Texas

[Starfire669]

Oh, ok...so she does open it?  If it's scratched it may heal...but If she got pecked it may have damaged the eyeball itself.  Do chickens have a nictating membrane (secondary inner lid) like other animals or only one?  I don't know?? I guess just keep treating it and see what happens.  If it's any consolation...we have two hens that are one eye blind or nearly so from old injuries and they get along just fine like normal chickens. I hope for the best for her.

She only partially opens the eye, she never fully opens it. She is acting normally, so I guess her being able to see out of both eyes isn't such a big deal. It just bothers me that she got injured like this. She was head hen or very close too, and then the dang cockerels come and hurt her like this. I was about to wring a cockerels neck last night before Screwball, our head Roo beat the daylights out of him for attacking some of the ladies. By the time Screwball was done the cockerel didn't even try to run when I walked over to pick him up. He was so dazed by Screwballs beating. Wish Screwball had defended this lady like he did the ones last night. But I digress. Thanks for letting me know that she will have a normal happy life whether or not her eye heals.

 

[magpiesing]

Hello my fellow Texas Chicken affectionados! Figured I'd check in since a been a week or so. My building is almost complete. Need to door hardware and to get the roll-up doors installed and the shell will be done. I plan to epoxy the floors and have gutters hung to empty into some rain catchment barrels and the shell will be complete. Still have a long way to go to finish out the casita half of the building. Also need more fill and exterior landscaping.

Today my dear labrador retriever Django, went under the knife to remove his manhood. I feel for the guy I really do, but he was starting to hike his leg in the house generally harassing the girls to the point that it was annoying. Hopefully this will calm him down some. He gets to wear the cone of shame for a while. I will post pictures...LOL!

My SLW's are 16 weeks old today they are getting very close to laying. Starting to get excited! Anyone ever have a hen that just didn't lay? I'm afraid I will have to cull any that cannot produce, so hopefully they will be prolific layers.

Nice job!! Looks amazing from pics of jus the frame. BTW if you hook a cable to the cone and point his head south east you can pick up ESPN and Direct TV ...LOL Just kidding...hope he heals fast.

 

[magpiesing]

My SLW's are 16 weeks old today they are getting very close to laying. Starting to get excited! Anyone ever have a hen that just didn't lay? I'm afraid I will have to cull any that cannot produce, so hopefully they will be prolific layers.

I too have SLW...but are only 10 weeks so will be a while...I honestly don't know if I have any non-layers or not. I have 12 hens and get 12-14 eggs every other day, so somebody is doing something! But I have no idea which ones are doing what!

 

[Starfire669]

Hello my fellow Texas Chicken affectionados! Figured I'd check in since a been a week or so. My building is almost complete. Need to door hardware and to get the roll-up doors installed and the shell will be done. I plan to epoxy the floors and have gutters hung to empty into some rain catchment barrels and the shell will be complete. Still have a long way to go to finish out the casita half of the building. Also need more fill and exterior landscaping. Today my dear labrador retriever Django, went under the knife to remove his manhood. I feel for the guy I really do, but he was starting to hike his leg in the house generally harassing the girls to the point that it was annoying. Hopefully this will calm him down some. He gets to wear the cone of shame for a while. I will post pictures...LOL! My SLW's are 16 weeks old today they are getting very close to laying. Starting to get excited! Anyone ever have a hen that just didn't lay? I'm afraid I will have to cull any that cannot produce, so hopefully they will be prolific layers.

I had my dog Rascal neutered when he started fighting other male dogs and Erm....... Humping legs, couches, and once my kid who tripped and fell on the floor. The humping of my son was the last straw, I had it chopped off and no more humping furniture or children. Rascal is still a good boy, and when his girlfriend comes into heat he tries to get some, lol. A neutered dog can still tie we discovered. It's just the drive is much, much less. How do you like the SLW? I have 1 hen who has to be the smartest lady in the flock, but the BR are the dominant hens, guess because of size. But the SLW Roos are so aggressive, beating up the ladies and such. Got 3 of those suckers going to freezer camp this weekend to protect the rest of my ladies. They are only 14 weeks, but I don't think I will ever get SLW again, or at least not Roos!

