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

[aoxa]

Just sent Bulldogma a message...I love it - a place you can search and EASILY find all the info you know is in here somewhere but would take forever to find.  Now we have a place we can send a friend when they're looking for specific info when they don't have time to wade through the whole threads. 

I am MORE THAN EXCITED!!    

I really think BYC needs to make more user friendly search options.

 

[delisha]

OK I just wanted to put the original photo of the new hatches i posted in here last month, and pictures I took today. These are the meaties I am having problems with. On October 16th I had 4 chicks hatch, by October 20th I had 31. I have 26 left. That is really bad odds. I do not remember the last time I lost more than one or two after hatch. The last one to hatch is on the lower right corner.



These were taken today.




The tiny one in the top picture is the one on the right in this picture
Most of these chicks seem to be smaller than usual. I feed enough, the crops never get half empty. Poop is firm. Today is the first day out on the grass. This is the first time I have been cautious about putting chicks out. A hen would have them out by day three even in colder weather. They are 3 weeks old and seem to be so small to me.

 

[Beekissed]

They look fine to me. You hatched meaties at your place? Could you tell us what breeding you did to get those?

 

[delisha]

In 1985 I started with Cornish x. I purchased a few New Hampshire egg layers. My neighbor also had chickens. His rooster comes for visits. I kept three heavy hens and one rooster from The X's. . We sent the rest of the heavies to freezer heaven. Well the hens had a few clutches of chicks and I discovered that the heavy rooster was not the donator, but the chicks were nice and big. I kept several hens and one young cockerel. I bred the cockerel to the older hens and bred the older rooster to the young hens. Again only a few chicks from the old Cornish rooster. I kept them all and butchered out the old rooster. I did that for a few years. The original heavy hens did not last long. I lost two one hot summer and the third one really slowed on egg production in the third year. She went to freezer camp. Back than leg issues were a problem with the heavy breeds. With crossing them I found I did not have that issue. I have added a few different hens to see if I could get meatie and egg layers and brooders too. Bee, believe it or not it took me getting Orpingtons to get the original strain to set nests and stay on it. Heavies are horrible mothers. They sell out the chicks for food. I really have not purchased that many different birds other than Cornish X and Orpingtons in the last 20 years. Most of the birds here are from the original stock. This last hatch is a combination.






all of these birds have Cornish in them. That bird in that cake pan was also. Weighed in at 14lbs. She was the mother to the top three chicks.

 

[delisha]

I have no idea what the breed was that the farmer had. He had several different varieties that came for a few days sometimes. I now have fenced off about an acre. I no longer get neighborhood visits. However I hate it and might let them out in the woods come spring.

 

[Beekissed]

In that case, they don't look too bad for their ages. I can show you what my last batch of CX looked like at 3 wks if that would help? These were a slow growing type of CX and I slowed them down even further with layer mash and whole grains, fermented, and free ranging, so they were approx. a week behind the hatchery recommended growth schedule~which was right where I wanted them to be.

 

[Beekissed]

Here are some pics of the Gnarly Bunch taken today...just the ones that I've noticed have made more progress in the past couple of weeks:



Raggedy Ann at 1 wk.



Raggedy Ann today at around 7 wks out of the bad place.



The Partridge Rock hen, Mildred, at 1 wk.




And Mildred today along with Fanny, one of the Barred Rocks, at the 7 wk out of the bad place.





This is Black Betty, a BA mutt, not of my original flock and I'm not sure of her age...I don't know that I have any first week pics of her. She is still in molt in this pic but showing more gloss and feathering here today. I've been kind of worried that she would be my next cull as her feathers have been looking dull and separated for a bit, but they are starting to take on some fullness and gloss just this week. I'll keep watching her.




By now you all are pretty familiar with the pic of Middle Sister at 1 wk..it's pitiful even yet to look upon it.



Here she is at 7 wks out, a little dirty but still looking great. Take a look at those feet! She is moving and looking like she isn't in pain any longer, holds herself tall and proud and her eyes are sharp and bright. Most combs are still pale but I'm taking that as the time of year...legs and beaks have brightened up in color and feathers are in high gloss.



I still can't get over how pretty and filled out Mildred is at 7 wks so I'm putting a few more pics of her in here...completely different looking bird. Solid and fully feathered.

 

[delisha]

Thank you. They look about the same size. I guess with all the different things I was doing this time and so many deaths I am really insecure. Hard for an old woman to change mid stroke and dive off the diving board in a new pool.

 

[Beekissed]

I understand...it's hard to adjust the thinking sometimes. I'm going through something similar in my life where I spent all my life thinking I knew something but found out it was completely different than I ever thought it was. I'm still in shock and I don't know if I can shake that feeling of surrealism. It will come to me eventually but still...hard to swallow.

 

[delisha]

Your birds look remarkable!