Utah!

[RedIII]

So much happening! Sundance, congrats on your hatch! Sorry you didn't get more Seramas.

Lilwanis, what an exciting opportunity! Best of luck to your family in figuring out what you do next. Keep us posted.

Cynthia, I'm glad to hear that Richard is improving. What a relief.

Madchicken, now I feel bad for your RIR

It seems like they are only ever pushy and at the top of the pecking order, or they're at the bottom getting picked on. Mine is the queen out there.

Lisa, you need a bouncer chick for your SG. I had a problem like that when I first started getting chicks. Our BSL was just mean to be mean. It only went for a day, though. My RIR started tackling her whenever she'd try to pick on someone

Sphinx, how are you feeling today? Hope you're getting some rest.

I missed someone. I just know it.

Well, got some fun news here, and then some not-so-fun news. I'll start with the unpleasant stuff first. I snuck out to Tooele yesterday while my boyfriend was out of town to help take care of some things. I checked on the chicks while I was there. The BF has them in his tack shed to protect them from the cold and from predators. I thought that we still had four birds out there. Nope, only two

One of the black Amercauana cockerels, and one of the hens I got from Julie last year. No sign of either of the blue Andalusians, which makes me mad. What really torqued me off, though, was that my cockerel looks like someone has shaved him. Yes, you read that right. All of his hackles feathers have been severely trimmed, same with some of his saddle feathers, and some of his breast feathers have been mussed. I am rarin' to catch whoever is messing with my birds, now. Some people are very twisted, and I do NOT appreciate them giving my animals a hard time.

And, my BO is definitely depressed. I think she's upset that there's no grass to scratch in right now, and she's tired of being penned. I still have her in the garage, but in her own carrier now, since she's fed up with the boys and their attention. She's getting extra food, vitamins in her water, and I'm trying to pamper her to help put some weight back on her. She gets another spa treatment tonight, whee! And so far as the boys go........I've got one of my Icelandic cockerels separated. Someone gave him a nasty bite on his comb the other night. I guess the ladies were tired of him bossing them and told him where to put it

He's okay, though.

Okay, now for the better news (sheesh I'm chatty) Our biggest white turkey is a boy! I found a beard starting to grow on his neck yesterday. If you don't know what I mean, it's the little black tassel that male turkeys have around their collarbone. That would explain why he's been getting more aggressive, and why he's bigger than the other turkeys. I'm keeping an eye on him to make sure he behaves himself around the chickens. I may well end up separating the turkeys soon here, as Sundance's horror story keeps going through my head.

We've been getting more eggs over the last few days. I've now gotten three green eggs from my Leghorn EE, plus a few others from the various girls. I guess being stuck in the garage for a few days with all that light made an impact.

 

[Sphinx]

Lisa, I'm sorry that the polish isn't walking at all. Does it seem like her leg is injured or that she was possibly paralyzed?

MadChicken, I tend to agree with you- I think a truly sick/injured/in pain chicken is not going to lay eggs. I'm sure your RIR is getting along just fine. I agree with starting to turn the heat down for your babies so they can start to acclimate to the colder temperatures outside.

Cynthia, I'm glad that Richard is on the mend. I hope he continues to improve. I can't wait to see all of your babies. Are you planning to sell most of them?

Sundance, congrats on such a great hatch. Sorry that you only got two seramas. Great rate on your FBCM and your auracanas though. Where did you get your BCM eggs? Would you be interested in possibly trading a few chicks? Your BCM for a couple of my legbar/bcm?

Red, that is so bizarre that your rooster looks shaved. I'm sorry that your andalusions are missing. congrats on your one turkey being a boy! Are you thinking you may raise turkeys now?

My eardrum ended up bursting Friday night, so I've been having a huge pity party for myself. I've got a nice case of vertigo as a result, and am temporarily (I hope!) mostly deaf in that ear. That makes napping during the day easier though, so it's not all bad. It's all very disconcerting though. I'm a terrible patient, and even though dh is being really patient with me, I suspect he can't wait to get back to work tomorrow.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

sphinx--I think my polish's hip is where it is? It is right where the dog bit through her, the wound is scabbed over but the joint right where he grabbed her seems to be tender and she flops. She does try to stand up, esp if we reach at her, to get away, but it kind of gives out and she prefers to belly crawl. Not helping to have her in the kennel so she cannot work it very much. As soon as her wound is good enough I am going to let her go out in a penned area in the coop to move around some, as it warms up this next week likely.

Ouch to your ear Sphinx! I sure hope this heals up fast. That is bad when it bursts like that. Does it feel a little better when the pressure was relieved? I hope you don't get another infection as it heals up. And I hope your hearing is not harmed! I am still hating it with this flu bug, I was doing better but now My doc says i have bronchial pneumonia. Fun. I just don't have energy, and get dizzy when I stand or run around too much. I will be grateful when this big clears outta here! I get this crap every year I swear. It has been 17 days. Sheesh.

Red, good to hear from you! Sorry about your missing.damaged chickens though. You do need to put a camera out there. And soooo call in the trespassers. Jerks! Glad to see you are getting some eggs. Mine are slowing down again from this bitter cold I think. The Showgirl is doing a little better today too, maybe she gets that those little critters just want to snuggle, not attack her--so no need to strike first...

