Illinois...

[Molpet]

Just an Update. Last week Mousse was at the bottom of pecking order. Now every one getting along GREAT. SIZE MATTERS

. I think she was teaching the other chickens a song. Almost sure I heard them ALL HUMMING.. Kumbaya

hope she is not a cx

 

[cavemanrich]

@Molpet
Every thing is possible. I tried to figure out what she is, and to the best of my research, looks like a White Rock. I took a pix of one from a hatchery site and here is the photo. Had to take a picture of the screen since it did not let me copy the picture. It is from Cackle Hatchery. These look like my Mousse.

If she starts to lay eggs after molt and they are brown, then maybe I am correct.
I see Cornish X at the butcher whenever I'm there, and they look different than what I have. If she does turn out to be a CX then I have no Idea what I will do. If I took to the butch to have processed, my DW surely would NOT COOK HER.

?????

?????

 

[Molpet]

@Molpet
Every thing is possible. I tried to figure out what she is, and to the best of my research, looks like a White Rock. I took a pix of one from a hatchery site and here is the photo. Had to take a picture of the screen since it did not let me copy the picture. It is from Cackle Hatchery. These look like my Mousse.

If she starts to lay eggs after molt and they are brown, then maybe I am correct.
I see Cornish X at the butcher whenever I'm there, and they look different than what I have. If she does turn out to be a CX then I have no Idea what I will do. If I took to the butch to have processed, my DW surely would NOT COOK HER.

?????

?????

a cx hen I held over, she was about 12 wks in this picture.. she lays small tan/brownish eggs.. Started laying in mid aug until Nov.... she is about 2x this size now LOL


3 of the 4 chicks a boody hatched that are 1/2 cx

 

[cavemanrich]

@Molpet
The Cx looks identical to the White Rock. The Caveman just cant resort to the guillotine method if she is. Just hoping she has a peaceful transition to the other side. I'm hoping that her bones don't start to fail first. If you can use her in your operation, I am willing to deliver FREE of charge. I know you are not that far away. Any Idea how her lifespan looks like? I read that they usually don't go beyond one year. No Idea when she was hatched.

 

[Molpet]

@cavemanrich a farmer I know had one for 2.5 yrs and he heard something and found her with her neck broke.. she was out with the other farm animals so he wasn't sure what happened. duluthralphie said his last about a yr

if she eats and eats and eats.. she most likely is a cx ... I read that white rocks and white cornish (lineage of a cx) are large so you might be right, she may be one of those..

I read on byc to restrict the cx feed to morning and night, all they can eat in 10 min.... and free range so they get exercise... I kept the smallest one, her sisters were 12lbs at 10 and 12 weeks... she is about 16lbs or more now at 8 months... walks like a sumo wrestler lol

I have been keep her away from the roo the last month, she is his favorite....she has been squatting for him even though she has quit laying.. I think she just gives in because it's easier... skinny girls run faster LOL so she has her own coop and a fence dividing the poultry yard so her feathers are growing back.

sure I could take her if you decide to find her a home. .. spring would be better but when ever is ok.. you might want to wait and see if she is a cx... or you might want to rehome before you get attached.
I could meet you halfway.. I'm by Joliet/ New Lenox.. looks like around an hour

today about 8 months.. has a leaf on her back and some missing feather from the roo.. not sure why her comb flops over.. she has plenty of water, so it could be a heart condition... she refuses to go out in the snow so far.. I don't blame her.

 

[chickendreams24]

Hello fellow Illinois peeps... We're transplants but Galesburg, IL is home for now. Speaking of... we started a FB page http://www.facebook.com/groups/GalesburgBackYardChickens/ if anyone is interested to join it. We got our first chickens in June and went from a re-purposed pallets turned into a coop... to where we are today with a fully enclosed run and 3 story coop. Currently have 5 buff Silkies that are all laying females and 3 blue Silkies that arent old enough to sex yet. (hoping for 2 hens and 1 roo). I'm currently looking for some hatching eggs of various Silkies to expand our flocks colors. Considering getting a pair of Serama's but not sure yet.

Awesome. Funny small world. My wife travels to Janesville for work with home run auto group (she works for an IT company that works with them). Would love to chat in the spring about possibly getting additional eggs. Sorry about your loss this year. We've only lost one and it was horrible. I'm hoping to end up with around 15-20 silkies of various colors. Currently we have 8 and think that they are such a happy friendly chicken and even with 8, seem to serve our purposes of egg needs.

