Sdwd

[NellaBean]

Did someone say snow? Sigh.

Single black bantam cochin hen in the snow....she doesn't leave footprints, she leaves a path where her belly drags through the snow, lol.

This is where the chickens hang out in "bad weather".

Remember I mentioned my silkie/easter egger pair? I got only pix of the girl...the boy is the same color with a bigger ugly comb and some yellowish hackle and saddle feathers. Neat pair.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Mine are doing the same. They're in the garage pecking around. This is their first snow! Oh well... I'll try to snap some pics later.

Zucchini is broody! WHAT? I went to the nest box today and saw her little blue egg in there. Well she was still "resting from the labor" so I left then came back an hour later to collect the egg... and she's still there. She fluffs up, feathers stand on the back of her neck, and pecks me over and over again and growls. Oh god... on a snow day?

So I'll be snooping around the buy sell auctions soon trying to find some good eggs.

Did I mention I finished the new brooder? For my birthday I got a large dog crate for quarantine, but instead it's the brooder. We ordered two heat lamps to hang from the top, and the crate has a divider so you can make two sections for different breeds. Is mulch okay for chicks? It's my new bedding for the main coop but I don't know if it's bad for the younger ones. Should I just use shavings?

edited for typos

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
That's not fat, that's FLUFF!!! How dare you call the Nugget lady FAT?!?! Of all the nerve!!!

Cyn, she looks so happy with all of her wee ones. I so hope that I get to watch Maggie go broody and hatch out some of her own this spring.

Such fun!!! And not so much of the worry and fretting on whether or not I'm doing everything right or not. That's what mamas are for!

Kathy, well, I had thought it sounded like a most excellent idea, but if you say ixnay, then ixnay it is on the idea of pure DE for their dust baths. Wood stove ashes you say? Holy Crap girl! Why didn't you mention this earlier!?!?!

We've been tossing it out onto the gardens since late September!

One would assume that one should leave out the larger chunks that didn't burn down to a fine ash? Yes? No?

I wonder if I can convince Denny to turn loose of some of those bags of tube sand he has in the back end of the truck for traction weight. Everything else around here is locked away under about 10 inches of old, icy, crusty snow. Impossible to get to, even if it was the right kind of dirt, which I don't frankly think it is.

Either way, I have got to get the dust bath set up for them very soon. These poor darlings are trying to dust bathe in the shavings inside the coop. And believe me, the condition of that right now is less than desirable.

Now then, I have a very important question to ask of y'all, and hopefully, if we all put our heads together, we can find a reasonable solution to my little problem.

Maggie. Yes, dear sweet little Mother Maggie is at the core of this problem. I'll cut right to the chase here. She has gotten into a very horrible habit of plucking and [sometimes] eating Chiefs hackle feathers. This has been going on for about a week now, and she has all but completely denuded the entire front side of his neck, all the way down into his chest feathers!

And now she's starting to select feathers from her own children! Cosette seems to be bearing the worst brunt of Maggie's bizarre eating habits, as she is missing the most feathers from under he chin and front of her neck.

So, what's going on here folks? Is this a dietary issue? Boredom? Psychosis? What? What the heck is she doing? And why? And most importantly of all: How in the heck do I get her to STOP doing this!?!?!

Everything else with Maggie is just fine and as right as rain. She has a good appetite and always gets her fill of all foods offered. She hasn't been laying as regularly as I would have thought she should be at this point. When she first started back to laying, I was getting one of her beautiful green eggs about once every 24 to 36 hours. I think maybe, at about the same time that her production dropped off, she started this feather eating fetish of hers.

I wasn't really paying all that much attention at the time. It's something that I recognize only in hindsight.

Any suggestions y'all may have to offer in the way of either an explanation, or a cure, or a way of preventing further depredations to Chief's hackles, would be greatly appreciated! Please! BEFORE she turns him into something that resembles a refugee from the stew pot!

Okie dokie, time to go let the babies out and fed for the day. I just love mornings here. Everyone is so happy to see me, and the bowls and dishes of food and water.

Does it get any better than that? Nope! I don't think so! Y'all have a wonderful day!

 

[NellaBean]

My broodies seem to go into a molt after their broody phase is over. And need extra protein.....isn't feather eating often a sign of needing more protein? I would start giving her extra protein and at the same time, just for safety sake, maybe blukote the picked areas, even if there are still feathers. Maybe that will stop her? Fewer eggs may also be a sign of lack of protein....not that there is necessarily "too little" protein for the birds...she just may need extra right now for whatever reason.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
That's not fat, that's FLUFF!!! How dare you call the Nugget lady FAT?!?! Of all the nerve!!! http://bestsmileys.com/anxious/4.gif Cyn, she looks so happy with all of her wee ones. I so hope that I get to watch Maggie go broody and hatch out some of her own this spring.

