Sunflower Chickens

[CarolAnn]

I'm feeding them Purina laying feed, give grains daily and fresh veggies whenever I can get them from the market. I don't have any problems with rodents. I have suspected that my biggest problem is having too many birds housed in my coop. I need to sell at least half a dozen girls in addition to re homing this roo. Or get another coop set up, which is a possibility but I'd rather hold that back for whatever I will be doing next.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Do they go to bed early or get up late? It should be possible to house them closely during the sleeping hours, so long as they don't remain in there after daylight long. If you never witness picking, I'm not sure what it could be.

I have a problem with beard picking, and I know who the culprit is because she's the only one with a beard!! Other than that, my rough feathers are boy-based, and aprons fixed the problem.

Wish I knew what to tell you!

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
Thank you I only want a couple, I lost my blue Ameraucana and would love another blue, and maybe a splash I am keeping my fingers crossed that you have a great hatch. I think my DH is going to shoot me, I am getting a few wheaten marans and then a few Ameraucana's from you and DD is getting silkies. I am so dead.

I do have 2 SLW I think are roosters so they will become supper if no one wants them. I got them out of the pullet bin.

Hope everyone is staying cool in this hot weather. I am hoping to have pen done this weekend. I have to make a trip to Bellville to pick up some clothes for the grand daughters.

Sounds like me, my pair of blue silkies are looking like roo's now!

So looks like back to the drawIng board for me! Definitely buying whites this time around... Probably atleast four just to be safe! Darn you chicken odds

, mentioned to your DD that she may want to do the same... I'd rather rehome a rooster or two than start over the search for silkies beings as nobody out that way has them! The roosters are fun anyways, my neighbor calls mine my "gay rooster" because he's so soft spoken... But it's just too darn cute I think!

Bynaturefarms is correct:

Black x Splash- 100% Blue
Black x Blue- 50% Black 50% Blue

A splash would be a miracle with the black roo! But, ya just never know what split may be under them!

Sorry didn't see what the rooster was I will be very happy with blue hens I miss having a blue hen in my flock. Thanks Kansas boy for giving my DD another reason to get more silkies.

My DH is going to shoot me soon I swear. I might end up switching my rooster if mine keeps flogging people.

Katy I am praying that you can get at least a fair harvest, I was hoping you would get some more rain. Maybe you can get enough rain to help your ponds. With farming it seems either its feast or famine. I do get upset when I read post ranting on farmers until you have stood in a field that has been wiped out by a storm and see all that hard work gone in a blink of an eye you have no room to say anything bad about farmers. I have stood in the family farm and seen what a storm like that can do. I am praying that things turn around for you.

CarolAnn I feed a game bird feed 22% that seemed to help with my feather pecking problem. Maybe try to up their protein for a while and see if that helps. I have a really small coop but since they are only in there to sleep I don't have a problem with the feather pecking since I feed a higher protein since they do get a lot of greens. I hope you figure this out.

 

[CarolAnn]

Renee, I told hubby what you said and he said he's thought all along the roo was responsible for the feather loss. He's my silent genius. Never tells me what he's thinking until the last minute. Problem is he's usually right. I hope that's the case now. Tomorrow I'll call a neighbor about the roo. He may want him or know someone who might. He has family involved in 4H.

 

[Nana2KJS]

Wow! Talk about set 'em and forget 'em. One of our favorite forum friends shared a few eggs with me in mid-May. Finally got my little brinsea working nearly two weeks later. They've been incubating away all by themselves on a corner of the kitchen counter. Know we're getting close, and have a nice outside brooder set up for them .... thinking tomorrow or Monday.

Got home from supper after yet another long day at work and low and behold .... PIPS! CHEEPS!! OMG gotta find something to put them in cause things aren't ready outside!

This morning we have 5 beautiful babies out of 6 eggs! Last one is cracked but can't tell if it's pipped or just cracked. We have one black copper marans, 3 paints (chooks you can tell me more about them later) and one blue orp. DH was making fun of me being so worried about them - "these things have been hatching all by themselves without any help from anyone for a long time." He's right, but oh well!

