NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

Quote:

So, what is involved in getting a bee hive? I'm thinking about havinng just one for ourselves....?

The supplies are deceptively simple - a hive, protective gear, and some bees. Once you have them, the fun begins! Keeping styles range from "leave them strictly alone unless you need to be in there" to "manage them intensively." The best bet is to read up on beekeeping and see if you can go spend some time with someone who has hives. I'm finding that bee people are a lot like chicken people - they're a tight-knit community and like helping introduce new folks ("newbees," as the Beesource forum calls us) to the hobby/lifestyle/calling. They really are fascinating little creatures. I've been enjoying just hanging around the hives and watching them do their thing.

 

[vmdanielsen]

My dh has a remedy for our chipmunks....its a high power pellet gun. Works great and keeps his skills sharp! I have only seen 2 so far this year. I dont think the chipmunks can get in the coops as we built them too tight for predators. My girls would probably kill and eat them anyways because they are savages when it comes to fresh meat! Do you hang yours or just put it up on a pedastal? I am thinking of hanging mine. Have to put a cone on it to keep the terrorists from getting on top.

I leave my bucket feeders on the ground! I have some pieces of ply wood in the chicken pasture (it is up on 5 gallon sheetrock mud buckets) and one corner is held up by the bucket feeder. If you are asking yourself, why does ginny have plywood in the chicken pen, it is because we have had hawk attacks and this gives chickens cover!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Well my vacation went by in a flash. I had family up from Florida. There was a family function the last 4 days. My main garden is planted, now I just have to get creative where to plant my sqaush on the property. My youngest didn't want to fall asleep last night and now I'm beat! I haven't kept up on the thread I've been so busy.

Ginny- Which hens would you get rid of? We've recently tried the bucket feeders. Trav hooked them up to the PVC gravity feeders so we can fill the feeder without opening the door. They are sweet !
Hen- That bee deck is nice!

We have more chipmunks than we've ever seen this year. They are becoming an issue.

Tab, not sure of which pullets we are keeping. With the great hatch from your eggs it seems that we have 14 pullets, 5 cockerels. I wasn't planning on such a great hatch. I am waiting to see who lays the best egg! I will keep the blue pullet, because she is a really nice bird and a leghorn/Am cross that has a clean face...the only one with a clean face. She always runs up to me(with the blue) and says hello!The rest run AWAY squawking and acting like I am going to eat them for supper! crazy birds!Did you want any back? Not sure which buckeyes as I have to figure out which best fit the description in the SOP. Have more buckeye eggs in the bator and am hoping for better fertility.

 

[vmdanielsen]

We're feeding them 1:1 syrup and pollen substitute made up into patties, as I've been reading a lot of sources that recommend doing that for a while with bees in new-start hives so they can draw out comb faster. They're working like, well, busy bees, and already have quite a bit of comb drawn out. We're using the plastic foundation frames coated with wax, and they don't appear to object. We had used gallon Ziploc baggies with slits cut in them as feeders at first. One of the hives actually drew a lovely little comb out on the bottom of the bag. It's very pretty - I'll have to get a photo of it!

This is turning out to be a great site for information: http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm

And, this is a cool forum: http://www.beesource.com/

My poor Faverolle girl had another, smaller prolapse this morning, which I replaced and treated. She had prolapsed yet again this evening (not as bad as the first time, but still ugly), so I just finished cleaning her up with Epsom salts in cool water, putting more raw honey and Prep H on and in the vent, and just patting her for a while. She's now back in the hen hotel in the darkened garage. Poor thing. She's not showing much discomfort, and the prolapses appear to be only vent tissue and not intestines, so I'm hoping I can save her.

Amy, I had a hen do this for four days. I kept washing her and applying prep H. Kept her in a darkened bathroom to slow down laying. Finally, the vent stopped popping out. this was over a year ago. She is fine now. Keep trying......

 

[Cass]

I am not supposed to have any of my own eggs hatch and grow to adulthood. I swear, someone is conspiring against me.

When I went to work this morning I had one chick hatched and 4 eggs under the broody. When I got home I had one squished chick and 2 eggs. No empty shells, just missing eggs.

Remember the rabbit cage I went and got for a broody cage? Well, I didn't. Until I found the dead chick, So now she is sitting on her last 2 eggs (which I moved carefully into the cage) and hopefully I will have a chick or two in the morning. Can't have more than 2 cuz that's all the eggs that are left.

I am sooooo bummed.

I am building a broody box this weekend. Next broody I have is going inside the box and only coming out once a day when I let her. Nothing else is getting in the box until the chicks are 3 days old.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I am not supposed to have any of my own eggs hatch and grow to adulthood. I swear, someone is conspiring against me.

