Funny/Sad/Happy stories of your chickens

[MageofMist]

I've noticed many similarities too - like Malays!

but if you think about it, "were you there"? No one ever saw these changes taking place back then, and the fossil record is quite faulty. Not only that, but there aren't any transitional forms in the fossil record either.
Just something to chew on, don't wanna start a big argument

Oh dang

I remember awhile ago, one of my austra whites would lay down and close her eyes. A lot. Scared the life outta me she looked so much like she was sick

Aww, so sad

There's quite a few transitional forms found, but there's also still tons of blank spots in the fossil record. Though the fact that I wasn't there is true, anything could have happened back then. ^^ Raptors, archies and troodonoids are basically transitional forms, retaining the juvenile traits of the larger dinos, eg, bigger eyes, smaller and leaner bodies and narrower snouts, which gave their skulls a more bird-like look. In a way, our modern birds are baby dinosaurs that refused to grow up.


A troodonoid skull.

A modern chicken skull.

Baby rex skull. (edit as I found a better angle)

Now back on topic.

Sounds like you had a sleepy hen. I have one silkie chick that if even a speck of sunlight hits it, the chick will flop over and sunbathe. The chick loves sunbathing so much, I have to move the silly thing into the shade once it starts overheating and panting, as well as blowing on the annoyed chick to cool it off.

Sorry to hear. Bee ones, though? What's that mean? We lost a NHR the other day. Crop problem. Thought it was something else going on until it was too late. I'm chalking it up to a learning experience.

Not the same quail that passed on, as the one in the pic is now an adorable white and black speckled chick, but I call them bees as they look like fuzzy bumble bees. I knew the one that passed away was having issues as despite hatching the same day as 2 others, it wasn't growing as fast as them. While the two yellow/white ones that hatched the same day as it were almost fully feathered, the little bee one still had closed pin feathers on the wings that were only just starting to open and was half the size of the others and still fuzzy on the body.

It still acted and looked healthy despite this, eating and drinking fine and was very active, but then it suddenly passed away without warning and very quickly. I guess it was due to bad genes as all the others are fine and growing well. I still think myself lucky to not have lost any of the silkie chicks. *Taps wood*

 

[AuntJamie]

Sad story:
So Bruce, who was my favorite, bit the tar out of me. I mean got me good, for a chicken. We were working on the run, had the chicks out with us. They were all real interested in what we were doing. My nephew was inside the run digging the trench along the wall. I was outside unwinding the wire mesh to go underground. Bruce was hanging out, watching every little thing I was doing. Talking to me, it seemed like he wanted attention. So I bent down to pet him and he bit me! Broke the skin! I would call my reaction a "moderately aggressive shooing" motion with my foot. I honestly didn't know what else to do. Bruce now gives me my space but I'm still not happy he thought it ok to bite for being touched.
It looks like Bruce won't be making the cull. And to anyone who might recall my little which cockerel is going to make it to be The Rooster saga, unlikely though it sounds, I think Lemon Pepper is now my favorite. He's really calmed down a lot in these last few weeks. They're all about 10 wks old so it's early yet. Like a soap opera, what will happen today.
What I learned: don't touch the cockerels unless you need to. They're not pets. And I'm probably going to find out what Bruce tastes like.

 

[AuntJamie]

