Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

This morning I went out to the chicken yard and with a sinking feeling, did a head count and came up one Muscovy hen short. They can fly pretty well and love to fly the length of the yard but sometimes misjudge and go over the fence. Usually they just waddle around and wait at the gate to be let back in, but this time, I scoured the surrounds and didn't see her. They usually stick together as a group, but as a last resort, I checked inside the coop in case she went in to eat by herself and there she was. No, not at the feeder. Sitting in a nest. WHAT??? She is only 4 months old and I thought at this point they wouldn't lay until next Spring??? A little while later she was back out with the others so I went to check where she had been sitting and no egg. So I guess it was a "dry run", but even so, I didn't think they'd be interested in practicing until they were closer to actually laying so I dunno.....time will tell.

Danz, sorry about your BO. Was she very old? Perhaps she had a heart attack or died of some other natural cause?

Speaking of old BO's, I have a hen who is more than 3 years old and still laying 2-3 eggs a week. She's been such a good girl that I decided to go ahead and incubate one of her eggs to try to get a daughter from her, to carry on when she is too old. I've seen Cyrus mount her and her eggs that we eat appear to have good fertility so on my last batch I threw one of her eggs in, but had to pull it early as candling at 7-days revealed a porous egg that was not developing. So when I set a second batch, I had another of her eggs laid that day and threw it in (after first checking it was not porous). This egg started to develop and I was pleased but at the 14-day candling yesterday, it looked like it stopped developing and there was no movement. I opened it up and it looks like it stopped around day 10. Nothing happened incubator-wise at that time and this was the only egg that stopped so I'm starting to think "old" eggs just don't develop as well. Perhaps, as with people, as the hen gets older, the genetic material of the egg starts to deteriorate. I'm guessing this fetus died because something was going wrong with its development. Oh well, I tried.

 

[sharol]

And maybe you will have some babies to sell that are extras? Maybe???

***snip***

I have more Swedish Flower hen chicks hatching today. Yipee! If I have a good hatch that should be enough for some good breeding stock. Hopefully by spring I'll be hatching a few of my own.

 

[averytds]

Rob-- hey we spent the entire day at the State Fair today!! It was so fun! BTW-- go check out the poultry barn, they have a bunch of really nice Silkies in there this year! I was so happy to see that. The last two years, there were NO silkies at all. And before that, just hatchery quality birds. They did have a white hatchery quality silkie rooster in there-- not sure what they are thinking about that. Ah well. The others make up for him. They even had a few AOV's (all other colors) in there-- one was a Frost! That is a new color that lots of "silkie people" are working on! I was excited to see it! I took a picture of it and was going to post it to my silkie group! LOL!!

I'll let the girls know you liked their birds. Technically the only AOV is the Frost, but the computer system only offers white/black/AOV. I'm pretty ticked off at the fair right now and don't know if we'll return next year. The entire event this year has been nothing but screw-up after screw-up where the poultry is concerned. (Opens) Some of the problems have been inconvenient (splitting up classes, no cages) while some have been completely egregious (removing sick birds and putting healthy ones right into those cages). Now they're medicating the entire barn. We were informed one of our birds even died yesterday. Anyone who goes, remember to shower, change and clean shoes before visiting your flock.

Thanks Karen! Oh - and here's another genetics question for anyone who knows: since an EE is technically a "mutt", does an EE roo over an EE hen produce another EE?

I finally gave in and took Butch (the roo) to the vet for his bumblefoot today. To my surprise, my vet said it wasn't really very far advanced. He cleaned it out and packed it and wrapped it. He also gave us antibiotics (oral) for several days. Butch was VERY good at the vet's. I guess I can do the clean out next time, and my vet says he will give me the antibiotics if I need them.

On Thursday I'm supposed to remove the wrappings and check out the wound for healing. We shall see.

I swore I wouldn't take a chicken to the vet, but Butch is special.

