South Carolina

[Avonshire]

Yay for first eggs and green eggs too!!!

So I have a chicken that is about 8 weeks old(time sure does fly!!!) and it is cock a doodle dooing but it totally does not have any real comb or wattles. I am attaching a picture. Is there a possibility it is just trying out the doodling?? Is there a way to know for sure other than waiting to see if it ever lays an egg???

 

[edible_chicken]

Yay for first eggs and green eggs too!!!

So I have a chicken that is about 8 weeks old(time sure does fly!!!) and it is cock a doodle dooing but it totally does not have any real comb or wattles. I am attaching a picture. Is there a possibility it is just trying out the doodling?? Is there a way to know for sure other than waiting to see if it ever lays an egg???

May need to take a picture of the whole chicken. sometimes the tail can give a clue! Hello, fellow South Carolinian! I recently moved to york, sc. i am loving it down here!

 

[edible_chicken]

Are there any fall/apple/pumpkin festivals around the Charlotte region? My wife and I just moved here and looking for things to do this fall. We have them all over in Ohio and I am having a hard time finding them in the Carolinas! Thanks!

 

[RockerHen]

I accidentally killed a chick yesterday

I went to check my 'half-breed' hen on the wyandotte cross eggs, and noticed an egg was rolled several feet away from her, at the bottom of the small dirt hill that she has her nest on. I picked it up, and it felt cold, like she hadn't been on it all day. I assumed it was dead, and decided to crack it to give me an idea of what the chicks were going to look like and how far along they were. When I cracked it, there was indeed a chick inside, looked around 4 or 5 days from hatching. But it was still alive and barely kicked its feet

I didn't want it to suffer and slowly die, so I quickly ended its short life. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, but it's still sad when it does. At least I have an idea of what they look like. The chick looked all black, and had a rose comb like it's wyandotte father, and was pretty large, though not near as large as a wyandotte chick.
On a happier note, my 4 silkie babies are getting bigger by the day. Their crests are coming in nicely. They are also much friendlier, and will let me pet them and hold them without complaint. I bought them one of those baby cakes for chicks at tractor supply, but they don't seem interested at all in it, and prefer instead windfall pears from our trees to nibble on. The 6 silkie eggs are a little more than two weeks along so hopefully we'll have more fluffy butts running around soon. I've been looking at coop designs for my new silkies when they're older, and wow, there are so many beautiful designs. It'll be hard to pick just one!

 

[EggieRowe]

It is beneficial, IMO, to pick up and handle chicks DAILY. I feel the breast bone area. The strongest will survive and keep the smaller weaker ones from eating...they will not thrive and will die. You can separate the ones that feel thin or are smaller from the others in a big plastic bin and give them their own heat, food & water - vitamins in the water will help too.
Personally I usually cull out the ones that do not thrive on their own....but that is just me.

Well I thought they were in the clear, but at lunch I found a 6th bird in pretty bad shape. It was hiding behind the waterer and was getting walked on. The breast bone is VERY prominent and it can't stand on its own for long. Right now I have it in a towel on my laptop to keep it warm and to keep an eye on it. I've been avoiding handling them since they started getting sick to avoid stressing them out anymore. They have all been more active since I started the Corid, but I'm not exactly how active 4 week old chicks should be. Now I'm scared to stop the Corid, even though its day 5 and from what I've read treatment is only 5-7 days.

What is the best way to cull a chick? If this one gets much worse I'd rather cull than have it struggle like the other two I found on death's doorstep (the other three I found dead). Please don't say kitchen shears, I don't think I can manage that. Can I just snap a pencil across its neck? I used to cull mice that way for my ball python.

 

[RockerHen]

Well I thought they were in the clear, but at lunch I found a 6th bird in pretty bad shape. It was hiding behind the waterer and was getting walked on. The breast bone is VERY prominent and it can't stand on its own for long. Right now I have it in a towel on my laptop to keep it warm and to keep an eye on it. I've been avoiding handling them since they started getting sick to avoid stressing them out anymore. They have all been more active since I started the Corid, but I'm not exactly how active 4 week old chicks should be. Now I'm scared to stop the Corid, even though its day 5 and from what I've read treatment is only 5-7 days.

What is the best way to cull a chick? If this one gets much worse I'd rather cull than have it struggle like the other two I found on death's doorstep (the other three I found dead). Please don't say kitchen shears, I don't think I can manage that. Can I just snap a pencil across its neck? I used to cull mice that way for my ball python.

For chicks, I usually break the neck, either by quickly twisting the head to the side (that's what I did to the poor chick 2 days ago) or holding down the neck with something like a pencil and quickly pulling the feet upward and forward. I use a co2 chamber for my feeder mice for my rat snake. I never thought about it, but you can probably do something similar for a chick. Seems to be less harsh that way, they just fall asleep and die while unconscious.

 

[KrisH]

Well I am shocked, Robert hasnt posted this. We hatched our first turkey poult from our grown birds.

We spent the weekend, moving the 24 young guineas to the outside pen.

The turkeys are challenging. They now can fly up on the stall walls, but there is a gap between the 2 walls and sure enough, we have had 2 now fall between the walls.

Have to use a fishing net to rescue them. Thankfully, they seem to not be any worse off after the fall.

Darn birds.

 

[leirob007]

Well, three cats and 2 coons caught one coyote shot and a fox that I am not sure if I scared him worse then he scared me when I walked up on him / her or not but no more deaths to report so far and no more missing chicks or chickens. but 60 is a plenty to me missing. Thank goodness. but all my best layers got killed.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Yay for first eggs and green eggs too!!!

So I have a chicken that is about 8 weeks old(time sure does fly!!!) and it is cock a doodle dooing but it totally does not have any real comb or wattles. I am attaching a picture. Is there a possibility it is just trying out the doodling?? Is there a way to know for sure other than waiting to see if it ever lays an egg???

Certainly has a rooish face but the body color sure is pullet! Unreal! But this is a very gorgeous bird! If it is a roo and you do not want it I would love to use it in a project.

 

[pinkwindsong]

Well, three cats and 2 coons caught one coyote shot and a fox that I am not sure if I scared him worse then he scared me when I walked up on him / her or not but no more deaths to report so far and no more missing chicks or chickens. but 60 is a plenty to me missing. Thank goodness. but all my best layers got killed.

me too.. we have coyotes and a mangie fox we just cant get.. and they have taken 19 of mine and to me thats a lot for me I went from over a doz eggs a day to 3. i guess its a bad thing my girls all like my dogs maybe they were too trusting thinking they were just other dogs? but now Ive got roosters everywhere.. ahhhhh..

glad you got some of your bad critters.. hopefully we can get these dang critters soon.

blessed be Pink