d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[K Epp]

I saw all that. When he started i thought "Oh No!". Then he said incubator was 25 years old. He had used it for years. Then ask $500 for it. Even if it was the right place thats insane.

I'm so sorry Maura isn't improving.

 

[speckledhen]

I saw all that. When he started i thought "Oh No!". Then he said incubator was 25 years old. He had used it for years. Then ask $500 for it. Even if it was the right place thats insane.

I'm so sorry Maura isn't improving.

Thank you. I hate to lose her, but I think it's something no one can fix. Some things with chickens just aren't fixable.

Yeah, if he only knew that those birds get scrambled eggs with minced garlic, cayenne pepper, plain yogurt and olive oil periodically anyway and they STILL don't lay; he'd say I was a liar. I give them all that to boost their immune systems, not for laying. It does NOT make them lay, for cripes sake. If it did, I'd have plenty of eggs to sell from the D'Anvers and all the other groups as well. Maura's been getting it because she wasn't eating well and she will eat that concoction so that whole group gets it right now. They did just this morning.

 

[K Epp]

My young pairs don't lay as Frequently as the d'Uccle.

 

[speckledhen]

Karen, I'm going to remove that ad from the yard sale online. I got called a few names for trying to educate, but hey, being a moderator on BYC for five years, I've been called much worse, LOL. Oh, well, I got his number right away from his posts and that little tirade didn't surprise me in the least. So, when my ad is gone, you should put up a fresh one for yourself. And watch out for nasties, LOL! I'd rather sell to BYC people, generally, because at least most of them do some reading here and are slightly better educated in chicken management than some of the locals around us.

One of the 4 week old mille males stood up to Aubrey today! I let the bantams out to free range. Somehow, they all ended up behind their coop and Aimee skirted around and ended up inside their pen. When Aubrey approached her and her chicks dustbathing, he leaned down to peer at the babies. The little guy stared him down and then when Aubrey didn't leave, that little whippersnapper got up and charged him! Aubrey flared all up and I rescued the tyke before dad (or granddad, not sure which Aubrey is) lost his patience with that gutsy little guy. It reminded me of when two week old Rex, my Del x BR, flogged his daddy, Isaac, in the face three or four times before Ladyhawk scooped him up. That was one of those Foghorn Leghorn, "Boy, I say now, boy!" moments.

 

[K Epp]

Rare Chicken Breeds Sell/Swap & Bitter Creek Animal Sale and Swap. Are two of the pages on there I like. All the various yard sale pages seem to be more trouble than they are worth. They don't want to pay your price or ask you to deliver. When you get eggs try listing them on there.

 

[speckledhen]

Rare Chicken Breeds Sell/Swap & Bitter Creek Animal Sale and Swap. Are two of the pages on there I like. All the various yard sale pages seem to be more trouble than they are worth. They don't want to pay your price or ask you to deliver. When you get eggs try listing them on there.

Thanks, Karen, will check into those.

 

[SchipAlong]

I got some cute pictures of the girls.







They've been laying up a storm! I normally get one egg a day between the two of them, followed by two eggs in one day, then a break where I won't get any for a day or two. Lately there's been no break after the double egg days, and I've even had double egg days multiple times a week. I guess they're making up for the huge break they took after they went on a broody strike.

Speaking of the broody strike, this is what Zeste did at first when she was evicted from the nest:


It's like she melted into a chicken puddle lol.

 

[speckledhen]

Love the chicken puddles!


Maura's crop has almost quit working entirely, which means a system shutdown is in progress. Just remember that the crop is a barometer of what's happening in the body, not necessarily the primary issue. It is the main visible sign we have that something is really wrong. She is barely eating and they get no fibrous materials so it's not a crop issue, per se.

I brought her inside and held her for a long time under the nice fan. She snoozed in my lap and we massaged her crop to try to get the doughy mass to go through to provide some nutrition. The mass on her back/side/rear seems to have shrunk somewhat so perhaps there was some fluid/infection that the Cipro did knock out but the main cause of it seems to be something completely out of my control. I don't think it's a feather follicle issue. We will know when we do the necropsy.

 

[speckledhen]

Maura is gone. My necropsy found an oil gland tumor, probably from a Vitamin A deficiency she gave herself by eating only the Cutting Edge or Knockout grain mix I throw to them in the morning and sometimes at other odd times for different reasons. She was always one to eat that like it was crack cocaine so she must have eaten it almost to the exclusion of her layer pellets. A mostly seed diet can give birds a vitamin A deficiency, so it does seem to make sense. There was only one teensy pocket of solid cheesy yellow infection about the size of the end of a pencil eraser so the strong antibiotic did kick out most all the infection that came with this. The area was about half the size it started out to be, so originally, it was full of infection/fluid. At her death, only the actual tumor was left.

Will change that in the future, for sure, or add vitamin supplements more often for that group. I think that with bantams this small, everything is heightened, made worse, by their diminutive size. I've never had any issues like this in years past so it could have just been that she was more prone to that deficiency than the others. Thought I'd post for the edification of everyone else here. Learned something new, yet again.

 

[OR4-hmom]

So sorry for your loss. Losing any of them is hard for me, and those we take even closer to heart is rough.

I also toss whole grain treats to the girls, I do have some that would try to eat only the scratch but with my erratic schedule they fall back to the 21% crumble I feed my bantams.

Thank you for sharing your findings.