Great hatch Sundance! A little of everything...and Cynthia you are hatching everything too. Will be fun to see all the little chickies.

 

[themadchicken]

Actually i dont have any heat on them.i counted on mama to keep them warm. I figured if i added heat it might be to much for the hen. The 70 degrees is the temp inside our house. I will give them a couple more weeks then kick them out once they are fully feathered.

 

[sundancenbare]

Lisa, I'm sorry that the polish isn't walking at all. Does it seem like her leg is injured or that she was possibly paralyzed?

MadChicken, I tend to agree with you- I think a truly sick/injured/in pain chicken is not going to lay eggs. I'm sure your RIR is getting along just fine. I agree with starting to turn the heat down for your babies so they can start to acclimate to the colder temperatures outside.

Cynthia, I'm glad that Richard is on the mend. I hope he continues to improve. I can't wait to see all of your babies. Are you planning to sell most of them?

Sundance, congrats on such a great hatch. Sorry that you only got two seramas. Great rate on your FBCM and your auracanas though. Where did you get your BCM eggs? Would you be interested in possibly trading a few chicks? Your BCM for a couple of my legbar/bcm?

Red, that is so bizarre that your rooster looks shaved. I'm sorry that your andalusions are missing. congrats on your one turkey being a boy! Are you thinking you may raise turkeys now?

My eardrum ended up bursting Friday night, so I've been having a huge pity party for myself. I've got a nice case of vertigo as a result, and am temporarily (I hope!) mostly deaf in that ear. That makes napping during the day easier though, so it's not all bad. It's all very disconcerting though. I'm a terrible patient, and even though dh is being really patient with me, I suspect he can't wait to get back to work tomorrow.

Wendy I am so sorry about your ear. of course I'll trade. My Marans came from Texas They look very nice. I have one with a scissor beak. I have never had to deal with that before. I'm not going to cull it I want to see how it does.
I don;t know about the Auracanas yet, I am giving them a few days to get a bit bigger. Its sure easy to tell them apart from the Marans. The marams are bigger and the Auracanas are clean legged and smaller.

 

[themadchicken]

 

[Cynthia12]

Oh my goodness! Yes, those babies aren't babies can be on their own!

 

[Daloorashens]

Ohhh... SPhinx, so sorry about your ear!! Ouch!!

Madchicken... when I had broodies in the past... they were usually out in the pen with the other birds b/c it was during the summer, the hen usually just stopped hanging around with them and kind of chased them off, they would sometimes roost by each other, but it just kind of worked itself out... I think about 6 weeks or so was when that happened... with them in the house, not sure... Your chicks look to me like they need to feather out a bit more, but it 's probably warmer where you are than it is here, so that's obviously a factor, too

I'm trying to decide what to do with mine at that point.. my plan is to put them in the grow-out pen, where the other birds can see them but not hurt them, along with the hen, and give them a few days of that, then try to get the hen back in with the other birds, since I will also have younger chicks by that time that will be going out to the grow-out pen soon after that... but we'll see...

I never had too much trouble with integrating them when they were all able to see each other most of the time, just the usual pecking order stuff, nothing too crazy..

Red.. sorry about your missing birds, that stinks!

Sundance... I've read that Seramas are hard to hatch... maybe has something to do with their eggs being small, don't know, tho...

 

[RedIII]

Ugh, I'm feeling kind of upset tonight. We go to visit family on Sunday nights, and when we got home, I went to grab one of my cockerels out of the coop to put him in the garage, like I do every night. He looks like he got into a fight. His comb has lost a lot of blood, and he's got blood all over his hackles. The back of his head looks like it got bit pretty good. I tried to clean him off and put some neosporin on the wounded spots, then coaxed him into drinking just a little bit of water. I'm worried about him, though. He really is acting loopy. I'm ticked. This happened to my other cockerel yesterday, though not as bad. I'm very concerned that it's the male turkey, or one of the turkeys at least, since the two white ones have been getting really aggressive toward the chickens. I cannot have my birds beating each other up, especially not my breeding stock. So, the turkeys are now outside of the run, and the chickens are inside. I think I need to send the jake to freezer camp. I want to try and see if it's him for sure, though, or else one of the other chickens. I will feel horrible if I butcher him and then find out that he wasn't the culprit. He was raised for the sole purpose of eating, but he's still one of my babies. I hope I don't lose a cockerel tonight. The two that I have were raised together, and they work well as a team.

Sphinx, sorry about your eardrum. Ugh. I just glimpsed that when I got on. I'll have to check the rest of the new posts tomorrow, sorry. I'm just kind of upset and need to go to bed.

 

[kimmypie]

Sphinx how are the legbars as layers? I still want a blue egg layer, my EE's lay a beautiful green egg but blue eggs would be so cool! I want to add 2 to our flock this year but I'm not sure what to add, I don't want more medium brown layers, I've got a lot of those. Maybe a Marans and a Legbar? Legbar of course depends on price, my husband wouldn't be thrilled with a $50 bird!

How are all the chickens surviving the cold? My ladies stay in the coop until the fog burns off then they come out in the sun and into the yard. It's so cold I'm tempted to put a light out there....but I am confused as to what is best. Also we don't have a great way to get electricity into the coop. Anyway, I keep hoping for warmer temps this week.