Tennessee

[believer01]

Oh, and Stanglover, how can you stand not to get them all out and have a major snuggle? They are adorable!!! Congrats!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Quote:
My old farmer friend will argue you down about what you call those black and white stripey chickens. He doesn't believe me when I tell him mine are barred rocks. They are domineckers. Of course, he also thinks my welsummers are rhode island reds and he doesn't quite believe that the silkies are even chickens. We have very entertaining conversations when he comes to visit.

Sorry to hear about your ankle! Hope you heal fast (or that you have a honey who will fetch and tote for you).

 

[believer01]

Annie, I'd love to hear some of those conversations. Used to have similar ones with a neighbor about horses. If they had spots they were something particular, and if they didn't, then they weren't horses.

Hubby is down to clenching his teeth when I ask him to do something for the chickens. Heard him muttering something like, "tired of being tied down to these scrawny birds" as he carried out the 4 water jugs this evening. But he did it. Even chased the one around and around till she went in so that he could close the coop for the night.

Must say, after seeing some cute lil' Silkies up close I find it hard to believe that they are actually chickens - much too cute!

 

[stanglover2001]

PICTURES!!!

The last one to hatch

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Hey there, everybody! De-lurking from Southeastern Virginia to give some feather regrowing advice.

I've got an Ameracuana pullet that had a rough December in all this snow. She broke a toenail on each foot so it hurt to walk. She's just started walking again this past week. We had a feeling there was an additional foot injury since she didn't want to bear weight on that right foot. "Snowy" also had a bad case of mites. I think this is why all the feathers were missing from her back. (No rough roosters causing the feather loss!)

Snowy is now a trooper when it's bathtime. I end up wearing half the bath water, but she lets me shampoo and rinse her. Suave children's strawberry scent 2 in 1 shampoo makes her smell nice! After a thorough rinse, Snowy looks forward to the blow dryer and heating pad. Need I say she is becoming spoiled?

Over on the heritage breed threads, Bob has mentioned diets and treats to help regrow feathers. Feathers are mostly protein, so a moulting bird needs a little more protein than usual. Snowy is now eating Purina Gamebird Grower. It's 30% protein. Other foods to increase protein for your birds include beef liver, sardines, or tuna. Kitten Chow is supposed to be good. Bob also mentioned one of his mentors fed his show birds sunflower seeds. Iirc, it was 6 seeds each per day for a month prior to the show.

Snowy now is covered in pin feathers. The better diet and quiet time away from the flock has made all the difference. Now a little chick companion is encouraging her to eat more. We know we will see continued improvement if the chick doesn't drive her nuts first. Her mothering instincts kicked in enough that Snowy allowed the chick to snuggle with her, but she draws the line at sleeping in the middle of her back!

Anyway, I hope you are able to help your freezing girl to regrow those feathers quickly! She needs to spend her energy making eggs for you, not trying to stay warm. Take care!

 

[believer01]

Gold Griffin, thanks for the encouragement and advise! I'll go check out that other thread you mentioned this morning. Poor little Snowy - glad she's starting to feel better. Would love to see some pictures of her if you get time!

I've got 4 really finicky girls, who won't eat most of the good stuff (veggies, leftover people food, the pulp left from juicing). They do love tuna and canned cat food, but I'm afraid to give it too often. Two hens are prone to diarrhea, one of them is the 'molting' girl. I hadn't thought of trying a gamebird feed so that's another good place to check. They already get sunflower seeds, BOSS - I even give them some of our organic hulled ones! Mrs Meade (molting girl) loves quinoa, which is very high in protein so she gets some every day. This is my first year with chickens so I'm concerned that it may be something I don't recognize.

We got an inch of snow last night and hubby said no one would leave the coop this morning. Do you all have much up your way?

Thanks again!

 

[cybercat]

I would not feed anything over 25% protien. 23% and under is better. 30% is just bad for liver unless you feed alot of low protien like extra scratch or corn to get that number down. Moulting at this time is not a good sign. But if she is not a breeding bird I would not over worry about it. Sounds like she is way off cycle for normal chickens which mostly moult in fall.

I would cut out you pulp from juicing. That is not good for chickens. Citric acid will make feather come out and it will slow down egg laying. So no citrus is good for chickens. Too much fruit is not good for them also so watch on that once a week a little is fine everyday is a no no. Unless it is seasonal that they are picking themselves while free ranging. In this case it is not part of daily majority of diet.

Your so called 4 finiky ones might not be finiky but right. Just feed a good egg layer. No veggis or fruit. Since you are having issues restart with basics. If you are feeding Purina then feed a meat like tuna. Chickens are omnivours they do not do well at all on a all veggi diet. They need meat to thrive. This can be fed in alot of ways, worms, cricket, tuna, fish meal, meat meal ect. ADM feed has meat meal in it cost less that Purina and is better for them. See if you can find a dealer near you.

 

[believer01]

Good points, Cybercat. Love the avatar, btw.

When I bought the birds, I asked for girls 6 mos - a year. I'm not sure, but I think this girl is older. Her legs are a pale gray, and she's never laid more than 4 eggs in a week. I don't think she's laid any for 5 - 6 days now. By juicing, I mean carrot/apple juice. Not citrus. But even cooked carrots are ignored. I've also been giving them dried mealworms at night.....originally to get them to come back into the pen before dark. Then last month a hawk started sitting in the trees in my yard so the girls haven't been free ranging. But I'm still giving the mealworms. Also just started a colony (I hope, fingers crossed).

Can they have tuna every day? What about other forms of cooked meat or should it be raw? Every day? Thanks again!

 

[cybercat]

Carrot is OK apple is not. Meat can be fed everyday either raw or cooked. I never fed cooked carrots to mine. But then again extra carrot here goes to mice which are fed to my snakes. I would say if they do not eat it do not feed it too them. Fruit in berries is OK but apples and most large fruit is not.

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Cybercat, thanks for the reminder about high protein. I guess it's time to start mixing the Gamebird Starter with the regular Chick Starter. Mixed 50-50 I estimate the protein to be 24%. Now that the September Babies are getting nearer to POL, I didn't want to keep using the medicated Turkey Starter (28% protein). The "old guys" at my feed store couldn't understand why I wanted anything other than regular chick starter. "But that's all they need..." Maybe so, but the hatchery catalog suggested 20 or 22% protein and Purina Sun Fresh is 18%.

Some days I really have to resist the urge to stomp my feet and scream "I want it because I want it, so do you have it or not?"

As for the snow, our house got around 5 inches of snow. Most of the area got 3+ inches and the roads were all icy. Even the adult birds (usually up at false dawn around 4 AM) didn't come out until after 7 AM. The babies were not amused when I opened their doors. White stuff! Again! What was Mom thinking! At least they had clean, dry hay in all their houses.