Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[GR Chicks]

a couple of weeks ago I posted pics of two of my broodies who decided it was easier to raise the 'kids' together... and they are still happily doing so as this little guy can attest...


They love jumping from one broody's back to another, with little Buzzy here taking a break between the two....
They treat Mindy like part of the flock...


And they were having so much fun being double broodies that they decided to make it a triple play!
Introducing Frannie (on left), hatchmate to Bess and Connie and now a broody mom herself, to 2 she hatched and 3 she adopted...


this group is constantly amazing me... Frannie still keeps her youngsters to herself at night (who are a week younger than Bess and Connie's hatch), but through the day it looks like a daycare gone crazy in their area, with babies of all sizes running everywhere. We have even had Rosie's group (who are now 5 weeks old) jump into the mix over the weekend without any problems, though Rosie has her group in the big bird pen most of the time now.

and Rosie's group have also decided that there is no reason to set on a cold floor, when there is a warm, fuzzy pup available for roosting on...




We didn't spend the whole weekend watching babies... honest!! We did take some time out to build a couple of wall feeders which did get the chicks' stamp of approval...

I just love your pics..... wish our dogs were like that around the chickens. AND..... thanks for posting the feeder pic, it has given me an idea for my coop!

 

[stake]

Everyone is on 'lock down' with the amount of fox we've seen. While drawing blood this weekend, I found an abundance of mites (YIKES!!!) We bathed 30 chickens, used front line and ivermectin and slathered the coop with Permethrin. I will NOT be eating eggs for a while. And I'm really hoping we have the mites under control. I can hardly believe it, we just cleaned coops and treated with Ivermectin 10 days before....

More fox incursions? I had one shortly after dusk....never got to see him but the pooch went nuts at the back fence...and now you have me paranoid about mites....I haven't really formally checked but do keep an eye on the birds...my roo has a bald spot and red skin on his tucas, thought it was fox related, but now need to coral him for a closer look....

DH and I will have to do a close check... we have 2 hens molting pretty heavy, we brought them in about 2 weeks ago for some spa time to make sure there was no other troubles, we haven't seen signs yet for any mites or other critters but your post is a good reminder to give them all another check over... especially when we have chicks ranging from 5 weeks to 1 week in the coop with 2 more hatches to go. I would rather get ahead of anything if it shows.

Hope the treatments work for your birds and they are back to pest free without any further troubles! I can't imagine bathing 30 birds!

Fisher:

I am amazed at how your operation works....multiple broodies sharing the responsibility and Mindy is the perfect chick pooch....you're the 'chicken/dog whisperer'...

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:
Thanks, but I think I owe it more to being blessed with a lot of mellow personality animals and finding a few right breeds that seem to fit together so well.
These broodies cooperating is a really cool thing to watch though.
Our coop is amazingly drama free (except for a few teenage roos who have been removed from the mix), Grayson (lead roo) is laid back and happy as long as his hens are well fed and protected... Gabby (2nd in command roo) is the self appointed 'baby daddy' and watches out for the broody hens and babies in particular, and any rowdy teens... 3rd roo (Flecks) is just a youngster and makes no effort to challenge the seniors and he is very much into finding treats for the girls, so he has a few hens who are now regularly following him, so he is happy.
Keeping only the boys with the right personality fit for us and providing coop and run space/set up to allow everyone room to roam around and stay out of each others' way helps keep the peace. There are spits and spats but they are very short lived and settled without human interference, though Mindy has been known to stick her nose in once in a while if she thinks one of the birds is getting too upset.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

My daughter said she wants to make sure they imprint on her.....lol

That's awesome! Enabling the next generation, lol!

Your friendly one is a rooster. They are always the friendliest. The others will have their own personalities. Once they begin to lay, they are more likely to be cuddle bugs.

I can't hear you! I'm hoping . That my leghorn (which of course we gave a boys name just because it felt necessary -Foghorn) is just a greedy or sweet chick and not a roo. But i noticed yesterday her comb seemed to have gotten bigger. At what age is the comb an indication? If i do have a roo, that's okay, it's why I got 5 instead of 4. But I will be sad.

I gotta agree... it always seems like the most willing to jump on my hand or make friends ends up being a roo. There have been a few exceptions, but not often. And the hens are definitely calmer once they are laying.

