How is your flock today?

[Sally PB]

I'm going to treat them to some wet chick feed later on today, and then watch them pig out.

Wet feed is candy to all my birds, both the littles and the adults. If they ever figure out it's Just Their Feed, I'll have to come up with a new chickie snack.

It's a great way to use up the fines that fall to the bottom of the bowl; for some reason those aren't any good until their wetted. Silly chickens!

 

[Parront]

I give the wet all-flock feed from the ducks to the chickens, they think it is a treat. I do mix in some left-overs sometimes!

 

[Sally PB]

I do mix in some left-overs sometimes!

Me too. I mix in things that are favorites (strawberry tops) and new things (bits of kombucha scoby--good probiotics) and rich treats (mashed up solids from making bone broth). When I bring the pie pans, they come running!

 

[416bigbore]

Hello, How is everyone and their flocks doing? Our main flock is doing well, had a break in the high humidity so everyone appreciated that from the looks of things.

Our eleven baby chicks are doing great, they are a week old now and growing like weeds. I hope to crank up the old incubator Friday to start on our second batch of eggs. Now that I have a better idea as to what I am doing, it shouldn't be so stressful this time around.

 

[Parront]

4 pullets and a cockerel have gone to new homes from the Sandhill chicks. I still have 10 RIR, one seems to be a runt. 5 pullets and a cockerel could stay a while, they are very good eaters, but the Dorkings are bigger!

 

[BlueBaby]

@416bigbore Any new's yet on your incubating egg's?

 

[416bigbore]

Hello @BlueBaby and others. Sorry for my absence, I must have missed your last post or I would have replied back sooner. I have been crazy busy just trying to get caught up will all that I have going on. The late afternoon thunderstorms we have been getting hit with lately are short lived, but enough rain to keep the bare ground muddy and the humidity high.

On Tuesday day 18, I candled all 26 eggs that I had in the incubator and locked down only 15 that I couldn't see through, so hoping they all hatch. No pips yet, but Friday will be day 21 and hopefully something starts to happen by then.

I don't know if you have ever had this happen before or not? But one egg that I couldn't see in the egg turner at some point cracked and leaked a bit. It was enough to make the egg stick to the egg turner and I could just lift it out.

So I tilted the egg turner down into the kitchen sink and started spraying warm water on it hoping it would loosen up the egg without breaking it. The warm water was doing the trick until the damn egg BROKE! OMG, I don't have a weak stomach and that smell just about made me puke! From what I could see as I was putting the whole egg turner into a large plastic tub to get it out of the house, it was an undeveloped chick. That stench was Horrific!

Our first 11 chicks are 4 weeks old now and everyone is doing great, very little fuzz left on them. I need to move them to a bigger area, only problem is I don't have one put together yet, but it's on the to-do list! LOL

Then things just keep getting better. Not! One of our Isa Brown hens I noticed yesterday wasn't walking on her left leg and was holding it up and she would use her left wing down as a crutch as she would try to move.

So after carefully picking her up and inspecting her leg to make sure it wasn't broke and hoping maybe just a bad sprain? The bottom of her leg was very warm to the touch over the other one, so I know she hurt it. I didn't feel anything broke as I went up her whole leg to her body. I did notice her knee joint if anything was a little wiggly more so over the other leg.

I am hoping it's just a bad sprain and she will be fine. I put some DMSO on it and put her in a small pet carrier to help keep her from trying to make it any worse so it can start to heal. She is still eating and drink fine, so that's a good sign.

Last but not least, the newest member to our flock Kung Pao. He is a rescue, the people couldn't have him where they live because of him starting to crow. Since Chewy was going away, I thought it best to find a little new blood for down the road hatching.

I know little about Kung Pao, only the very little info from the new chicken people who had him. He is an Americana breed full or not ? and 3-4 months old they said. I did not know this until we got him home and let him out, he unfortunately has crooked toes on his left foot. He gets around just fine, I am just hoping it's not genetic related because of breeding purpose. The previous owners couldn't really tell me for sure when they noticed it, so we will have to see what happens. So far he is a very friendly little guy.

