NY chicken lover!!!!

[ChickPrincess]

Been busy and trying to catch up! Argh!

Stick the roos in another area. Even those saddles don't work 100%.

Unfortunately not an option. No place to put them.

how many hens do you have? and how many roosters? If your roo to hen ratio is out of whack... this could be part of the problem. If they all live together 1 roo for every 6 to 10 hens works well for me. More roo's than that in a single pen with that number of hens results in bareback and dead hens.
I had one breeding pen with 4 hens and 1 rooster. Both White leghorns were bareback for 6 months easily. Thanksgiving week I put their rooster in freezer camp and replaced him with a larger younger rooster. By mid December both of those hens were almost back to normal and now look magnificent. AND are laying better than ever.

But my guess is your rooster to hen ratio is way out of whack

In the short term put some Nustock on their bare backs and let them grow back some feathers.

I'll be starting the Nustock. Just haven't gotten my butt to TSC to see if they have it yet.
My roo to hen ratio is good. 34 hens to 3 roos.
I'm wondering if the Nustock might keep them away for a bit?

my local feed store stocks it, I don't know about others. I'm sure a quick google search will find plenty of online sources to purchase it.

If TSC doesn't have it, I found some on Amazon. It's around $18.

So when are people going to start setting eggs?

I will be doing my first set for a Feb 15th hatch. It will coincide with my 25 chicks arriving. Setting Jersey Giants, Amers, Orps.

On a crappy note, hit a deer last night. I am fine, the car is not.

Sorry. But at least the car is replaceable. You are not.

 

[ChickPrincess]

All this talk of medical kits jinxed me!
I checked on the flock after school, and noticed some blood in the water. Searched and searched and finally found him. One of my roos must've been in a tangle with another roo. Actually, now that I think about it, some of the hens get pretty nasty with him too. Anyways, he had a fair amount of blood on his comb and it was still quite sticky wet. We caught him, got him cleaned with peroxide and Neosporin. He is in a dog kennel in our garage until the bleeding is under control.
So my question is...
How healed does it have to be before I can put him back in the flock? I don't want him to have to be reintroduced and start from scratch. The bloody area was at the back of his comb and also his nostril area. Nothing that won't heal, I'm sure, but it wasn't a minor scratch either.
Going tomorrow to pick up Nustock if they have it.

 

[java girl 2]

All this talk of medical kits jinxed me!
I checked on the flock after school, and noticed some blood in the water. Searched and searched and finally found him. One of my roos must've been in a tangle with another roo. Actually, now that I think about it, some of the hens get pretty nasty with him too. Anyways, he had a fair amount of blood on his comb and it was still quite sticky wet. We caught him, got him cleaned with peroxide and Neosporin. He is in a dog kennel in our garage until the bleeding is under control.
So my question is...
How healed does it have to be before I can put him back in the flock? I don't want him to have to be reintroduced and start from scratch. The bloody area was at the back of his comb and also his nostril area. Nothing that won't heal, I'm sure, but it wasn't a minor scratch either.
Going tomorrow to pick up Nustock if they have it.

as soon as the blood is dry, put him back in. if you have blue kote, get some gloves and spray it on the gloves and rub it on the spots where the blood is. it will hide the color of blood so they don't keep picking on him.

 

[rancher hicks]

Did the chicks stay outside or did you eventually bring them in? I'm wondering if I can get these newbies outside once all their feathering comes in, or if I really need to keep them indoors until Spring. Either way is fine, I do have the space, I just know the bigger they get the bigger the mess.

At the time I move her and them indoors, until she came at me hard. I shut off the light and moved her back to the coop and kept the chicks inside with me. I have had hens with a chick when there was snow on the ground but it disappeared. I won't do that again.

I also had a some chicks just before the snow who were feathered out , broody hatched late. They were fine, but I did lose one when I went away and DW was opening up while it was still dark. I also had a squirrel problem which I promptly took care of as soon as I realized what was going on.

So I'd say if you have a secure place for the hen and chicks, she should be fine.

