I Built A Bridge!

[lizgarf]

Sorry, Teila! I guess it was inevitable, but that doesn't make it any less painful. Will you share his picture with us? I haven't seen him since there was still hope he was a she! Good luck with the rehoming! In the meantime, a little rooster collar shouldn't be too hard to make!

Well, I thought things would be easier without the brahmarans, but now my pullets are starting to act out! Ginger was acting today like Marsha, the first time I let her in the backyard, and wouldn't go back in the run and looked like she was trying to figure out how to fly over the roof of the house! She finally seemed to settle in the lemon tree for the night, where I managed to grab her and bring her back to the flock. It was funny, because Grace has weaned herself, but she didn't want to completely abandon Ginger, so she'd go out and peck her and try to herd her back in, but Ginger wasn't happening it. What can I expect of someone whose essentially a combination of Marsha and Lucy?

The other news is now that there's more room on the roost, I've been putting Frankie and Rousseau up there at night. Yay for no more poopy eggs in the morning! Hopefully the warring factions will eventually cease and they'll put themselves up there eventually.

 

[Pooman]

12 eggs in the hatcher for Saturday hatch. The big incubator is off... Seems odd not having it humming in the background.

I think we are at 54 so whatever hatches this weekend should take us over 60.

We had blood yesterday, fighting in the preferred laying area and Normas comb started to bleed. Im sure they are laying somewhere else, just cant find a big pile of eggs anywhere so far...

Old shaky (a chick 3 weeks old now) has been shaking and a bit off balance for a while now. Waxing and waning... I meant to chop him last week, but then he improved, then went down again, then better again.... So he has been leg tagged (in case we lose track of him, its a boy, and accidentlly breed from him) and moved out of the brooder down to the hospital(with the rest of similar age). He will also be getting fermented grains as well as open feed meat bird grower. Hopefully whatever is making him shaky resolves itself. (Has has recieved some multi vitamins and electrolytes)

Still have some more contructions in preparation for the summer heat. Shade frame for main area, shade for feeding areas in two other runs, finish and shade the rooster boxes.

So many chooks lol

 

[Teila]

Good morning Bridge Club

Liz Ginger sounds a little like her namesake!

No more poopy eggs is good news and it sounds like things are settling a little, also good news.

Pooman as always, you sound busy. I hope ‘Shaky’ recovers and your constructions go well.

News from Bambrook Bantams:

Spot is still looking for a new home; over 200 people have viewed the ad and two have contacted me. Unfortunately, it was a bit too far for either of them to drive. However, one of them asked if I could let her know if he was still available on Friday as her hubby is on the Northside then.

Not the best pictures (taken yesterday):








Some fine print I did not read when I got into chickens:

You will be woken at 04:43am by adolescent, randy rooster trying to do the deed on his not so impressed mother and moody matriarch picking on recently reintegrated daughter!

After two consecutive, no fight, supervised free ranges on which the CTD (chicken control device) was not required, Blondie got to sleep with the main flock last night for the first time since the hatch.

Cilla obviously woke up on the wrong side of the roost and I was woken by Blondie’s protests at being bashed and Tina’s absolute horror at her son trying to mount her!

I was working on site yesterday so Joel was in charge of keeping an eye on the gals. Well, we had a visitor .. a bush turkey! Apparently Tina freaked out! She was fine yesterday morning when I left but when I got home, about 45 mins after the bush turkey visit, she was looking ‘unwell’. She was mopping and not interested in eating. The bubs were running around the garden without her.

Joel and I both thought that she was a bit freaked by this feathered intruder which apparently was about three times bigger than them and hoped that she would be better in the morning.

This morning, she is still moping. She does not appear unwell as such, no symptoms. Crop is fine, poops are OK, she is drinking but not eating much. She is not laying at the moment because, as you know, even though she has bubs, she has decided to be broody also.

There were all due for a worm about 4 weeks ago but it had been too hot; not so hot today so I have taken the opportunity to worm them.

Anyways, I do not know if she is unwell or maybe still suffering the effects of the fright from the bush turkey and also the added stress of her little man’s unwanted advances.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Pooman]

Yeh Teila know exactly what u mean about the early starts.... That why i built the rooster boxes in the back of my feed room. Its so good having them packed away in a box in a room. Really muffles them.

Regarding your chook... Well, it like them all. Keep a good eye on her cause they can go down fast. And if she has sat on eggs for 3 weeks that takes a lot out of them. A vitamin / electrolyte boost might help. Some higher than normal protein feed for a bit of a pick up. Its the most you can do really unless there are other signs.

Rambo the indian game got real chest gurgly, hard time breathing. We stuck him on some antibiotics and it picked him up real fast. Couple of days all good, but kept him on for 5.
At the same time Stripey lost his crow. Thought it might have been gape worm but we couldn't see any. So a strong wormer (he is a big boy) just incase, he improved afterwards, but not sure what it was.

