Utah!

[Mo5C]

Skittles and her chicks. The little frizzle.

How cute

 

[Desert Springs]

Ash and I went to IFA in Salt Lake today to get flock blocks and dried meal worms and, of course, we had to look at all the chicks, just for fun.

It wasn't fun.

There were 4-5 week old large fowl in with what looked like maybe week old bantams, who were getting squished and rolled around almost constantly. A couple of the were dead. Most of them had poopy butt big time. There was a large tub thing with maybe 10 chickens with varying degrees of peck wounds on them--one of them had a nasty bloody tail. There were a few chicks here and there who had literally been squished flat. It was awful and Asher was very upset.

When we saw the tub thing with the bloody chicks (they were maybe 5-6 weeks old), I stopped the girl that worked there and asked her how much they were, thinking maybe I could rescue them (like I need more chicks, for pity's sake!). She quoted me $3.50 each. I just kind of blinked at her and said, "These birds are all bloody and pecking each other and you are selling them for full price?" "Oh, they aren't pecking each other--they are just mounting. They're supposed to look like that."

I briefly considered slapping her. Since I'm pretty sure that comes with jail time, Ash and I elected to just leave. Never going to buy chicks there again.

On a good note, my roommates brought down 20+ BLRW eggs from the land yesterday and I promptly stuck them in the incubator before running off to work. I have 6 or 7 Black BLRW chicks and one splash that I'm 90% sure is a roo that I'going to put up on KSL for $2 each if anyone wants them. Don't need anymore blacks and I don't run a Splash rooster.

Corvidae,
Consider emailing the head IFA office. (think the guy's name is Wayne).

I emailed him about the quality of his chicks and help and received a reply.

 

[Desert Springs]

Corvidae - It makes me sad when we find conditions like that somewhere that sells animals. I honestly don't know sometimes if the employees really don't know better, or if they're just playing dumb to cover up. When I picked up a SLW chick from IFA last year, she was probably at least four weeks old. She'd been picked on a lot and was missing a lot of her feathers, so she looked super scruffy and balding in some places. I wasn't going to get a chick on that trip, but when I saw her, I took her home. I posted a picture of her a few pages back. She's the SLW broody. She is doing MUCH better

Lisa, so cool on the sparrow eggs! Eeee!

Desert, I'm in West Valley. If you are headed to Lagoon, we will work something out. I'd love for you to have some of these eggs. Got three so far

Would have had four.......but someone snuck an egg into the same hiding spot as my Leghorn yesterday, and although I'm pretty sure I know which is which, I'm not taking that chance. Little farts. Aaand - love the pictures of your birds and setup! How old are your peafowl, again? It looks like they aren't quite grown?

Sphinx, I'm so sorry you lost your roo! Poor thing. Do you remember those three mutt cockerels I got from you last year? One of them was quite spunky, and a dog got him one day. Because the hens were all okay, I have wondered if he wasn't protecting "his" girls, and that's why he got killed. Our courageous boys.

Madchicken, cute broody and baby pics! Seeing Cotton just makes me happy. I love white Silkies. Poof!

I missed someone again. We have so many new people on here, it's getting hard to keep track of everyone. Don't worry, that's a good thing, hehe.

Hi Red

Casa let me know that you lived no where near her...lol. Didn't realize you were so close in the valley.
Husband is going to want to head straight home after Lagoon, I'm sure.

While he's doing the Daddy/ Granddaddy deal at Lagoon I'll head to Casa's place to pick up her blue Am roo.

Any chance of you meeting us somewhere near the Cheyenne turn off in SLC, during the late afternoon/ early evening on Saturday?? Please PM me your phone number so we can keep in touch and see what'll work. So excited to get some Icelandic eggs!!!

Thanks!!
The peas are only a year old... and full of it

. The male struts around with his (shhhhhh... pathetic, short, immature) tail spread and the girls just ignore him...lol

. They love getting on top of the horse trailer and our buildings, and dance around at the neighbors house (who adore them!!!). At dusk they honk and call to each other.... so cool!!

I plan on getting more in different colors!!! Love them

!!

Have to get pics of the guineas tomorrow.... they are entertaining in their own way.... running

, running

, running

and chattering

, chattering

, chattering

!!!! Saw them out on the desert today, in the scrub. They love

ticks and snakes so most of the seventeen are out there all day, every day. You can hear them more than see them. The brush hides them usually, but occasionally a white or sky blue one will break cover and zoom across an open area. I used to worry about coyotes getting them but the neighbors claim they haven't seen any close in since I got the them. Too noisy....lol. Plus, telling a guinea where they're allowed is just crazy talk...lol.

