NY chicken lover!!!!

[Adoravachick]

I loved the pictures of all the silkies posted a few days back. I only have one beautiful white silkie from all the eggs hatched back in mid march. I'm not sure what it is. All the other chicks are obviously hens or roos. Should he be crowing by now if he is a roo?. I really am not sure how you tell whether a silkie is a boy or girl. I feel so embarrassed!!

Can you post a pic of your silkie? Should be crowing by now, but

 

[Adoravachick]

with silkies you never know.

 

[Adoravachick]

Yes, I am. Second round is due on sunday and I should be sufficiently healed to do the grab and squirt. Of course I will be hated for another few days after that by my laying hens and they will probably withhold eggs as punishment. Divas.

So out of seven roosters, I have finally found at least one that fits my keeper criteria to an extent. The two relentless rapists will be going to freezer camp first, and maybe sooner rather than later. The favorite contender right now is in the middle of the pecking order, not aggressive (at least right now) and has a nice bone structure and good coloring/comb/wattles, etc. He let me handle him and when I put him down, he tried a little to challenge me and was rewarded with a good coupled of shots to the chest by my hand. He was all buddy buddy after that. He is pretty good to the girls most of the time. How much he would change after the others are gone, who knows. Roosters are a hit and miss as far as temperment. Dinner is always an option where they are conserned.

So it looks like I ended up with 3 silkies boy after all my hatching. Sigh. They are, however, developing into beautiful birds so I will hang on to them until I decide which ones I am keeping for breeding. I have one splash, one light blue and one darker blue. They thought they would take on my older silkie roo Little Man and found out that he was no pushover. Two of them backed off right away but Frodo, the splash, wouldnt give up until Little Man ripped out a beak full of feathers from his back. No one was really hurt and I watched to make sure that didnt happen but allowed nature to take its course. The boys learned an important lesson and have learned to respect Little Man and stay out of his and his ladys way. Of course I may change all this come fall and put one of the girls in with the boys but we will see.

Getting some much needed rain again along with some noise from above. Keeps the boys quiet and in the coop.

Can I use DE mixed in with the food to worm? Have you guys used this? What are your thoughts on worming products?

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Can I use DE mixed in with the food to worm? Have you guys used this? What are your thoughts on worming products?

You can put de in with the food and I do but I am not so sure how good it is for worming. I use pour on ivermectin (eprinex) as it is much easier. Just a little squirt under the feathers high on the neck and you are done. No egg withdrawel and it works on everything inside and out. Initially I didnt want to do any kind of worming and didnt for the first year and a half but decided to as a preventative measure because we have so many wild birds and lots of earthworms. It seems to work well with no effects and like I said, I dont have to toss eggs. I have never seen any parasites of any kinds in or on my flock either before I started doing it or after. I think its a personal choice for each flockraiser. I find my girls are a little more efficient and put on a little more weight after having it done so who knows. I would say read everything you can, both pro and con, and make your own decision based on what you are seeing in your flock. I hope this helps.

 

[java girl 2]

hey, looky looky what I found in the incubator right after the first storm!! meet thunder!!

 

[featherz]

hey, looky looky what I found in the incubator right after the first storm!! meet thunder!!

How cute!!!! =)
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As for DE, most peeps will tell you it really doesn't do much for worming. I use it, but to dry out poo and keep the fly population down. For that it works great!

 

[stonykill]

Can I use DE mixed in with the food to worm? Have you guys used this? What are your thoughts on worming products?

I don't worm. Never have, never had tover 7 years with birds and never saw any reason too. Every living thing live with worms in it's system, in balance. Yup, even you and I have worms in balance in our system.

Pumpkin in the fall. Said to be a natural de wormer. Chickens love pumpkins!

 

[vmdanielsen]

I don't worm. Never have, never had tover 7 years with birds and never saw any reason too. Every living thing live with worms in it's system, in balance. Yup, even you and I have worms in balance in our system.

Pumpkin in the fall. Said to be a natural de wormer. Chickens love pumpkins!

My chickens won't eat pumpkin unless I cook it! Spoiled things!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all!

Going to be a beautiful day today so I will attempt to do some coop housekeeping today. You never know how many muscles you use in your abdomen on a daily basis until someone cuts into them and they are definately all connected!!! Feeling better each day though so its time to push a little and get some things done.

The red boys are putting on weight now so the rapists may go sooner rather than later. I;m sure the girls will be relieved when that happens. They too are filling out nicely. All are now 16 weeks old now and some of the pullets have red faces so I am hoping they start laying soon. These terrorists certainly keep everyone busy and the girls are a chatty lot. I feel like the pied piper cause they follow me around the yard when I am doing stuff.

One of my hens laid a fart egg in the coop this morning and I caught Betty trying to eat it. She ran and hid on the far side when she saw me cause she knows I will yell at her. I did. Elanor is still sitting on the empty nest. She is a good broody wyandotte and I will definately keep her around to hatch eggs next year. Winter project will be to build her a broody enclosure that is custom to their coop.

My chickens must be weird because I tried to give them pumpkin and they wont eat it, even cooked. They will do anything for meat though. One of the red pullets tried to steal the pork off the bbq the other night while my dh was grilling. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. He had to boot her away before she would leave it alone. Her new name is Barb--hehehe!

 

[kamir]

SNIP...

One of my hens laid a fart egg in the coop this morning and I caught Betty trying to eat it.

Please explain this technical term to a noob.

kamir