Consolidated Kansas

[Joe Jordan]

Hmm, good info. I'm new at the duck thing. They seemed to be starting to pant when their chick counterparts were competing for the hot spot of the brooder. I may need to accommodate them better with their own space here very soon!

I like the SSS reference. I too was wondering about what that meant. Though I don't like the idea of it, I will if I am forced to protect my flock.

 

[chicken danz]

A couple of my Buff Orpington hens have taken to the ducklings like mothers. I'd leave them outside with the Buffs overnight but the ducklings haven't yet any feathers and I'm afraid it would get too cold for them in the coming week ahead. Just a couple weeks old right now but more than half the size of the Buffs. Anyone near me have success with intermingling their birds?

Yep that is right. Ducks need heat for about three weeks and probably as warm as it has been not much of that. They only thing you need to worry about with ducks is that they don't get wet and chill. They are notorious for finding a way to get wet so when they are young they need some place to warm up. If they have bonded to the chickens they will stay with the chickens. All of my birds except the exotics run free together and all is fine. If the Buffs are mothering them back, by letting them snuggle up to them they should be fine. I think I saw at the end of the week we might get frost. A simple light bulb would be plenty if you could hang one. I have some red 25 wt party lights I use for low heat,but you could use about anything that puts out heat.
Originally Posted by mommahen10
Poor little chicks. They really had some developmental issues. The crooked chick probably needs to be euthanized. I'm not good at doing things like that myself. If I can keep a chick alive with a problem I will. I just don't let them become a breeder.

Well I went out and fed and watered and took my time. I didn't focus on getting anything else at all done. I really have tons to do inside but it is such a beautiful mild day out there I took the opportunity to just enjoy my birds. I forget to do that sometimes. So I looked like some crazy old lady out there talking to the birds and laughing at them. It reminded me why I got them in the first place. Sometimes I let the idea of how many eggs I produce,what is hatching, and how much housing I need to finish, cloud just the plain ole enjoyment the birds give me. I get so wound up worrying about sickness or whatever that I haven't been taking the time to just watch them. I delivered some garden produce and had a blast. The turkeys love the peppers but are afraid of the watermelon. The geese who can be very picky went nuts over the watermelon so I ended up giving them two of them. The peacocks love the melon and the peppers. I could see if they ran loose in a garden they could eat it up pretty easily. The chickens and ducks are picking through my pile of plants I pulled up yesterday.
It's just a really great day to be alive. If fall was like this most of the time it could be one of my favorite seasons. I am usually so busy in the fall that I don't take the time to stop and enjoy it.

 

[HEChicken]

I like the SSS reference. I too was wondering about what that meant. Though I don't like the idea of it, I will if I am forced to protect my flock.

Yup. For me it would come up more if it were a domestic dog. If it is a wild predator, I'm going to shoot, life-cycle-in-a-bucket and talk about it. But we have several neighbor dogs that routinely come onto our property. So far they haven't looked the slightest bit interested in my chicken yard - really never go near it, which is strange - but I watch them pretty closely and I already told DH that in the event they do one day show an interest, I will SSS, and that will be the end of it.

Well, I am feeling pretty dumb but also relieved tonight. Last week I went and bought two bags of feed. I remembered carrying one down to the coop, opening it and putting it in the feed bin, but was pretty sure I never carried the second one down. I was getting low on feed so went to get the second and...couldn't find it anywhere. I started thinking I must have carried both bags down already and was feeling really dismayed that they had gone through TWO bags of feed in such a short time. While looking for the second bag, I tripped over a bag of dog food, so carried it around and dumped it in the dog feed bin. Duh. It was still hours after that that I remembered I didn't buy two bags of chicken feed. The two bags of feed I bought were chicken feed and dog feed. Dumbass. But at least the flock didn't go through two bags of feed in the last week....

I am also starting to be concerned that Ned Kelly's problem is something unique to his situation. If y'all recall, I wasn't happy when I got him home to find he had a trimmed beak, mainly because that is something I don't believe in doing to a bird. But it was done, and from all I have read, they can live just fine with the beak trimmed. Well, a day or two ago I noticed one side of his trimmed beak looked a little green and figured he had been hammering the greens pretty hard - he does forage a LOT and I've sometimes wondered how he nips off bits of greens with the trimmed beak. Of course, he keeps me a respectable distance away at all times so I couldn't check it out more closely. Well, the green patch is still there and now I'm concerned it is gangrene. He almost always goes to sleep on my chunnel and that is the only time I can handle him. After dark I grab him off the chunnel and carry him in to the roost. Tonight I'm will take my flashlight and examine his beak closely while I'm there. So that I can be prepared, does anyone have suggestions for what I should spray on it? I have Blu-Kote, or I could use any other household product like Peroxide to clean it. I could also put on Triple Antibiotic. Since he won't be eating overnight it has a good chance of staying on long enough to penetrate. Any suggestions for which of those options sounds best and/or others that are better?

