks great. I'm sure the hens will appreciate it.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

LGDs make great fuzzy kitty beds

 

[Trish44]

I had a question about one of my newer chickens. She is a silkie/d'uccle cross. We got her on the 16th and since then she had hardly left the coop. She might go out on the landing of the doorway and then fly over to the roost in the run, and then will go back into the coop a minute or so later. She gets feed and watered in there since I did not want her starving and seems to eat and drink fine, and acts good as well. When we first put her with the others one of my older chickens jumped on her back and grabbed her feathers (this was 2 weeks ago)

Could she just be scared of the others? They all roost together at night, but at seperate ends of the roost. Are some chickens just loners? Should I take her out and then close the coop door to see what happens? I have also never heard her make a sound, are they quieter birds?

Sometimes you will have one that just hangs around by itself. Did you get her separate or was she in a group you got? She sure is a cutie! I have some that like to be alone more than others & you will see them up on the hill doing their own thing. I got two Exchequer Leghorns from HEChicken recently & one of them goes out with the crowd most of the time & the other one likes to hang around the coop more, she is more nervous & skittish than the other one. I guess it's just her personality.

It sure is cold out there this morning, I have been waiting awhile to go out hoping it will warm up slightly, I hope my chicks out there are OK. Those two Reece BR pullets I got from HEChicken don't even seem to be fazed by the cold. They were out in her hoop coop early on, so maybe they got acclimated easier. At least it's supposed to warm up this weekend some for a few days, I'm all for that.

 

[ashncarson]

Sometimes you will have one that just hangs around by itself. Did you get her separate or was she in a group you got? She sure is a cutie! I have some that like to be alone more than others & you will see them up on the hill doing their own thing. I got two Exchequer Leghorns from HEChicken recently & one of them goes out with the crowd most of the time & the other one likes to hang around the coop more, she is more nervous & skittish than the other one. I guess it's just her personality.

It sure is cold out there this morning, I have been waiting awhile to go out hoping it will warm up slightly, I hope my chicks out there are OK. Those two Reece BR pullets I got from HEChicken don't even seem to be fazed by the cold. They were out in her hoop coop early on, so maybe they got acclimated easier. At least it's supposed to warm up this weekend some for a few days, I'm all for that.

She was in a group that I got. I have a black girl of the same breed and they roost together! I just feel bad for it, and really did not want to keep food/water in the coop, but would hate to lose her!

I went out for a few minutes, the sun feels good. we worked yesterday for about 1 1/2 hours on the nestbox and my toes where so cold it hurt to walk on them! It's going to be a long winter!

 

[Trish44]

She was in a group that I got. I have a black girl of the same breed and they roost together! I just feel bad for it, and really did not want to keep food/water in the coop, but would hate to lose her!

I went out for a few minutes, the sun feels good. we worked yesterday for about 1 1/2 hours on the nestbox and my toes where so cold it hurt to walk on them! It's going to be a long winter!

Well at least she has a buddy she roosts with. I have a young black shoulder peahen that is really shy & I have to stand by the end of the trough to block the other birds from pushing her out of the food at feeding time. She is going to have to learn to get in there & stand up for herself, but she's young right now. I wish I could separate the peafowl from the guineas because the guineas are really pushy, but I will have to wait till spring now to build another hoop coop. I'm thinking of putting another trough in there to kind of break up the crowd.

I know what you mean, the only thing that saves my feet is that I've been borrowing my DH's wool socks, those things are toe savers!

 

[ashncarson]

I just went out to check on the chickens and one of the 20 week old is having facial swelling on one side, her eye can't open and I also noticed her nose is running on that side as well. she looked good yesterday and have not noticed any other issues prior to this. I feel anxious and not sure what to do to help her, having never dealt with this before. The other chickens seem to be trying to peck at her, I have blu-kote but can't put that on her eye....what to do?

 

[chicken danz]

Don't use blue Kote on the eye. You can use neomycin ointment without pain reliever in it. Or for that matter any triple antibiotic ointment as long as it doesn't have the pain reliever. Obviously she has gotten the eye sinus thing that has been going around. It is best to separate her if you can to keep the other birds from catching it. VetRX on the nostrils might help. You can lose a bird to this stuff really fast. I believe it is brought in by wild birds. It has been crazy bad this past year at least all through Kansas.
I about froze to death while I was out working today. There was nothing pleasant about that cold other than the wind wasn't blowing super hard. I've spent the rest of my day trying to fix a computer that won't function right. It's still running a repair program that is super slow. One of the operating system files is corrupted and I'm trying to get it repaired. It won't let you run any of the drives or anything without that file.
So I can't insert a system CD and get it reprogrammed. And can't upload information to a flash drive or CD either. There are some files on there that DH wants to save so that is why I am trying to recover the whole thing. Maybe in a few hours I'll get it working again.

 

[ashncarson]

Don't use blue Kote on the eye. You can use neomycin ointment without pain reliever in it. Or for that matter any triple antibiotic ointment as long as it doesn't have the pain reliever. Obviously she has gotten the eye sinus thing that has been going around. It is best to separate her if you can to keep the other birds from catching it. VetRX on the nostrils might help. You can lose a bird to this stuff really fast. I believe it is brought in by wild birds. It has been crazy bad this past year at least all through Kansas.

Can they recover? I really have no way to seperate her other than bringing her in the house....I looked at buying some Denagard or Tylan, any use in that for symptoms?