Idaho?

[Robbo]

Anyone in the Boise/meridian area up for taking in a handicapped hen for a pet? She was the only survivor of about five that suffered leg problems from incubator failure. She has one leg that we simply could not straighten out, it folds up toward her wing and she hops and uses her wings and the "knee" joint of the bad leg to steady herself. She gets herself to food and water and keeps out of the way of the other chickens on her own, but she can't really integrate with the flock and she seems very subdued. I feel like she's earned the right to survive and I hate to see her neglected but I'm at my limit, time and energy wise, for special needs creatures (don't take that wrong, everyone in my family, hubby, two kids, myself are all "special needs" including my two cats, no joke)
I would love to see someone take her in and give her some love and attention. If anyone could take her I'd be very happy.
I'm perfectly prepared to keep her and feed her for the rest of her natural life but I think she'd do better with someone who has a little more time to enrich her daily life.

Arcnova, do you still have this girl? I would be interested. I have one other that is special needs I take care of too. She was hatched in our incubator with a sever cross beak. She eats and drinks *ok* but is still very very small compared to her sisters. About 3x a week I give her a special dinner of a soup made of her pellets, rice cereal, and warm water. She loves it. If you do I would love some photos of her too.

 

[Arcnova]

Arcnova, do you still have this girl? I would be interested. I have one other that is special needs I take care of too. She was hatched in our incubator with a sever cross beak. She eats and drinks *ok* but is still very very small compared to her sisters. About 3x a week I give her a special dinner of a soup made of her pellets, rice cereal, and warm water. She loves it. If you do I would love some photos of her too. 

That would be great! Her name is harlequin because she had a little white circle on each cheek as a chick. She too is very small for her age (almost 4 mo)

This is her now. Her feathers are a little rough but she's doing ok. She's really sweet and will "talk" to me when I go out to the coop. If you for sure can take her PM me and we can make arrangements to get her to you.

 

[Arcnova]

Better picture of Harley

 

[Welshman]

Here is a picture of my three week old Dutch's. The one with the white head is Little Eagle.Also is there any one up in the panhandle area of Idaho or Spokane area raising OEGB would like to see some.I'm thinking about raising some of these.Thanks

 

[Robbo]

That would be great! Her name is harlequin because she had a little white circle on each cheek as a chick. She too is very small for her age (almost 4 mo)

This is her now. Her feathers are a little rough but she's doing ok. She's really sweet and will "talk" to me when I go out to the coop.

If you for sure can take her PM me and we can make arrangements to get her to you.

 

[Devish]

Harlequin is such a cute little girl! Glad she found a good home.

Welshman, nice birds! I like bantams and wish there were some locally that I could buy to keep mine company. Pickings are slim on Craigslist without driving to Parma. My upgraded coop/run isn't complete yet though, so there's time. Otherwise I'll opt for full-sized hens as companions.
Also, if you've raised them before... how do your bantams do in the winter up there? Do you have insulation or other methods of heating, or are they able to keep their own temps up by huddling at night? I'm still learning, and concerned for this little runaway chicken who entrusted her life to us and our ducks. I want good cold protection without breaking the bank, but also want to make sure I'm not under-doing it.
Do any other bantam keepers, especially in the Boise/Nampa/Caldwell area have insight on this? What's your housing like? Sq ft/bird, types of birds, ventilation, paneling...?

 

[BoiseChik]

Hi, We are in Boise and have a small flock of hens. We have chosen to use a heat lamp at night in our coop during the coldest temps. If it is getting down towards the 20's we will set a heat lamp up in the coop, with a red bulb so it doesn't disrupt their night/day cycle, and we use a timer so it clicks on during the coldest part of the night. That has worked well for us and I think it is good animal husbandry.

 

[Robbo]

Harlequin is doing wonderful over here. She is just a doll. I spend most the day with her when I can. Out in the yard in the weedy part. She loves sitting nuzzled up next to my leg peckin' bugs from the ground and eating the weeds. She lives in her own personal red barn with a run currently, if I am not out in the yard, that way she doesn't get hurt by fellow flock members. She has made two friends already though. My old Silver Laced, Marsala and our Silkie Echo. The Silkie actually sleeps with her in the barn now and hangs out until the morning when she then wants out. Thanks so much, she surely will have a forever home here and she is already such a sweet joy to spend time with.

 

[pawtraitart]

Hi, We are in Boise and have a small flock of hens. We have chosen to use a heat lamp at night in our coop during the coldest temps. If it is getting down towards the 20's we will set a heat lamp up in the coop, with a red bulb so it doesn't disrupt their night/day cycle, and we use a timer so it clicks on during the coldest part of the night. That has worked well for us and I think it is good animal husbandry.

I've found that my chickens handle cold temperatures much better if they don't have a heat lamp. Cold weather stimulates their bodies to build up a fat layer and grow thick down. It's a gradual process. I worry that a broken lamp or power outage will, besides being a fire hazard, leave my birds in shock and open to stress induced illness. The exception is juveniles since I hatch almost year round. Younger juveniles don't have the time to build up the fat/feather layers because they are still growing. Spring hatched birds and mature birds do just fine in my experience.

 

[BoiseChik]

Can anyone recommend a good veterinarian in the Treasure Valley that will see chickens? Or is there someone local to the Treasure Valley who is very knowledgeable about poultry health issues? We are having a mysterious health problem in our flock and I'd like to get it figured out.