I use ivomec only when required... 2 times for whole flock, and an extra for the roosters during this time. And thats 18 months so i dont religiously worm. I do subscribe to the theory that not worming if possible is better, hopefully the system balances out and the good guys start winning.... Because worming is kinda like a reset... Blows everything away (like antibiotics too). I seriously try to avoid them for myself too. We are all living with many critters on and inside all of us. Drop to many nukes and it takes a while for everything to get back into balance.

Good luck with your chook. Just some more things to think about.

Also if anyone is having trouble with bumble foot. Ive had some experience now. So might be able to help.

 

[lizgarf]

Aw, Teila, that's a tough transition for Tina! But, I think all broody moms go through it, if their sons stick around, so maybe it just seems worse to us. Desi went after Rousseau first, and that made a total mess of her back feathers, which she's finally just now grown back. As for the early morning crowing, the mancave works great for me. Is there some inside space you can put him in a carrier at night that won't bother you or your neighbors? I know I was lucky about my crawl space being built into the coop.
I don't have any ideas about Blondie. I also don't worm my chickens. Their feed has some D.E. built into it, which is supposed to have a preventative effect. In any case, I've never had a problem with them.

I had my biggest scare on the farm in many months today. Everyone was in the backyard, and I was in my bedroom, which looks out into the yard, getting ready before I had to leave for an appointment, so I was just about to start trying to herd everyone back to the coop, when I heard what sounded like a boom on the roof and saw a shadow pass overhead. I ran into the backyard and all the chickens were freaking out, and I thought "hawk." I looked around and counted and realized I couldn't find Grace. I knew she had been trying to lay an egg, so I checked the nestbox, but no luck there. I couldn't find her anywhere in the back and feared the worst - that she had separated herself from the others by trying to lay her egg and was picked up by a hawk and taken away. The other chickens wouldn't stop squawking, let alone go back to the nest, and I couldn't re-schedule an expensive appointment, so I finally decided to go. As I was walking down my front steps, I saw Penelope, my cat, staring at the garden, and there was Grace, setting on a green tomato, completely unharmed. I scooped her up and put her in the coop and went to my appointment, relieved but nervous. I got home at 4:30 and Frida and clan were already in the coop,a white egg was in the nest, and everyone else quickly followed me to the run, and I thought all was well, but did a count, and guess who was missing: Ginger! Somehow Ginger managed to separate herself from her siblings again, and did not want to go through the run back into the coop. It was getting dark quickly and she kept going higher up the hill. Grace came back out at one point, but was more interested in the scratch I had put out for Ginger than following ginger up the hill. I went and grabbed Frida and brought her back, and they squawked at each other a bit, and I thought Ginger was following Frida back to the run, but she didn't go in, and Frida marched back to the coop, shaking her little tail-feathers in a huff at her wayward adolescent daughter. Finally, Ginger decided to try to fly back to the coop the hard way, got momentarily stuck on the roof of the run, and eventually made it to the front of the coop, where she went back in right away and hopped up on the roost, saying whatevs to her siblings.

So, apparently rehoming my two biggest cockerels has not made things as easy as I had hoped! Who knew one pullet could be more trouble than all the boys combined? And, I still don't know what happened with Grace. It is entirely possible that the bump on the roof was Grace flying up and over it to get back to the coop and settle in the tomato patch instead. But, I don't think that would have freaked the others out as much as they were, and she had already been missing from the group for awhile, so she may have headed over earlier and a hawk made a failed attempt at a swoop. I don't know, but I hope Ginger gets over this phase and the hawks leave us alone!

In the meantime, butternut squash crostata is on the rack and I'm looking forward to my favorite holiday with friends tomorrow - Italianish Thanksgiving! (My Italian ex-pat friends and their multi-national wives and me.) I am especially grateful that none of my chickens are part of anyone's holiday meal, at least not yet.

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving, even if it's not a holiday around your parts. Take some time to eat something delicious and express some gratitude wherever you are!

 

[Teila]

Not feeling much like chatting but thought I had better let you know why ….

I lost Tina yesterday to an impacted crop

Not only is Spot crowing ‘Gloria’ is now also crowing and is, in fact, George.

So, trying to find homes for both of them now.

Had better weeks!

 

[lizgarf]

Oh honey, I am so, so sorry.

 

[Pooman]

Gee Teila. Im sorry.

I randomly lost Dot a couple of months ago. Looked a bit crook in the morning, she was gone when imgot home that afternoon. The 4th large rock that has become a headstone at my place.

Sad times

 

[tommysgirl]

Oh Teila...no words just loads of sympathy and hugs. So so sorry.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Oh no Teila, I am so SO sorry!

I will leave my planned catching up session for the next time... just really heartbroken about Tina after reading that update. Hope everyone else is okay.

All is fairly well over here, or at least no lost chicks, which is a change from the past few weeks for me... My internal-laying red star is gone (she lasted another 5 days but was obviously not well) - all the info I had read said there is no cure, so I guess I had pretty much resigned myself over those days.
The only other bit of news I have is that I caved in to Chiocciola and got those Araucana eggs for her... so apparently even I tend to ignore that "no more hatches in 2014" memo.