The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[ColtHandorf]

Suede is in the bathroom. I got hone after picking up the new birds and he’s not been eating or drinking. He’d just been staying on the perch all day. He got a half bath and a blow dry. He’s wasting and drinking now so I hope he pulls out of it. He stood up once to poop and ant stood or walked since I got him off the perch. Except in the bath. And I think he was mostly floating then.

 

[Faraday40]

Poor Suede. He's your big beautiful blue, right?

Those dissolvable vitamin/ electrolyte packets may help perk him up. Is he molting? Was he attacked by something? Are any other birds sick? Worms? Mites or other parasite? Sour or impacted crop? ..... Just going through a list of possible common ideas.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Poor Suede. He's your big beautiful blue, right?

Yes. He is so handsome when he's feeling himself. I hate seeing him like this. He is "greatly diminished". Although I do find his little chattering and chirping/cooing to me when I'm in the bathroom very cute. I honestly think he's lonely and bored in there. He likes to have ambient music with running water and bird sounds playing when I'm home, but I have to take my phone to work. :/

Those dissolvable vitamin/ electrolyte packets may help perk him up.

I picked some of those up yesterday at the feed store when I was buying the wire to finish the runs inside the barn. I was out there until after midnight yesterday with a flashlight working so I forgot when I went to bed, but I made him up some this morning.

Was he attacked by something?

Oh yes, Golly the Hormonal, Destroyer of Poultry, Bane of the Submissive, Lord of All He Surveys, did it. Monday morning the roommate called me to say she thought Golly was beating up one of the chickens. I ran out there in a bathrobe and rain boots. Before I even got out of the mud room I could hear the 15 pound feeder slamming into the aluminum sides of the house and Golly's enraged screaming. I popped into the hen house to find Suede cowering in the corner with Golly ripping out feathers, his face covered in blood, beating him with his wings. I just snapped and grabbed Golly behind the head and pulled him out of the house with "controlled force". I rescued Suede and looked him over. His comb was a little bloody and he was missing some feathers but appeared to be fine. I opened the pen up onto the yard so the birds could spread out and get away from the geese until I was home from work.

It rained all day and was in the high 30's. I got home and Suede was out by himself dripping wet. I popped him up on the roost and left the pen open to the yard. It was too wet for the dogs to be in the big back yard. Next morning Suede was on the roost and looking better. Came home from work and Golly was attempting to bully him off the perch. I locked the pair up in the tractor to give the chickens a break from the hormones. Each evening I'd go out and he'd be on the roost with everyone at bed time. Saturday I got home from picking up the White and Silver-laced pair (who are absolutely gorgeous in person) and he was on the roost. I'd been picking him up when I got home from work and putting him out on the ground where he'd eat and drink. But of course bot feeling himself the younger cockerels and Hollywood were picking at him so he'd run off screaming like he was being murdered.

Anyway, I picked him up and carried him out into the pen and he just wouldn't put any weight on his legs. He just laid there. I stood over him to make sure no one bothered him and the roommate brought me a small bowl of food and water. He ate and drank for what I can assume was the first time in days. He had a blister forming on his breast from sitting on the roost all day and night. After he ate his fill and drank I moved some birds around. New birds in the tractor, geese locked out on the yard, and the old flock in the original chicken pen. I took him inside and gave him a warm bath in the sink. we took him back to my bathroom and blow dried him until he was mostly fluffy. He liked being supported with the "wind" on his breast. He'd raise his wings and flap a little bit.

I set him up in the bathroom with towels down first, covered with potty pads. He's got food and water and a heat lamp should he choose to use it. I made a barricade out of luggage to keep him contained and rolled some towels to keep him steady. He seems to be doing a little better. I really think Golly beating him up sort of broke his spirit. And then with the other males picking on him, he just gave up. I think he's enjoying his time in the house getting babied.


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On the note of the new birds, They are really nice looking. I did some digging on the royal family and while Victoria's mother's name was also Victoria, she was a Duchess. So the new Silver-laced hen is Duchess (II). The White Orpington does have slate legs rather than white/pink like Odette and Derek, so I'm going to have to look and see what that means. I suspect she is Dominant, rather than Recessive White, however she was hatched from the eggs that produced the Silver-laced hen. The young rooster will be a year old in March and is larger than either Hollywood or Sterling's son (that I've been calling Sterling...he sounds just like his father when he crows). He's absolutely beautiful. I've decided on Caspian for his name.

Moving on to the barn, I got all three pens completed minus cutting the gates for two of the three pens yesterday. My hand's were just super done at 12:30 last night. I got the fence posts, but I'm going to wait until the end of the month to get the second roll of wire to fence in the runs off the barn. When I get home from work today I plan on mounting the front portion of the barn across the top in the clear panels a lovely friend brought me as well as cutting the two small sections that need to be added to complete the visual barrier on the portion of the dividing fence over the concrete slab in the back. Then I've got to dump a nest box in each one, set up the feeders, waterers, and roosts and I should be good to go.

I didn't get any pictures last night of the barn because it was dark, but I'll be sure to grab some today provided it's not raining. there was a light mist/drizzle when I came into work this morning. Once I can get the stuff done this afternoon I'm going to move all the chickens over into their respective pens and let the geese have the original pen with access to the fenced yard for grazing during the day. They've been breeding a lot lately and she's scouting out a place for a nest. I'll have to pick up a bale of hay after work today.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Here’s Suede last night and this morning. I feel like he’s looking better.

 

[Faraday40]

Poor Suede! Yes, getting beat up by a goose would certainly make him look & feel the way he does.