There's quite a few transitional forms found, but there's also still tons of blank spots in the fossil record. Though the fact that I wasn't there is true, anything could have happened back then. ^^ Raptors, archies and troodonoids are basically transitional forms, retaining the juvenile traits of the larger dinos, eg, bigger eyes, smaller and leaner bodies and narrower snouts, which gave their skulls a more bird-like look. In a way, our modern birds are baby dinosaurs that refused to grow up. A troodonoid skull. A modern chicken skull. Baby rex skull. (edit as I found a better angle) Now back on topic. Sounds like you had a sleepy hen. I have one silkie chick that if even a speck of sunlight hits it, the chick will flop over and sunbathe. The chick loves sunbathing so much, I have to move the silly thing into the shade once it starts overheating and panting, as well as blowing on the annoyed chick to cool it off. Not the same quail that passed on, as the one in the pic is now an adorable white and black speckled chick, but I call them bees as they look like fuzzy bumble bees. I knew the one that passed away was having issues as despite hatching the same day as 2 others, it wasn't growing as fast as them. While the two yellow/white ones that hatched the same day as it were almost fully feathered, the little bee one still had closed pin feathers on the wings that were only just starting to open and was half the size of the others and still fuzzy on the body. It still acted and looked healthy despite this, eating and drinking fine and was very active, but then it suddenly passed away without warning and very quickly. I guess it was due to bad genes as all the others are fine and growing well. I still think myself lucky to not have lost any of the silkie chicks. *Taps wood*

Failure to thrive?

 

[MageofMist]

Sad story:
So Bruce, who was my favorite, bit the tar out of me. I mean got me good, for a chicken. We were working on the run, had the chicks out with us. They were all real interested in what we were doing. My nephew was inside the run digging the trench along the wall. I was outside unwinding the wire mesh to go underground. Bruce was hanging out, watching every little thing I was doing. Talking to me, it seemed like he wanted attention. So I bent down to pet him and he bit me! Broke the skin! I would call my reaction a "moderately aggressive shooing" motion with my foot. I honestly didn't know what else to do. Bruce now gives me my space but I'm still not happy he thought it ok to bite for being touched.
It looks like Bruce won't be making the cull. And to anyone who might recall my little which cockerel is going to make it to be The Rooster saga, unlikely though it sounds, I think Lemon Pepper is now my favorite. He's really calmed down a lot in these last few weeks. They're all about 10 wks old so it's early yet. Like a soap opera, what will happen today.
What I learned: don't touch the cockerels unless you need to. They're not pets. And I'm probably going to find out what Bruce tastes like.

Roosters can be quite feisty, but as long as he respects your space and you respect his, he should be fine unless he starts jumping at you even when keeping a respectful distance. My rooster is very docile and friendly, taking treats from me when I offer them and occasionally letting me pet him without walking away, but if his hen shows any signs of discomfort around me when I am handling her, or if she flaps her wings to get her balance when climbing onto my arm, he will either jump me or peck me. I am fine with this as it is in his nature to defend his mate and he quickly settles back down when he realizes I am not a threat and that his attacks don't phase me either.

They have a LOT of hormones surging through them, which they themselves find hard to control at times. The rooster seems genuinely apologetic towards me after an 'episode' as I call it, quietly clucking to me and letting me pet him after he calmed down. The hen, who was cuddling me... Doesn't seem to care much and just continues cuddling and begging for treats even when I am being attacked, it is rather humorous in a way. I know the damage those beaks can do though, I was once pecked hard by a broody hen at school when collecting the eggs from under her (they had no roosters there.) It didn't break the skin luckily, but I had a large bruise on my hand for weeks.

Failure to thrive?

Seems like it sadly, as I saw nothing wrong with the chick physically other than it's slow growth.

 

[AuntJamie]

Roosters can be quite feisty, but as long as he respects your space and you respect his, he should be fine unless he starts jumping at you even when keeping a respectful distance. My rooster is very docile and friendly, taking treats from me when I offer them and occasionally letting me pet him without walking away, but if his hen shows any signs of discomfort around me when I am handling her, or if she flaps her wings to get her balance when climbing onto my arm, he will either jump me or peck me. I am fine with this as it is in his nature to defend his mate and he quickly settles back down when he realizes I am not a threat and that his attacks don't phase me either.