Thanks yes we love our flock and lost 25 birds to predators this year since May so it's been a rough one several of those lost were favorites too which made it even more difficult one was take right before my eyes as I chased the predator around the old barn lot barefoot. He was a beautiful partridge silkie that previously this year had adopted older chicks when one of my favorite birds a buff silkie named Ginger was taken. He died trying to protect one of our buff orps but then when she was safe he couldn't fly away. Any predator that shows up here now is going to find a few new ventilation holes in it. Would have done already but of course we've never gotten a shot. While not all the birds taken were our originals(we sold a few) we started last spring with 33 birds this fall we only have 12 of those 33 left.

Hello from East Peoria! Well, we're getting our first snow fall this winter season and I'm slightly freaking out. It's my first winter with chickens. I have 3 Silkies and 3 Polish in one coop and 3 Bramahs in the other. I have them able to go in and out of their coop to their run as they please during the day. If it starts to snow pretty hard will they go in the coop on their own? Or should I go out there and make sure they do? I could be totally panicing for no reason but I just don't want anything bad to happen because of my lack of experience. Any advice at all would be great hope everyone stays safe out there!

We're in the same boat. Our silkies decided to hang out in the coop when my wife opened the door to their run this morning. What I've been told/read. They will probably stay out of the weather a lot of times. You might have to clear some open ground for them to go outside once the snow piles up.

mine go out if there is a path all winter... I do not have silkies though...

When snow is like this (below) the chickens will stay inside. Even with the door open, all they'll do is look outside & wonder why the ground is missing. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] Here are some of my orps wanting to come outside but looking confused at their first sight of snow. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] Unless you shovel some paths, they'll stay inside. They may still spend more time inside than out even when shoveled. Because of all the time inside, you should make some boredom busters to keep their beaks busy & prevent feather pecking, bullying, & other undesirable behaviors. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] Here my roo discovered a creative way to watch over the hens & still keep his feet dry. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] They will come out when the snow starts to melt - but usually still stay near the coop. This is about as far as mine like to travel. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

I think that if the snow is coming down and they are outside, then they [COLOR=0000CD]may get wet[/COLOR]. They have [COLOR=FF0000]fur, not feathers[/COLOR] . Well you know what I mean. The other feathered friends can shed off the snow off regular feathers much easier.

You all must have city chickens lol. While I admit that our newbies were very freaked and the ones from last year weren't thrilled when they first saw it today most of the flock were out in the now very sloppy snow. They have also all decided they like to eat snow lol. With the exception of a few birds all of ours go out in the snow. While I am always a bit more careful with the silkies (IE if I see them out in a snow bank and they are there for a long time I'll take them back to the coop for a warm up I will also take a soaked chicken inside or at least in the porch until they dry somewhat. I know people say silkies are frail and maybe they can be but ours aren't. I do keep an eye out for frost bite but I do that for all my birds especially my tiny Oegb and the ones with huge combs. While I do make sure they don't get gobs of Snow stuck in their feet feathers our experience has been that they will pull that snow out themselves if there isn't much of it. I know some people might lock them up all winter but our co-op is very well insulated and I want them to be able to feel the aun when it's out. We do however keep them locked up on very cold days for their safety. Some birds like going out more than others in the snow and some don't care at all. Most of ours once they remember what it is or figure out its not going to eat them they're okay with it. We do not hear the coop generally although last year when it was -40 here we did put a space heater out there which kept it in about the teens. NOTE: we only ran it if someone was out there with the birds or dogs/doing chores/or if we were home and it was checked every hour for safety, it was not run at night at all. It was also suspended and attached to the wall for safety. We do have two heat lamps running on the back side of the cooler coop(lol which is an old milkhouse with two rooms- the front being larger- it was then transformed and highly insulated and air conditioned to serve as a "cooler" for show cattle... Ergo cooler coop) for the chicken and quail chicks from @Faraday40 they are doing quite well back there. Also I pmed you on Saturday night.

Had a brief meet up with @chickendreams24 last night. By now she has noticed that I slipped some "packing peanuts" in with the quail & chicks. I also gave some home made cheddar ale soup & pretzels to smooth things over with her DH2B. (Hope he's not too angry with me, but I knew they'd be well taken care of & that you secretly wanted them.) DD's fav is the silkie mix with 5 toes. It was the 1st to hatch & very bonded to the kids. Actually even the quail are pretty tame, b/c the kids held them frequently. The chicks were allowed to run around on the floor for playtime & when DD made her clucking noise, they'd run straight back to her. Here she is with a quail ... and saying Good Bye to her fav chick. (She is now more determined than ever to get a silkie this spring/summer.) Thank you also for what you slipped into our trunk. Know that it will be enjoyed by all of us. Yes, what a sneaky pair we are! Meeting up at random parking lots to exchange foods & poultry. BTW- Thank for explaining more about your cooler-brooder. I did not realize it was a small building/structure on your property. In my mind, I had pictured something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-3000000-48-Quart-Cooler-Blue/dp/B002V9XV9K

