South Carolina

[Avonshire]

Rockerhen I can't see the picture but I am on my phone. I can't wait to see pictures and hear about the baby!!!

 

[Sunshinejammer]

Hi everyone. A couple of weeks ago we lost my favorite girl we have owned yet. The exact reason is still a mystery, but I am slowly putting things together and figuring it out. Willow was a super sweet, very laid back, Black Copper Maran. She was hatched from some eggs we got from Amy. She was happiest being held, talked to and riding on a shoulder. I truly think it was this sweet, meek, temperament, and my delay in noticing how far things had gone that led to her demise.
Lou Ann and I always suspected that Willow was being bullied by the others. One clue was that she always preferred the nestbox to the roost. When Lou Ann would block the nest boxes, she would go to a back corner, under the roosts to sleep (and Lou Ann was the trooper who would climb under there to retrieve her). We would often see the three top hens push or peck her away from the food, but, we also knew there was food inside the coop, too. Willow was also smaller than the other two Marans. All little clues that she wasn't getting the food.
I was spending some time in the run with them when Lou Ann was in Disney and giving them treats and everyone seemed fine. Willow was eating some scratch. I noticed once that she laid down and ate, but it was sunny and warm and as soon as I petted her she was up and eating with the others. The next few evenings I was going after work to feed and water them and make sure they were okay. On Thursday, I noticed Willow eating, but her tail was down. She would then lay down and pick at the scratch. I went over to her and put her beside the water and she drank for the longest. This is when it was slowly starting to click for me. It started getting dark and the others went inside. Willow then started eating. I watched her go in the coop and she went straight to the nest box. I put her on the roost and called Lou Ann and decided the next morning to seperate her from the others and allow her all the food and drink she wanted. She seemed pretty well the next morning, but as I think back on it, I didn't consider the colder temperatures we were having. Later that day, when I checked again, she was lying on her side in the sun, but on the cold ground (she had moved away the pine shavings) and barely hanging on. She passed a short time later. I really think the lack of nutrition she was getting and the cold temperatures were too much. I am still kicking myself for not putting it together sooner and having her somewhere warm. The challenge that day would have been Lou Ann and I both having construction done on our houses, but I would have found somewhere.
In my Facebook post that day, I stated that the world of chickens is very much like the world of humans-bullies exist in both and it is often the sweetest and most meek that do not survive.
We will get another chicken, maybe two, this spring, but they will be at point of lay. No babies this year. For once, I am not even tempted! I just want to enjoy my big girls this season.

Willow using Lou Ann's shoulder to get a better view out the door.

So sorry about your girl. A good warning for this newbie as I grow my flock. I think bullying may be increased for our sweet favorites, simply because of jealousy? Idk if it's possible for chickens to be jealous, but when I reintroduced one of our Orp pullets back into the flock after saving her from splayed leg at 3 weeks she was picked on for a very long time, especially when we were around. After all the one-on-one doctoring & attention she's an eager greeter for the human kind. The others seemed to not like her 'cutting in line', so to speak, as all but one of my Orps come running and want their butts scratched whenever we're around. (No lie- they come running and turn their backsides at our feet!!!) Maybe because I'd scratch their backs since they were bitty babies? Who knows... I did it with all the chicks & only the Orps display this behavior now. But our thought was, maybe they can sense the favoritism? As for brighter days ahead, I am excited for your new additions!! I LOVE Orps!! I have a pure lavender pair, & a few lavender split to buffs in an array of colors. I hope I can get my hands on some blue & black ones somehow, as I believe that's how you get splash, too, right, either blue to black or blue to blue? I still have A LOT of learning to do, as far as breeding/genetics go. I start to research it, I get a paragraph in, & my brain wants to melt out my ears. I think it would help to see one of those punnet squares, but the ones I've seen are like reading a different language. I want something simple like I did in college biology. Anyway, please post pics of the new arrivals!!! I have yet to see any color Orp I don't think is gorgeous!!

 

[jenfarsh]

Rascal is the smaller, Oreo the larger. I don't have goats, but I think these guys are more standoffish than goats. They don't exactly enjoy being petted and sure don't come unless you have the feed bucket. Rascal is the sweeter of the two. Oreo is a big pushy pig in cow's clothing. However, they do a great job of keeping the slope down to the pond clear of brush and weeds! They are just pets at our house, not future supper.

I love them! All my edible animals are pets

 

[Sunshinejammer]

Oh!! Another update on my Silkie roo: I think the lil fella might actually make it!!!