Anyway - chicks are happy, grandsons are upset that they missed the hatch but thrilled with the new babies, and I'm on the way to church and Orschelns in that order!

Happy Sunday everyone! Thanks, Chooks!

 

[Ivywoods]

Congrats on the hatch!

I'm happy right now. I had 7 out of 8 guinea eggs hatched. I think I'll stop with that. I've got quite a few chickens hatched, and when the last batch in the incubator hatch, I'm going to turn it off for at least the rest of the summer. There are a bunch of marans eggs in there, and I hope I have a better hatch with them than I've been having.

I started ANOTHER project. I know I'm crazy now. I just bought an old redwood incubator to restore. This thing is big. 63" high, 22" wide, and 47" deep. 8 turning trays and 3 hatching trays. It is a Sears Farm Master. The redwood is in excellent shape, but the insides need some work, as well as hinges and some tightening of the wood. It will be a pretty big project because of its size. The first thing I did when I got it home was build a dolly to put it on. I built the dolly the same size as the bottom of the incubator so it can stay on it when it is finished. Right now it is laying on it's back so I can get to the bottom. It will probably be something I work on more this winter. I've got enough to do right now with the garden, new trees, flowers, grass to mow, etc, etc.

 

[CarolAnn]

Yee ha, I found a home for my cochin roo yesterday. I couldn't believe how much my girls calmed down when I took him out of the run in the morning. The guy I called said bring him on over. I am much relieved. I haven't yet candled any of the eggs my girls is sitting on and one of my other BO's is going broody but I've been taking the eggs from beneath her each day.

Question. If I candle and the eggs she's sitting on don't look like they're making babies what should I do. Tomorrow is day 22. If I can get some guinea eggs from a neighbor can I stash them under her and let her hatch them? What to do about the second one gone broody? I don't want/need a lot more chicks to raise but I would like to have some guineas to patrol the yard for ticks etc. Plus they're odd looking enough so I'd like to have a few.

How long is incubation for chickens anyway??

 

[Nana2KJS]

Everyone made it through the night! I put them in the outside brooder and brought the VERY curious cat inside just in case. Just checked on them - scattered nicely under the lamp and glad to see me. Lucky again since we know so little about all this - but love every minute and every little peep!

Once again - thank you to all here for information, encouragement and just plain fun.

 

[ChooksChick]

Hooray for chicks!!

CarolAnn, chickens take 21 days, give or take a day. I'd candle and see what's going on. If they aren't progressing, you could try the guineas, but if she's already been sitting this long, she needs some TLC and should have some extra nutrition and vitamins in her water. Check her keel to see if she how her body mass is to see how healthy she's maintaining herself.

If she's still determined and you can't get any eggs already half-baked, I'd go ahead and put them under her, but be observant about her health as she goes over the next 3 weeks.

I'd go ahead and give 4 to each girl and see how it goes. If one quits, the other can take over. They may just share- I have that co-parenting thing a lot!

 

[Ivywoods]

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I agree with Chooks. I'm not sure I would set guineas under her. She has already been sitting a while, and guineas take a week longer than chickens. Perhaps you could set the guineas under the other one that is just starting to go broody intead of the first one.

I lost two chicks yesterday. One was a guinea. It looked just fine, but when we went back later it was dead. Not sure if it choked or what.

The other was a chick. It had a very bad pasty butt. It was so bad I'm sure it must have been like that for a couple days before I found it (my bad.) Anyway, it was pretty lethargic. I got it cleaned off and thought it was going to perk up, but I think the other chicks mowed him down.
I'm still looking for a show quality bantam black cochin hen or pullet to put with my son's old rooster. He's getting pretty old, and I sure would like to get some chicks out of the old guy. If anyone has any info on some really nice ones, shoot me a PM or something.

Have a great day, everybody!