 

[Starfire669]

I too have SLW...but are only 10 weeks so will be a while...I honestly don't know if I have any non-layers or not.  I have 12 hens and get 12-14 eggs every other day, so somebody is doing something!  But I have no idea which ones are doing what!

People on the goose threads paint the hens vent with food coloring to see who laid what egg. If you need to know who is laying and who isn't you can do the same thing. Food coloring is non toxic and will wear off eventually. You will just get some painted eggs for a while. Lol

 

[magpiesing]

We have two hens that are 22 wks and still waiting for an egg from them. The white one is showing signs of layer behavior but still getting all brown eggs so I don't think she is laying yet. The PR shows no interest in the nest boxes yet. I'm hoping that the white hen will be a good brooder. Was told she might have some gamebird in her and I think they are suppose to be good brooders. If it weren't for our bantams being good brooders, we wouldn't have any of our own chicks. The PR and RIR have no brooder instinct at all but are great layers...as they were bred to be.

 

[magpiesing]

People on the goose threads paint the hens vent with food coloring to see who laid what egg. If you need to know who is laying and who isn't you can do the same thing. Food coloring is non toxic and will wear off eventually. You will just get some painted eggs for a while. Lol

Really???? Ok cool idea would not have thought of that. Then I could band them when we know...Thanks

 

[Starfire669]

Really???? Ok cool idea would not have thought of that.  Then I could band them when we know...Thanks

When I first read about it I was like What! Now I think it's a really great, cheap way to determine who is laying what eggs in breeding programs (as the goose people do) or just for determining who is laying in general. Since geese are waterfowl they swim and the food coloring stays moist and washes off in a couple days. With chickens I don't know how long the food coloring on their vent would last since they don't swim. But even if it's just for a day, it won't hurt the bird and will let you know what's going on without having to spend a day watching the nest boxes to see who goes in, lol

 

[magpiesing]

Gotta go y'all Have a good day!

 

[SlipsWife]

Hello my fellow Texas Chicken affectionados! Figured I'd check in since a been a week or so. My building is almost complete. Need to door hardware and to get the roll-up doors installed and the shell will be done. I plan to epoxy the floors and have gutters hung to empty into some rain catchment barrels and the shell will be complete. Still have a long way to go to finish out the casita half of the building. Also need more fill and exterior landscaping.

Today my dear labrador retriever Django, went under the knife to remove his manhood. I feel for the guy I really do, but he was starting to hike his leg in the house generally harassing the girls to the point that it was annoying. Hopefully this will calm him down some. He gets to wear the cone of shame for a while. I will post pictures...LOL!

My SLW's are 16 weeks old today they are getting very close to laying. Starting to get excited! Anyone ever have a hen that just didn't lay? I'm afraid I will have to cull any that cannot produce, so hopefully they will be prolific layers.

We have a bantam frizzled red cochin that didn't lay her first egg until she was almost a year old...it was ridiculous...she was a spring hatch, all of her hatchery hatch mates, different breeds, were laying by July/August. She did have a wing injury right about the time we thought she should start laying so that might have delayed her. Also, she is always one of the first to go up at night and our other bantam, an Easter Egger, stopped laying from October/February. I think they both weren't getting enough light. I do find it ironic that the only 2 bantams we had were the ones that didn't lay well/or at all during the winter. I don't think it had much to do with them being bantams but more to do with them going to bed early.

All of that was to say, if you have a girl that's slow or late to lay, don't give up on her to soon. Watch her habits and see if she's doing something, like going to be early, that might be causing a delay. We've talked about putting in a light for the winter to give them a couple of extra hours to help keep production up but we really aren't that worried about it. I'm not familiar with SLW's but our best winter layers last year were our red sexlinks and turkens.