Sdwd

[Hillbilly Hen]

I like that channel!

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:

I know! It's only day 3! I have an excuse, of course, though. I was turning eggs. They were just sitting there... Flashlight right next to the bators! I am planning on candling every five days, plus going into lockdown. That will be my routine. So day 5, 10, 15 and 18. I don't candle when eggs arrive, only throw out if some are cracked or broken. If it is a small crack, I might cover with wax.

Cyn, hope all is well! I don't think it was supposed to be as bad down here, but a limb just broke... Sigh

 

[kathyinmo]

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ME TOO! ! ! My favorite channel!

I must confess, I am not the worry wart that Cyn is. My poor chicks have no monitors.

WOW, this hatch is now going quickly. I am so thankful the power outage did not kill them!

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

good luck Kathy, I can't wait to see all the pics I know you'll post

I am not a worry wart either, which is why the chicks are still in the house and not moved out to the cleaned out brooder area of the coop.

 

[wekiva bird]

Hope everybody will stay safe and do not lose any power.

 

[Cetawin]

Sharing for the morning...Girls can wear Spurs and I have proof!

This is Delilah, a South American Orp girl of around 4 years old...she came from Speckledhen with some spur showing last July....well now they are a good inch long and pointed.

Her right foot:

Her left foot:

She was not happy to be inside being handled after bedtime LOL So the pics are fuzzy

Need I say that no one bothers her unless she wishes to be bothered....she has used them fairly effectively on my previous EE roo when he became to interested in her. Between the spurs and her sheer size, it was not pretty.

 

[kathyinmo]

I have read about spurs on females! Interesting!

From Crawfords Poultry Breeding and Genetics--

""Spurred females are not common among heavy chicken breeds, but they are found quite frequently among Mediterranean breeds. Bauer(1931) was unable to find any abnormalities in the ovaries or endocrine glands of spurred females. His spurred females reproduced and grew as well as did his nonspurred females.

Others have also shown that spurred females perform well(Tandon and Iyer, 1954). However, Fairfull and Gowe(1986) found that spur length was negatively correlated phenotypically with egg production, egg weight, specific gravity and Haugh units, and positively correlated genotypically with part-record egg production.

Seasonal and dietary influences were not significant in influencing spur development in females, but the incidence of spur formation and spur length did increase with age(Christmas and Harms, 1982)

Goodale(1925) showed that spur development in females had a genetic basis and by selection he developed a strain in which half of the females developed spurs. He suggested that inheritance was recessive. Tandon and Iyer(1954) also showed that this trait was inherited, but their crosses gave mixed and not very helpful results.

Significant strain differences have been shown for this trait (Christmas and Harms 1982; Fairfull and Gove 1986). Experience of the author(Sommes, unpublished) and correspondence with an American Pit Game breeder whose females are spurred, indicate that when spurred females are crossed to light breeds(Leghorn, Polish and Sebright), most of the female offspring develop spurs. Further genetics investigation is warranted.""

 

[speckledhen]

Dang, Kathy, lately you have research for everything, LOL! Tiny has spurs and now, in her old age, my RIR, Reba, has small spurs. Nelda, my SS, had one tiny spur, Suede's late woman, Velvet, had spurs and she is Delilah's mama.


DH has taken Kes to the vet for her annual rabies, but I fear what the vet will tell us. She has lost weight, rarely eats more than a couple of bites, has slight incontinence issues (dribbles), and her hips obviously hurt her. I'm afraid that she may have some sort of cancer and we'll have to make another decision. I hate this part so much. Cody died at home before the vet could get from the other side of the county and it was fairly quick so we didn't have to decide for him. Kes is 13 1/2 yrs old now, lab/pointer cross. She's lived a long life for a dog of that size, but still, it will be so hard if my suspicions are correct.

 

[Cetawin]

Interesting info Kathy. Delilah is the daughter of Suede and I believe Velvet...from what Cyn told me, her mother/Velvet had spurs but I do not think they ever got this large/long etc. Delilah's are pointed like a roo's and they have grown considerably in the last year. She is recently or soon to be 4 years old. So the age make sense and the genetic passing of it. She is still a good reliable layer, nice large brown Orp eggs and she is without question a LARGE fowl. That girl is substantial in size. hehehehe And she is a character.

Now you see why I asked Cyn to bring her dremel and I will buy the cutting wheel and hold her to trim those things. I am afraid she is going to hurt herself on them. hahahaha

 

[speckledhen]

DH took Kes to the vet. He said her heart and lungs sound fine. She is down to 58 lb now from her usual 65-68. She has minor cataracts, which we already knew from how she can't see in the dark anymore, but that's not unusual for her age. He just said if she continues to shun food, we could do some blood testing but he gave her the rabies shot -can't go without that with all the rabies cases we have in this county. I'm going to try some higher quality (and hence, more expensive) dog food to see if we can get her interest in food back.