South Carolina

[phoneman]

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i have a sister and two nephews that live there

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Well yesterday was not good here either. I had a cochin hen that had hatched out one chick on Thursday in the hen house. She had started with 3 eggs but had broken all but one. Anyway, I went in and look down in the nest and yes, there she was still there with the chick. When I went to get the chick though the hen went nuts pecking me! I mean nuts! I held on to the chick and pulled it out and the hen still was going nut at the nest area next to her where I had just pulled the chick out of--then I saw something jump up at her. I was so shocked! I could tell the colors of the snake right away and ran to the house calling for my DH~who thought I had finally lost it. Long story short, he shot the snake which turned out to be a pretty good size copperhead. It was curled up in the corner of the chicken nest(these are big nests, big enough for 2 hens). Yes, it did bite my hen in the neck. I put her outside loose with her chick but she was in a daze so I ended up taking the chick and putting with my keets. By about 2 she was walking around clucking and looking for the chick~and lets face it she deserves that chick. Her neck is still pretty swollen this morning but she has her chick and is feeding it.

Who knows how long that snake had been in that nest~do copperheads eat chicks? That poor hen just could not take any more when I showed up and grabbed the chick. The scarry thing is after I removed the chick I was going to look for eggs. The way that snake was curled up in that nest I did not see it--it may have been under the straw. My husband got me a gardening tool yesterday with a hook. It has a long handle and I am to use that when I get eggs. I think the snake might have scared him as much as me!

I had put my guineas up early the day before and my DH had mowed the field next to the chicken and guinea pens. We are thinking that must have scared the snake in close because with the guineas we very seldom see snakes of any kind.

 

[CarolinaChickenKeeper]

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Save her number BC if my rooster doesn't wise up and realize whoms the boss he may have to go!!!

 

[pinkwindsong]

good grief were all a mess,, and no please dont touch that iron.... I spent 4 1/2 hrs in the er yesterday,, the bandage stuck to the raw meat of my finger and it took them that long and alot of pain med to get it off,, og=mg,,, this is the worst boo boo I have given my self,,, and woest is I just checked the garden and I am getting behind,, got to do more slicing and dicing today..

got to make my chick chick's their favorite goodie,. squash quiche,,


)O(
Pink

I dont want snakes by my chickens either I dont blame you especially when it struck out at you,,, nope hes got to go///

 

[gvilledh]

Does anyone have a thought as to why one of our Silver Laced Wyanodottes would suddenly be quite a bit smaller than the other. They are both 5 weeks old and have been the same size until the last day or two. Lacey, the smaller one, still has a good appetite and looks good. Could it be the other SLW is proving to be the boss of the nine and Lacey is at the bottom of the pecking order? I am going to pull her and the Silkie out for awhile today and give them some eggs and yogurt. The Silkie needs some TLC since she still hasn't become much of a people person!

 

[Lroach711]

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wow! That is so scary! So a copperhead bite wont kill a chicken? That's pretty amazing! I think she does deserve that chick after taking a bite to the neck!

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

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Woo hoo! Now... calm down. It can take 48 hours from the pip to hatch. Usually doesn't but it might. I've given up on candling until day 18. If it has something in it (most of the egg looks dark), I put it in lockdown. If it looks clear inside, out it goes. I found hatching way too stressful when I was candling all the time! Good luck with your babies!

I used to wait to candle on day 18 and still do sometimes but every once and a while I need to make room in the brooder and will go through and sort out eggs that aren't developing and make room for a lot more when they are only a week along. Like today, my friend brought over 14 dz and asked if I had room to incubate them.

One of the 'bators is hers so I will set her eggs in her 'bator that only holds about 40 but I have to wait until the last of her eggs finish hatching today.
I have 2 dz still due to arrive in the mail for me (should have been here today!) and those are priority in my big Sportsman but I will go through tonight or tomorrow and start candling again to see what I can move around. My chart on the wall looks like some graffiti war since I use colors on my trays and use that color marker to keep up with the chart. Whew! It does get exhausting.

Yup, you are going to have loads of fun, Susanne! The best advice I can give is not to limit yourself to one color on a hatching tray. If I could do it again I would color code both ends of the trays different colors because half of red tray usually has eggs due to hatch at a different time than the other half of red tray. Purple tray may have 3 different hatching days so each line of eggs should probably be color coded.
Ugh, it can get extremely addictive and I way over think this stuff.

I am still in awe of Amy's color coding system!

I would give myself a headache.

I use a pencil and write on the eggs - on the air sac end - day of month due to hatch, breed, and where from.
Like now I have some marked:
21
mine
silkie
then I can just glance in the big cabinet thingy and pull out what needs to go into the hatcher. I use those suet basket things from lowes/TSC to put different breeds in or if I set cochins from different breeders, I separate by breeder.

 

[Havsom Morpork]

Regarding the SLW issue.
It's been my experience that the lowest hen on the pecking order is smaller than the rest. Usually it's no more than a pound in difference. If she's eating well and doesn't appear to be ill otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Joycats]

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Just a thought, I would be careful how much yogurt I gave them. Yogurt can actually make them drop weight. It should be used sparingly as a treat only. I don't give it to my birds at all. Just something to consider. Hope she catches up and does ok.

 

[Jackie B.]

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Do I win? This is my husband's ankle yesterday post surgery. 40 year old men should stick to bike riding and not playing capture the flag poaintball when they haven't done more than a jog in 15 years.