Consolidated Kansas

[LJack]

Chookschick,
How are your silkies with other breeds? My son would like to add 1-2 to our small stock, but I'm afraid our older barr rock hen who's the dominate one will pick on them being a smaller bird. She good with out RI Red, but seemed to have bullied our buff (not sure if it's because she wasn't healthy for quite a while), but not in a big violent way. Just hate to see anything pushed around.

I love talking chickens to other Kansans. This is great!

 

[Ivywoods]

Chooks-Any news on the birds in shipping yet?

I think this is why it would be a good reason for ANYONE shipping chicks, eggs or birds to write the information somwhere on the box so that perhaps if paperwork is lost there is still a way for them to send the birds. I always be sure the sender writes my phone numer on the top of the box. My P.O is very good about calling me. If this has been done, then I would wonder if someone put Chooks birds aside and LEFT them! Heaven forbid, but don't ya kind of wonder at this point?

Waiting for a Marshmallow update.

Seymore is looking good.

 

[chicken danz]

Awe Seymore! So pretty. I'm about a week away from my first domestic turkey hatch. I hope I have more than one hatch!
Well I figured out some of the problem this morning. Marshallow was further down hill this morning. I think the injection that DH did probably just leaked around the needle and ended up on her furr. But I figured out one of the major problems. Her skin is just so thick I wasn't getting it in deep enough even though the needle was all the way in. I tried once with no success, then raised her skin up 6 inches off her neck and finally got an injection in this morning. I feel so much better even though she needs to recover first. I talked to the vet and I'm going after another shot later to replace the wasted one. So I thought I knew it all about giving shots but I've never had to do it with a dog with that much skin and fur before. I managed to get Marshmallow to drink some milk with nutri-drench and some sugar in it. Maybe that will give her a little boost.
Ljack, welcome. I've almost always got some chicks. I don't have much luck sexing new hatches but if you don't care what they are I always have some barnyard mixes. Most of my birds are big brown egg layers. I live about an hour South of Topeka but if I was coming up anyway for an appointment or something I'd be glad bring chicks at the same time as long as you could meet me.
RLWT, You have to turn eggs. Otherwise they will develop weak and improperly even with air moving around the eggs. Anyway an egg needs to be turned at least 3 times a day. If you are gone for say 8 hours at a time it can easily be done. Turn them right before you leave, as soon as you get home, and one time in between. It is best to turn them at regular intervals but maybe depending on when you get home, you could turn them right at bed time. I guess a buying a turner would be something you would have to determine based on your schedule. Personally I wouldn't be without one because my life is such a calamity that something is always happening that would throw me off schedule. If you watch a broody hen she will move those eggs at least once every hour or two. My old incubators turned eggs every 4 hours. My newer ones turn them once every 2 hours. I honestly can see a difference in the strength and hatch rates in the newer incubator. The better you can mimic nature the more success you will have with your hatches.

 

[ChooksChick]

Seymore is beautiful! You must get her a boyfriend! I'd hate to see her run off with a wild hooligan!

Regarding my hens: I'll post what I posted on another thread this morning:


They got here this morning!!!! I'm soooooo happy!! They're beautiful!

They were very quiet and almost like statues- the PO thought they were goners.

I would be surprised if they weren't a bit in shock.

I gave them electrolyte water, baby parrot formula and apples. They took 10 minutes to get interested in the food, just standing as still as marble.

I am going to give them space and abundant treats, letting them recover in peace.

Then I'll try to go back to the PO Administration and find out what happened, because if I hadn't made so much noise I suspect the outcome would have been different. The problem needs to be fixed!

Danz, I'm sorry Marshmallow is doing poorly. I hope the shot works well and quickly, and that the next one does the trick perfectly.

LJack, My Silkies do fine when added as an adult, but only when added in a group of 2 or 3 birds so the new one isn't singled out. I believe a single bird should NEVER be added, but only in pairs or trios. They stick out too much, and Silkies and Polish are at a huge disadvantage because their range of vision is significantly decreased by poof and by beard.

If you get one bird, get two or three.

In general Silkies do better if they have another Silkie or two, because they don't roost up on a board or limb, but rather prefer to sleep in a pile. They can't use their wings to help lift up onto a roost, nor to catch air to slow their fall getting down. It's best if they have someone to snuggle at night who is in the same boat- particularly in the winter.

