New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[robyn8]

Hi my BO pullet was also nearly scalped yesterday. It's maybe the bottom third that lifts up as a flap. She is in a dog kennel in the coop right now. Seems to be feeling ok. Eating and drinking, acting normal. I cleaned it with vetericyn at first and now am using triple antibiotic 2-3 times a day. Anything else I should be doing? We did cull the offending rooster. I just couldn't handle the thought of him injuring more pullets. I'm having second thoughts now, but we really aren't set up for a bachelor pad. He was a young rooster and I think the girls just weren't ready for him yet.

 

[speckledhen]

Hi my BO pullet was also nearly scalped yesterday. It's maybe the bottom third that lifts up as a flap. She is in a dog kennel in the coop right now. Seems to be feeling ok. Eating and drinking, acting normal. I cleaned it with vetericyn at first and now am using triple antibiotic 2-3 times a day. Anything else I should be doing? We did cull the offending rooster. I just couldn't handle the thought of him injuring more pullets. I'm having second thoughts now, but we really aren't set up for a bachelor pad. He was a young rooster and I think the girls just weren't ready for him yet.

Probably nothing else you really can do. I didn't have Vetericyn and you don't want to clean out an open wound with peroxide, which is why I decided to give Bailey a couple of days of penicillin, just in case, plus pack the wound with antibiotic ointment. Chickens heal up quite well if they aren't battling infection.

My boys are just very young and hormonal; as someone said here, all hormones and no brains. It's natural for them to be like that and they'll usually settle down later, but a very rough rooster is not one you should keep, certainly.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I need super glue to put the flap back down on Bailey's head. It looks good today, but there is a loose flap. You can't really stitch it down (I mean how would you hold her head still??), so super glue would be the best thing since it was created for surgical reasons. I've superglued a chick's navel before, believe it or not, when we had to pile its intestines back in, so we know it works fine. But, nothing is open today and we have none. Will have to hope that tomorrow is not too late.

I came up with a plan to save the poor girls from the oversexed boys. Since June's group used to be in that Brahma pen and the two groups ran together until the boys got all hormonal and I didn't want them grabbing my old ladies, it came to me that maybe I should put the four old girls in with the Brahma pullets and move the two boys into the 5x8 pen that the old girls were in nextdoor to them. That way, I don't have to use shavings in a former coop and the boys can still see their girls until Bailey is healed enough to have them back at it again.

I think Betsy and Brandy are close to laying. You can see here that Betsy has been sitting in a nest. Brandy was also there earlier. So I think both are about to come into lay. They'll be 29 weeks old this Wednesday.


Boys in their former pen, where June's group has been living. Maretta defected to Xander's group and Rita passed away so only four old ladies were left to put in with the Brahma pullets.



Alice already feels at home in her former pen and Georgie is telling those girls that she's back and move over!


Betsy teasing me that she's going to lay today. Well, maybe she will.

 

[robyn8]

I didn't glue down my chickens flap. Maybe I should have but I didn't think of it. It's looking better already though! The flap is dying off and the wound is getting noticeably smaller. We had her in a smaller dog kennel at first which we stole from our dog, lol. The big 4 ft one I bought came yesterday and we put her in that one in the coop. She has a lot more room now and seems content. The rest of the flock hangs out with her quite a bit in there.

. I'm very optimistic that she will recover!

 

[speckledhen]

I didn't glue down my chickens flap. Maybe I should have but I didn't think of it. It's looking better already though! The flap is dying off and the wound is getting noticeably smaller. We had her in a smaller dog kennel at first which we stole from our dog, lol. The big 4 ft one I bought came yesterday and we put her in that one in the coop. She has a lot more room now and seems content. The rest of the flock hangs out with her quite a bit in there.

. I'm very optimistic that she will recover!

That's good news for your girl. The flap on Bailey is rather large and it seems to bother her. She shakes her head a lot, like she can feel it up there moving. It may heal up fine, but it also may need "seating". I put a little more antibiotic ointment on it and it stuck it down a little bit. She seems fine, has laid eggs in her cage.

 

[robyn8]

My sweet little injured pullet laid our very first egg today!

