Okies in the BYC The Original

[osukrazykate]

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That would be my take on it. The first few tend to be a little weird one way or another. I've had several start out like that. I actually had a new pullet who laid eggs with dents in them.

I had one that made a sorta hour glass shape in the first few eggs, not real pronounced but it was still noticeable. She eventually started laying normal after that though.

 

[muesky]

Hey everyone!
Oh was yesterday a blast. Sure glad to see so many BYCers out there at the show. I will say after watching all the work people put into showing their birds, not sure showing is for me. My idea of showing is put the bird in the cage and tell it to look pretty. That is as good as it would get. I did come home with a beautiful pair of mottled cochin bantams, a showgirl hen I bought from Betsy and 2 cockerals and 4 pullet langshan from Stephanie and Carl (thanks to you all for the birds).
It was so funny this morning teaching the cochin pair I bought about the joys of dirt. At first you would have thought I was making them walk on tacks, then the rooster dug his toes in the dirt and you could almost see his little brain say "Oh, yeah I am a chicken and this is dirt, WOW!". I have them in a little pen to get them comfortable with being in the yard. Then I will let them learn about the joys of free ranging.

I am still rebuilding my flock. If anyone has any bantam cochins (white, partridge, barred, and splash) I would love to give them a wonderful new home.

Oh poo, gots to go. Meeting my daughter for an early dinner. Tomorrow is her 22nd birthday.

Check on all of you later.

 

[Dandelion007]

Okay, here's our results:

Liz, 2nd Showmanship 7-11
Corey, 3rd Showmanship 7-11

The girls got:
Black Cochin Hen - BB
AOV Serama Cockerel - BB
AOV Serama Pullet - RB
Black Wyandotte Cockerel - BV
Black Wyandotte Pullet - RV
Barred Plymouth Rock Bantam Cockerel - RV
Barred Plymouth Rock Bantam Pullet - 1st
Birchen MGB Cockerel - 1st
AOV Serama Pullet - 2nd
Lemon Blue MGB Cockerel - 2nd
Silver Sebright Cockerel - 3rd
Silver Sebright Pullet - 5th

I got:
Wheaten Shamo Bantam Pullet - BB
BB Red Shamo Bantam Cockerel - RB

Considering all the birds and kids (in showmanship) I am very happy with the outcome. We enjoyed talking with everyone! There was so many familiar faces there.

After the sun goes down, I'm taking a break tonight!!!

 

[BetsyOK]

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Thanks for asking. My knees held out pretty well, 'though the right one was quite painful on the drive home and while I was putting my birds up.

I didn't take any of my best birds to show, as most are birds I've bought within the last year. There was some discussion on the Silkie forum about getting more satisfaction out of showing your "own" birds rather than being rewarded for someone else's efforts, which I rather agree with. Three of my birds are babies; only 5 or 6 months old, which is quite young for late-maturing silkies. My splash showgirl pullet took BV (only one other bird, but from a good breeder); my black showgirl pullet also BV (the only one); my Blue pullet was BV or RV (only one or two); my black pullet was RV (only two); and my black hen placed 5th. White and Black are very competitive colors for Silkies, and four of the really good silkie breeders brought their beautiful birds. One of those is a grand master breeder from New Mexico--one of the formost in the world. He always, deservedly, wins most of the top awards.

Last year I decided to bite the bullet and buy some of the high-dollar birds--one or two a year--as they don't take up any more space or eat any more feed than the others. I started out with "culls," and pet quality birds from some of the better breeders, but decided it just doesn't really make sense and is more expensive in the long run. Some very nice, supportive friends have also given me a few good birds. This weekend, I bought one of the gorgeous lavender pullets, a baby lavender of as yet unknown sex, and a beautiful non-bearded lavender cockerel (RV in the show). My friends who have the gorgeous lavenders wanted a couple of Oklahoma people to work with the nb lavs, so made good prices on them. Additionally, one of them brought me two very small baby black showgirls and another friend brought me a beautiful splash cock and a beautiful blue hen, both of which were RVs. I also sold almost all my birds, including two that were in the high dollar bracket. So, I ended up with some very nice, new birds, fewer birds altogether--I feel very successful.

I'm not really a competitive shower. I do some of the things the really good breeders do to get their birds ready, but I don't start months ahead as they do. My main purposes for showing are to give number support for my friend's birds, as well as other colors and comparisons to help educate the public.
The best part of all, which I fully expected, was all the people.

 

[BetsyOK]

Carah, someone made a suggestion about your girl who is still shaking her head and is unsteady on her feet, but I don't know if it got to you. She could have mites inside her ears, or an ear infection. You could try putting Ivermectin on a Q-tip and carefully swabbing just on the inside rim of her ear. You could also try a couple of drops of Tylan-50 into each ear. Les might be able to give you more guidelines on the Tylan-50 as to how much or how often. She's making such progress, we're hoping for cure! I don't remember if you've tried Vitamin E drops (from human capules) and/or multivitamins, but that might help as well. If part of her problem was a head injury, time might help as well.

 

[GracefulBantams]

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I've had an older hen do that. It must just be some fluke... not related to calcium.

 

[RonnieAtkeson]

Had a Wyandotte hen lay a shelless egg once also quenston. Before and after that she never did it again though. Maybe there was a little trouble in the factory that day. I know some people put in seperate feeders with nothing but oyster shell and grit (2 compartment type) for free choice. Maybe that would help but ive never given oyster shell, just layer pellets. I know people who have birds that free range and only get corn or scratch grains and no problems.

1 of the 2 best hens ive ever had was a standard Dominecker, hope you love your bantams and get lots of babies. Oh, and all domineckers (dominiques) have rosecombs. Some people try to say the only difrence in dominecker and barred rock is the comb but its only 1 of the difrences. Ive got a nice show quality trio of barred rock bantams here I hope to hatch lots of babies from come spring.

 

[Buster52]

Okay, here is a picture of one of those 10 hole nesting box deals I bought last night at Blanchards...

And here's my question. Am I supposed to leave those boards down all the time, or do I flip them up at night to keep the birds from roosting on them? I assumed that was why they flip up and down, to keep the birds from getting poop all over their nest boxes.

 

[Plain Old Dee]

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I have had one of those units for the last never mind how many years (got it shortly before Columbus discovered America, I think.

) The little boards on mine flip up. I only recently realized it was to keep the hens out at night. I still leave mind down, though. I have a couple of hens that were doing a bit poorly and they were sleeping in the nests. The hens are both doing fine now, but they still sleep in the nests. I just have to clean the nests out each week and put in fresh hay.

 

[osukrazykate]

Congratulations to all of those who competed at the show!

It looks like all of your guys had some good accomplishments!

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That is a mighty good looking set of nesting boxes!