Michigan

[NovaAman]

Whew! What a crap butt day! I had to turn on the 4x4 because the snow came down, and it was the heavy wet crap, and boy did it come down fast and hard and... MAN! I took a picture, but I have to send it to the computer first... Another press carrier didn't beleive me when I called him and told him that I just got nailed with an inch of snow in a matter of 10 minutes! My car, my roads, ME got covered. YUCK. LOL

Well, didn't seem to bug the chickenses thou... Oh, thats right, it didn't stick around here at my house... NO, just where I was driving!

Got the coop cleaned out and nest boxes freshened up. All the chickenses were in the coop before I went in the house for the night... I was watching them thru the window and Mr Fluffers was being a real jerk to one of the hens, just pecking at her on her back and neck till she got off the roost and moved. That royal butt just didn't want her by him! AND to top it off, It isn't even the roost where he usually sits! I am tempted to clip his feathers off so he can't fly up there. Teach him to be a jerk.

Oscar.... Oscar oscar oscar.... What am I gonna do about Oscar! Oscar is my black cochin mutt roo... How long does it take for them little buggers to figure out the right end and the right way? OMG he will not leave poor little Leala (formerly big head) alone! He's trying his darndest to mount her, and she's smaller than he is, and he just doesn't get it right! WHAT came to her rescue and chased him off, but he won't leave her alone! He tries for Buffy, but she just kicks his butt. Heck all the other hens kick his butt, but my little silkie girl, she's just to little to kick his butt, and once he's done terrorizing her, she just lays there... Half the time she is on her side, or upended cuz he's trying so hard to get her, and she's trying her darndest to not let him, and he never gets it right! SO, I rescued her twice from him, and bought sent him flying. He's such a pretty guy though, and I know he's only 5 months, so ofcourse he's just a stupid teenager, BUT COME ON! How long till he gets it right? My silkie roo Roger, he's not even trying to mount the hens yet, and I hope he gets it figured out faster than Oscar, cuz Oscars one dumb chicken...

 

[M.sue]

Quote:
Does it matter if he gets right? If your gal is missing feathers from his attempts & he's such a feathery jerk maybe you should move him. Once Roger figures it out your gal will be wanting to run & hide....double whammy. My Bantam Roo mounts my standard size gals and I believe it's probably 50/50 that he connects. He is successful with my other Bantam though. Doesn't matter to me if he does or doesn't because I don't plan on hatching any chicks for a while....I just don't have the time but something I'd like to do. Do you plan on keeping all your Roo's....you might have to have a separate pen for those dudes unless you get more girls.

 

[chicken grandma]

Quote:
My original chickens included 2 EE's. When they got their adult feathering, they both had beautiful full beards and muffs. Then eventually they had bare chins and cheeks, but weren't missing any other feathers. Looked exactly as if they'd shaved their beards and sideburns off to bare skin. I kept checking them for mites, nothing. Eventually I noticed the same thing on one other hen, a NHR, also only in the just-under-the-chin area. My hens in general are very peaceable to each other (at least while I'm watching!)--the most I ever see is a single peck from a higher-ranked to a lower ranked hen, and the lower hen backs off. (To the extent that even with only six adult hens currently, I would not feel confident in listing each one by peck order--because there just is not enough pecking going on! I have some idea but not on the complete order...) (Well, I have seen multiple pecks in one case--after lights out given to Edna, the Silver Sebright, because she insists on pushing herself under another hen on the roost to keep warm and some of them don't tolerate it. They will peck her and she will insistently keep burrowing. She has not figured out: Betty will let her, Maude might, but Henrietta, Elnora, and Bonita WILL NOT. LOL!)

Anyway, finally one sunny day I see Bonita the EE standing very close to Maude the BSL. Maude is quite slowly and apparently gently pulling out Bonita's (regrowing) beard feathers. Bonita is standing there almost as if in a trance. Seems like it must have hurt to have those feathers pulled but no squawks or protests or attempts to move away, Bonita just let her keep plucking. Was Bonita just being submissive? Does Maude think the beard feathers are "weird" and should come off? That doesn't explain Betty the NHR's smooth chin, though, since with her full feathering there was no evidence of a beard.

