The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Beekissed]

You guys crack me up and I love it!
Chicken behavior/hawk question.
My flock is very wary of hawks. The roosters are always on alert and quick with a warning cry, which the hens take up as well once they hit cover. One roo will stand just outside the door of the coop till he decides it's safe for the girls to come out.
Recently I went out to count beaks after a major alert. As I expected, the hens and two of the three roos were in the coop, the third roo at the door -- except for one hen. She was at the far side of the chicken run, crouched motionless against the fence. I walked up to her and she didn't move. I picked her up to make sure she was okay. Clearly alive and unhurt, but she didn't move at all while I carried her across the yard and into the coop. When I put her down, she scurried away.
Normally I can't even catch this hen, let alone pick her up. Was her catatonic state characteristic of a scared chicken?

I've never seen one that scared but my flock does freeze at times and they stay that way for a long time....like chicken statues that simply cannot take another step. Even when I talk to them...they are just frozen in time. High alert, is what I call it, and they are poised for flight/running at any second.

Hey B did you ever mix up your homemade Nu-Stock??
Curious how it turned out and what you might have learned.... I saw sulfur powder at the garden center but remembered reading that I was supposed to get a certain type .... Of course I don't remember what type and I'll never be able to find it in this thread!!!

I haven't yet...still using the last stuff I bought. I'll let you all know what it looks like, smells like, etc. when I do. I haven't sent for the sulfur yet but found it very cheap on Amazon. I have the pine tar and mineral oil here but may use a different carrier oil, not sure.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Good to see Bee and everyone up and moving about after the storm. My girls fared okay. They had deep litter in their small coop and we covered the run with plastic so that they could still use it and not be pounded by the rain. Looks like it kept most the rain out, just the floor is a bit wet but it's not standing water, which is what I feared. Coop is thankfully high and dry today. The girls also have a large fenced area they can hang out in and they are using it today but stayed inside during the bad rain of yesterday.

Sandy was kind to us as we kept power and only lost a few small limbs, no major trees. Some of our neighbors weren't so lucky as many are still without power. Not sure how we lucked out but thankful we did.

To those not back to pre-storm conditions, hang in there!

 

[Turkeytruff]

Found this on the NC thread just thought I'd share it'scute . http://images.businessweek.com/ss/0...site&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

hilarious!

 

[Turkeytruff]

. I only work my birds off the roost at night and very infrequently even then. They need to think that everyone and everything is a predator out to get them before they are suitably flighty enough to free range. The older birds will teach the younger birds this level of wariness.

And here I thought you were out there every night, glove on, checking your future internal egg supply......

LOVE reading your posts!
I don't handle my birds either, except when taking the broody ones out of the nesting boxes and putting them in the broody cage

Or when otherwise absolutely necessary.

 

[Turkeytruff]

Stir it up...if it still smells like poop you may have a problem but doubt it. If it just smells really, really sour after you stir it, that poop smell is normal. This is the same smell one smells when they open a crock to get out pickled veggies, first a funky poop smell and then strong pickled smells. No worries.

Mine smells a bit like baby sick up - you know, the kind that ends up on the back of all your sweaters when you're a new mom and no one has the heart to tell you?

 

[chickachee]

We ain't scared of no stinkin' snow!!!!

 

[chickachee]

We ain't afraid of no stinkin' deer, either!!

 

[Ashdoes]

I explain to my husband that we don't heat the coop because then the birds never get a chance to acclimate to the slow weather change. Then, if the power goes out, and they've never been colder then 70*, they freeze.
We also made sure to get cold hardy breeds. I got a mix for the first flock, so I can see them over winter and figure out which ones do better. Then the Cochins just happened to come along, and I won't have to worry about them this winter at all.
I can not believe how great the Gnarly Bunch look! In that perfect little group, all happy and wet. Really great job with them Bee.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We ain't afraid of no stinkin' deer, either!!

Pretty.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We ain't scared of no stinkin' snow!!!!

They look very content.