.::Hansel and Gretel, the Japanese Bantams' Story::.

[chickenlovefever]

So I never thought I would end up with Hansel and Gretel. I have been hatching chicks, and so far have hached 3. I still have another in the bator now. The second batch was small, 3 chicks. The third was huge, 19 chicks (That huge for me). I am also geting rid of all of my 13 adult chickens. So I went to a chicken swap, And took my two silkies, and then all of the chicks. we sat for hours, from 10 to 2, in the heat trying to sell. As soon as we got there, I sold the hens. But then, it got 1:30, and the swap closed at two. The crowd thinned, and just two dog sellers and four chicken sellers were left, including me. An old mn next to me, and nice, brittle old man was trying to sell all of his bantam breeding pairs. I had noticed as soon as i got there, that he had what looked like seramas, which I am desperately looking for in my area. But I asked, and he said, Japanese Bantams. He had 5 in a cage. Over the day, he only had sold 3 of those and his polish pair and a few cochins.Both of us were left along with the other two chickeneers. I had been directing so many people to a breeder down a ways from me, and even ended up sacraficing selling my red golden pheasants for a guy who was going to buy them, but ended up buying them from the guy I suggested for him to check out. Over time the old man next to me started directing people to me. Finally, when we were both left, He had directed a man to me. I urgently wanted the chicks gone, So I told the man I would give him the 19 chicks, which were originaly 2 dollars a piece, to take them all for five bucks, and the pheasants just six. I had the pheasants at six each. So I got rid of all of them with only 11 dollars in my pocket, when it could have been exactly 50. Finally, we had packed up, and were ready to go, and the old man was to. He finally turned to me.
"Young lady, would you like to have these Buff Japanese Bantams? I know a young chicken lover when I see one, and you have just been helpful all day, and basically gave away your produce, so I could give away mine to you for your kindness. And you would be doing me a favor, too."
So I took home Hansel and Gretel.
I had them in a small, small box. I finally let them out into a 3 times bigger show cage. I then gave them some water with apple cider vinegar, and some cracked corn. The man had told me they were young, and the hen wouldn't start laying until another few weeks to a month. I then bathed them, because they kinda stunk. I checked them for lice, and saw nothing. I treated them anyways. The only unhealthy thing I had noticed in the birds, is that while they were with their original owner, they had been pretty badly pecked in the tail and around the rump. The rooster's tail was kind of lopsided.I don't know what to do for that, and I had a problem with a Polish rooster with a pecked head before, and went to three different stores and couldn't find any Blue-Kote. (So does anyone know what i could do for them instead of blue-kote to quiken feather growth?) So I put them back into their pen and gave them some egg-oatmeal mash for the evening. They are sleeping know.
I just love these little birds. They are Buff Japanese Bantams, and look almost like the Seramas I was looking for. So I am still deciding on which to choose, the Seramas, Or these Japs? I don't know, but I feel happy as a dog with a bone. Can you beat A free breeding pair of Japs? I can't.
So thats my story.

 

[tamberlin]

We have one little black tailed japanese hen and she is very sweet. She's like a little wind up chicken with her short legs. Apparently the short leg gene is lethal, so you will have some problems with fertility, but there is more on that in the Japanese bantam thread.

Enjoy your little birds. Please post pictures! I think they are really cute and I for one would like a couple more!

 

[sonew123]

Cute story!!!

I have a Japanese bantam "Won-Ton" and she is a wackadoodle to say the least. I held a chickenstock at my house last year. All my birds were locked up hidden the whole time. after everyone left I let my birds out to get some free ranging time. At lockdown I started counting heads and went to shut one of the coops doors when all of a sudden I heard the most God aweful shrill!!! I was scared to death as I had never heard it before! I look up and in the rafters was this siren going off! I thought oh crap...someone dumped a rooster on me!

Come to find out "she" had gotten loose and ran off into my woods and some folks couldn't retrieve her before they had to travel home. Didn't take her long to run into my coop without me noticing! She's been here a yr in Oct and we love her to pieces. BUT she is still a wackadoodle-loud as can be -wont let anyone near her and goes broody about every other day. I won't let her hatch eggs because I do not want her teaching babies to behave the way she does-no way!!!! So she is content babying all the other baby chicks around her!

Good luck with your new babies and would love to see photos??

 

[chickenlovefever]

I will attempt with Pics... But I just came to a problem today.... Hansel keeps pecking gretels head to bits. She has no more fethers on her head, and its a bit bloody. I have the two in a 2x2 Rabbit cage, but in the morining I let them out into a small run I made for them that is about 2.5x5. SO they have a decent amount of space. I just don't get it.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
too small of a space 2 x 2

2 x 2 is only big enough for 1 bird needs to be 4sq ft per bird- blue kote her head too to get him to stop and to let her heal....

 

[Magic Birdie]

 

[chickenlovefever]

Quote:
too small of a space 2 x 2

2 x 2 is only big enough for 1 bird needs to be 4sq ft per bird- blue kote her head too to get him to stop and to let her heal....

Where can I find Blue Kote? I checked my SS nearby. and I read that crushed ct food makes their feathers grow faster because of protein-is this true? And what do they mean by crushed cat food? Like, dry cat food, or wet food?

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
too small of a space 2 x 2

2 x 2 is only big enough for 1 bird needs to be 4sq ft per bird- blue kote her head too to get him to stop and to let her heal....

Where can I find Blue Kote? I checked my SS nearby. and I read that crushed ct food makes their feathers grow faster because of protein-is this true? And what do they mean by crushed cat food? Like, dry cat food, or wet food?

cat food is very high in protein-stick it in a blender and grind it up into crumbles I give cheapo cat food to my LF birds in Winter for treats at night to help them fend off the cold and keep those feathers nice and toasty
TSC ( tractor supply) has blue kote--its great stuff one or two good sprays will coat the girls head-it is great for healing wounds too!!! My poor pullet had her whole back end pecked off ( almost put her down she looked so bad) went out and got some BK and sprayed the tar out of her back end-it's been 4 weeks and you would never know she was attacked and new feathers have almost replaced the bald spot!

 

[chickenlovefever]

I will try nd get some. I also went to one TSC in my area and asked for it, and even checked, and they were like, "What is that exactly?" So apperently they didn't carry it.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
UGH you need to go look in TSC--alot of their folks ( no offense folks) don't know what or where things are in the store. Go to the horse cow section where all the medications are. Look for a yellow bottle-very plain Jane looking-I'd bet anything its sitting right on the shelf! Youll want the spray-small bottle costs like 7$???