Michigan

[chicken grandma]

PC?

 

[Juise]

Quote:

Hope it's okay if I ask this..but what's the best way to socialize my chicks? =) I want them to feel comfortable with us [and our kids] and feel okay being picked up. Like I said when we got them they were already a week old. The brooder is set up in our basement to keep them safe from the kids and our cats, but I go down there multiple times a day to check on them, change their water ect..but they aren't "exposed" to us all day. These are the first chicks we've ever had so I'm still trying to figure things out. Any thoughts?

At this point I think just handling them a little bit every day, or even most days, is plenty, and then when they are a bit older, giving them "treats" will make you their best ever buddy, hehe. Do check out the list of unsafe foods to give them, a couple things on it surprised me, like potato peels and dried beans.

Some chickens are going to be stand offish no matter what you do, I think. I have one in particular, Chihiro, that really does not like to be handled, though of course she comes running for treat time, lol. Chihiro, like our others, was handled every day by myself and often my kids as well, well into adulthood. The rest are fine with being picked up, she is not. /shrug

Quote:

I posted a week ago about a BR hen I have with curled toes. She is vigorous with the exception of her feet which cause her to sit and not move about much. I've been dosing her with vitamins and electrolytes, hand feeding her cheese (niacin rich), and allowing her to set in the new grass which is also niacin rich. No improvement yet. She cannot roost but still makes it a point to get into a nest box and lay an egg. It's either: hereditary, injury, or other. I'm banking on other and next week she gets snowshoes - hand made devices that will help straighten out the toes and possibliy reverse the curling. I'm not giving up on this one dollar bird just yet...

Yay you! Good luck.

 

[NovaAman]

Protected chicken... Protective custody.

 

[snowflake]

Hope it's okay if I ask this..but what's the best way to socialize my chicks? =) I want them to feel comfortable with us [and our kids] and feel okay being picked up. Like I said when we got them they were already a week old. The brooder is set up in our basement to keep them safe from the kids and our cats, but I go down there multiple times a day to check on them, change their water ect..but they aren't "exposed" to us all day. These are the first chicks we've ever had so I'm still trying to figure things out. Any thoughts?

let the kids handle them now, with supervision. I often send baby chicks home with my daughter and their 3 girls. now 6yrs. (twins) and 9 they jump in my grand daughters lap and have great fun raising them till they are to big for the 2'x8' brooder box.

 

[Mom 2em All]

eta: Ha ha! We were posting at the same time and I saw where you said it's not a turkey vulture. What makes you think it's not?

It couldnt be a turkey vulture because in my mind it was hawking for a chicken meal, and because it always circles the duck farm...but in retrospect, I suppose it is waiting for one of the dumb ducks to get hit by a car so it can have lunch.

Hi all. I am back now. Lots of changes happened in my life so I was gone for awhile. My husband and I are no longer together and I have moved but life is good. Had to sacrifice a lot of my chickens for this but I still have my Marans and Penedenseca's and a few other breeds. Good to be back. Lots of names I haven't seen before so welcome newcomers.

You are in my thoughts and prayers..

Lol Raz

Mom, think you might be able to get a pic for us?

I can...but I posted a few days ago..let me find those pictures.. page 3982. If you see some you like, I will get better closer pictures..lol.

With all due respect, I don't think I would trust M2M in identifying anything with feathers.

Look at her track record, thinks baby ostriches are chickens, thinks velociraptors are chickens, and then tries to pawn these mutants on the rest of us.

I agree with RaZ.... Can not trust Moms bird judgement, even if she does raise cute mutations. She's almost got her "Island". LOL

It's probably a vulture even though you don't think so. Want some more baby pics?

YES more more more baby pics!

 

[Mom 2em All]

Well one of the baby bunnies died,,,,so I gave my cousin the remaining three to try her hand at rehabbing. She is better at it than I am.
I dont have the time and dedication needed to keep them alive.
I wish her luck.
I would rather rehab baby opossums any day.

Another big storm is headed my way- who else is getting hit?

I have to go make sure all the little banty brats have gone to bed.

 

[RBahmer]

You are in my thoughts and prayers..

Thanks M2M

 

[RIRJen]

Quote:

Hey Jenny, thanks. I have 9 silkie chicks that are growing like weeds. Lance is doing good. Such a pet. How can you tell males from females on the silkies?

wait until they either start crowing or lay an egg!

seriously though it's sooo hard to tell on silkies. I would post pictures of them on the "what sex is this thread" if you really want to know and even then it's hard to say they're right. they say a hen's topnot is rounder.

 

[NovaAman]

mom.... I think Juise meant a pic of the circling menace...

 

[Mom 2em All]

mom.... I think Juise meant a pic of the circling menace...

OHHHHHHHHHHHH...

heh heh heh...Im so dense sometimes, I even entertain myself...lol

Here I thought she wanted some of my Jurassic Ostrich Flamingo chickens...darn.

Its a turkey vulture. The google bible tells me so. However, it still freaks me out.