people with house chickens

[Sylvester017]

This is Peep with our pup, Spot (original names, I know...lol)






This is a better pic of just her:

She looks like an Easter Egger with those fluffy cheek muffs and pea comb. Easter Eggers and APA Ameraucanas (cousins to each other) are very sweet chickens. They are good conversationalists when you talk with them, they are wary as adults and always seem jittery/skittish but that's what makes them alert when foraging/free-ranging outdoors. They stand tall and statuesque at times which can make them look larger than they actually are. They have very fluffy cheeks and pantaloon/butt feathers. I'm not sure if you have a male/female but either way it should be a sweet bird. EEs/Amers are non-combative -- they would rather flee than fight in flock politics. At least that's the way the hens behave. I've never had a roo. They are gentler birds than the common heritage or dual purpose breeds so I don't mix EEs/Amers with the combative heritage breeds. I really do hope you have a hen so she can give you either pink, blue, or mint colored eggs. Some EEs can lay cream or white eggs. If she turns out a roo he will have beautiful shiny feathers with a gorgeous tail. GL!

 

[Ponyfeather]

AmyLynn2374 I hope Peep is a hen. But if Peep isn't unless your local laws say you can't keep and roo depending on how Peep acts you might be able to keep Peep as your hens protector.

I want to cut down three sycamore trees around our house it is making my poor Pancake have allergies. Thankfully not to bad and how I know it is allergies is because whenever the rest of the house is suffering so is she and that is the only time she exhibits symptoms. These trees are evil and all the animals start sneezing along with the humans. But it is annoying and I hate seeing her all zonked out because the leaves are shedding that horrible dust all over the yard.

Any recommendations for something to help boost her immune system?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

She looks like an Easter Egger with those fluffy cheek muffs and pea comb. Easter Eggers and APA Ameraucanas (cousins to each other) are very sweet chickens. They are good conversationalists when you talk with them, they are wary as adults and always seem jittery/skittish but that's what makes them alert when foraging/free-ranging outdoors. They stand tall and statuesque at times which can make them look larger than they actually are. They have very fluffy cheeks and pantaloon/butt feathers. I'm not sure if you have a male/female but either way it should be a sweet bird. EEs/Amers are non-combative -- they would rather flee than fight in flock politics. At least that's the way the hens behave. I've never had a roo. They are gentler birds than the common heritage or dual purpose breeds so I don't mix EEs/Amers with the combative heritage breeds. I really do hope you have a hen so she can give you either pink, blue, or mint colored eggs. Some EEs can lay cream or white eggs. If she turns out a roo he will have beautiful shiny feathers with a gorgeous tail. GL!

Yes. All of the eggs I have hatched came from my sister's flock and she has multiple Ameraucanas and Aracaunas/EE's, so there is no question she is an EE. Not sure what else is mixed as she/he has light feather down her feet. I'm so hoping she's a she, but I love it no matter what. Yes, Peep is a sweetheart. If she is a she it will be interesting to see what color eggs she lays.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

AmyLynn2374 I hope Peep is a hen. But if Peep isn't unless your local laws say you can't keep and roo depending on how Peep acts you might be able to keep Peep as your hens protector.

Well, Peep is staying no matter what, lol. Luckily we are out of town limits and in a rural area so that's not an issue. It will affect the possibility of wether she/he remains inside after the winter -if I have a roo that's going to be crowing first thing...lol. Our second hatch my son claimed the first chick that hatched as his and I told him he could keep it, I am now 99.9% sure his is a roo...lol. Not sure how it'll work out, but something will. I do hope Peep is a girl though...lol

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh... I was going to share another pic....yesterday was cuddle day...lol

 

[Sylvester017]

Yes. All of the eggs I have hatched came from my sister's flock and she has multiple Ameraucanas and Aracaunas/EE's, so there is no question she is an EE. Not sure what else is mixed as she/he has light feather down her feet. I'm so hoping she's a she, but I love it no matter what. Yes, Peep is a sweetheart. If she is a she it will be interesting to see what color eggs she lays.

If Peep is a mixed breed than she probably won't lay bluish eggs. More likely greenish/sage or tinted/brownish. Let us know!

 

[Sylvester017]

AmyLynn2374 I hope Peep is a hen. But if Peep isn't unless your local laws say you can't keep and roo depending on how Peep acts you might be able to keep Peep as your hens protector.

I want to cut down three sycamore trees around our house it is making my poor Pancake have allergies. Thankfully not to bad and how I know it is allergies is because whenever the rest of the house is suffering so is she and that is the only time she exhibits symptoms. These trees are evil and all the animals start sneezing along with the humans. But it is annoying and I hate seeing her all zonked out because the leaves are shedding that horrible dust all over the yard.

Any recommendations for something to help boost her immune system?

