Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[magsrags]

I don't blame you. I hate it too. I keep looking at my girls and every day I think ones a roo, then the next day, not a roo...It's maddening.
I have one definite rooster, and now my other EE is beginning to look like one too. Ugh.

For me EEs were always the hardest and took the longest to tell which were roos. But if I had a few of the same breed the differences showed up easier.
But single combs are much easier I think then rosecombs etc.

The gals stay pale pinkish/orangish longer and the roos definately turn pink then darker pink then red much faster.That and omnce you really study faces, hens have a softer more rounded look to me. Roos look more manly.

 

[magsrags]

I don't blame you. I hate it too. I keep looking at my girls and every day I think ones a roo, then the next day, not a roo...It's maddening.
I have one definite rooster, and now my other EE is beginning to look like one too. Ugh.

Another test you can try is to clap your hand really hard 1 time over theoir heads and see who cowers (girls) and who stands tall and defensive.(roos)

 

[magsrags]

Well here is a video of COMPLETE ADORABLENESS!




And here are some pics of our new rooster "Pinnochio"

Caleb your little sis is a screaming adorable!!!!!!!!!!

 

[magsrags]

I have a dumb question. (I ain't all that smart as far as them chickens go) I lock the girls up inside the hen house at night. If I don't, I can't sleep, I've had nightmares of raccoons getting into the coop (which is how my first flock died) so, every night of my life, I put them in the hen house. Yes. Most nights, they do not go willingly, they flap and cackle and cluck and run. When do they stop trying to be ferocious guard beasts, ready to roost out in the coop, ready to take on any raccoon, Rocky or otherwise, and just go into the hen house by themselves?
It's not all THAT hard to catch 5 of them-they love me, and willingly allow me to pick them up and do what I want with them. As a matter of fact, if May the BR could sleep in my bed with me, she'd be very happy to roost under my chin all night, I'll bet. BUT-Luke (AKA Lucy) the EE roo, and Henny Penny, the RIR, act like I'm chasing them with a spit and BBQ sauce. All of them roost at dusk on this TINY branch, probably fit for 3 chickens, not 7.
Once I get them into the hen house, (fully stocked with food, water, hay, and roosts) they call like baby chicks. It makes me sad, I know they love to be outside, even at night, but I know the hen house is iron clad, and they cannot get hurt in there. Will they eventually go inside by themselves? Everyone elses chickens seem to love their houses and feel secure in them. Do I need to lock them in for a few days, until they promise to do as I ask? They spend all day inside when the temps go up, since it's shady and cooler in there.
HELP! I just want my girls to make my life (and sleep) easier! Chasing the two nutbars around is BAD. Especially with the two little girls crate in the way. (who are inside a smaller crate, inside the hen house-they didn't complain at all!)

Mine are locked in tight every nite. But they do go in themselves at the last moment/second of daylight. It's like they "know what lingers in the darkness watching". LOLOL

 

[magsrags]

Update: "Necklace," the egg-eating chicken walked up to the black-curtain-fronted nestbox, clearly ready to lay, but too scared to walk into the curtain and push past it. So, I firmly just plain pushed her in. Once in, in the dark, she settled and sure enough in about twenty minutes there she was, on the doorstep of the ChickArena singing her egg sound LOUD and triumphant.

I raced to the nestbox, and there was her perfect, unbroken egg. HOORAY. Apparently, too dark to find her egg, she skedaddled outta there as soon as she layed.

Bravo. Two hours later, I found HennyPenny's egg there as well. Intact and perfect.

And as for the little hurdle of teaching the two juveniles to sleep up on the new roosting board, I solved that little problem as well.

Here's what I did: I let them roam free with the big girls in the big back yard today. I sat on my rubbermaid garden stool with a big terry towel on my lap right in the middle of the yard so I could watch and see if the big girls tried to hurt them.

They stalked them every now and then, but the little ones are way faster and always dodged them easily. After a while, I left them and went into the house. I looked out at them an hour later, and the two little ones were nestled on the towel that I had folded and left on the stool.

So, I figured that since Laverne and Shirley are so used to the feel of the towel, they would probably accept the roosting board if it was covered in terry cloth. So i found an old towel and cut it up and covered the roosting board with it and put rubberbands around the whole thing to hold the toweling in place.

Sure enough, an hour after I placed the two of them up on the toweled board, they were still there, roosting like big girls. After a few nights of this, I'll remove the towel and leave it off, so I can scrape down any poo as needed.

A good day was had by all.

-Carolyn

Brilliant!

