Michigan

[Olive Hill]

Yes, she can have water. Just no other foods for right now. You just want to give the garlic and grit a chance to do their thing before she puts anything else in there to be digested.

Small stones from outside do serve the same purpose, but if you're keeping them penned in it's a good idea to offer grit or gravel of some kind. Not all areas in any given yard will offer enough and some chickens may fail to find enough.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

Vj...That is what I thought

I hope she feels better! Maybe the look she gave you after you tipped her was "My tummy feels better."

Swampducks...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sorry I missed the post!

Everyone that posted their gardens... They look great!! I do NOT have a green thumb... Mine is blue or maybe brown...

I have one garden box that is going to be the three sisters: Corn, green beans, and acorn squash, another that has little blueberry bushes in it, basil, mustard greens, onions, celery and a carrot that I planted instead of composting..., And 2 boxes with random plants all over: Torch lilies, marigolds, flax, clover, chives... who knows what else...
So to me all of your gardens are wonderful!!!

Mom2 did you get my pm about grooming a few days ago? Just making sure you knew I read your post.

 

[vjwilmoth]

Thanks for all your wisdom!!

 

[Shamrock4]

In early March I ordered 30 meat pullets from Townline hatchery for a special 4-H project, I don't know what is wrong with them, but I ordered the fast growing kind and they have not been growing like the meat birds usually do, and there were a lot of runts. Poor feed conversion maybe? I kept them in the same place and fed them the same thing I always feed my meat chickens, but I've never got them from Townline before.

So I got tired of feeding them and them not growing, so I let them free range during the day, and eat feed at night, and now they are now completely free range! I hardly feed them anything anymore but their crops are always full of bugs and stuff. They are not monstrously fat but they are still pretty big, all muscle, and they are very active. My project didn't work, but I liked them free ranging a lot. I dont know if the really big ones would do it though.



I am not happy about the weather tonight, it's supposed to be 34 where I am.

 

[chicken grandma]

Shamrock - that looks like a healthy meat chicken and because they are getting all the grass and bugs they are probably real healthy! Congratulations on a job well done!

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

Shamrock...What are you trying to accomplish with your 4-H project? Just interested. Never did 4-H...

 

[Opa]

Mistake that reinforce why one should not put things off.

Mistake One
I had a broody hen who eggs should have hatched Wednesday or Thursday of last week. Since arriving home late last Friday night I have been thinking about taking the eggs out from under her and returning her to the flock.

Mistake Two
This morning I had a few minutes before I had to go to a doctor's appointment so I thought I'd run out and take care of the hen. While I was dressed, I was still wearing my house slippers. I grabbed the protesting bird from the nest and tucked her against my body to restrict her struggles while I opened the door.

She immediate decided to demonstrate her unhappiness with me by void everything she had eaten for the past week. She had to have been storing up for at least that long or how else could so much have come from her. I have also never observed it being as wet or containing so much undigested feed.

I did get to observe it extremely well as it ran from my mid chest, down on leg, and didn't stop until it completely covered the toe of one house shoe. Removed my shirt and hosed it off with the garden hose as well as my pant leg and shoe. Then had to hurry in to clean up better and put on fresh clothes so I could make the doctor appointment.

Mistake Three
This afternoon I thought I'd open the eggs to determine at what stage the development stalled. These were eggs nearing 30 days of incubation. She had reduced the number of eggs until she was on sitting on three. I took them well beyond the chicken coop and cracked the first 2 and found they had quit early.

The third however, was a completely different experience. I barely touch the egg to the egg of a board when it exploded with a loud band propelling a noxious fluid that covered my hand, splattered my shirt, speckled my pants, and spotted my shoes.

Lesson learned............Procrastination some times has dire or at least smelly consequences.

 

[NovaAman]

It was just your day wasn't it, Sam...

That cracked me up. Sorry.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

Opa...YULK!!!!

Told my BF that for my birthday I want to goto Chickenstock

I think I may have won that battle, for now.

 

[Brethren49619]

I had wood shavings in my brooder and my chicks would "dust bathe" in the shavings. Lol

I put in a Gladware sandwich size container with a few stones in the bottom and some sandy dirt from the yard. They love it!