Utah!

[sundancenbare]

Cynthia, thought this would give you a smile. Cotton has became best freinds with Little Red, my handicap RIR. In two days she has abondund her 9 week old chick for the company of the adults. Tonight was the second night out of the a-frame and Cotton was sleeping in the same nest box as Little Red. I have never had hens share the some box. Ratchet is very found of Cotton and does not like anyone picking her up. Today i was in the coop kneeling done and picked her up and Ratchet attacked my.Well he tried, since he has to lift his head up to see, it was pretty sad. He ran straight into my knee and fell over. He got up and slowly walked away make all sorts of noise, ( good thing we dont understand chicken talk cause im pretty sure there was a lot of bad words), but he keep looking back to make sure i wasn't going to sneak attack him.

really funny poor ratchet

 

[RedIII]

I'm very excited--after the bad last 2 hatches, I think I might be headed for a decent one. I put 10 Cream Legbar eggs (which I can't for the life of me remember where I got!) and 4 Welsummer eggs (nice dark brown from Bargain/Nancy) into lockdown last night before I left for work. I candled all of them and actually saw movement in at least a third. They should be hatching by Thursday. I also ordered a set of 6 2013 Legbar hens from Greenfire while I was having a fit of depression about the uselessness of shipped eggs. Not sure when those will be arriving, since I haven't heard back from them yet, but at least I will be sure to be able to rebuild up my little flock after The Theft. AND, I located another batch of Isbar eggs from a reputable place, which they will hopefully be able to send me in the next couple of weeks. I have a few left in my 'bator, but candling them knocked it down to something like 3-4 viables. And one of those viables was from my own lone little Isbar hen. And I am no good at sticking to my resolution to give up on shipped eggs. I have 2 batches of BLRW eggs coming from some very pretty birds, another set of Cream Legbars, the Isbars, and another set of Welsummers. That Sportsman is going to be the death of me. I shall be buried in chickens. Seriously. That's not even counting the ones from my own birds. For amusement value: I wasn't able to make it up to the land this weekend because of work, but my roommates went up there to full all the water barrels and check on things. When they got back, I was running out the door to work, so I called them and asked how many eggs they were able to get. Total silence on the phone, then, "Eggs?" Yes, eggs. You know. Chickens. Eggs. Another lengthy silence, then, "They are laying eggs?" Um, yes. They do that. Odd, but true. Third silence. "I thought they were all fake." Oy. So now I am trying to figure out how I can get up there to retrieve the eggs, except I am working 6 12 hour night shifts this week, my middle son has piano lesson on my only day off, and my eldest has orthodontist appointment. I've spent the last week trying to bribe anyone I can into working at least one of these shifts, all to no avail. The next time I will be able to get up there is not until next Sunday.

Oh goodness. The egg part has me laughing. I wish I lived closer to the Duchesne area - I'd be more than happy to go check on your birds for you

 

[cyndiloowho]

Corvidae- I have these 2 BLRW I hatched from eggs I bought from Chicken scratch poultry. They are 2 1/2 wks old now. What should I be watching for to determine sex and about when would I see it? Also I am confused, they were sold as BLRW -but could they be come out black or red? One is darker than the other just a bit.

 

[RedIII]

Only about half an hour until the phone conference with the judge and the attorneys. I hate anxiety. This is me right now:

 

[cyndiloowho]

Red saying a quick prayer for you

I have a little chick that sounds like it has a cold? It has been "sneezing" and when I hold it up to my ear I can hear what sounds like congestion with each breath. It seemed to start when I ran out of straw for the brooder and used pine shavings for the bedding (I usually don't because they eat the shavings). Would that cause it? What can I do to help this little one?

 

[agreger]

Only about half an hour until the phone conference with the judge and the attorneys. I hate anxiety. This is me right now:    

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Red.

 

[RedIII]

Red saying a quick prayer for you

I have a little chick that sounds like it has a cold? It has been "sneezing" and when I hold it up to my ear I can hear what sounds like congestion with each breath. It seemed to start when I ran out of straw for the brooder and used pine shavings for the bedding (I usually don't because they eat the shavings). Would that cause it? What can I do to help this little one?

I'm just guessing here, but it might be from the dust that comes off of the pine shavings. I've had that happen with a couple of my chicks. If she starts acting kind of sluggish or like she doesn't feel good, you'll want to separate her so that if it IS a respiratory infection, it doesn't spread to the other chicks. Good luck

 

[corvidae]

Corvidae- I have these 2 BLRW I hatched from eggs I bought from Chicken scratch poultry. They are 2 1/2 wks old now. What should I be watching for to determine sex and about when would I see it? Also I am confused, they were sold as BLRW -but could they be come out black or red? One is darker than the other just a bit.

I can never sex them until they are about 4-6 weeks old and, honestly, I've found their behavior to be the most reliable indicator. The girl that age act much sweeter than the boys. The wattles and feathering, I've found aren't always a very good indicator. I sold one last year that I was dead sure was a girl. The buyer posted pictures in a different thread and everyone else was dead sure it was a boy based on appearance, so the buyer gave it away to a friend, a little upset with me, I think. She wrote me some months later to tell me the chicken had started laying eggs. Unfortunately, you can't always go on looks with this breed.

That's not much help, I know. Just watch them and interact with them--you tend to get a pretty good sense of which they are from that, but it does take up to a couple of months.

As far as coloring, yes, they can come out as Blue, Black, , or Splash and the reds can be very pronounced on some of the chicks. Most of the "blue" chickens come in those varieties (except Andalusians) Sounds like you have either Blues or Blacks there. BLRWs are well known for not showing their true quality until they are fully grown and it can sometimes be dicey telling the Blues from the Blacks until they are juveniles, Though you can take a pretty good guess at it. If you post pics, I can take a stab at it for you.

 

[sundancenbare]

Here are 3 of my babies. I have 6 total. They are all really pretty all out of blue eggs. Father is Americana leghorn cross so they should be great egg layers

 

[sundancenbare]

Only about half an hour until the phone conference with the judge and the attorneys. I hate anxiety. This is me right now:

You need to go inside and eat some ice cream. It will make you feel better