- Apr 12, 2011
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Good Morning!
So glad to have come across this site while Googling for how to care for a new chick with splayed legs. (Masking tape around legs making a "H" for 36 hours took care of the problem).
We (Philip, my husband of 31 years and I) had 5 of 7 eggs hatch two weeks ago in an incubator hubby bought me for Christmas. I bought 4 'white crested black' Polish chicks last week to add some new blood to my assorted brood. They're all still in their brooder here in the living room. The brooder is a two story birdcage laying on it's side with cardboard on the floor side, coming up the sides a few inches. After the first week we put wood chips in the cage on top of paper towels which keeps any smell out and is great for always giving the cage a clean look. A red heat light on top keeps them warm.
For some reason our hens (chicken and guinea) don't get broody until late in the summer and with our climate that's too late. We lost the whole lot of guinea eggs the hens were accumulating last year because of an early cold spell killing all the eggs. Not one out of more then 30 eggs hatched. When the guineas start laying again we're taking seven and using the incubator. Our guinea populating has gone from thirteen to four since last fall. A hard year for them! I think there's only one guinea hen out of the four. Hopefully we'll be able to get eggs!
We started with Guinea's maybe 7-8 years ago to help with the grasshoppers. Got chickens a year later and they're much better eating the jumpers. My neighbors used to have NO grasshoppers... we had them all. Now it's the other way around! We had no idea how entertaining they would be or we'd have gotten them years earlier.
Not sure exactly how many chickens we have now.. with foxes, hawks (and I've seen a Bald Eagle looking around) catching one from time to time and they are free ranging so the count always seems to vary but it's around 1 1/2 dozen. Besides assorted chickens we have a black duck, a goose (which NO critter messes with) two cats, two dogs, and three burros.
I'm sure I'll be visiting this forum often to read others experiences and find information. I was interested to find out that it wasn't uncommon that hens will kill other chicks. I've had a terrible time with this.. Our first group of new babies were taken over by one incredibly possessive hen that laid claim to all, be they chicks, keets, or baby ducks. Once they were out of the boxes and on the floor they were HERS!
It seems the favorites and best are always the ones becoming meals for someone else.
I finally accepted that I needed to keep the mom and babies to themselves for a good while and put them in our first (smaller) coop for several months. I now have the last two chickens from last years new babies that still sleep in the old coop that will have to be taken up to the big coop one night to free up the little place for the newest chicks once they're larger.
Is it just me or do more roosters seem to hatch then hens???
I won't kill a rooster just because he isn't a hen unless he's mean to other birds but it is expensive to feed so many roosters. I just chalk it up to "entertainment".
Need to close for now.. the day is getting by me! Just wanted to introduce myself and send good wishes to all the forum members!
Donna
So glad to have come across this site while Googling for how to care for a new chick with splayed legs. (Masking tape around legs making a "H" for 36 hours took care of the problem).
We (Philip, my husband of 31 years and I) had 5 of 7 eggs hatch two weeks ago in an incubator hubby bought me for Christmas. I bought 4 'white crested black' Polish chicks last week to add some new blood to my assorted brood. They're all still in their brooder here in the living room. The brooder is a two story birdcage laying on it's side with cardboard on the floor side, coming up the sides a few inches. After the first week we put wood chips in the cage on top of paper towels which keeps any smell out and is great for always giving the cage a clean look. A red heat light on top keeps them warm.
For some reason our hens (chicken and guinea) don't get broody until late in the summer and with our climate that's too late. We lost the whole lot of guinea eggs the hens were accumulating last year because of an early cold spell killing all the eggs. Not one out of more then 30 eggs hatched. When the guineas start laying again we're taking seven and using the incubator. Our guinea populating has gone from thirteen to four since last fall. A hard year for them! I think there's only one guinea hen out of the four. Hopefully we'll be able to get eggs!
We started with Guinea's maybe 7-8 years ago to help with the grasshoppers. Got chickens a year later and they're much better eating the jumpers. My neighbors used to have NO grasshoppers... we had them all. Now it's the other way around! We had no idea how entertaining they would be or we'd have gotten them years earlier.
Not sure exactly how many chickens we have now.. with foxes, hawks (and I've seen a Bald Eagle looking around) catching one from time to time and they are free ranging so the count always seems to vary but it's around 1 1/2 dozen. Besides assorted chickens we have a black duck, a goose (which NO critter messes with) two cats, two dogs, and three burros.
I'm sure I'll be visiting this forum often to read others experiences and find information. I was interested to find out that it wasn't uncommon that hens will kill other chicks. I've had a terrible time with this.. Our first group of new babies were taken over by one incredibly possessive hen that laid claim to all, be they chicks, keets, or baby ducks. Once they were out of the boxes and on the floor they were HERS!
Is it just me or do more roosters seem to hatch then hens???
I won't kill a rooster just because he isn't a hen unless he's mean to other birds but it is expensive to feed so many roosters. I just chalk it up to "entertainment".
Need to close for now.. the day is getting by me! Just wanted to introduce myself and send good wishes to all the forum members!
Donna