 

[speckledhen]

My sweet little injured pullet laid our very first egg today!

Congratulations! Still no eggs from anyone other than Bailey. I love those girls, so sweet. We did try to secure Bailey's flap, but not sure if it will work. Will check. If it does, she can go back with her sisters. I don't want them pulling on something they see and they have superior eyesight, those girls.

 

[speckledhen]

I think I'm going to have to seriously consider selling Bruno, only because I have one too many males for just five pullets. And he's rough and huge and already, Bailey has been hurt by the competition. I'll have to do it soon or I'm not going to be able to. I just do not have enough girls for them both and it will be some time before I do, if then. If I have only the one left and something happens to Sebastian, I'll just have to hatch the eggs to get another male. There's no question who stays, but dang it, Bruno is just so drop dead gorgeous, I'll miss seeing him every day, even if he is a big lug-head right now, still more hormones than brains. He is such a rare color variety, unless someone plans to breed him, I hate to let him go.

They are still living in a separate pen from the girls. No more laying yet, either.

Oh, what about these white feathers that are showing up in the foot feathers and Bruno's tail at the base of a couple of feathers? Is that common? As breeders, @junebuggena and @Sjisty and @brahmapapa, how would you advertise Bruno? Price for this type/quality? Normally, I have trouble selling roosters, but he's so stunning, I doubt many have seen a cockerel like him.




This is the picture I'd use for advertising Bruno, if I did sell him. I just love this one. I'm still not sure about this. Would he and Bash do okay staying separate from their girls for an extended period?

 

[junebuggena]

I think I'm going to have to seriously consider selling Bruno, only because I have one too many males for just five pullets. And he's rough and huge and already, Bailey has been hurt by the competition. I'll have to do it soon or I'm not going to be able to. I just do not have enough girls for them both and it will be some time before I do, if then. If I have only the one left and something happens to Sebastian, I'll just have to hatch the eggs to get another male. There's no question who stays, but dang it, Bruno is just so drop dead gorgeous, I'll miss seeing him every day, even if he is a big lug-head right now, still more hormones than brains. He is such a rare color variety, unless someone plans to breed him, I hate to let him go.

They are still living in a separate pen from the girls. No more laying yet, either.

Oh, what about these white feathers that are showing up in the foot feathers and Bruno's tail at the base of a couple of feathers? Is that common? As breeders, @junebuggena and @Sjisty and @brahmapapa, how would you advertise Bruno? Price for this type/quality? Normally, I have trouble selling roosters, but he's so stunning, I doubt many have seen a cockerel like him.




This is the picture I'd use for advertising Bruno, if I did sell him. I just love this one. I'm still not sure about this. Would he and Bash do okay staying separate from their girls for an extended period?

Can you setup a bachelor pen? When you're ready for eggs to hatch, just pick which boy and put him in with the girls for a few weeks.That way, you have better genetic diversity, and you can be certain of which rooster fathered which chicks. Bruno does have absolutely fabulous conformation. Roosters can do very well together if they don't have any hens to compete over. The white could molt out next fall.

 

[speckledhen]

Can you setup a bachelor pen? When you're ready for eggs to hatch, just pick which boy and put him in with the girls for a few weeks.That way, you have better genetic diversity, and you can be certain of which rooster fathered which chicks. Bruno does have absolutely fabulous conformation. Roosters can do very well together if they don't have any hens to compete over. The white could molt out next fall.

I thought that about Bruno, too. He's just beyond words, how stunning he is to watch. I'm amazed by them every day. I remember the Orps and how they'd molt out off color juvie feathers and was thinking that they might molt out those white ones, but wanted your input on that.

Right now, I took the four older hens in the last 5x8 pen and put those old gals in with the four Brahma pullets (while Bailey is still recovering in the hospital cage). I was hoping to get them back in with the boys soon, but it's going to take some time for Bailey's head to truly heal enough for her to be pulled on by a rooster. I could just keep them the groups the way they are now, I guess. It's just when I let one out with the Brahma girls, I'll have to figure out what to do with the old gals in there. They are too frail to take on a Brahma male of any age, well, really any rooster at all. They are beyond that now.