They have a LOT of hormones surging through them, which they themselves find hard to control at times. The rooster seems genuinely apologetic towards me after an 'episode' as I call it, quietly clucking to me and letting me pet him after he calmed down. The hen, who was cuddling me... Doesn't seem to care much and just continues cuddling and begging for treats even when I am being attacked, it is rather humorous in a way. I know the damage those beaks can do though, I was once pecked hard by a broody hen at school when collecting the eggs from under her (they had no roosters there.) It didn't break the skin luckily, but I had a large bruise on my hand for weeks.


Seems like it sadly, as I saw nothing wrong with the chick physically other than it's slow growth.

Talk about feisty, I had a Leghorn rooster I can't say his name here because it's inappropriate for kids to hear. I fought him every day for far too long. He eventually got culled. I think his problem was he was lowest in the pecking order, so bad for him I had to separate him to the goats enclosure. That's when the trouble started between he and I. I'm not going to fight a rooster like that again and I have a 4 yr old so he's got to mind his manners. It may already be too late for Bruce. Any humane aggression will not be tolerated, if it means we have no rooster. We have 4 other cockerels to choose from. I do hope we get a good one out of the lot. We have 3 NHRs, Sir Philip, Alan and Bruce. Then the 2 BSLs, Lemon Pepper and Beta.
Anyway, I hear there's nothing can be done for failure to thrive. At least the others are doing well.

 

[MageofMist]

Talk about feisty, I had a Leghorn rooster I can't say his name here because it's inappropriate for kids to hear. I fought him every day for far too long. He eventually got culled. I think his problem was he was lowest in the pecking order, so bad for him I had to separate him to the goats enclosure. That's when the trouble started between he and I. I'm not going to fight a rooster like that again and I have a 4 yr old so he's got to mind his manners. It may already be too late for Bruce. Any humane aggression will not be tolerated, if it means we have no rooster. We have 4 other cockerels to choose from. I do hope we get a good one out of the lot. We have 3 NHRs, Sir Philip, Alan and Bruce. Then the 2 BSLs, Lemon Pepper and Beta.
Anyway, I hear there's nothing can be done for failure to thrive. At least the others are doing well.

Ah, I can understand now with you having a young kid, last thing you want is a rooster getting aggro and seriously injuring the child. Hopefully you get a good calm roo out of the four.
As for he failure to thrive thing, that is sadly true. I did try resuscitating it but had no luck, and rigamortis quickly set in.

On a lighter note, the adult silkies are starting to get along better with the silkie chicks, the hen was much more tolerant around them today and didn't peck at them as much, and when I was eating a sandwich on the yard, I was basically swarmed. Thankfully my cat was a good bodyguard, laying next to me and sleepily swatted the adult silkies away from me when they got too close, allowing me time to toss some bits of the sandwich to them. Both the adults and chicks were eating their treat peacefully, well, as peacefully as chicks can with a lot of running and chasing one-another while the adults watched in confusion. The rooster then picked a bit of bread up and dropped it, right next to one of the chicks, which was very sweet and not something I expected since last time I let him get close to them, he picked one up by the neck fluff and tried to run off with it.

The hen and chicks also seem to have made a game of some kind out of the pecking thing, when she pecks at one of the chicks, they run off, before then running back fluttering their wings and pecking at her face when she leans down to peck them again. And... She just takes it, letting them peck at her 2 to 3 times before bonking them on the head again making them run off again. When she does peck at them, it is because they instigate it now by running and fluttering at her, and after they run off she returns to doing whatever she was doing before that. It is quite amusing to watch and the chicks have never suffered any injuries from it, and the rooster has some rather amusing reactions to it by making velociraptor sounds when he sees it happening, as if scolding the chicks for bothering his mate.

