I'm never gonna get an egg!!!

[Crooked Chicken]

Squatch?! I haven't even been to that thread - can't say the name sounds inviting. Oh well.....

Yes, do enjoy those girls and they will pay you rewards later!

Just had my babies out for a romp in the living room. They are growing so fast. Of the 9 youngest, I think I've got 6 boys and 3 girls + Eve, so have separated them in the brooder/cage so they have more room. The girls will be close to egg laying age come spring.

Took them outside several days ago when it was a little warmer and let them take their first real dirt bath. I've now made them dirt bath tubs with soil from the stump and birdseed so they can have one inside too.

 

[WVduckchick]

Squatch?! I haven't even been to that thread - can't say the name sounds inviting. Oh well.....

Yes, do enjoy those girls and they will pay you rewards later!

Just had my babies out for a romp in the living room. They are growing so fast. Of the 9 youngest, I think I've got 6 boys and 3 girls + Eve, so have separated them in the brooder/cage so they have more room. The girls will be close to egg laying age come spring.
View attachment 1205535
View attachment 1205536
View attachment 1205543
Took them outside several days ago when it was a little warmer and let them take their first real dirt bath. I've now made them dirt bath tubs with soil from the stump and birdseed so they can have one inside too.

View attachment 1205542

Awesome!!

I have a serama pullet inside now, been treating her for a probably respiratory infection all week. She finally did some exploring around the living room today, she's almost ready to go back outside, although i may end up keeping her inside all the time.

Her sister started laying a week or so ago, maybe she will lay her first egg in her indoor cage!

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Awesome!!

I have a serama pullet inside now, been treating her for a probably respiratory infection all week. She finally did some exploring around the living room today, she's almost ready to go back outside, although i may end up keeping her inside all the time.

Her sister started laying a week or so ago, maybe she will lay her first egg in her indoor cage!

View attachment 1205560 View attachment 1205561

She's so pretty! Why are you thinking of keeping her inside? Just for the heck of it or?

I think Eve would be perfectly happy living in the house, perched on my fathers shoulder. I've kinda wondered about her eyesight since she was little -- seems her aim is off.... My dad threw a few tiny bits of french fries to the chicks to watch them play keep away. I tried to give Eve a taste, but she kept pecking about a half inch from the fry. Might have to get her some glasses, lol

I just love your wood stove. I ended up buying one of those electric fireplaces since both chimneys have both been taken down. One was removed below roofline when I bought this place and I had the other removed when I had bath upstairs remodeled. I believe they'd both been hit by lightning.

 

[WVduckchick]

She's so pretty! Why are you thinking of keeping her inside? Just for the heck of it or?

I think Eve would be perfectly happy living in the house, perched on my fathers shoulder. I've kinda wondered about her eyesight since she was little -- seems her aim is off.... My dad threw a few tiny bits of french fries to the chicks to watch them play keep away. I tried to give Eve a taste, but she kept pecking about a half inch from the fry. Might have to get her some glasses, lol

I just love your wood stove. I ended up buying one of those electric fireplaces since both chimneys have both been taken down. One was removed below roofline when I bought this place and I had the other removed when I had bath upstairs remodeled. I believe they'd both been hit by lightning.

Thanks. It's gotten cold outside so I'm afraid she has gotten so accustomed to the temp inside, she may get too cold back outside. And i enjoy having her inside. Hubby was laughing, she is so quiet...unless i leave the room. She chirps until I come back lol.

That's odd about Eve and the eyesight issue. Have you noticed it happening for a while, or is this something new? I'm not even sure what to suggest, other than checking her pupils for reaction to a flashlight. Pupils should shrink, just like our own.

We don't use the wood stove nearly as much as I'd like to, only when it gets super cold outside. But i do love the warmth and smell of it.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Thanks. It's gotten cold outside so I'm afraid she has gotten so accustomed to the temp inside, she may get too cold back outside. And i enjoy having her inside. Hubby was laughing, she is so quiet...unless i leave the room. She chirps until I come back lol.

That's odd about Eve and the eyesight issue. Have you noticed it happening for a while, or is this something new? I'm not even sure what to suggest, other than checking her pupils for reaction to a flashlight. Pupils should shrink, just like our own.

We don't use the wood stove nearly as much as I'd like to, only when it gets super cold outside. But i do love the warmth and smell of it.

Yes, that makes sense with the colder temps now. I still plan to move the babes outside when they are fully feathered, but will have the sweeter heater for them.

Nothing new with Eve -- I've noticed this with her forever. She pecks at things and misses. I'm sure there isn't anything I can do about it and she's getting long just fine. Glad your girl is pretty quiet. Eve used to scream a lot because she was lonely and didn't like being put in the cage until her little friends came along -- now she's probably the quietest in the bunch.

