The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Not a chick..Chicks develop outside the yolk not encasing it...however this is so abnormal it might be worth a closer look at the veins and take a close up shot..I am really curious

Check this out..it is how an embryo develops..

 

[delisha]

You have grey like matter..take a close up of that..and that dark patch..take a close up of that

 

[Sally8]

Does this make the hair on your arm stand up as it did mine? Especially after reading Kian's post. Coyote always wants in this bathroom especially after she hears all the peep's going on.

My new chicks are gone. In the classic "I thought the door was shut and I was away for two minutes" my terrier mix jumped into the brooder box and killed all four. He was in the box still and must have just finished it. My older kids took care of the bodies for me because I am just broken. I know its my fault, thinking that the door was shut and he was with me. I just feel horrible and sick. Just dreadfully sick. Sorry for the sad post but I think you all understand.

I'm so very sorry. Keep in mind that you do your very best taking care of your animals whether it was the chicks or even your terrier. Please don't blame yourself. Life's lesson's never come easy, if they were we'd never learn. The next post is a perfect example. I know I have a similar list as do others.

Kian, I am sorry to hear that.

This won't make you feel any better, but once, I decided I was going to build a tractor for my meat birds. I admired my handiwork, then when I moved the tractor to fresh grass.... I killed 4 birds that day that were too dumb to move with the tractor. Soon after I bought electric poultry netting. I have dogs and getting them trained, I have lost many.

I had 2 pigs this summer just waste away. I slept with 1 for about 2-3 hours trying to keep it warm... it passed by morning. The other one I shot with a .22..... 4 times....

I had a cat decided to sleep on my Suburban tire......

I wrote a long post in here about how I felt when I betrayed my girls headed to processing....

A friend lost 4 horses a month ago due to bad hay.....

In the end analysis, working with livestock, these things are going to happen.

Never lose the humanity in whatever it is you do.

A hug, a kiss and a prayer is sent to you via Loin message.

I'm thinking I'd give up egg's after I saw this. YUK! Was it this thread or another that I read where someone else had one of these. Not sure what was decided.

Hi everyone I have been following this thread and thought I would get your thoughts on an egg I found this morning. I have never seen anything like this in my 4 years of raising chickens. I thought I would see if anyone else has. I found this soft shelled egg under the roost this morning and I could tell it had something big and red inside of it. So I opened it up and it looks like the egg must have starting incubating inside my hen. It has been about 4-5 days since she laid an egg. What are some thoughts on this and do I need to be concerned that this could happen again if she goes days without laying an egg.

I was going to try these but was afraid that where you pull the one tie through would rub on the tiny leg and cause mega problems. Has this ever happened? I finally decided to use a tiny amount of paint or nail polish on the end of a feather close to the color of the chick so it wouldn't draw attention.

I have zip ties in multiple colors. I picked them up at the dollar tree to keep on hand. I received my flock from my friends brother. Two of my girls are white leghorn's, and they look identical, no distinguishing differences in their appearance. We named each of our birds and needed to know who each leghorn was. So we caught one of them, named her and I put a blue zip tie on her leg....making sure it could move up and down freely and would turn. That was my quick, easy and cheap solution.

WOW! What a beauty! I am so envious.

Had to share my new gander with you all. He's so pretty..

Yes. He's supposed to look that fat

His name is Walter. After my bus driver growing up. He was 'fluffy' just like this gander.

And Finally.....1 chick hatched out of those 3 broody hens. They changed nests again only no one ended up on the nest with "Henry" He was stretched out on his side and his body was very cold to the touch. He had a very faint peep. I brought him in and put him in under light. Then I left for the hospital. He was up running around when I got home but I had trouble getting him to eat and drink. By this afternoon he had slowed down and was very quiet. I made the decision to buy a few chicks his age. I found some an hour away and this is how he looks now. He's the dark one and a very happy camper. I've ended up with 2 Columbian Wyandottes and 2 that I believe are Silkie mixes (Didn't I just profess that I wasn't into Silkies) Henry is very happy. If someone eats so does he, drinks, so does he. I'm keeping my eye on the rest of the eggs in those 3 nests. I brought in the eggs in that nest, put them in the incubator and one was moving. I'm not sure if Henry is a Henrietta. With my luck, it's a roo.


