Maine

[anyasmifya]

I think my chickens may be in the early stages of molting! Anyone else have molting chickens?

 

[lazy gardener]

I made a killing at the local dump today. Came home with a rubbermaid tote (no lid). But, free is free. I'll rig a top, or simply flip it over for an instant nest box that should be big enough for even the most discriminating pullet. Also came home with a truck load of wonderful compost. The dump manager is no longer allowed to use the front end loader to load for people due to some idiot mis-using dump equipment and causing damage to someone else's truck. But, it didn't take me too long, and I can use the exercise anyways! 9 eggs yesterday.

 

[The100AcreWood]

Hi I posted this in the guinea fowl forum a week ago and no one as been active in there and I know we Mainers are a bit more active. Maybe you can help me out. I just copy and pasted here : "Hello - I am a first time guinea owner. We have raised 4 of them since they were day old keets. We had one behaving quite strange for a few days - she wouldn't extend her neck, was roosting a lot and generally seems 'off' if she came out of the coop she seems disoriented. Yesterday, she came down and out to eat and drink, was extending her neck fine and acting as if she was on the mend. Two hours later I went outdoors to collect the chicken eggs and found her upside down in the bathing hole, passed away. We have no idea what happened. They do live with the chickens and they pick on them from time to time (hens pick on the guinea. The guinea are about 4 mo. Old now) but nothing severe, more herding and the occasional peck. I did a massive coop clean yesterday and found no sign of odd droppings, extra feathers, etc. We did inspect the body and found nothing odd on her either. We are dumbfounded -any insight would be appreciated! Thank you!"

 

[Marcy54]

My pullets aren't laying yet, we heard the "egg song" the other night. I am not sure how old they are. The person I bought them from said they should be laying by mid September. They have grown a lot since I first got them. Today, I turned the straw over, coop still looks clean and dry from the big clean on Sunday. I totally cleaned it out, started fresh with three inches of pine shavings and straw on top, going to try the deep littler method for winter. My cousin swears by it. No eggs in the nest boxes yet, they were all stacked in them when I locked up last night. They were all on perches when my DH opened the door before work. Pretty lazy day here because of the heat. Fed the girls a bunch of insides from a cantaloupe. Other than that the dachshund puppy and golden puppy dug a huge hole in the back yard while I was checking the coop. The three senior dogs rolled in the dirt with them, so I got to wash five dogs after the coop was clean. Thank goodness for a deep laundry room sink!

 

[buckabucka]

Wish I could help you 100acrewood.
I've never had guineas, but I've had hens and roosters both drop dead for no apparent reason. Sometimes things like that happen. You could do a necropsy, but I'm not sure you'll ever know why.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My pullets aren't laying yet, we heard the "egg song" the other night. I am not sure how old they are. The person I bought them from said they should be laying by mid September. They have grown a lot since I first got them. Today, I turned the straw over, coop still looks clean and dry from the big clean on Sunday. I totally cleaned it out, started fresh with three inches of pine shavings and straw on top, going to try the deep littler method for winter. My cousin swears by it. No eggs in the nest boxes yet, they were all stacked in them when I locked up last night. They were all on perches when my DH opened the door before work. Pretty lazy day here because of the heat. Fed the girls a bunch of insides from a cantaloupe. Other than that the dachshund puppy and golden puppy dug a huge hole in the back yard while I was checking the coop. The three senior dogs rolled in the dirt with them, so I got to wash five dogs after the coop was clean. Thank goodness for a deep laundry room sink!

Your birds still look pretty young, like they're not ready to lay, yet. I do see red wattles starting on your GLW in the front, but unless they're banties, they're pretty small.

Wish I could help you 100acrewood.
I've never had guineas, but I've had hens and roosters both drop dead for no apparent reason. Sometimes things like that happen. You could do a necropsy, but I'm not sure you'll ever know why.

Agree. Things tend to drop dead here for no apparent reason. I've only ever had a visiting guinea that I wished would drop dead (but it didn't) so if you think they're healthy (ie not worm, lice or mite infested) I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Marcy, are all of your girls Wyandottes? Pretty. From my understanding, Wyandottes are a bit later to lay than some of the other breeds.

Today, I planted 2 Siberian Pea tree shrubs, and 2 Elderberries. digging was hard, bony, nasty soil. Luckily I had a lot of compost to amend with. Hope the plants do ok in their hostile environment. Had to build one area up, rather than digging down. Have 2 bush cherries and an apricot left to go. Still have to do some tilling in the new lawn area to take down some ridges. Otherwise, dragging a piece of fencing with a couple of tires on top is doing a pretty good job. Lots of rocks and tree branches still to be picked out. It would be so nice if we had a good solid week of rain. Say, starting next Tuesday!!!

 

[Marcy54]

All of my pullets are wyandottes, I have three silver laced and six gold laced.

 

[suzMEchicks]

I have a question.sort of.They laid eggs 6/6 this whole year.The last month or so only 3/ 6 . I keep thinking it's cause they were traumatized but it's been over a month and they seem recovered. A couple may or may not be moulting. So I went out yesterday in the evening to let them run around in the yard and there was a leg horn egg right out in the middle of the run. Not in a nest box . Not in the coop at all. Just sitting there like she had just laid it there and walked away. They didn't look particularly interested in it eithet. It's just odd. I've never seen them lay anywhere but in the nesting boxes. What would change the behavior like tbat?

 

[suzMEchicks]

Yes let the rain start on next Tuesday! I'm on vacation!