Texas

[Ms Jellybean]

My Chicken Gardening book came. I love it! I haven't really started to read it - got a few pages in at the vet - but I did do a quick skim through the whole book. I am so glad I haven't really done any landscaping in the back yard yet. This is going to be great to refer to for what I need to do this spring.


I came across this site for chicken feed. It looks a bit pricey but it is all natural and free of junk you don't want in your feed. [I was doing some reading on canola oil last year and the oil they make sound so great for you is actually really bad for you. I quite buying it and use sunflower oil now.] Anyway, I don't think they sell it in Texas so you would have to order it.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[hensfortherapy]

I saw these on Facebook. Looks so easy for being soon cute. I think I'll make these for Easter.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I saw these on Facebook. Looks so easy for being soon cute. I think I'll make these for Easter.

I saw those too and thought they were cute. The ones I saw had tiny beaks made from a sliver of carrot.

Speaking of cute, I found a S&P set I want to get.

 

[lovingmyhens]

I don't feel like a hero, believe me.  It was the hardest kill I've ever done.  I almost threw up, it upset me so much.  It had to be done, and yesterday I knew the sooner the better.  I tried a lot of things to save her, helping her get her eggs laid and keeping her in the house in a dark crate to stop egg production, but the damage had been done.  I knew for sure yesterday morning she was on a downhill slide and put it off till the afternoon.  Although it was emotionally my hardest kill to do, it was by far my best and cleanest.  I made d*mn sure that cut was done once and deep.  I still feel sick about her.  I really liked that ditzy little bird.

My heart is sad for you.

 

[SlipsWife]

Good Morning Everyone!

We don't have ice, just mucky mud and rain. SIGH..... I do have some small branches down and a big branch is barely hanging on in the pine tree.

Opinions please: As you know I have two hens left, Lena (australorp) and Droopy (barred rock). Yesterday Lena and Droopy finally came out of the coop into the outer pen. They were eating a bit better. Lena looks like she is perking up and actually laid me an egg yesterday. Droopy hasn't laid an egg since the first dog attack 3 years ago. Yesterday, they acted like they wanted out of the pen. I let them out and they weren't out an hour before they went back into the coop. I know you aren't suppose to put human emotions to them, but it really looked like they were looking for the other chickens. Anyway Droopy is still being quiet and barely eating. Lena was out this morning in the outer pen pecking around. Do you think it would perk them up if I got chicks? Do you think they would care for them?

Lisa

I know its usually not done but it doesn't mean you can't. We have our 3-4 week old chicks in a grow out pen next to the coop. There's hardware cloth between them. Somehow we've had 2 push through and get into the coop with the hens, all just turned a year. The first one was a turken and they seemed disinterested in her until they saw the blood, she scraped herself going under the wire, then one of the girls started pecking at her. I brought her inside because I was afraid the others her age would also go after the blood, I need to buy whatever the blue stuff is you use to cover it. This morning, another one, this time a sex link, managed to get in there too...so much for thinking I had fixed the problem. She had a little blood on her but not as much as the turken...none of the hens seemed interested in her at all. I put her back in with the ones her age and no one seemed to notice the blood.

I think if you have a way to brood the chicks for a couple of weeks where they are separate from your hens but they can see them, the introductions might go smoother than just putting them in and expecting them to brood them. Make sure the new guys have room to get away when you make introductions and places to hide and access to food and water, maybe an upside down rubbermaid container with a cut out just small enough for the chicks w/food and water. I think being able to see the chicks for a couple of weeks will allow the hens to adjust to them being there. Like another poster said though, you have to make sure you are ok for loses if it doesn't work out well.

 

[Brookshire11]

I'm still catching up but I didn't want to forget anything on my way!
ClovisMan, your coop is looking great!
Lisa,
I am so heartbroken to hear about you feather babies
I'm so so sorry that happened to you.....

 

[Brookshire11]

I also lost my barred rock chick today

I'm so sorry This IS bad week for chickens on the Texas board...

Top of the morning to y'all!

This almost makes me want to dress up my chickens for Halloween this year..think of all the possibilities

I don't feel like a hero, believe me. It was the hardest kill I've ever done. I almost threw up, it upset me so much. It had to be done, and yesterday I knew the sooner the better. I tried a lot of things to save her, helping her get her eggs laid and keeping her in the house in a dark crate to stop egg production, but the damage had been done. I knew for sure yesterday morning she was on a downhill slide and put it off till the afternoon. Although it was emotionally my hardest kill to do, it was by far my best and cleanest. I made d*mn sure that cut was done once and deep. I still feel sick about her. I really liked that ditzy little bird.

You're so strong..I can't imagine having to do that...
You do what has to be done!

It was sunny here, but things have clouded over. We are supposed to be ABOVE freezing the rest of the week!! With a warming trend to boot! Come on Spring!!!!!

So ready for non-cold!

That could be a good idea. Maybe you can get a dog killing rooster, one that is part t-rex or something.