I did put Chewy on CL and haven't found him a good home yet. He is too good of a Roo with his hens and I figure if he has more room that might be the answer over freezer camp.

 

[Sally PB]

My 6 w/o chicks have been in the coop growout pen for 5 nights now. I plan to put up the dividing fence in the run today, it we get a break in the rain. Forecast was for sunny tomorrow, but now they're saying rain until mid Saturday. If we get a decent enough break, I'll let the littles out tomorrow, or else it'll be Saturday afternoon.

So far, the adults don't pay any attention to the littles, that I have seen/heard.

I'm still about the genders. I paid for sexed pullets from the breeder. My neighbor has gotten 21 out of 21 pullets from TSC! So I hope the law of averages isn't about to even itself out on me.

 

[BlueBaby]

@416bigbore No, I haven't had an egg go rotten in the incubator yet, but I have heard of them through other thread's here in BYC.

We finally got some rain over here. Some of the area's where those wildfires have been got flooded, and from what I seen on the new's, it's a mess with burned up trees and other stuff in it. Someone lost a Prius that went floating down the street up there in Prescott, and they had to cut open the top of an SUV somewhere to rescue the people inside that got stuck in a wash.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Hello @BlueBaby and others. Sorry for my absence, I must have missed your last post or I would have replied back sooner. I have been crazy busy just trying to get caught up will all that I have going on. The late afternoon thunderstorms we have been getting hit with lately are short lived, but enough rain to keep the bare ground muddy and the humidity high.

On Tuesday day 18, I candled all 26 eggs that I had in the incubator and locked down only 15 that I couldn't see through, so hoping they all hatch. No pips yet, but Friday will be day 21 and hopefully something starts to happen by then.

I don't know if you have ever had this happen before or not? But one egg that I couldn't see in the egg turner at some point cracked and leaked a bit. It was enough to make the egg stick to the egg turner and I could just lift it out.

So I tilted the egg turner down into the kitchen sink and started spraying warm water on it hoping it would loosen up the egg without breaking it. The warm water was doing the trick until the damn egg BROKE! OMG, I don't have a weak stomach and that smell just about made me puke! From what I could see as I was putting the whole egg turner into a large plastic tub to get it out of the house, it was an undeveloped chick. That stench was Horrific!

Our first 11 chicks are 4 weeks old now and everyone is doing great, very little fuzz left on them. I need to move them to a bigger area, only problem is I don't have one put together yet, but it's on the to-do list! LOL

Then things just keep getting better. Not! One of our Isa Brown hens I noticed yesterday wasn't walking on her left leg and was holding it up and she would use her left wing down as a crutch as she would try to move.

So after carefully picking her up and inspecting her leg to make sure it wasn't broke and hoping maybe just a bad sprain? The bottom of her leg was very warm to the touch over the other one, so I know she hurt it. I didn't feel anything broke as I went up her whole leg to her body. I did notice her knee joint if anything was a little wiggly more so over the other leg.

I am hoping it's just a bad sprain and she will be fine. I put some DMSO on it and put her in a small pet carrier to help keep her from trying to make it any worse so it can start to heal. She is still eating and drink fine, so that's a good sign.

Last but not least, the newest member to our flock Kung Pao. He is a rescue, the people couldn't have him where they live because of him starting to crow. Since Chewy was going away, I thought it best to find a little new blood for down the road hatching.

I know little about Kung Pao, only the very little info from the new chicken people who had him. He is an Americana breed full or not ? and 3-4 months old they said. I did not know this until we got him home and let him out, he unfortunately has crooked toes on his left foot. He gets around just fine, I am just hoping it's not genetic related because of breeding purpose. The previous owners couldn't really tell me for sure when they noticed it, so we will have to see what happens. So far he is a very friendly little guy.

I did put Chewy on CL and haven't found him a good home yet. He is too good of a Roo with his hens and I figure if he has more room that might be the answer over freezer camp.

Hes gorgeous!!