Sdwd

[kathyinmo]

While I was outside I was checking on the broody mama and her 3 chicks. This is what I saw.... They are so cute!

 

[wekiva bird]

Thats a cute photo .
Quote:

 

[Inkheart]

She is so pretty Kathy!

I only have real problems with weasels and mink - and i never see the stinkers. And only had one bad incident -


Hey all - having an issue with broken eggs this week. The girls are laying like crazy but so many are ruined due to one being broken and the rest being covered in yolk! They are on oyster shell - does this sound like a low calcium thing or are they just all trying to lay in similar spots and trampling? They lay in about 4-5 areas- Driving me nuts!

 

[Cetawin]

Knox...are they breaking in the nest? I would check toenails, the amount of straw, the positioning of the nests and such...I had that going on here for a few days and I discovered the nest had less straw in it and my heavyweights were jumping their big butts in there and putting a toenail in an egg or cracking it.

If you are worried about calcium, grind up a tums and add it to some scrambled eggs or goodie for a week...see if it makes a difference.

 

[Inkheart]

Quote:
Thanks! They get scrambled eggs alreaady couple times a week - might just be the straw thing - thanks for the input -

 

[Serrin]

Kathy, you seriously need to submit either the first or third picture of mama and the babes for the Pic of the Week here! Oh yes you do!! Heck, submit them both! They're both perfect!

Knox, watch out big time for those weasel's and mink! Those little rodents can be totally devastating to a flock. When my dad and I were keeping pigeons way back in the middle ages, we were twice hit by a weasel. Just. One. Weasel. It wiped out nearly our entire flock of 75+ birds in one night. What it didn't kill outright, it maimed to the point that we had to put them down. We had only three birds survive the first attack.

A few years later, we had another attack, after having built our numbers back up. Again, the little bstrd wiped out nearly the entire flock. Both culprits were caught and subsequently destroyed, but the second attack was the final straw for my dad. Between the weasel problem and the hawks and one incident involving a neighbors dog, dad hung it up. It just wasn't worth risking the lives of future birds. No matter how predator proof we made the coop, they still found ways in. We just couldn't protect them from everything!

Please, don't let this happen to you sweetie! I know you love your birds far too much to allow them to be brutally murdered in this fashion. Get yourself a live trap if nothing else. When you catch a weasel or mink, either put it down, or, if your gentle nature doesn't allow for that, then transport it at least 20 miles away and set it free. But go at least 20 miles as that is the size of the average territory of weasels and mink.

As for the egg situation.....yeah, I get that too from time to time. Darn little Cosette has this thing for scratching around in the nest boxes. I can't keep up with replacing all the shavings she kicks out on a daily basis!

So much for the shavings dams on each nest box! She just blows it all right out of there! Subsequently, there are days that the shavings in each nest box gets a bit thin, and then I get the broken egg problems. Just wash off the ones that get yolk all over them. It comes off pretty easy if you soak them for a little while in cool water.

 

[Inkheart]

Quote:
Yes i heard that if even if there is a hole the size of a hot dog they can get in. A friend close by had an issue - the stinker just decapitated alot of his and his favorite hen it tried to get it thru the fence and couldnt - the poor things head was missing with neck and body stuck in fence - sorry graphic. He set a live trap and got a mink. Pretty thing but MEAN hissing etc.
Yeah the egg thing never happened before until the last couple of days odd - they get oyster shell and so forth . so might just be that . I am thinking i might need more nest spaces
On the other hand those darn lovely Rocks - two hens i get at least one egg every day - two the next - so one of those lil buggers is laying every day

No issues with them course their fancy coop has 12 nest boxes built in the wall!

 

[speckledhen]

Kathy, that BLRW hen is so beautiful! She is my favorite shade of those. Hope I get a couple of pullets like her, or even one! One of the BLRW just cheeps all the time, not sure why. It seems like it has lost weight, or at least hasn't gained any-checked it over and can find nothing wrong. I so hope it makes it. One of the little BRs died this morning-it's vent was so tiny, it just dribbled urates and that area protruded, too, plus it was very short bodied, so something wasn't right in there. It was expected, really, but found it just after it died this morning.

Poor little thing. I hate when I can't fix something with one of my birds, but these babies are so precious and innocent, it breaks my heart. I realize that out of 44 chicks, there will usually be a couple with issues, it's just life. The rest seem to be doing okay and eating like champs (or hogs, LOL).

 

[kathyinmo]

I hope you do, too, Cyn! It is not even 50* here today and mama has those kids outside with her. It is wet and nasty out, however her pen has sand is not muddy or have standing water. Thunderstorms kept me awake most of the night. I finally fell asleep around 5AM. At least we had no power outage.

 

[speckledhen]

The wind is terrible! And it's chilly. We're expecting a huge storm (of course, I have chicks who need heat) in about an hour. Good grief, I'm sick of wild weather!