Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

My mother's day present from my broody Welsummer was a 100% hatch of nine littles. She is a first time momma and doing very well with them so far.

Beautiful !!

 

[Chickielady]

Need a little help with our Snowflakes:
She is 4 months old, normally really energetic and running around with her head high. She had been like this for the last 3 days.. not eating much.. not drinking much.. Just stand with her head lower and looking sad. Seem like she is sick. She does peck a little but not too much. Even given her treats couldn't motivate her.

I though she could have coccidiosis, but it doesn't look that way since her dropping doesn't have blood.

We separated her and force feed her (open up her mouth and put food and water down her month) and bring her in to the house at night to sleep to keep warm.

Has she pooped ? I am wondering if maybe she ate something bad & corked up her crop...?
Sugars act as a laxative with birds...especially molasses.
Maybe give her some molasses water...it is decent electrolytes & a bit of laxative so she if she passes whatever the problem is.

 

[Chickielady]

It's not because she's upset about her new rank. You may not have enough food and water stations available. The more dominant birds may be keeping her from getting enough food and water. More feeders and more waterers, spread across the run may help.

I agree !

 

[Chickielady]

Thanks ya'll -
We have over 10 sets of feeding station around our yard. We will block off an area especially for her.

I have a hanging feeder in each coop, and at least 1 in each run.
Then at night we leave no feed outdoors or rats & mice get into it.

Rats & mice not only can eat ALOT of feed, but they poop in it too, and that can transmit parasites & disease to your birds.

Your Snowflake may have worms.
Try & get some Wazine at your feed store, or 'buy' some wormer from someone near by...Ivermectin or goat wormers can work....

I use this stuff right now, and I then will rotate to a different vermifuge to prevent any worm resistance.

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/...84c09fa2600f00000600/533884c19fa2600f00000621


Some people rotate to goat wormers, and then Ivermectin pour on, and back to Eprinex.
You would seldom ever know that your birds have worms, until you sneak in at night & worm then with this topical application, and the next morning there will be worms on the poop trays.

 

[pennyJo1960]

@Gatewayto

I do hope she does pull through fine

 

[Duck Drover]

I opened the two remaining eggs I thought might hatch and they were both light colored with the chipmunk stripes I expected. They had actually pipped and quit so that could have happened due to my daughter putting Silkie chicks hatched in the coop into the incubator since she has not set up the brooder for them yet. I sometimes use my hatcher as an early brooder for Silkies because they are so tiny that I like to start them off with higher temps a little longer while they learn to eat and drink. I just don't use the hatcher as a brooder during a hatch but this was her first hatch on her own so she did not realize that opening the hatcher reduces humidity. The membranes were moist when I opened the eggs but they might have been shrink wrapped before I told her to add water to compensate for opening the hatcher during lockdown.

If only the four developed eggs had hatched I might not have felt so cheated with this dozen eggs but the eggs had looked mostly unhatchable so I am not surprised. I have paid for infertile eggs before but none looked as bad as these. None of the chicks have the darker legs I expected so it will probably be a repeat of the last time that I tried to get colored egg layers and got beige eggs instead (they got mixed up with my Orpington eggs and I hatched some only to find out they were crossbred).

It will take so much time and feed for just one possible hen to keep so I am not sure if I should look for better eggs or give up. I am pretty sure the white one will need to go as soon as I confirm its feather color because I don't like white chickens in any breed. If the striped one looks decent and it is a pullet I might have a keeper so it may just have to grow up with the Silkie chicks until it lays an egg (or goes to the auction if it is a rooster). We have eggs from my own Easter Egger hens and the Quechua rooster so at least I can see how they look compared to these. I am hoping my striped chick will get darker legs, otherwise it will need to go too and I will have nothing but a lesson in caution.

It would have been a better experience if all the eggs had at least been the right size and shape for hatching. It is interesting how the worst eggs had the worst results and the better eggs had better results. This was my first time trying to hatch deformed eggs and it will be my last. Too bad it was my daughter's first solo hatch.

Who knew it would be so hard to get true Easter Eggers after so many years raising and hatching my original flock, bringing them from Colorado to Washington before selling them. You just don't know what you have until they are gone! As much as I like the breeds we have now, I really wish I had kept what I had back then.

 

[Leigti]

I opened the two remaining eggs I thought might hatch and they were both light colored with the chipmunk stripes I expected. They had actually pipped and quit so that could have happened due to my daughter putting Silkie chicks hatched in the coop into the incubator since she has not set up the brooder for them yet. I sometimes use my hatcher as an early brooder for Silkies because they are so tiny that I like to start them off with higher temps a little longer while they learn to eat and drink. I just don't use the hatcher as a brooder during a hatch but this was her first hatch on her own so she did not realize that opening the hatcher reduces humidity. The membranes were moist when I opened the eggs but they might have been shrink wrapped before I told her to add water to compensate for opening the hatcher during lockdown.

If only the four developed eggs had hatched I might not have felt so cheated with this dozen eggs but the eggs had looked mostly unhatchable so I am not surprised. I have paid for infertile eggs before but none looked as bad as these. None of the chicks have the darker legs I expected so it will probably be a repeat of the last time that I tried to get colored egg layers and got beige eggs instead (they got mixed up with my Orpington eggs and I hatched some only to find out they were crossbred).

It will take so much time and feed for just one possible hen to keep so I am not sure if I should look for better eggs or give up. I am pretty sure the white one will need to go as soon as I confirm its feather color because I don't like white chickens in any breed. If the striped one looks decent and it is a pullet I might have a keeper so it may just have to grow up with the Silkie chicks until it lays an egg (or goes to the auction if it is a rooster). We have eggs from my own Easter Egger hens and the Quechua rooster so at least I can see how they look compared to these. I am hoping my striped chick will get darker legs, otherwise it will need to go too and I will have nothing but a lesson in caution.

It would have been a better experience if all the eggs had at least been the right size and shape for hatching. It is interesting how the worst eggs had the worst results and the better eggs had better results. This was my first time trying to hatch deformed eggs and it will be my last. Too bad it was my daughter's first solo hatch.

Who knew it would be so hard to get true Easter Eggers after so many years raising and hatching my original flock, bringing them from Colorado to Washington before selling them. You just don't know what you have until they are gone! As much as I like the breeds we have now, I really wish I had kept what I had back then.

This is just an observation. But it seems like you are looking for something very very specific. You may have to just breed them your self or find somebody that is breeding exactly what you want. It definitely sounds like you were cheated with this batch of eggs but it also sounds like it may be difficult to find exactly what you're looking for. It may be a project you have to start yourself from the very beginning.

 

[junebuggena]

A coon just got one of my little chicken dinners...

 

[Saris]

Need a little help with our Snowflakes:
She is 4 months old, normally really energetic and running around with her head high. She had been like this for the last 3 days.. not eating much.. not drinking much.. Just stand with her head lower and looking sad. Seem like she is sick. She does peck a little but not too much. Even given her treats couldn't motivate her.

I though she could have coccidiosis, but it doesn't look that way since her dropping doesn't have blood.

We separated her and force feed her (open up her mouth and put food and water down her month) and bring her in to the house at night to sleep to keep warm.

Cocci doesn't always present with blood in the poo. Bring a collection of her poo to a vet to do a fecal float and look for cocci and worms.

Tube feeding is good as if she gets too underweight then her organs will shut down.

 

[pennyJo1960]

A coon just got one of my little chicken dinners...

good lord darn coons at least it took one you planned to eat not
one you planned to keep.. the peeps are co - mingling with their
older siblings now.