swamp river farm thread

[Callender Girl]

My family had chickens when I was growing up, and I've had my own chickens for several years. I think it's impossible to do EVERYTHING right, and even when you do your very best, bad things can still happen. As long as you are caring for them to the best of your ability, I think you are a good chicken owner. It sure looks like you are!

 

[african chickens]

here are the three babies they have gotten so big

Trixie

Gizmo

Honey

 

[african chickens]

gizmo crowed about 14 times this morning during chores a new record for my baby boy
oh and last night i started target training the chicks it took them 5 seconds to learn

 

[african chickens]

real quick I am going to go over the tricks my chickens know and who knows the trick

Target: all 7 chickens are target trained it's the first thing they learn
Up: jump up onto an object or my arm or leg the 4 older hens know this one
Jump: jump up into the air or more like hop for some all 4 older hens know this one
Spin: pretty self-explanatory Whitney and Lacy are the only 2 who know this one
Nod: another pretty self-explanatory one all 4 of the older hens also know this one

 

[african chickens]

we have officially added 2 doves to our animal family
meet jack and Jill two doves I rescued from a family who ended up with them unexpectedly they were babysitting them while a family member of theirs was in Portugal after a month he returned and before they returned them he passed away leaving them with three doves they never wanted they tried releasing them multiple times and in one of those attempts one vanished leaving them with two I don't necessarily blame the family I mean they weren't ready for the lifetime commitment

Jill is the one with the dark tip on her beak and a brown spot on either side of her body Jack is the plain one

below is their temporary enclosure

 

[african chickens]

sorry about the lack of posts i will be starting to post them every day ok now lets get to the fun stuff

first, an update on our doves they are doing great we will be letting them hatch out a few babies and I plan to build a brand new mansion of a cage for them suggestions are welcome

next, I am facing the hard decision of getting rid of our two male guinea fowl left over from last season we got rid of most of their siblings in the beggining and we were planning to get rid of them as well but one night the female that was with them was killed and I decided selling two males wouldn't be the best idea they have gotten used to the schedule and everything here but they are constantly being bullied by the other guineas and that has caused problems with getting them in at night so I am going to need to figure something out sooner rather than later

finally, everyone else is doing pretty well the older hens are currently with the guinea hens till they learn how to be accepting of the chicks who are currently in the chicken stall hopefully they will be able to stay together before it gets too cold i have seen a ton improvement with the spacing between them

 

[Callender Girl]

Thanks for the update! Hope you figure out a solution for your guinea boys soon and that the hens and chicks will soon get along!

Wish I could suggest something for your "mansion" build, but I have no experience with doves.

It's good to hear from you!

 

[african chickens]

Thanks for the update! Hope you figure out a solution for your guinea boys soon and that the hens and chicks will soon get along!

Wish I could suggest something for your "mansion" build, but I have no experience with doves.

It's good to hear from you!

again i apologize for the lack of posts

 

[Callender Girl]

No need to apologize. We all get busy -- especially when we're dealing with poultry and critters!

 

[african chickens]

It has been pretty gross weather the past few days so the birds haven't gotten out to the grass, the duck cage is disgusting we need to get a roof built over it and the guinea hen cage in the part with no roof is a mud pit

we are also getting ready to build a brand new cage for the doves it will be much larger than it currently is the new cage will be 28 inches tall in the highest part and 44 inches long in the main part of the cage where their current cage is 20 inches tall and 24 inches long
although the main reason we are building this cage is to give this pair a larger space another reason is the arrival of Jack and Jill's baby/s