Official Squatch Watchers

[staceyj]

I found out who lays the green egg yesterday! It's Clover, the supposed Lavender orpington. So either their male lav orp isn't as pure as they think, or they have some kind of americauna roo running around the barnyard. Either way, I don't mind the green eggs, they're beautiful! That means the TINY buff colored eggs are coming from the Cemani/lav pullet. I really hope they do get bigger. They're still pretty small.


I have a question... yesterday when I was at the coop I noticed a bunch of black bugs in the snow around the coop. I looked around and it was in the snow all over the yard, but when it was near a structure there was more. Like near cars in the drive way, more than 150 ft from the coop, near the woods behind the coop, near some wooden boxes 20+ feet from the coop..
View attachment 1642027
They weren't dead, at least not all of them. Some were moving around a bit.. this photo might be more clear.
View attachment 1642028
I checked one of the white ones and I didn't see anything on her. I can't tell if they're fleas or some other kind of bug. I've never seen anything like this. IDK if they were trying to get away from the cold or what. Anyone else ever see this?

ETA: Apparently they're called snow fleas.. I think. Never heard of them or seen them before. Have any of you?
https://www.esa.org/esablog/research/snow-fleas-helpful-winter-critters-2/

They actually look like some kind of feed beetle.
Remember last year when I bought that bag of scratch and got halfway to the bottom and it was FULL of them?
Where do you store your feed?

 

[Chickassan]

@apryl29 , Newtons were always a staple here them and those nutter butters that came in planks. I started buying them out of habit mostly and then got the chickens hooked on them too. They're one of the few cookies that still taste the exact same as they did years ago.

 

[staceyj]

@apryl29

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/please-help.1285498/#post-20789788


0.15 ml for a 5 pound chicken.

 

[Chickassan]

And just so everybody knows, I divide up four newtons between 11 chickens so that gives everybody a piece with one extra for the inevitable thievery that happens if somebody is too slow or dosent run away with their piece.
I don't let them lounge around snackin on newtons all day...they totally would though.

 

[apryl29]

I'm feeling better today. Was able to walk the property line with my dad this morning and measure it so we can figure out where the corner of our property is. But I'm worn out now.

I think Thing 1 has something or another. This might be a little TMI, but he hasn't pooped in his sleep since he was 3-4 months old. Last night he woke up at 11:30 and had a really nasty, stinky, almost blow out for me to change. Fortunately he went right back to sleep despite the light being turned on.

I've never heard of snow-fleas before, but I have heard of spring-tails. A reptile education channel I watch on YouTube has recommended spring-tails as a way to keep fungus and mold from growing in damp bedding for tropical species of snakes.

Interesting. I'm going to assume their presence is a good thing b/c there's lots of stuff for them to eat. I'm guessing I never noticed them before b/c 1. I don't spend much time outside, esp when it's cold/ snowing & 2. In a proper winter it's cold before it snows so there isn't a whole bunch of them... plus b/c it was so wet during the fall we didn't get the last of the leaves mowed / raked so there's a nice layer of leaves under all that snow.

They actually look like some kind of feed beetle.
Remember last year when I bought that bag of scratch and got halfway to the bottom and it was FULL of them?
Where do you store your feed?

TSC, but I dump it into a plastic trash can and I've not noticed anything crawling in it.

@apryl29

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/please-help.1285498/#post-20789788


0.15 ml for a 5 pound chicken.

Thank you! IDK why I didn't think to search on here for it. SMH... though whenever I try to find something I can never think of how to word it. It took me several tries to find your message that told me what to get.. Tapeworm didn't bring it up, I had to search cats. SMH.

 

[BantyChooks]

And just so everybody knows, I divide up four newtons between 11 chickens so that gives everybody a piece with one extra for the inevitable thievery that happens if somebody is too slow or dosent run away with their piece.
I don't let them lounge around snackin on newtons all day...they totally would though.

I love fig newtons too much to let any dirty old bird eat them.

 

[Suzi18]

Beautiful bunnies! In case you haven't considered it yet.. you'll need to get one of them fixed asap unless you want baby buns. @CapricornFarm could probably give you an idea of when you're at risk for babies. Even if you separate them they have to be several feet apart b/c the boy parts are... long.

I plan on having the boy fixed in a few weeks. Sure as taters don't want baby bunnies. I told Cappy I got bunnies but she gave no reply at all. Maybe she doesn't care for Dutch bunnies

 

[Suzi18]

Right? I saw them and my first thought was mites. Like the coop was infested & the cold on Sunday killed a bunch and they just died there and the coop was going to be crawling w/ them.. but nope. All I could think was I do not have time for mites.

Never heard of them. Weird

 

[21hens-incharge]

I plan on having the boy fixed in a few weeks. Sure as taters don't want baby bunnies. I told Cappy I got bunnies but she gave no reply at all. Maybe she doesn't care for Dutch bunnies

That should also cool any potential tudes he may have had while intact.

 

[Suzi18]

Wait!
Maybe that’s a buff Orpington “thing” !
Both of mine honk too!
Kind of like a cross between a goose and the little horn a clown carries around!

(I hate clowns)

My Orpington also honks like a goose. She isn't a buff....shes a black silver laced. Maybe it's just an Orpington thing in general.

Btw....DH hates clowns also