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

[Beekissed]

Oh, but that's not near as fun as surprising a rooster when HE'S just minding his own business...I like to think of it as delicious irony. It's one thing to kick a roo when he is attacking...I'm sure that has its own level of satisfaction all of itself. Everyone loves a good knee-jerk reaction...but us ladies like to work things out with a little more, shall I say? Finesse.

Tick off a man and he may kick you and curse you...and then y'all can sit down and have lunch together like it ain't no thang.

Tick off a woman and you won't forget it for the rest of your born days...and neither will she. She will think up ways of making you rue the day you ever had a whisper of a thought to cross her path and your children's children will still tell the tale of the wrath of THAT woman. Her methods of revenge will go down in infamy and other mothers will scare their children into being good with tales of her rage. Guarantee it.

That's the level of training that goes into any cocky roo that thinks he can intimidate a good woman who's just going about her chores all innocent and sweet.

 

[delisha]

Oh, but that's not near as fun as surprising a rooster when HE'S just minding his own business...I like to think of it as delicious irony. It's one thing to kick a roo when he is attacking...I'm sure that has its own level of satisfaction all of itself. Everyone loves a good knee-jerk reaction...but us ladies like to work things out with a little more, shall I say? Finesse.

Tick off a man and he may kick you and curse you...and then y'all can sit down and have lunch together like it ain't no thang.

Tick off a woman and you won't forget it for the rest of your born days...and neither will she. She will think up ways of making you rue the day you ever had a whisper of a thought to cross her path and your children's children will still tell the tale of the wrath of THAT woman. Her methods of revenge will go down in infamy and other mothers will scare their children into being good with tales of her rage. Guarantee it.

That's the level of training that goes into any cocky roo that thinks he can intimidate a good woman who's just going about her chores all innocent and sweet.

coughs

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...innocently going about our chores without a thought in the world of being attacked. Shouldn't ever happen that we get a nasty surprise like a roo getting too big for his feathered britches.

 

[nbchickfarming]

I've been lurking most of the day

and reading -Finally caught up. Between hunting season and vacation... I ended up using a regular dry feeder for the girls while I was away. Bad idea...In 1 week.. and maybe it was just a coincidence but..
~Went from 8-9 eggs to 2-3 !!!
~ My GSL chicken that "was" having loose black poops is having problems again and vent issues. (Nu stock started)
~ also have another BR with a wet dirty butt. Maybe she is the one that laid a soft shell egg this am.?.
Currently We have a fox "camping out" in the back yard

So The HAH trap is set. no unsupervised free ranging until its caught. It almost had one of the RIR. My lazy dogs were sleeping next to the coop and this particular RIR likes to go deep in the weeds away from the flock. next thing i hear is the warning call and a lot of flopping through the grass. The flock has not ventured far from the coop since.I started a new 5 gal bucket FF system a lot easier than my old one.. Gave them a pumpkin and picked up some wood ash from my FIL because we haven't had to light any fires yet - its so unseasonably warm my spring flowers are up.

I really enjoy reading this thread its been so helpful. Thanks everyone for sharing your experience/knowledge to help educate us newbies. ...... I need advice on the soft shell egg layer will that clear up on its own, does it just happen sometimes or will it always be a problem ? they have oyster shell available and they get layer feed, however wondering if the calcium settles to the bottom in the wet mash FF bucket. Also why would this one other bird have chronic dirty black poop butt. ? should i cull it? it seemed to clear up with the FF .

 

[Beekissed]

The soft shell thing could be just the time of year. If this is a hen that has recurring problems with soft shells throughout her laying season, she is a candidate for culling. Reproductive problems don't usually get better unless it is merely seasonal sputterings.

The black poops I'm not sure about...this Ruby bird of mine is the only chicken I've ever had to have a continual messy butt and I think hers is merely structural in nature. I see no messy poops where she roosts...just a messy butt.

If I had a bird that had poops that were continually black and messy, this bird might also be a cull. Whenever an animal is getting healthy feeds and living in healthy conditions and they STILL have health issues, these birds need culled.

I'm culling Miss Ruby on Monday.

Wow! That's quite a drop in egg production! I don't know if that could be called a coincidence~others have reported the same thing when they temporarily went back to regular feeds.