Hush hush! I don't want to hear such talk.

a couple of weeks ago I posted pics of two of my broodies who decided it was easier to raise the 'kids' together... and they are still happily doing so as this little guy can attest... They love jumping from one broody's back to another, with little Buzzy here taking a break between the two.... They treat Mindy like part of the flock... And they were having so much fun being double broodies that they decided to make it a triple play! Introducing Frannie (on left), hatchmate to Bess and Connie and now a broody mom herself, to 2 she hatched and 3 she adopted... this group is constantly amazing me... Frannie still keeps her youngsters to herself at night (who are a week younger than Bess and Connie's hatch), but through the day it looks like a daycare gone crazy in their area, with babies of all sizes running everywhere. We have even had Rosie's group (who are now 5 weeks old) jump into the mix over the weekend without any problems, though Rosie has her group in the big bird pen most of the time now. and Rosie's group have also decided that there is no reason to set on a cold floor, when there is a warm, fuzzy pup available for roosting on... We didn't spend the whole weekend watching babies... honest!! We did take some time out to build a couple of wall feeders which did get the chicks' stamp of approval...

These pictures totally warmed my heart! I will definitely be using the idea for the feeder too, thanks! That's so awesome! Mindy is so awesome! I love that the chicks enjoy her too, even if only for her warmth. So what are you going to call you chick day care center?

I love Mindy!

X2

I have no idea why but this is the most envied spot in the brooder lol. It was with my last chicks too. How is this comfy? Lol

They do pick odd spots, but it's amazing how they know to roost higher, even at such a young age with no mother hen present.

 

[LisaYolkUm]

loving all these pictures!


the daughter and the ducks..............awesome.............she is probably in bliss!

the doggie and the chickens lounging with him and crawling on his back............so sweet............what a good dog!
wonder what he is thinking?


now can we talk about MITES?


do they happen ANY time

why are people starting to get overrun with MITES?

I am also getting paranoid about them!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

I'm curious too. Are there any preventatives for mites?

 

[stake]

I'm curious too. Are there any preventatives for mites?

the two meds Blarney mentioned are both preventative...my understanding is that Ivermectin will also kill them or chase them off....others may know better....

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:

These pictures totally warmed my heart! I will definitely be using the idea for the feeder too, thanks! That's so awesome! Mindy is so awesome! I love that the chicks enjoy her too, even if only for her warmth. So what are you going to call you chick day care center?

Thank you all for the picture comments!

And to those interested in the feeder... we did 2 different sizes (so far) and the one pictured is a 'main coop' feeder, it is 15" wide, the storage box is 4" deep and 20" tall (overall height is 22" I think?, will have to measure it again to be sure) We also did a scaled down version for the peeps in the broody area (and will make more of that size for oyster shell and grit dispensers. The small one has a box which is 2.5" deep x10" wide by 10" tall and holds about 2 pounds of chick crumbles.
If anyone is interested I can take pics with measurements to show how I designed it and how we put them together. They were pretty easy to make, and better yet they are made of 'scrap' materials which would otherwise have been destined to go to the burn pile. Only purchase was the hinges and technically the nails, though I always have a ton of them around from auction buys.

 

[sgtmom52]

 

[pagumby]

Thank you all for the picture comments!

And to those interested in the feeder... we did 2 different sizes (so far) and the one pictured is a 'main coop' feeder, it is 15" wide, the storage box is 4" deep and 20" tall (overall height is 22" I think?, will have to measure it again to be sure)   We also did a scaled down version for the peeps in the broody area (and will make more of that size for oyster shell and grit dispensers.   The small one has a box which is 2.5" deep x10" wide by 10" tall and holds about 2 pounds of chick crumbles.
If anyone is interested I can take pics with measurements to show how I designed it and how we put them together.  They were pretty easy to make, and better yet they are made of 'scrap' materials which would otherwise have been destined to go to the burn pile.  Only purchase was the hinges and technically the nails, though I always have a ton of them around from auction buys.

"How to" pictures would be great. I have lots of scraps (pallets) around. Do you worry about attracting rats or mice in the coop since there is always feed available. My main feed station is set up outside for that reason. My geese sleep in with the chickens, is it possible that they would scare off the rodents?