Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

I have lost three chickens in the past two days, but it isn’t really all bad news. The fist loss was a shock and I feel awful for it. My beautiful Red Barnvelder Hyline cross in with Barney seemed to have been panicked and either fell off the nest box or ran into the corner between the nest box and the hardware cloth early Monday morning. I blame myself for the bad parking job that left the gap.

Yesterday I lost Gobbler, the larger of my two CX girls, at 14 or 15 months of age and 6.8kg (almost 15lbs). I’m fairly certain it was a heart issue, as she had been looking a little purplish around her comb and wattles. This leaves me at a loss for what to do with her sister Shanti, the runt CX, because the two were so close. I’m not sure if I can get another chicken in with her, but I don’t want her to be lonely. Roostie is still keeping her company from outside the pen. But putting him in with her isn’t an option. She doesn’t respond well to his mating attempts, and would actually hide under Gobbler.

The last chicken was not an unexpected loss, and we released her from her suffering. Hoppy is no longer with us. She wasn’t having any quality of life, and wasn’t regaining use of her legs. After a day of refusing even her favorite treats and water and when she started making pained noises when I would move her to try and coax her to eat we decided that it was the kindest thing we could do for her.

I sort of understand now why most farmers will just immediately cull an injured or sick bird, because there is so much time and effort that needs to go into recovery, and then having worked so closely getting an individual bird back on her feet, it is much harder emotionally when that loss does come. But I am still always going to try to help a bird first, doing otherwise just isn’t in my nature.

 

[rjohns39]

I have lost three chickens in the past two days, but it isn’t really all bad news. The fist loss was a shock and I feel awful for it. My beautiful Red Barnvelder Hyline cross in with Barney seemed to have been panicked and either fell off the nest box or ran into the corner between the nest box and the hardware cloth early Monday morning. I blame myself for the bad parking job that left the gap.

Yesterday I lost Gobbler, the larger of my two CX girls, at 14 or 15 months of age and 6.8kg (almost 15lbs). I’m fairly certain it was a heart issue, as she had been looking a little purplish around her comb and wattles. This leaves me at a loss for what to do with her sister Shanti, the runt CX, because the two were so close. I’m not sure if I can get another chicken in with her, but I don’t want her to be lonely. Roostie is still keeping her company from outside the pen. But putting him in with her isn’t an option. She doesn’t respond well to his mating attempts, and would actually hide under Gobbler.

The last chicken was not an unexpected loss, and we released her from her suffering. Hoppy is no longer with us. She wasn’t having any quality of life, and wasn’t regaining use of her legs. After a day of refusing even her favorite treats and water and when she started making pained noises when I would move her to try and coax her to eat we decided that it was the kindest thing we could do for her.

I sort of understand now why most farmers will just immediately cull an injured or sick bird, because there is so much time and effort that needs to go into recovery, and then having worked so closely getting an individual bird back on her feet, it is much harder emotionally when that loss does come. But I am still always going to try to help a bird first, doing otherwise just isn’t in my nature.

So sorry Kris

 

[BlueBaby]

@Kris5902 Sorry that you lost those hen's. I have a hatch due tomorrow, and there are 6 egg's from the Blue Double Laced Barnevelder in there.

 

[RoyalChick]

I can understand that. We took the simple way in getting it done, and it only cost us to get the marriage license in town. The minister is our friend and didn't want to charge us. He said that was his wedding gift to us.

That sounds lovely. Maybe have a party to celebrate your one year anniversary instead.

 

[RoyalChick]

I have lost three chickens in the past two days, but it isn’t really all bad news. The fist loss was a shock and I feel awful for it. My beautiful Red Barnvelder Hyline cross in with Barney seemed to have been panicked and either fell off the nest box or ran into the corner between the nest box and the hardware cloth early Monday morning. I blame myself for the bad parking job that left the gap.

Yesterday I lost Gobbler, the larger of my two CX girls, at 14 or 15 months of age and 6.8kg (almost 15lbs). I’m fairly certain it was a heart issue, as she had been looking a little purplish around her comb and wattles. This leaves me at a loss for what to do with her sister Shanti, the runt CX, because the two were so close. I’m not sure if I can get another chicken in with her, but I don’t want her to be lonely. Roostie is still keeping her company from outside the pen. But putting him in with her isn’t an option. She doesn’t respond well to his mating attempts, and would actually hide under Gobbler.

The last chicken was not an unexpected loss, and we released her from her suffering. Hoppy is no longer with us. She wasn’t having any quality of life, and wasn’t regaining use of her legs. After a day of refusing even her favorite treats and water and when she started making pained noises when I would move her to try and coax her to eat we decided that it was the kindest thing we could do for her.

I sort of understand now why most farmers will just immediately cull an injured or sick bird, because there is so much time and effort that needs to go into recovery, and then having worked so closely getting an individual bird back on her feet, it is much harder emotionally when that loss does come. But I am still always going to try to help a bird first, doing otherwise just isn’t in my nature.

So sorry Kris, and you tried so hard with Hoppy. You definitely gave her quality of life - I remember the video of her eating strawberries from your hand. Feel good about that at least.

 

[Kris5902]

Some good news... today is shearing day for the sheep and I was not invited to participate. I’m also hoping I won’t get invited to help with Haying this year! Unlikely, but a girl can dream. Yesterday I was offering 10:1 odds that DH won’t be doing any of the Mowing, Tedding, Swathing, or Baling this year, as BIL has commandeered the tractor and thanks to Covid one of his cousins has been here proving what a better farmer she is than us. I’m sure some of you will remember my picture from last year after (now) “Andrew” (His dad was using it when it happened) broke the Tedder? Random chains and haystring attempting to hold it together... our Mechanic/Welder/generally awesome guy is currently stuck in Australia. He has dual citizenship and has decided to basically skip winter entirely. Looks like that’s not an option this year though! I suppose it is nicer to get trapped in Australia for the winter over Canada though, even if we do have the best weather in the Country here.

