Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Deerfield I'm sorry your DD is having so much trouble with her surgery recovery. That had to be scary with her bleeding like that, hugs to you & her.

sharol those are some nice looking chicks, congrats. That looks like a nice little pen for chicks or puppies or whatever, I hope it works out for you.

We had another rain last evening just as I came in from doing my chores, I finished just in time. The sun is out today so I hope it starts drying this place out some. I lost one chick in the growout pen, it's just sopping wet in there & there isn't much at this point I can do about it. I put some things over the gosling pen last night at one end so they at least have some shelter from the rain. It's just been to wet & muddy to do much out there & I still had to slog around in the mud doing chores last night, ugh. I have to walk carefully so as not to fall in that muck.

 

[sharol]

Deerfield I'm sorry your DD is having so much trouble with her surgery recovery. That had to be scary with her bleeding like that, hugs to you & her.

sharol those are some nice looking chicks, congrats. That looks like a nice little pen for chicks or puppies or whatever, I hope it works out for you.

I have a friend who got a similar one for her new puppy and it looked like a good idea. We'll see how it works.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Has everyone finally got all the rain they wanted?

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Ralph Moyer,

I'm good here!

The night we had with DD was nothing short of traumatic for DD especially, and for us. That poor kid. I cannot believe she is having such a horrible time with this surgery. Mine was brutal but I didn't bleed, or throw up multiple times with a raw throat (sorry to be so graphic, but sleep deprivation is my excuse). The amount of blood was nothing short of impressive. The surgeon had to coach us through it and the treatment was horrific, for a 17 year old. She had to gargle with ice water continuously for an hour. Ultimately, it worked but my gosh, that poor, poor kid. Our 4th tonsillectomy and I've never seen anything like this. She's not taking anything for pain because she says the Tylenol doesn't do anything anyway. The other side still has to slough off and I just can't wait for that blessed event.

At least I know what to do, make the poor kid gargle ice water for an hour. I feel I'm just tormenting her on top of all else she's going through. If she hadn't stopped bleeding when she did, the surgeon was going to take her in this morning and re-cauterize her throat, which would mean we would have to start all over on the healing process. He called personally this morning to make sure she didn't need it, at this point. If she starts again, I'm to let him know. She's watching a movie with double ice packs on her neck.

Okay, sorry guys, enough of that. It's wonderful to see the sun out! I hope I make it outside for a little bit today. We'll see. I couldn't be happier to see the sun!

sharol, that's a cool little gizmo and should work just great! Trish and Danz, I hope the forecaster is wrong and we're done with rain for awhile!

 

[zigzag45]

@chicken danz - Ahhh, that was really sweet. I know we joke offline about how I stress about my birds. Still wish I could figure out how to get a couple SS from you.

As Danz knows, I haven't had very good luck with my birds this year. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I let my two broody girls out of the "time-out pen," after just under a week, to see if they had learned and were done being broody. Lo and behold, they stayed in the yard and were happy for the space - no bee-lines for the nesting boxes. One had to do some fighting with another hen to see who was bigger/tougher/stronger - but that was soon settled.

The hen I've let sit on eggs has another week to go before they *hopefully* start hatching. The eggs are too dark for me to candle, so I have no idea how things are going.

I had four pages of posts to catch up on, and that was just a few days. Funny how this thread goes crazy for awhile, then slows down, then crazy....

My entire back yard is a saturated sponge. I wish I could store the excess water and use it to keep my yard green mid-July.

My girls are loving these cicada's as they hatch. It's like a chicken's dream world. I let them out yesterday and one ran out the run gate, took a few quick steps along the fence and pounced on a newly hatched cicada. Obviously, she had been watching it and it was just on the other side of the fence. I was out feeding FF this morning and one hit my leg, I brushed it off into the run and there was a mad dash for it.

@Deerfield Acres - Sorry, rough go on the surgery.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

zigzap45, Your hens dash for the cicadas made me smile. I can just picture it.

 

[ashncarson]

OK. so I will try this post not to long. I a questions and then to show you the chicks I am thinking of keeping.

My chicks turned 4 weeks old on friday/saturday. This is where they are housed within the run. Today we built up the run dirt area with fresh dirt so it looks good and is all fresh.



