The Fraggles

[drumstick diva]

Hope they all grow up fine and fit as a fiddle

 

[sean_wonder]

Hope they all grow up fine and fit as a fiddle

Seconded!

In retrospect she does seem to stretch her neck a little whenever she does it, and she doesn’t breathe audibly unless I put her beak in my ear. Her throat also pulses rapidly for a few seconds and then she’s back to normal. If anyone has a video of their chickens adjusting their crop, though, that would be great so I can compare visually! Chickie has also done it in recent times, so I’m guessing the exposure to to all these yummy bugs and grasses and things require a little more effort crop wise. Also those bantam babies are soooooo damn cute! What breed are they??

 

[sean_wonder]

Also it seems the trend is that I post something big on Sundays so time to type...

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Sean good to see you out here

 

[sean_wonder]

The girl's transition from cozy, brooder life to unforgiving coop life was splendid to say in the least. They've braved through nights nearly 35 degrees and torrential downpours, destroyed every biotic feature in their run by day three of round the clock outside time, and at nearly six weeks old have finally discovered today out you can also go up the ladder. In their defense, I put it on backwards, so if anything it's my fault they're late bloomers. They still love to sleep in puppy piles, and because of the fact I've removed the weird 'roosting bars' from the inside of their coop so they have more snuggle space. I call them weird because they're barely an inch off the ground, while the support bar is a decent 6 inches off the ground... So whenever the girls feel like roosting, they always roost on that support bar because it is, in fact, the 'safest' height if they really wanna get off the ground.
They love to sunbathe in a giant heap, and complain when one of them just can't help but dust bathe in the middle of it. For some reason the girls always try to dust bathe on towels. Still haven't figured that one out yet. We have so many damn slugs in our yard, but they are the exact color of chicken poop, so the chickens don't give two hoots about em even if I wiggle them around and act all excited! I've also tried giving them different treats than just mealworms, like berries and celery chopped up into pieces, squished, and even whole-- you name it, no matter what I try they just give it a few pecks and walk away! This is yummy food you psychos! Just try it!
A couple of the girls have started getting sneezy with slightly runny noses. I don't have the po{}loki87gtza
Princess Laya ran across my board while typing I just had to leave it in
It doesn't seem too bad but I still need to buy them some VetRX all the same. If it goes away on it's own, it'll still be good to have. My dad mowed the lawn the other day and I asked him to dump the clippings near the coop so I could spread them on the floor of the run. The chickens LOVED IT. They went absolutely haywire. There's not much to do in their coop since they've killed all the things they liked and don't bother to try the things they don't, so I decided it's time for some supervised free ranging! I made a grave mistake when starting this practice up, however... instead of letting them out of the specifically chicken sized door, I let them out through the human door. So I went to give them fresh food & clean their water this morning and the chicks burst out the door and explored farther than I'd ever seen them go. Then a crow cawed and, naturally, they lost their minds and scurried back to home base. They're getting more and more used to me working around them as well as my sudden movements and getting picked up. Cheryl, who I suspect for the injuries on Princess & Clementine's beaks is definitely not the boss of anyone still, but that doesn't mean she'll let someone get in her way. is she still the tiniest, still-fits-in-one-hand kind of pullet? absolutely. to hell with ya if you think if that'll stop her. while I was checking out Princess's face injury Cheryl charged right over to me and jumped up on my arm. I just about melted on the spot, let me tell you. It was so so cute. Princess and Chickie are fine, just tiny peck wounds right between their noses where the comb stops and the beak begins. Anyway, I've accidentally been neglecting Princess in my efforts to socialize all of them equally. Whoops. So I have her inside with me as I'm typing. I accidentally took a nap with her because she was just so warm... so snuggly... as soon as she woke up and slapped me in the face a couple times she hopped off the bed to relieve herself. I wish I had a treat or something to give her at the time. I'd rather clean a poop off the wooden floor than my bed. After asserting her dominance over her reflection, attempting to eat white out strips, aaaaaand what I was going to say is no longer relevant because she just took a giant shit on my books (paperbacks, dammit!) and then attacked my shiny ruler. Oh, now she just startled herself and slipped off. Aaaaaaaaaand she's asleep again. Cool. Nope, she's awake. She winked at me. Chicken winks are sign of danger right? Oh, wait she's asleep? Yup. Nope. Must preen. Now there's feather shells all over my desk. I think I need to stop narrating what's doing and take charge again. See y'all next Sunday! Will try and reply on the inbetween

 

[sean_wonder]

Ah, one other fun thing that made my brother and I giggle despite how disgusting and unhygienic it probably is, we learned Chickie loves to eat things from teeth. She stuck her whole head in our mouths to grab some crumbs... again I know how gross that is but we were tired and it was hilarious at the time. Little dentist Chickie Minaj.

