Online Large Fowl Chat Thread

[Arielle]

My last ewe is not giving milk--at least every time I check her she is empty and her lambs are hungry. Fortunately the 2 lambs have taken to a bottle well and I can supplement until she gets going. Deb, glad the online postage thingy is working again.

THe snow is thick and heavy. Cleared off one of the tarps for some chickens. THey didn't want to stay in their coop so trudged thru the deep snow which is yp to the hocks of my BCmarans rooster. The EE hens which are much smaller decided to use their wings for short bursts. Smart girls. They found the dry area with the help of a little corn.

Keeping the turkeys in and the large flock can use their run but so far they are staying in. Threw them some corn too and turned on their light.

@Chick--great to know about the re-store, doing a search now. Glad you were able to set Cassity's toe. Yup I have a few of those boys that just run the girls down. THe girls can run fast ! The antaics are my reminder to build a rooster pen , for those that are staying.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Chick, I used to go to the Habitat store when we lived in Florida, it was great! Need to check into it here.Feel free to chat on, I love company
Arielle, Sorry about the ewe with no milk. Mine seem to have the opposite problem, too much milk. And it is literally a pain in the back to milk them all. I plan to let the kids milk them, but the does don't always cooperate . I am going to have to give some of those does antibiotics, which I hate to do but they can die from mastitis so I best go do that.

 

[HOMEBODY12]

I tried ordering eggs online for the first time, put half in incubator and half under a silkie hen, out of 20 eggs, on feb 7th as of today march 1, i have two hatched in incubator and none under hen, guess it's take to shoo the silkie from the nest.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Welcome to BYC, Homebody! Interesting experiment, it is hard to hatch shipped eggs. I count myself lucky if I hatch any at all when I get shipped eggs. Today I hatched two ducks, and have a third pipping from shipped eggs. Woot!
Nivea has mastitis, so I had to take her kids. Both boys, one is chocolate (Hershey) and one is Black and Tan... Have to figure out what to call him. Hershey was not too keen on the first bottle, or the second, but I just gave him one and he drank readily so I guess he was hungry. Now I have three kids in the garage. Had a visit from a neighbor down the road today, who may be interested in two doelings as bottle babies. Tomorrow night is the goat sale, I am taking Lena and her kids. I lov.e her, since she was a bottle baby but she is an awful fence stomper and I am over that. If the kids were girls I would grow them out, but the boys take a long time to grow out, and a lot of feed. Hopefully I will get a decent price for them.
I finished the nest box for the new coop, DH installed it tonight. I finished the top of the run. Now to add a feeder, waterer and the skirt around the run and coop. Then I will move in the birds. Can hardly wait!

Sasha and doeling

 

[funkyfeathers]

I tried ordering eggs online for the first time, put half in incubator and half under a silkie hen, out of 20 eggs, on feb 7th as of today march 1, i have two hatched in incubator and none under hen, guess it's take to shoo the silkie from the nest.

Don't push the hen off yet! I have found broodied eggs can take a little longer than bator eggs. The hen will normally push the bad ones away on her own. I would give her another week to either hatch them or leave the nest on her own.

 

[Arielle]

@Homebody--very interesting set up to maximize you chances of chicks. Nice going. Hope the silkies hatch a few in the next couple days.

@hot2pot--I fed the lambs their3 pm bottle, and milked the ewe in hopes of stimulating the milk production. Later about 9 pm DH sid he had seen the lambs on her while doing night chores and they didn't want much from the bottle. I will try to milk her this morning and offer the bottle again to access the situation. Of course if they drink her dry, I have to base my accessment on how much they drink from the bottle and how much crying I hear. About the time I started with sheep I met a couple goats who were always climbing over the fencing. I think the larger goat held it down for the pigmy, then climbed it her self. Always together those two, on the wrong side of the fence! For the black and tan, how about Reese's as in the choc and peanut butter cup???

@ FUnky feathers--googled re-store and found one 30 minutes away. Wil have to check it out. Today is the day of the week that I have been going to the box company for scrap wood. Proboably not today. the drive has several inches of slushy snow and DH almost, ALMOST, didn't make it up the drive

 

[CapricornFarm]

Goats will go where the food is if they can get there. I was going to go to the goat sale but it is supposed to rain and I don't want to sell if not many buyers. Reeses is cute , but not much of a peanut butter lover. I think I will call him Snickers. Glad your ewe is producing milk, hope you don't have to bottle feed much longer. My two new bottle kids have got the hang of it, and are sleeping on the floor of the Mule. Lots of wind today, hope the power doesn't go out. Just stuffed 48 more eggs into the Bator. Two ducks hatched and another pipped so far.
Unloaded the truck, now to rest for a few minutes before going to get feed. This time I need to get medicated goat feed, the kids are starting to eat. I need a creep feeder again, turned the old one into a chicken coop:-D

 

[Arielle]

Of course the last creep was turned into a chicken coop!!

I like Snickers--good name.

Medicated goat feed???? I used probios as needed in lambs as they transition to eating grain and hay. Just the really stressed ones I should add.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Right, I turn everything into a coop these days I even have a run made out of a hay ring. I was going to use a satellite dish but the goats beat it up. So excited, I got the Gold Laced Polish into their own coop! Now the grow out pen is empty, so I can move more chickens out of the barn. Yay! Just as I was getting ready to feed this afternoon it started raining. So I went inside and took a nap. I think DH was surprised to find me indoors for once when he got home .
Yes, I feed medicated feed to young goats, helps prevent scours. Those boys are really into their bottles now, I need another hand so I can feed all three at once. DH got up to see what the racket was tonight, the boys were bouncing off the inside of the garage door:-D

 

[Arielle]

What is the medication in the feed? THis is a great idea!