[The Shire] Our growing flock!

[newchickychick]

I'll have to take good pics tomorrow during the day, but TSC (we needed wire, I promise!) had some Silver Laced Wyandottes and Turkens. I couldn't resist. One of the Turkens was really light yellow with a black chipmunk-y pattern, and I got it a little Turken friend. There were also non-Turkens in the batch which the worker said "Yeah no they were sorted before they got here and those... that's not a Turken." I knew that much but appreciated the honesty, so took the two not-Turkens too! We got four Silver Laced Wyandottes as well and have our big batch of 15 mystery chicks coming in tomorrow. All 8 of our current babies are now all cuddled up together despite having been in separate bins at TSC. Turkens are so strange, but really excited to see what the patterned one looks like grown. We want an interesting, wide-variety flock based mostly on giving them enriched, long lives. (Eggs are definitely a bonus but not a requirement) So naturally, interesting included a need for Turkens!

 

[newchickychick]

Our babies got here May 2nd (happy birthday, me!) of 15 baby chicks of a WIDE variety from Cackle. I’ll be sure to post pics later!

We unfortunately lost the littlest one last night. It looked just like the chick we lost from our first batch too which hit hard. It seemed to perk up so well after shipping but just tanked so rapidly of nowhere and passed away peacefully with hubby holding him last night.

The other 14 are doing great! One Polish (gold laced we think) of all things… is a jerk! He was eye-pecking the others fiercely, and indiscriminately. I stayed up with him all night the past two nights working on it and it seems to have curbed the behavior. Fingers crossed it sticks and he learns to play nicely.

One of the two Splash Polish is so LOUD! Always cheeping. All of the other chicks make quiet, happy noises. They are spread all over the brooder and have plenty of enrichment. This one is eating great, drinking great, isn’t backed up at all, plays well, isn’t being picked on any more by the one jerk, and just will not stop the loud mouthing. We’re keeping a watchful eye but it just seems to constantly have something to say unless it’s eating, drinking, or sleeping.

Our first batch was full of angels compared to the troublesome two, but I adore them all to pieces so we’re hoping the jerk mellows out (he/she will be named Brutus regardless), and that the little Splash finds their inside voice presuming nothing is really wrong (though we will keep being vigilant in case something is).

 

[newchickychick]

Forgot I could post pics directly from mobile. Oops!

Our little Tolbunt is likely to be named Moose (in honor of Supernatural and Moose Tracks, one of the best ice cream flavors of all time).

Li’l loudmouth below. Pictured before I had to pluck all the bedding out of their feeder… again.

This little Cochin is quite a soft red with a chipmunk pattern. It’s always hanging out with the smallest of the flock and content to be used as a pillow.

They’re having a meeting to plot taking over the world.

The Crazy Cackle Toppie (I think it is) is SILLY. He gets the zoomies so often and is always trying to explore and play. He seems befuddled when another chick runs by and bowls him over, then starts to chase them to see what they’ve got! Super, super friendly with the others. The Turken and SLWs are absolute gems too. Even though they’re a little bit bigger than the others, they’re always cuddling with the group and never cause a fuss. The second Turken we’ve got, pictured below, has been a pillow twice for our tiny reds and seems to put itself specifically under them when they cuddle up to keep them company.

Mirror and bells. Fascinating!

 

[newchickychick]

The little bully (Brutus, whether it is a roo or hen) has really gotten its act together today. I’m so relieved!

The little Splash that was pecked barely has pink around the eyes now, and seems to be feeling SO much better!

The big chicks are growing so fast. Man! They ADORE their coop and run. They’ll really live it up once we’re finished with the BIG one. (30’ by 15’ coop and 60’ by 15’ run) Foundation is completely finished, and we’re starting on the floor tomorrow. We will be finished by end of the month, just in time to start really seeing who’s a roo and who’s a hen (though most seem to be quite straight forward already… so many likely roos!) Though we are still putting them back in the coop ourselves nightly. We didn’t want to keep them totally locked in for days as we want them to be more considering the big coop “home” once they’re moved in, but they do go up and down the ramp freely! They just don’t seem to want to go to bed when it’s bed time.

We’re also planning on building a custom brooder for our garage since it seems a lot wiser to have something well built and permanent for yearly chicks. (Though hopefully we end up with good broodies in the future) We are going to figure out a sliding partition that we can add in/take out in case of bullies or injuries, and that will leave our current brooder tub as a separate space in case of suspected transmittable illness in the chicks.

Lots of plans and no regrets! Hubby has REALLY fallen in love with the chickens. This will make chicken math a lot easier.