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Many Old Timers say to set eggs, castrate animals, fish, ween young, plant garden etc. by the moon, they use the farmers almanac. My grandfather used the farmers almanac, weather predictions and experience to do most everything on the farm. Do any of you use the farmers almanac?

 

[ChicknBaron]

We go back to the city council meeting tonight to see if the commitee has come to a decision! I hope it turns out well!

 

[chicken danz]

HeChicken the first thing I would do is flush that beak over and over. Whether it be with water or peroxide or anything else you have. You have got to get any infection you can out of there. I If you do decide it is gangrene you would need to cut out that portion of his beak to get rid of the infection and then use whatever you can to flush it over and over again. Next I would use the blue kote simply because it will spray and get in deeper. If you do figure out it is an infection you need to get him on some broad spectrum antibiotics ASAP. Again this would be one for Josie to answer. And it would be something you would have to do with injections. If it is an infection but not gangene you could treat with any broad spectrum drug like a sulfa drug.
I hope it is just discolored from something he ate. I think gangrene would be oozing and would be spreading rather quickly.
What is with the turkeys getting sick anyway?
I've noticed all of mine are spending more time laying around and I think that it is just the weather. I've checked them thoroughly and they all appear to be healthy.
I went and loaded one of the bins in the chipmunk cage with potting soil. It took one of them about 2 minutes to dig into it. It was a little damp but I think they like it anyway.
Chickbaron good luck this evening!!!
KansasPrairie I used to do everything by the almanac. I quit mostly because it got too expensive and my results weren't always good. I do check them for forecasts and such though. I do believe that there is a correlation between astronomy and how the earth functions though which is exactly what the almanac is based on.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Well I went out and fed and watered and took my time. I didn't focus on getting anything else at all done. I really have tons to do inside but it is such a beautiful mild day out there I took the opportunity to just enjoy my birds. I forget to do that sometimes. So I looked like some crazy old lady out there talking to the birds and laughing at them. It reminded me why I got them in the first place. Sometimes I let the idea of how many eggs I produce,what is hatching, and how much housing I need to finish, cloud just the plain ole enjoyment the birds give me. I get so wound up worrying about sickness or whatever that I haven't been taking the time to just watch them. I delivered some garden produce and had a blast. The turkeys love the peppers but are afraid of the watermelon. The geese who can be very picky went nuts over the watermelon so I ended up giving them two of them. The peacocks love the melon and the peppers. I could see if they ran loose in a garden they could eat it up pretty easily. The chickens and ducks are picking through my pile of plants I pulled up yesterday.
It's just a really great day to be alive. If fall was like this most of the time it could be one of my favorite seasons. I am usually so busy in the fall that I don't take the time to stop and enjoy it.

I agree. I took time today to play with my chicks and the little ones were out from 9 am to 6pm they loved it. I gave treats out too and got lots of thank you's for it too.

 

[Joe Jordan]

We go back to the city council meeting tonight to see if the commitee has come to a decision! I hope it turns out well!

When you get a chance, post about the decision. Small town politics can be interesting.

I see you're from Marysville, sorry about your football team this year.

They'll likely be back on top next year!

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks Danz. I am about to head out and grab him. I'll let you know what I find out - hopefully it was just green from something he ate. I'm relieved to hear yours are laying about a lot. He really doesn't seem sick - eating and drinking just fine, calling to Madge, responding when she calls, and is moving around. I just got worried that he was laying around so much, and then I noticed the beak. This evening I was out there with them for the past hour and although he doesn't let me get close, what I could see didn't look nearly as green as it had earlier so I'm leaning towards it just being stained from the greens he's been eating. I too would have expected it to ooze, and I know it would smell bad. I'm just not sure I'm close enough to smell it if its bad. I'll find out in a minute...

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Gangrene puts off a terrible smell!!


Ooops guess you posted when I was typing.