I keep trying to find things to entertain them when they come out. I lay on the floor and they crawl all over me and perch on my head. I do have to cover my eyes though -- I've already been poked a couple of times. They also see to enjoy climbing onto my dad's feet and he bops them up and down. Too funny.

 

[apryl29]

Hahahaha, I laughed my butt off at these pics!

I didn't notice the jail sign. LMAO.. I need a sign like that for Odin's cage.

Mine still aren't doing squat except growing combs. Lulu stares in the nest all creepy like when somebody else is laying but never takes it farther than that. Tucks decided to do some kind of freaky molt, just her tail and her non existent beard spot so no eggs there either. Susan has no excuse, molt is done she's had more protein than a bodybuilder but still zip out of her too.

I have one that has a big of male pattern baldness going on. It appears that she's still laying, but they're less than a year old so hopefully that's why. My bantam did a pretty intense molt last month, her stomach was completely naked! And I must say that chickens look ridiculous w/o a tail.

I think some of mine are having a light molt as there are feathers everywhere on top of the duck feathers that haven't slowed down ever.

I still just have the one squatter and funny that she too was always the one that was most timid. I'm still getting a lot of eggs though, and it's been in freezing temps at night. Will be freezing temps in day time later this week with maybe snow flurries Friday.

I was gone all day yesterday -- seems my Ortho docs pulled tent stakes and moved to another town about 2 hours away. In 2007 I bought a quad to go tooling around the desert on. I made the mistake of taking a Safety class - he had me doing something that caused me to flip and roll, ended up with a tibial plateau fracture of my left knee, split my tibia, tore all ligaments and meniscus off.... had lots of hardware installed, was unable to be weight bearing for 3 months. Anyway -- 10 years later and my knee has been super painful. I have lots of arthritis in in now and the bones at outside of knee keep locking up. She said my ACL and PCL are both blown. I need a full knee replacement, but told her I plan to wait as long as I can as I'm the only one in this house that's mobile. So got a steroid shot for now and it's helped. Not gonna go there again though -- just too far and we had to follow the thunderstorm all the way home.

Spent the day making/installing some flashing on the windy side of the chicken coop as it always seems to get wet on that side. The idiot that put the roof on didn't leave but about 1" overhang. So hopefully that helps. Still have to add the wire and framing on the in coop brooder, then build poop board and roost to put on top of it.

Hope everyone's been having a good week!

My mom had a hip replacement done this summer and it went really well. I think if you wait long enough then the pain you have from having the surgery actually pales in comparison to the pain you had before, and that really helps... as long as you don't wait too long, like my mom did. Her joint was actually necrotic, but for some reason her drs all missed it and blamed it all on arthritis.

My little Early Girl (named that when she hatched a day and a half before her eggmates) laid me this beauty yesterday! She met me at the coop door to let me know she was no longer a free loader! she was very proud of her gift!! It is the most unusual color! She is an Olive Egger and hatched from a really dark green egg. The egg she laid is a khaki green/ brown/green. The eggs in the picture are Ms. Bonnie's (first to lay), Ms. Early Girl's (third to lay) and Ms. Esmarelda's (second to lay). That just leaves Ms. Tiny...she is still deciding if she is going to lay now or wait till Spring
View attachment 1203285

Congrats! It's beautiful!

Hey crazy chicken ladies! Just checking in to see how everyone is doing? And I don't want this thread lost forever. I'm going to ask this thread be moved to random ramblings so we don't get in trouble

It's been pretty cold and breezy here, so have been trying to get all my winter prep stuff done. No snow or anything, but did have a teeny bit of sleet the other day. The ground is crunchy and all of the chicken/duck water bowls are frozen solid except the 2 heated bowls. Had to haul a couple buckets of warm water out this morning as even the hydrant doesn't want to work, lol.

Took the dogs to the vet for shot and nail trims yesterday. So I decided that since I was going anyhow, now would be a good time to take poop samples for testing. I put several frozen chicken poops in a baggie -- all clear for parasites

The birds don't seem the least bit bothered by the cold -- even when it was very breezy. They've been out for a couple of hours most days this week, and that big bird still keeps coming back so I have to keep a close watch on them.

I hope everyone and their chickies are doing well -- I miss you guys!

I got heated bowls and they are awesome! I couldn't fit a regular water dish in Odin's cage so I got him a heated dog dish. I'm having a terrible time w/ him dipping his waddles in the water and I'm worried he'll get frost bite. I've been trying to slather on bag balm every couple of days. I think he likes it b/c he never fights me when I'm putting it on him.
Mine don't seem to care about the cold at all. Today it was 23 degrees out when I opened their pop door and they all ran out. It snowed a little yesterday morning and when I opened the door a couple went out and stood on the ramp like they had no idea what to do. I tossed out some scratch and they finally went out. Thankfully it was a light snow so it was all melted later in the day. I'm going to go get a uv tarp to cover the back part of their run so it'll help block the snow from falling on that part of the run, but will allow light through so it will melt any snow that blows under. Hopefully it will work and keep a space for them so they can walk outside. We're supposed to get 2-3 clippers this week, but hopefully we won't get hit w/ much lake effect here. I've noticed that even when the outside temp is down in the 20's the inside temp has stayed around 32 so I'm hoping that means their body heat will keep them above freezing in there.