When broody mom comes out of the cage she is a crazy ninja like mom attacking all the other girls and sending them running for the coop. The babies have never been out of their brooder.

Question: Would this be a good time to open up the lid and let the babies come out (they jump on the ledge but go back in) or would that be unfair to the rest of the chickens since mom is so crazy mean to them. I would make them a easier way to get out and then just leave it open for them to maybe go back to at night
We will have most of the chicks maybe another 2 weeks before most of them go to their new home, leaving us with 3 chicks.

While she is still caring for them I was thinking she could show them around and maybe get them used to the other girls.

The remaining girls do have a big coop to hang out in if she won't let them be out there. I would just have to put some food and water in for them.
(excuse the mess around the coop, hubby re-did a 72' mustang, that is his mess)




Here is one chick I know for sure we are keeping. She is really the only one with all Gold lacing.



I am trying to decide on which other two chicks to keep. I like my chickens to each have their own look if possible.
Here are some of our current girls. The broody mom looks like the large black one. We have a black one similar to the white one and then a small brown bantam.



Here is one chick, we like her personality, she is very curious and lets up pet her a bit!
but, she is also another orange chicken and i wanted to avoid that. I am thinking she be a buff orp. or new hampshire mix

I really want one to have some Silver Laced look to it, here are the two for that.

#1

#2

This girl here (assuming its a girl) is beautiful as well, she has one that looks like a colombian wyandotte, so maybe it has some of that in it?
#3







it's such a hard choice, I don't know why! So tell me, what would you choose?

 

[Deerfield Acres]

ashncarson, Okay, I've given this careful consideration, so here goes. I would keep #2 of Silver looking ones, simply because I like the look of spots (see avatar). There's just something about a polka dotted chicken that gets to me!

Okay, the next one is very difficult. Hmmm. I think that is an Orp and I'm a sucker for a sweetie hen so I'm kinda leaning her way, but then again, I think the Columbian looking one may be very interesting once it grows out and really once they start laying they all tend to be sweeter than they were before. My experience only. It's hard, but I'm going to fall for the sweetie hen again and choose the Orp. I just love a sociable hen! So that's my vote: #2 and the Orp looking girl!

I think it's a hard choice because truly we would like to keep them all!

At least I would.

So, I really like your set up, looks like that works really well! I cannot weigh in on integrating broodies and chicks because I've only done it once and it was a scary thing to let them out so I waited for about, I don't know, 6 ridiculously long weeks. Don't go by me, I'm paranoid and can't stop myself!

 

[ashncarson]

ashncarson, Okay, I've given this careful consideration, so here goes. I would keep #2 of Silver looking ones, simply because I like the look of spots (see avatar). There's just something about a polka dotted chicken that gets to me!

Okay, the next one is very difficult. Hmmm. I think that is an Orp and I'm a sucker for a sweetie hen so I'm kinda leaning her way, but then again, I think the Columbian looking one may be very interesting once it grows out and really once they start laying they all tend to be sweeter than they were before. My experience only. It's hard, but I'm going to fall for the sweetie hen again and choose the Orp. I just love a sociable hen! So that's my vote: #2 and the Orp looking girl!

I think it's a hard choice because truly we would like to keep them all!

At least I would.

So, I really like your set up, looks like that works really well! I cannot weigh in on integrating broodies and chicks because I've only done it once and it was a scary thing to let them out so I waited for about, I don't know, 6 ridiculously long weeks. Don't go by me, I'm paranoid and can't stop myself!

HA! love your post, I am super nervous about letting the chicks out, but I doubt nothing will happen to them as the mom wont let anyone near them when she is out...just makes me so nervous! How did yours go at 6 weeks?

#2 chick just seems to be one of those who is just kinda there, i have not interacted much with her, but she is beautiful! It's so hard to decide, the good thing is that my aunt and uncle will be taking one roo and the remaining hens so I can always go visit them to see how they look!

 

[ashncarson]

I think it's a hard choice because truly we would like to keep them all!

At least I would.

If I lived in the country,and not the city then I would for sure keep them all! Keeping 3 hens puts me over my legal number of 6.....but I have seen other city people with 15 or so in one small coop!