people with house chickens

[RAnst4038]

Our chickens love dairy products too but we limit them to just kefir or Greek yogurt. We love watching them eat some "people" food but keep ourselves in check from giving too much "junk." At the moment we're experimenting with some organic Scratch N Feed layer seed mix because they don't consume enough of the organic layer pellets. We've been told our chickens are too spoiled but I say better spoiled then neglected!!! How funny that you have a "Mini" since we have a "Mini" also -- ours is a Silkie named "Minmae" but we call her our Mini-chicken because she's the littlest so the name "Mini" stuck with her. I love your Doms. I had one that we lost young and never got to see her grow out

Sorry you lost your Dom

I read the whole Dom story and went with them when I started because of it. I had a hard time finding any within driving distance and the farmer tried to talk me into taking anything else. He looked like he was going to cry when he came out of the barn with two. The little bigger one was Maxi & smaller Mini. When they got bigger I had to put leg bands on to tell them apart. Now I know how that farmer felt, there is just something special about these Dominique.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry you lost your Dom

I read the whole Dom story and went with them when I started because of it. I had a hard time finding any within driving distance and the farmer tried to talk me into taking anything else. He looked like he was going to cry when he came out of the barn with two. The little bigger one was Maxi & smaller Mini. When they got bigger I had to put leg bands on to tell them apart. Now I know how that farmer felt, there is just something special about these Dominique.

Your chicks look about the age we lost our Dom chick. She was so outgoing friendly talkative busy unafraid and bonded with us humans instantly for 3 weeks before we lost her to a violent seizure - why? who knows. But we had her long enough to know we want more Dom chicks in the future. If you looked up the history about the Doms then you know the straight-combed Doms got APA accepted as BRs which left the rest of the Dom segment to go with registering as rose-combs. However the Doms were basically kept as pure breeds while the BR segment infused Malay and Game bird into the BRs to make them larger for dual purpose. What I don't care about the BRs is that they are way bigger than I care to have in my mixed flock plus you never know the temperament of a mixed breed history in the BRs -- some BRs inherit the good Dom temperament while other BRs will have the Malay or Game bird combativeness emerge. I've had both Doms and BRs in the past and I prefer the lighter-weight, good feed-to-egg ratio of the Doms plus I love the unbeatable personalities of the Doms. If you're lucky the BRs will get this temperament but I've had some BRs that inherited the combative history of their Malay/Game bird ancestry. I'm not inclined to believe the explanation that it depends on the line/strain of a breed to determine their niceness. There are just some traits that are prevalent in a breed regardless of the line/strain they come from - JMHO.

 

[RAnst4038]

How do I solve the hen in diaper egg laying problem? When she does settle in the nest box I take off the diaper which just makes her jump out and run around the room. After 2 days she was panting and panicking going from the nest box in the corner to window. I know she is telling me I can only lay in the coop nest box. So I took her out in a blizzard, chase the rooster out and lock her in the coop till she lays. Should I just let her lay in the diaper when she settles in the inside box?

 

[Sylvester017]

How do I solve the hen in diaper egg laying problem? When she does settle in the nest box I take off the diaper which just makes her jump out and run around the room. After 2 days she was panting and panicking going from the nest box in the corner to window. I know she is telling me I can only lay in the coop nest box. So I took her out in a blizzard, chase the rooster out and lock her in the coop till she lays. Should I just let her lay in the diaper when she settles in the inside box?

To be honest I don't keep house chickens. I only have them in-house to recuperate from illness or quarantine so I've not had much experience with full-time boarders. However, my recuperating Silkie layed an egg in her diaper once and I couldn't figure out why it was sagging - lol. We just rinsed the poop off the shell and made sure to cook the egg well scrambled to kill any possible contaminants left in/on the egg. Let your hen lay her egg in her diaper. It's distracting to their laying cycle to be taking a diaper on and off. Leave them alone -- It's better than handling a hen a lot just before she's ready to lay. Even without distractions a laying hen will bounce in and out of a nestbox several times before laying the egg. Just for situations like this I keep extras (dry diapers) on hand because that will be a messy diaper to change when taking the egg out.

Also, I don't pick up any of our hens from the sides where their reproductive areas are located. I scoop with one hand under their breast between their legs and hold down their wings firmly but gently with my other hand and hold them close to my chest to make them feel secure. It takes a while for them and you to get used to this "judge's hold" but it saves touching their reproductive sides.

 

[Reinsaway]

Radbird sleeps outside at night and comes inside in the morning after laying her egg, so I haven't had to worry about any egg in diaper situations

 

[RAnst4038]

First thing off the perch this morning Ross ran strait to the mirror.
I said, boy you really are in love with your self aren't you.
He said a very complex word I never heard before.
I don't know if he was agreeing or cursing at me.

 

[Attila the Hen]

First thing off the perch this morning Ross ran strait to the mirror.
I said, boy you really are in love with your self aren't you.
He said a very complex word I never heard before.
I don't know if he was agreeing or cursing at me.

My experience with Turkeys is that they spend an awful lot of time looking into windows at their reflections. It's not self love -- its loathing for that intruder turkey trying to take over.

 

[Sylvester017]

First thing off the perch this morning Ross ran strait to the mirror.
I said, boy you really are in love with your self aren't you.
He said a very complex word I never heard before.
I don't know if he was agreeing or cursing at me.

Ross is such a handsome boy - what's not to admire!

I often wonder if chickens realize it's their own reflection. We wanted to buy 2 Dom chicks but only 1 was left so when we brought her home we put a little face mirror in her cage to make it seem like she wasn't alone. She would cuddle up next to her reflection on her "blankie" when she took naps. It was better than letting her think she was completely alone other than the times she ran across our computer and onto our arms or shoulders to perch. She was such an active little chick.

We currently have a Silkie that we swear is calling my DH by name. She hears me calling for him and she mimics the sound of his name with my voice tone.

 

[Ponyfeather]

Ross is such a handsome boy - what's not to admire!

I often wonder if chickens realize it's their own reflection. We wanted to buy 2 Dom chicks but only 1 was left so when we brought her home we put a little face mirror in her cage to make it seem like she wasn't alone. She would cuddle up next to her reflection on her "blankie" when she took naps. It was better than letting her think she was completely alone other than the times she ran across our computer and onto our arms or shoulders to perch. She was such an active little chick.

We currently have a Silkie that we swear is calling my DH by name. She hears me calling for him and she mimics the sound of his name with my voice tone.

Pancake does that with names, words we use frequently she mimics them as close as she can. She calls one of our dog by name, enough that even my dad noticed she was trying to say 'Bubble'.

Also Ross is a very handsome boy. But Pancake loves the mirror too.

 

[Sylvester017]

Pancake does that with names, words we use frequently she mimics them as close as she can. She calls one of our dog by name, enough that even my dad noticed she was trying to say 'Bubble'.

Also Ross is a very handsome boy. But Pancake loves the mirror too.

Something we discovered with our in-house recuperating hens: If we leave the house we turn on the talk radio station for them so they don't feel abandoned by hearing human voices around them. Others have said their hens will surround the speakers of a radio playing music in their outdoor pen. Our Silkie will tap on the fan/heater when she wants it turned on to sit in front of the breeze -- she adjusts how far she wants to sit to enjoy the ruffling breeze. At the County Fair a pile of white Silkies were sitting in front of a big box fan and the hard-feathered breeds went to the back of the fan where there was at least some breeze left to feel.