Sdwd

[joletabey]

KATHY AND CYN- I apologize if you got something from my hotmail address today with an attachment- I don't know what it is, I don't know if I have a virus or what, but I DID NOT send it, and the only reason I know my computer did something weird is that I got a bunch of returns from old addresses I had not cleared. I did NOT open the attachment to see what it was, and I apologize if you got something horrible. I have not opened anything weird from anyone, and nothing has popped up on my virus scan-

Please let me know if you got something weird, or if your virus scans caught something.

 

[speckledhen]

Didnt get anything, Beth.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
I wish y'all could be here in the pump house with me right now. Both the Pump House Princess [a.k.a. FussyButt] and Abby [a.k.a. my slowly departing old girl] took one listen/look at that and started yammering away at the monitor!

Abby, who is on the table directly over my shoulder got the best view of those two roo's. I thought she was going to chortle herself into a heart attack at one point! And I thought it was bad when the ring tones of my phone go off. As an example, the ring tone for Denny is a rooster at full morning crow!

Silly birds!

 

[kathyinmo]

Nella, I am sorry to hear about your chick.

No, Beth, I did not get anything. I know what you mean though .... because I keep getting stuff from another BYC person's name who DID NOT send the junk mail.

My broody mama Easter Egger is raising her 2 chicks with the flock. I do nothing. They sleep in a nest, at this point. Mama is one year old, and these are her first. I hope she doesn't tire of raising them. The rest of the flock don't bother her at all. She IS the head chicken now, or so she thinks. Funny to watch them. They must walk miles each day. The rooster that is out (only 1) is quite protective over them.

 

[NellaBean]

I had always left my broodies with the flock to raise their babies....and have had success to some extent. Up until now......I had a trio of hens raise a trio of chicks. One day there were only 2 chicks. Found 1 dead in the grass. No idea what happened. They were at least a few weeks old by then. The other two did fine. Frank and Lola. Gold laced bantam cochin pair. Made it to about 3 months old and then Lola disappeared during the hawk problems. Sigh. They were long since 'on their own' but out in the big yard with the big flock.

Had a pair of hens raise 4 chicks. The cochin gave up after a few weeks and the half blind leghornx hen raised them up to about 8 or 10 weeks. Then they spent about a month "on their own" and did fine. Then 1 disappeared during the hawk problems. Sigh.

Then I had a pair of leghornx hens raising this last chick. 2nd hen gave up after a week or two. The chick should be at least 3-4 week or so now. Noticed the broody wasn't as fluffed out as normal lately....she would still cluck at the baby if it was near but was running off from it quite often. However, the baby has been out with the flock this whole time and so they don't bother him. I saw her cluck at him a couple days ago, but spent a couple hours out with the flock this morning and realized afterwards that i didn't see or hear the baby, nor did i see a fluffed up broody leghornx. They used to sleep in a nestbox at night but realized that they were not in there last night nor tonight. I will have to check and see if i see it in the morning.

Had a really frustrating day. My yard is on a hill....quite steep in spots. It has been raining for a day or so. LOTS of rain. It is quite muddy in any bare spots. Slipped and fell in the rooster pen this morning and probably actually caught quite a bit of air. That one hurt. No actual injures but it really started my day off wrong. Tonight I slipped but didn't fall....but did manage to break all of today's eggs. Found quite a few chickens who didn't bother going into the coop. 3 were in the garage, 2 were under a tree and 2 were in the tree. Not in the mood to hunt chickens down in the dark during rain and sliding around in the mud. Couldn't even get up to the rooster pen as I would have fallen again. Had to leave their coop wide open. One other rooster was being difficult so I left him out. He is smart and will roost up in the garage rafters most likely so i am not too worried. More annoyed than anything. Planning on making a few mesh cages to hang in the coop and will lock up the "bad birds" for a week or two to see if they get the idea. Having to wrangle them into the coop EVERY NIGHT for weeks is getting really old. I don't understand why they don't "get it".

 

[Serrin]

How old are the hooligans that you have to herd around like sheep Nella? Are they old enough that they should know better by now? After reading your account of your adventures of closing every one up for the night, I think I appreciate a whole lot more that my flock knows where home is and when it's time to go inside.

Though I can sort of sympathize with you when it comes to my three boys, except for the fact that they're already incarcerated in the covered run.

It's just a simple matter for me to go out about an hour after sunset, pick them up one by one, and tote them off to the coop. Easy trapeezee! They're such good boys about it all. They know that when I come out to get them at night it means cuddle time!

And if there's one thing those boys love more than food, or a chance to dance for the girls, it's cuddle time!

 

[NellaBean]

Hooligans. That is the perfect word for these little boogers.

The 3 that like to stay in the garage are one of the broody batches. About 3 months old maybe? Once I get them out of the garage, they run to the coop. They know where to go if the garage is not available. They just seem to prefer the garage to the coop. Grrrrr......

The 2 that like to stay in the tree are young adults. I bought them as teenagers (olive egger girls) and they are pretty wild. I can't get them out of the tree at night as it is too high and covered in ivy so they are almost "tangled" up in there. I did catch one recently and trimmed one wing but there is a short fence up that tree and lots of low hanging branches, so she can still easily get up there. They are wild wild and I really have to get lucky to catch one.

The other random hooligans are young adults. They've lived here long enough to know better but its so tempting with these others that don't go in at night, to just stay out as well. Sigh.

I expect young or new birds to need a week or so of 'training' to learn to go into the coop, but these ones just don't seem to get it. It has been more than enough time. My boys in the rooster pen all go to bed at night. My original flock and most of the "add-ons" all go to bed at night. It's just this assortment of hooligans.

 

[speckledhen]

I want to do that, Kathy, but Tom won't let me.

We always separate the broodies. They do walk miles every day, don't they?

Janelle, ouch! Been there. Flashbacks to breaking my ankle almost two years ago. Dang, time flies!

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
Awww! Kathy, I missed these pics the first time around.

How sweet is that?!?! There's just something about seeing a mama out and about with their wee ones, feasting on green grass, and dad(?) just in the background, standing watch over his family. I just love it!

Great pictures.

So, are these HER chicks? Or did you slip somebody else's eggs under her? In the right light, those two look suspiciously like Del's!

But I'm no good at identifying anybody at that young of an age. So you'll just have to tell me who they belong to. They sure are cute!

 

[speckledhen]

Nora was acting like she wanted to go into the main pen today. She has been caterwauling her lungs out, acting like she's ready to lay again. We put both her and Panda in the main flock and Isaac is trying to claim them back as his and alternately refereeing fights between the hens, who were not there when the last six newbies were integrated. The babies, the blue Orp and the barred EE, are in the Firetower pen, chirping for mama. Bandit, the EE, is less upset than Panda's baby Orp, but they'll live. I need to rehome these two boys ASAP. The Orp is so gorgeous! Bandit is almost 9 weeks and the blue boy is almost 8 weeks old. Don't want another Roosevelt situatino where they are still here when their hormones begin raging, LOL. Here they are today: