Illinois...

[ChicagoClucker]

@Faraday40 Its so hard to lose a beloved pet. Hopefully the new chicks will help keep your mind busy and fill the void a bit So sorry again, she was a pretty girl.

@MeepBeep Congrats on the Sport legbar hatch! Hope you can narrow down the roo.

I am done hatching and my garage is full. I have 3 different pens with grow outs and 2 new cockerels in isolation cages which I am so excited for. I also sold AL my SL roo and an easter egger over the weekend. I ended up with 10 chicks from my broody hens that I had either taken or hatched. 2 of the broody hens have 2 bantam cochin chicks each and today was their first day out. Very cute. Still need to order the stone for the run, waiting for some dry weather.

 

[chickendreams24]

I've had herniated navels before. For that I apply a small amount of Neosporin (plain) or Veterycin to the area to keep it moist. Wrap chick in a warm, wet paper towel & place in a coffee mug inside incubator. The mug stops chick from moving around & causing injury. Usually the navel continues to draw in if the area stays moist. I check the chick & repeat every 2-4hrs for up to a day. If the belly dries, a scab will form. The chick electrolytes also work wonders for those struggling chicks. Below is 'Hope' She hatched too early & I didn't know about the cup trick then. I never thought she'd make it, but we kept hope. There's a picof her at 4 weeks when the scab finally fell off & another as an adult. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

Thank you for posting this I am currently dealing with my second chit to have a navel like this but this one is slightly worse. It was an assist that I did yesterday that my mother messed with while she was still attached to the egg. I know Mom only wanted to see the baby unfortunately she then had to be detached from her egg as she was starting to pull her yolk out. Her condition is also complicated by rather bad wry neck that I am also treating, I believe because she was several days late. We have discovered that our incubator fan went out and that is why our last two and a half hatches have been complete losses. Miraculously yesterday we had the assist make it out of the egg followed by another unassisted chick. Thankfully we picked up chicks from the feed store last Wednesday so three of them have come inside to keep the little unassisted chick company while the other little one hangs out in a dish in the incubator. Oh my, Kim I'm so sorry. We lost three birds last week but none of them were so special to me as they might have been. I know how much you loved Cuddles and all you did for her. You gave her a wonderful life and I'm sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was comforted by your presence at her end. I am sorry you had to see her seize but I want you to know that I know the amount if love and strength it takes to stay strong for the furry and feathered ones we love in those moments when we must force ourselves to be strong for them. It's amazing how much we can love our chickens especially those birds that hold a special place in our hearts. I hope you can love another bird as you did Cuddles someday, not a replacement a nod to her memory. Sending love and hugs and thoughts and prayers your way for you and the family and Cuddles. Xoxo

Cuddles. The BEST chicken in the world to me. April 23, 2014 - May 14, 2016 She died in my arms a few moments ago. Sadness beyond words....

