INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pginsber]

So I decided to try to introduce the little family to the rest of the flock. My plan is to keep momma and the baies in the tractor next to the coop during the day, and in an dog kennel in the coop at night, until everyone is settled with each other. So I put the tractor outside, scooped up momma and the three littles, and out to the coop we went. The rest of the flock came running up to see what the new commotion was. No issues at all, just a lot of curiosity. So after about 10 minutes of that, I opened the lid and let Lavender out next to the tractor by herself to see how the flock would do. No one really even noticed her. So I let the babies out with her. OMG. The flock didn't seem to care about the kids, but Lavender got super ditzy and distracted by being out of the tractor for the first time in a month. Pecking away as the babies followed her around. One of my wyandotte hens pecked the babies lightly, and I expected a reaction from Lavender. Nothing. She just went about her business. Then she jumped up into the coop, oblivious that they couldnt follow her. So I put them up in there with her, and the Wyandotte hen jumped into the coop too. Next thing I know Lavender is flying out of the coop, babies inside with Jules still, and she hides under the coop. I dove in and grabbed the babies, got her dingy butt out from under the coop, and this is how they are now....
She has been such a wonderful mother. I don't know what to do about this submission and lack of protection for her chicks. Or maybe its just the excitement of being back with the flock. Help!

Your experience sounds crazy to see!
Our Mom isn't particularily protective, but the 3 week old babies seem to be agile and quick enough for it not to matter so far. Plus--they're really good at screaming bloody murder.

Our chicks have been loose in the coop the whole time. The Mom took them to a corner on the floor and has been raising them there. When she leaves to go outside, other birds lay their eggs in the nest she made.

One time, Mom was making a dust pile--presumably to demonstrate to the chicks about dust bathing--and our mean bantam Orpington came over to assert her dominance. Mom's tail got as big as a turkey, the bantam pecked her one time, then Mom and babies ran away.

So far, so good. When I brought out the scratch grains and pumpkin trimmings, everybody went nuts, chicks were running around helter skelter trying to avoid the Pullet Pecking festival. It was tense, but successful.
Good luck with yours!

 

[kabhyper1]

Thanks lol. How long do your chicks stay out from under mom? Mine have been out in the sunshine scratching and preening for about an hour, and seem fine. Its about 55 degrees here. She doesn't seem interested in laying down. They aren't trying to get under her either. I was thinking maybe I could figure out some steps for the chicks to get in and out of the coop. Im going to try the tractor thing for a few days and then see how they do again outside with the flock.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I had a repair made to the ice maker in my freezer. The motor would no longer go in reverse so only crushed ice came out. Well Sears left the old motor here. If anyone has a need for it, please let me know. I'm not sure if it would be useful in making an incubator or not.

 

[pginsber]

Thanks lol. How long do your chicks stay out from under mom? Mine have been out in the sunshine scratching and preening for about an hour, and seem fine. Its about 55 degrees here. She doesn't seem interested in laying down. They aren't trying to get under her either. I was thinking maybe I could figure out some steps for the chicks to get in and out of the coop. Im going to try the tractor thing for a few days and then see how they do again outside with the flock.

The chicks stayed out about an hour at a time, and came out about 3-4 times during the day each day Saturday and Sunday.

Our pop door is about 20" off the ground without a ramp on the inside. There's a ramp on the outside, but nothing on the inside, so I was going to build a ramp on the inside, too.
Last Friday, I heard cheeping that was so loud, I could hear it inside the car, in the driveway, as soon as I came home from work. I was worried like crazy!
Att 3 chicks had jumped up 20" to the pophole--following Mom--and were sitting in the pop door threshold, screaming at mom. They did that on and off for a whole day, and never came out into the chicken run.

They have not yet sat under Mom while they're outside...they're too busy!

I bet your chicks are more agile, strong, and eager to follow Mom than you can imagine.

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
Aww your chicks sound like little troopers! I'm sure mine are too, today was just their first day with the flock. It kinda freaked me out a little. I just put them back in the barn. I forgot how much rain we are supposed to get, so keeping the tractor outside wont work. It's good to know they are hardy little guys. I think the heat lamps are a little warm for them sometimes. They obviously can take the cool weather for longer than I thought.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I know I posted this before, but if anyone is looking for a rooster I have some that are extra and we plan to process on Nov 16 or 23rd. I ask for some of the feed money back but it is a good deal if you want a full grown rooster that is friendly.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Thanks for the congrats about dear Margie! She's such a sweetie.
Haha, thanks for the offer, but my girls are living the bachelorette life for now.
It's just her down showing through her molting feathers. She has normal feathers any other time:

On a side note, though, I do love those silkied Ameraucanas! Might have to make room for them later on!
Feather-sexing only works on birds that are bred for it. It is a sexlinked trait obtained by crossing a fast-feathering male over slow-feathering females. The result is fast-feathering females and slow-feathering males. As day olds, then, you can tell by looking at the pins on their wings. FF females have alternating long and short pins, while SF males have all short pins.

