Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[My peeps]

Here is the first pip. The 'crack' has gotten a little bigger. It is still 'peeping', a little now, I think it is taking a break. I see the egg move every now and then....Question for anyone: How long "generally" does it take them to fully emerge? I understand alot of factors are involved, just trying to get some sort of 'time-line'. Thank you- Danielle

I NEED some of those gorgeous eggs! Congrats on your hatch!

I am on my way to get the medication to treat my birds. I hope this works!

Good luck! Im nervous about one of my chicks getting sick and having to treat. I'm sure it will happen eventually but it makes me nervous.

I have the same cage for a sick pen when needed,,,used it once for baby quail and ended up chasing 50 of them around the house, they went right thru the sides.... careful of using newspaper in a brooder ,,,,it can be slippery and cause spraddle leg in chicks...if you have any other bedding, you would be better to use that and cover with paper towels for the first couple days.

I buy the cheap shelf liner at the dollar store for the incubator and the first few days in the brooder. Make sure it's the rubber textured kind.

[COLOR=0000FF]Tarps are a girl's best friend. Hardware can get pretty expensive, we have a Habitat for Humanity store near us, so I check there for hinges and stuff from time to time. [/COLOR] [COLOR=0000FF]I'm almost completely finished the run on the coop we got from Craig's List I have before and after shots...[/COLOR] [COLOR=FF0000]ATTN: RACCOONS -[/COLOR]

Looks great! Love the sign! I leave tomorrow for an impromptu visit to see my sister and meet my new nephew. The hubby has to stay home and work so it's just me and the 3 kiddos. Hoping my 18 month old does okay on the long drive. I packed tonight and make a weeks worth of meals for dh. He doesn't cook and I didn't want him to starve to death. Lol. I have a question for those that free range. How many chickens do you lose on average? We have 8 acres. Half of it wooded. The chickens used to stay right by their coop but now they wonder farther and farther. We lost a white rock last month. No sign of a struggle just gone when we went to put them in for the evening. Tonight our silkie rooster is MIA. Hubby said no more free ranging. I haven't seen any predators (other than a barn cat every once in awhile). I love watching them free range and run to me when they see me. We spent most of the day outside and I didn't see or hear anything. Here are some pictures from today. The chickens love to visit when we are swimming. The first picture is my daughter in the baby pool being silly. We had watermelon and of course the chickens got their own since it was so darn hot today! Lol

Just in case I'm allowed to hatch more eggs does anyone have the dark chocolate maran eggs, bright blue or a pretty green egg layer and I'm looking for polish, frizzle and serama eggs too. LMK! Thanks!

 

[heatherscooby77]

how do I check for her to be egg bound? She had a little bit of runny poop and keeps shaking her head. I checked to see if her crop was swollen but nothing felt lumpy. Her ears, eyes and mouth seem ok. This is all new to me and Idon't know what to do. She hasn't been making much noise and keeps closing her eyes and her mouth is open a little. Not panting though. This is very odd for her because she is definitely the leader of this flock.

Hi Annie! It seems like you have bit of a problem. The first thing you should do is isolate her by herself. Put her in a crate or something that you can put paper towel or something in the bottom to catch a fresh BM. Once you get the BM look at it. Is there anything moving in it? (worms) Is it bloody? (Cocci) Is it just liquid? (not eating) You said her crop is bumpy, with grit and food?

Do her eyes look sunk in? Does she seem pale? It can take a chicken 2 weeks to die from e-coli. Botchulism will be acute, couple of hours. Mold will present as a respirotory infection. Do wild birds, get near your birds? Do you deworm? Check her for bugs. Look at the bottom of her feet. Smell her face. Open her mouth, you can easily see a gape worm. They are Y shaped. Does she hold her wings up, or are they droopy? Is she roosting at night? Those are some of the first round questions I have. Depending on your answers, I might have more questions.

In the mean time, go to TSC or local feed mill, and pick up some Corid which is Amprolium. It is more of a chemical then an antibiotic. This would be if you see blood in the stool, general weakness, lack of appetite. If you want to be most proactive you can get Sodium Sulfamethazine. It treat a lot of different types of bacterial infections: respiratory, e.coli, and even cocci. If you go this route, keep her seperated the whole time. It is a powder you put in the drinking water. You don't want to unnecessarily give the antibiotics to all of your birds if they are not sick. If you are pretty convinced its just cocci, and you go with the Amprolium/Corid you should treat everyone in your flock. Because if she has it, it has a very high morbidity and mortality rate. Depending of course which strain of cocci it is............................. I usually can't get on here until evening time, if you send me a pm I will get it in my email! Good Luck!!!

 

[heatherscooby77]

duh, you actually own a mircoscope? I am totally impressed!!! Last one I saw was back in high school....too many years ago...makes me want to start a search on CL....and no, not nuts at all!

Actually you can go to a toy aisle and by a light microscope............................I am sorry that I know that. It works great looking for blood/parasites!

 

[wingstone]

Quote: I have a pretty good one that is left over from a pig business,,,,we used to run a farrowing operation with about 200 sows, we were always treating for worms and it was so much cheaper to look myself then call the vet each time,,,,well worth the investment.

Quote: Thank you heather,,,I was beginning to think I was the only fool walking around poking at chicken poo, just to see what's in it.

 

[PAchickenlover]

Morning all, beautiful day!

 

[BullChick]

Hey, NBB!! Long time no see! Glad to see you back on this thread!

 

[wingstone]

This may need a home, showed up as a stray and none of the neighbors are claiming it..

 

[tweetr1979]

Afternoon all! Nice day but wow it is warm, just the start of the heatwave till thursday, really wish I had of ordered the pool sooner but oh well it will get here by the 25th and then we can enjoy it lol

Hope everyone is doing well, I am off to watch my Disney parks planning DVD that just arrived in the mail

 

[Biologrady]

Hi All,
Was lurking and saw the threads regarding the microscope...I think I can get a microscope for anyone here who likes...I'm a teacher and our district had about a hundred fifty we've been getting rid of. I managed to get about 75 to schools in Nicaragua and I think some were slated to go to Haiti, but i think some are not yet spoken for. Before I get people started on the rant about wasting taxpayer money, the reason they're being replaced is that our modernized classrooms are just too dark (energy-efficient and smart board friendly) to use the old mirrored scopes in, so our district spent a fortune instead upgrading to electric and computer-integrated scopes. I still think the lens quality in these old workhorses is better, but hey, they don't ask me....finding them new homes has been tougher than I thought, in part because they're heavy and expensive to ship. At least in large numbers. If anyone is interested, I can check and see if I can get any, then we can figure out best way to get it to you.

 

[chiques chicks]

This may need a home, showed up as a stray and none of the neighbors are claiming it..

Is that a peafowl? Just showed up as a stray? Someone down the road from me has a few. I know it didn't get that far. Noisy but pretty. I don't want it. I have enough now with the chickens and such, don't need to add another coop to my to do list.