Illinois...

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40

I have a used keyboard if I can hunt up the box the cord is in. DD would be welcome to borrow it.

It's just an old little thing.

Thank you for the offer. DH actually found a keyboard & mouse in his spare parts.

Our Christmas miracle....
A client decided to buy a new computer and was going to recycle their 5 yr old computer. DH offered to remove the data and take it off their hands so we could give it to our kids. It was a win/win for both. This all-in-one computer has all the bells & whistles and is bigger than our TV! It even has a DVD player & HDMI slots. DH spent the last 2 days working on it. The kids are going to be so surprised. (They currently share a small 10 yr old lap top. It gets the homework done, but this new machine is so cool.)

I'm so excited that DH got it working. The kids will still be sick on Christmas, but I know they'll be smiling from ear to ear.

I'm off to bed.
Merry Christmas!

 

[chickendreams24]

ROFL I thought you meant musical keyboard lol

 

[Faraday40]

ROFL I thought you meant musical keyboard lol

Yes, she's looking for one of those too but a specific type that has a student mode with light up keys. (The chicken will be trained to peck at only the lighted keys in sequence.) If you have one of those fancy ones it would be great! I'm just not jumping at the chance to spend over $100 on a "chicken toy." If she really wants one, she'll write up a grant & request funding. Even then, a used one will work just fine.

My dad installed a high end keyboard into the old wooden organ when it stopped working 2 decades ago. All the grandkids play with it when visiting. I'm sure that's part of DD's inspiration for getting herself a keyboard.



It was another rough night. Poor DD kept having nightmares from the fever but she finally stopped vomiting. Her temp is back down this morning. DS's throat is feeling worse, & he didn't even want a piece of Christmas Stollen. My little guy wanted a cough drop instead. The computer was an over the top success. The presents have been opened & it looks like a tornado went through the house. All signs of happy kids on Christmas morning. Because we're forced to stay home, we'll celebrate by staying in our PJs all day!

 

[Faraday40]

I am not sure when the barring is coming from.. none of the full BR were laying for a month when I set these eggs.. the 1/2 BR are black w/red/brown on their chest. The roo is a mix but has no visible barring, yet I am getting barred chicks.. even female barred chicks... one of the darker chicks looks like a girl. of course I couldn't get a good pic... evil camera
I can not get as close to mine...
View attachment 1217507 View attachment 1217516

I feel bad if I build their trust and then send them to freezer camp... felt like I betrayed the first CX, they were pulling on my shorts wanting treats when I was picking them up to 'do the deed' sure made catching them easy though.

That's strange about the barring, but BRs are used in many sexlinked varieties. I guess it can pop out after the 2nd generation.

Often male BRs have more white than black- like the one in the center. The other bared chicks have the female color. It would be interesting to see if that holds true with your mixes.

 

[Molpet]

yes @Faraday40 the lighter one looks like a boy...I have had 2 other lighter barred ones that were boys.. none were girls ..
I think there have been 6 or 8 that were the darker barring that were boys, but they all later, 8 wks?, developed red or gold in hackles and such. Some boys had a brown on their face when hatched

A dark barred boy from halloween .. has a sister same color, behind the hen. and a all blk sister to his left.. not sure on mothers anyway.. blk could be from a BJG

a light and dark from labor day .. the weird thing about these is I thought I had all the eggs from a cx roo in the same carton.. the hens were mixes of CX or BJG or BR .. white is supposed to be dominant and there are 2 barred cockerels, 1 barred pullet and 2 blk pullets.. the other 6 are white
so either I put the wrong eggs in the carton or the white is not as dominate as I thought.

same pair different angle and clearer

these guys should be glad the weather changed, otherwise they would be going to freezer camp

 

[Faraday40]

these guys should be glad the weather changed, otherwise they would be going to freezer camp

It's so cold out there today. Brrrr! These guys probably think they are already at freezer camp!

 

[Molpet]

I had one brave cockerel that went out and about.... to get away from his dad though

 

[Samannemm]

Hi all!

My name is Sam and I’m a first year chicken mama. I live in the western Chicago suburbs. Very anxious about my hens in the cold (1 cinnamon queen, 1 white crest polish, and 1 Black Star). We had a coyote attack a couple of weeks ago so my flock is still recovering from that. Happy to have some fellow Illinoisans on here!

 

[Faraday40]

Hi all!

My name is Sam and I’m a first year chicken mama. I live in the western Chicago suburbs. Very anxious about my hens in the cold (1 cinnamon queen, 1 white crest polish, and 1 Black Star). We had a coyote attack a couple of weeks ago so my flock is still recovering from that. Happy to have some fellow Illinoisans on here!

Hi Sam.
So sorry about the coyote attack. Predators are very brutal (& hungry) in the winter. We just lost our fav silkie 2 weeks ago to a hawk.

As far as the cold, it's rough but with care your birds should be OK.
-Check on them a few times per day. Make sure they have liquid water in waterers that are not too big. (You don't want wattles to fall into water.) Raising the waterers & using small openings - like chick waterers - helps. I like heated buckets with chicken nipples. The horiz nipples leak less and are my favs.

Keeping birds dry is another key to preventing frostbite. The coop must be draft free but also have good air flow. Vents at the top to allow moisture to escape & work great. If you close everything up, the vapors from respiration will crystallize in the air & cover their fleshy combs. When we have below zero temps, you may get a little frostbite on some roos but hens are usually OK. Some Vaseline or Bag Balm on a rooster's comb & wattles may help prevent it. I only apply some when night time temps dip below zero. Once you see a little black on their combs, it's best to leave it be & heal on its own.

Here's what happened to one of mine who had some minor frostbite on the tips. I did nothing and took pics of the natural healing process.

Spoiler: frostbite pics

Jan 21, 2016
I noticed white tips on comb & edge of wattles. Then the the turned black after 1-2 days.

Feb 6, 2016

Feb 9, 2016 The black tips fell off & pinkish scar tissue was underneath

Feb 17, 2016
The new comb was slightly more rounded than it was in fall, but after a month, he looked much better.

March 15, 2016 - 2 months later = perfectly healed. I think the warmth of temps brought back the nice red color of his comb.

 

[Faraday40]

Here's what frostbite can look like if you close everything up. This was a lav orp in the same coop as the one above - but I closed the windows- thinking I was making it warmer for the birds.

Spoiler: Tank's frostbite pics

Fall pic before frostbite

Jan 10, 2014

Jan 18

Jan 28

Feb 20

End of Feb we got another arctic blast with -40'F nights.
March 20 the second round of frostbite began healing.

*Sadly, this boy became unpredictable & wanted to attack the pooper scooper. My children were very afraid of him, so he went to freezer camp. We had several great roosters since, so I don't regret the decision. Since then I learned that leaving the window a crack open actually helps prevent severe frostbite like this. Also, birds with extremely tall single combs will get hit worse. Pea combs are wonderful in N IL!