 

[Cass]

I don't know who I am to quote, so here are my thoughts on all the above posts (that I remember)

I love broody hens. You don't have to have a rooster to hatch eggs. Plenty of us have eggs for sale, trade or to give you to give your hen something productive to do. Many times it's the cheapest way to add birds to your flock, if the breed is of the expensive nature as chicks or pullets.

Some breeds of birds are almost always broody. Silkies are one of that kind of breed. If you don't want to deal with a broody hen, avoid owning silkies. Now I own one...she's a bantam sized bird....she is always broody, but lays an egg a day when she isn't. She will take care of her chicks for exactly 5 weeks. At that time they are as big as her or bigger and she stops clucking to call them to her and lets them do their own thing. My Lace winged something or other is a GOOD mother. No one messes with her babies. She takes care of them for about 6 weeks, but she is a HUGE bird so they fit under her wings longer than the silkie.

I separate my broody hen when it is time for "lock down". I use a table in the coop and wrap it with chicken wire. It works very well for me and the birds. I have never had a problem with intigration of new babies into the flock. I let them hatch whenever they want then I deal with the results. (Sometimes nature deals with the results for me....poor little one that the flock ATE) Don't get attatched to any bird until it starts to lay eggs---otherwise your favorite will die. Ask around, the favorite chick always dies....so don't have a favorite until they survive to egg laying age. (I know, I know easier said than done)

Someone told me about a place to get fake eggs (I hate to shop, but I am online a lot, so links has become my middle name. LOL) When I was browsing the site I saw "broody" panels. Now get this....you can BUY cardboard that has slots and slits to assemble a "pen" for your broody. I ALMOST bought some. THEN? Well, sanity returned and I said to myself "self, why don't you just cut the flaps off the top and bottom of a big box and put it around the broody?" And self said "Hey, that's a great idea. I won't cut up all the boxes on the porch and I'll use them around the silkie is the lace wing is broody at the same time" Just a thought for those who hatch in the coop.

I did move the egg eating silkie to the other side of the coop (daily, she likes the big side better). I am getting twice the number of eggs I was getting. AND my XL green egg is back. She must have been eating that every darn day. I'm surprised she can still put her wings down.

 

[Henicillin]

I'm chick-free at the moment, and rather enjoying it. I need to cut down on the cockerels and expand the run before I even want to think about hatching. I'm really lazy and love the broodies, so I'm OK at the moment anyway. I will need an incubator towards the spring, though, as I want some of Stony's runner duck eggs (swap for Rouen eggs!). We need a dancing DUCK smiley!

 

[rancher hicks]

I'm chick-free at the moment, and rather enjoying it. I need to cut down on the cockerels and expand the run before I even want to think about hatching. I'm really lazy and love the broodies, so I'm OK at the moment anyway. I will need an incubator towards the spring, though, as I want some of Stony's runner duck eggs (swap for Rouen eggs!). We need a dancing DUCK smiley!

I had a friend give me eggs to hatch and it turned out three were duck eggs. The poor hen just kept sitting on them as I took the first few chicks and left her to finish.

 

[ChickPrincess]

as soon as the blood is dry, put him back in. if you have blue kote, get some gloves and spray it on the gloves and rub it on the spots where the blood is. it will hide the color of blood so they don't keep picking on him.

Good idea! I'll do that tomorrow after school. Just hope it sticks to where I put Neosporin.

 

[Framac]

I use a kiddie pool surrounded with hardware cloth. Much easier to clean after use and store.

FOLKS, please be aware that a 250 watt heat light is NOT always necessary nor safe. There are 150 watt lights available on line. I have also used 100 watt or less regular lights depending on where I brood.

In my office a 250 watt is way to hot and I've lost a couple of chicks finding this out. I use multiple thermometers. One inside the brooder and one outside, though how your chicks behave can be a good indication of how comfortable things are for them.

I agree whole heatedly with this Rancher. I have 250's all the way down to 75W flood lights that I use depending on age of chicks, time of year, and location for brooding.

Most of mine spend the first 4-6 weeks of their life in my garage with a 250 Watt bulb, then move to a coop pen with a 100 watt. I monitor temps and have put higher watt bulbs back in for older birds during cold spells.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

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