grannys gone and done it

Thanks for the reply, Granny! Yes, the puppy pads are on top of the sand. They aren't eating at the puppy pads. I took the stick out when I saw it, I think the kids wanted to play fetch with them or something, lol! The brand of feed is Scratch and Peck, it's an organic soy free feed, and I definitely have the chick version. Their poop isn't runny now of course, and it wasn't bloody or anything. Hopefully it will stay more normal. I was panicking, but I still don't have a clue what caused it! :/

 

Yay for hatching babies!!! So this was in your incubator, right? Was it the one someone built for you or the one you bought? So happy for you!

 

Camping, I think that is awesome that you have so many chickens, lol!! I would love that. You sound like me, we have our own little zoo. 3 cats, an ornery rabbit, 3 dogs (we had 4 until recently for 9 years), 4 kids (ages 7, 5, 3, 17mos), and now chickens. I swear I would be some kind of hoarder if my husband hadn't put his foot down, haha. I take in strays, what can I say.

 

We had crazy storms here today. I know Wishing has mentioned our horrible drought, we have hardly had any rain at all since December or so. We had huge thunderstorms today and even some hail. I had one of the boys home todat, and he went straight out and jumped on the trampoline that was covered in an inch of hail. Had a good old time, but then had some mighty cold feet! Hopefully we'll get some more rain but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Me too! During the summer I'll be overrun with college students. I call them my weekend children.

Believe you me, Mr. Camping is none-too-pleased with the number of chickens. He asks me every day which ones I'm selling. is usually my response.

I do have a "flock thinning" list that has 6-8 hens on it, but one has endeared herself to me by being a good broody. And of the chicks we have, I'd like to raise 12-15 through the summer, then keep the favorites. I'd also like to keep the roos to process. We'll see.

Now I've got two questions of my own:
First, a chick with a problem. One of my SS babies is just a little off. It doesn't stand up as tall as the others, and leans to the right. It also keeps it's head tilted to the right. When it hatched it seemed a little delayed (slept more, didn't bustle around). I have vitamins, electrolytes and probiotics in their water. All the other chicks are fine. Failure to thrive, maybe?

Second, polish. Do the roos grow tail feathers more slowly than pullets, as in other breeds? I'm comparing them to SS roos and cochin chicks.

My 3-week-old SS roo baby just scratched up the bedding and called for the others to come eat. Sweet boy.

 

Most of our rain came through last night. The trees are all lovely and green with the dust and pollen washed away!

We only had about a minute of hail this afternoon, but the last storm we had (in January) gave us quite a bit of hail.
Boys will be boys!!