Langshan Thread!!!

[informative]

We just about lost one of our black hens yesterday due to the heat (107) and having to take them at 4 pm to be checked for the fair. UGH!! Today Shadow is drinking on her own, but she doesn't move real fast. She was always the first to the pen door. We moved her back outside this morning because my hubby was afraid she was stressed being in the house. We'll bring her back in when the temps get hotter this afternoon. Is this "normal" post heat stress activity? Should we do more for her? She just seems to keep falling asleep standing in place.

Some folks use Pedialyte (unflavored) or Duravet Vitamins & Electrolytes. I read somewhere that people made their own custom chicken Gatorade by adding a couple of spoons of sugar to the water and then a tiny sprinkle (1/8 tsp) of good quality sea salt (like pink himalayan salt) to like a gallon of water (salt is also known as electrolytes). Think you just want to be careful not to put iodized salt?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Well in town here we are limited to 12 chickens but on our farm we will have as many as we please assuming I can find lumber enough to build chicken barn extension space and sufficient fencing to keep them safe from the hogs and beavers and birds of prey and snakes and armadillos (do dillos mess with chickens?) and other random whatnots dogs or coyotes maybe - haven't seen any coyotes personally yet but have seen feral wandering homeless dogs.

Where would be a good place to see images of the German Langshan look? The dynamic between chickens is pretty interesting they communicate with vocal chirps but also seem to communicate with their eyes and looks and gestures. The original three (two weeks old now) have rotated alpha status first the red star was boss "look out coming through!" would just step on the others to get to the food or water. The Australorp with no tail feathers got tired of that and after a week started doing the wing flap combined with talons and beak and was clearly the alpha after a day or two of that bully tactic. Then the three new Langshan babies arrives The quiet Australorp has taken on the role of mothering the babies and now if either of the others give any of the babies a funny "look" that I cannot detect she will go straight from sitting pretty and broody looking to full on here's johnny whopping coming right at ya for the other two. The babies have taken to cuddling up to her now. Mothering instinct is a funny thing. Need to find my camera. Does this site support videos?

Welcome to the thread!
You can google them pretty much anywhere. They have a very refined look to them. I love everything about them. They look like wine glasses on a very long stem. Unfortunately, they are not available in the US as of yet.

Armadillos can mess with chickens and will certainly take eggs if given the chance. They like to burrow so be careful. As far as I can tell, I don't think they allow videos but you can get an account with YouTube for free and have your own "channel" and put links to the videos.

 

[informative]

so this is the German Langshan look?
http://s212.photobucket.com/user/wiley198/media/poultry/fed201113web.jpg.html

 

[ChickieWickies]

Well, our black hen Shadow just laid an egg--without a shell. But that's a good sign isn't it? She's drinking and has eaten a little watermelon. We've got her inside our house since it's 100 outside right now. It is supposed to cool down to 72 tonight, so we might put her out in her house to roost--she might feel more at home there.

None of the others are showing signs of heat stress. We've watered down the pen, added "splash" areas, and they have shade but breeze. Even the fluffy cochins are energetic, Shadow is just sluggish. Hopefully she is on her way to a full recovery.

She's sleeping a lot, but if you wake her she drinks on her own.

 

[199787]

Glad she seems better! I don't have a ton of knowledge on heat stress. I knew they could die, but I also figured once you cooled them down they would pretty much perk right back up.

 

[ChickieWickies]

Oh, I wish they'd just perk back up--we're all on pins and needles around here. It's weird how birds right next to each other can be affected so drastically differently. They all had the same access to water, air flow, and shade. Why one lady over another, who knows?

I know I do NOT want to repeat yesterday EVER--emergency care on 3 birds, vet checks at the fairgrounds in the horrible heat, and an 11 year old throwing up because he's so worried about his babies. Our oldest and our youngest each lost a loved lady, but we're all rallying for Shadow's complete recovery.

Thanks everyone for telling me what to put in her water to help her.

 

[informative]

Even though we plan to primarily harvest eggs from our chickens we are going dual purpose and as such do not plan to treat them as pets at all. To avoid this confusion our six chickens are named Nugget, Teriyaki, Blackened, Mustard, Cacciatore and Empanada. Just a reminder to everyone in the family we don't get upset about birds except for the loss of a good meal maybe. We only plan to eat slaughtered meat as opposed to found dead of uncertain causes meat (eww road kill right?).

Said I would dig up my camera and so I did - yes!

three new Langhshan babies 2 days old

You can see mustard pretty well in this shot top left - see the buff yellow on the chest and temples? Some sort of mix? closer pic yes I made that second waterer for the babies box seems to work OK

our Red Star (Nugget) and two Australorps Blackened with tailfeathers left and Teriyaki no tail feathers right

OK I'm not a photographer - OK shot of Nugget and the overhead lamp - red star have such pretty fur and feathers - buff color I think?

my lurking scared the two Australorps out of the adult food room back to their water room

All six in one shot they tend to gather in the food room wow chickens eat a lot!

Australorp (Teriyaki) 2 weeks old

Red Star (Nugget) by the big waterer - where is that flash button again?

 

[informative]

except for the fur on their legs and their personalities - you almost cannot tell the baby langshans apart from baby australorps. I find them to be more friendly and come right over to your hand if you reach in and wiggle your fingers. One has some yellow tones mixed in around the face area which makes me think this hatchery bird is maybe a mix of some sort or clearly slightly different breeding than the others.

 

[199787]

Some have yellow tones and some are very white in their light areas. it's normal.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

How did these birds wind up turning out?