My experience with the blue egg thing - I bought a "backyard flock" from someone that was moving. It consisted of some black tailed white japanese, hens and 1 roo, 1 EE banty roo, 1 banty cochin roo, and some seabright hens. Because, because, they ended up in the same pen and the cochin roo did not survive. After some eggs hatched and the chicks grew and the pullets started laying, I was very surprised to find some nice "blue" eggs. Not green, blue. The EE roo was the only chicken in the pen that even could have carried the blue gene, so from that, I found out that all you need for blue eggs is a roo that carries the blue gene. I have been enchanted with the little hens that look like the japanese and lay the pretty blue eggs. Some layed slighty off white eggs which is the natural color for the japanese and some layed a slightly brown egg. That might be the natural color for the seabrights. There are a few blue egg layers in the following generations, but with it is a "fiesty" disposition from that EE roo that is not so good. It has been interesting.

I am not sure, but isn't the green egg color from a combination of the blue and brown gene? I have not studyied it so am not sure on that. I have thought if someone wanted to put the time into it, some interesting blue egg chickens could be developed just with a good blue egg gene rooster.

There is a lady here on the forum who makes shoes for chickens who have bumblefoot and sells them on the buy-sell-trade section. The only thing is, they're $10 per shoe and there is a left and right foot, and a couple of sizes. So, in order to have one on hand for any size hen getting a bumble in either foot, the initial outlay would be $40, and then of course you'd probably end up with a half dozen hens all getting it in their left foot at the same time anyway.

Put on the ointment and a square of gauze. Cut a square of vet wrap, cut slits for the toes and wrap.

 

[sharol]

As I was cleaning up the yard (now that it is cool enough to do so), I noticed that the nylon rope stuff I used to tie down the netting over the run was getting a bit faded. When I went over and really looked at it, it was falling apart. I threaded it through the edges of the netting and then fastened the netting/rope to the upper part of the fence with zip ties 2 years ago. I had a couple of places where the rope had broken, and so I decided to patch it for the time being. No such luck. The stuff fell apart in my hands. Yikes. Two sides of the run adjoin a pasture, and so the threat from those sides is very real.

I bought more (better) rope, and I spent the morning repairing my run. I still have to get another reel of the stuff because Walmart only had 2 50 footers and I needed 3, but at least the 2 sides on the pasture are secure again.

Just an FYI. I should have been checking that stuff periodically.

Sharol

 

[ChooksChick]

As I was cleaning up the yard (now that it is cool enough to do so), I noticed that the nylon rope stuff I used to tie down the netting over the run was getting a bit faded. When I went over and really looked at it, it was falling apart. I threaded it through the edges of the netting and then fastened the netting/rope to the upper part of the fence with zip ties 2 years ago. I had a couple of places where the rope had broken, and so I decided to patch it for the time being. No such luck. The stuff fell apart in my hands. Yikes. Two sides of the run adjoin a pasture, and so the threat from those sides is very real.

I bought more (better) rope, and I spent the morning repairing my run. I still have to get another reel of the stuff because Walmart only had 2 50 footers and I needed 3, but at least the 2 sides on the pasture are secure again.

Just an FYI. I should have been checking that stuff periodically.

Sharol

I had a very similar experience! This rope I'd used was clearly not UV protected...and it looked all powdery and toxic in its decomposing form, too. I have switched to using the really thin household wire that runs $.99 at Orschelns for 25 ft. It won't go bad no matter the sun...and if it rust apart it will be a decade or more from now, according to the stuff I used on my fencing when we bought the house in 2001. That's rusty, but still holding firm.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:

I woud be livid if a bird of mine died because of a show!! Holy chrome! I think if I was ever going to do it, I'd first have my birds on a preventive of Baytril and a large plexiglass cage only open to the top with filter paper on top from Horizon!! My word, what a mess!!!



Quote: I'm glad to hear that you love Butch as much as I loved his papa. I hope he clears up quickly for you. I generally pack a bumblefoot with ointment, gauze it, then vetwrap it. I don't open it to look but once a week, and they usually heal up really nicely. We have Honey Locusts, and that works great for predator prevention, but I have to be ultra diligent about thorn cleanup or bumblefoot abounds...

