Michigan

[theron]

Not sure just what that critter is, but the perfect name for it would be BUD. (butt ugly bird)



Theron, posted a request for help on Facebook and everyone immediately starts stepping up. You've got to love the folks on this thread.

I sure do. I wouldn't have asked for help if I knew I wouldn't get any. I figured that this thread was the best place due to all the nice and friendly people.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Quote: I sure do. I wouldn't have asked for help if I knew I wouldn't get any. I figured that this thread was the best place due to all the nice and friendly people.

Wish I could '''like'' your page, but I quit facebook a few months ago. But here is a ''Like'' for you.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I travel for a couple of days and BOOM 30pages to read. I am going to save those pages for my travel over the next couple of days. I may be stuck in an airport today. :/

Update: My DH opened the coop on monday and found one of my girls dead on the poop board. This i #3 of original birds I got from Tractor Supply in March (out of 6). It makes me think that something is genetically wrong with them somehow. They were all the same type and came from the same batch. It is a little concerning.

THEN, yesterday when I opened the coop. One of my marans girls was spralled out on teh coop floor with her eyes closed. :: deep sigh :: So I brought her into the house and she ate a half an apple (mushed) and TWO scrambled eggs last night. Now she is alert, standing, and whiny. I am afraid to put her back in the coop. How long should I keep her in the house?

Were those the only ones you bought from TS? I am wondering if you had a silent illness in your grown up flock and the new ones are getting it because they're stressed by the cold? If it is bullying, it could be the water supply they are fighting over too. Dehydration will kill birds quick. (especially the egg laying ones, because of the amount of water needed to make an egg) You could get some rubber dishes (under $10) and set out extra water here and there so the less agressive ones can drink freely. If $$$ is short used butter tubs work too, but they crack easy. I wonder about the water because of how quick she perked up. I would keep your eyes peeled for ANY thing different, just in case, because it is just that time of year and if there is something in your flock, now is the time it will show itself.

 

[swampducks]

Rex! As in T.



It has many names..Little One, Beeper, Emu,
Beebee.."Stritch..

 

[RaZ]

Only 72 posts awaiting me when I got home from school. Just too brain dead to really reply to anything in particular.

Who was talking about Nubian goats for milk? I know where to get some. The guy I got the organic feed from has several and they are all pregnant.

Since I didn't get home until after 9:30, I'll wait until tomorrow and unload the feed during daylight. On the other hand the extra weight in the truck bed might help if we get the snow that they are predicting. Then again, I have enough beer to last the weekend so I don't have to go anywhere.

My stat prof is kind of excited about my egg project. I think he is interested in chickens in general so maybe I can make a convert of him. Never hurts to butter up the guy who passes out the grades.

 

[Farmer Andy]

Swampducks- Welcome back and best of luck keeping up. I try to check in two or three times a day and still have a tough time.

Theron- Heading over to FB next and will give ya another like.

Hope everyone has a good night and stay warm.

 

[chicken grandma]

Excellent name for the Little One. T.Rex! Well done Swamp duck.

They used to lose a lot of animals to illness this time of year at the zoo. Switching to Full Spectrum lights in the animals cages helped prevent losses!
That is a tip we can benefit from! Anyone with light in the coop? In the daytime make it full spectrum! Lowe's has REVEAL bulbs, I think Meijer does also!



p.s. if we don't quote other posts we can probably reduce our re reading of older posts.

 

[Chickmate]

Chickmate-
cant you put the crate she is in, on the floor of the coop? Like you, I worry about a chick not being able to get back in. They are adorable.
Mom will keep them warm.

Be very careful...I accidentally hatched out an emu, or an ostrich...maybe a velociraptor...not sure...I have no idea how the egg got in with my chicken eggs...

Really Mom, what IS that? It's so funny looking it's adorable. The dog crate is up on a bale of straw but I'm not worried about them falling out of the crate because I don't think they will fit through the holes in the door. I'm worried about them falling out of the nest box that is in the dog crate. I'll get it all fixed tomorrow as long as they stay under Mama tonight.

Chickmate, if the yellow one is an Isa then it must be a rooster. The female Isa's are dark orange.
I have rarely seen Isa roosters.... he might be special.

I had a chick fall out of the nest box once and get super cold. I used an eyedropper to give it food and water, warmed it under a heat lamp and it pulled through but Chickmate you have a valid concern there.

Mom2 - I love that chick. LOVE LOVE LOVE that chick.

Snowflake and Chickmate - thank you for the parakeet advice. These old folks are all over these parakeets - faces pressed to the bars, three people sitting by the cage.... I'm pretty sure the parakeets could use a break.
Ill get a nest box and put it in there for a retreat.

Oh sheesh. Thanks Grandma. Well, I won't be surprised if every one of my five chicks turn out to be roosters. It's my luck.

I would caution you about adding a nest box to the parakeet cage if they are male and female. That's how my two turned into 14! I thought they would like a little house to sleep in and they did something besides sleep! However, if they are the same sex it might be a nice quiet place for them to get away from the faces peering in at them all the time.

Quote:

Mom- our vet has a new machine. It is like an MRI for birds. He can see all the organs ect... I could ask him if he could zap your chick (for free) with that machine and we could see what is right and what is wrong with it internally. I don't know that he would agree to do it but he is a pretty compassionate person. I love that chick.... It is just adorable.
What breeds could the parents be?

Nova - thanks for the reassurance about the keet. I hope you are right. The older folks roll the cage with them around the lobby and sit with the birds all day. If I was those birds, I would be suicidal. I like the idea of putting a nest box in there for privacy. Wish I could find a place to take that pair of keet and turn them loose into a big aviary. Anyone have a big aviary?

Can you stuff your duck house with straw, so they can stand on some too and then block them in the doghouse full of straw? Just overnight? Gonna go to ZERO tonight.

I used to have a huge aviary built into my living room. It was 9 feet high, 12 feet long and 4 feet wide. My finches loved it. It was all put together with screws so it could be taken apart and reassembled but I couldn't find anyone interested in it so we tore it down and scrapped it. Bummer since it cost almost $700 to build. I had my budgies (parakeets) in a flight cage that was 5 feet long by 4 feet high by 3 feet deep. All of my birds were in the largest cages I could fit in my bird wing of the house.

Your velociraptor is adorable!! Does it have a name yet? Those feet are great! I hope she does better with her balance.

Congrats on the babies Chickmate. You called yourself a newbie and for some reason I thought you had done this all before. Being kind of new myself I don't know who the old timers are - besides Opa.


I think it's Michiguineas. How far north are you swampducks? People say north and then tell me where and I think "that's not north. " I'm just below the bridge so you have to be a yooper to be farther north.


Earlier this week I put an old wash tub in the middle of the coop with sand, wood ashes and DE. The birds didn't have a clue what to think of it and wouldn't go near it. Today I found a Cochin in dust bathing and it was dusty! She wouldn't even come out when I was tossing treats.

I'm sure it will help with my never ending battle with the Northern Fowl Mites. My husband was talking to two old time farmers this week about my mite fight. They both said to put cedar boughs in the coop. Now I had been told not to put cedar shavings in the coop because it wasn't good for the chickens, but this is boughs. So what do you think? It would make the coop smell better, but it is closed up and I don't want to hurt the birds.


And.... I got 15 eggs today!

That's more than half the girls, finally.

I love Michiguineas!!! What a hoot!

 

[RaZ]

I must be tired, I forgot the website for the organic feed.

http://www.ourhandmadelife.com/index.html

 

[RBahmer]

Welcome back swampducks, even though I don't know you .....yet.