Maine

[freakshow5]

Help I think my chick has a tumor it wasn't there @1930

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Were you expecting a turkey or no?

Yes, it would be awfully difficult to not see turkey eggs in the incubator on the kitchen table for 4 weeks

Help I think my chick has a tumor it wasn't there @1930

Likely just a full crop.

 

[Cknldy]

Lol, I did the same thing with my very first set of chicks all those years ago! Not a tumor though, just a full crop. It's eating well!

 

[lazy gardener]

My new coop has 1" of thermax in the ceiling, metal roof. No insulation in the sides or floor. But, it does have lots of glass: 3 thermopane 2 x 3 windows, and a full thermopane glass door (all wonderful gleanings from the town dump.) Windows and door are on south and east, so lots of good sun gain. Coop in 10 x 12, 2 x 4 perches. While insulation is not necessary, it does help keep the temps from wild swings. Helps the coop stay warmer in the winter: hold that solar gain, and helps it stay cooler in the summer: helps to prevent that roof from turning it into an oven in the summer. IMO, if you can afford it and want to, insulation is a good thing. If you don't want to, that's ok too. But, most importantly, good ventilation is a must. Bee Kissed is a strong advocate of having insulation at floor level in her deep litter West Virginia coop. She says it does a great job of catching any ammonia and drawing it up and out. I'm still planning the landscaping around my coop, and think I'll plant some deciduous trees on the east, and maybe the south, so they'll shade in the summer, but allow the sun in in the winter.

 

[freakshow5]

Thanks, I was even more freaked out when I noticed 8 more with the same thing, my first batch of chicks last year never had that

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: winter coops. I also want to mention that I also supplemented light last winter to keep them laying through the winter. I'm very glad that I did! I only lost 2 eggs to freezing, and it was wonderful to have fresh eggs all winter instead of feeding a bunch of free loaders all winter! The girls did get supplemental heat during the coldest of the cold days. I know that "they say" that heat is not needed in a winter chicken coop, and that chickens have been living for hundreds of years without electric heat in their coops. However, one thought that gets overlooked is the way chickens have been traditionally been kept all of those hundreds of years. The chickens "down on the farm" usually lived in a big flock, and were usually kept in a barn which usually housed a lot of large livestock, as well as a winter's supply of grains and hay for that livestock. All those animals, all the manure they produced, and... even the feed being stored in the barn produced a fair amount of heat. Compare that to the little back yard flock, which is being kept in a tiny little coop, which is usually kept well cleaned. No build up of composting manure there, and no mountains of hay bales, or cows/horses to snuggle up with. So, if my chickens behavior indicates that they need heat, they get it!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Thanks, I was even more freaked out when I noticed 8 more with the same thing, my first batch of chicks last year never had that

If you want to be totally flipped out by nodules, you should get a turken. Mine often look like they're in a golf ball smuggling ring.

 

[freakshow5]

Holy golf ball hiding places batman, they're so cute.

If you want to be totally flipped out by nodules, you should get a turken. Mine often look like they're in a golf ball smuggling ring.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Holy golf ball hiding places batman, they're so cute.

I find them beyond adorable. Especially as chicks. Meet Gomez Addams:

 

[DaQatz]

My cuckoo Marans came.

So had to move them into a larger brooder.