 

[Trish44]

Well after being gone for two days out of town it has taken me awhile to read & catch up on all of the posts since I left. The weather up in Kansas City was just gorgeous for those two days, it was wonderful! We went yesterday to this farm that was supposed to be set up like an 1800s farm & they had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, horses, goats, & sheep there. They had a really interesting brooder that I took a pic of, so when I get it loaded into my computer from my camera I'll share it with you all. We took our two little dogs with us & they were able to walk around the farm with us & of course my Yorkie Satin heard the chicks & wanted to be picked up so she could see them, she just loves watching little chicks. They had these huge piles of pumpkins & different kinds of squash & gourds that I took pics of too. The turkeys they had were Bourbon Red, Bronze, & Royal Palm. It was kind of a nice little diversion for awhile. We then went on to Weston, a quaint little Irish town that I really like, but sadly most of the shops were closed on Monday, so we just wandered around & then ate lunch at the Irish Pub there. My Dr. appt. wasn't until 3:00 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to mess around until time to go to that. We tried a different restaurant down on the Plaza in KC this time, a Brazilian steak house where they just keep bringing you different kinds of steak & meat until you're stuffed & have to be rolled out the door. We had eaten at one like that in Fort Worth, TX one time. We decided we didn't want to do that again. I told my DH that well we had tried it & we don't have to go back again. It was just too much food & for the price you just feel like you have to stuff yourself to get your money's worth. I'm pretty tired today, I never sleep as well when I'm away from home, so it will take me a day or so to get back to normal again.

My chickens were really glad to see me this morning & just exploded out the run door when I opened it, I don't let them free-range when I'm gone. Even with the dogs here I just don't want to chance what could happen to them. I checked on my little sick chickies in the rabbit cage & the one little roo looks some improved today, but the Cream Legbar pullet still looks bad. It's taking forever to get them well. I got the Sulmet in the mail while I was gone, so I started that today, hopefully that will help kick this stuff. This is the 3rd antibiotic I've tried on them. The ones out in the grow-out pen are mostly well, just a few that look to have a little touch still, so I gave them some of the Sulmet today too. The dogs & cats were really glad to see us too last night.

 

[cherwill]

This is going to be long, since there were over 60 posts waiting for me this morning!

My EE roo is a great protector and looks good, too. He has lots of personality and is not at all human aggressive.

He's beautiful!

Cherwill, I think it was you that I was writing to last night and was going to suggest planting honeysuckle along your back fence. It gets really dense and you can train it to grow really tall. I have trained mine to grow about 9 feet tall so far! I just keep tacking up the shoots higher and higher. It takes quite a bit of dedication at first, but then it starts growing out either side and gets REALLY thick. The birds love to get in it. I don't think kids could throw rocks thru it and it would be hard to see thru. Also, mine stayed green last winter.

Cherwill, that honeysuckle sounds like a great solution. I had meant to comment about your issues with the alley but if I don't hit the multi-post thing, I seem to forget everything I've just read by the time I start replying. Do you ever need access to the alley yourself? If not, is the situation conducive to putting up a 6' high wood privacy fence along the back? It would be a little expense up front (although I don't think wood panel fences are that expensive) but would completely block the view of your flock from anyone passing through. It is awful to think about them planning to throw rocks and only stopping because you were there, since you can't be there all the time.

Good idea about the honeysuckle. We don't want to put up a wood fence because the entire back of the yard is chain link, with a walk-in gate at one end and a double, drive-in gate at the other. I think it might cause problems trying to connect those gates? I don't know.
Yesterday we came home from mowing and could hear quite a racket in the back. You know the sound when chickens are worked up about some threat? They were all hollering and had gone into the coop. There were some kids at the end of the alley (we're in the middle of the block), but they don't usually sound the alarm for people. There could have been a cat hanging around, or maybe the kids were doing something that alarmed the chickens. I guess we need to do whatever we're doing quickly. Maybe we could put up a temporary blockade until plants grow big enough.

Another gorgeous roo. I wish we hadn't had to get rid of ours.

Hi. I'm new here and this place is really hoppin'. Just wanted to say HELLO and I'm from SE Kansas, Humboldt area.

We love pictures!

Welcome mommahen! Tell us about yourself.
Just posted a few pictures of my silly peachick. He was sitting on my lap trying to type for me, but then decided to jump up and eat my hair. He's getting huge and very spoiled!
Had to put him down when he turned around and pooped on my legs though!!!

It's all fun and games until some poops on your leg! What a cutie.

Try making a meatloaf, using lean home grown ground beef, some sugar frosted flakes for the filler, just enough milk to moisten the flakes, onion, egg, and a bottle of barbecue sauce mixed in. Save a little BBQ sauce to pour on top before baking.
I also take something like round steak and brown it, then slow cook it in a mixture of cream of mushroom soup, onion, and green pepper.

Processing day was rough, but not as bad as I expected. My friend processed my ducks for me (I couldn't bring myself to help and instead just stood by and cried)

This morning I went out to the chicken yard and with a sinking feeling, did a head count and came up one Muscovy hen short. They can fly pretty well and love to fly the length of the yard but sometimes misjudge and go over the fence. Usually they just waddle around and wait at the gate to be let back in, but this time, I scoured the surrounds and didn't see her. They usually stick together as a group, but as a last resort, I checked inside the coop in case she went in to eat by herself and there she was. No, not at the feeder. Sitting in a nest. WHAT??? She is only 4 months old and I thought at this point they wouldn't lay until next Spring??? A little while later she was back out with the others so I went to check where she had been sitting and no egg. So I guess it was a "dry run", but even so, I didn't think they'd be interested in practicing until they were closer to actually laying so I dunno.....time will tell.

I've wondered about the dry run thing, too. My two younger EEs started sitting in nesting boxes when the two older EEs started laying. That's part of the reason we couldn't decide if one was laying two eggs a day sometimes, or if EEs vary that much in in when they start laying. There's about 2 months difference in the older ones and the younger ones.

I woud be livid if a bird of mine died because of a show!!
So would I. That's really appalling.

 

[averytds]

I don't know why she died. She was fine thru Sunday. The woman who called said she was told she seemed off Monday, they pulled her, put her under a heat lamp (???) and a couple hours later, she was dead. They didn't have any of the vets look at her or do anything else for her since they were already medicating all the water. She could have died from anything. She could have choked on a Pronto Pup stick for all I know.

My kids all know there are risks with showing. We've had birds get parasites and become ill from shows. It's like free-ranging. You do what you can to minimize the risks (treatments/quarantine/etc), but you accept some troubles and losses as part of it. That being said however, I have never before seen the type of complete disregard for standard show protocols that I've witnessed in the last few days. If a lot of birds get sick or die after the fair, I believe they are entirely to blame. Its unheard of to move birds from cages and then place other birds into those cages without fresh bedding and water. This was done repeatedly. I know for a fact they removed a sick bird and without even so much as dumping the sick birds water, they placed a healthy bird into the cage. The judge and I were stunned. He was like "double your quarantine and be ready for anything!" This is basic stuff even my 6 year old knows not to do.

 

[chicken danz]

And maybe you will have some babies to sell that are extras? Maybe???

That is the plan. Babies or eggs. I hope to have a whole flock of breeders. Theo SFHs and some of my other new colors and breeds.
Quote:

This morning I went out to the chicken yard and with a sinking feeling, did a head count and came up one Muscovy hen short. They can fly pretty well and love to fly the length of the yard but sometimes misjudge and go over the fence. Usually they just waddle around and wait at the gate to be let back in, but this time, I scoured the surrounds and didn't see her. They usually stick together as a group, but as a last resort, I checked inside the coop in case she went in to eat by herself and there she was. No, not at the feeder. Sitting in a nest. WHAT??? She is only 4 months old and I thought at this point they wouldn't lay until next Spring??? A little while later she was back out with the others so I went to check where she had been sitting and no egg. So I guess it was a "dry run", but even so, I didn't think they'd be interested in practicing until they were closer to actually laying so I dunno.....time will tell.

Danz, sorry about your BO. Was she very old? Perhaps she had a heart attack or died of some other natural cause?

Nope this gal was maybe 7 months old, big and healthy. The group she is in are my spoiled girls who come to my backporch and eat out of my hands. They are probably the healthiest most pampered adult birds on the place.

Averyts, sorry about your bird. I would be so upset!!!

Trish, sounds like you had a great weekend. Did you go to Leggs at look at peafowl?
Chooks, so good to see you back again. I hope things are slowing down a little for you these days. BTW you don't know any one who raises white orpingtons nearby do you?