 

[Desert Springs]

Both of those BLRW look like pullets to me. Especially where they're 16 weeks. Boys kind of have patchier red sections coming in, especially on the wings. Look at this link and you'll see what I mean: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/466415/blue-laced-red-wyandotte-thread/140

Oh, Lisa. Lisa Lisa Lisa. You are going to have your hands full with that sparrow. We found a sparrow on the ground a couple years ago. Called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah. They couldn't take it because they were moving. We ended up putting bits of dog kibble in milk. Let it get really, really mushy, and then fed it that with tweezers. He/She ate every 2 hours during daylight hours. We got nights off (had to switch to a heat source that wasn't a light at night, or it got confused and wanted to eat all night too. After a couple weeks, we called WRCNU again, and they could take it in. They told me after two weeks of us feeding it, they were fairly certain it wouldn't be able to be released because it'd be too tame to be wild. But, a couple days later, they let me know that we'd managed to NOT tame it, and it was going to be able to be released. And it lived happily ever after.

Here's a video of us feeding it: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/wendywr/media/bird/MVI_1971.mp4.html

I agree with Sphinx!!!!!!! Lisa, Lisa, Lisa..... I too experienced raising both a sparrow and a dove..... you have your hands full!!!! I mixed pureed green peas with mashed cooked egg yolk, and fed with tweezers. Oh Lisa, Lisa, Lisa!!!

 

[SashaT]

Hi guys, just a quick note to let you know Diana, AKA Sundancenbare is in the ICU. I don't know which hospital. She does have access to email but not the web. You can email her at [email protected] to talk chickens and wish her well.

 

[Desert Springs]

Hi guys, just a quick note to let you know Diana, AKA Sundancenbare is in the ICU. I don't know which hospital. She does have access to email but not the web. You can email her at [email protected] to talk chickens and wish her well.

Thanks Sasha for the info. I'm sure it'll be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Desert Springs]

Sphinx,

Daloorashens (yep, probably miss-spelled it again... sheesh!!) still has that Legbar cockerel, which will go in the stew pot end of the summer. I'm heading up to grab some of Pawtraitart's chicks end of May. Can't remember where Daloorashens lives but hoping to grab that little roo for you if you want it.

Let me know.

 

[Daloorashens]

A little late of an update but I got my first SFH chick yesterday. Thank you Daloorashens and Red for getting the cutie to me.

I have her in a box next to my desk so I can keep an eye on her for the first few days because I'm a nervous mother-hen. She looks happiest when she's chasing after meal worms.

One of these days I need to get some pictures of my ducks and Sherlee out in the garden (that hasn't been touched in two years). They're so pretty!

Oh, I"m so glad you got it ok!! Isn't it a beautiful little chick??? Everybody was asking about it at chickenstock =)

Lav Am and her emergency hatch mate (from the appalling conditions at IFA)

Ahh... cute!! Is that an EE? Almost looked like a speckled sussex, then I saw the puffy cheeks

Hi guys, just a quick note to let you know Diana, AKA Sundancenbare is in the ICU. I don't know which hospital. She does have access to email but not the web. You can email her at [email protected] to talk chickens and wish her well.

Oh dear... many thoughts and prayers going out to Diana!!

Sphinx,

Daloorashens (yep, probably miss-spelled it again... sheesh!!) still has that Legbar cockerel, which will go in the stew pot end of the summer. I'm heading up to grab some of Pawtraitart's chicks end of May. Can't remember where Daloorashens lives but hoping to grab that little roo for you if you want it.

Let me know.

Yep, I still have him, he is now almost 8 weeks old (my how time flies!! They are really a lot prettier than I thought they would be, lol


Christina, love the set-up and WOW the variety of birds you will have, I"m so jealous I could

haha, just kidding Now I know where to get some birds in the future... do you really need to wait 2 years for that black orp roo?? Seems I've read the black really helps improve the lavender.... I say get Michelle's roo!!

 

[Desert Springs]

Christina, love the set-up and WOW the variety of birds you will have, I"m so jealous I could

haha, just kidding Now I know where to get some birds in the future... do you really need to wait 2 years for that black orp roo?? Seems I've read the black really helps improve the lavender.... I say get Michelle's roo!!

LOL.... you are so bad!!!

That's what I was thinking too but I can't use him for two years. I've been trying to justify feeding him for two years before I can use him. Maybe I'll just jump the gun and use him earlier and keep more than one Lav/Black flock. I know I could grab him when I go up to see her..... whew.... gonna have to speak to her about the color genetics again on that Lav Orp deal.

 

[pawtraitart]

LOL.... you are so bad!!!

That's what I was thinking too but I can't use him for two years. I've been trying to justify feeding him for two years before I can use him. Maybe I'll just jump the gun and use him earlier and keep more than one Lav/Black flock. I know I could grab him when I go up to see her..... whew.... gonna have to speak to her about the color genetics again on that Lav Orp deal.

Pssstt.......like I said in my message to you....you can use him next year in your chocolate program to breed them up to LF.....and if you get a black pullet and put her with your bantam chocolate roo you will know male/female at hatch and will be on your way to creating your own line of LF chocolate orps.