Life With The Flock: Lacy Duckwing's Flock Thread

[Lacy Duckwing]

A video of my chicks that I took today:

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Update (Warning, it's a long one. ):

Last Thursday to last Saturday, I was gone for a few days, so my Mom and siblings took care of my flock. For the most part, the flock did well. Then Jewels let the whole flock out, thus causing my Mom to have bad feelings for her. After taking care of my flock for those few days, my Mom helped me decide whether I should retire Nightfall, my rooster for the year, early, or come Fall. She suggested early.

With Nightfall, I don't want to breed him. He had a rough start to life, which I think he'll past to his chicks, because I think there's bad genetics in his bloodline. Not to mention, he has a hairline crossbeak. Though it doesn't affect his looks, crossbeak often being genetic, could be passed down to his offspring and be bad.

So with the thought of all of that, Nightfall is causing more stress in my flock than he's worth. About half of the hens hate him anyways. So today, he went to a new home with one of my good and favorite neighbors. My Mom said in the neighborhood post, that Nightfall is good with people. Which he was, until a couple of hours till that neighbor could come over to pick him up. I told the neighbor about his attack, and she still wanted him. As she pulled away holding him on her lap, she asked what his name was. I told her "Nightfall", and she said, "Good, so now I don't have to name him." Because of that, I know Nightfall has found a really good home.

Now back to Saturday. On my way home, we stopped at my local feed store and ended up picking up some more chicks. My Mom wanted beards, so I got all the EEs with beards/muffs (Except for one because my Mom didn't say it had a big enough beard. ), two Cuckoo Marans (Which I realized afterward that these came from the same exact Hatchery as Maisy, so... they most likely won't have the qualities I'm looking for.), and one Isa Brown for Beth.

Their names are:

Easter Eggers: Amber (named after Copper-Amber), Twyla, Lilac (my favorite), and Anita.
Cuckoo Marans: Macy (named after Maisy), and Zelda.
Isa Brown: Tweety IV.

On the adult flock/hens:

Now that Nightfall is gone, I took off all their saddles this evening. For the small amount of time that Nightfall has been gone, I can already see that their stress level has gone down.

This morning, I started crop treatment on Jewels.... again. She's had crop problems in the past, which with the help of @Wyorp Rock, she got fixed. Unfortunately, I've been noticing that it looks like her crop problem is slowly coming back, so I'm treating her before her crop gets as bad as it did in the past. Since I've owned Jewels, I've been observing other SSs, I have noticed that crop problems seem sorta common in the breed. I even saw another SS who had the same problem as Jewels, did the same treatment, and got the problem again after a while. That being said, I think this is normal for Jewels' breed, and I think it may have convinced me to never get another SS again, no matter how much I think they're pretty. Jewels was my first impression, and I think she'll be my only one, sadly.

On the older chicks:

I think they're mostly cockerels... Sarah and Marvalo (Whiting True Blues), and Betty and Elisabeth (Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons) I'm pretty positive are pullets, and maybe Blair (Olive Egger) too. On cockerels, Admiral (Abigal) and Cody (Lucy), Olive Eggers, and Bobby (Beatrix), Whiting True Blue, I'm pretty positive are, and I think Sapphire (Lavendar Orpington) and Midnight (Black Orpington) might be too, but I'm really hoping they're not. Of the remaining ones, Turbulence (Olive Egger), and Phoebe and Victoria (Black Copper Marans), I'm still unsure of.

The older chicks got to be outside for a few hours in my largest dog kennel. They enjoyed it quite a bit, but towards the end they got cold. Betty got a small cut on one of her toes somehow, which was treated once discovered. Then their coop got cleaned today, and a new heat light bulb was put in, so they should be pretty happy.

Now time for pictures:

The last picture I took of Nightfall, which I took today:

Tweety IV with Beth II, both Isa Browns. (Beth used to be scared of chicks, so I used mealworms to get this picture. After the picture, Beth changed and pecked the chick I got for her. Don't worry, Tweety was perfectly ok.) :

Maisy, Cody, and Macy. My three barred birds, with Maran in all. Maisy and Macy are (supposed to be) Cuckoo Marans, and Cody is an Olive Egger, which is a Whiting True Blue mixed with a Black Copper Maran, in his case (the Barred Rock look means he's a cockerel) :

The EEs. From left to right: Amber, Twyla, Anita, and Lilac.:

Chicks left to right: Zelda, Anita (back), Tweety IV, Macy, Lilac (back), and Amber.:

Amber turns out that she has severe crossbeak. :

Left to right: Betty and Elisabeth today. They were too cute to not take pictures of them. They kept coming to me while I was trying to take the picture. :

~Lacy Duckwing

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I REALLY enjoyed reading this update!
You have a talent for writing! I'm sorry that you had to rehome Nightfall, but I'm glad he went to a good home! What are you going to do about the chick with cross beak?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I REALLY enjoyed reading this update!
You have a talent for writing! I'm sorry that you had to rehome Nightfall, but I'm glad he went to a good home! What are you going to do about the chick with cross beak?

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!
It's ok on him. The neighbor saw me outside earlier today and she stopped just to tell me that he is doing great.
On Amber, I'm going to try something I did about 10 years ago with my first crossbeak case, Marvalo I. (I put the beak opposite, hold for a little until Marvalo didn't like it anymore, then let her go. I did that everytime I held her, or just once a day. Her beak went from off to the side, to not noticable unless you was looking close.) Marvalo didn't have crossbeak as bad as Amber will, so I'm worried it won't work. But if it doesn't, I'm going to try making braces for Amber (I'd be trying to wire her beak opposite, if possible. Then keep her separated with my top care and attention. Maybe have her wear the braces for two weeks only if it appears to go well.), but again, I don't know if it'll work. Plus, I don't hear of chicken braces very much, so they might not even be effective.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!
It's ok on him. The neighbor saw me outside earlier today and she stopped just to tell me that he is doing great.
On Amber, I'm going to try something I did about 10 years ago with my first crossbeak case, Marvalo I. (I put the beak opposite, hold for a little until Marvalo didn't like it anymore, then let her go. I did that everytime I held her, or just once a day. Her beak went from off to the side, to not noticable unless you was looking close.) Marvalo didn't have crossbeak as bad as Amber will, so I'm worried it won't work. But if it doesn't, I'm going to try making braces for Amber (I'd be trying to wire her beak opposite, if possible. Then keep her separated with my top care and attention. Maybe have her wear the braces for two weeks only if it appears to go well.), but again, I don't know if it'll work. Plus, I don't hear of chicken braces very much, so they might not even be effective.

I hope everything goes well!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I hope everything goes well!

Thanks. Me too.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Update on the flock:

Jewels' crop treatment finished up yesterday! Both of us are happy about that. Jewels was starting to dread seeing me.

The older chicks got to be outside all day today. I hooked up my bantams old tractor whanna be for them. There's opportunities for them to perch in there if they want to, which I hope they don't. And if they do, I hope it doesn't mess them up because they're too young.

I worked with my younger chicks today hoping to get them friendly. They eventually all came around, with Zelda being the last. I worked a little on Amber's beak. I got it looking normal for a little while, but after she left me it went out of place again. Her beak is going to require a lot of work and time unfortunately.

On the hens, I've been considering letting them free range full time. So lately, I've been letting them free range a lot unsupervised. After today, I think maybe they shouldn't. I feel like I got three warnings not to, and should listen to them. Here's the warnings:

Warning #1: As I was putting a tool away in my shed, I heart the hens start sqwacking terribly. I knew there was trouble by their sound, so I ran out to see what was going on. Maisy, Shiloh, and Beth had gotten attacked by the neighbor's cat. They were perfectly ok, except for being spooked. I think their reaction spooked the cat because he gave up the chase once they started getting loud.

Warning #2: My flock started wandering awfully close to one of my neighbors, the exact neighbor I don't want them going near. I called them and they all came back good, but I still don't want them over there.

Warning #3: A neighbor had stopped by today and talked with my Mom for a bit. While he was talking to her, he told her how his chickens where all killed by a bobcat, and he witnessed it. He said he's surprised that my chickens hasn't been attacked yet. That neighbor does live very close to me, and me knowing what direction that bobcat is coming from, I'm closer, and that neighbor is right.

So concluding, I think it'd be best if my flock isn't free ranged full time. Also, I think I should do my best to keep them close.

~Lacy Duckwing

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

An update on the flocks:

The chicks of both age groups are doing great together. I've discovered that my Elizabeth is an Eli, which is a bummer, but, my best friend, @cluckmecoop7, gots me questioning my original suspections on a few of them like Turbulence. She thinks that he might be a she. I've been eyeing him over questioning once again, along with a few others. I'm not familiar with any of the breeds of him, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at yet, and same with the others. The ones I'm sure of as cockerels is Cody (very obvious and sex linked), Eli (sex linked), and Bobby. On pullets there's Sarah, Marvalo III, and Betty.

Speaking of Marvalo.... She's so small! She and Twyla are about the same size now! She's healthy and everything, so there's no concerns on her on size, but it's cute and funny on her size. She's very friendly too. She's the friendliest of all the Marvalos I've had. Today, when I was putting the chicks in their run, I had to carry them all because it's in a new place. Not Marvalo! She rode on my back to the run!

I do have some worries on Betty.... She's not doing well like everyone else. I occasionally see her gasping for air. She makes this sound that nobody else makes that tells me she isn't well. She's lighter than she should be, and I'm thinking weaker too. When I look at her face, I can tell something hasn't been right. I'm concerned that she came with something, just it's taking awhile to show. I'm just hoping that it's not a disease.

Macy and Zelda, two of the younger chicks, are beginning to get hard to tell apart. I was going by a spot on the back of their head, but now I'm going by the markings around their eyes. (Also, Macy's face doesn't look healthy to me, but it's undiagnosable.)

Today some of my hens got their nails done. Princess has been really needing hers done. I treated her Convicts Foot when I did her nails too. She often gets Convicts due to how her feet grow, so it's expected. Seeing I was doing Princess's nails, I remembered that Penny usually needs her nails done, so I hunted her down and did hers as well. She also needed foot treatment. She has something going on with both feet for awhile now, but I forgot about it, so today I worked on them. She had something like Convicts in her pad, which was easy to deal with. Then the other thing, I call a mole, appeared like part of her pad was rotting? I worked on it for a bit and got it as good as it'll get.

By the time I was done the long work with Penny, other hens had came by looking for the treats I was giving to the hens I was working on. Everyone at ease, I decided to do a couple other hens nails. I did Maisy's because they were starting to get a little long. I did a couple of Aundria's, but surprisingly, she didn't really need them done. I did Jewels' not that she needed them done, but because her's were growing weird. Then Rocky's was already too short, and Beth's was perfect.

Over the past couple of days, I have learned something new. Shiloh and Aundria has decided not to be like Rocky and Beth, but to be Birds of a Feather, Flock Together. From my observets of yesterday and today, the two almost seem unsepartable. This is new behavior since the rehoming of my rooster, Nightfall. Along with, Shiloh being much friendlier to me now. She now comes up to me a lot, when before she was always scared of me.

This update was actually longer than I expected. I hope nobody minds.

~Lacy Duckwing

 

[cluckmecoop7]

An update on the flocks:

The chicks of both age groups are doing great together. I've discovered that my Elizabeth is an Eli, which is a bummer, but, my best friend, @cluckmecoop7, gots me questioning my original suspections on a few of them like Turbulence. She thinks that he might be a she. I've been eyeing him over questioning once again, along with a few others. I'm not familiar with any of the breeds of him, so I'm not sure what I'm looking at yet, and same with the others. The ones I'm sure of as cockerels is Cody (very obvious and sex linked), Eli (sex linked), and Bobby. On pullets there's Sarah, Marvalo III, and Betty.

Speaking of Marvalo.... She's so small! She and Twyla are about the same size now! She's healthy and everything, so there's no concerns on her on size, but it's cute and funny on her size. She's very friendly too. She's the friendliest of all the Marvalos I've had. Today, when I was putting the chicks in their run, I had to carry them all because it's in a new place. Not Marvalo! She rode on my back to the run!

I do have some worries on Betty.... She's not doing well like everyone else. I occasionally see her gasping for air. She makes this sound that nobody else makes that tells me she isn't well. She's lighter than she should be, and I'm thinking weaker too. When I look at her face, I can tell something hasn't been right. I'm concerned that she came with something, just it's taking awhile to show. I'm just hoping that it's not a disease.

Macy and Zelda, two of the younger chicks, are beginning to get hard to tell apart. I was going by a spot on the back of their head, but now I'm going by the markings around their eyes. (Also, Macy's face doesn't look healthy to me, but it's undiagnosable.)

Today some of my hens got their nails done. Princess has been really needing hers done. I treated her Convicts Foot when I did her nails too. She often gets Convicts due to how her feet grow, so it's expected. Seeing I was doing Princess's nails, I remembered that Penny usually needs her nails done, so I hunted her down and did hers as well. She also needed foot treatment. She has something going on with both feet for awhile now, but I forgot about it, so today I worked on them. She had something like Convicts in her pad, which was easy to deal with. Then the other thing, I call a mole, appeared like part of her pad was rotting? I worked on it for a bit and got it as good as it'll get.

By the time I was done the long work with Penny, other hens had came by looking for the treats I was giving to the hens I was working on. Everyone at ease, I decided to do a couple other hens nails. I did Maisy's because they were starting to get a little long. I did a couple of Aundria's, but surprisingly, she didn't really need them done. I did Jewels' not that she needed them done, but because her's were growing weird. Then Rocky's was already too short, and Beth's was perfect.

Over the past couple of days, I have learned something new. Shiloh and Aundria has decided not to be like Rocky and Beth, but to be Birds of a Feather, Flock Together. From my observets of yesterday and today, the two almost seem unsepartable. This is new behavior since the rehoming of my rooster, Nightfall. Along with, Shiloh being much friendlier to me now. She now comes up to me a lot, when before she was always scared of me.

This update was actually longer than I expected. I hope nobody minds.

~Lacy Duckwing

It was fun reading your update! I like long updates!
I hope you don't have a disease in your flock!