Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I rarely make cookies either. Mostly because I end up eating almost all of them myself. I used to bake all the time when my kids were still at home.
I do have a new recipe I want to try soon though. As soon as I finish up the last of these cookies from the cookie exchange. I had to throw several of them out. Some of those ladies should quite honestly stay out of the kitchen! How can you screw up the taste of a cookie so bad??
My birds have been laying so poorly I haven't even bothered gathering eggs most days. But the winter solstace is coming up so it will start switching the other direction soon.

 

[cherwill]

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They're really cute!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Thank you all for the sentiments with loosing Marshmallow. She was such a good good dog and a total asset to my birds. I guess I should be looking seriously for a male to breed Britt to so I can carry on the bloodline. She just finished a heat cycle. So I sure hope nothing happens to her in the next 6 months or so. I never expected to loose Marshmallow this soon. She went down hill so fast. I assume it was a very fast growing cancer because until her last 4 days she was acting perfectly normal. My heart is still breaking. The other two dogs don't hold a candle to her in their guardian ability. She was only 6 years old which is really young to have this aggresive cancer.
I had mentioned I made ginger chickens for the cookie exchange. I had tried to take some pictures but found that my SD card wasn't in the camera. And then I couldn't get it to work for some reason. I had misplaced my other camera and finally found it this morning. I had one plate of the cookies left from the exchange. Of course these are some of the rejects. But you can get the general idea.

If those are the rejects, I bet the others were gorgeous!

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Here's a couple pics of the 'broken off' feathers on several of my hens. Are they picking on each other or is something else causing this?

We got an egg yesterday!!! don't know who it's from tho. It's a good sized egg and perfectly formed. Darker brown than the brown store bought eggs I have in the fridge and lightly speckled. I'll maybe post a pic tomorrow.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

That's not broken feathers but the fluff showing, from a recent molt. My ladies look pretty rough too!

 

[chicken danz]

Here's a couple pics of the 'broken off' feathers on several of my hens. Are they picking on each other or is something else causing this?
We got an egg yesterday!!!

don't know who it's from tho. It's a good sized egg and perfectly formed. Darker brown than the brown store bought eggs I have in the fridge and lightly speckled. I'll maybe post a pic tomorrow.

I have to disagree with TaraBella. That is simply rooster wear. First those girls look too young to molt. Secondly if you look at the patterns the tops of the wings and the area near the tail and then further up the back in worse cases is definitely from being roosters' favorites. Believe me I've seen it for years and it's unmistakable.
Sometimes having too many roosters is the problem. Sometimes not having enough hens for one rooster is the problem. And sometimes a rooster just prefers a certain hen or hens more than others. I think it has a lot to do with their availability.
It's going to happen regardless unless you do AIs on your hens to fertilize the eggs. I did put some aprons on a couple of really bare girls but most of them managed to get them off.
Congrats on the eggs!

 

[Trish44]

I agree with danz that doesn't look like molt. I have some hens that are favorites of the roosters that look just like that. I don't have too many roosters, but they do pick their favorite hens. I have tried the hen saddles before but eventually they manage to get them off.

This is not about chickens but my little buckling boer goat I got is starting to show his manliness I guess. When I feed in the evenings, he is still sleeping with the sheep because he's still not big enough to go in with my two ornery does. I have two big rubber bowls I divide feed into & he has started making this weird sound at any other animal that tries to share "his" food. It's a sound I've never heard any of my goats make. I guess he's telling them leave it alone.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Well I have 8 hens and one rooster. This boy must be a lot more aggressive than the BLRW roo that I had before. He was much older than my current roo and I never heard him crow or saw anything like this. I haven't heard this one crow yet but I haven't been out as much as I'd like either. Are they usually laying or almost laying before they allow he rooster to mount them or not? My BCMs and my two older SLW didn't seem to have any damage to their backs or at least not much. My splash BLRW didn't have anything like this going on either. Her comb isn't nearly as red as these other two either tho.

 

[Trish44]

If their combs are red they must be getting ready to lay & the rooster can tell & will breed them. I saw one doing that here yesterday so I know my SS pullet must be getting close to laying. If the rooster is young they go through that hormonal teenage stage too where they just go crazy breeding.

 

[chicken danz]

Roosters will breed about anything they can catch. A pullet will appeal to him at least a couple months before she lays. I have some really ornery cockerels around here that jump on anything at about 3 months of age. Some roosters don't crow much and some never shut up. Like it was mentioned earlier roosters pick their favorites and those girls end up looking rough.
If you want to be sure there is nothing else you can put some pour on ivermectin on the back of their necks to make sure they are mite free. I still say that is rooster damage looking at the pictures though. I'm not a professional but I've had a few thousand birds to observe.