FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[Wyandotte Blue]

I'm so sorry, Wyandotte Blue! My heart is grieving with you. Though, don't let this discourage you. As unfortunate as it is, recognize this as a good learning experience for you and Martha. For her to have hatched out even just one baby on her first try is a success worth celebrating. I hope you feel better soon!

I do feel better but you always wonder if maybe there was something you should have done. Martha is an awesome Mom her little chick adores her.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Yes, there may have been a chance the chick would have survived if you had assisted, but from my experience more often than not the chick usually will expire at some point. Many I have assisted have made it, especially once the chick starts to zip but if it was just a pip there may have been blood vessels and some unabsorbed yolk. Some have not survived. I look at it as some were not meant to be. I wish you the best with your remaining chick. Do you have a place like a Rural King that sells chicks? Usually they sell at least 6 chicks that you could put with the remaining chick and mom. Most moms will accept chicks but some won't.

 

[koolkyle08]

I am wondering how long you all use a heating lamp on newly hatched chicks while we are having such hot humid weather? Personally I hate them because I worry about the fire hazard ... I have a mud room attached to my house that is around 80-85 degrees that my birds seem happy and healthy in. It seems that this time of year it is too easy to over heat them. What are your thoughts fellow Florida people?

 

[Goosegrrl]

1 ) HAHA, nothing nerdy about The Birds at all!
2 ) I am so so sorry about your geese
3 ) ... I DO learn all sorts and kinds of things here, chicken and non- chicken related!

In my age group (I'm in my 40's) and younger a love of those 'old' movies does tend to qualify one into the nerd category. And I LOVE them!

Thanks for the comments on my geese. I still miss their presence. They were named after Fraggles: Gobo, Mokey, and Wembley.
It cracked me up to no end when one of my husband's friend/co-worker would stop by in full uniform(sheriff's deputy) and be scared of my 'kids'. Gobo, my boy, didn't like strangers much, and the whole uniform thing seemed to set him off even worse. A six foot tall guy in a bullet proof vest and gun belt squealing at me to "Help!" him. I probably let my boy go a little far with his threats, pants grabbing, and floggings at times just because I was laughing too hard to come to the rescue.

I tend to appreciate a thread that allows some leeway in discussion. I prefer casual over strict topic following. Although I admit to have read through the entirety of a number of very lengthy threads on breeding and SOP. What I have learned is that I will never, ever, show a chicken, but that a good understanding off a breed is also useful.

Sorry about your loss. Some coyotes killed a bunch of my birds. They jumped over a 5' fence. I did get a shot off but had bird shot in my shotgun instead of buckshot and I am certain I hit a coyote but didn't kill it. Now all of my pens are covered and have electric wire around them too. So far, haven't lost a bird to a predator since. I have heard critters come in contact with the electricity but once they get a good shock they don't come back to test it out again. I have touched the wire when I forgot to turn it of and it made my heart ship a few beats.

Note to self... Add a hot wire along the top if the back fence.
I really had a feeling that it would be necessary, but so far the only large pasture visitors have been cranes and a few wild turkeys.
I'm not going to test that theory too far. Once my chickens go out to the barn I sure the coyotes will find their way back.
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This thread really moves along at a good pace doesn't it! And for some reason I don't get regular update notifications on it like some other threads.
I have some catching up to do.

My group of spangled oegb are really enjoying their new grow out pen. And their limited time outside of it, mostly under/on/in a nearby shrub. It's their personal playground at the moment. They have a very nice little sand pit excavated and it's just adorable to watch them all crowd into it at once. I'm not quite sure how they accomplish their 'bathing' all smashed together like that, but they sure do seem to love it.

Speaking of which, is anyone here in want or need of a spangled oegb cockerel. Or two... or three. LOL
Yeah, straight run happens. And it's getting to be time for the thinning of the boys.
They are 6 weeks old, and their sex has been very evident for at least a couple of weeks. I ended up with 4 pullets and 5 cockerels, though one late bloomer boy had me crossing my fingers for another pullet until this past week. Even three of them all together won't make a decent pot of soup, so they need to move on. They already spend too much time fussing at each other with their mock fighting. I'll be posting them on craigslist soon, but thought I'd toss out the offer here.

While at my local RuralK yesterday I noticed that among the fresh shipment of chicks that there were several varieties of bantams NOT in a mixed 'assorted' bin. They had Frizzles(three colors) and Silkies(buff only) in one bin, and bantam Brahmas(light and dark) and bantam Ameraucanas(really EEs I guess) in another bin. Easy to identify the EEs among the Brahmas due to clean vs feather feet, and most of the EEs were in shades of BLUE. So, yeah. Now that the oegbs are out in the grow out coop, it's time to raise some more chicks! There was no one around to get them for me at the time, so I'll be making another trip this weekend. It turns out that I just really like bantams so much I'm willing to forego any standard birds. Unless those standards are geese... <3

 

[cmom]

Quote: A electric wire on the top of the fence is ok for horses and cattle, cows, etc. but most predators are diggers and those that go over a fence will be flyers and if they land on a top wire they will not get shocked as they need to be touching the ground to get a shock. The white looking rope along the bottom of my fence is actually poly rope wire. You can get it at Tractor Supply and most feed stores. I have forgotten to turn it off on occasions and touched the wire and it made my heart skip a few beats. I have also heard critters touch the wire and once they know it's there, they don't come back to test it out again. I have netting over the top of all of my pens to keep the hawks and aerial predators from getting into my pens.

 

[cmom]

I am wondering how long you all use a heating lamp on newly hatched chicks while we are having such hot humid weather? Personally I hate them because I worry about the fire hazard ... I have a mud room attached to my house that is around 80-85 degrees that my birds seem happy and healthy in. It seems that this time of year it is too easy to over heat them. What are your thoughts fellow Florida people?

I think that the temperature is fine. I wouldn't worry about an additional heat source.

 

[hbeam21]

I have nesting boxes and two of my three hens chose to lay their eggs on the ground in the outside coop. The hen who used the box, well, she is the one who got to sit on her eggs. I pick the others up.

I'm glad that mine will use the nest boxes. I have six boxes and seven hens.

 

[Wyandotte Blue]

I'm glad that mine will use the nest boxes. I have six boxes and seven hens.

My nesting hen is sitting on a mix of her own eggs and the other hens' eggs - ha ha ha that's what they get for not using the nesting boxes. Seriously, it would be nice if they would follow suit and just jump in a nice clean box, lay their egg and leave. I do not nor did not plan on hatching out but Martha was so darn insistent I let her sit and have one beautiful little chick, the others still have not yet hatched.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I recently moved my birds around because I needed to empty a couple of the coops to move the older chicks into and the younger chicks into others that the older chicks were in and since moving many of the birds around to different coops and pens some want to either lay on the floor of their coop or on the ground. I think they are rebelling from being moved around.

 

[hbeam21]

My nesting hen is sitting on a mix of her own eggs and the other hens' eggs - ha ha ha that's what they get for not using the nesting boxes. Seriously, it would be nice if they would follow suit and just jump in a nice clean box, lay their egg and leave. I do not nor did not plan on hatching out but Martha was so darn insistent I let her sit and have one beautiful little chick, the others still have not yet hatched.

Is Martha the pretty Wyandotte in your photo? She is so pretty and I hope you are lucky enough to get a couple more hens that look like her.