Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, I'm sorry about your chick, I know I would have been aggravated too. Maybe some of the new eggs you put in will hatch. That's why you need the auto turner though since your hubby won't remember to turn it when you're gone, it's really nice, I love mine. I'm just adding my Ameraucana eggs as I get them. The two hens I have take turns, one lays one day & the other the next, never two in the same day, it's strange. It's nice that you can do these shows with your son, he'll learn a lot from that.

Yes, I am re-thinking the auto turner on my incubator! Sheesh! So you are doing a staggered hatch? I'll be attempting that as well! We'll see how that works out in our Brinsea. I'm so glad we have the same incubator so we can compare notes!

Marc they're just bored. They are learning how to use those new wings they are growing. Hawkeye I think Seymore looks awesome. You should see the mess my turkeys are in. They have all their tail feathers broken and caked in mud. Wish I knew some way of making those feathers look perfect. I wonder if Pomade would work on those feathers? I used to use it on this curly frizzy hair of mine and it helped and it doesn't show. It's cheap too.
We retaped Choppers wing and the first thing he did was jump in the dogs' water bowl. At least it is still on there.
Hawkeye angel wing is when the end tip of the wing joint is weak and the feathers start growing outward. It is caused by too much protein in a bird's diet. In Chopper's case, it is too much cat food! It is really easy to move the feathers back the right way but they won't stay. I read that it only takes about 5 days or so for them to stay in place but 5 minutes is hard to come by on this silly duck. It keeps them from being able to fly but worse than that it just looks unsightly.
I had Chopper out in the yard today and he kept running back to the porch and stood by the door chirping. He has his mind made up he lives in the house and the sunshine is too hot for him. What a spoiled duck. I don't think I'll ever get the tale tale signs of his messes out of here. It messes up the finish on the floor. I have plans to strip, stain and refinish all my old hardwood any way but it really looks awful now. I told DH if we just left the poo on the wood it would strip all the old finish off and save us a step.

Thanks, I think Seymore is pretty too... but I'm biased and I don't know what the standard for Royal Palms, is either. We'll find out in 2 weeks!! I'll be trying out Palmolive soap on her and do a glycerine rinse. Sorry about Chopper's wings. At least you know why it's happened. Funny about your floors! I still have yet to work on any sewing! I just haven't made time to do so. I probably have plenty of time to get around to it if I made it a priority!

 

[HEChicken]

MarcAustin, don't worry about it. All this is, is re-establishing pecking order now that they are in a new space. You will find they will do this any time their "territory" changes. It will settle down again in no time. It has nothing to do with gender - both males and females will chest bump to establish which is dominant over the other. Oftentimes, once or twice will do it but if they are close in the pecking order, it may take multiple times before one accepts that he or she is lower/higher in the pecking order than the other.

You will periodically see this behavior even in a well-established flock, as one attempts to go up the ladder in the pecking order, so he or she will challenge those above.

WHY are my girls fighting ?? Today I moved them to a bigger house which measures 33"W x 50"L x 23"H for a total of 11.46sqft of ground space. This is more than a doubling of the area in the old box . And as soon as i put them in they start battling. They are doing what i can only describe as a flying 'chest bump' like athletes do in celebration. There is also chasing, jumping on backs and squawking. I finally turned the light off since when the temp drops they all huddle down together for warmth. What happened ? I thought they would enjoy more space? As I mentioned previously i was contemplating moving them to the garage already to start a transition, but i do enjoy the ChickenTV and keeping an eye on them. Here's a pic of the new house :

 

[tazcat70]

Naola,

Are you on, or were you on the Kansas Garden or Haysville Garden News on I think yahoo?

 

[MarcAustin]

MarcAustin, don't worry about it. All this is, is re-establishing pecking order now that they are in a new space. You will find they will do this any time their "territory" changes. It will settle down again in no time. It has nothing to do with gender - both males and females will chest bump to establish which is dominant over the other. Oftentimes, once or twice will do it but if they are close in the pecking order, it may take multiple times before one accepts that he or she is lower/higher in the pecking order than the other.

You will periodically see this behavior even in a well-established flock, as one attempts to go up the ladder in the pecking order, so he or she will challenge those above.

Tks for the info. So long as no one gets bloodied, I'll let it go. Wanted to mention to the other poster that 2 are definitely sex links and were scrapping just as much as the others so i haddn't jump to the rooster conclusion. Also in case any other newbies are curious - yes they can still fly out even though it's 2 feet in height.

 

[Hawkeye95]

ACK!! Okay, somebody please reassure me... or tell me death is now imminent! I went out to check on my girls and my broody is still sitting on her two eggs. One of them is the egg that is half way full of chick-- which is MOVING!! The other egg is clear and I need to take that from her, but she seems so happy with two eggs. Anyway, tonight I was refilling waters and she got up for a second and the egg with the baby in it has yucky gunky POOP stuck to one side of it!! I mean HALF of the egg is poopy!!?!?! How the heck did she manage that? And of COURSE this is sooooo totally my luck! I'll be back to having no babies! I took it out to look at it and see how bad, and it's bad. Then I candled to see if the baby had died, but nope, still squiggling in there. I put it back and she sat back on it. I figured if I washed it-- that would take off all the bloom and then it would have no protection. And if I washed it, it might drop in temperature... so what?? Do nothing? Hope for the best? Stupid bird!!!!!! These are LIVES at stake here. ARGH, they just don't understand.