Unfortunately for chickens they have a susceptibility to respiratory ailments and allergies and just plain dust. Our previous Leghorns would sneeze notoriously everytime they took a dust bath in the yard. Because of this sensitivity I don't use powdery products on my girls or in their nestboxes. For lice/mite prevention we use a liquid spray Poultry Protector so there isn't any medicated dust or powder being kicked up in their feathers, coop floor, or nestbox bedding.

We and our surrounding neighbors all cut down our old trees and found it greatly reduced a place for aerial predators to hide and stopped the easy transferance of night critters jumping from yard to yard like raccoons, rats, possums, etc. During heavy windstorms we don't have broken tree limbs flying into our houses and yards.

Everyone has their own way of caring for their chickens but this is what we do. Whenever my hens are stressed - being broody, molting, during prolific laying season, etc - I give my girls ONE drop of no-iron children's liquid Poly-Vi-Sol vitamin 1 to 2x/week. It perks them up and provides supplemental vitamins that they aren't getting through their normal diet. All our girls just finished their molt and are growing in their new feathers and one Silkie is brooding so last night we gave them all a vitamin drop on the side of their beak until their tongue licked up the drop. One Silkie will lap up the vitamin drop off the center of my palm because she likes the taste. We keep the Poly-Vi-Sol refrigerated after opening the bottle. Until the girls finish feathering out I will supplement them with a vitamin drop about 2x a week. Vitamins fortify their immune system. There are vitamins that can be added to drinking water or feed but there's no way of knowing how much each chicken ingests so we use the Poly-Vi-Sol with a measured dosage. I also give them Greek yogurt if they look like they have a heavily filled crop in the evening to help them digest their food easily overnight.

 

[Reinsaway]

I was just wondering.. do any of you guys feed your indoor babies something other than commercial feed? Rad can be REALLY picky at times, and has regected yet another brand of feed! Im getting her to eat cracked corn, freeze dried shrimp, freeze dried mealworms, freeze dried crickets and some fish pellets thrown in the mix.. but Im worried she isn't getting what she needs.. any suggestions!?

BTW- She LOVES anything people food.. oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, you name it

 

[Sylvester017]

I was just wondering.. do any of you guys feed your indoor babies something other than commercial feed? Rad can be REALLY picky at times, and has regected yet another brand of feed! Im getting her to eat cracked corn, freeze dried shrimp, freeze dried mealworms, freeze dried crickets and some fish pellets thrown in the mix.. but Im worried she isn't getting what she needs.. any suggestions!?

BTW- She LOVES anything people food.. oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, you name it

Hi Reinsaway,
I'm not sure how other chickens behave but we've noticed a dining behavior with our flock. They are ravenous in the mornings so we give them their lay pellets and/or fermented feed in the morning. Then they get a little scattered wild bird seed mix to peck at in the grass. Then they sort of snooze mid-day, not really whole-heartedly foraging or wanting anything to eat. But about mid-to-late afternoon they go into a foraging binge again to fill up their crop for the evening. We don't give them any treats like mealworms, cucumbers, cooked brown rice, whole grains/cereals, cantaloupe, fish/meats/eggs, or any people-type food until later afternoon after they've had nothing all day but their feed. I was informed that the feed is important, especially for chicks, or the layer feed for hens, because of the balanced formulation. We don't use GMO/SOY in our feed so we do supplement with some protein food later in the day - but all treats are reserved for later afternoon so that only the feed is available most of the day. I also noticed our chickens in-house have less appetite than when they are outdoors foraging for greens and insects. I read that a chicken's food intake for the day equals roughly 1/4 cup. Don't know how true that is but we noticed 1/4 cup of feed is too much for each of our chickens and have cut it down to 1/2 cup for all 3 hens because they get so much other food from their own foraging. Sometimes I get worried that a stressed hen (broody, molting, ill, etc) is not eating well so I will supplement with a no-iron Poly-Vi-Sol children's vitamin drop on the side of her beak so her tongue will lick up the annoying drop. I will do this a couple times a week when I think they need a vitamin supplementation. One of our Silkies will lap up the drop from the center of my palm because she likes the taste of it. Every chicken is different and have their likes and dislikes. My Mom always said a chicken (or any of her farm animals) will eat whatever they know their body needs. But giving any animals too much people food will keep them from a balanced feed. We had to stop over-treating our hens and just leave out their feed mix for a couple days and they started eating it again. I don't trust myself to know what a balanced diet is for my hens so I feel better when I know they are having feed first and treats occasionally. Some people actually mix up their own balanced organic feed mix and I've researched some interesting recipes but I'm not THAT ambitious and would rather order it ready made!

 

[Reinsaway]

Where do you find your non GMO/soy feed? I just moved to Redding, CA, so I haven't really looked at my options... what brand do you give your birds?