Anyway, Chickmate, is the feather loss on yours that high up on the neck? Maybe they, like mine, enjoy Make-Believe Barbershop. Everyone needs a hobby!

York Chick
I had this happen also. My little golden seabright plucked all the beard feathers off my d'uccle! Then the seabright pulled all the leg feathers off the d'uccle.
My d'uccle would just sit there in a trance. This would happen at night when they perched. I rehomed the seabright.

 

[teeville5]

Quote:
Don't worry, Nova, I believe you because I was in it, too. There was about an inch of the stuff on my car while I was loading it and another carrier thought he'd be cute and throw a ball in my direction.

It was so confusing weather wise. One minute sunny, then rainy, then sleet, a bit of hail, then just snow, and repeat. Blech!

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
My original chickens included 2 EE's. When they got their adult feathering, they both had beautiful full beards and muffs. Then eventually they had bare chins and cheeks, but weren't missing any other feathers. Looked exactly as if they'd shaved their beards and sideburns off to bare skin. I kept checking them for mites, nothing. Eventually I noticed the same thing on one other hen, a NHR, also only in the just-under-the-chin area. My hens in general are very peaceable to each other (at least while I'm watching!)--the most I ever see is a single peck from a higher-ranked to a lower ranked hen, and the lower hen backs off. (To the extent that even with only six adult hens currently, I would not feel confident in listing each one by peck order--because there just is not enough pecking going on! I have some idea but not on the complete order...) (Well, I have seen multiple pecks in one case--after lights out given to Edna, the Silver Sebright, because she insists on pushing herself under another hen on the roost to keep warm and some of them don't tolerate it. They will peck her and she will insistently keep burrowing. She has not figured out: Betty will let her, Maude might, but Henrietta, Elnora, and Bonita WILL NOT. LOL!)

Anyway, finally one sunny day I see Bonita the EE standing very close to Maude the BSL. Maude is quite slowly and apparently gently pulling out Bonita's (regrowing) beard feathers. Bonita is standing there almost as if in a trance. Seems like it must have hurt to have those feathers pulled but no squawks or protests or attempts to move away, Bonita just let her keep plucking. Was Bonita just being submissive? Does Maude think the beard feathers are "weird" and should come off? That doesn't explain Betty the NHR's smooth chin, though, since with her full feathering there was no evidence of a beard.

Anyway, Chickmate, is the feather loss on yours that high up on the neck? Maybe they, like mine, enjoy Make-Believe Barbershop. Everyone needs a hobby!

I'll have to start watching to see if someone is picking the feathers off or if they are doing it themselves. I have the feeling they do it to themselves. The feathers are missing about half way up the neck to just below the chin. I was going to take a picture today but forgot. I'll try to get one tomorrow.

 

[NovaAman]

teeville, you deliver papers too?

M.Sue, about Oscar... He's only just starting. I do want to keep him, he's really a funny little thing, but I hope he figures it out soon! LOL.

As for Roger, I want to breed him and Leala. I need to get a few more silkie hens now though, but will do that next year. They will have their own coop and run area. AND theirs will be covered to keep my big guy and the neighbors big guy out. OH, and the hawks out too.

 

[teeville5]

Quote:
No.

I'm a rural carrier for the usps.

 

[NovaAman]

oh! I need a job... Can you get me a job doing that? As soon as I learned that the press was dropping delivery days, I went to the usps and they told me they werent' hiring for my area... BOOHOO. I have been driving papers around for 14 yrs... ALL types of weather... I think I can do it. LOL. 7 days a weeks too!

 

[teeville5]

I think your best option would be to go to the usps website and look into their careers tab. From there you can see what types of positions and jobs are available and you can make a profile and apply. I went through the site when I first tried out and it took a few months, but I got notified to take the testing and a few months from that I was placed. Chances are, however, getting anywhere in your area will be slim. You have to be willing to travel. I go 30 miles to where I work.

 

[taprock]

Opa - I have also been thinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It sank before midnight that night and my sister was born after. That particular night is my first concrete memory in life, being left with grandma for the first time, in the middle of a huge storm with no power. Nothing like the gales of November.