Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[Tomtommom]

They may not be cold. We're in Alabama and my chicks are spending very little time under the heat plate (they're 4-5 days old), they only get under it for a few minutes and back to playing/eating/pooping and they sleep under it at night.

 

[Beekissed]

Wrote this on another thread but thought it could maybe help those struggling with the "whys" of culling and the need for culling birds who have aged out of laying or just stopped laying while in their prime:

Quote:

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Wrote this on another thread but thought it could maybe help those struggling with the "whys" of culling and the need for culling birds who have aged out of laying or just stopped laying while in their prime:

Quote: so those are internal egg masses in the pics, how interesting.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep. They always seem like they've been boiled. One old Leghorn I processed had a HUGE one of these inside of her and didn't even show any signs of discomfort...it was big enough to fill my whole palm and it had layers upon layers of concentric egg tissue. Right before she stopped laying she laid a series of double yolkers and then she stopped laying altogether and so made the cull list and I'm glad I culled her when I did.

The three smaller ones above were in amongst her intestines and the two smaller ones were attached to the bowel.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Yep. They always seem like they've been boiled. One old Leghorn I processed had a HUGE one of these inside of her and didn't even show any signs of discomfort...it was big enough to fill my whole palm and it had layers upon layers of concentric egg tissue. Right before she stopped laying she laid a series of double yolkers and then she stopped laying altogether and so made the cull list and I'm glad I culled her when I did.

The three smaller ones above were in amongst her intestines and the two smaller ones were attached to the bowel.

Wow!

 

[Tomtommom]

Your post makes me think about my partridge rock again.

She's only a year old and got attacked by a hawk 4 months ago. She's been healed up for atleast 2 months, went through a molt and a rough ride through the pecking order. She was one of my top hens, but her ordeal caused her to end up on bottom. Then I ended up with an accidental cockeral, who had NO clue how to woo the girls, so he tried his luck with this poor mid-molt hen. Chased her constantly, plucked her some. On top of that the other hens weren't letting her eat much... all in all, she got skinny, isolated and sad looking. She's gained a fair bit of weight and she's fending for herself a bit more, but she still isolates herself most of the day and doesn't walk around much. No laying yet, as far as I can tell. Her comb looks a bit grey and ashy (but her healthy 'sister' has the same issue: ashy comb.)

If I cull her, I want to eat her, since I really can't sell a bird that doesn't lay and acts sickly... but if she's sick, I don't know if we should even eat her... on the other hand, she's only a year old and if given a bit of time, she could start laying again.

Blah, chicken drama

Should've killed her last year when I was thinking "Hm, this bird is fat like a turkey and she's pestering some of the younger birds".

 

[Happy Chooks]

They've figured out the Eco Glow now and are happily under it. And yes, they are CX.

 

[Beekissed]

They've figured out the Eco Glow now and are happily under it. And yes, they are CX.

Yay!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Here they are - well, when they arrived. It's raining outside so you can't see a brooder picture right now. (I brood in a small coop outside)

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Here they are: