NY chicken lover!!!!

[shodack]

I have gone out a few times to check on my chickens. I've had the coop door closed and they seem happy as can be in there. When I open it they scatter away from it as fast as they can. Inside, even though it's a bit drafty, they seem perfectly happy strutting around. Tough little biddies!

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Heating up some water & packing up some goodies to bring out to the chicken house and procrastinating. Great idea to cook them up some oatmeal! Guess I just have to sit back down on my warm couch while it cooks & cools.

 

[Gramma Chick]

rock-em sock-em business?

Question for people who have brooded silkies to maturity: Do pullets "spar"? like get in each others faces and do the big jump and kick and rock-em sock-em business? I have two that were doing that this morning, they are a month old exactly today.

of those I will keep just one pullet, if sparring is NOT a pullet like behavior i will tell you the barred chick and one of the black chicks were the ones sparring.
Kate

LOve this term - rock-em sock-em -
Chicken Pullets show this behavior generally when they are 4- 5 months .
At 1 month this generally says they are both boys

 

[Gramma Chick]

Roo in the nest - Hes trying to get them to go Broody ..Hes saying Honey Lets Play House - Raise a Family

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Funny how 16 degrees inside the chx house feels warm compared to the face cracking who knows what below zero wind chill on the way to & from. Burr! Come on spring!!

 

[sugarstark]

thanks for the insight, @PhoredaBurds I'll have some pics of my spitz soon if you'd like to help me sex them. I will also weigh them, there seems to be a big difference in build... I've only got two with the really nice white laced black forward facing crests ( i am aware that the black crests might just turn whit too) but to sell them later I'll be trying to retain the SOP as much as possible.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Sugarstark, you may want to post those pics on one of the Spitzhauben threads as you will get more opinions there. I've found it tough to reliably sex spitz chicks before they are 8-10 weeks old because of their head fluff & small combs. Their color & crests change quite a bit over those first few months as well. Watch for waddle development as the first sign of a young cockerel. As for SOP, I look to the UK standards for guidance as APA does not yet accept the breed. ASCA is working on that tho. Enjoy ur chicks! They're so much fun at this stage!

 

[rancher hicks]

I haven't noticed the Daisy roo in the box. Maybe once before. It's far too cold to brood chicks, though I had a Dominique hatch in weather just like this. I moved her into the office but that was not a good set up. In either case I don't want hens with chicks in that coop. It's way too cold. They are in a half hoop. If I keep chickens in them next year, I will add a run or at least a shelter to the front.

As for bloody eggs you might try some Cod liver oil in their feed if you can find it. Or Olive oil. The idea is to grease up the ride of the egg. It can't hurt and may help.

I've started using one of the gallon dog bowls. I set it on some plywood and the water was steaming when I was just out there. I don't think I'd use it inside the coop. That steam would just add to the humidity level.

Country max was busy. They had BOSS for $17 a bag. I did manage to get some shavings. They had bird seed buy one get one 1/2 off. At $19 a bag that wasn't a bad deal. Though I don't feed the wild birds since having chickens.

I'm only hatching because even if I decide to give up chickens I can easily find takers for chicks. I need to stay busy no matter what. If we'd moved to TX I'd be outside. I've been outside three or four times today just to shovel the steps, snow blow the drive or the path to the coops.

I'm getting ready to start plants for the garden come spring. The homestead thread is quiet.

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

I'm getting ready to start plants for the garden come spring. The homestead thread is quiet.

Do you have a link to the homestead thread? I'd love to join it.


Well, last evening I walked into the coop in what I thought was a murder scene. I'm not at all sure what happened. All the girls are doing great! I checked their faces, their vents, their feet and back ends. NOTHING! They were acting fine. I did think there could have been a snake or mouse. Snakes I don't think would be out in this and I didn't think a mouse would be up that high. The blood was ALL OVER. I'd never seen anything like it. I would expect to see a carcas but nothing. Do you think they ate it? I'm guessing one flew in when the doors were open the other day as I walked between the garage and coop to feed the girls. I left them outside of the coop for a few minutes with the coop doors open. Should I be worried about diseases now? I cleaned the blood off (which took FOREVER since it was frozen. It had to be scrubbed.






My husband thought quick and brought the hay in from the run. Now I'm praying there's no mice nests in it. I'm guessing there isn't but it's freaked me out. ((sigh)) I'm thinking we should haven't brought them into the coop from the run. It could open a can of worms. Or maybe I'm being over-worried.

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

Had you thought of Welsummers for dark speckled eggs? Although I haven't had any black copper Marans, I have been disappointed by the egg coloring of my 3 Maran hens - I think Welsummers are prettier eggs...
As for your newbies - I would think they will be safe inside the coop, the run would need to be secure. Little fuzzy things that run are very tempting to any prey animal. Although our Beagles are great around older hens, I would not trust them with chicks, it's just too tempting.

Where could I find Welssumers? I haven't raised chicks. We have purchased pullets from someone in Groton. I would probably take 4 since they seem to be of good temperament.