Nevadans?

[chicharomirinda]

one of my nethie rabbit babies died

so sorry, seth.

Awwww, sorry about that.

Good news from the farmyard. The cayuga duck got rehomed last night, and I got to meet Lacey and her mom. And now without her bossing everyone around (the duck, not Lacey) the babies are hanging around with the big swedish. They're still walking 2 x 2, but in the same group. Maybe today they can make it out on the pond together.

I was going to put the 6-wk old chicks in the outside run, but I'm too busy to watch them today, and it'll be too much of a temperature shock tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. It will be nine 6-wk-olds, with three 11-wk-old pullets. I'm not worried about half of them (the brahma, cochin, RIR, turken, sussex) but the silkie is still pretty small. I don't know if the ameraucanas would pick on it too much, so I want to be able to watch.

(Edit...) WOOHOOOOOO!!!

awesome set up you have for your ducks! glad you rehomed your cayuga.

What cuties! Thanks for the pics!

Growing potatoes is easy peasy! One of the easiest crops to grow I think.
Hi Nancie! No we don't mind visitors here! We have folks from all over on this thread. Welcome!

Yep at Green's feed.
Guineas eat scorpions all the time and they don't bother them at all. They should be fine.

Awww, the picture you paint of the 2 Mom's and the chicks is soooo cute! So sorry your doc hasn't cleared you to work.

It'll be all worth it a year from now and you won't even remember this frustration but I know that doesn't help much right now. We sure enjoy having you hang out with us though!!!

Sheryl keep us updated on the prices in Yerington! I gotta cut my costs here too. It's getting out of hand.


Well update on the marans. I am getting eggs now so apparently we either took care of the perpetrator or the oyster shell is helping. Still not getting as many eggs as we should though so I will keep my eyes peeled for awhile yet.

The other issue with the first flock is the egg color has gone from super dark to not even qualifying as marans!!! Looks like the first dark eggs were a temporary gift! Not sure what to do with these birds now. I'm not getting dark eggs and I'm not getting very many.

On a happy note, I got my first egg from the second coop!!! YAY!!!

I don't care how many times you've gone through it, it sure is exciting to get that first egg. I got a second one too from that coop and it is pretty good sized for a pullet egg!!!

Kim these are your girls that we were hoping for lav or olive eggs from but both eggs are brown. Still exciting as my list of egg customers is growing but I am not getting a lot of eggs right now. Good thing Genny is! My customers are still getting their eggs thanks to her!

Sorry about your bunny Seth! That stinks!

congrats on your first eggs! Hopefully your marans eggs will darken up again in awhile like Kim said.

I sure hope you get lavender eggs. I haven't gotten on in a couple of weeks. I think they're messing with me. Have you gotten any that are almost a light gray? That how the lavender eggs started off and then they went to lavender.

Did I mention on here that my smallest bunnie is missing a foot? I was rushed trying to get them into a safe place the other day and I mostly just checked for bleeding and looked at here little faces. I didn't even notice the foot, so I probably missed something on the 2 black ones. I really checked out the other white to make sure it had everything intact. The small one I should cull, but can't do it. Like I'd be able to home a bunnie with a missing foot! I just can't. The bigger one is going to be double maned. Buck or doe, if I miraculously have this one make it, it's staying here with me. I have no whites at all. My Lionheads are mostly SQ or BQ stock, but maybe Blackie had problems because she's older. I've lost all of my older does without getting kits, so I wanted to make sure I got something from her since she's borderline for breeding. I'd like to try one more time after the weather cools off. She hasn't had a litter in over a year, so that may have messed things up too.

oh poor bunny!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: Oh that explains why it is so small then. Well at least it chose a loving home to be born into and the bigger healthy one is the one with the mane!

Oh and Sunny. Last year my girls started back laying really dark eggs and then for almost 6 weeks, they looked like the pale one's my Doms used to lay. Almost pink. Then they started laying dark ones again. I no longer get 8s, but they are never lighter than a 4 and usually darker than that. My Davis girls are old though. I'm luck I'm still getting eggs from them.

Thanks Kim, and Elizabeth, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

 

[sherylreno]

Awwww, sorry about that.

Good news from the farmyard. The cayuga duck got rehomed last night, and I got to meet Lacey and her mom. And now without her bossing everyone around (the duck, not Lacey) the babies are hanging around with the big swedish. They're still walking 2 x 2, but in the same group. Maybe today they can make it out on the pond together.

I was going to put the 6-wk old chicks in the outside run, but I'm too busy to watch them today, and it'll be too much of a temperature shock tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday. It will be nine 6-wk-olds, with three 11-wk-old pullets. I'm not worried about half of them (the brahma, cochin, RIR, turken, sussex) but the silkie is still pretty small. I don't know if the ameraucanas would pick on it too much, so I want to be able to watch.

(Edit...) WOOHOOOOOO!!!

Those 2 girlies sure do look like they're having a blast finally! Boy are they pretty!

 

[sherylreno]

Seth - I'm sorry about your baby bunny.

Kim - wow, how could that have happened? I hope someone didn't take it for their lucky charm?