Eating & drinking pretty much at will now (softening his food with electrolyte water & scrambled eggs for extra protein). It doesn't need to be raised anymore either, he pecks at it like normal when it's on the ground. He's even chatting with us a little. So now, our main concern is wound care for the back of his skull where they plucked him (bad- about 1 inch in width & about 2 in long). As long as that stays clean & healing nicely, I think he'll be right & ready to return to his flock by the time it heals. I'll probably reintroduce him slowly just like I would a new one, just to be safe, but his turn around in the last 2 days is really amazing! I doubt he'll ever have feathers in that spot again, and I also wonder if his skin will grow back black or not? We shall see. I'll still love my beautiful, brave, bald boy!!!

 

[KPenley]

What a wonderful update Sunshinejammer!

 

[Sunshinejammer]

Rascal is the smaller, Oreo the larger. I don't have goats, but I think these guys are more standoffish than goats. They don't exactly enjoy being petted and sure don't come unless you have the feed bucket. Rascal is the sweeter of the two. Oreo is a big pushy pig in cow's clothing. However, they do a great job of keeping the slope down to the pond clear of brush and weeds! They are just pets at our house, not future supper.

I dream of the day I have more than just chickens!!! Never thought of minis!!! Are mini cows really intended to be edible?!?! Would they be a good milk cow? Very cool... and SUPER CUTE!!!!

 

[RockerHen]

Here is the pics I was trying to upload earlier. Finally! (forgive the weird angle of the second pic, I was trying to hold the phone above my head and over her back, and couldn't see the photo I was taking lol) But look at that big baby bump! This evening, giving everyone their nightly back-scratches, I actually saw a hoof or *something* kick out, several times! Pregnancy is the most wonderful and strangest thing. Mom seems very uncomfortable, she may calve this weekend. She had no patience for poor Valentine who tried to nurse her not-quite-ready udders.

And my turkeys are getting into the spring fever mood. I've witnessed my biggest boy, they one with the full tail (the poor other guy got his tail pulled after he flew into the dog pen and made a narrow escape) mount and successfully mate my royal palm hen several times in the past few days. Poor hen! The ordeal is much more drawn out that chicken mating. The tom just stood on her back for several minutes and treaded (trod?) before actually completing the act. Turkey people? Does the hen finally submitting and mating mean she will lay soon? She is a year old and this will be her first spring laying. The toms are younger, I'm not sure of their exact age, maybe 7 months.

 

[mjanderson437]

I dream of the day I have more than just chickens!!! Never thought of minis!!! Are mini cows really intended to be edible?!?! Would they be a good milk cow? Very cool... and SUPER CUTE!!!!

So glad to hear of your roo's improvement!!

They are totally edible and, if they weren't steers, would also be milkable. . That's actually how they are marketed...as everything you could get from a big cow but for less food and in less space. I can't imagine the appetite of a full size Oreo...we'd be forced to eat him cause we'd run out of grocery money!

 

[mjanderson437]

Here is the pics I was trying to upload earlier. Finally! (forgive the weird angle of the second pic, I was trying to hold the phone above my head and over her back, and couldn't see the photo I was taking lol) But look at that big baby bump! This evening, giving everyone their nightly back-scratches, I actually saw a hoof or *something* kick out, several times! Pregnancy is the most wonderful and strangest thing. Mom seems very uncomfortable, she may calve this weekend. She had no patience for poor Valentine who tried to nurse her not-quite-ready udders.

That's an amazing photo...all that baby crowded to one side!

 

[RockerHen]

That's an amazing photo...all that baby crowded to one side!

When it does this, she has trouble reaching around her stomach to lick-scratch that flank. She'll come up to us if we're out there and leans her head on us (or begins licking our pants or hands) to say 'hey, pregnant woman in need here', and won't relent until she gets her scratching. I love these crazy cows

our crooked-necked bull has been exiled to the horse pasture until the calves are a little older. The day Valentine was born, he tried to mount her! He's only 9 months old! Silly hormonal teenage boy. He still will stand at the fence of the horse pasture and moo at me in the evening until he gets his back scratched. If your boys are acting standoffish--scratching their back where they can't reach is the surest way to their heart. When we first got these guys a few months ago, they would snort and run away if you got within ten feet. We began by hand feeding them sweet feed and cattle cube and slowly graduated to brushing and scratching them. Only Valentine's mom still has reservations about us now.