SORRY ABOUT THE VERY LONG POST.

 

[Mumsy]

Hi everyone I have been following this thread and thought I would get your thoughts on an egg I found this morning. I have never seen anything like this in my 4 years of raising chickens. I thought I would see if anyone else has. I found this soft shelled egg under the roost this morning and I could tell it had something big and red inside of it. So I opened it up and it looks like the egg must have starting incubating inside my hen. It has been about 4-5 days since she laid an egg. What are some thoughts on this and do I need to be concerned that this could happen again if she goes days without laying an egg.

Holy Carp! I've never seen anything like this either! One more egg like this and this hen would need to go if it were mine. Weirdest egg I've ever seen and I've seen plenty.

 

[PeepsCA]

I might have missed it, but how old was that egg, and how/where was it stored before the pics were taken? Sure, a blood speck here and there is normal, but I've never seen anything like that before (in any of my Guinea, Turkey or Quail eggs).
That's pretty gross, I can't even imagine opening that one up... No eggs for breakfast for me tomorrow (or maybe all week now) after seeing that doozie

Thanks, lol.

 

[Bulldogma]

Yippeee! I have my first broody! My daughter's white Silkie wouldn't get off the nest and pecked my hand today when I tried to check under her. I went inside and grabbed the rest of my SFH eggs (sold a batch but had 5 left over). I handed them to her one at a time - - it was so much fun watching her grab those eggs under her chin and roll them under her! Jury is still out on if I'll leave her in the small coop with the other bantams or separate her. I may put her into the giant dog crate for privacy.

 

[arkansaschicks]

Kian- I am so sorry about your chicks!! I know that had to be really hard.

Delisha- Here are more pics. I think this is the closest I can get. Hope this is better. Thanks for the video that was great. In these pictures you can see the cord better, that's what made me think it might be a chick.

Sorry about all the gross pictures. I did not open the egg it was a soft shelled egg that I found under the roost this morning.

 

[Bulldogma]

Delisha- Here are more pics. I think this is the closest I can get. Hope this is better. Thanks for the video that was great. In these pictures you can see the cord better, that's what made me think it might be a chick.

Sorry about all the gross pictures. I did not open the egg it was a soft shelled egg that I found under the roost this morning.

What is so fascinating is the veining throughout what should be the yolk... but there is still yellow yolk around it.

If I didn't know it was an egg, I would say I was looking at a tumor. I used to work as a vet tech and we removed tumors from critters all the time. Bloody, nasty tumors. Makes me wonder if she had a tumor in the oviduct and somehow her body passed it and as it went through the oviduct it was treated like an ova and encased in egg white and put in a shell??

Crazy!

 

[Yardfarm Family]

Wow this is a long thread, I searched "soy free layer feed" and it directed me here. I am raising my laying hens naturally and organic and have a question about feed. My husband is afaid soy will make him girly (haha) so we recently switched to soyfree organic feed. It's about 21$ for a 50lb bag, really no different than the soy. I am unfamiliar with the benifits of soyfree. Does anyone have any info on this topic, pros or cons. I was worried the eggs would taste fishy because of fish meal but they actually taste better to me, richer flavor. Thanks ahead for any answers, Claire

 

[aoxa]

Yippeee! I have my first broody! My daughter's white Silkie wouldn't get off the nest and pecked my hand today when I tried to check under her. I went inside and grabbed the rest of my SFH eggs (sold a batch but had 5 left over). I handed them to her one at a time - - it was so much fun watching her grab those eggs under her chin and roll them under her! Jury is still out on if I'll leave her in the small coop with the other bantams or separate her. I may put her into the giant dog crate for privacy.