- Sep 29, 2011
- 4
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Hi There,
We're new to BYC, but we've browsed the forum a few times in the past -- a couple of times when my wife was telling *ahem* asking me if we could have some chickens and would I build us a chicken coop, and a few more times looking for advice on chicken health and the like.
Well, fast-forward a few months, we've grown from our tentative 4 chickens (one for each child), to another 4 (guess why), to our current roster of 14 chickens -- hence the username.
Just the other day, one of our chickens went missing. I looked and looked. I ended up assuming the worst since I'd seen a few hawks circling around in recent weeks. Oh, did I mention we're pretty much free-ranging them -- after a month or two of having them in my home-built tractor, I just didn't think it seemed fair to 'cage' them. Anyway, I assumed we'd lost her ("fancypants", of course my children *had* to name her, and, being a black Cochin, the name stuck).
Anyway, she turned up the next day, looking very unwell, wobbling about. My wife took her inside and inspected her, finding an infected gash on her behind, with a few broken feathers. We turned to BYC for advice on getting her better. 4 days later, and I've finally given her now customary bath and disinfecting routine... she's starting to look like she's recovering! Meanwhile she gets to be in the old chick-crate in the kitchen, under a heat lamp. Hopefully she's enjoying her stay in the house, but I'm looking forward to reuniting her with the rest of the flock. Or is it brood?
So, we'd like to say "hi", and also "thank you" - thank you for this vibrant community of knowledgable and friendly people at BYC (especially threehorses, although all the comments and questions proved useful).
Ben & Sarah
Oh, and we have cochins, RI reds, australorps and sexlinks, as far as I remember. Must look up what they all are
We're new to BYC, but we've browsed the forum a few times in the past -- a couple of times when my wife was telling *ahem* asking me if we could have some chickens and would I build us a chicken coop, and a few more times looking for advice on chicken health and the like.
Well, fast-forward a few months, we've grown from our tentative 4 chickens (one for each child), to another 4 (guess why), to our current roster of 14 chickens -- hence the username.
Just the other day, one of our chickens went missing. I looked and looked. I ended up assuming the worst since I'd seen a few hawks circling around in recent weeks. Oh, did I mention we're pretty much free-ranging them -- after a month or two of having them in my home-built tractor, I just didn't think it seemed fair to 'cage' them. Anyway, I assumed we'd lost her ("fancypants", of course my children *had* to name her, and, being a black Cochin, the name stuck).
Anyway, she turned up the next day, looking very unwell, wobbling about. My wife took her inside and inspected her, finding an infected gash on her behind, with a few broken feathers. We turned to BYC for advice on getting her better. 4 days later, and I've finally given her now customary bath and disinfecting routine... she's starting to look like she's recovering! Meanwhile she gets to be in the old chick-crate in the kitchen, under a heat lamp. Hopefully she's enjoying her stay in the house, but I'm looking forward to reuniting her with the rest of the flock. Or is it brood?
So, we'd like to say "hi", and also "thank you" - thank you for this vibrant community of knowledgable and friendly people at BYC (especially threehorses, although all the comments and questions proved useful).
Ben & Sarah
Oh, and we have cochins, RI reds, australorps and sexlinks, as far as I remember. Must look up what they all are