I'm off to stare at the Silkied Ameraucanas. These 4 are all blue, and 2 are Silkied, 2 are Splits. The additional genes added to these 4 improved birds were from a very pigmented line, so the hypermelanistic coloring is very different from my PALE blue girl. It's very striking!

I'm so glad they made it- it's practically a miracle. They were boxed for 92 hours or more without food or water.

Edited to fix a double negative...because I'm like that.

 

[sharol]

OH, Chooks, I'm so glad they got there. I'll keep them in my thoughts this morning while they are recovering. When they feel better, be sure to post some pictures.

Sharol

Seymore is beautiful! You must get her a boyfriend! I'd hate to see her run off with a wild hooligan!

Regarding my hens: I'll post what I posted on another thread this morning:


They got here this morning!!!! I'm soooooo happy!! They're beautiful!

They were very quiet and almost like statues- the PO thought they were goners.

I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't a bit in shock.

I gave them electrolyte water, baby parrot formula and apples. They took 10 minutes to get interested in the food, just standing as still as marble.

I am going to give them space and abundant treats, letting them recover in peace.

Then I'll try to go back to the PO Administration and find out what happened, because if I hadn't made so much noise I suspect the outcome would have been different. The problem needs to be fixed!

Danz, I'm sorry Marshmallow is doing poorly. I hope the shot works well and quickly, and that the next one does the trick perfectly.

LJack, My Silkies do fine when added as an adult, but only when added in a group of 2 or 3 birds so the new one isn't singled out. I believe a single bird should NEVER be added, but only in pairs or trios. They stick out too much, and Silkies and Polish are at a huge disadvantage because their range of vision is significantly decreased by poof and by beard.

If you get one bird, get two or three.

In general Silkies do better if they have another Silkie or two, because they don't roost up on a board or limb, but rather prefer to sleep in a pile. They can't use their wings to help lift up onto a roost, nor to catch air to slow their fall getting down. It's best if they have someone to snuggle at night who is in the same boat- particularly in the winter.

I'm off to stare at the Silkied Ameraucanas. These 4 are all blue, and 2 are Silkied, 2 are Splits. The additional genes added to these 4 improved birds were from a very pigmented line, so the hypermelanistic coloring is very different from my PALE blue girl. It's very striking!

I'm so glad they made it- it's practically a miracle. They were boxed for 92 hours or more without food or water.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Chooks-- WooHOO!!!! I'm so glad they are alive!! I hope they start drinking and eating. I'm sure they will once they realize their little world isn't going to be moving around on them and shaking them up again. I'm sure they are in a bit of shock. When my 7 month old silkie roo was shipped, he came out fine. I took him out of his box at the PO and he rode home on my lap talking and snuggling to me. BUT-- different story when the girls came a week later-- they were definitely in a bit of shock and were quite and laid low. When I touched them, they'd scream. They are perfectly okay now, though. Lots of alone time will get them back to feeling better. I'm sooooo relieved for you!! Whew!

Danz, praying for Marshmallow! I'm glad you figured out a way to get that shot in. Sounds like there was quite a trick to it! Glad you got it figured out and can get another shot and hopefully get her back on her vet. And thank goodness you have a vet willing to hand over those shots without seeing her. What a GREAT vet you have! My horse vet is like that too! I can diagnose about anything myself and call in and ask for shots. The only thing I can't do is tubing down the throat for colic and starting a line for IV. Either the vet comes out to my barn for that, or if the horse can stand up and walk, I get them into their clinic. You become pretty good at vetting your own animals when they are big or not conducive at getting them in. And it's great that there are vets that understand that.

Thanks for the compliments on Seymore! She is so pretty and her markings are really stunning when she is fanned out. I'd love to get her a boyfriend. It would be fun to pick out a really big Tom for her. I guess that will have to wait until after the move, though. Yes, it would be a shame if she ran off with a wild hooligan! LOL!! Now that she's mature, I hope she doesn't!

