Utah!

[acemario]

I am in Highland at the mouth of American Fork Canyon

You made it! Welcome!

Red, yeah, she is an awesome mom! She would probably take 20 more! Haha.

 

[Cynthia12]

I've had fun out with the chickens the last couple of days taking photos, and really watching them. My leghorn and my Res Sex Link love to stay around me. My RSL was a photo bomb..er..while I was trying to take photos of my leghorn, love my leghorn, she is a sweetheart!



Red..you said I have some nice EE's? Thanks! Here are a few photos of my other girl, I think she is getting close to laying. Interesting coloring going on, and has a great muff/beard going on.


These two hang together

 

[abkoldewyn]

I've had fun out with the chickens the last couple of days taking photos, and really watching them. My leghorn and my Res Sex Link love to stay around me. My RSL was a photo bomb..er..while I was trying to take photos of my leghorn, love my leghorn, she is a sweetheart!

She is sooo pretty! She looks like she's on the catwalk!

 

[themadchicken]

Iluv, i guess it depends on how bad it is. This one is not to bad but its just a chick and could get worse. As long as they can eat and drink then they do just fine. I think someone on here has an adult and they said it has no problems. getting a drink would be the biggest problem i could see. but this little one has the top curled and not the bottom so it has no problem drinking.

 

[sillycmoy]

Man Lisa, your so tempting with your Marans. For some reason my isn't laying anymore. Its be almost 3 1/2 weeks now with no dark chocolate eggs. But I for sure want to either get chicks from you in the spring or get some eggs. So you better keep on breeding them come Feb. or March.

So this morning I went outside and I have massive feathers everywhere, thought that someone was killed but they are all there. Can't see anyone really missing any feathers, but I do have several older girls that should have molted by now. Maybe they are finally starting, because its getting cold. Stinkers. I've been swamped, so I haven't been on lately, but my momma Silkie with her 3 FL mix chicks are doing great.

I'm kind of torn right now on what to do with the 2 Silkie Chicks I have. I have a Black and a Splash. They are over 2 months old now, maybe they are 3 months old now. Can't tell the sex on either of them. But I really don't want to keep the black one. I have a Black one already. But I don't want to split them up. They are still huddled together at night in the straw. I've tried moving them up on the roosts the last few nights, but they jump back down. So I don't want to split them up yet.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I have another question about broody hens. I officially went ahead and gave dixie all five of the developing eggs. I am still afraid of doing it but I have gotten 50/50 opinions on whether or not I should leave them in the bator or give them to a broody and it seems like it might give them the best chance to be with a broody cause they'd have the temp/humidity the way it should be. I figure if they dont make it then it's not because I screwed it up, it would be because of the messed up air cells. Seems like they'd have the best chance being with a broody right? I candled them one last time today day 13 and all look good and moving around. I pray they hatch alright. Should I candle them one last time before they are suppose to hatch or call it good? How long should I leave unhatched eggs with her? I want to try to switch out the newly hatched chicks for the second batch of eggs that are due to hatch a week after, and then give her all the chicks together when they others hatch.

Also as far as broody care, i decided to just take dixie out of the coop and keep her in her own maternity box. The other hens were dog piling all over her in the nest and driving her nuts. I figure if they forget her, oh well there are worst things and they will get over it and she'll regain her high position back im sure. She's the bully of the coop no question.
I noticed even with food & water right there next to her in her box she doesent want to get up off the nest. The last couple days ive taken her off and put her in the coop with her friends for 15-20 mins so she could poop, eat and dust bathe. I figure that way they wont intirely forget her either. She eats this way so im fine with continuing if I need to but was wondering if its even nesisary doing this? Or is keepng the food in there with her good enough, and she'll eat when she feels like? I'd hate to take her off the nest for any time now that she's incubating babies. I know it's not going to hurt them but it makes me nervous cause ive put so much into trying to make sure they hatch. Can I just leave her be on the nest now and she'll eat and drink when she feels like, or should I continue making sure she eats by taking her off and putting her in the coop for 20 mins a day?

 

[sillycmoy]

I have another question about broody hens. I officially went ahead and gave dixie all five of the developing eggs. I am still afraid of doing it but I have gotten 50/50 opinions on whether or not I should leave them in the bator or give them to a broody and it seems like it might give them the best chance to be with a broody cause they'd have the temp/humidity the way it should be. I figure if they dont make it then it's not because I screwed it up, it would be because of the messed up air cells. Seems like they'd have the best chance being with a broody right? I candled them one last time today day 13 and all look good and moving around. I pray they hatch alright. Should I candle them one last time before they are suppose to hatch or call it good? How long should I leave unhatched eggs with her? I want to try to switch out the newly hatched chicks for the second batch of eggs that are due to hatch a week after, and then give her all the chicks together when they others hatch.

