Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Morning All! I has been MONTHS since I last was on here! Life is crazy!

We added 12 new baby chicks to our home a month ago. I was so excited to see that TSC had Ameraucana Chicks and Buff Orpington Chicks. They were all straight run, so the plan is to replace one of our not so pleasant roosters with an Orpington and hopefully sell/give away the Ameraucana cockerels and other Orpington cockerels to people who want them (we are in Central PA if you are interested). We are cuddling and loving these little Orpingtons like crazy and I am amazed how calm and curious about us they are. The Ameraucanas are not nearly as loving and comfortable being held.

They are 4 weeks old and we moved them into a sectioned off area of the coop this past weekend. They were too big for the brooder and having them in the house gets old quick. I didn't realize how much of escape artists they were going to be. We have had an escapee each day and it is not the same chicken each time. Each time, I have worked to find possible ways of escape and fix them. Hopefully this mornings escape and extra fencing is the last time. A sweet little BO escaped and got in with the big girls and boys. Suffice to say, the hens took personal offense. She has three spots where she was pecked and bled. She appears to be okay, though a little timid to interact with the other chicks. I feel terrible for her. When I was done working on their fencing, I picked her up and held her for a few minutes. She fell asleep in my arms, I think she was just so tired after being so frightened. My hens were stalking their side of the fence, so I put a Rubbermaid tub on its side like a nesting box in with the chicks, they should be able to go in there if they need a break from being seen.

The plan is to keep the little ones separate for at least another month (after this problem, maybe 2). Once they have grown and they all get used to each other, I am going to give the little ones 'doorways' in and out of their area into the rest of the coop so they can explore and then return to safety. If anyone has any other ideas that will help please let me know....This will be our first time adding to our flock.



Hope you all are having a great spring...I can't believe summer is just around the corner!
 
Auroradream26 said:
I haven't photo bombed in a while so I'm overdue :)

Ana and Cocoa, sharing the nest. This was a week or so ago when all the girls were just thinking about it. Cocoa has given it up since she doesn't want to share. I'm not sure where she's hiding eggs now.





Pebbles was being a protective mama. Except, she adopted this older poult when I let them loose in the coop. She had a tiny little 1 week old CCL cockerel under her too





The other two poults that were released decided that they were big kids and roosted with the grown ups lol



Welbar babies!



The goslings are getting big. I'm almost positive that they're African and not Toulouse. They're just starting to get their first little feathers and are almost 3 weeks old. They love to hang out with us outside and play in the grass.





Sprinkles the turkey poult is getting big too!



Ana seems to have won the nest box battle from this morning. She is proudly sitting there with all the stolen duck fluff





And Ebony will now have to find another spot to nest...unless she picks up the fight again tonight

Click to expand...
Those pictures are beautiful. I now officially need a silver penciled rock pullet!
 
Werforpsu said:
Morning All!  I has been MONTHS since I last was on here!  Life is crazy!

We added 12 new baby chicks to our home a month ago.  I was so excited to see that TSC had Ameraucana Chicks and Buff Orpington Chicks.  They were all straight run, so the plan is to replace one of our not so pleasant roosters with an Orpington and hopefully sell/give away the Ameraucana cockerels and other Orpington cockerels to people who want them (we are in Central PA if you are interested).  We are cuddling and loving these little Orpingtons like crazy and I am amazed how calm and curious about us they are.  The Ameraucanas are not nearly as loving and comfortable being held.

They are 4 weeks old and we moved them into a sectioned off area of the coop this past weekend.  They were too big for the brooder and having them in the house gets old quick.  I didn't realize how much of escape artists they were going to be.  We have had an escapee each day and it is not the same chicken each time. Each time, I have worked to find possible ways of escape and fix them.  Hopefully this mornings escape and extra fencing is the last time. A sweet little BO escaped and got in with the big girls and boys. Suffice to say, the hens took personal offense.  She has three spots where she was pecked and bled.  She appears to be okay, though a little timid to interact with the other chicks.  I feel terrible for her.  When I was done working on their fencing, I picked her up and held her for a few minutes.  She fell asleep in my arms, I think she was just so tired after being so frightened.  My hens were stalking their side of the fence, so I put a Rubbermaid tub on its side like a nesting box in with the chicks, they should be able to go in there if they need a break from being seen.

