Larkwell Valley (2023)

[JacinLarkwell]

in 15 years, maybe.

Gives me plenty of time to get a pen up then, lol

 

[The Birb King]

Bird is done. Got the saddle and hackles I wanted, as well as some chest and tail feathers. Also took the breasts for tonight. Since he's almost over a year old, the rest wasn't worth taking in our opinion, so we gave him back to the flocks. Especially the broodies since they're not eating as well as the others are right now. Only exceptions were the ducks and the current chicks

You butchered a rooster then fed it to the other chickens?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You butchered a rooster then fed it to the other chickens?

Parts, yes. The rest we used for ourselves and the dog and cat

 

[The Birb King]

Parts, yes. The rest we used for ourselves and the dog and cat

That's kinda messed up honestly and it can make them sick

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That's kinda messed up honestly and it can make them sick

These are the same birds that steal out of the gut buckets during processing. The bird in question was a picture of health anyways, and if a predator had snagged him, I can guarantee the rest of the flock would have picked at the carcass before I went out to move it.

I'm not going to sit here and argue with you about it though. I'm jot the only one that leaves carcasses for the birds to pick at on here

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Potentially pure araucana chick. Looks just like some of mine did as chicks last spring. Clean faced, and I believe rumpless. I'll check again when it's older and bigger

And yes, I got those mud balls off its toenails after the pictures

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I need to stop getting attached to chicks. The blue chunk I posted had to be put down today. This morning I noticed one eye was closed and she had no balance. Further exploration showed she favored one leg and had an eye injury, possibly to the extent of no eye at all. She wouldn't have made it with a broody like the rest, and I am not set up to work with a chick that has those issues, so we decided a quick end was better than a slower one that might take days or longer to take her naturally. We are unsure of what happened, main theory is that something was wrong that mama sensed and she chased her off which resulted in the peck.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Two have hatched under Mare. Well, one under her and one under Bunny. They're both under Mare now. Bunny is still on egg mode and refused to settle when I tried to give her both chicks and move her. So she's back in her nest and I'll move Mare tomorrow with any that are under her.

Spitzhauben has 5 under her, 1 bantam, 1 normal and 3 chunks. The bantam may get picked off, the chunks are pretty stupid, but the bantam is very stupid. Spitzhaubens is mad I won't let her range anymore, but she was constantly getting seperated from the 4 that currently share a brain cell, so they're all confined to lessen that chance.

Jezebel, the Phoenix and their 2 are in the red coop now.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Also candled eggs from The Moonshiner. He was awesome enough to send 24, and of those, 15 are doing great and 2 more may or may not be viable still. I'll try to get a photo of one in a couple of days

 

[NagemTX]

My Spitzhauben got mad I put her in the brood box I made. She stopped sitting the eggs.☹ She is so easy to break from brooding.