Squatch?! I haven't even been to that thread - can't say the name sounds inviting. Oh well.....

Yes, do enjoy those girls and they will pay you rewards later!

Just had my babies out for a romp in the living room. They are growing so fast. Of the 9 youngest, I think I've got 6 boys and 3 girls + Eve, so have separated them in the brooder/cage so they have more room. The girls will be close to egg laying age come spring.
View attachment 1205535
View attachment 1205536
View attachment 1205543
Took them outside several days ago when it was a little warmer and let them take their first real dirt bath. I've now made them dirt bath tubs with soil from the stump and birdseed so they can have one inside too.

View attachment 1205542

They are adorable!
The Squatch Watchers started out as a thread about someone who had a feral chicken roaming her woods and looking for suggestions to catch it. She swore she saw a hen and dubbed it an elusive sasquatch chicken, but eventually a little roo wandered out of the woods and joined her flock. The hen was never found though her husband admitted that he too had seen her. She put out a trail cam and a live trap, but never saw her again. We speculated that maybe she was sitting on some eggs, but that idea was abandoned in October after she hadn't been seen in over a month. So after a while it turned in to a random rambling and one of the long time followers started a thread in Random Ramblings. You're welcome to join! It's pretty much a thread about nothing and everything. People pop in and out, much like this thread. It's a nice group of people. Recipes shared... No need to go back to the beginning and read the many pages. I usually go back a couple to see what's going on then jump in.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/official-squatch-watchers-thread.1208165/page-426

I do like this thread quite a bit though. I like being able to commiserate w/ others about free loading chickens.
I almost forgot! I went out Saturday morning to let my girls out into the run. After I do I do a 'run check' and walk around the run to make sure there's no signs of a break in attempt. There was an egg in the run! It had been laid some time the day before. I had locked down my run with pull ties and hadn't planned on opening it up any time soon so I grabbed a rake and tried to pull it up to the pop door. BUT the rake wasn't long enough so there I am, lying on the floor of the coop with my head and arm sticking out of the pop door trying to rake the egg towards me. SMH... It was frozen, of course. And naturally I had been planning on going shopping so laying in the coop wasn't on my to do list that morning. Fortunately everything brushed off. Not sure why she laid in the run when there was a perfectly good nest in the coop. The other day I had an egg laid on the coop floor which never happens either.

 

[apryl29]

OH! I forgot... I found some chicken socks at Target over the weekend. Naturally my child was with me when I saw them, but I grabbed them anyway. And we didn't end up getting the chicken onesie b/c she saw a llama onesie that she fell in love with (it has a tail). Her sister chose spiderman. It will make for interesting xmas morning photos.

 

[Chickassan]

Have y'all seen killer tomato lately?

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Glad your mom's hip replacement went well. Not sure how they could have missed the necrotic joint, but that does sound rather painful. My knee is feeling great at the moment -- I think those shots are wonderful. Too bad they won't give them very freely.

Yes, the bag balm application has a soothing affect on my boy too. I rarely see him relax as he's always on alert. But when I hold him and massage the ointment onto his comb, wattles and ears he closes his eyes and his head lowers -- especially the ears.

I love the heated bowls - they work great. I wish those ducks wouldn't take a bath in it though. When all of the regular bowls are frozen, the heated bowl in the run gets turned into a big mud pie.

I can see you now -- laying there reaching through the pop door. I've done it myself because I was too lazy to go around. And yeah, always seems to be the time you dress somewhat acceptable to go out and then end up crawling around or sitting on chicken poop. You sound a lot like me -- making the daily check around the coop for signs of varmints and trying to think of what am I gonna do when blah blah blah happens.

I bought some of that shade cloth.screen material a few months ago and was going to wrap part of the run with it. Not sure how well it will work, but hoping it will help keep the wind down a bit and maybe keep a lot of snow from blowing in -- if it snows.The plan was to sew dowel rod pockets like for curtains and use some hooks to attach them so they can be removed and stored later. Now I think I might just nail or staple it....

Can't wait to see your holiday photos! heee heeee

 

[Chickassan]

I've got to climb up into my coop to do anything, my neighbor and the road have seen my better side waaay too many times. Went grocery shopping Friday night before the roads froze and had a total strange man pick a feather out of my hair in the checkout....awkward.