Lol nope our cooler coop is a two room milkhouse that unless my math is wrong can quite nicely fit 60+/- a few birds with 4 square feet per bird. If course we are over that limit right now BC of the 26 or so cockerals we are growing out but in spite of the the flock is extremely calm and the numbers are better after today and will be more so after the next processing day. We sold an additional 14 birds today man that was good but also hard. I don't like choosing. No worries none of the favorites went just extra pullets that can be replaced in spring. Plus the 4 last Friday we're down 18 birds in a week!!! Then again we are also up 12 lol. Imagine my surprise when I found packing peanuts in the box of chicks lol. I was like well dh2b is never going to believe I didn't ask for these. Thankfully he isn't upset at all he kinda rolled his eyes and laughed. Thankfully he likes my chicken friends and our birds taste good lol. We'll never starve. Also thankfully I may already have a buyer lined up for any spare pullets from these chicks and my own littles and after selling so many I have room and I buttered him up to keep as many as I want lol. How many quail did you keep? Lol funny thing happened when our buyer looked into the quail brooder today he gently informed me that one looked dead and I panicked. Surprised as I had checked them a half hour before I asked him why and he told me it was sprawled out on its side... Asleep thankfully lol he has never seen a chick sleep like that lol idk what kinda chicks he has but apparently they don't do that. Lol. In great news he keeps his layers around until they pass naturally unless they're suffering so all the birds I sold him will have nice long lives and because he is my Grandma's neighbor I can visit them! lol

 

[Justjered]

@chickendreams24 your quotes reply above was a work of art! Love it!

Yes we are in town flock owners. Galesburg has pretty simple rules to comply with so it works out perfect for us.

Sorry about your loss. I know I would be sitting with the 20 ga waiting for preditors if the city would let me.

 

[Faraday40]

Happy St Nicholas Day!
The kids got their shoe candy then went off to school.
It's also the quail's 2 week hatch day.

Can't believe how fast these little guys grow.





Although we cannot sex them yet, I'm pretty sure the 3rd one pictured is a male. (It's DD's fav & she's my most reliable chick sexer. She ALWAYS falls in love with a roo.) Supposedly, the females will have a speckled chest & the males will have a solid chest with some robin-red feathers. They all look female to me, so I'm sure they're just too young. Besides, DD's has to be a male. She has yet to pick a female. LOL

We kept the tiny failure to thrive chick & 2 other white quail. You can see how it's feathers are coming in slower as well as it's smaller size. Still not sure what it's outcome will be, but it's at least developing now.

Like chickens, quail chicks like to sleep on their sides. They are so relaxed, they look dead- until you put your hand in & they POP up.

 

[chickendreams24]

@chickendreams24 your quotes reply above was a work of art! Love it! Yes we are in town flock owners. Galesburg has pretty simple rules to comply with so it works out perfect for us. Sorry about your loss. I know I would be sitting with the 20 ga waiting for preditors if the city would let me.

Lol thank you unfortunately I've just reread through my messages and found about a million mistakes as always autocorrect ruins what I'm typing lol

Happy St Nicholas Day! The kids got their shoe candy then went off to school. It's also the quail's 2 week hatch day. Can't believe how fast these little guys grow. Although we cannot sex them yet, I'm pretty sure the 3rd one pictured is a male. (It's DD's fav & she's my most reliable chick sexer. She ALWAYS falls in love with a roo.) Supposedly, the females will have a speckled chest & the males will have a solid chest with some robin-red feathers. They all look female to me, so I'm sure they're just too young. Besides, DD's has to be a male. She has yet to pick a female. LOL [COLOR=333333]We kept the tiny failure to thrive chick & 2 other white quail. You can see how it's feathers are coming in slower as well as it's smaller size. Still not sure what it's outcome will be, but it's at least developing now.[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]Like chickens, quail chicks like to sleep on their sides. They are so relaxed, they look dead- until you put your hand in & they POP up.[/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

They're so cute!!! I love ours they're darling! Okay so you kept 6 which gives us 9 for some reason I thought there had been more that DH2B pulled out. Okay that makes me feel better. Lol I must admit I think I'm in love with the quail lol they are just darling!!! Such content little things.

 

[Justjered]

Just ordered 8 silkie and 6 serama hatching eggs. Excited! Now hoping my broody silkie hen holds out for me and stays broody till they get here