I know what you're saying about Wyandottes, although I have seen enough of them now that I have little difficulty telling them apart. Like CCCCHICKENS said, look for the black ring around the neck on the males. You can also usually see a more patchy feather coloring in the shoulders on the male.
I use crumbles, too. My hens absolutely wouldn't eat pellets. I'm not sure why. Anyway, Dumor is Purina feed, but packaged specifically for TSC. There's also a lot of speculation that they leave an ingredient out of Dumor that's in Purina, because a lot of people say their droppings smell horrible on Dumor, but not as bad on Purina. I don't know if that's true or not because it's been ages since I last fed Dumor to my girls.
I wondered the same thing. Was there a show or something that I missed?




EDIT: It quoted the wrong post here.

Anyway, I refer to my coop as the Big-Girl coop, too! Especially when I have pullets about to move out into the coop.

i realize it is just her down, but it males her feather appear to be silkied.

and u never said anything about a black or ring. I mentioned something about the color white though.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sorry, I must have misread your post in regards to sexing Wyandottes. All I know about sexing 'Dottes is the black ring on the neck and the patchy shoulders. Although, like with other comb types, the male's is distinctly larger and redder earlier than the female's.


ETA: Oh, I see, I saw white and read black. This is me without enough sleep.

 

[pbirdhaven]

blueXsplash=50% blue 50% splash, splashXsplash=100% blue, blueXblue=50% blue 25% black 25% splash. Since you ddidnt mention anything about having blacks I will leave those out. Hopefully this helped a little.

Apparently my splash cochins haven't read up on genetics--I have a splash pullet from splashxsplash parents! Her color is a bit washed out, though. Plan to pair her with blue or black.

Pimento- I have used both. I get a lot of waste from pellets so I've gone to strictly crumbles. Also I like the Dumor better. No real reason, I think it smells better!! I have LF and Bantams and got tired of using different for each.

Almost all of my birds are on pellets--bantams and LF. I don't have any really small ones, like OEG or seramas, but my silkies and bantam cochins learn to eat them. I mix them with crumbles until they get the hang of it. My experience is the opposite of yours, Danand--I get more waste from crumbles because they scratch it out and lose it in the bedding. My pellets come from a local feed mill and are somewhat smaller than Dumor or RK, so I think that heps.

Our coop is finally finished!
I have a question about quarantining, though.
Here's a little back story: A friend bought us chicks(group A), from CL, as a gift. She kept them until we could finish our coop. Long story short, we had to find them a second temporary home. In the meantime, I bought four chicks(group B) from Brad Selig.
Unfortunately my second friend introduced three more birds(group C) to group A without quarantining. Before I can put A and B together, I'm going to have to quarantine the original birds, right?
It just took me FOUR MONTHS to build this coop. I don't have the time or money to build a quarantine coop/area.
I need some suggestions! What can I make or buy to do this? I have space to put something in the garage if I need to....
Looking to spend no more than $80 on this. I'm going to be bringing home 2 pullets and 2 Roos about 5 months old.

The suggestions for large boxes in the garage are good. I like to move my quarantined birds to the outside after I've watched them for a couple of weeks so that there really is exposure to any bacteria, etc. that might be floating around. I have old rabbit hutches that keep them elevated so that they aren't actually in direct contact with the other birds. Another way that I have see is to use barrels lying on a platform of some sort with wire and a door at the open end. A board can be laid inside to level out the bottom, but a deep layer of straw with shavings on top works as well. With bantams 5 gallon buckets can be used rather than barrels for one or two small birds.

 

[bradselig]

Apparently my splash cochins haven't read up on genetics--I have a splash pullet from splashxsplash parents!  Her color is a bit washed out, though.  Plan to pair her with blue or black.

Almost all of my birds are on pellets--bantams and LF.  I don't have any really small ones, like OEG or seramas, but my silkies and bantam cochins learn to eat them.  I mix them with crumbles until they get the hang of it.  My experience is the opposite of yours, Danand--I get more waste from crumbles because they scratch it out and lose it in the bedding.  My pellets come from a local feed mill and are somewhat smaller than Dumor or RK, so I think that heps.

The suggestions for large boxes in the garage are good.  I like to move my quarantined birds to the outside after I've watched them for a couple of weeks so that there really is exposure to any bacteria, etc. that might be floating around.  I have old rabbit hutches that keep them elevated so that they aren't actually in direct contact with the other birds.  Another way that I have see is to use barrels lying on a platform of some sort with wire and a door at the open end. A board can be laid inside to level out the bottom, but a deep layer of straw with shavings on top works as well.  With bantams 5 gallon buckets can be used rather than barrels for one or two small birds.

splashxsplash= 100% splash not blue . Black x splash = 100% blue