Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They are. But, there are ways around it. Groups usually have rules and apparently the rules help to get around the restrictions.

Hmm, okay, I'll have to look into that more. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Regarding the roosters and what I mentioned a bit back about needing to let go... I think that I might put Russell and Murphy up for sale as well, just to see what kind of people show interest in them. This is really hard for me, but thinking about it, they really are only going to sit in their own cages the rest of their lives anyway, whereas they might be able to find a nice flock to lead out there somewhere instead. Russell was flocked with Rosey, but the two of them are no longer getting along, so they're taking up twice as much pen space as before while not contributing anything back for the flock. I could certainly use the pen space, especially for all the Cochins that will be hatching here in a few weeks (knock on wood) and the males as they grow out and I select the ones I want to keep back for breeding...


On the same subject, since Rosey was named by a friend and so stays for that reason, I thought I'd try to integrate him into the main flock to free up some space. There are 40 hens, so there should be plenty to go around between him, his father Winter, his grandfather Reuben, and Mallow. Reuby's old and not breeding much these days, and Mal doesn't really pose much of a threat to any of them and is too small to mate most of the hens anyway, but including them, that makes for 10 hens per rooster, which is considered the ideal by most.

I put Rosey out today at free-range time to see what would happen, and he and his father had it out... and then they were fine. Then, he and his grandfather had it out... and then they were fine, too! Mallow tried to fight him, too, but Rosey didn't even seem to recognize him as another rooster and mostly ignored him. The girls aren't much impressed by Rosey, but if he gets along with the boys and isn't too rough with the ladies, then he should be able to live in the main flock just fine! And, if that's the case... more reason to list Russell at least and completely open that coop up to be used for other birds.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

In other news, it's just so heartwarming to know that Wynne hasn't changed one bit in all these years... Nearly 11 years old now, and she's still the airhead derp of an Easter-egger that I've always known her to be. That's her on the ground, sticking her head between Cressida's legs for... some reason? Cress is the last other bird from the same brood as Wynne, so as you can see from the pain in her eyes she's dealt with Wynne's derpiness for many, many years.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh boy, oh boy! Y'all know I can't help myself with candling early, right? Well, I took a bit of a peek last night and we have life! Lots and lots of life!!


Since I'm trying to determine if Gus is actually breeding his girls properly, I've put a hand full of eggs from that pen in the incubator along with the shipped eggs just to see. Yesterday, both of his girls laid, and it's a couple days late for the brood but I went ahead and set them anyway. I was feeling like maybe Gus wasn't very fertile or something, based on previous failed attempts to hatch from them, so I wanted to try as many eggs as possible from that pen to be sure. I popped those eggs in, turned all the eggs, topped off the water trays, and that was when I decided to peek... And BOTH of the eggs from Gus's pen that were set at the same time as the shipped eggs are developing! So I guess Gus just doesn't like to breed his girls when it's too cold out, considering all the failed hatches from him have been early spring! We'll see on the other three from that pen, but I may finally have up to five baby Guses!!


Now I have some decisions to make regarding all these chicks. Obviously a lot can go wrong between now and hatch day, so I don't imagine all of them will hatch, but if it's even most of them... that's a lot of babies!!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

My brahma has a "wound" on the very side of her vent. It looks like a small section is missing so not sure if she picked at it or it was picked at by some other chicken (or caused by the cockerel.) It has some pus and also gets poo on it. I've checked there are no maggots. I pick it off due to the poo and then put something on - it bleeds a little when I remove the poo scab. So far I've used the natural poultry wound spray, some bag balm (as it has antibiotic properties), and now trying Blu Kote.
The bag balm just made a mess of her feathers. She doesn't have any poo issues - so not vent gleet that I can tell. I know blu kote has some controversy right now. But, I'm running out of options. I have soaked her bum - but maybe for just 5 min.
Any ideas as to what this could be? I haven't checked far into the vent - do you think maybe something is going on internally?
She's at least 5 yrs old (maybe 6). But, other than that healthy - lays an egg sporadically.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's really hard to say without a picture. Pecking wounds tend to have a distinct appearance that makes them identifiable, but they are usually accompanied by feather loss in the area as well... That's good that there are no maggots, as you can rule out fly strike, which is ugly and unpleasant to deal with! Some of my hens had something that sounds similar to what you're describing when they were heavily infested with northern fowl mites, like a sore spot from the mites chewing on them that would scab over. Have you seen any tiny bugs on them, or even what looks like a lot of excess dirt around the vent area?

I'm not a huge fan of Blu-kote, but if it works for you, it works! I just found it to be messy and didn't really do much of anything to help. I believe it is listed as not safe for food-producing animals, just so you are aware! Is your wound spray one of the Vetericyn sprays? What did you soak her in, just water or with something else added as well?

You might want to make a thread for her over in the emergencies section, especially if you do get pictures. Even if it's not an emergency, there are a lot of very experienced people that help with minor injuries and other things in that section that are likely to be more help than I am!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I haven't seen any pests of any kind. But, I didn't know they bite and make sores.
I was thinking of posting in the other forum, just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Oh meant to say, so far this year has been the worst for me with issues. I've not had many at all in the whole time I've had my crew.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ah, yeah, it feels like it happens that way! No problems at all for the longest time, and then one year everything that can go wrong does go wrong! I've definitely had years like that, too. I hope things settle down for your flock soon and you can get back to just enjoying them and not having to worry about them.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I see I didn't fully answer your question. That's the problem when you read and try to answer at work.
The spray is called poultry aid. It's for wounds and such. It looks like it's called a different name now - heal excel. I have used vetrycin in the past. I've only soaked her in warm water so far. And soaked her well enough with the poultry spray.
I know all the information regarding blu-kote and the controversy surrounding it.
I just checked and it looks better. There was no scab to scrape off. I double checked for pests. I probably haven't been as proactive with it as I should be. I'm thinking its age issues with the 2 I've been having difficulties with. I also think that SweatPea must have eaten something she shouldn't have or some other issue that would only affect her.