I sure hope you catch your fox. My birds all range in tight formation and never too far from the dog's range so they are pretty range savvy...could be your RIR is just too much temptation for the wild things? I call that natural selection.

I had a BR pullet that insisted on roosting in the hay loft who got picked off by a GHO one night and I wasn't a bit sorry. Served her right for not learning the safety of the coop at night. The dog's can't protect a bird that is sitting up in the rafters of the hay barn. I hope this taught your RIR to keep in close and stick with the flock.

 

[bobbi-j]

Oh, but that's not near as fun as surprising a rooster when HE'S just minding his own business...I like to think of it as delicious irony. It's one thing to kick a roo when he is attacking...I'm sure that has its own level of satisfaction all of itself. Everyone loves a good knee-jerk reaction...but us ladies like to work things out with a little more, shall I say? Finesse.

Tick off a man and he may kick you and curse you...and then y'all can sit down and have lunch together like it ain't no thang.

Tick off a woman and you won't forget it for the rest of your born days...and neither will she. She will think up ways of making you rue the day you ever had a whisper of a thought to cross her path and your children's children will still tell the tale of the wrath of THAT woman. Her methods of revenge will go down in infamy and other mothers will scare their children into being good with tales of her rage. Guarantee it.

That's the level of training that goes into any cocky roo that thinks he can intimidate a good woman who's just going about her chores all innocent and sweet.

Bee, truer words were never spoken! In high school, my best friends were guys, because girls can be just plain nasty! Guys have a problem, they take it outside, duke it out and come back in as best friends. Girls? They hold a grudge!

 

[Beekissed]

Yep, mine too. Still are...my oldest and closest friends are guys. The girls? They've fallen by the wayside. You are correct...women hold a grudge and I've never been the type. I'm too laid back and lazy to hold onto something that heavy for too long...these shoulders are meant for far lighter burdens in this world than anger and hatred.

I've always been more like a guy in the get mad department...slow to anger, quick to slap down the thing that got me all the way to the boiling point and then I'm over it. I'll even be the first to offer the peace pipe if they wanna play nice.

With roosters and such I brook no tom foolery...each action is met with a reaction but it's not equal. He jumps, I jump harder, higher and longer. I'll lay in wait and jump him when he thinks the threat is over. I'll make him remember the day he ever dared to feel froggy and take that leap. I guess that's when my girly side comes out of hiding.

 

[nbchickfarming]

I was thinking the same thing about the natural selection, but don't want to share with the fox. LOL
I'm going to give the GSL a little time/tx and see what happens. It was almost cleared/cleaned up (no messy butt)before i went back to regular feed. This hen is the largest in the flock and the most bossy

wouldn't hurt to down size a bit.
.. Did a little reading on the natural chicken keeping site today, Wow! it has grown since my last visit. Good work ladies!

 

[aussie pete]

hi Bee ,do u know how bdm is going .haven't seen her on here for a couple of days ,hope all is ok

 

[Sally8]

Not sure where the post is on the soft shelled egg but I have a hen that has laid one ever since I've had her. I'm not sure which one but I'm making the effort now to find who it is, what a mess it makes, not only for the other eggs but i have to completely clean the nest out every single day. I researched everything I could and it didn't make a difference. Now it's time for dinner.

I can find Bragg's in my supermarket in the organic section or Heinz in with the other vinegars. My ff has an odor, not a bad one but I think hubby and I are used to the smell now. What does smell is the ACV that I'm making myself. Somedays, I like the smell, others, not so much.

We do not allow any aggressiveness in our chickens nor do we pass them on to anyone else. I not only don't like being flogged but am not going to worry about rescuing my beautiful grandchildren.

I've used the deep litter method for over 2 years. I used to clean the coop completely out every week end. Maybe ff is an added step but compared to the time saved on cleaning the coop, it's nothing. Once I got used to adding it to my schedule, it really doesn't take much time. I think for me, it was just the change. I finally got my heated water bowls and can't wait to put them out. What a huge time saver that will be for me.

We had a sad day, my husband came home and found our 11 year old cat dead by my chair. He hadn't been sick and I worried it was the dogs but no signs of blood or puncture wounds. I'm going to miss him.