"Springing in the Chicks" 2016 April Hatch-a-Long Hosted by Mike & Sally

[weegarden]

Catching up, maybe someone has told you all of the places.

You can go to whatever breed of chicken you are looking for, in threads here. There may be someone close by.
You can go to your own state thread, that's what a lot of us do. We have what we call the chicken train. If someone is heading north and there are some chicks/eggs they can bring back they do..and works the other way too. North, to South.
There's the buy and trade thread. You may find someone close by.

Awesome, Thank Cynthia, that helps a lot! There are so many different places to get lost on Backyard Chickens. And I love to get lost in it, even though I have so many other things that need to get done! The chicken train sounds like a really neat idea!

I *might* have gone and picked up a couple of cute Paint Silkie chicks with loud spots yesterday. I actually lied about where I was going when my son asked. Apparently I was feeling very self conscious about it at the moment and I panicked

They are so cute though. They have some pink spots but with my other silkies, I bet they could make some pretty babies. None of my paints have loud spots and all my silkies are from one breeder so, of course, I really needed these two!

Awww, If I was with you, I might have picked up a couple too! I bet they are adorable!!!

 

[Eps32]

Thank you all for all your kind words. It's kinda weird with him not around to be honest. My mom said she refuses to eat him. But I'm going to. I don't want his death to be in vane. We just had him for a while. And did everything we could to rehabilitate him with no luck.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: Awesome!! what kinda coop design are you building? How exciting!!

Thank you all for all your kind words. It's kinda weird with him not around to be honest. My mom said she refuses to eat him. But I'm going to. I don't want his death to be in vane. We just had him for a while. And did everything we could to rehabilitate him with no luck.

you got it right in your head

 

[ShrekDawg]

I take it you don't have a rooster?

Nope! These are our first chickens. They're I think 24 or 25 weeks old now.

what is she doing? that she is so mean?

Well, I'm not really sure if it is mean or curiosity but they all love to peck my pants when I go inside, maybe they think it's food. But this particular one has a very hard peck (she's a Black Australorp) and she has also pecked my elbow hard, enough to leave a mark, and just a week or two ago she pecked my gums, and just yesterday she climbed on my leg then my shoulder and I was feeding her kale, thinking she was nice, and she pecked my eye. I am not sure if she's truly being mean or if it's chickens fascination with shiny objects because sometimes she acts scared of me or like she doesn't know what she did but either way, it's dangerous.

But even worse than her being mean to me, she terrorizes my Buff Orpingtons. I feel it is more than pecking order but she could just be a hormonal teenager? She will fly out of nowhere and attack for no reason. According to my dad, just yesterday one was eating and she came over and pecked her for no reason. And when I let them free range sometimes (I don't do it that often), she had flown from across the yard and jumped her for no reason. The other day I was holding an Orpington and she came up and pecked her hard on the head!! I shooed her off then gave chase briefly and she left for a bit but came back not long later. When she came back she did it again! So I gave chase again. I figure a roo would have too. And the worst part was the Orpington, who is very friendly, wanted to leave at first even though she likes me but then settled into my lap more and more each time I chased the Australorp so by the second time she completely settled into my lap, not wanting to leave, once she realized I would protect her.

I could deal with normal pecking order stuff but it's just stuff like that, coming after her for no reason, that makes me mad.

For instance, sometimes the Orpingtons and Easter Eggers squabble but it's just a few wing flaps. She jumps them.

One time I put a tub in there of dirt and the Orpington kept trying to sneak up to it and waited till the other one left, then fought off my Barred Rock for her turn. She was too scared to get close when the Australorp was in it.

I decided though that rather than making any hasty decisions and culling her, I will wait until we build the new, much bigger, coop and run and see if she improve . If that doesn't work, I will keep the old coop set up and separate her from the flock for a week, along with some serious socialization/boot camp. If that doesn't work then I will either leave her alone until she is older and less hormonal OR it will be the end of her days. These are our first chickens and are pets so it's tragic to even think of but she is stressing both myself and the flock out. I don't want to do it which is why I am hoping she is just a hormonal teenager, doesn't have enough space, or is just bored, and am giving her every chance possible.

 

[h2oratt]

If I trim my chicken's vent area, will I be able to condition them in time for the mid August fair? Or is that pushing it?

I was told no cut feathers. But I was asking about wings

 

[cree57i]

Yesterdays hatch-

4 isabelle leghorns, 5 Silverudd Blue's, 2 Dark Brown Leghorns

 

[ShrekDawg]

Awesome!! what kinda coop design are you building?  How exciting!! 

It is definitely exciting!!!

We are copying this plan

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/jonny-anvils-chicken-coop

We're going to make a few modifications, like we bought 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood for the floor and 3/8 pine sheathing for walls instead of OSB for everything. We will also be covering the walls with something eventually. He also just uses the roof rafters for roosts but I don't know if I like that so will be adding a lower roost and a droppings board. May also make built in nest boxes and more ventilation. But besides that it's exactly the same.

 

[billiejw89]

Yesterdays hatch-

4 isabelle leghorns, 5 Silverudd Blue's, 2 Dark Brown Leghorns

I love the colors! Too cute!

 

[h2oratt]

I went back to TSC to look at those mottled Java chicks. I took my husband because I also wanted a persimmon tree and it is too big for me to wrangle in the car.

They have a 6 chick minimum. I don't need 6 , I only want two. They were selling their older bantam for 2.00. They were cute very feather footed but the one I held was throwing up water. More than once. Has anyone seen this. I decided not to buy because I was scared of bringing home something.

Did it just over drink? It looked like clear water.

 

[cree57i]

These are a couple of my new Queen Silvia chicks from GFF auction. They technically hatched in April, but I didn't hatch them. The same chick can look dark or light depending on which way the light hits them. Very different little chicks.