The plan is to keep the little ones separate for at least another month (after this problem, maybe 2).  Once they have grown and they all get used to each other, I am going to give the little ones 'doorways' in and out of their area into the rest of the coop so they can explore and then return to safety.  If anyone has any other ideas that will help please let me know....This will be our first time adding to our flock.



Hope you all are having a great spring...I can't believe summer is just around the corner!
Click to expand...


I may have said this at some time before. We have added several times to our flock. The way we have found success is with a small wire kennel (with 1/4 inch wire around the bottom so chicks can't escape). We do this when they are probably around 6 weeks. They have their own water bottle and food bowl of course and this serves and initial introduction. If there was a need for quarantine, this would be complete. After a couple days of exposure (and putting them in the cage in the morning and out in the evening, we begin supervised release. There will always be some pecking. But, not usually severe. If it's a small group, or I have extra hands, we may do this outside, not in the run. Also, in the evenings, from the beginning, after the big girls have gone to bed, we put the pullets into the coop with them. In the dark they're fine. In the beginning, they usually choose to sleep in a nest box, but after a week or so, will begin to move to the roost. Early morning I get to the coop to get them moved to the cage l. After the big girls have lost interest or a handful of supervised visits, I will move them to fulltime out with the girls with the cage door open to run to, if wanted. There are hideaways of course, too.

When our birds were free range, I did this with the big birds outside and the small birds inside a large dog kennel. If the birds were small enough to pass through the cage, they usually didn't, as they wanted to stay with their flock. I have a mixed flock of bantam and large fowl, btw. So 6 wk old pullets have adapted well,

It's my first time hatching with a broody hen, so this will probably challenge me... open To ideas...
 
I have been trying to vent sex the ducklings and it is going pretty well. The Welsh Harlequins are also sexable by bill color, so that gives me a hint as to which ones are the boys and I can vent sex to confirm.
 
Perfectly intact shell less egg.

400
 
Annjee said:
I may have said this at some time before. We have added several times to our flock. The way we have found success is with a small wire kennel (with 1/4 inch wire around the bottom so chicks can't escape). We do this when they are probably around 6 weeks. They have their own water bottle and food bowl of course and this serves and initial introduction. If there was a need for quarantine, this would be complete. After a couple days of exposure (and putting them in the cage in the morning and out in the evening, we begin supervised release. There will always be some pecking. But, not usually severe. If it's a small group, or I have extra hands, we may do this outside, not in the run. Also, in the evenings, from the beginning, after the big girls have gone to bed, we put the pullets into the coop with them. In the dark they're fine. In the beginning, they usually choose to sleep in a nest box, but after a week or so, will begin to move to the roost. Early morning I get to the coop to get them moved to the cage l. After the big girls have lost interest or a handful of supervised visits, I will move them to fulltime out with the girls with the cage door open to run to, if wanted. There are hideaways of course, too.

When our birds were free range, I did this with the big birds outside and the small birds inside a large dog kennel. If the birds were small enough to pass through the cage, they usually didn't, as they wanted to stay with their flock. I have a mixed flock of bantam and large fowl, btw. So 6 wk old pullets have adapted well,

It's my first time hatching with a broody hen, so this will probably challenge me... open To ideas...
Click to expand...


My chicks were flying up on top of their waterer, then flying to the top of the 4.5 ft fence and then down into the main coop. She didn't realize that she wouldn't be able to get back the same way. I didn't realize that is how she escaped until I worked out there today and found fresh poop up on the fencing. I didn't realize a 4 wk old would he able to fly that high! I thought 4.5 ft would be high enough.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom