Washingtonians

[itsren]

I went out to scoop the poop out of the coop - something I do every single morning. Rhodie and Caunnie both went up the ramp and came in talking up a storm. I noticed that Caunnie now has a cracked beak (similar to Drama's) and her comb is bloody. It looks like she'll probably lose about 1/3 of her top beak. While I was cleaning Rhodie came up and bit the back of my hand. If she'd been a roo, she'd be dead meat about now. I put my hand over her back and kept her in a squatting position while I continued to clean out the poop, but she kept pecking at the cat scoop shovel. So I held the shovel over her back, again, keeping her in the squatting position - to make her realize that she is lower on the pecking order than my hand or my shovel.

Is this normal new egg-laying behavior? I also wonder if Rhodie beat up on Caunnie last night.

I have too much to do getting ready for a birthday party and three house guests. Like I need another chicken problem on my hands right now. I'm probably going to have to go buy blu kote.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Can you take a picture of the injury? I would pick up some infant vitamins (Poly Vi Sol drops) without iron and start giving each bird a drop a day. Sounds like, for some odd reason, you have some sort of vitamin deficiency in your flock. That's really odd because we feed our birds the same feed, but something is going on that's not right if your birds' beaks are breaking. See if you can snap a pic of the injury though.

 

[Sarmes]

I have LF Faverolles from Cloverleaf and will be hatching out wheaten and blue wheaten Ameraucanas this fall. Favaucanas next year (near Portland, OR)!

 

[FirewifeJess]

I have LF Faverolles from Cloverleaf and will be hatching out wheaten and blue wheaten Ameraucanas this fall. Favaucanas next year (near Portland, OR)!

Welcome!! I am totally in love with those breeds and might be contacting you for some day olds next year!!

 

[SadieSue]

I have LF Faverolles from Cloverleaf and will be hatching out wheaten and blue wheaten Ameraucanas this fall. Favaucanas next year (near Portland, OR)!

Aha! A Favaucana source! I'm wondering how Jeanine feels about this trend. Is it similar to breeding a nice purebred dog to another breed to make over-priced "designer dogs" with no real standard? Or is it different because it's chickens?

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: IMHO a mutt is a mutt wether it lays eggs or just sets and begs !!!

 

[FirewifeJess]

I've been out in the yard for over an hour cleaning up all the junk out there. The whole time Laya was following me around looking confused. I finally put her in the nest box where she's been for the last 20 minutes. She just keep rearranging and sitting in there, but hasn't left. I think she was wondering what she was supposed to do because she felt like she needed to lay an egg but she was out in the yard and didn't want to leave me or the flock to do her business. I hope it works!

Someone said my EEs would likely get much more personable once they started laying and I've found that true too! Thanks to whomever offered that tidbit

 

[Breshcandra]

I went out to scoop the poop out of the coop - something I do every single morning. Rhodie and Caunnie both went up the ramp and came in talking up a storm. I noticed that Caunnie now has a cracked beak (similar to Drama's) and her comb is bloody. It looks like she'll probably lose about 1/3 of her top beak. While I was cleaning Rhodie came up and bit the back of my hand. If she'd been a roo, she'd be dead meat about now. I put my hand over her back and kept her in a squatting position while I continued to clean out the poop, but she kept pecking at the cat scoop shovel. So I held the shovel over her back, again, keeping her in the squatting position - to make her realize that she is lower on the pecking order than my hand or my shovel.

Is this normal new egg-laying behavior? I also wonder if Rhodie beat up on Caunnie last night.

I have too much to do getting ready for a birthday party and three house guests. Like I need another chicken problem on my hands right now. I'm probably going to have to go buy blu kote.

I had heard that Rhode Island reds are not a very nice bird which is why I didn't get any. My cuckoo Marans Hen has pecked at me and she is mean and bossy to all the little ones (silkie) out in the coop. I hope its just her and not the breed.

 

[Chubby Chicken]

Eggs, natural bug control, and natural fertilizer for the garden are the three reasons we got chickens! I think my girls have done a great job with the back yard. I haven't seen any more of those nests back there since the chickens have been outside chickens. Unfortunately, the huge spider nest I had found (and actually broke down on my "no chemicals in the yard" rule and sprayed) was in the front/side corner of the house - and right under the boy's bedroom - the room were we found the spider this morning. That nest had babies - and it was in the vent that leads to the crawl space of the house. Now I'm thinking my husband will "get" to crawl under the house. I doubt he'll do it, we'll probably have to hire someone.

If you have ever seen a hobo spider wound, in person, it will change your fear levels of spiders. I used to pick up and carry spiders around ever since I was a little girl (my defense against my spider-phobe older sister. LOL!). But after seeing what happened to my neighbor's leg from the hobo bite, I have been terrified of the little buggers if they remotely look close to a hobo. It has been a few years, and she still has issues with the bite location. It's a bad, bad spider. The giant house spider and a female hobo looks very similar (they are actually cousins in the spider family) - so it is hard to know what is what without a microscope. My neighbors thinks the spider in question is a hobo, my husband thinks it is a giant house spider. I'm going to leave it to the lab to tell us.

I have seen a hobo spider. My sisiter got bit, and her whole leg puffed up. They look circular from far away. I grew up in Southern Oregon where there are also black widows and scorpions. My thing is snakes.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Our first 4 egg day!!! 3 Browns and a Green, laid by my RIR, 2 Buff Orps, and and EE. I'm so proud of my girls!