We're active, but not as crazy busy as the Incubating with Friends thread. Amuse yourselves with the super awesome photos and Kev's brilliant chicken color genetics lessons...
We're active, but not as crazy busy as the Incubating with Friends thread. Amuse yourselves with the super awesome photos and Kev's brilliant chicken color genetics lessons...
I'm feeling like a bad chicken mommy today. Last night we got home rather late and I wasn't feeling well, so I sort of rushed through the process of locking up the chickens and didn't notice the young NN pullet who'd opted to hang out on the porch of the cabin all alone instead of tucking herself in her coop with her friends. Our weather was cold and windy all night...gusts around 60 knots...and rainy. I awoke early to find my little girl limping on one leg and shivering right outside my bedroom slider. There was a cut on her foot that I suspect may have come from an a rat or something, so I treated it with Blue-Kote and isolated her all day and put her under a heat lamp to warm her up. She finally began eating tonight and was standing on her leg some...and appeared quite distressed as her friends went to their coop...so I put her in there with them. I'm really hoping she recovers okay and that I made the right decision about returning her to the coop. I don't think I'll be resting well tonight because I'm a worrier. I just want to awaken tomorrow to find her back to normal.
I've heard quite a bit about them. Hardy lay well and due to fewer feathers they grow fast. Besides being interesting to look at. Do they live up to all that? Is it a good dual purpose bird?
Okay....Just one more photo. This is Dutch @ 17 weeks. His weight is toward the higher end in my flock, and he's got decent breast and thigh musculature, but I admit that it's his feathering that's winning me over. I'm a sucker for all that white...and then he's got some red barring too. I'm hoping to keep this one too.
I've heard quite a bit about them. Hardy lay well and due to fewer feathers they grow fast. Besides being interesting to look at. Do they live up to all that? Is it a good dual purpose bird?
They absolutely live up to it! My girls average 4-6 large eggs each per day even while molting, and some go broody. (I consider that a plus.) The boys I've been most recently been posting photos of are 17-18 weeks old and weigh 4-5 pounds. Not all of my boys have been as meaty as I like, but that's why they're being culled and I'm breeding for better meat production...and believe me, my "meaties" have nice solid bodies, strong frames, and outstanding meat.
Handsome young man. I have a NN/serama hen who is my best broody. She shares top hen position with my big Blue Marans hen. They have also shared a pen when they were both sitting and hatched out a brood and raised then together. Such fun that was. I love my birds but still would not allow them inside the house except for baths and short term first aide.
I'm feeling like a bad chicken mommy today. Last night we got home rather late and I wasn't feeling well, so I sort of rushed through the process of locking up the chickens and didn't notice the young NN pullet who'd opted to hang out on the porch of the cabin all alone instead of tucking herself in her coop with her friends. Our weather was cold and windy all night...gusts around 60 knots...and rainy. I awoke early to find my little girl limping on one leg and shivering right outside my bedroom slider. There was a cut on her foot that I suspect may have come from an a rat or something, so I treated it with Blue-Kote and isolated her all day and put her under a heat lamp to warm her up. She finally began eating tonight and was standing on her leg some...and appeared quite distressed as her friends went to their coop...so I put her in there with them. I'm really hoping she recovers okay and that I made the right decision about returning her to the coop. I don't think I'll be resting well tonight because I'm a worrier. I just want to awaken tomorrow to find her back to normal.
put some cayenne pepper in her feed and good luck. NNs recover quickly. mine were coughing up pure blood and a week later they started to lay regularly.