 

[PeepersMama]

There's quite a few transitional forms found, but there's also still tons of blank spots in the fossil record. Though the fact that I wasn't there is true, anything could have happened back then. ^^ Raptors, archies and troodonoids are basically transitional forms, retaining the juvenile traits of the larger dinos, eg, bigger eyes, smaller and leaner bodies and narrower snouts, which gave their skulls a more bird-like look. In a way, our modern birds are baby dinosaurs that refused to grow up. A troodonoid skull. A modern chicken skull. Baby rex skull. (edit as I found a better angle) Now back on topic. Sounds like you had a sleepy hen. I have one silkie chick that if even a speck of sunlight hits it, the chick will flop over and sunbathe. The chick loves sunbathing so much, I have to move the silly thing into the shade once it starts overheating and panting, as well as blowing on the annoyed chick to cool it off. Not the same quail that passed on, as the one in the pic is now an adorable white and black speckled chick, but I call them bees as they look like fuzzy bumble bees. I knew the one that passed away was having issues as despite hatching the same day as 2 others, it wasn't growing as fast as them. While the two yellow/white ones that hatched the same day as it were almost fully feathered, the little bee one still had closed pin feathers on the wings that were only just starting to open and was half the size of the others and still fuzzy on the body. It still acted and looked healthy despite this, eating and drinking fine and was very active, but then it suddenly passed away without warning and very quickly. I guess it was due to bad genes as all the others are fine and growing well. I still think myself lucky to not have lost any of the silkie chicks. *Taps wood*

XD I wanna reply to that so bad, but if I do this'll go on forever Hahaha!!! My babies like to stick theirs heads oin the way-too-low heatlamp, and then they just fall over like "heeeeeeat" its funny - until someone jumps on it and knocks it over

Sad story: So Bruce, who was my favorite, bit the tar out of me. I mean got me good, for a chicken. We were working on the run, had the chicks out with us. They were all real interested in what we were doing. My nephew was inside the run digging the trench along the wall. I was outside unwinding the wire mesh to go underground. Bruce was hanging out, watching every little thing I was doing. Talking to me, it seemed like he wanted attention. So I bent down to pet him and he bit me! Broke the skin! I would call my reaction a "moderately aggressive shooing" motion with my foot. I honestly didn't know what else to do. Bruce now gives me my space but I'm still not happy he thought it ok to bite for being touched. It looks like Bruce won't be making the cull. And to anyone who might recall my little which cockerel is going to make it to be The Rooster saga, unlikely though it sounds, I think Lemon Pepper is now my favorite. He's really calmed down a lot in these last few weeks. They're all about 10 wks old so it's early yet. Like a soap opera, what will happen today. What I learned: don't touch the cockerels unless you need to. They're not pets. And I'm probably going to find out what Bruce tastes like.

Aw no! that's too bad. We had a rir like that once. He hated me but I was the only one in our family who didn't flee in terror when they saw him "I miss his stupidity" is what I say when people ask "was it sad?" Yes, once a roo hits manhood, I adopt a "hands off" policy. Let's them figure things out on their own, and God forbid I embarrass them in front of their girls! I just try to make sure that they're comfortable being held before they get big.

 

[AuntJamie]

I just feel so darn bad. I'll just say it. I kicked him. That implies I punted him across the yard but that's not how it went down. You see, my experiences with chickens starts at my best friends grandparents house when I was young. Those roosters were mean and her Grandpa kicked them. I don't like the idea of doing this but apparently when put on the spot I'll kick a rooster, too...Just not field goal style. What else can be done in the heat of the moment to show the bird you won't accept behavior like being bitten? I do the chasing stuff with my bedding rake and also with a supple branch but this was a different situation in need of immediate recourse. I suppose it wasn't a big deal since I didn't kick hard hard enough to hurt him, just took him off guard and moved him a few feet. I poked around and it seems a lot of people kick aggressive roosters. I think I can stand a one kick rule. If I have to kick you once, I have to eat you.

 

[AuntJamie]

And PeepersMama, your avatar is hilarious! I thtarted thpeaking with a lithp when I read it.

 

[PeepersMama]

And PeepersMama, your avatar is hilarious! I thtarted thpeaking with a lithp when I read it.

XDthanks! Although know that the fourth and fifth - TODAY IS DERBY DAY I NEED A RACEHORSE AVY!!!!!!!!!!