Okay-- who was it that said my babies will be neurotic? Ivy?? Okay Ivy, if this baby lives and hatches, I'll let you know how neurotic it is! Maybe it will run around in circles throwing it's little wings in the air and screeching?

 

[tazcat70]

Hawk, leave it. Or if you are REALLY worried about it get a paper towel and clean it off.

When is it due? If it doesn't hatch let me know and I will give you some chicks to stuff under her. I have some hatching about every 3 days for the next 10 days. Just had some hatch yesterday too.

 

[JosieChick]

ACK!! Okay, somebody please reassure me... or tell me death is now imminent! I went out to check on my girls and my broody is still sitting on her two eggs. One of them is the egg that is half way full of chick-- which is MOVING!! The other egg is clear and I need to take that from her, but she seems so happy with two eggs. Anyway, tonight I was refilling waters and she got up for a second and the egg with the baby in it has yucky gunky POOP stuck to one side of it!! I mean HALF of the egg is poopy!!?!?! How the heck did she manage that? And of COURSE this is sooooo totally my luck! I'll be back to having no babies! I took it out to look at it and see how bad, and it's bad. Then I candled to see if the baby had died, but nope, still squiggling in there. I put it back and she sat back on it. I figured if I washed it-- that would take off all the bloom and then it would have no protection. And if I washed it, it might drop in temperature... so what?? Do nothing? Hope for the best? Stupid bird!!!!!! These are LIVES at stake here. ARGH, they just don't understand.

Okay-- who was it that said my babies will be neurotic? Ivy?? Okay Ivy, if this baby lives and hatches, I'll let you know how neurotic it is! Maybe it will run around in circles throwing it's little wings in the air and screeching?

Hahahaha! You are too funny. Just wait til the poo dries a bit and chip it off with a paper towel. I think hens have been pooing all over their eggs since chickens came into existence!


Good news!! DH conceded to a livestock guardian dog or two!!! I was shocked. He said NO WAY on Friday evening but Sunday night he came running in with the flashlight in his hand and eyes wide spooked by the pack of coyotes north east of us coming out to hunt for the evening!!

 

[Ivywoods]

Josie-Oh I'm so glad he said yes to the LGD! Sometimes you can even find an adult that needs rehomed for who knows what reason, then you have almost instant guardian. Don't give up on the rifle idea, either. Feel free to ask questions. We LOVE to talk about our LGD's! I'll contact my sis to see if she has any current contacts for one. (I like the great pyrenees the best!) They are awesome!

Hawkeye-Yep. That was me. You are the neurotic hatcher. I would leave that egg alone. Let momma hen take care of it. I'm kind of concerned, however, about your incubator. Simply not turning the egg over the weekend isn't that apt to cause the chick inside to die. More often I think what happens is that the chick gets kind of "stuck" in the hatching process and may not pip due to being stuck to the side of the egg.

I came home with about 18 more bantam partridge wyandotte eggs today. So much for not hatching during my surgery. I am making an exception for these eggs, anyway. Besides, they won't hatch until a couple weeks after my surgery. Since I have the GQF with the auto turner now my DH won't have to do much other than make sure there is water in the auto water system. As of today, I have 8 chicks hatched from the previous batch of BPW eggs. They are really cute little chipmunk chicks.... alll except one. The one is more of a solid pattern and a little darker reddish brown. Someone told me "Dat be a rooster." I hope they are right. That would mean I have one rooster and 7 pullets.

 

[JosieChick]

Ivy- I am actually going on Friday to look at a female Pyr. She is a bit older but sounds perfect for what we need and I am hoping that if we can get a dog that has been doing this for a while that we can then get a pup to help her and she can help me teach the pup.

Does anyone have suggestions for helping her hang around if it works out and I bring her home? Should I pen her up for several days so she knows where home is?

 

[Ivywoods]

Josie-Yes, Pen her up in the ban or with some of the animals you want her to be with. Has she been around chickens? Some dogs play a little too rough with them. I try to make sure we feed them around or with the animals we want them to protect. When we brought our first GP home he jumped the fence and was gone for about a week. We figured he was on his way back to Oklahoma. He just showed up about a week after we got him and he has been here ever since. I think he just needed to hide and assess the new situation. He is a great dog, but getting old. Be sure to ask as many questions as possible from the folks rehoming her. Yes, the older dogs are good at helping to train the younger ones, but the younger ones do a lot of what they do just instinctually.

I'm excited for you. I called my sis, and she doesn't know of anything right now, but she will check around. My DH said there were some LGD's advertised on the "Midwest goat sales and supply" group on facebook. I don't read that group, but you might want to check it out for alternatives.

Good luck getting a good LGD!