Illinois...

[Junibutt]

DD's results are still inconclusive, so she wants to get a quick 3rd trial of her experiment done before the fair. In order to know the gender of the chicks in time, she must use sexlink eggs. If anyone has a combo that will result in sexlinks or a breed that can be identified at hatch, please give me a PM. (We only have 2 purebred barred hens that when paired with our black orp roo will give sexlink chicks. So far we have low fertility of those particular eggs, so not many results. The other hens' eggs have no fertility issues.) Also, we'd be glad to give the hatch results away to anyone who needs chicks.

When do you need to set by? I have the following sex-linked possibilities:

1. Mauve rooster x choc cuckoo orpington hen

Should produce mauve and choc pullets and choc cuckoo and mauve cuckoo roosters.

2. Mauve rooster x Black mottled orpington hen

Should produce mauve and chocolate pullets (both split to mottled)
and black and blue roosters both split to chocolate as well as mottled.

3. Mauve rooster x Black Australorp

Should produce mauve and chocolate pullets and blue and black roosters split to chocolate.

4. Mauve rooster x Legbar

Should produce chocolate and mauve girls and black and blue cuckoo roosters

And these girls would be olive eggers

 

[Faraday40]

It looks like we'll be good for eggs for DD to run a 3rd trial, but if anyone wants to help out with chicks, let me know.

We have some chicks left from the second trial that we must grow out to determine gender. We'll gladly rehome some to anyone willing to keep us updated on the gender outcome via photos. (Some are pure orps & some are mixes.)

 

[Faraday40]

Junibutt- Here are some of your chicks. I've been allowing them to free range for the past few weeks. They used to always stay hidden in the far back by the rasberries, but now the "teens" are just starting to hang out near the adults.

Here's "Brick." We used to say, "Man he's as dumb as a brick." So we just shortened it to be his name for now. He's built like a brick too!


The choc orps. Godiva in the background & her slow feathering brother in front. He has the nicer roo personality & will come up to us for treats.


Choc roo head shot


Godiva


Some more random shots since I had my camera out today....
My son's hen, Nemo - begging for treats


Precious posing for her pic too.

Good old Bubbles

Some of the "teens" hangin' out at the stump.

Trouble & her giant chicks. They have finally grown larger than their mama. She still tries to sit on them at night, though.


DD playing with Hen Solo


A praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, hatched today (It's for my upcoming bug camp.) Each mantis is about the size of a mosquito.

 

[Junibutt]

Junibutt- Here are some of your chicks. I've been allowing them to free range for the past few weeks. They used to always stay hidden in the far back by the rasberries, but now the "teens" are just starting to hang out near the adults.

Here's "Brick." We used to say, "Man he's as dumb as a brick." So we just shortened it to be his name for now. He's built like a brick too!


The choc orps. Godiva in the background & her slow feathering brother in front. He has the nicer roo personality & will come up to us for treats.


Choc roo head shot


Godiva


Some more random shots since I had my camera out today....
My son's hen, Nemo - begging for treats


Precious posing for her pic too.

Good old Bubbles

Some of the "teens" hangin' out at the stump.

Trouble & her giant chicks. They have finally grown larger than their mama. She still tries to sit on them at night, though.


DD playing with Hen Solo


A praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, hatched today (It's for my upcoming bug camp.) Each mantis is about the size of a mosquito.

All I have to say is that we need to learn how to use the camera like you. Or we need to train our chicken to be as good posers like yours! lol.
Beautiful pics!. Brick is turning out to be pretty handsome. Meanwhile Godiva's brother seems more leggy and taller. Its funny that they came from father's who were totally opposite:
Brick's dad was the leggy taller one, where as the choc rooster's dad is my current mauve I believe or he might be from my chocolate girl who was pretty leggy at that age.
Well they still have a lot of growing to do.

And Trouble looks so funny with her chicks!

 

[Faraday40]

Happy Father's Day to all!

