Consolidated Kansas

[zigzag45]

Need help... I have a number of @chicken danz babies. I just got two more from her Saturday (such an enabler she is!). One of the new ones from Saturday is a week or two younger than the others. My bigger chicks, the Speckled Sussex in particular (@sharol - they are getting huge!), take great delight in pecking and running the little one around. They terrorize that little thing, saw a small amount of blood on the beak of the baby. I have them separated, but really don't have room to raise two batches of chicks. I'm considering making a hardware cloth barrier to cut the pen in half, letting them be around each other without the ability to mess with the little one. But, that's a big time hassle.

Is there anything else I can/should do?

It seems like it's just the two SS that are really bad. I took one of the barred rocks and put her in with the new ones and they are doing great together. A day later I added one of the SS by itself to the pen with the new ones, and the SS instantly starting charging the baby. So mean!

 

[sharol]

Need help... I have a number of @chicken danz babies. I just got two more from her Saturday (such an enabler she is!). One of the new ones from Saturday is a week or two younger than the others. My bigger chicks, the Speckled Sussex in particular (@sharol - they are getting huge!), take great delight in pecking and running the little one around. They terrorize that little thing, saw a small amount of blood on the beak of the baby. I have them separated, but really don't have room to raise two batches of chicks. I'm considering making a hardware cloth barrier to cut the pen in half, letting them be around each other without the ability to mess with the little one. But, that's a big time hassle.

Is there anything else I can/should do?

It seems like it's just the two SS that are really bad. I took one of the barred rocks and put her in with the new ones and they are doing great together. A day later I added one of the SS by itself to the pen with the new ones, and the SS instantly starting charging the baby. So mean!

My SS were big, but they weren't mean. Of course they were hatched with the BR's, so they were all the same age. I'd sure keep the little one away from the SS's if they are picking on it. Until it is bigger, it is pretty defenseless.

 

[chicken danz]

thndrdancer, here is something I read. I read several other articles but they all said similar things. With her up in the rafters I wouldn't be sure it was egg binding after all. All of the posts say moist heat and give calcium, preferably liquid form if you don't do a shot. I think I would worm her if I were you just to be sure. Even though I just read yesterday not to worm peafowl during laying season. (I'd never read that before) But if it saves her life it would be worth the effort for sure. In this case I'd definitely give a higher dose of Safeguard by mouth. Maybe that is where some of the disagreement on worming methods comes in. Whether you are doing preventative worming or emergency high load worming. This came from a UK peafowl breeder site.
Signs that a hen is egg bound are…her wings will be hanging low, she’ll be sitting on the floor or ground, her feathers will be fluffed and she’ll be drowsy or appearing unwell. Sometimes you’ll actually see her strain as if trying to release the egg but more often you’ll notice her tail pumping up and down.
The safest treatment is moist heat, considered the best remedy for egg binding in chickens, but will sometimes work for a egg bound peahen. Put the hen in a cage or box with a wire floor, place a large flat pan of hot water beneath the cage. Keep topping up the warm water to maintain the supply of steam be careful not to keep it so hot that the steam burns her. Provide some overhead heat from a heat lamp and enclose the whole cage with a blanket or plastic to keep the moisture in. Make sure that the temperature doesn’t get too hot, a thermometer can be used to keep the heat between 90 and 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Fresh water should be available at all times for the hen to drink.
The hen should pass the egg in a couple hours with this treatment. If an egg appears the hen will probably have perked up and will be ready to be removed from the cage. If no egg has passed but she seems more active and will eat, you have probably misdiagnosed her and something else is wrong. If she continues to act droopy and ill, give her a few more hours of treatment.
A farm animal vet can give a hen an injection of calcium gluconate, which will often cause her to pass the egg. Liquid calcium supplement for breeding and growing birds has been found to be very effective as an emergency back up for egg-bound hens. Application: In water (10-20 mls per litre) or on soft-food 0.1-0.2 mls per 100g bodyweight. Use the lower doses in hard water areas. Pack sizes: 100ml, 250ml, 500ml, 1 litre, 5 litres. Active ingredients: Magnesium, Vitamin D3, Calcium.
A hen that’s truly egg bound will die if she doesn’t pass the egg, usually within 48 hours. Don’t stick things like syringes full of oil up her vent; you’re likely to hurt her and cause infection. Trying to break the egg inside her and extracting the pieces isn’t usually effective either; it’s likely to result in infection and death.
Hope this is of some help to you and if you have anything to add please email me so that I can add it to the site and maybe help other peahens.
Not sure how you catch your peahens but I'm sending on a bit of advise I was taught a few years ago. Catch them by the top of the wings and carry them that way as well. It causes the least injury to the peafowl and you. You're a lot less likely to get scratched up or beaten to death with wings.

My SS were big, but they weren't mean. Of course they were hatched with the BR's, so they were all the same age. I'd sure keep the little one away from the SS's if they are picking on it. Until it is bigger, it is pretty defenseless.

