South Carolina

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Well, thank goodness it wasn't just a photo that threw us off! If you thought in person they looked like turkeys at first then I don;t feel as bad. I am just more likely to think white turkeys than white peacocks.

Did Brandy get to make it to the swap? If Betsy didn't come, and I know she was the one that organized a lot of it, I just wondered if Brandy made it because she helped with the location. I haven't heard about anyone meeting her there. Kinda funny that those that were working to get it going had to miss it.
Farmer John, you must have been the thread holding it all together! At least from my perspective here on the SC thread.

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

Quote:
Well, thank goodness it wasn't just a photo that threw us off! If you thought in person they looked like turkeys at first then I don;t feel as bad. I am just more likely to think white turkeys than white peacocks.

Did Brandy get to make it to the swap? If Betsy didn't come, and I know she was the one that organized a lot of it, I just wondered if Brandy made it because she helped with the location. I haven't heard about anyone meeting her there. Kinda funny that those that were working to get it going had to miss it.
Farmer John, you must have been the thread holding it all together! At least from my perspective here on the SC thread.

Brandy didn't make it either. I actually forgot about her until Jack asked me where she was. I was like, IDK, her and Betsy aren't here. But I saw Betsy had some rain that prevented her from coming so I'll let her slide this time haha j/k.

I tell ya, when we got there and ppl started showing up I felt like I was the one holding it together, but it smoothed over real quick once more ppl showed and stopped by and everything.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
I am sooooo sorry, Yancy! Pum Pum was such a great little girl and I know you had high hopes of having many like her. I hope you can get some others and do well with them. And I wish I could have gotten those eggs to hatch so you could have some more sweet babies. I know you will find some to fill your Palace coop.
I have a Sizzle baby hatched and out running with 3 mamas right now and several Silkies running with mama Silkies. I am not sure how many other Frizzle or Sizzles I may have in my bator.

Congrats on the SLW girl laying her first egg!

Could be an early pipper or it could be an accident. Maybe the hen punched through a weak spot when rolling it over?

I tell you something strange, I had a chick hatch out in the bator yesterday after being in there only 7 days! Not my 'bator and not my eggs. My friend brought them to me when she came to pick up her chicks that had hatched and told me to set them so I placed them in her newly cleaned 'bator (one that I had scrubbed out after one had exploded and another nasty egg had leaked all over).
I often have to wait a day or two to set in her bator or mine but this time I was able to set them immediately. Thank goodness, too! Her house is not AC so this egg was in her house over night after she collected from her coop and then she drove it up here from Union. Again, no AC in her truck but my house has AC and I feel if I had left it for even a few hours it would have ceased to exist. But out pops this fat little Cochin chick and it rides in the turner for a while before DD says, "You know there is a chick in here?" Duh, no. But it was fluffy and dry and quiet.

I read a thread on the duck list about one that was shipped and then hatched within a week so this weather certainly has been helping them along.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Billy, you dog! Went to Charleston without me!

I want to go so badly! I just can't get it all organized. My fault for owning so many chickens!
Glad you had a blast though and glad you are home safe and sound.

About the eggs....they have to have a break at some point. The hens, not the eggs! Don't worry until it goes on for more than a week and then start looking for lots of feathers. They could be in a molt. Especially if everyone is the same age.
I try to make sure I have hens in my laying flock that are many different ages and hatched in different seasons so I don't have my entire flock molting all at once and stop laying for 4-6 weeks, depending on breed.
Have you heard about my gold laced Wyandotte that likes to molt at Christmas? Poor nekked little girl. You would think Santa would bring her a fur coat one year!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Well, thank goodness it wasn't just a photo that threw us off! If you thought in person they looked like turkeys at first then I don;t feel as bad. I am just more likely to think white turkeys than white peacocks.

