TeaChick's Chicks

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DAILY BLACK BEAUTY UPDATE:

- She seems better today; a little more difficult to catch, not just sitting there looking miserable.
- I don't think she was egg bound or molting (she had two or three broods in the spring and summer, so she would have molted then).
- I don't think whatever it was is contagious; she stared acting "funny" days ago, about a week now, and everyone else seems normal.
- I put her in my old coop, where she is separated from the other chickens (just in case whatever it is happens to be contagious), so that the other hens can't pick on her. (The old coop is really more of a sheet metal pen with completely removable sheet metal roof. Pictured in my original post, I think).
- I plan on continuing to give her the sick treatment as long as I can catch her in the mornings (especially so easily) and then I'll put her in the hen house at night. (Sick treatment includes, but is not necessarily limited to, an egg crushed with the shell and some oregano and garlic, ecinechea any way I can get it into her usually in her food, some rolled oats with more egg shells, I put a very small pinch of natural worming medication in it today but no more of that until I worm everyone next week, apple cider vinegar (ACV) and honey when I remember it in her water.

Anyway, if anyone has any other suggestions, I'll definitely consider them and they will be greatly appreciated!!! =)
 
Otherwise, I'm not going to take laying hens anymore; I'll take chicks well before POL and roosters of any age. I would be willing to rescue hens of any age, but I'm not going out of my way to get laying hens anymore. I lost the one that was at POL (Cinnamon) to some mysterious illness that my original flock (who was raised here) and the roosters (who don't lay), did not get or at least did not get knocked for a loop by.

Just ranting, I guess. Also, kind of worried about Beauty; although she does seem to be doing better now.
Oh, I don't know!!!
I'm doing the best I can, but I feel like it's not necessarily good enough.
 
BLACK BEAUTY UPDATE:
- I found her in the bottom nest box this morning (I had put her in the top); there were two eggs (brown and white) up there; there was a little bit of blood on her comb. My guess is that she was evicted from the top b/c one of the Comets thought she had found the next prime nesting box. Whatever.
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Anyway, it makes me worry about when/if she goes broody in the spring.
- I put her in the coop, set up the same as yesterday.
- I also gave her a little bit of the turkey pot pie that was leftover that I gave to the other chickens.
- She seems to be doing better; I checked on her several times and she was always in a different part of the old coop, so giving her more room to move around in "worked". What, if anything, it accomplished, but at least she was doing what I wanted her to do (move around).

PLAN:
- I'm going to put her in the top nesting box again tonight, but I'm just going to let her do what she wants tomorrow. I'll probably go ahead and put her in the top nesting box tomorrow night too, but I don't know yet.

I left the brooder open and, sure enough, the one of the Leghorns that was eating Beauty's sickie treats the other day got up there and ate them. She walked out of the brooder with yogurt on her beak. Caught red-handed!
I'll just leave the coop open tomorrow, then whoever wants the leftover food in there can have it. Whatever Beauty had was not contagious, so I'm not worried about them. If they were going to get it, they would have had it by now.

Well, that's it.
What do you think?
 
egg count: three brown; 2 white
That offsets what DH and I ate for b-fast this morning. At this rate (4-5/day) we'll only have to buy eggs for baking.
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The current average for December is 3.4 eggs/ day.
The average for the past 7 days is 4/day.
 
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My plans, right now are these:

December:
- Work on switching the chickens over from fermented corn to fermented layer feed. I'm looking for soy free, corn free, hormone free, non medicated, and preferably organic.

January:
- Hopefully, I'll have my second rooster by then. He's older and Eddie is, what my kids call, a 'fraidy rooster, so, if I had to guess, I would guess that he'll become the senior rooster. I think that would be good for Eddie.
- This is the time when I will be making more definite decisions about which eggs to hatch. I like the Leghorns because of the egg to food ratio; I like the Comets because they are less sensitive than the Leghorns; I like the Jersey Giant because of good eggs for a long time and then a good amount of meat; I like the Cochin because of good egg laying and broodiness/good mothering genes.
- I will allow DS to begin building his incubator and we will begin discussing his egg plans.
- I will help him build a coop and run, which will actually be a two-sided breeding pen, so I'll be using the other side for breeding specific combinations or pure breeds.

February:
- This is when I will set the eggs in the incubator.
- I will put the new chicks in the old coop; I expect to be able to refurbish it such that they will have ground access that the larger chickens cannot get in through, so that they can all see each other before I open it and so that everyone can free range when I start letting them out. I have some soft plans, but this is something I think I can accomplish pretty well.
- I will probably just choose what to hatch based on what I have available at the time. I figure the eggs that I get from my flock will run such that the hens that give me the most eggs are the breed that will serve me best in building up my laying flock.
- I want to work on building a run around my current coop. I will continue to free range; the run will allow me more options that just in the hen house or out in the yard.

March:
- I have a hatch-a-long planned with another BYC member. Whether I set eggs in Feb or not, I will set eggs in March with her.

And Beyond:
- I hope to hatch a few batches of eggs; maybe I'll hatch some for Easter.
- I hope to hatch some turkey eggs at some point.
- I hope that my Cochin and my Jersey Giant (and maybe one or two of my Comets) go broody and hatch me out some chicks too.
- I hope to ultimately have a mixed flock of good layers and to breed a heritage breed and/or Cochin Bantams.
- In general, I hope that the incubator chicks will be able to hide in the old coop as needed, but that they will begin sleeping in the new coop as they are ready. I also hope to be able to have my broodies stay with the flock instead of having to separate them, but we'll see about that at the time.

Well, what do you think?
What advice can you give me?
General comments are very welcome too! =)
 
My journal is rather boring b/c I haven't been doing this long enough for anything to have gone on. lol

Please feel free to post about your flocks, plans, and goings on too. =)
 

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