The Old Folks Home

[perchie.girl]

Please note the different tail feathers and tell me what you think

Just one thing.... Hens get their feathers sooner than Cockrels... after they get to this Tweenager point the only way to really tell by feathers is when the hackle feathers begin to grow. to me they look like all girls.

Like SGC said they are really picked. Look em over first for mites then bump up their food. With a good sized gravity feeder so they can eat enough to satisfy them and make up for lost calories...... Also they are ready to have grit too.

deb

 

[ronott1]

They all look like pullets so far. The comb and wattles are not big or pink enough to be cockerels. There is not an obvious size difference which you would see now either.

Let me see if I can fins a picture of mine at 6 weeks old....I did not find one of mine but did find a 9 week old one on a different thread. If yours are 7 weeks old, this is what you would expect to see in two weeks, notice how big the wattle is and the comb is much taller with more pink:

Also, cockerels will be a lot bigger than the pullets already.

 

[Bdaychicks15]

I think they look like they're in sorry shape but right now they still all look like girls. One or more may end up being a boy, but nothing definitive at this time. I would increase your protein in their food because it looks like they've gotten their feathers picked significantly and will have to regrow them. That, on top of growing, to me means more protein. 

I'd also would have kept them further from the rest of your flock. It looks like they're right next door. They've likely already swapped germs, so it's moot at this point, but if they were sick, they'll get your others sick. 

It is not my fault there feathers are broken. Where I got them from when one got scared they all flew around and hit themselves on the cage.

 

[Bdaychicks15]

And I was thinking about giving them corrid just in case. But, would that be bad if I'm not seeing any signs?

 

[ronott1]

And I was thinking about giving them corrid just in case. But, would that be bad if I'm not seeing any signs?

The feathers they have now will molt out during the final Juvenal molt. That is when the hackel and sickle feather come in on the cockerels. They always look a bit ugly at the 6 to 16 week age. they look great by 24 weeks or so.

If you give them corid, you would use the resistance dosage-where it says then on the chart. You would give them the lower dosage for 10 days. I will post a chart so pay close attention to it. There is a liquid and a powder corid and you only use the largest amount for an active outbreak of cocci.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
No one said it was your fault.... just the source....

 

[superchemicalgirl]

No one said it was your fault.... just the source....

Thank you.

 

[bruceha2000]

I have a curiosity question for you bunny people. But this is about wild rabbits not domesticated ones so you may not know:
We have seen 2 babies, they appeared to be something that could fit in the palm of your hand a week ago and are about twice that size now. We first saw one, then a few days later, 2. They were not with a larger rabbit but foraging on their own. They seem to be living in or near the little barn right behind the house.

Prior to seeing the babies, there was a larger rabbit around, presumed to be the mother and the rabbit that was here last year. It had figured out this isn't Watership Down and we are not a threat. It didn't run the first time we saw it this spring so ASSUME it is the same rabbit. We could walk 3' from it, talking to it as we walk by, and it would continue eating. The babies seem to have learned the same thing from our lack of attack. We haven't seen the larger rabbit since we first saw the babies. Does that suggest she became fox food or do they kick the babies out as soon as they are weaned so they can get on with producing the next litter??

We did see 2 larger rabbits one day at the same time we saw both babies. I don't THINK it is the same older rabbit as it seemed (in my poor memory) more grayish and these two somewhat red-ish.There was NO interaction between the younger and older rabbits but the older ones were doing a weird "dance". One would jump up in the air and maybe the other would run at it. They did this for a bit then went back to eating. After some time they separately crossed the road. Any idea what the heck THAT was about?

 

[Bunnylady]

North American wild rabbits don't dig burrows, their nests are basically a little scrape on the surface of the ground. So yes, the babies are on their own pretty early - about 3-4 weeks. And contrary to some people's belief, rabbits are essentially solitary animals; they start battling each other for territory when just a few weeks old. They learn where good cover is, what's good to eat and what's not, pretty much on their own. Offhand, the "dance" you saw sounds like courtship behavior to me.

 

[bruceha2000]

My daughter videotaped (videodigitaled??) the "dance" on her iPod, maybe I can convince her to find some time to get it up on YouTube. Funny that they went back to eating, ignoring each other entirely and eventually crossing the road about 10 minutes apart. Sort of like a liason they were trying to keep from prying eyes if the whole thing was related to mating

That "solitary" nature sure matches what we have seen in years past, rarely see more than 1 adult rabbit and if we do we don't see them at the same time (as determined by somewhat different coloring).