Such fun!!! And not so much of the worry and fretting on whether or not I'm doing everything right or not. That's what mamas are for!

Kathy, well, I had thought it sounded like a most excellent idea, but if you say ixnay, then ixnay it is on the idea of pure DE for their dust baths. Wood stove ashes you say? Holy Crap girl! Why didn't you mention this earlier!?!?!

We've been tossing it out onto the gardens since late September!

One would assume that one should leave out the larger chunks that didn't burn down to a fine ash? Yes? No?

I wonder if I can convince Denny to turn loose of some of those bags of tube sand he has in the back end of the truck for traction weight. Everything else around here is locked away under about 10 inches of old, icy, crusty snow. Impossible to get to, even if it was the right kind of dirt, which I don't frankly think it is.

Either way, I have got to get the dust bath set up for them very soon. These poor darlings are trying to dust bathe in the shavings inside the coop. And believe me, the condition of that right now is less than desirable.

Now then, I have a very important question to ask of y'all, and hopefully, if we all put our heads together, we can find a reasonable solution to my little problem.

Maggie. Yes, dear sweet little Mother Maggie is at the core of this problem. I'll cut right to the chase here. She has gotten into a very horrible habit of plucking and [sometimes] eating Chiefs hackle feathers. This has been going on for about a week now, and she has all but completely denuded the entire front side of his neck, all the way down into his chest feathers!

And now she's starting to select feathers from her own children! Cosette seems to be bearing the worst brunt of Maggie's bizarre eating habits, as she is missing the most feathers from under he chin and front of her neck.

So, what's going on here folks? Is this a dietary issue? Boredom? Psychosis? What? What the heck is she doing? And why? And most importantly of all: How in the heck do I get her to STOP doing this!?!?!

Everything else with Maggie is just fine and as right as rain. She has a good appetite and always gets her fill of all foods offered. She hasn't been laying as regularly as I would have thought she should be at this point. When she first started back to laying, I was getting one of her beautiful green eggs about once every 24 to 36 hours. I think maybe, at about the same time that her production dropped off, she started this feather eating fetish of hers.

I wasn't really paying all that much attention at the time. It's something that I recognize only in hindsight.

Any suggestions y'all may have to offer in the way of either an explanation, or a cure, or a way of preventing further depredations to Chief's hackles, would be greatly appreciated! Please! BEFORE she turns him into something that resembles a refugee from the stew pot!

Okie dokie, time to go let the babies out and fed for the day. I just love mornings here. Everyone is so happy to see me, and the bowls and dishes of food and water.

Does it get any better than that? Nope! I don't think so! Y'all have a wonderful day!

Guess what?...



















Guess what?.....












GUESS WHAT?????















FAT!

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
Her's not FAT! Her's just FLUFFY!!

Do you hear me? FLUFFY!!!

Not FAT!

Thanks Nella. That's what I had heard too about feather eating. Hmmm....might be something to that. I'm thinking we're way beyond the point of a little bit of Bluekote. She has literally stripped him just about naked on the front of his neck. I can sure tell which side of him she roosted one night. There are more feathers missing, and further down towards his chest, than on the other side.

I guess I'm just gonna have to cut the foot off of a sock, slide that down his neck and then take Maggie off to the side and make sure she gets a bowl of scrambled eggs and yogurt every day until she stops this.

Silly woman!

But don't worry Kathy. I still love her to pieces and I'd not give her up for the whole world!

 

[speckledhen]

My sweet Olivia, rest her soul, always picked at her man's saddle and hackle feathers, always. She did it to Hawkeye, did it to Dutch and tried to do it with Isaac. She had plenty of protein, just like the rest of the girls, but I never could make her quit doing it. Reminded me of a little old lady picking lint off her hubby's labels, LOL.

Yes, Nugget is fluffy! When she was a few weeks old, she was so super fluffy, she looked like she was wearing an older sisters too-large clothes.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Fluffy AND fat. = flat.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
OMG! That's too funny Cyn, cuz that was exactly the same impression I got of Maggie!

Do you think if I cut off the toe of a tube sock and put that down over his neck that I might be able to save the rest of his feathers and also protect the ones that are trying to come back in to replace what Maggie plucked/ate/nitpicked away?

Hmmm...I could always put her in with the boys. There are LOTS of hackle feathers to pluck from them!!

And they've already proven that she can be in with them and they won't kill her in an attempt to all mount her at the same time. Hmmmmm.......this is becoming a more and more appealing thought. Were it not for Cosette and Lisette. They still sleep with mama at night and stick pretty close to her side all day long. *sigh* Oh well, it was a fun thought while it lasted!

 

[speckledhen]

The only time Nugget is "flat" is when she is bowing to my banty Cochin, Shadow.