I had an issue when Moose (a young giant lav orp) attacked my fav old rooster (Mr Dummy). I found the poor old guy making hen noises & stuffed himself into a nest box. Blood from him comb was dripping in his eyes & he was breathing from his mouth. Dummy was king for 5 years but Moose was simply bigger, stronger, and faster. Dummy recovered after about 5-7 days inside but was bullied as soon as returned to the flock. I had to keep the two separated and as soon as I had a replacement, Moose was rehomed. (Moose was great with all the other roosters and gentle with my 6 year old son; he just had a thing for attacking the former leader of the flock. Mr Dummy was a pet, so even though he no longer mated, he was going to stay) The next rooster had it great. Dummy watched diligently over the flock and kept the peace, but "Mini Moose" got to mate with all the hens.

I bring up my story because my Mr Dummy looked about as bad as Suede. I honestly thought I'd lose him. Mr Dummy survived and returned to being the gentle, loving flock leader - after the bully was removed.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Well once he's feeling better he'll be the only rooster in a pen with all the Blue, Black, Splash, Chocolate, and Lavender hens.

I forgot to mention the White hen's name. She is Anne, like Queen Anne's Lace so I got both a royal and a flower naming convention for her. The roommate insists I can't name one Crocus...lol

 

[flgardengirl]

That baby and mama is adorable!

 

[flgardengirl]

Do Crow Collars work? I've never heard of one lol.

 

[Faraday40]

That baby and mama is adorable!

Thanks. It's a very odd family. The reasons for letting MaiMai hatch had more to do with trying to integrate the loving, but fearful serama - nothing to do with adding chicks. MaiMai's sort of dumb and her crest blocks her vision. I figured she'd be easy to trick into adopting a pullet as a chick.

Do Crow Collars work? I've never heard of one lol.

It can muffle the crow - not stop it. I'm in a neighborhood. Although my neighbors know & love my chickens, I don't want the neighbors a block or two away to know that I have roosters.

It's simply a velcro collar that prevents the neck from expanding to belt out a loud crow. It doesn't stop any of the other noises or functions. The adjustment to the right size is key (can't be too tight or loose) for it to work. It works for my orps. I didn't bother making one for my serama. (His crow is like a hiccup.) It never worked for my EE. It made his annoying crow higher pitched and longer lasting. I couldn't safely tighten it more and he loved to crow all day. He had to leave, but my orps are not frequent crowers, so they can stay.



Why I use them:
We're in a gray legal area. My kids are in 4H and there's a county loophole that if you're enrolled in an animal/small livestock project, you may keep that animal. (mainly rabbits & poultry) However, the town wrote a new ordinance eliminating the old property restrictions (which we met). This made it legal for most people in town (not just the few with property like us) to own chickens. However, at that time they added a rooster ban. So, does the county loophole grandfather our roosters or does the new town ordinance trump it? I don't know and the cost of a lawyer to figure it out is not worth it if no one has a problem. We've had chickens for over 7 years. The schools and park district hatch our eggs every year, some hens or chicks are requested to attend many community events (like a mini petting zoo, parades, and the Easter Egg Hunt), the neighbors buy our extra eggs, and the public works department contacts me whenever there's a poultry-related issue. (ie- Found a lost chicken. I know most of the people in town who own chickens, so I can help spread the word)

 

[ColtHandorf]

I am all the exhausted! Amanda, my roommate and I were out until about 10:30 last getting all the roosts set up, feeders, nest boxes, and watering stations moved, and finally the birds. I only got beat in the face once, and it wasn't the turkey. It was Odette, the little White Orpington who also clawed her way up my arm until I dropped her because I was juggling a flashlight in my mouth and her brother (not in my mouth).

The geese now have the entire original pen to themselves and seem inordinately pleased. I did get tickled last night when after removing all the chickens I set up an area for her to nest in the hen house. They both wandered past the door to the hen house and saw the pile of hay and both stopped and looked at it and then at each other and then carefully extended their heads over the doorway and started mumbling to each other like, "Did you do this?", "No, did you?" lol It was quite funny.

I do feel bad for Caspian who is still in the tractor. I'd love to turn him out in the big pen, but I just don't trust him with the geese. He hackled at Golly the other day through the wire and that's all I need is for him to start something he can't finish when I'm at work. And he's much too pretty to risk him getting killed. I'm hoping I can keep him with no hens for a few months and get some hatches out of Hollywood and Sterling II covering the girls and then swap them out for Caspian until I have enough hens he can have a small flock of his own that can remain in the pen with the geese after breeding season has passed.

Suede seems to be feeling better. He's not drinking as much as he was, which makes me feel like he's better hydrated than he was when he came in the house. That first night he took almost two quarts of water. Now he's maybe drinking 1/4 of a quart or so. But that may be because he doesn't like the vitamins. So I think I'll alternate every other day and let him have plain water some of the time. He's still eating well, but again not as much as he was at first. I also gave him a few tablespoons of cat food this morning to see if the extra protein might perk him up and give him some strength. He's eating starter/grower currently with a tiny bit of hen scratch mixed in as that really got him interested in eating the first night. I'd offered them in separate bowls and he wouldn't even look at the crumble. He stood up for several minutes this morning before his legs seem to give out. And I know he was standing last night because I could see the top of his comb and occasionally his whole face over the top of the luggage looking out. He does have a little cough that I don't like but it doesn't sound terrible. I think I have some antibiotics and I may add that to his water because while I hope it's just a cough from him eating crumbles and not drinking to wash it down, I know he was very wet and very cold for a while and that coupled with stress, injuries, and not eating or drinking is terrible for the immune system.

I'll post some pictures from the phone shortly.