 

[Cheeky Chick]

Another test you can try is to clap your hand really hard 1 time over theoir heads and see who cowers (girls) and who stands tall and defensive.(roos)

All the chickens look for treats no matter what sound I make. I think I've created a monster. 7 of them. Lucy (Luke) the one EE with a triple row of peas in his comb, is the only one that runs like I'm waving lemon and garlic-butter sauce. He's always been nuts-he screams like a boy when I pick him up (after chasing him until we're both dropping on the floor from exhaustion) but he's really cowardly. Is always the last to come to me for even mealy worms, makes sure all the rest are ok after coming to me, then he'll inch his way over. He's a freak.

Diva, the other EE is the opposite, very in your face, but only has a single row of peas, but both stand like roos. That hawk face is very deceiving. Diva is a lighter color, somewhat, but the two are almost twins. If I take out the tub of worms, she's already running like a roadrunner to get in front of all the others to get a treat. Head down, charging through the crowd like a Black friday shopper at doorbusters.

When my husband was putting the nest boxes onto the hen house, all of them huddled in a mass of feathery fright, except...MAY, who, according to my husband seemed to want to pick up a tool and help. My sons said she was really insistent in seeing what he was doing, and they said my husband kept asking her "What do you want? You need to get out of my way." and that she was answering him in little clucks and sounds.

Well, I've raked out the henhouse and scrubbed the walls so there's clean everything when they begin their 3 day lockup in the hoosegow. Miss Boots and Henrietta the Cochins made it through the night very well, but Miss Boots seemed to be complaining to me when I let them out this morning. I think Henrietta snores.

 

[Imprfctme]

Hello! I have survived the longest week ever, or at least it feels that way. It's the end of the year and there are moving up ceremonies, graduations, dance recitals and all kinds of crazy things that require a lot of me getting everyone dressed and equipped on time. Whew.

Hi to all the new members, hope you all stick around!

Caleb, your sister is completely adorable, "Gik-ens! Gik-ens!" I love that she is so patient and calm holding the rooster, who is also adorable (handsome?) Pinocchio is very good-looking indeed. What breed is that?

Congrats and hard work rewarded to Carolyn for training all her hens to stop eating eggs and to sit on the roost properly. Honestly I am full of good intentions but I never seem to have the time to actually go out and do these training sessions. I meant to clicker train one of the hens to do tricks but alas it never happened and now I'm more focused on getting the puppy to stop teething/biting us. One day I will have free time, and I will use that free time to ... nap. lol.

I did however solve the soft shell issue by mixing in a handful of crushed oyster shell into the feeder and keeping them in the coop/playyard for a few days straight. I think when it's mixed in the food they're more likely to just gobble it up. When I put it out separately they just knock it over/ignore it. Now if I can teach them to not knock over the chick grit container I'd be golden.

I don't have a roosting box that locks up, it's all part of the exercise pen, etc. My fencing is hardware cloth though and we extended it underneath the soil a few feet so anything that digs is going to be met with resistance. I also have four of those predator eyes which are helpfully sitting in a drawer in the kitchen. Free time, free time... maybe today is the day that I put those up, weed the garden, walk the dog 3 miles and organize my desk. Right.... That basically explains why I don't worry if they're roosting outside the house though, at least they are still somewhat safe. It's all about how much time you have to worry about this stuff in any event.

Our tree swallows are still nesting, thank g, I though some sparrows had evicted them but i checked and they're ok. I also have nesting wrens in the yard in what I like to call the Fabulous Gay Cardinal Condo. Something cheap that I picked up at K-Mart ages ago, and since it was made in China I don't think they realized that female cardinals have a different color than the males, hence this:

is what I like to think of as alternative lifestyle housing for birds.

I was on ancestry.com for a little bit at 1:00am and I found the name of my great-uncle's partner. It's very exciting to have an actual name and an address where they both lived, it's been hard to track him down. I wonder if he has any relatives my age still alive, it would be interesting to see if they have any stuff we don't.

Gunnar - are you here? - did you get any pictures from the MA show? Share some please!

I am also looking at changing up my feed for the birds. I am trying harder to avoid GMO stuff and the more I read about commercial feed the ickier I feel. Sand as filler - immature canola seeds - vitamins from China - ugh. I give them veggie scraps occasionally and I let them out when it's safe but I really want to avoid the yucky stuff. What brands do you all use?

Ok have to walk dog and retreat back to stalker mode.... I'm here though, just too tired to type.

 

[Imprfctme]

hee hee! I wonder if they do?

