Maine

[Windy Bay Farm]

Hard to see but can make out the discoloration

Kind of hard to tell what it is but if it looks sore you could try spraying a little Vetericyn on it to help heal, if you don't have access to that some polysporin will also be fine to use. Best thing to do is keep an eye on it just to make sure it doesn't get worse.

 

[quailtrail]

Kind of hard to tell what it is but if it looks sore you could try spraying a little Vetericyn on it to help heal, if you don't have access to that some polysporin will also be fine to use. Best thing to do is keep an eye on it just to make sure it doesn't get worse.

thanks!!! Will try for better pics tomorrow.

 

[dowgirl71]

Thanks bucka and WBF! I will keep an eye out. The girls combs are tiny. My roo tho has grayish area on the back of his comb??? I was able to have a few let me pick them up today to really check them out.

So hubby is getting worried they are too cold. We are doing the Deep litter method, its dry, composting well, no odors. He thinks its too cold as they are huddled. I told him this is normal and how they keep each other warm. He wants to add a heating lamp. I'm so nervous about fires! There's plenty of room for me to stand up inside the coop...I'm 5'3. He's hoping it will help keep the water from freezing too. I'm so torn. I want them warm but safe.

I've been growing munga beans into sprouts...they eat some but don't seemnto care much for them...or strawberries either. I made them some hot oatmeal with grapes, strawberries, flax seed, left over broccoli, and some left over salad greens and sprouts. ..they picked all the strawberries out and left them on the ground!!

That is so funny! My husband, the city boy, is the same way! He keeps asking me if I'm sure they are warm enough and says he'll take his space heater down and put it in their coop.

 

[quailtrail]

That is so funny!  My husband, the city boy, is the same way!  He keeps asking me if I'm sure they are warm enough and says he'll take his space heater down and put it in their coop.  

lol!!!! I told him he needs to wear another layer. I'm sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt and he's in sweats, long sleeve plus sweatshirt and hat lol!

 

[lazy gardener]

One of my EE is at the bottom of the pecking order, she's never filling her crop. So tomorrow, I plan to put every one else down in the lower level, and leave her up in the loft alone for a few hours with baby bird hand feeding formula mixed to a gruel consistency, and what ever other goodies I think might entice her to eat, perhaps some canned corn. Any other ideas? I see her pecking at food, but not going to town on it the way the rest of the girls do. They have free access to crumble, 22%. Frequent addition of BOSS, cracked corn, BOSS, wheat and barley sprouts, table scraps. Between the 5 of them, they polished off about 1.5 cups of table scraps this morning.

 

[buckabucka]

One of my EE is at the bottom of the pecking order, she's never filling her crop.  So tomorrow, I plan to put every one else down in the lower level, and leave her up in the loft alone for a few hours with baby bird hand feeding formula mixed to a gruel consistency, and what ever other goodies I think might entice her to eat, perhaps some canned corn.  Any other ideas?  I see her pecking at food, but not going to town on it the way the rest of the girls do.  They have free access to crumble, 22%.  Frequent addition of BOSS, cracked corn, BOSS, wheat and barley sprouts, table scraps.  Between the 5 of them, they polished off about 1.5 cups of table scraps this morning.

My cross-beak EE is also low on the pecking order and she does eat better in isolation. She will dive into the community feeder each morning, but the other chickens come around and she leaves. The low pecking order birds in my flock are all the leanest, as they do not stand at the feeder long, but grab a bite and run, always looking over their shoulder.
Other possibilities: is she starting to molt? Even my pullets are going through mini-molts this winter, and mine become rather listless with little interest in treats. I would also check and make sure she isn't weakened by mites. You could worm her, if you think that might be an issue.
Can your other birds fly up into the loft? They may want to, if they see the EE up there having a feast!

 

[ashandvine]

Our holiday meal of home grown duck was delish! And it passed the taste test so that my son was fine with it. Phew.
Sharing lots of scraps here too and just biding our time for the next two months. I am thinking a bit about hatching out some eggs late January. North East Poultry Congress is coming up too. THAT will be fantastic.

 

[buckabucka]

I so want to hatch this spring. Last night, when I could not sleep, I came up with a plan: keep our original ancient flock in retirement (since we have sentimental attachment), get rid of a handful of semi-old birds that we're not too attached to, and then wipe out the whole flock of aging olive eggers and basques to be replaced by something new that I hatch, perhaps a flock of Marans.
This morning, I ran this idea by DH, who really doesn't take a strong interest in chickens, and he replied, "oh, no! I love the basques." So for now, I'm back to doing nothing.
What is the Northeast Poultry congress like? Can you get hatching eggs there?

 

[lazy gardener]

Bucka, she was shut in the loft for a couple of hours (alone) with some water, and a dish of corn, tomatoe, sprouts, taco meat, and some baby bird hand feeding formula. I don't know how much she ate, b/c hubby let her out a couple of hours later and an other EE charged into the loft to lay her egg. She may have had some of the treats as well. When I got home from work about an hour ago, I put her out in the vestibule, alone again with some cracked corn and BOSS. She was picking at it when I left. I haven't seen any signs of mites. I did treat all of the girls with ivermectin pour on in late August. That's supposed to kill round worms as well as mites. Without seeing any signs of worms, I hate to worm them. None of the girls are eating as much as I would expect them to. Their crops are never turgid. I would think that if they had worms, they'd be eating a lot. If any one has input, please chime in. They've all been doing some molting. The girl in question is growing back her tail feathers, her body feathers are sparse. The RIR who went through a severe molt is finally starting to look good again.

I also want to hatch some birds this spring, mostly just for the fun of it. Hubby is resigning himself to my return to a granola life style. He told me about an article he read recently about China refusing a huge shipment of US corn b/c it was GMO. Thus ensued an other discussion about my concerns re: the pathetic state of main stream food products. I plan to raise at least a dozen meat birds this summer. Getting 3 hatchery Doms replaced, may round out the order with BLRW

 

[buckabucka]

If they are molting, lazy gardener, I wouldn't worry about strange behaviors (such as not eating a whole lot). Mine act really out of sorts during the molt. I always think they are sick or dying, but then they spring back to life. I give mine scrambled eggs once in a while during the molt. I purchase cheap eggs to feed them, so I can still enjoy the fresh ones!
I've never done meat birds, but I really enjoy eating the excess roosters that we grow out. Of course, they are fed GMO corn. I have too many birds to go organic. At least the roosters are not fed antibiotics and who knows what else, and they do get to free-range some. I guess that could be an excuse to hatch, - more roosters to stock the freezer.