What’s the deal with you chicken people??

[scyllarus]

Oh, I can talk you back out of quail, too. They're super cute, especially as tiny babies, but they grow up in 9-12 weeks and then you have to deal with teenage quail...and quail scalp each other.

Yes, you read that right. No, I don't mean like "they pick each other bald", though some do. I mean "bloody horrific wounds." I mean "oh my God, do I need to put this poor animal out of its misery????" And...usually no, they heal up just fine. But let me tell you, it's stressful orz

Also no, quail and chickens don't get on. The size difference, but more seriously chickens can carry illnesses that kill quail.

 

[z3lda3]

Oh, I can talk you back out of quail, too. They're super cute, especially as tiny babies, but they grow up in 9-12 weeks and then you have to deal with teenage quail...and quail scalp each other.

Yes, you read that right. No, I don't mean like "they pick each other bald", though some do. I mean "bloody horrific wounds." I mean "oh my God, do I need to put this poor animal out of its misery????" And...usually no, they heal up just fine. But let me tell you, it's stressful orz

Also no, quail and chickens don't get on. The size difference, but more seriously chickens can carry illnesses that kill quail.

Scalping?? Dang I didn’t know those cuties could be so vicious! Yes yes that absolutely helps with talking me out them. Scalping…

 

[scyllarus]

Scalping?? Dang I didn’t know those cuties could be so vicious! Yes yes that absolutely helps with talking me out them. Scalping…

I honestly feel like nothing that chickens do to each other can upset me. Feather plucking? Eh. Overbreeding? Eh. Roos fighting? Eh. I've had to nurse scalped quail back to health, it's fine.

 

[z3lda3]

I honestly feel like nothing that chickens do to each other can upset me. Feather plucking? Eh. Overbreeding? Eh. Roos fighting? Eh. I've had to nurse scalped quail back to health, it's fine.

Is it just the boys? Or a general quail thing?

 

[scyllarus]

Is it just the boys? Or a general quail thing?

It's mostly the roos, but sometimes hens can get cranky and go after another bird. My favorite hen, Pudding, was done with our first roo's BS. To be fair, the roo was a very bad roo, so we were actually kind of cheering her on as she chased him furiously around the cage and pecked him for a solid ten minutes before we took him out of there.

 

[BDutch]

My chickens have another hour left of sunlight, but they always go to bed at 7 on the dot. Like, why!?

View attachment 3825883

Ignore Pox's naked back. Yes, she is a roo favorite, but I also watch her eat her own damn feathers since no store around me has been able to keep the high-protein food in stock. I need to see if I can snag a bag tomorrow.

I don’t think its the food. In the Netherlands the amount of protein are way lower as the US. 14.5 - 16.5 % is normal here. But feather pecking is not an issue with most BY chickens here.

There are many reasons why chickens start feather pecking. Itching (healing wound or lice), getting bored (no entertainment, not able to scratch for food), stress (cramped, too many chickens or roosters, little hidings) etc. And when one chicken has taken such habit it’s difficult to stop it. No guarantee after changes for the better. But it might work.

Imho, you should take action to give the poor hen a chance to heal. Put the roo some time in a seperate coop out of sight. Or several changes for more personal space.

 

[BDutch]

The shavings during winter rime for doing the deep litter method costs me the most, though. $8 per bag, and I never order less than 7 bags in a haul, and sometimes all 7 bags go in immediately (depending on what the temperatures will be in the coming week), so I need to make almost weekly orders. Chickens are crazy expensive if they are mine.

I would consider to change this expensive habit before next winter. Make a poop board under the roosts, and daily pick up the poop from a thin layer of sand, or put cardboard on the poop board and change that weekly.

 

[KayisforKale]

I would consider to change this expensive habit before next winter. Make a poop board under the roosts, and daily pick up the poop from a thin layer of sand, or put cardboard on the poop board and change that weekly.

It has nothing to do with poop. It has to do with minimizing their living space so that their body heat can effectively warm their coop without requiring added heat. Our winter temperatures get well below -20°F regularly, so I need the coop to stay somewhere around 0°F or higher, if I can get it higher. During their first winter, we had a real-feel of -50 to -75°F for 3 days (and it remained in the negatives for about 2 weeks after that), and that is what lead to my rooster developing frostbite. Try as I might, the cold will penetrate the wood of the coop when it gets into the negatives, so I try to off-set it with the deep litter and their own body heat, which worked wonders this past winter, when their coop never went lower than about 7°F. I have no problem spending the money, hence why I do it.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

I was too late! Z3lda is infected with the.. ahem..

Quailobsessionofcutenessoverload-virus-flu

 

[NatJ]

Try as I might, the cold will penetrate the wood of the coop when it gets into the negatives, so I try to off-set it with the deep litter and their own body heat, which worked wonders this past winter, when their coop never went lower than about 7°F. I have no problem spending the money, hence why I do it.

Why do you need so many bags of shavings every week? Are you taking them out and replacing them, or putting a new layer on top of the previous ones?