 

[newchickychick]

This is one of our two minis! We have a matching bigger one from the Turken bin. From Cackle’s rare page, I think the only match I’m seeing is (Exhibition) RIR? These two are having a TIME with pasty butt. They were so lethargic yesterday and after a bit of nutri-drench, they’re looking a lot better. One is still frequently sleepy, and smaller than the other still, but still a lot more active than yesterday so I’m trying to be hopeful. :’)

This poor baby’s vent is swollen and red at the bottom from getting the poop out of the way. I put on a little neosporin and hydrocortisone to try to ease the swelling and make it easier for it to poop. Really hoping it makes it! It’s 5 days old now and still the smallest. Ugh, my heart! I really want these two smalls to make it.

 

[Iluveggers]

One thing that really helped a chronic case of pasty butt was rubbing coconut oil on the vent feathers after being cleaned. It stayed “greasy” but soft (not cold & wet), and I think it made it harder for the poop to stick to the vent. I was only using a little bit once I lathered it on it worked so much better. It’s kind of solid when you scoop it out (solid in cooler temps), and then turns more liquid when it gets warmer on your hands. Good luck!

 

[newchickychick]

One thing that really helped a chronic case of pasty butt was rubbing coconut oil on the vent feathers after being cleaned. It stayed “greasy” but soft (not cold & wet), and I think it made it harder for the poop to stick to the vent. I was only using a little bit once I lathered it on it worked so much better. It’s kind of solid when you scoop it out (solid in cooler temps), and then turns more liquid when it gets warmer on your hands. Good luck!

Thank you so much! I'll get some first thing in the morning!
The one poor little's bled a bit and got really red. At first I was worried about a prolapse but nothing is really protruding, I think it's just irritated from me getting that poop off. But I had to make sure the vent was clear. The rest was stuck on so hard even after a long really warm bath so I just left it so it could dry off/destress. Poor thing was so upset as soon as I got it out of the bath and I didn't want to try again tonight. Argh! Breaks my heart.

The other little definitely is getting bigger though, as they were the same size previously and it's now just a bit bigger. Makes me extra worried for this baby but I got the nutri-drench in their water, gave it a drop all to itself, and am planning on giving the little some scrambled eggs in the morning to itself before letting the rest of them loose on what's left over. It made me so nervous that three of them arrived so tiny compared to the others, so I'm hoping these two will pull through. He still seems pretty sleepy but was running around earlier at least and was pooping just fine! It was fresh and getting on the stuff still stuck on beneath its vent, so I wiped it off carefully so it didn't irritate or clog up again. I'll be hopeful and do all I can! Looks like pasty butt was just going around this evening. I made sure the temperature was better (raised the lamp a tiny bit as none were sleeping directly under even though they're all spread out) to see if that helps prevent it too. No blocked vents but gonna do a big ol' cleanup on them all in the morning since they're all sleeping peacefully and I don't want to wake them all up without vents blocked.

 

[newchickychick]

Wow! What a difference the nutri-drench seems to have made. I woke up to the little reds eating and they got their little crops both full now. They still seem frequently pretty sleepy so far this morning, but I don’t know how long they’ve been awake before I got in there. I’m cautiously optimistic. But they were eating and drinking with the others happily! I’m hoping the tinier one starts to grow real well.

 

[newchickychick]

We had an escapee today. I was cleaning up the pasty butts and one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes just casually walked over my foot, looked up at me with a soft 'hey, what's up?' cheep and continued on its merry way. So they've been upgraded to the big kiddie pool. The chick zoomies were unreal. And thankfully, the lamp is still keeping them plenty warm and they're loving their exploration!

I FINALLY was able to get little red's clean! It's been so hard juggling keeping them warm enough and getting all that junk off. Just the Lakenvelder left to de-paste! I made huge progress on it though. It's WEIRD stuck and has been since day 1, but since it's just about a week now I feel a little less afraid to work on it over a little longer period of time at once. So far no irritation at least and I was able to completely clear the vent. The babies both looked so relieved!

I'm still a little nervous about the little reds, but I'm giving them a drop of nutri-drench every 8 hours. Not sure if Poultry Cell will be a better bet for their water tomorrow? Today was no additive day for the water so might try Poultry Cell tomorrow to see if I can keep getting them perked up. They're still so very small compared to the others. But they aren't showing any signs of sudden decline which was just out of the blue but obvious for our little M&M (the mystery 'marans') and our Nugget from the first batch.

The Turkens and the 2 other chicks in the 'Turken bin' are growing crazy fast. It's making me nervous! I'd read on another post here about likely meat bird Turken crosses sold at TSC. It'd definitely break my heart as we're hoping to keep all our little feather brains as pets, but if it is the worst outcome we will do all we can to keep them comfortable and happy until it's their time.

I've got such an 'emergency kit' prepared now for chickie/chicken emergencies. I really need to get it organized and all together (it's a little strewn out - I'm a very disorganized person but working on that, oops!) but I'm happy to have so many more goodies together and ready in case of, well, anything. It's a joy watching them all grow every day!

 

[newchickychick]

Little reds still just seem lackluster but not at all like our two failure to thrives were. I'm going to make them some scrambled eggs for them and then let the other chickies go at it maybe, and give them another drop of the poultry cell.