NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

Itsy, good luck on catching the little tuxedo dude!

 

[In His Service]

itsy - I can't tell by looking at tuxedos, but I know I have a male and female - took a while to catch him crowing. Do you have any pics of the quail, preferably from the front showing the chest? I can bring you some mature quail at the April egg swap, if you want to swap some of your males for females. I will be bringing some eggs, too.

 

[featherz]

I was reading a post on unusual/innovative brooders on the Meyer Hatchery Facebook page just now. One woman said that she uses sheets of pegboard zip-tied together. That's brilliant - you could make it as big as you needed, pegboard is cheap, and you could take the whole thing down and store it flat when it isn't needed. Gotta love chicken people - we're creative!

Until I started using cages, my brooder was four pieces of plywood, ziptied together. I used cardboard for the bottom. Was easy to clean that way.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all! Sheesh, I miss one day and have to read 5 pages to catch up! Loving this weather. Hen--I think your setup would look great in my yard! I would have to have my daughter do the gardening though cause I kill plants like crazy. Nice to see everyone is busy hatching and gardening. I have 2 dozen silkie eggs coming to add to my 10 to set in the bator on wednesday. I cant wait!!! Mostly blue/splash with a few other colors. I will be selling most of them, if anyone is interested. Going to grow them out a bit first though to make sure they are healthy and have a good start. I am hoping mine show good fertility. Can you use food dye to mark the chicks safely??? I was thinking of using a tiny drop on them to differentiate my chicks from the others. Gotta find a spot to set up the brooder box for the 25 that are coming april 3. Anyone ever use Hoffman hatchery in Pa??? We ordered from them but I havent read any mention of them from anyone. I will let you all know how they are when I get the little fuzzy butts. Been working on the woods coop. Got the posts set and most of the bottom framed out. Using roughcut lumber takes a little more fussing than storebought. So far so good! I will be taking pics as we go so I can make an album for anyone to look at.

Hope everyone has a nice day!

 

[rancher hicks]

What color SFH did you get Rancher? Pics? I think I like the Reds the best myself, and crested. Are there similar issues in breeding crested chickens as there is in ducks?

Mine seem pretty much the same as everyone elses. I do intend to keep all the roos for a time to breed from since I expect a shallow gene pool. Now as much as it pains me to confess they did get sick. Mainly the Birchen Marans that are with them. I did lose one and was surprised as that one didn't appear sick at all. I put them on Duramycin and they recovered quickly. This is what I mean by hardiness. None of the other breeds I've got have ever gotten sick in a group. I've lost a few over the years but usually with in the first year. Only hens though. Probably less than 10.

The Birchens and SFH's are of course GF breeds and imports. I have followed the SFH thread and read some things that I won't mention. Anyhow I figure if you only purchased half a dozen chicks your bound to get a linked couple or so. With out selective breeding and just to sell eggs and chicks who can say what's what in the pool.

I don't know how many GF started with. 6, 8, 12 ? I've tried to find out more on the breed by going to the Swedish web sites but haven't had much luck. The UK is more into show and breeds than some countries I guess. Certainly Sweden has more breeds than just this. I found commercial companies for food but none on specific breeds and hobbyist.

I doubt this will be a breed I'll hang on to, unless they are better layers than my other breeds but I doubt they will be.

 

[Cydney83]

Can the Cream Legbars be gotten?

I'm stopping in OH on my way back from Silver Fox Nationals on next Monday to PU my Cream Legbars (amoung other things, its a sickness!) , does anyone need any of the following breeds:


Lavender Orps
Mottled Javas
Black Copper Marans
Barnevelders

I think they're day olds, I can transport back if you PU from me on Tues here in Bloomfield (and shoot me a couple bucks for gas, lol)

 

[Cydney83]

Can the Cream Legbars be gotten?

Sorry Framac and Itsy..I have one chick that it's leg goes out to the side and it looks to be a roo and all, it is eating ok and growing..I can't do it and my husband hasn't offered...What do I do!?

 

[Framac]

If it is one leg have you tried the band aid trick? I had a splay legged chick in my first hatch, put the band aid between it's legs, sticky part on the legs and the pad between the legs, and in 2 days the chick was normal. I feel this one had a birth defect, and I had tried the band aid trick to no avail. It was not growing like the rest, so I opted to put in down.

EDIT: Because of the small size of the chicks, I opted to cut the band aids leghtwise so they were not so thick.
Framac

Sorry Framac and Itsy..I have one chick that it's leg goes out to the side and it looks to be a roo and all, it is eating ok and growing..I can't do it and my husband hasn't offered...What do I do!?

 

[marquisella]

If its less than 3 days old, the bandaid will work but if it is older, it is already too late.

You can also put it innto a coffee mug with something non slip on the bottom. This keeps the feet from slippinng out to the sides. Take it out several times a day to let it eat & drink.

 

[Cydney83]

It is a old chick...I some how missed it as a day old..or it happened later..I try to keep tabs on this, but missed it..

If it is one leg have you tried the band aid trick? I had a splay legged chick in my first hatch, put the band aid between it's legs, sticky part on the legs and the pad between the legs, and in 2 days the chick was normal. I feel this one had a birth defect, and I had tried the band aid trick to no avail. It was not growing like the rest, so I opted to put in down.

EDIT: Because of the small size of the chicks, I opted to cut the band aids leghtwise so they were not so thick.
Framac