Sharol, Zig says the SS were bullying the barred rocks that were hatched the same day too. I suggested putting the baby in a smaller cage inside the bigger area so they got used to each other. That has always worked for me adding older birds. I mix chicks all the time and I don't think I've ever had problems with chicks bullying each other. Other than lots of feather picking if I get them really crowded but that is after they feather in. Maybe it's because I have lots and lots of chicks at the same time instead of just a handful. I'm not too sure about why these SS are being buttheads cause they are such sweet birds as adults.
We had kittens during the night. I haven't been out to check on the mama and her babies this morning. I hope she lets me look at them. She acts very feral when she has kittens. This cat had been a rescued feral and I think that is why she reverts back to being that way with her babies.
I was sick yesterday and didn't care for my birds like normal. I've got to get out there and check on them then go get my feed. I hope I can get the feed home and get it shoveled off before it rains.

 

[Trish44]

I have put chicks in a little temporary pen as well for a few days so both groups can see each other & get accustomed to being together & then let them out & they seemed to do fine.

My problem lately is extra roosters, I try to keep a backup rooster for my breeders but it just isn't working lately. Hormones seem to be running high & these young roosters just aren't behaving themselves. I had to remove my secondary Cream Legbar rooster because I saw the two ganging up on my best pullet in the pen. I'm not having a repeat of what happened in my Barred Rock pen with them killing my hens, nope I would rather only have one rooster than do that again.

Yesterday it was so windy here & miserable out there but I had help to finally get the hog shelter into the goat pen. That thing is heavy as all get out & it was quite a wrestling match getting it in there. Then to top it off my buck boer goat was bugging us to death the whole time until I finally got him out of the pen & latched the gate. Then he kept getting on the trailer & in the way as we were trying to get the truck & trailer back through the gate to the field. We got to the other end & he ran out the gate & didn't want to come back in, I had just had it with him & my DH was about ready to shoot him, he was being a real butt head yesterday. I was about done in by the time we got the shelter in & set up the way I wanted it & wrangled goats, whew!

 

[chicken danz]

I had to go get feed and of course the rain came before I left so I shoveled it off in the rain. I hope it didn't get wet enough to mold. That would make me sick for all the money I spend on feed. I got all the birds fed and watered but still need to pick up eggs.
I'm with you on the roosters Trish. I have a rooster pen that now not only has a back up for several colors but some of my main breeders too, cause they were too hard on the hens. They seem to get along okay as long as they can't see a pullet or hen. But then the race is on to see who can be the meanest and beat up all the other boys. It reminds me a lot of high school boys. I never understood the fighting each other over some girl. I even had a couple fight over me and I told them both to take a flying leap. I was NOT impressed! I never have been able to justify any of that kind of behavior.
I'm not at all happy with this weather. It is cold and rainy. Yesterday was cold and windy. I really am ready to get back to nice warm weather again. It's so nice to see a little green poking out here and there. When I was in town getting feed, I noticed forsythia and daffodils blooming. It's so much warmer in town than out here. I have nothing blooming here except one crocus.

 

[thndrdancr]

Well I don't know what it was but extra calcium couldn't hurt. I was able to dose her with oregano last night. Went out several times during the night to check on her and she had hopped back in the rafters.
I have to say she has been looking peaked all winter and has eluded all my efforts to catch her. Her wings have been droopy and she IS/was walking like an old lady.
Had to go out of town today, got home to feed everyone and she was bopping around and eating and acting like she feels perky. So will keep close eye on her and try to dose her with liquid calcium, sure couldn't hurt.

Thank chicken danz for the info and help.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Well, kidding season is over for the year. We have a total of 5 bucklings and 1 doeling. Elf, the doeling, will be staying here but I think I'll be selling all the bucklings, or at least all but 1. It looks like I need to sell my older buck as well. So far to my knowledge he's never produced a girl yet. He's a really pretty boy and so far all his kids here have had blue eyes, but if he can't produce girls he's pretty much worthless to me. I may keep one of his sons so I still have the blue eyes and see if he can produce blue eyed girls for me. I'm also selling one of my does in milk. She's the one I learned to milk on and is a wonderful patient girl but she doesn't quite have the production I'm looking for. So there's going to be some changes on the farm. DH has even been enjoying the new babies and tells me after choring how they've been kiting around and playing. They've started playing king of the mountain on top of their moms and it's pretty cute!

The last two days we've gotten 5 eggs per day! It's so enthusing to be getting more eggs. If I can sell some goats I just might be able to get an incubator and then I'd like to try hatching a few eggs for some friends.

 

[thndrdancr]

Prairie, they are so adorable!

But 5 bucklings! Wow! Bye a they will need to go, I am sure.

How is your peacock doing? If you get a chance to get some hens closer, go ahead and do so. I have a guy friend in Hawaii that has been wanting me to visit, and he even bought me a ticket so I am leaving April 1 for three weeks. Trying to make it as easy as possible for my sister to take care of things. I have a hen sitting on some eggs I really want of my splash orp that died but she doesn't want to deal with babies while I am gone. . I understand but I sure wanted a couple of his progeny.

I have eggs half incubated already, sure hate to throw them out when I can see the little heart beating and stuff, feels like murder to me. Guess I am just silly and sentimental.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Those babies are so stinkin cute! You got a raw deal with all of those boys LOL! Maybe next year the scales will tip with a ton of does!

 

[Trish44]

Prairie those are some cute babies for sure. I love seeing little baby animals of any kind. My lambs are both boys but I wanted it that way, it makes it easier when butchering time comes around because I don't need another ram. These have been banded anyway.

Yesterday & today have been so miserable, cool & wet. It hasn't rained enough to do much good, just enough to make a mess. We could use some rain to help green things up out there.