 

[BY Bob]

The girl's transition from cozy, brooder life to unforgiving coop life was splendid to say in the least. They've braved through nights nearly 35 degrees and torrential downpours, destroyed every biotic feature in their run by day three of round the clock outside time, and at nearly six weeks old have finally discovered today out you can also go up the ladder. In their defense, I put it on backwards, so if anything it's my fault they're late bloomers. They still love to sleep in puppy piles, and because of the fact I've removed the weird 'roosting bars' from the inside of their coop so they have more snuggle space. I call them weird because they're barely an inch off the ground, while the support bar is a decent 6 inches off the ground... So whenever the girls feel like roosting, they always roost on that support bar because it is, in fact, the 'safest' height if they really wanna get off the ground.
They love to sunbathe in a giant heap, and complain when one of them just can't help but dust bathe in the middle of it. For some reason the girls always try to dust bathe on towels. Still haven't figured that one out yet. We have so many damn slugs in our yard, but they are the exact color of chicken poop, so the chickens don't give two hoots about em even if I wiggle them around and act all excited! I've also tried giving them different treats than just mealworms, like berries and celery chopped up into pieces, squished, and even whole-- you name it, no matter what I try they just give it a few pecks and walk away! This is yummy food you psychos! Just try it!
A couple of the girls have started getting sneezy with slightly runny noses. I don't have the po{}loki87gtza
Princess Laya ran across my board while typing I just had to leave it in
It doesn't seem too bad but I still need to buy them some VetRX all the same. If it goes away on it's own, it'll still be good to have. My dad mowed the lawn the other day and I asked him to dump the clippings near the coop so I could spread them on the floor of the run. The chickens LOVED IT. They went absolutely haywire. There's not much to do in their coop since they've killed all the things they liked and don't bother to try the things they don't, so I decided it's time for some supervised free ranging! I made a grave mistake when starting this practice up, however... instead of letting them out of the specifically chicken sized door, I let them out through the human door. So I went to give them fresh food & clean their water this morning and the chicks burst out the door and explored farther than I'd ever seen them go. Then a crow cawed and, naturally, they lost their minds and scurried back to home base. They're getting more and more used to me working around them as well as my sudden movements and getting picked up. Cheryl, who I suspect for the injuries on Princess & Clementine's beaks is definitely not the boss of anyone still, but that doesn't mean she'll let someone get in her way. is she still the tiniest, still-fits-in-one-hand kind of pullet? absolutely. to hell with ya if you think if that'll stop her. while I was checking out Princess's face injury Cheryl charged right over to me and jumped up on my arm. I just about melted on the spot, let me tell you. It was so so cute. Princess and Chickie are fine, just tiny peck wounds right between their noses where the comb stops and the beak begins. Anyway, I've accidentally been neglecting Princess in my efforts to socialize all of them equally. Whoops. So I have her inside with me as I'm typing. I accidentally took a nap with her because she was just so warm... so snuggly... as soon as she woke up and slapped me in the face a couple times she hopped off the bed to relieve herself. I wish I had a treat or something to give her at the time. I'd rather clean a poop off the wooden floor than my bed. After asserting her dominance over her reflection, attempting to eat white out strips, aaaaaand what I was going to say is no longer relevant because she just took a giant shit on my books (paperbacks, dammit!) and then attacked my shiny ruler. Oh, now she just startled herself and slipped off. Aaaaaaaaaand she's asleep again. Cool. Nope, she's awake. She winked at me. Chicken winks are sign of danger right? Oh, wait she's asleep? Yup. Nope. Must preen. Now there's feather shells all over my desk. I think I need to stop narrating what's doing and take charge again. See y'all next Sunday! Will try and reply on the inbetween

I love the stream of consciousness posts . Keep them coming

 

[jsr5]

Seconded!

In retrospect she does seem to stretch her neck a little whenever she does it, and she doesn’t breathe audibly unless I put her beak in my ear. Her throat also pulses rapidly for a few seconds and then she’s back to normal. If anyone has a video of their chickens adjusting their crop, though, that would be great so I can compare visually! Chickie has also done it in recent times, so I’m guessing the exposure to to all these yummy bugs and grasses and things require a little more effort crop wise. Also those bantam babies are soooooo damn cute! What breed are they??

here is the closest thing I could find quickly it's a parrot or somthing but it is pretty much the same thing just take into consideration neck differences.

