Hello! I've been lurking for awhile and thought I'd finally start posting
. I just started into chickens and have learned a lot from this thread so far. My flock is still really young and I don't even have one chicken laying yet. I hope to get an incubator and do some projects with NN. Here are a few of mine (and a silkie, too).
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Can you post a photo? I'm not sure I have the experience to answer, WRT variations in feathering - maybe someone else on here can.
For my NN genotype/phenptype NNs (the ones with the fewest feathers) the area around the vent is pretty clear of feathers. But they've never had trouble keeping it clean, so maybe it's Cocci or some other issue?
I just looked out the window, and all the little boys (the ones that have had the hardest time, despite being in god shade) are now all tooling around their paddock like normal. I think they all just know when to take a siesta and I'm a worry wart...
Can you post a photo? I'm not sure I have the experience to answer, WRT variations in feathering - maybe someone else on here can.
For my NN genotype/phenptype NNs (the ones with the fewest feathers) the area around the vent is pretty clear of feathers. But they've never had trouble keeping it clean, so maybe it's Cocci or some other issue?
Yes I'll catch a picture when I go out to feed it looks more like a scab but it wasn't hurt. It looks to be peeling off. None of the others have this problem and poo is firm in all of them even the dark one that isn't doing as well as the rest.
Hello! I've been lurking for awhile and thought I'd finally start posting
. I just started into chickens and have learned a lot from this thread so far. My flock is still really young and I don't even have one chicken laying yet. I hope to get an incubator and do some projects with NN. Here are a few of mine (and a silkie, too).
Long day, started way early by culling the last wry tail NN - it really wasn't a big deal to dry pluck him. So much easier to process NNs! I'm always worn out the rest of the day on cull days, but I've been trying to keep busy and productive, running errands and cleaning house, catching up on laundry, etc.
Hot today - hotter than it has been this year (except a time or two), it's late coming this year. It hit 96F today - doesn't sound like much (and it's not, esp. now that the humidity isn't as bad), but it's the hottest some of these younger birds have experienced. I went and checked and everyone is ok, just resting in the shade, some panting, but no one in distress needing action. Adults totally fine. I know better than to bother them/stress them in this, so after I looked in on them, I'm waiting to do the chores that take me into their coops until later this evening - it's already down to 91F now at almost 6PM. Glad it gets dark late this time of year, I have a little more time to let it get cooler (it'll be more pleasant for me as well). They'll adapt, what I'm worried about it watching them as they adapt to these first hot days - it's going to be in the 100s next week. Overdue for here, but they still need to adapt. I gave them all foot baths yesterday, they still don't know what to do with them yet.
I spent a lot of today making ice molds out of a bunch of those little 8 oz water bottles and filling with water - they are freezing now. While I also already have a bunch of the little bottles intact and frozen to be able to drop into a waterer or foot bath, I realized that if I have a lot it decreases the amount of water I can put in the waterer, which I don't want to risk. So big ice cubes it is. I also have some mini loaf pans that I don't like because they have seams (so when I bake in them, they are hard to get clean) - I'm thinking of making and accumulating ice bricks with them. I am traveling in July (rotten timing, but I have no choice), so I need to make things as easy as possible for my chicken sitter to keep the chickens alive and cool if the heat spikes.
Meanwhile, I'm in the process of shifting all chicken chores (except egg collection) to the morning before work - it's light enough to be able to do that, and cooler, which is better for both me and the chickens...
Currently mellowing out with a beer, watching the movie Interstellar (again), and waiting for things to cool off out there before I go bother them. Then chores will be int eh cooler mornings for here on out - even when it's 90F in the morning, it's still better than 100....
Yesterday was my cull day. Only one, but that sucker took me an hour to do.
It hit 101 at my house, but the humidity was back down to 16%. I looked out during the hottest part of the day and saw half a dozen birds sun bathing. Crazy chickens!
Thanks! I found a breeder 15 minutes away, so I'm sure that won't be my only trip to her farm. That's our retaining wall. They just ended up there as I was scooting around and they were resisting getting a picture lol. What is a good semi-cheap (less than $200) incubator. I found one on Amazon, but it's only been available for purchase there since this year. Has anybody heard of or had any experience with it?
Quote: OMG, me, too - I've seen it tons of times. SO well done!!!!!
Crazy chickens! At least all my young ones know to stay in the shade (they are the ones I'm watching, not really worried about the others until it gets over about 104F, which will come later this summer). I have a children's school table (yard sale) out in the yard as shade shelter for the young pullet group - they love it. When the sun is hitting the paddock, they will run from the shaded part of the coop to the table and hang out under there. They graze in the evenings when they have shade in the paddock...
Oh, and even if it's a place for serious chicken people, always good to check - sometimes a lone old bag won't get rotated out, and folks buy all the new stuff, and you grab the one on top and it's a year old or something. That's what happened to me.
They have a policy to rotate out/discard if it's older than 6 months (I asked), but I personally don't buy it if it's that old. Two months max.
Got a question that probably is already known for all you NN fanciers. I've noticed some of my almost four week chicks getting some red skin up by the head,ear/top of neck area, is this a indication of a cockerel?