 

[highpointfarm]

I have a dumb question. (I ain't all that smart as far as them chickens go) I lock the girls up inside the hen house at night. If I don't, I can't sleep, I've had nightmares of raccoons getting into the coop (which is how my first flock died) so, every night of my life, I put them in the hen house. Yes. Most nights, they do not go willingly, they flap and cackle and cluck and run. When do they stop trying to be ferocious guard beasts, ready to roost out in the coop, ready to take on any raccoon, Rocky or otherwise, and just go into the hen house by themselves?
It's not all THAT hard to catch 5 of them-they love me, and willingly allow me to pick them up and do what I want with them. As a matter of fact, if May the BR could sleep in my bed with me, she'd be very happy to roost under my chin all night, I'll bet. BUT-Luke (AKA Lucy) the EE roo, and Henny Penny, the RIR, act like I'm chasing them with a spit and BBQ sauce. All of them roost at dusk on this TINY branch, probably fit for 3 chickens, not 7.
Once I get them into the hen house, (fully stocked with food, water, hay, and roosts) they call like baby chicks. It makes me sad, I know they love to be outside, even at night, but I know the hen house is iron clad, and they cannot get hurt in there. Will they eventually go inside by themselves? Everyone elses chickens seem to love their houses and feel secure in them. Do I need to lock them in for a few days, until they promise to do as I ask? They spend all day inside when the temps go up, since it's shady and cooler in there.
HELP! I just want my girls to make my life (and sleep) easier! Chasing the two nutbars around is BAD. Especially with the two little girls crate in the way. (who are inside a smaller crate, inside the hen house-they didn't complain at all!)

What I do is put a light in the coop, after dark they will go towards the light. 30 minuetes after dark, turn off the light... after 1 week of this they will go in on their own.

 

[highpointfarm]

Hello! I have survived the longest week ever, or at least it feels that way. It's the end of the year and there are moving up ceremonies, graduations, dance recitals and all kinds of crazy things that require a lot of me getting everyone dressed and equipped on time. Whew.

Hi to all the new members, hope you all stick around!

Caleb, your sister is completely adorable, "Gik-ens! Gik-ens!" I love that she is so patient and calm holding the rooster, who is also adorable (handsome?) Pinocchio is very good-looking indeed. What breed is that?

Congrats and hard work rewarded to Carolyn for training all her hens to stop eating eggs and to sit on the roost properly. Honestly I am full of good intentions but I never seem to have the time to actually go out and do these training sessions. I meant to clicker train one of the hens to do tricks but alas it never happened and now I'm more focused on getting the puppy to stop teething/biting us. One day I will have free time, and I will use that free time to ... nap. lol.

I did however solve the soft shell issue by mixing in a handful of crushed oyster shell into the feeder and keeping them in the coop/playyard for a few days straight. I think when it's mixed in the food they're more likely to just gobble it up. When I put it out separately they just knock it over/ignore it. Now if I can teach them to not knock over the chick grit container I'd be golden.

I don't have a roosting box that locks up, it's all part of the exercise pen, etc. My fencing is hardware cloth though and we extended it underneath the soil a few feet so anything that digs is going to be met with resistance. I also have four of those predator eyes which are helpfully sitting in a drawer in the kitchen. Free time, free time... maybe today is the day that I put those up, weed the garden, walk the dog 3 miles and organize my desk. Right.... That basically explains why I don't worry if they're roosting outside the house though, at least they are still somewhat safe. It's all about how much time you have to worry about this stuff in any event.

Our tree swallows are still nesting, thank g, I though some sparrows had evicted them but i checked and they're ok. I also have nesting wrens in the yard in what I like to call the Fabulous Gay Cardinal Condo. Something cheap that I picked up at K-Mart ages ago, and since it was made in China I don't think they realized that female cardinals have a different color than the males, hence this:

is what I like to think of as alternative lifestyle housing for birds.

I was on ancestry.com for a little bit at 1:00am and I found the name of my great-uncle's partner. It's very exciting to have an actual name and an address where they both lived, it's been hard to track him down. I wonder if he has any relatives my age still alive, it would be interesting to see if they have any stuff we don't.

Gunnar - are you here? - did you get any pictures from the MA show? Share some please!

I am also looking at changing up my feed for the birds. I am trying harder to avoid GMO stuff and the more I read about commercial feed the ickier I feel. Sand as filler - immature canola seeds - vitamins from China - ugh. I give them veggie scraps occasionally and I let them out when it's safe but I really want to avoid the yucky stuff. What brands do you all use?

Ok have to walk dog and retreat back to stalker mode.... I'm here though, just too tired to type.

Thanks! he is a golden sebright. We named him pinocchio because he has a cross beak