Kat’s Journey into Chicken Keeping

[LaFemmeKatia]

Just wanted to let you know that they are available from a leading hatchery here stateside.
View attachment 2338038
But your hens look prettier than theirs

That is a beautiful bird!

 

[BY Bob]

Oh she challenges me all right! She was naturally the first one to escape the run on me one day as I was going in. She ran into the brush line so I couldn’t catch her. I was worried to death but I was forced to give up.
Little while later she was outside the run. I opened the door and she went in.

That is a perfect leghorn story. I'm out! I'm out! You can't catch me! Ha Ha!

OK, I'm done. I want to go back please.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I always reckon this one looks like it died & got stuffed. That is not typical Campine behaviour! They're ADD chickens!

Thank you. I think my girls are very pretty. They're certainly mad.

Lol, ADD chickens!
I thought my leghorn is an ADD chicken!
I hate to show my ignorance (remember, I’m still a newbie, haha) but why are Campines rare?

 

[BY Bob]

Big Guy - (05/2020 to 09/17/2020)
View attachment 2337965
My big Muscovy drake passed away this morning after a brief illness.
We found him sitting by the pond yesterday evening, and We knew something was wrong when he didn’t come running for dinner. The Ducks always do that.
I brought him inside and gave him a thorough going over, and all we found was a small wound under his wing at the joint and a smaller one on his side under the same wing. No bones were broken. He was able to walk, he just didn’t want to. I cleaned the wounds and put antibiotic ointment on them. They weren’t bleeding and they looked okay.
I put him in a dog cage with food and water. He wouldn’t eat or drink, which is odd for him but I thought he’d eat once he settled down. He seemed like he was stunned or something. But his breathing was normal. His crop was mostly empty.
I put him in the spare bedroom and closed the air conditioning to the room so he would be warm. I slept in there with him.
I offered water again but he refused, so I decided to call an Avian vet who was referred to me In the morning. She is an hour away from me, but I didn’t like how he looked. He looked stoned.
At around 5 am I was startled awake by thrashing in the cage. He was having some kind of a seizure.
And then he was gone.
Mike and I are both pretty upset.
RIP Big Guy.

I am so sorry for your loss. So sad. He was a handsome fellow.

 

[BY Bob]

Just wanted to let you know that they are available from a leading hatchery here stateside.
View attachment 2338038
But your hens look prettier than theirs

Enabler

 

[BY Bob]

Lol, ADD chickens!
I thought my leghorn is an ADD chicken!
I hate to show my ignorance (remember, I’m still a newbie, haha) but why are Campines rare?

Leghorns can have a little ADD. I've experienced it.

Campines are a rare chicken because they are not an exceptional layer and they are not a big enough for a meat bird. Much like leghorns they are a challenge to keep but unlike leghorns they don't lay a lot of eggs.

There are a lot of reasons for a chicken to be rare. Many chickens are endangered. Cream Legbars almost disappeared in the 70s because no one wanted blue eggs.

 

[Ribh]

Lol, ADD chickens!
I thought my leghorn is an ADD chicken!
I hate to show my ignorance (remember, I’m still a newbie, haha) but why are Campines rare?

They are a Belgium breed that nearly died out during the war. Plus they don't often go broody, the males are hen feathered [so difficult to sex] & aren't a top egg layer so people aren't so keen on them. They are also flighty screamers unless you spend the time to gentle them down.
They are average layers of medium sized white eggs but having said that my Golden is an excellent layer of a largish white egg.

I like pretty chickens & these girls are gorgeous. They are super smart, have tons of personality, love to forage, are smart free rangers & are quite gentle birds.

 

[drstratton]

Big Guy - (05/2020 to 09/17/2020)
View attachment 2337965
My big Muscovy drake passed away this morning after a brief illness.
We found him sitting by the pond yesterday evening, and We knew something was wrong when he didn’t come running for dinner. The Ducks always do that.
I brought him inside and gave him a thorough going over, and all we found was a small wound under his wing at the joint and a smaller one on his side under the same wing. No bones were broken. He was able to walk, he just didn’t want to. I cleaned the wounds and put antibiotic ointment on them. They weren’t bleeding and they looked okay.
I put him in a dog cage with food and water. He wouldn’t eat or drink, which is odd for him but I thought he’d eat once he settled down. He seemed like he was stunned or something. But his breathing was normal. His crop was mostly empty.
I put him in the spare bedroom and closed the air conditioning to the room so he would be warm. I slept in there with him.
I offered water again but he refused, so I decided to call an Avian vet who was referred to me In the morning. She is an hour away from me, but I didn’t like how he looked. He looked stoned.
At around 5 am I was startled awake by thrashing in the cage. He was having some kind of a seizure.
And then he was gone.
Mike and I are both pretty upset.
RIP Big Guy.

I'm so sorry to hear that Kat, it's always so hard to lose a pet!

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Oh man, what a day. After two days and nights of heavy rains there was a mud mess waiting for me this morning.
The area of the run that I fenced off for the chicks was a mess. The yard had pretty much flooded.
That was some cleanup! I used a bag of pine chips to cover the ground in the run, and had to clean mud off of feeders and waterers.
Then I had to bathe a chicken!
They all were a little dirty, mostly their legs, but one girl must have taken a mud bath, because she was covered.
I bathed her with dishwashing liquid and warm water in the sink. She seemed to really enjoy it! Who knew chickens like luxuriating in a bath!
I didn’t take pictures, I had my hands full.
But afterward...

I put the hair dryer on her on low.

Then I made her an egg yolk for breakfast.

 

[drstratton]

She looks a lot bigger in the last picture...who knew chickens were so fluffy...Lol

Sounds like you had a full day of it!