When I went to work this morning I had one chick hatched and 4 eggs under the broody. When I got home I had one squished chick and 2 eggs. No empty shells, just missing eggs.

Remember the rabbit cage I went and got for a broody cage? Well, I didn't. Until I found the dead chick, So now she is sitting on her last 2 eggs (which I moved carefully into the cage) and hopefully I will have a chick or two in the morning. Can't have more than 2 cuz that's all the eggs that are left.

I am sooooo bummed.

I am building a broody box this weekend. Next broody I have is going inside the box and only coming out once a day when I let her. Nothing else is getting in the box until the chicks are 3 days old.

so sorry to hear of your loss cass. i hope that the other two hatch safe and sound.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Aw Cass...I feel your pain. That is my next build, a broody box because I am no good at incubating and hatching and my broody mama broke one of her eggs so she only has one left she is sitting on plus the chick she got from when when it was the only one that hatched. It is not working out well in the coop.

Stony--at least now I know that rir will go broody. The terrorists are in their new home (thank goodness) and are completely out of control now that they have so much room. Two of the boys are first on the list for freezer camp as they keep biting when we pick them up. I do mean latching on with the intent of ripping off chunks of skin. The girls have gorgeous eyes and are becoming friendlier and they are all a bunch of nosies when you go in the door. They come running to see whats going on and what you have. They all ran from the front of the coop to the back (windows are there) to the front again as I was walking back and forth doing things outside of their coop. Funny cheeps. I would have done it more just to tease them but I didnt want to exercise that much!

Hen--I hope your girl pulls through. Amazing how we become doctors to our critters using all the same stuff we fill for/recommend to our customers huh? People think I am crazy but you use what you know right?

Crazy heavy rain today. Gonna be a long week.

 

[Henicillin]

Hen--I hope your girl pulls through. Amazing how we become doctors to our critters using all the same stuff we fill for/recommend to our customers huh? People think I am crazy but you use what you know right?

I figure that if it works for my human patients, generally it should work for my beasties. There are, of course, exceptions, like "don't give animals acetaminophen" - baby aspirin is your friend - but when it comes to cleaning things up, a bunch of 4x4s and cool saline or Epsom salt water will do the trick for human and chicken alike. This little hen is talking to us when we come through the garage ("bok?", meaning "I'm in here why, exactly?"), and is eating and drinking, so I think she has a good shot.

She looks so ratty right now.

Here's a thought I had today. I'm an immunizing pharmacist. Now, I haven't given zillions of shots, as I've only been certified for about a year, but I've given quite a few. Evidently I'm fairly good at it, as I have never had a single complaint about my technique, and that includes one drama queen who was going "oooh, ooooh!" and scrunching up her face before I had so much as swabbed her arm for a flu jab. Generally, people say, "That's it? You're done?" Even Drama Queen didn't know I'd actually injected her. "OK - I think I'm ready." "Too late, because I'm done." "Oh - really?" She actually seemed disappointed that she couldn't carry on.

I've even had nervous patients tell me that they felt much calmer when I touched them. I'm wondering if this is due to my treating various critters over the years. Obviously you can't explain to an animal what you're going to do, so you have to communicate with them non-verbally using body language and touch to calm them. Maybe I'm going into "animal treatment mode" when I give an injection. I figure, hey, whatever works!

 

[Henicillin]

I am not supposed to have any of my own eggs hatch and grow to adulthood. I swear, someone is conspiring against me.

When I went to work this morning I had one chick hatched and 4 eggs under the broody. When I got home I had one squished chick and 2 eggs. No empty shells, just missing eggs.

Remember the rabbit cage I went and got for a broody cage? Well, I didn't. Until I found the dead chick, So now she is sitting on her last 2 eggs (which I moved carefully into the cage) and hopefully I will have a chick or two in the morning. Can't have more than 2 cuz that's all the eggs that are left.

I am sooooo bummed.

I am building a broody box this weekend. Next broody I have is going inside the box and only coming out once a day when I let her. Nothing else is getting in the box until the chicks are 3 days old.

Poor chickie. How weird about those eggs, too. Good luck to the other chicks!, and to the little mama!

My fat-butt hen's remaining five are due tomorrow - let's see how many of them actually make it without being squashed.

 

[Henicillin]

I was just surprised to learn that I have a new peep! I went out to lock up the birds just now, and found that the Marans cross has already hatched, and is dry and fluffy and cuddled up in Mom's feathers. She let me examine the peeper with no problem, and, when I left the coop, was talking to it very softly. No pips are evident in the other four, but it's not "officially" 21 days until nearly midnight. This is an early bird.