My Huge flock of tiny birds as ordered was 5 black silkies, 5 black Cochin, 5 Blue Cochin, 5 porcelain D'uccles. and 5 Mille Fluer D'uccle's They gave me three or four extras but to be honest I can't get a good count on the lil turds they are either moving too much or the are piled together and you can't see em all. I have lost two though one was weak and acting funny for a couple days I've seen it before I don't know why I keep working so hard to save them when they are acting like their balance is off when they try to walk they end up going back wards have to be held in place to drink etc. I have got to start making the hard call and saving them the suffering. It was a Porcelain the other was just last night a black silkie no signs was fine at midnight was dead at 6a. Loving them though.

They love to sunbathe in a giant heap, and complain when one of them just can't help but dust bathe in the middle of it.

We have so many damn slugs in our yard, but they are the exact color of chicken poop, so the chickens don't give two hoots about em even if I wiggle them around and act all excited!


A couple of the girls have started getting sneezy with slightly runny noses. I don't have the po{}loki87gtza
Princess Laya ran across my board while typing I just had to leave it in
It doesn't seem too bad but I still need to buy them some VetRX all the same. If it goes away on it's own, it'll still be good to have. My dad mowed the lawn the other day and I asked him to dump the clippings near the coop so I could spread them on the floor of the run. The chickens LOVED IT. They went absolutely haywire. There's not much to do in their coop since they've killed all the things they liked and don't bother to try the things they don't, so I decided it's time for some supervised free ranging! I made a grave mistake when starting this practice up, however... instead of letting them out of the specifically chicken sized door, I let them out through the human door. So I went to give them fresh food & clean their water this morning and the chicks burst out the door and explored farther than I'd ever seen them go.

Mine have taken over all the larger flower pots my wife USED to have flowers in. But their fave is the large tractor tire planter because they prefer to bath as many as they can fit in at a time. It actually is a part of chicken social life kinda like the big roman Group bath houses. (but with dirt of course)

Serveral kinds of slug exude a very nasty mildly toxic slime that makes them inedible except to their specific predators. So no suprise they ignor the nasties.

Loved the chicken scrath ing that Princess deigned to share with us peasants

They would have a feild day if you just dumped the pile in the run they would prefer to spread it out themselves. Ours just love it.

Ah, one other fun thing that made my brother and I giggle despite how disgusting and unhygienic it probably is, we learned Chickie loves to eat things from teeth. She stuck her whole head in our mouths to grab some crumbs... again I know how gross that is but we were tired and it was hilarious at the time. Little dentist Chickie Minaj.

Mine too chicks and full grown birds will occaisionally "Suprise" put my head in your mouth!!!!!if it don't bother them I don't let it bother me. If you start worry about every little germ you'll end up psychotic

Good to hear from you and your flock. Your making a excellent chicken mommy. oh and get ahead of those sneezes and stuff if it persists even a whole day. vid it ir whatever and ask folks here what it looks like to them. or somthing respiratory problems is probably the biggest killer. Not to panic you seems this is a occaisional thing off and on and may be somthing innocent as a pollen or somthing. Just watch out for it OK. Be aware and get help if it persists. like constantly for a whole day or somthing like that . Enjoy your chickies we enjoy hearing about them.

 

[rjohns39]

Sean Great update. as @jsr5 said, if it persists for more than a couple days. Make a video and upload it to youtube or vimeo and post the link in the emergencies forum. MG is a pretty common chicken virus. Kind of like chicken pox in kids. But sometimes while their immune system is compromised, secondary bacterial infections occur. I had an outbreak on my first flock, and the vet prescribed antibiotics as a prophylactic treatment. All the girls came through it and I haven't had an outbreak since.

Loved your update and just have fun with your birds. Their personalities are amazing.

 

[BY Bob]

I made a grave mistake when starting this practice up, however... instead of letting them out of the specifically chicken sized door, I let them out through the human door. So I went to give them fresh food & clean their water this morning and the chicks burst out the door and explored farther than I'd ever seen them go.

I give you a break because you are new at this but I'm supposed to be a veteran. I have made the same mistake. Everytime I come to the big door now Maleficent runs at me to try and break out through my legs. I have to be constantly ready to shoosh her back in.