Lol! I had a wine last night that my husband picked up because "he just HAD to get it for me". It was called "Rex Goliath" and had a big rooster on the front. Lol!
It said something about a 40lb rooster..maybe you can find one of those?

I'm so ready for Spring!
I think my girls (and guy) are too!
Made them a little makeshift pen until we get our big one built, just to get some fresh air. (They're 7 weeks now and getting big!!)
I bring them back into the laundry room in the evening. The Silkies are still inside.
They are SO LOUD lol.

I'm supposed to meet a guy off of here Saturday. He might be taking my little roo.
I'll miss him! He's such a love! But it seems like he'd be going to a good home, which I know is not always the case.

Out of all my herbs, I only lost the basil to the freeze! I didn't bring it in, in time.
We decided to just have a coop built, and then build the run ourselves.
I just don't have the time or know-how to get it done in time, and I'd basically be doing it myself.
I already bought paint though! So I asked about getting one unpainted..so I could at least do that myself (spent $85 on 2 gallons of paint!).
I STILL need to do my garden...but with the weather, on top of trying to find another car and then get mine fixed. I'm so busy and stressed!

My mom told me I should get rid of the chickens, but she doesn't understand they're helping me stay sane

I really believe in therapy chickens to the fullest now! lol. All my babies are so sweet, I never knew birds could be so personable and affectionate.
I should post some updated pics soon

 

[TexasLisa]

I appreciate all the comments. I believe I would show the chicks to my two hens and then go from there. Stranger things have happened. People talk if a hen is hurt/bleeding the others will peck at it, possibly killing it. When I had my first dog attack one of my Australorps had a big chunk taken out of her. She couldn't fly up to the roost and could barely walk. I would put her on the roost at night and take her down in the morning. I was a greenhorn at this stage of owning chickens. I put Neosporin and hydrogen peroxide on her 3x daily. The other two Australorps were with her all the time, watching over her. I never once saw any of the flock try to harm her.

Brookshire, I agree totally with you. Chickens are very personable and addictive!

Lisa

 

[erikk]

Sorry to hear about all the recent losses. We experienced a couple massacres too these last couple months. We'd broken our dogs of the impulse to kill our chickens and they'd been free-roaming together in our backyard for months. Then visitors came with a little yappy dog who immediately started chasing the chickens and pulling tail feathers. Apparently seeing the joy that other dog was having was enough for our dogs to join in (or all the chickens acting like prey instead of yard ornaments triggered something). Either way we had 4 killed. When the visitor dog left I thought my dogs were going to be fine but after a couple days they did another killing spree. Down 9 chickens, with 6 left. Very, very sad about a silkie who was a proven egg setter/chick raiser. Also lost an EE roo I'd have kept because he was gorgeous.

What to do with your own beloved dogs when they're a threat?! Well they spent a week in "doggie-jail". That means their crate (they're crate trained to the crate as their bed/den) and dogs went onto the back porch with the dead chickens in the crate. The ostracization from their pack (we humans), plus the decaying stinking chicken corpses seems to have brought them back to proper behavior. We've been taking them out on leash (wife) into the yard or going off leash (me) to monitor their behavior/interaction with the chickens. I've got to do some tilling for the garden then might be able to get some stakes into the ground and throw back up some livestock panels to cross-fence the yard but I hate to do it for aesthetic reasons and the added difficulty of a gate when we're constantly criss-crossing our yard. Hoping the dogs will be good but I know they can/have been good but slipped up in the past. We luckily still have two viable silkies to raise chicks so I think full integration will wait until I have some chicks and pullets to see if the dogs will continue to show proper lack of interest. One of the silkies has gone broody so she's setting some eggs right now. If they don't hatch after 22-23 days we'll get her some day-old chicks during the night to raise.

Dang dogs. Easy to have thoughts if the dogs aren't your own but harder when the killers are part of your family structure already. I do hope we all can get our flocks back up to strength soon. To keep things (for ourselves) in perspective we just keep reminding ourselves that we started last spring with 4 hand-me-down hens and then a hand-me-down rooster (to help protect flock and instill some trepidation in our dogs). So we're kinda still ahead from last year but dang if my EE hen hadn't just laid her FIRST egg. So I have one sad lonely EE egg under my silkie in hopes of the hen's loss not being a total waste. We'll certainly get more chicks, either if this clutch of eggs doesn't hatch or when the other silkie goes broody. All 3 silkies had gone broody last year so they're all known-good moms. Just glad we still have 2 to raise eggs or chicks for us since I'm not much interested in a brooder or raising chicks by hand. I'll have my hands full with a little baby human girl arriving this June so I'm perfectly happy to leave the eggs and chick raising to the chickens.

Erik

 

[Brookshire11]

I'll have my hands full with a little baby human girl arriving this June so I'm perfectly happy to leave the eggs and chick raising to the chickens.

Erik

Congrats on the baby human! They're kind of awesome