Did Brandy get to make it to the swap? If Betsy didn't come, and I know she was the one that organized a lot of it, I just wondered if Brandy made it because she helped with the location. I haven't heard about anyone meeting her there. Kinda funny that those that were working to get it going had to miss it.
Farmer John, you must have been the thread holding it all together! At least from my perspective here on the SC thread.

Brandy didn't make it either. I actually forgot about her until Jack asked me where she was. I was like, IDK, her and Betsy aren't here. But I saw Betsy had some rain that prevented her from coming so I'll let her slide this time haha j/k.

I tell ya, when we got there and ppl started showing up I felt like I was the one holding it together, but it smoothed over real quick once more ppl showed and stopped by and everything.

It gets better every time you all have one. More people will come and know what to look for. I know it is a lot of fun to get together with friends from BYC and meet new people that drop in to see all the birds.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Pink, I am sorry that you have lost another one. This has been a hard summer for birds in the heat.

I went down to the coop yesterday to give more cold water and collect any eggs the girls had laid and saw the butt of a JG hen sticking out of the dog crate on the floor of the coop in the same position as I had seen it 2 hours before. I have several that are broody but they move some during the day so as I went in to collect eggs I saw that she was dead. She is so huge that I could barely get her out of the crate. Why she was trying to brood inside it I don't know when there are more airy dark cubicles for her to use. But she was 4 years old, weighed in around 12 lbs and I am sure sticking her big body inside something with only a small amount of air was not good for her.
She wasn't stuck until she melted down when she died. There was about 6 eggs under her that were laid during the early morning, I suppose because I collect right before they coop up for the night, too.

I had a neighbor come over and buy eggs a short while ago and brought his teenage grand daughter over to see the chicks and chickens and he asked why all my birds were in the coops where the air was so hot and still and not out under the shade trees where the breeze was moving and it was at least 10 degrees cooler. I gave him the only answer I knew.....bird brains.

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

Quote:

 

[RedBugPoultry]

OK, I caught a mother hen in the act this morning trying to kill a keet--not hers of course. One of the guineas must be hatching out keets close to the feed shed. I scooped the keet up and took him to the shed with the brooder hutch and put him under a light--just checked him and he is doing alright. Amazing! Usually if something like that happens within the first few days of hatching they are toast. I think shock if nothing else. It is a little buff--hummm, where is a buff setting?

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
My peafowl are in a large, covered yard for their own protection. Peafowl are not hard to keep, they eat the same thing my chickens eat - layer pellets. They roost in trees, but I put a box up in the tallest spot for them and they do use it in bad weather. They will not go up at night like chickens, so if you let them out they will most likely roost in the tallest spot available. This could be on top of your house. They can fly very well. They are preyed on by owls at night as they don't necessarily seek cover. In my experience they are very calm, friendly, curious birds. I love to hear them call but some people think they are loud (imagine that). They're not very vocal, usually late in the evening they will call to each other while going up to roost. I would just about die to have a pair of white peafowl.

Where are they? I'm going to have to brainstorm a way to go get them. I'm having heart palpitations just thinking about missing that opportunity.

Okay - are these peafowl anywhere close to Bamberg?????? My husband is going back there very soon. Still brainstorming......

its about 30 min. from bamburg

Ok - 30 minutes which way? My husband would be coming from Columbia down, would it possibly be on the way? He will be on the clock with his job so I can't ask him to drive too far out of the way. But if it's on the way back home it might work.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Awwww! A buff! Sounds adorable! I am glad it is okay.

I found Guinea girls' nest and tried to peek at how many eggs she has but she attacked my hand. I am glad that she didn't just jump up and run off. Some of my ducks do that and other ducks try to scare me away. I like to see the protection they offer their eggs.
I can say she has about 15 eggs if not more under her. Whew!
She is between the Muscovy coop and the woods so if there is a snake venturing up then those eggs may not make it. Although, she did nest very near to where Jolie hangs out, too. One smart Guinea bird! However, the Muscovy eggs disappeared so it probably makes sure Jolie is no where near if it is looking for eggs.