Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Trish and Karen, you both might get a laugh out of this seeing as how you have "met" my little hen that I call my "game hen". To everyone else, I have this little hen that DD picked out of the assorted straight run bantam bin this spring. Going by the list of possible breeds, I knew she wasn't a silkie, cochin or whatever else was in the bin. The only thing that fit was "English Game" but she doesn't even look like an English Game hen in body type. Nevertheless, I've always called her the game hen. She is lavender/white and looks so much like a pigeon, especially before her comb developed, that DH, when visiting the coop one day, thought I had introduced a new species behind his back!

She is literally the size of a 6-week-old chick - when my current chicks were 6 weeks old they really were the exact same size and now, at 8 weeks, they are much larger than she is. Nevertheless her position in the flock seems to be based on age rather than size and she will back down hens much larger than she is when she puts her foot down.

So the reason you will get a kick out of this? She is playing at being broody! She lays eggs a little larger than a Coturnix Quail egg, and honestly, although the eggs are tiny, when I look at them proportionately to her body size, they look pretty darn big to me. I noticed yesterday she was in the nest mid-afternoon and figured she was laying her egg. Later I saw her at the feeder but shortly after that I went to collect the eggs and there she was back in the nest. I didn't think anything of that, figuring she hadn't finished the job the first time and had been taking a break before going back to lay her egg. But when I closed everyone up for the night last night, there she was still in the nest. I didn't check to see where she slept last night but first thing this morning....yup....still in the nest. She's so tiny she couldn't cover more than 2-3 eggs. I don't particularly want to hatch her own eggs as I really don't need more pigeon sized chickens around this place. So I guess if she's still serious throughout the day today and night, I'll put a couple of other eggs under her. Didn't need more chicks but I can't bear to tell her "no" either. Aloha eggs. That's what I'm gonna do. Put a couple of my Aloha eggs under her!

Anyway, I had to laugh at the thought of her raising chicks. By the time they're 6 weeks old they'll be the same size she is. It will be interesting to see....

 

[maidenwolfx80]

HEChicken-- I love my bantams. I plan on getting a golden sebrite, as soon as I can find a hen, for my head alpha golden sebrite roo. Yea even the turkeys listen to him its awesome. I have a few others that are just wonderful. I have all my egg layers,, for now, so now I am trying to fin d anyone in the area that has bantams for sale.

So the first chick to get sick is now up and active and back on the same level as everyone else. Thank you so much Chicken Danz and others, for the vit E advice. Should I keep giving it for awhile or should I stop now? The second chick is just not seeing very well, I feel terrible for her. She will find food and water fine, but isnt as active as the others I noticed it when I took treats to them and she came to get the hard boiled egg and would peck and miss by a hair then tur her head to look at it and try again. I am giving her vit/min not sure if I can do anything for her.
The turkey is still limping I am concerned for her. She stands at my front door calling softly for me all day and when I go out she just wants to sit in my lap. She is acting fine other than the limping, she eats vigorously and drinks water. I dont know how ong to give her meds in hope that it is going to heal. and how much or how often.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Tweety, how are you feeling?

Not too great this week, thanks for asking. I just got out of the hospital again. Was in there since Tuesday night. Couldn't keep any food down then the pain pills they had me on gave me issues with urinary retention ( I couldn't go without a cath) - I know, TMI, but it was the worse thing I've ever had done. I don't ever want to do that again!!!!

I have a question for everyone. While I was in the hospital, DH had to scare a possum out of the inner coop run during the night. The birds were locked up inside their sleeping coop, but if they hasn't been, would a possum have eaten them? Do possums eat chickens? I'm not sure If i need to consider this a serious threat or not..

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Tweety- A possum certainly can and will eat a chicken. They are opportunity feeders so if it is something they can catch they will eat. Maybe it is time for some possum proofing

 

[tweetysvoice]

Yeah, He chased it out with a hose and saw how it got in, so we'll be fixing that spot up right away. I'm going to get a live trap as well today so we can catch it and dispose of it.
Thanks for the quick response. I had a feeling that it wasn't just in there for the eggs.. sigh...

 

[HEChicken]

Tweety- A possum certainly can and will eat a chicken. They are opportunity feeders so if it is something they can catch they will eat. Maybe it is time for some possum proofing

x2. They are omnivores so will eat whatever is available. Trish44 lost most of her first batch of guineas to a possum.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Good luck tweety I hope you get it fixed. Take it easy and rest though, no worrying and stressing you need to get better. Goddess Bless and heal quickly.

 

[lizzyGSR]

lizzy, no here is the vent I'm talking about. I actually found some on eBay, but you can do a search for them & see where the cheapest place is to get them: http://mobilehomepartsstore.com/Mer...581_a_7c3429&gclid=COjdkMuo-rICFQKRPAodpy0A7Q. They work very well & open & close as needed. As I said I haven't had any problem with getting rain in through them. They're very easy to install too, that was a plus. You can't tell by looking at that picture, but behind that screen are the louvers that open & close. Here is one I found on eBay & they have them in different colors too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Autom...862?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4608351776

Those are way too big for the spaces I have, unless I replace a window with one of them... I went ahead and bought the soffit vents. I think I'll try them on the East and West sides and look into possibly putting some on the back (North) side.

When was the last time you changed the straw? Do you do the deep bedding method? I do, with pine shavings, and I've found that the strongest smells happen shortly after we've changed the bedding. It seems like it takes a week or so to reach a balance where there's no strong smell of shavings or chicken poo. The only time I smell anything is shortly after changing the bedding or when it's time to change the bedding (and often the decision to do that is based on the amount of poo rather than smell).

I change the straw every couple of weeks, as needed. I just changed it yesterday morning. No, I do not do the deep bedding method. I'm not sure that that would work very well with straw (and ducks who don't turn things over as well as chickens do).

This morning, I noticed that there was less smell than there had been recently. I'm not sure if it was because I changed the bedding or if it was because of the breeze we had last night.

I know it is time to change the bedding by the amount of poo as well.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I, too, shop at Sam's, even though the closest Sam's is 3-4 hours' drive away. If we take a bit of a detour, we can go to one on our way to my parents' house. I buy chunk and shredded cheese, chocolate chips, peanut butter, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, dishwasher detergent, and occasionally some fruit. I agree that you do have to be careful of what you buy because not everything is a good buy.

I shop at Dillons whenever I can, but the closest Dillon's is 45 minutes away, so I try to plan a trip once a month, but that doesn't always happen when things get busy. Wal-Mart is the only "grocery" store we have within 30 minutes drive. There's a grocery store about 35 minutes away, but I believe they're closing down... I've heard several (different) rumors with reasons as to why, but I don't know which one is correct. I don't like buying groceries from Wal-Mart. I'll go to Dollar General if they have what I need, and will only buy groceries from Wal-Mart when I must. The only thing I voluntarily buy from Wal-Mart is milk. WM price-matches SAfeway's price (Safeway is about an hour away in the opposite direction as Dillons), so I can get milk for $2/gallon if I keep an eye on Safeway's sale ads.

I can only wish that there were an Aldi's close by. I used to go to Aldi's all the time when I lived in Manhattan. I found the prices on fresh fruit and produce at Aldi's to be really good.

 

[mommahen10]

*****please advise*****

The night before last I candled eggs and had nearly 50 developing. Yesterday I turned the eggs as usual at about 1pm. When I went back to turn them before bed, 10pm, the incubator was at 78 degrees. I found the plug hanging in the outlet so it wasn't getting any juice. The max amount of time it was this low was about 9 hours, it probably wasn't that long becuase it was really hot in the kitchen while I was cooking about 5pm, the incubator is on a counter that I don't use for cooking, on the back wall of the kitchen. I went ahead and turned them and turned it back on. I was too upset to even get online to ask. Is there any chance that these will make it? I feel bad just tossing them withouth knowing. I took notes when I candled, I have each egg numbered and I marked on my paper which ones I saw movement which was probably the heartbeat. If I go back to those eggs and don't see that anymore would it be safe to assume they are done? If I see movement on even 1 would go ahead and run them through. They are at about 12-13 days now. I will duct tape the plug to the wall so it won't ever happen again. Thanks everyone for your input.