Random Pics of My Lil Flock

Good gravy. Rescue chicken drama!

I've had these ladies for almost a week. They've been on starter mash with oyster shell on the side. I mix a little bit of vitamins in the mash in the mornings. They also have dry starter available for free feeding. I wormed them with SafeGuard (today's the last day of that treatment).

Jessamine (I think she's a Golden Comet) is still waaaay underweight, but gaining slowly. She lays an egg almost every day. But I noticed today that it looks like she has vent gleet. Yay. First, an impacted crop. Then worms. Now gleet. I have a meeting soon, but I'll post pics later.

Jess is also mean. She pecks the heck out of the Australorp, Magnolia. I have had to separate them at night, which is when it's the worst. Magnolia gets the makeshift coop. Jess gets a cat carrier.

Magnolia, on the other hand, came with clear signs of feather picking. Her throat is bare and bright red. A vent check showed her vent is also red, but I see no signs of gleet or mites. I will probably treat them for mites anyway. Her vent does look a little weird to me, but I'm not that experienced with vent problems.

Treating these two rescues has been very time consuming, but I knew it would be. I have to change my clothes and shoes and wash my hands between sets of chickens. I hope to integrate them within a month once all these weird vent/skin/behavior issues clear up.

And then there's Picotee. He went into an early molt because he is indoors now. He lost his pretty sickle feathers and looks like a youngster again. He is super sweet and loves pets and hanging out with us while we watch TV or read. This is a far cry from the little cockerel who would give me the stink eye and flare his neck feathers at me when I'd go into the run to feed the OGs (Original Girls) in the mornings.

I know I said I want to chicken full time, but it's hard to do...
 
Well, it's been a month since I brought my new girls home. No signs of communicable illness. I haven't introduced them to my existing flock (the OGs - Original Girls), but I did let them out into the yard for the first time today. They've never seen grass or open sky, so they are hanging around in the tan bark. But here is Jessamine.
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Magnolia is terrified of my phone. I'll get a pic of her another time.
 
FINALLY moved into our new house! My chickens will be joining us today! Just gotta finish the shed-to-coop conversion and pick up the little biddies from mom's.

Here's the coop/run thus far:
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Not the biggest run, but it's the best I can do for now. It's just under 200 sq ft. Imma finish wrapping it in hardware cloth and putting the roof on. And I'm adding 6 windows and configuring the electric netting today, too. Hawks were my only real threat before. Now I've got to contend with coyotes, foxes, raccoons...
 
Chickens are all here at the new property. The run is so much smaller than I'd like. I feel bad for locking them up.

Picotee was reunited with his girls only to be separated again for being too sexually aggressive this morning. I love the little guy, but he's over a year now and hasn't calmed down much. I will give him a few more months, but I don't like seeing my hens so stressed out. There is an animal rescue not far from here. I may ask them to take him if I pay a monthly donation.
 
Guess whose chickens got air conditioning in their run (sort of)? Found an old window a/c unit in one of the sheds on our property. It still works! So I plunked it in front of the run on a shelf. It isn't perfect and not exactly "installed," but it will work for now until I can get it in there more permanently. Such a professional installation job! 🤣
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Planning a new "chicken yard" behind our garage. We are going to fence off a large area and plant grasses and shrubs for them. Where they are now is just too barren...
 
Well, now Bryony, my poor bottom-of-the-pecking-order Welsummer has bumblefoot. Pretty bad, too. I check often, but she is the hardest of my flock to handle, so I missed it because she always runs away and flails whenever I have to inspect her (yes, even at night). I feel so bad. I noticed it today when I wet her down because she wasn't doing well in the heat. I feel so bad... And she looks terrible. My rooster has done a number on her feathers. She'll be getting surgery tonight.
:hit
 

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