To those of you who remember Cuddles, she was a special girl. I had wanted a lav orp for a long time & finally could afford 4 eggs. rom those 4 shipped eggs, we hatched 2 chicks: Cuddles & Tank. Cuddles loved to sit on my lap & watch TV. She was always spoiled, but also gave back to me in many ways. I worked with her so she came running & responded to her name (not just the :Ch Ch Chicken call) She followed basic commands like "Go coop" ;"Go run", "Go crate" (travel cage), "up" = jump in my lap. The fun part was when I trained her to peck at targets. I would write words on cards & she would select the card with a tiny red dot. I could ask her the most complicated questions & she always got the answer correct! (to the amazement of many middle school students! LOL) We then went one step further & I taught her to peck at only the Queen of Hearts. As long as I did my part correctly & forced the volunteer to select Q-hearts, Cuddles (my physic chicken) could read their minds & peck at the card they randomly chose. It was so precious to see Cuddles think. She would look back & forth between cards often tilting her head to view at different angles before making her selection. My DD then decided to work with Cuddles. She tried agility training & got Cuddles to walk through a hoop. That was about it. Let's face it, Orps are not made for agility, but dear Cuddles tried her best to please us. Cuddles loved the attention. She was fearless of visitors & would let anyone pet & hold her - in hopes that some sort of treat would be given. She loved her treats! Even without food, she jumped up into my lap for attention or simply followed me around the yard - "chatting the entire time.". Our backyard seems so empty & quiet now. I miss my Cuddles. Back in early Sept, she had some type of severe illness & stopped eating. I dewormed, gave Corid, and even learned how to tube feed so Cudles would not starve to death. She lived! I followed up with yogurt & ACV. Never sure exactly what it was, but she molted & life went back to normal for a while. In March, Cuddles had a mild relapse. Her abdomen felt swollen & hard. I knew she had something serious. It seemed like her poop was being blocked & her crop was slow. The digestive & poop issues cleared, but the firm abdomen remained. My guess is that she was internally laying or had tumors. We decided that chicken hospice was our plan. It continued to grow, but even when ill, Cuddles was the 1st to greet me every morning. DD & I were away on Sat. When we returned to lock up the flock, Cuddles looked weak. I planned to bring her inside for the night due to the cold. I sat on the sofa with Cuddles in my lap. She briefly seized, then placed her head in the palm of my hand. She looked up at me a drew her last few breaths. It seems that she waited for me to hold her one last time before letting go. I have other chickens, even other lav orps, but sometimes the brightest stars burn out the fastest. Cuddles was MY chicken, my favorite, my companion, my comforter, & my friend.

Hatched out my first hopeful White Sport Cream Legbar today from the paring of a white sport hen and potential carrier roosters, and as luck would have it ended up being White Sport, so that proves at least one of my roosters is a carrier... There are several more of her eggs in there hatching spaced out about 7 days apart so we will see how many more White Sports I get, or if I just get some Cream Legbars... Also hatched out a few of a cross between Cream Legbar roosters with my bluest egg laying EE hen, hoping to get my own blue laying line, they might even be sex linked as three were buff and one was darker, could just be a coincidence though as I have no idea what the EE has in her... Also had to cull one of my month old Whiting True Blues the other day, don't know what happened as it's still in the brooder so there should be little chance of injury, but it somehow broke it's leg or messed up it's hip, either way the right leg was limp with no movement or reflexes and dragging behind it as it rolled around trying to stand... And I did manage to get rid of that darn skunk in the barn, only to be replaced this week by a darn woodchuck The coyote is still avoiding me as well, have not seen it for several days but I'm sure it's around, probably got wind that I loaded up the shotgun with 00 buckshot

Sorry about the loss of the little cull. Congratulations on the white sports, we need pictures!

 

[chickendreams24]

Well guys the last week seems to have been kinda cruddy for several of us I'm so sorry to hear about everyone's losses.

You all know last week Monday or Tuesday we lost our flock master Twitch, well on Wednesday DH2B took pity on my loss and we went to the feed store and came home with 6 chicks (2 salmon faverolles pullets, a cuckoo Marans pullet, a light Brahma pullet, an EE pullet, and a cinnamon Queen pullet-that DH2B chose). That night it became obvious that one of the salmon faverolles pullets was not quite right. She seemed weak and so I supplemented her with syringe feeding. She looked the same size as the other one but was quite thin, only half the weight. She perked up and I kept it up for two days by which time she was perfectly normal acting. Thursday she was fine all day and I only supplemented twice. Thursday night she looked and acted great. Friday morning she was also perfectly normal. And Friday at noon we found her under the light sprawled out spasming clearly dieing. Never having had to cull a chick we were discussing it so she didn't suffer and DH2B didn't want me to do it. I kept asking him if I should try saving her, I knew she was dieing and too far gone in truth I just didn't want to face it. As I was talking she opened her eyes and looked at me which she hadn't done since we found her. I told her Mommy loved her and that it was okay to let go, she didn't have to fight anymore. She breathed once more while she looked at me and then closed her eyes and was gone. I sat on the porch crying while DH2B got something to wrap her in so we could bury her that night. While I cried one of my most special birds, an ee named Pebbles, cane up on the porch talking to me and looked at the baby in my hands, she walked around me to my right side still talking and leaned against me cooing and comforted me while I cried. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't live it. Pebbles is a very special bird and she's very special to me. Some of you may remember she is the pullet we had that had an egg break inside her.

Sorry will finish the story later

 

[Faraday40]

Yes. This week has been rough. The loss of my sweet Cuddles is hitting us hard. Although we knew it was coming, we're still crying.

Not everything is sad, though.
Here's Trouble. She hatched one black orp & I added 2 lav orps the next day. Chicks are 4 days old now.



Can you spot a chick?



Here's a better hint....

All 3 are under her in the above pic, but the black one is peeking out from behind the wing. The black one is kind of thin, so I hope it's eating OK.


I moved the little family into the run - but inside this rabbit cage. It's my way of making sure the other hens don't rip apart the chicks. In a few days, they'll get used to seeing each other & I'll allow some grass time.

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Yes. This week has been rough. The loss of my sweet Cuddles is hitting us hard. Although we knew it was coming, we're still crying.

Not everything is sad, though.
Here's Trouble. She hatched one black orp & I added 2 lav orps the next day. Chicks are 4 days old now.



Can you spot a chick?



Here's a better hint....

All 3 are under her in the above pic, but the black one is peeking out from behind the wing. The black one is kind of thin, so I hope it's eating OK.


I moved the little family into the run - but inside this rabbit cage. It's my way of making sure the other hens don't rip apart the chicks. In a few days, they'll get used to seeing each other & I'll allow some grass time.

How adorable. Those orpington chicks look huge standing by Trouble!

 

[Junibutt]

Yes. This week has been rough. The loss of my sweet Cuddles is hitting us hard. Although we knew it was coming, we're still crying.

Not everything is sad, though.
Here's Trouble. She hatched one black orp & I added 2 lav orps the next day. Chicks are 4 days old now.



Can you spot a chick?



Here's a better hint....

All 3 are under her in the above pic, but the black one is peeking out from behind the wing. The black one is kind of thin, so I hope it's eating OK.


I moved the little family into the run - but inside this rabbit cage. It's my way of making sure the other hens don't rip apart the chicks. In a few days, they'll get used to seeing each other & I'll allow some grass time.

I was away from the forum for a few days. So sorry to hear about Cuddles, you took great care of her. Also happy to see Trouble is going to raise 3 lovely chicks.

 

[Faraday40]

Trying to keep myself busy, so I made a quick video of my chicks today. This is how I get them back & forth from the chicken tractor to the coop. It only took them a few days to learn the routine. In the beginning they walked with me, but now they do it mostly by themselves. By next week, they'll all be inside awaiting a treat before I even get 1/2 way.

PS- Junibutt- Do you recognize the chick that needed a little help?

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Trying to keep myself busy, so I made a quick video of my chicks today. This is how I get them back & forth from the chicken tractor to the coop. It only took them a few days to learn the routine. In the beginning they walked with me, but now they do it mostly by themselves. By next week, they'll all be inside awaiting a treat before I even get 1/2 way. PS- Junibutt- Do you recognize the chick that needed a little help?

OK the video is too cute. And a job well done training them

 

[cavemanrich]

Quote: You were correct. DW cracked that one in the process of baking some pastries and found it to be void of a yolk. Guess my RIR Mary Jane was shooting blanks that day.

 

[Junibutt]

Trying to keep myself busy, so I made a quick video of my chicks today. This is how I get them back & forth from the chicken tractor to the coop. It only took them a few days to learn the routine. In the beginning they walked with me, but now they do it mostly by themselves. By next week, they'll all be inside awaiting a treat before I even get 1/2 way.

PS- Junibutt- Do you recognize the chick that needed a little help?

Excellent video! However, I think that chick is the double barred choc cuckoo right? Does he have a name now?
Also, of the chocolates is there at least one girl?

P.S. Since your video was on you tube already, I shared it in a chicken group on facebook.