Also as far as broody care, i decided to just take dixie out of the coop and keep her in her own maternity box. The other hens were dog piling all over her in the nest and driving her nuts. I figure if they forget her, oh well there are worst things and they will get over it and she'll regain her high position back im sure. She's the bully of the coop no question.
I noticed even with food & water right there next to her in her box she doesent want to get up off the nest. The last couple days ive taken her off and put her in the coop with her friends for 15-20 mins so she could poop, eat and dust bathe. I figure that way they wont intirely forget her either. She eats this way so im fine with continuing if I need to but was wondering if its even nesisary doing this? Or is keepng the food in there with her good enough, and she'll eat when she feels like? I'd hate to take her off the nest for any time now that she's incubating babies. I know it's not going to hurt them but it makes me nervous cause ive put so much into trying to make sure they hatch. Can I just leave her be on the nest now and she'll eat and drink when she feels like, or should I continue making sure she eats by taking her off and putting her in the coop for 20 mins a day?

My opinion would be not to switch out the chicks. And not sure if she would take them back if you were able to do it. Because once they hatch, at least my 2 Silkies talk to them, and they both had them out of the box pretty fast. But they all hatched about the same time. As far as taking care of her. As long as she has food and water I would just leave her be. Mine would come out maybe once or twice a day, and do a quick fast food then run back into the box. And I never left food in there for them, they would have to come out and get it. Mine would even go free range for about 10 minutes before they ran back in.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

My opinion would be not to switch out the chicks. And not sure if she would take them back if you were able to do it. Because once they hatch, at least my 2 Silkies talk to them, and they both had them out of the box pretty fast. But they all hatched about the same time. As far as taking care of her. As long as she has food and water I would just leave her be. Mine would come out maybe once or twice a day, and do a quick fast food then run back into the box. And I never left food in there for them, they would have to come out and get it. Mine would even go free range for about 10 minutes before they ran back in.

Oh good, thats a relief. I was just feeling worried cause I fill her little bowl to the top with food, and I will see it hasent been touched at all in days. I cant even tell if she's drank anything. The only time I can be sure she's eaten is when I let her out and then felt her crop and can tell she'd eaten a little bit so then I put her back in. But if you think she'll be fine and will eat when she feels like it then i'll just leave her alone now. I covered her box with a thin sheet to give her more privacy so she can come out if she wants to. Her food/water is only a foot in a half away from her nest. As soon as I put her back in and she saw the new eggs she got so excited and immediately ran to them and started tucking them under her and talking, it was so cute. And then she puffed up at me and stared like she was telling me I could go now lol. It's outta my hands now. I hope they hatch ok. The air cells on these babies still look crazy! They dip way down on one side, and one of them goes so far down almost clear to the bottom of the egg. They must have gotten pretty shaken up in the mail. Im so nervous how they are gonna do. I have to try to switch the chicks for eggs because I have the second batch in the bator, and then she's sending me 6 more free of charge to try as well. She wants to make sure I get several paints. And those two will clash with eachother during lockdown so im going to need to be able to leave a batch with dixie. I read where ppl did this often with their silkies and then would sneak the babies back under them after the other ones hatched. Since they are suppose to be good moms and tend to adopt easily. Worst case sinario I will just raise the chicks myself but if she'll hatch the others for me then it would make things alot less stressful and give the other batches a better chance at hatching as well. She has always been fine with young chicks that ive added to the coop so I can always try to give them all back to her, and if she takes them great, and if not I can raise them for a month and then they'll just dog pile with everyone else to keep warm like all the other young chicks I have gotten have done. Surely this is a better option then to let the last batch sit in the bator with the others during lockdown when its only halfway through.

 

[Cynthia12]

Man Lisa, your so tempting with your Marans. For some reason my isn't laying anymore. Its be almost 3 1/2 weeks now with no dark chocolate eggs. But I for sure want to either get chicks from you in the spring or get some eggs. So you better keep on breeding them come Feb. or March.

So this morning I went outside and I have massive feathers everywhere, thought that someone was killed but they are all there. Can't see anyone really missing any feathers, but I do have several older girls that should have molted by now. Maybe they are finally starting, because its getting cold. Stinkers. I've been swamped, so I haven't been on lately, but my momma Silkie with her 3 FL mix chicks are doing great.

I'm kind of torn right now on what to do with the 2 Silkie Chicks I have. I have a Black and a Splash. They are over 2 months old now, maybe they are 3 months old now. Can't tell the sex on either of them. But I really don't want to keep the black one. I have a Black one already. But I don't want to split them up. They are still huddled together at night in the straw. I've tried moving them up on the roosts the last few nights, but they jump back down. So I don't want to split them up yet.

Can you get photos of the beaks? Maybe we can help you with the sex..they could be starting to look one way or the other at this age.

 

[sillycmoy]

So dang mad at my girls right now, I'm about to fire them all. Either I have an egg eater and they are eating everything including all shell pieces. Or they have all gone on strike. I have gotten 1-2 eggs every day for the last week or more. Even my 2 new layers that hatched in Feb just like stopped laying. Nothing from anyone but the darn Silkie and Bantam Cochin. Everyone else is on Strike. I don't understand why. Anyone have any thoughts?

They have free range with GRASS, they get layer pullets, and they have free range to oyster shell, plus they get treats every day. Like today, they got squash, and bananas I got from the school. They give out fresh fruit, and I always go get what the kids don't want to eat. So they are always getting fresh fruit. So what the heck?