***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[margaret8]

I will have some guineas in about 2 weeks. They will be $5.50 a piece, if anyone is interested.

 

[kelielliott]

I haven't been on in forever so I had 20 pages to catch up on! We had to cull our first chicken yesterday. It was a polish mix roo we have had since we started. About 2 weeks ago he tried to attack my 20 month old and has tried through the fence ever since. We have just kept her out but 2 days ago he spurred me when I bent over to collect eggs and yesterday wouldn't let me even get to the eggs. We had him on every site for free. The girls actually seem more relaxed. He had gotten where he crowed all the time! My husband carried him out my his throat and they didn't even make a sound. I think they are kinda glad to get rid of the jerk. They now have a naked neck silkie roo. He hasn't quite gotten the nerve to "perform" but they haven't been mean to him at all! I think they are a little shocked at his appearance.

@HeyBigRhondaq Those girls are from your eggs.

 

[kelielliott]

Did I miss the outcome of the possible blind chicken? Those kind of issues are so hard!

 

[Kyzmette]

Kass, Qtip has to be one of the coolest patterned chickens ever!

Coral, love that drawing! I never would have pictured you sketching aliens!

First of the Coweta eggs has hatched! I have a few more pips, but this baby was in a hurry. I haven't opened the bator to see which egg it came out of yet.

The new coop is here! It's an enclosed carport, but I had the south wall only partially enclosed. Ignore the wonky white trim; I added that to cover the edge of the metal. I'm going to fence the open section and hang shower curtains to keep out rain. In the winter it can be wrapped in clear plastic to allow sunshine in. I'm going to build the breeding pens on the front, so I can enclose a small section behind the open wall and the breeders can use ramps to get in and out of the coop.

It's 12'x20', so there'll be plenty of room for feed, water, nestboxes and some storage. I'll be able to split off a section for separating new chickens for integration. First thing I want to do, though, is section off most of it so I can start laying concrete for the floor a little at a time.

Any suggestions on other modifications I should make?

 

[Kyzmette]

Oh Rinda, here's a pic of Georgina! I kept meaning to get an updated one and finally got it today while I was outside working on the flowerbed. She seems to be doing fine. It takes her a long time to drink, because she refluxes most of her water back into the bowl. I keep an enclosed pen with a tiny opening that only she and the smaller juveniles can get into, so she has a hideaway spot. I know she has enough health problems that her lifespan won't be as long as a normal chicken's might, but she's happy and scratching along just fine for now!

 

[Kassaundra]

Oh Rinda, here's a pic of Georgina! I kept meaning to get an updated one and finally got it today while I was outside working on the flowerbed. She seems to be doing fine. It takes her a long time to drink, because she refluxes most of her water back into the bowl. I keep an enclosed pen with a tiny opening that only she and the smaller juveniles can get into, so she has a hideaway spot. I know she has enough health problems that her lifespan won't be as long as a normal chicken's might, but she's happy and scratching along just fine for now!

Does Georgina have a neck?

 

[Kyzmette]

Does Georgina have a neck?

She has pretty severe wryneck which never resolved as a chick. If you saw her other side, you would see her breast sticking out to the right side, and her crop is typically above the level of her beak. She has a lot of challenges, but she still manages a full life of scratching and strutting and running around.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Does Georgina have a neck?

She was part of a batch that the turner accidentally got turned off from roughly day 7 to day 14. Two Cream Legbar females hatched with crooked necks, one died but the other lived. Rather than culling it I gave it to Kelly to see if she could save it. This is what she looked like at about 2 weeks old.

 

[Kassaundra]

That is awesome that she had someone to care for her special needs. I was mostly curious b/c there is a genetic abnormality in humans where the neck is very short and fused and wide, it is rare and looks very similar to the pic angle of Georgina and I was wondering if it was the same genetic abnormality.


Found it, it is called turner syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turner_syndrome I know this is a Wikipedia article, but the info is accurate and it had a picture, the mayo clinic article didn't have a picture

 

[SharkmanDan]

What to do with a bad broody? That is my question for today.
I'm thinking I might try to build her, her own little brooder. The other hens keep "gifting" her eggs. Soon she's up to between 20-30 eggs, and abandons them for the next closest nest, with a couple of eggs in it. Then, they'll gift her more. She's been doing this for 2-3 weeks, and I've tossed out so many eggs, that I'd hoped she would hatch. She seems determined, but just seems that she gets tired of all of the "gifts" she is being given. Yesterday, when collecting eggs, I knew she'd had only two, in the morning, and yet she had eight, in the evening. So, I grabbed six of them, and left her two. She promptly used her beak, and rolled them both back under her, and nestled back down in.
Now, today, I'm thinking I might want to mark whatever is under her, with a date, and start pulling anything not dated, every night. Should this work? Or, should I just build her a brooder, and let her have several eggs to hatch out?
She's a young, Black Jersey Giant. But, she seems quite determined to hatch something.
Ideas welcomed.....

I was wrong on her breed. She's a black sex link.