Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[wingstone]

Not sure if this will work, just a quick little ditty for the day......made me laugh, and is now stuck in my head.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Lisa, so sorry. I did have a girl camp out under our porch steps and hatch out a brood, it's a miracle that she wasn't found by a predator during those 3 weeks. I hope your girl is sitting on eggs somewhere close by. I would keep a very close eye on the other girls if I were you, a successful predator ALWAYS comes back.

@Silkie: Sara just rehomed a few Toulbant boys! And sure, happy to pass on a cockerel if they are all cockerels. But aren't you in Ohio? I don't know how I'd get him to you.

PS no one noticed the goat's milk.

I would be happy to send you a shipping box for him. Just plop him in with a small container of fermented feed, weigh the box, let me know how much & I'll pay for the return label & e-mail it to you to print. Close him up, label the box & hand him to the postal worker. I will have him the next day.

As for the milk...shhhh, what they don't know won't kill them. Wait a couple weeks so you are sure everyone has had it & not noticed. Then ask how they like the milk & let them watch you refill the jug...lol

 

[kada6305]

the shelves are simple and can be modified to fit whatever space you have to work with, they can be mounted with eyebolts and coated wire or set onto boards screwed into wall studs or attached to wall with hinges to allow them to be lifted up out of the way for cleaning purposes depending on your set up.

these are two separate shelves which meet at a corner, the cut outs you see against the walls allow for ramps coming up from lower shelves. Notice the sliding latch at the junction which provides the connection and end support for the shelf on the left.

Tools for cleaning, a cat litter scoop works for larger clumps but I cut the bottom out of the dust pan and covered it with two (offset) layers of fine hardware cloth to it to act as a larger sifter for more thorough cleaning. I dump the sifted waste into a 5 gallon bucket and then eventually it is all claimed by co-workers to put into their gardens.

This corner picture shows 2 sand shelves against back wall, lower one doubles as an optional location for egg and broody boxes, in fact a hen is setting on a nest tucked into the dark corner in this pic.

Play sand and PDZ make for a soft and comfy place for the birds to hang out, even when they aren't roosting for the evening, since this picture was taken I added a rounded trim board to the front edge of the shelf to make for a softer and wider spot for their feet to grip.

A few hens modeling the versatility of the shelves... room to roam back and forth looking for favored roosting spot, comfy edge to hang over and watch what is going on below and on this shelf I designed it to be much larger with the angled corner and in the far back corner we placed a 1 gallon waterer with a heat lamp over it to provide thawed water on even the coldest days.

I really like that idea. Definitely something I am going to do. So you use sand for the entire coop? We are using pine shavings and it's not working so well. How do you like the sand on the floor vs others you have used? We used sand for the brooder and I loved it. Not sure why we didn't keep using it when we switched to the coop/

 

[BullChick]

While I am filtering through pages and pages of useless info (and my computer is being achingly slow) I need to know what the right cure is for sour crop. I can't remember, and after 3 years of owning chickens, this is my first time.
Since you are going to ask, she is lethargic, doesn't want to eat, and had water coming out of her mouth when I picked her up today. She was given a bath (I had it set up as a first step in finding the problem before I even picked her up) and is now relaxing in my tub wrapped in a towel. The AC is not on, so the temperature is warm, without being hot.

 

[LisaYolkUm]

Lisa, so sorry. I did have a girl camp out under our porch steps and hatch out a brood, it's a miracle that she wasn't found by a predator during those 3 weeks. I hope your girl is sitting on eggs somewhere close by. I would keep a very close eye on the other girls if I were you, a successful predator ALWAYS comes back.

@Silkie: Sara just rehomed a few Toulbant boys! And sure, happy to pass on a cockerel if they are all cockerels. But aren't you in Ohio? I don't know how I'd get him to you.

PS no one noticed the goat's milk.

Thanks Blarney--------I think she was not used to not getting to free range much this week because its back to school time and I have been also staying at someone elses house to doggie sit an anxious dog while the owners are away. Esther always finds a way to try to get out of the run by flying into the netting and giving it a go...................The problem is I was not here as much to then let her back in! She typically would visit her favorite places in the yard and circle around the run trying to figure out how to get back in!

She is an Easter Egger and really none of my girls have ever shown any broodiness behaviors. I have never had a rooster ----------perhaps this also matters? or maybe its just not a trait in her breed.

I have had and egg or two laid outside the run if the gals were free ranging................and had some trouble getting back into the coop / nest box................typically they urgently want to get to the nest box..............

Doesn't it seem unlikely that she would start to go broody after of year of never having the urge?

I think she got out , couldn't get back in.................and maybe a predator got her or maybe she is lost?????

I still am holding some hope she might come back............but I would think if this is possible.............she would already be back.............its 4 in the afternoon!

Darn!

 

[sharron]

Not sure if this will work, just a quick little ditty for the day......made me laugh, and is now stuck in my head.

cute

 

[stake]

My missing chicken, Esther, is still not back.

I hope she is okay and just having an adventure.

I think if she was back at the coop area this morning, it would have been a better sign.........................

Has anyone ever had a chicken gone away for some time and return????

Lisa:

its been my experience that chooks try to return to the coop at dusk or come to the food bowl and or the rest of the flock in the morning....I'd suggest putting down a couple of piles of sratch around your yard and see if that helps....my understanding is that chooks will wander off, but usually don't leave an area if food and water is available....

 

[stake]

While I am filtering through pages and pages of useless info (and my computer is being achingly slow) I need to know what the right cure is for sour crop. I can't remember, and after 3 years of owning chickens, this is my first time.
Since you are going to ask, she is lethargic, doesn't want to eat, and had water coming out of her mouth when I picked her up today. She was given a bath (I had it set up as a first step in finding the problem before I even picked her up) and is now relaxing in my tub wrapped in a towel. The AC is not on, so the temperature is warm, without being hot.

MCC:

I lost one to sour crop...a vet looked at her and prescribed an anti-biotic and stuff called dystanten(sp)...water coming out of the mouth is puking...mine did that a few times....you can assist by leaning her head down and gently squeezing the crop...she will dump everything in her crop....it may make her feel better and aid her appetite...the vet also told me to discontinue the tetracycline as its hard on the chickens system (like humans).....my two cents (and repeating what I was told)....

 

[sharron]

mcc, if you can find some nystation, (spelling) mix some up with water and get it into the crop, massage, you might save her, i used to use it all the time when my cockatiels would get sour crop

 

[Avlana]

I'm so sad I left my guard down today and one of my hens got killed by a hawk. I feel really really guilty. She was one of my favorites and not just one of the other chickens whom I don't grow attached to. She was just dust bathing outside and I look out the window, and find a hawk on top of her body eating her

Here's the Coopers Hawk that killed her...

Be careful everyone because raptor kills are higher at this time of the year since they're migrating south. Most of the songbirds have left already so raptors will catch what they can find on their way down. I thought she was safe out in my yard as I was outside often. But she wasn't. They seem pretty bold and determined.