I am blessed to still have my dad, so he & my sis came over for dinner. When my sis saw that we had ripe cherries out front, she asked if she could have some. I took it one step further. I sent the kids out to pick 2-3 cups of cherries, while I mixed up some ingredients for the ice cream maker. The kids washed & pitted the cherries, then I made a quick cherry sauce to go over the ice cream. It was delicious. Cherries were always my mother's favorite. After dinner as we ate our home-made cherry & ice cream sundaes, we remembered my mom. Then the kids went back outside to pick another batch of cherries to send home with the recipe for my dad & sis. (She lives with him.)

I simply enjoyed the day & forgot to take pics. Instead I will share a few extras left over from yesterday. (Mostly the out-takes, but sometimes they're more entertaining.)

This is what we see whenever we're spotted in the back yard. Seeing chickens run is always funny.

Here they are looking for treats. I just found the white hens' (Princess Lay-a's) expression silly. I'm sure a creative mind could think of the perfect caption


Sweet Nemo is helping Precious keep her beak clean

Now that the chicks have grown larger than their Sebright mama, she still insists on covering them every night.

 

[Faraday40]

Forgot to mention the fun brunch I made for DH.

He saw a food show about different egg dishes & then said, "I want THAT!" I like to bake & cook, so I made the Brioche buns & caramelized onions on Sat. This morning I went outside to gather the freshest eggs and picked some chives.

The sandwich is called the fairfax. (from a place called "Eggslut" in LA) If you have many eggs you want to use up, try making it. It's the 1st video: http://www.eggslut.com/#eggslut

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Forgot to mention the fun brunch I made for DH.

He saw a food show about different egg dishes & then said, "I want THAT!" I like to bake & cook, so I made the Brioche buns & caramelized onions on Sat. This morning I went outside to gather the freshest eggs and picked some chives.

The sandwich is called the fairfax. (from a place called "Eggslut" in LA) If you have many eggs you want to use up, try making it. It's the 1st video: http://www.eggslut.com/#eggslut

Love all the pics! Brick is going to be a handsome boy for sure. Nice full chest!

It has been kind of crazy over here lately. I have been waking up around 230 am for the last 2 weeks, sinuses are driving me batty! Had my daughters baby shower, and now waiting on the arrival of my new grandson. Can't wait!

Also at a stand still on selling my chicks. And I have a SL orp and 3 bantams trying to hatch again. They aren't giving up but neither am I. I keep taking the eggs and putting them out of the nest.

Spoke to soon on the stand still, sold a pair of cochins today. Yay

 

[Faraday40]

A day of ups & downs - literally. This morning we found one of our sweet hens limping. Tip of her toe was missing & swollen. She was pecking at it, and I knew she must have been in pain. I called a friend who helped me process the injured hen & as well as our very 1st hen - Firefighter - who had a shell gland issue from old age. (I have been dragging my feet about it, but decided today was the day.) I sent the kids to the park & when they returned they had a little memorial service for their pets.

Once the hard part of the day was done, we continued with the orig plan of visiting 6 Flags & picking up some eggs for DD's experiment. DH took the afternoon off, I packed a picnic lunch & dinner, the day was sunny, we spent a few hours in the car, rode some roller coasters with min lines, and had quality family time. During those hours, it really felt like a summer vacation. We also got to meet & visit with MeepBeep & Junibutt. Thank you both very much for your generosity and help with DD's experiment. I will keep you updated with hatch results , final data, & adorable chick photos.

Like I said it was a day of ups & downs - with or without the roller coasters.

RIP Firefighter

& Lady MacBawk

 

[Faraday40]

It has been kind of crazy over here lately. I have been waking up around 230 am for the last 2 weeks, sinuses are driving me batty! Had my daughters baby shower, and now waiting on the arrival of my new grandson. Can't wait!

Also at a stand still on selling my chicks. And I have a SL orp and 3 bantams trying to hatch again. They aren't giving up but neither am I. I keep taking the eggs and putting them out of the nest.

Spoke to soon on the stand still, sold a pair of cochins today. Yay

Hope you feel better & glad you're getting momentum on those sales!

Please post those baby grandson pics when he arrives.

 

[chickendreams24]

A day of ups & downs - literally. This morning we found one of our sweet hens limping. Tip of her toe was missing & swollen. She was pecking at it, and I knew she must have been in pain. I called a friend who helped me process the injured hen & as well as our very 1st hen - Firefighter - who had a shell gland issue from old age. (I have been dragging my feet about it, but decided today was the day.) I sent the kids to the park & when they returned they had a little memorial service for their pets. Once the hard part of the day was done, we continued with the orig plan of visiting 6 Flags & picking up some eggs for DD's experiment. DH took the afternoon off, I packed a picnic lunch & dinner, the day was sunny, we spent a few hours in the car, rode some roller coasters with min lines, and had quality family time. During those hours, it really felt like a summer vacation. We also got to meet & visit with MeepBeep & Junibutt. Thank you both very much for your generosity and help with DD's experiment. I will keep you updated with hatch results , final data, & adorable chick photos. Like I said it was a day of ups & downs - with or without the roller coasters. RIP Firefighter & Lady MacBawk

So sorry to hear about your losses. Days like those are very hard. Not having had to cull one of our hens yet but losing many to predators I can only imagine but I know you love your birds and did right by them. Do you have any idea what happened to Lady MacBawk's toe? Hope your daughter's experiment goes well! Busy sad day here too, but it could have been much worse. Lost a chick this morning from Sunday's hatch. I believe it had an egg yolk infection but I believe there was more going on including a possible malformation of its spine. It never got up on its feet and just stomped and turned like a top. After some research on BYC I decided that it was from being in the egg and having such a large belly and thought it would get up on its feet. I treated it as best I could and gave it time hoping it would all straighten out and it would get up. Late this morning I cleaned it's little mini brooder in the incubator and applied antiseptic ointment without pain meds to its navel and was about to place it back when it breathed it's last in my hand. It had seemed so strong. I just stood there dumb founded. It didn't struggle or aspirate just fell asleep and was gone. It had still been trying to stand when I picked it up. Also in another mini apartment in the incubator is a little wry necked chick that I am treating that seems to be improving but I'm trying to withhold judgement and hope until I see how it fares as our last one passed mysteriously after straightening out. A walk out to the cooler coop at noon left us with even more trouble as our 3-6 week old chicks on the small side of the cooler have developed cocci. Treatment of course began immediately and all of the worst off ones were dosed directly. I hope and believe we caught it in time. They were all fine yesterday and have only been getting let on grass since last Thursday. We have brooded many chicks on that side of the cooler coop this year so far and not one of them has come down with cocci before now. This is only our second experience with cocci, our first- some of you might remember being last year with the chicks from Faraday40, in which despite getting meds as quickly as possible 3/6 died in one day of showing symptoms. In fact they were asymptomatic the night before and one had passed the next morning and one ten minutes after we found the first, despite all the remaining chicks seeming fine when we removed the first chick that passed. The third was too far gone and despite being dosed directly passed the same night. We have a few I'm worried about right now but I think only one or two are in really bad shape and again we have seen no bloody stools and only a few with diarrhea. Ugh I wouldn't have even known bad I not seen a little slw chick fluffed and standing still despite getting stepped on by a bigger sibling and cheeping almost continuously. I sat out there watching and treating them for two hours and the number that began standing with their heads pulled in and feathers fluffed just in that time was astonishing. I would say 20 or so started to show minor symptoms and behavior changes in that time. I'm so grateful that I have become so attuned to the flock to see the changes that DH2B generally dismisses, until I explain that they're not normal and what's off and what is probably causing it. Though he still thinks I'm a crazy chicken lady and usually says I'm just crying wolf until another day or two pass and they start acting normal again with the treatment I "prescribe" and administer starts working, or they don't get better if I decide to just observe them. Hope tomorrow brings good news for the littles. Thankfully the two week old and several day old chicks had not been moved to the cooler yet. (We have two stock tank brooders and a large portion of the floor also acting as a brooder) one stock tank currently holds a broody silkie, Lovey and the other was the designated destination for the chicks in the house. They will now have to wait of course. Should I just go ahead and start a preventative dose for them? How young of a chick can be treated with Corid?