I will be moving my last hatch of chicks to a foster home this weekend, and the 5 girls from my second and third hatches will be going out to their forever home on Saturday as well. This will put me plausibly close to the appropriate number of chickens for the insurance policy. The two “extra” girls from the first Hatch will be going to the home of the people who bought chicks from me last year, as they had a mink Attack which killed one hen and injured another. Their Rooster (the one they kept complaining of but never returned, if you recall, the kids picked out the birds) alerted them to the attack and they were able to drive the mink off with their dog. They now are very fond of the Rooster. I’m hoping they will also be ready to take them this weekend. Then I can hopefully send in my first hatch cockerels (Sausage, Fat Sausage, Tall Sausage, Loud Sausage, and Big Sausage) to “meat” their destiny, and redistribute the meat chicks in the two tractors.

“My” geese are growing up quite fast and are now almost half the size of their parents. I say “my geese” because although they are wild, they are cleaning up some of the leftover chicken feed nicely and are starting to tolerate my presence more. Also, by claiming them as mine, it keeps grubby not-so-little hands from trying to turn them into Christmas dinner!

I am also fairly impressed with the meat chicks survival instincts. Last year when I ran the Rangers, they were a fair distance away from my laying Tractors, so my Roosters aren’t totally used to seeing me move them. I’m quickly running out of space and grass around the little meaties, so today I had to move them quite a ways and right past Chickie Hawk. I released the littles and they all ran out looking for their breakfast, then right back under the tractor when they didn’t find it. Fine. I sprinkled some feed where I was moving it to and that got them out and occupied. I started to move the tractor and Hawk did his “alarm” growl. And, I was again surrounded as they all took cover in the back of the tractor. Ok, I can wait... in about a minute or two they venture back out in a rush. Hawk growls again at this sea of strange tiny velociraptors, and back under they go. It took about five repetitions of this and two feedings to get them moved the full 25 feet. If he wasn’t growling at the littles he was growling at the moving of the low meat tractor.

I think that more or less covers what I’ve been up to lately, and I hope everyone is doing well and Staying Safe, especially all my chicken friends in the USA.

 

[Kris5902]

So sorry Kris

It’s a part of life and having animals in it, but thank you for your understanding.

@Kris5902 Sorry that you lost those hen's. I have a hatch due tomorrow, and there are 6 egg's from the Blue Double Laced Barnevelder in there.

Thank you. And even more congratulations... Talk about a great wedding present... Baby chicks! Is Rodger the daddy again? I didn’t get much lacing on my Barnvelder Hyline Cross, she was a deep red with golden and black penciling almost just on her hackle feathers. She was a little more wild from the time she hatched than the rest of her incubator-mates. It might be more dominant with the Barnvelder hens though. Looking forward to more updates in the future!

So sorry Kris, and you tried so hard with Hoppy. You definitely gave her quality of life - I remember the video of her eating strawberries from your hand. Feel good about that at least.

Yes, I prefer to remember her happy and free ranging, being out and free and running to me when I would call them for treats; with her little hop she looked like she was skipping. She was a very happy chicken the last year. After years of confinement in a small dirty coop with just a tiny window to look out of, being manhandled and dropped by the unsupervised children was probably the best thing to happen to her in that time. She had about a month of rehab in a chicken sling in the barn and being brought into the trailer daily for a special omelette and physio. It was a slow recovery but she then got to be free and happy, and never wanted for feed or water again (plus added bonuses of strawberries and mealy worms, and dust bathing in the forest litter.

 

[Ribh]

I'm so sorry, Kris. I know it's part of farming but every loss hurts. You are a great chicken keeper & your chickens are very lucky to have you.

 

[BlueBaby]

@Kris5902 Yes, Roger is the daddy to this whole batch this time.

 

[BY Bob]

I have lost three chickens in the past two days, but it isn’t really all bad news. The fist loss was a shock and I feel awful for it. My beautiful Red Barnvelder Hyline cross in with Barney seemed to have been panicked and either fell off the nest box or ran into the corner between the nest box and the hardware cloth early Monday morning. I blame myself for the bad parking job that left the gap.

Yesterday I lost Gobbler, the larger of my two CX girls, at 14 or 15 months of age and 6.8kg (almost 15lbs). I’m fairly certain it was a heart issue, as she had been looking a little purplish around her comb and wattles. This leaves me at a loss for what to do with her sister Shanti, the runt CX, because the two were so close. I’m not sure if I can get another chicken in with her, but I don’t want her to be lonely. Roostie is still keeping her company from outside the pen. But putting him in with her isn’t an option. She doesn’t respond well to his mating attempts, and would actually hide under Gobbler.

The last chicken was not an unexpected loss, and we released her from her suffering. Hoppy is no longer with us. She wasn’t having any quality of life, and wasn’t regaining use of her legs. After a day of refusing even her favorite treats and water and when she started making pained noises when I would move her to try and coax her to eat we decided that it was the kindest thing we could do for her.

I sort of understand now why most farmers will just immediately cull an injured or sick bird, because there is so much time and effort that needs to go into recovery, and then having worked so closely getting an individual bird back on her feet, it is much harder emotionally when that loss does come. But I am still always going to try to help a bird first, doing otherwise just isn’t in my nature.

I am so sorry for the losses. I know Hoppy especially hurts. You did the best you could by her and stuck to what you felt was right. I totally understand that. I wish these could be real.