Stella's Social Club

[Happy Chooks]

The cream legbar curse continues. Yesterday my three girls ran to meet me for scratch. I threw a handful in their run and continued feeding the rest of the animals. When I walked back passed their run one of the girls was dead, right inside the gate. I kept her chilled until this morning then took her down to UC Davis for necropsy. Here's the report:


Examined is the carcass of a six month-old female chicken in good postmortem condition and good nutritional condition. Upon opening the coelomic cavity, there is a moderate amount of yellow, pasty to oily friable material covering the serosal surfaces. The serosa is multifocally discolored red.

Gross examination of this chicken reveals inflammation within the abdominal cavity (peritonitis) with embedded egg-yolk material. There are no other gross abnormalities. Diagnosis: Severe diffuse fibrinosuppurative peritonitis with egg yolk material.

Those girls haven't been laying very long and one laid a shell less egg at first and there have bee a couple of thin shelled eggs since. I guess they belonged to her. The real bummer for me is she was the one with the best crest and coloring for cream legbars. The bigger bummer is for her.

So strange, I've never heard of EYP occurring in a girl so young.

 

[The Sheriff]

My yin and yang silkies, who have been brooding in a bucket on 5 CL eggs, have managed to hatch out 3 of the 5 eggs given them (so far). I had to unscrew the bucket from the wall to move it to a broody pen - the girls just hunkered down the whole time and never even peeped (they have been the sweetest broodies!).



I am getting quite a few eggs right now, so let me know if you would like some Mary

Thanks. I am trying to cut to the chase and get the correctly colored CL's. I don't know who has them besides GFF.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It was bee inspection day today. I didn't keep the hive open long, as it's hot and smoky out from a nearby fire. (sorry, no pictures either - trying to be quick) I thought the bloom time was over, but noticed many bees coming into the hive with their pollen sacs full, so apparently stuff is still blooming. I also got them treated for mites, so hopefully, I don't lose the hive this year. It looks a lot stronger than the hive last year, so I'm hopeful that I will still have bees in the spring. Then I should get some honey!

I'll get some pictures soon.

 

[The Sheriff]

So, I go out to check the chickens and hear cheeping. I look in Isi's coop and Lukka has a little yellow baby standing at her side. Her daughter next door is no where to be found.I went in and lifted the nestbox lid from out side to check and found one egg intact and an empty egg but no chick. The egg was cool to the touch. I put it under Lukka then went back around to see if the other chick had fallen out. I couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I raked through all the shavings and found it underneath. It was alive and still wet so I picked the shavings off and gave it to Lukka. I got busy stapling chicken wire across the front of Lukka's nest box so no babies fall out. Then I went outside to put up some wire over a section of the fence where babies can escape. When I went back in the other hen was digging in the shavings for her egg and baby! I took it back from Lukka and gave it to her and stapled them in too. I will check to see if she accepts it and takes care of it. If not, it goes back to Lukka.







She had it tucked under her wing when I left so

When the hatch is over I will move them to a triplex nest box on the floor.

 

[chiqita]

So, I go out to check the chickens and hear cheeping. I look in Isi's coop and Lukka has a little yellow baby standing at her side. Her daughter next door is no where to be found.I went in and lifted the nestbox lid from out side to check and found one egg intact and an empty egg but no chick. The egg was cool to the touch. I put it under Lukka then went back around to see if the other chick had fallen out. I couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I raked through all the shavings and found it underneath. It was alive and still wet so I picked the shavings off and gave it to Lukka. I got busy stapling chicken wire across the front of Lukka's nest box so no babies fall out. Then I went outside to put up some wire over a section of the fence where babies can escape. When I went back in the other hen was digging in the shavings for her egg and baby! I took it back from Lukka and gave it to her and stapled them in too. I will check to see if she accepts it and takes care of it. If not, it goes back to Lukka. That is what I had to do with the silkies. Put it on the ground so babies can get in and out. She had it tucked under her wing when I left so When the hatch is over I will move them to a triplex nest box on the floor.

 

[Happy Chooks]

How are the babies and momma today?

 

[debs_flock]

Last week I processed ten roosters and yesterday my lady picked up sixteen roosters. (she also took one GIANT gobbler)

That's 26 less crowers in one week!




Unfortunately, it was still pretty noisy around here this morning, I need to keep chipping away at the numbers.

 

[The Sheriff]

How are the babies and momma today?

They are good. Daughter is taking good care of her baby as is Lukka. Lukka had two eggs almost zipped so I stole one and gave it to daughter. That leaves Lukka with three eggs to go. I candled them quickly and they all look like they might be hatching in the next two days. I think I will move them tonight to nest boxes on the floor. Might wait until tomorrow.

 

[The Sheriff]

Last week I processed ten roosters and yesterday my lady picked up sixteen roosters. (she also took one GIANT gobbler)

That's 26 less crowers in one week!




Unfortunately, it was still pretty noisy around here this morning, I need to keep chipping away at the numbers.

Keep up the good work Deb! IS the smoke killing you guys too? This morning is the worst.

 

[debs_flock]

Yes, I open all the windows at night to take advantage of the cool air (can't have that $650 PGE bill every month

) But the house smells so smoky every morning I am sputtering. It's almost like I have a smoker's cough some days