 

[Trish44]

chooks, yay I'm so glad your chicks arrived & they're OK, I'm sure they will need some time to recover, but we want pics when you can get them! Yeah the PO needs to answer for what happened with them, you would think they would handle live birds better than that. I can't believe someone would misplace something peeping, besides the fact that the boxes are always marked that they have live birds or whatever in them, geez. I would take it to whomever I had to in order to get my point across on that one. I agree with you on adding birds in groups, I think that's why I didn't have any trouble integrating the ones I have added because I was adding them in groups of 3. They tend to stick together & not get picked on so much that way. What I did also with the young ones I raised from chicks is that I put a small pen of them in the coop & the others could see them for a couple weeks, but not get to them. When I let them out they were already used to each other. I would do that again if I have to add young ones to the flock, it worked out great. Of course by that point they were bigger & more able to defend themselves too, I didn't put them in there as tiny chicks.

Danz, yeah these GPs do have a lot of fur & tough skin, even these pups I have. I so hope the shot you gave her today starts working, we're all praying Marshmallow & you.

Hawkeye, I think you need to get a boyfriend for Seymore too, she would love to have some company I'll bet. I'm surprised you don't have wild turkeys where you live, we have quite a few of them around here. It would be bad if Seymore found a wild turkey to mate with & ran off with him, that would be awful. We had a family of them last summer, they had 4 babies & we watched them every evening come over the hill & go down into our front 5 acres where there's a lot of cover to roost for the night. They joined the big flock in the fall & then we didn't see them any more. I hope they come back this year, I enjoyed seeing them, maybe if I feed them they might stay around.

 

[rittert3]

I would love to see seymore have a BF too, hawkeye, she is a great looking royal palm.
I'm having problems witrh my banties already. We treated them for leg mites before I brought them back and I have them semi quarentined but I don't know much about leg mites. We dipped their legs in oil and he stripped the cocks spurs before I left but I went to check the this morning and I have my doubts. The males legs were swollen and verys scaley with scab like places between the scales. One hen looked great and showed no signs and the other was just slightly more scaley than normal with minimal swelling. There is a submisive EE rooster that roosts in "my" building but mine are in a fairly large rabbit cage for right now so I don't think the will spread it to him. My question is do I need to treat them again? and how do I know when the mite are all gone? I might call my freind that I bought them from and talk to him about it in a little bit, too.

ETA: I just called him and he said oil a couple more times and a little seven dust once or twice and the should be all clear but that they shouldn't be contagous after that first oil dip, so that makes me happy. The couple that owns the farm was worried about it spreading to their chickens and I don't want to make them mad and lose my spot to keep birds.

 

[chicken danz]

Renee, Glad you got your chickens finally. What a mess. I wonder sometimes if poor delivery isn't done intentional sometimes so they can claim they need to raise prices. I had eggs shipped to me in December that took a full week and arrived broken and rotten. They were very well packed as well. Those birds are probably scared to death. When they feel comfortable they will eat and drink like crazy. Too bad you can't give them a xanex or something!

I had to laugh at your post about changing the double negative. I have lots of typos but don't proofread much. But language drives me nuts. I had to teach myself not to correct people when I moved back to Kansas. I always feel like saying, Well duh, did you sleep through English class?

 

[ChooksChick]

I would love to see seymore have a BF too, hawkeye, she is a great looking royal palm.
I'm having problems witrh my banties already. We treated them for leg mites before I brought them back and I have them semi quarentined but I don't know much about leg mites. We dipped their legs in oil and he stripped the cocks spurs before I left but I went to check the this morning and I have my doubts. The males legs were swollen and verys scaley with scab like places between the scales. One hen looked great and showed no signs and the other was just slightly more scaley than normal with minimal swelling. There is a submisive EE rooster that roosts in "my" building but mine are in a fairly large rabbit cage for right now so I don't think the will spread it to him. My question is do I need to treat them again? and how do I know when the mite are all gone? I might call my freind that I bought them from and talk to him about it in a little bit, too.

Spread vaseline on their legs daily, or even antibiotic ointment to start with- this will smother the mites. I also put 3 drops of Ivermectin pour on under one wing on the bare skin to assist, so they will poison the mites when they bite. I use 5 rops for large fowl, and you could treat the EE now so he won't get it spread to him. It will also treat other mites, lice and roundworms. He isn't laying, so there's no issue of 2 week egg withdrawal, but you won't want to eat the eggs of yours- though you can still hatch them.

Keep at it for at least a week on the vaseline, and you only need to do the Ivermectin once. You'll see major improvement on the legs, and you'll be able to see when they've returned to normal.