Sunny - I'll keep everyone updated. One of the causes of egg eating besides the calcium is when a chicken is low in the amino acids and they eat a broken egg. Their bodies take over looking for more because of that need. I'm talking to a vet about this to try to find out how to fix my flock issues with their feathering and their for how mean they were. They're not mean anymore so I fixed one issue and Bella is back to laying eggs again and isn't in the coop so much since I changed the older ones food to the layer's feed with the higher ingredients.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: YAY!

Seth - I'm sorry about your baby bunny.

Kim - wow, how could that have happened? I hope someone didn't take it for their lucky charm?

Sunny - I'll keep everyone updated. One of the causes of egg eating besides the calcium is when a chicken is low in the amino acids and they eat a broken egg. Their bodies take over looking for more because of that need. I'm talking to a vet about this to try to find out how to fix my flock issues with their feathering and their for how mean they were. They're not mean anymore so I fixed one issue and Bella is back to laying eggs again and isn't in the coop so much since I changed the older ones food to the layer's feed with the higher ingredients.

Have you asked the vet how the chickens can get these ingredients from natural foods? I'm a firm believer in getting them naturally when possible. It may just be a matter of changing their treats. Before layer feed there had to be a way to get these nutrients from nature.

 

[sherylreno]

YAY!

Have you asked the vet how the chickens can get these ingredients from natural foods? I'm a firm believer in getting them naturally when possible. It may just be a matter of changing their treats. Before layer feed there had to be a way to get these nutrients from nature.

Yes, he told me to add brussell sprouts, broccolli, a lot more greens and cooked egg whites will give them the extra amino acids the feeds are lacking. But the vet was the one who said the calcium really doesn't hurt the younger chickens or the roosters like we are told. He said it would take much more calcium than what's in the layer's feed to hurt the kidney's. He said the feed company's are reducing the amino acid's and he believes it's the costs for the reason of this.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Yes, he told me to add brussell sprouts, broccolli, a lot more greens and cooked egg whites will give them the extra amino acids the feeds are lacking. But the vet was the one who said the calcium really doesn't hurt the younger chickens or the roosters like we are told. He said it would take much more calcium than what's in the layer's feed to hurt the kidney's. He said the feed company's are reducing the amino acid's and he believes it's the costs for the reason of this.

Ooh good, I'm glad my chickens are getting so many greens. Not brussels sprouts, but I'll buy broccoli with the long stems so we can eat the crowns and give them the stems. And about every other harvest of lettuce and kale goes to the duckies and the chickens. Actually, all of the kale, so far. I pretty much planted it for them, anyway.

I'm sure calcium for laying hens is like iron for women of mothering age. It's a good thing to keep replacing, because it's depleted so fast.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: That would make sense since they eat a lot of greens when they can get ahold of them. I used to feed a lot of greens to the flock but there aren't near the yard trimmings here that there were there.

I'm going to avoid layer feed for now since Vets can't even agree on this issue. I have heard opinions on both sides and read a heartbreaking story here on BYC from someone who gave layer to his young flock when his vet said it was fine. Well after losing much of his flock to kidney failure (sent the carcasses in for necropsies) he has strong opinions about this issue.

I personally will keep feeding oyster shell. Then I'm sure the one's that need it will have it. I see the roos eating it sometimes too but have never seen the young ones eat it (doesn't mean they never do, I've just not seen it). Now that I have veggie trimmings the flock will get more greens as well. Sure wish this new flock would start hunting mice! I guess that was a rarity! It was nice while it lasted though.

I got another little pullet egg from the new flock today. It was a tiny brown egg just like the first one so probably the same girl.

I also got a mess of eggs from the marans girls today! 6 in one day! But only 1 of them was dark. At least they are not eating the eggs now. I think the lack of oyster shell was the culprit. The shells on the marans eggs are always so thick that I was holding back oyster shell so the eggs could hatch easier. I learned my lesson on that one the hard way though!

Again not trying to argue or start anything. Just my personal decision. We all do what we think is best for our flock. I do enjoy the shared info we get here though.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Again not trying to argue or start anything. Just my personal decision. We all do what we think is best for our flock. I do enjoy the shared info we get here though.

This is something I WANT to read! I'm currently buying two types of feed, and only interchange when I'm out of one and can't get to the feed store immediately. If you ask the feed companies, they're going to claim whatever will sell their product, while still keeping the chickens' general health in mind, even if it's mostly for liability purposes. I wouldn't mind paying $5 less per bag, but not if the calcium is going to be a problem for an animal that's not ejecting large amounts of calcium out of its body almost every day. The vegetables are just a regular thing for us. The chickens are #2 in the Circle O' Food, and I believe I can't give them too many healthy vegetables. If they don't need what's inside it, then it will sit on the ground and go bad in the sun. Lately this hasn't been an issue, but I've seen them reject foods that they previously gobbled up. Right now, they're going psycho over anything high-protein, while the ducks race to get anything green and leafy. Which is why I'm not freaking out too much if I don't put the rack back on the spinach correctly, and they get their heads underneath and clear a 12-inch swath of it... it's like telling my kids that they can't have their broccoli until after they eat some ice cream.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

awesome set up you have for your ducks! glad you rehomed your cayuga.

The doubly awesome thing is that Sahara agrees. She liked her cayuga, but can see that things are just a little more peaceful here without her, for the babies as well as the noise factor. And she didn't even insist on meeting the lady who was taking her... when I told her that the duck was going to a good home, she trusted me. Looks like my BYC friends have a good reputation going!