Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Hey peeps.

I need some advice. As you saw in the pictures I posted I have an EE roo that is a sweet boy. That being said, he's already henpecked by Niqui the Dominique I got from Walady94. Niqui is a very confident girl, and goes about her day with gusto. Fluffy, however, just runs around behind Niqui like a love-sick-puppy. I'd like to reduce Niqui's agressive attitude toward the 3 newer birds, including the roo. Is there a way to change her agressive behavior? I've tried taking her out of the pen and let her see the others inside, but Fluffy panics and does all she can to try to get to the same area Niqui is in. I don't want to make the choice to rehome one of my birds, but if Niqui keeps being so agressive I'm not sure what other options I have.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm also curious about Matty's crowing. I haven't heard any yet, and he's constantly running away from Niqui. Is this something he will outgrow? Should I even be worrying about this behavior?

As a third concern, my RIR, Red, seems to be smaller than all the other birds. She seems OK to go do things on her own, or with the others, but both Red and Lace are the first ones to run from Niqui. I will put down wetted feed each morning, and today all 5 ate at once for about 2 minutes. Then Niqui was running them all off. If any of the 3 started towards the fresh wet feed Niqui would take 2 or 3 steps towards them and they would run off. Even if Niqui wasn't eating she would chase the others away from the feed. So, do I need to be worried about Red being smaller? With Niqui seeming to be so domineering, is it likely this will change as they grow older?

So many question, so few answers in my head. Your help is always appreciated.

I have a Production Red(hatchery RIR) that targeted my three new additions, bad. I put her in isolation with no contact to the outside world for 6 days. I only went in to feed and collect egg. After the week, she had a complete attitude adjustment. You could try that, then re-evaluate if you need to cull or not.

 

[melissaG]

Very excited and my non-chicken people don't understand, so will share here, just put first eggs in 4-5 years in the incubator! 7 SG Dorking eggs from a very nice exhibitor at the PNPA show, was hoping to set them sooner but incubator/hatcher got delayed shipping and got here this morning rather than Monday like they were supposed to.

So jealous!!!!

Happy Hatchings!!!

 

[Flaming Chicken]

You're so right about last year's gardens.  The year before, too.  Yuk!   The weather in this region seems to go in cycles.  We get 2 or 3 years of great garden weather, then 2 or 3 really rotten years.  Since the last two have been so horrible I'm really hoping for good this year. 



Last year my tomatoes all ripened in September... finally.  But my peas did pretty well and the kale always does well.  We've never had good luck with broccoli but my GF seems to.  The chickens love the leaves, though, so it doesn't go to waste.  Right now my peas are about 2"-3" high, the spinach is doing great and I have a lot of seedlings coming up.  I planted beets, delicata squash, zuchinni, and kohlrabi seeds this week.  I put black pots over the squash seeds since the nights are still cold.  I also bought a 4-pak of tomatoes last week and transferred them to larger pots. 

At the end of the summer, I put my potted tomatoes in the green house . Today I had a chuckle because the plant is all brown but there arev2 orange tomatoes hanging off. I am thinking about sticking them in dirt to see if they'll grow.

 

[SweetSilver]

Quote: Sorry, I didn't get back to you on this.... no we didn't! I suppose we could have purposefully sought out chicks young enough for her. No, she is still sitting there, even though we chuck her off every day now. Good to know she can stick with it, though. We'll let her sit the next time she goes broody. That's if she ever stops being broody this time! I swear she could have hatched a second round of eggs!

 

[SweetSilver]

It's always a grand celebration when the chicks are finally and completely out of the brooder. They've been spending days outside in a separate pen, and nights in a corner of the main coop, separated from the rest. HURRAH!

Now to clean up all the dust in the basement...... I can hardly wait until we have more outside pens to brood chicks in etc. etc.

Anyhow, Bandit the Rooster was excited to see the pullets and paced back and forth in front of their pen and offering hay up to them. He was beside himself, but the hens were suspicious. We'll let them mix together when the pullets are 16 weeks and I don't have to worry about segregating food or being outsized.

 

[CarolynF]

I was wondering if that would work. My concern is for Fluffy that is so attached to her.

If you cull her, Fluffy will be upset for a while, too. Either way she's going to get upset. So how about moving psycho girl to a place where Fluffy can't see or hear her, and vice versa, for about a week. If you re-introduce her and things calm down you win. If not, then you can get rid of her know that you did your best.

 

[CarolynF]

I just had my very 1st call duck baby hatc, and #2 is close behind.. This is my 1st time hatching eggsthis is really neat and the coolest part is my 17 yr old daughter watched it hatch.

Very cool. Did DD enjoy watching?

 

[michellemcfeely]

I think that is just about the neatest thing. I cried. #2 is here now to. Have 4 more showing signs if external pipping.

Very cool. Did DD enjoy watching? 

 

[bikerchicky]

If you cull her, Fluffy will be upset for a while, too. Either way she's going to get upset. So how about moving psycho girl to a place where Fluffy can't see or hear her, and vice versa, for about a week. If you re-introduce her and things calm down you win. If not, then you can get rid of her know that you did your best.

Good point. I was going to do a "post chick" cleaning on the bathroom where the 2 were until the pen was ready. Guess Niqui is going back in.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[BGMatt]

H

I think that is just about the neatest thing. I cried. #2 is here now to. Have 4 more showing signs if external pipping.

How awesome, no matter how long you are in this hobby, every hatch is exciting and wonderful.