What did you do with your flock today?

[Potatofluffycheeksforever]

I have fourteen chickens I know all their names by heart and I don’t have them just for egg laying their my pets. I normally go to the coop every morning to feed them some treats and give them some pets. Sometimes I just sit in the coop and watch them for a little bit, their quite hilarious to watch

 

[TropicalBabies]

Hi. I’m new to this thread. Today was clean up day after some brutal T-storms. The entire run was soaked from sideways rain but the coop was dry so chickies stayed dry, too. My flock (17wk olds and 6week olds) did well with the storms, meaning no one died of freight and they seemed pretty normal in behavior today. No one seemed overly stressed or plucked by an unnerved roost neighbor.
I did some electric fence repairs and scrubbed out feeders from damp feed.
My sunflower garden got flattened with the wind so chickens got a special treat of broken sunflowers..I was growing for them anyway so winner winner, chickens dinner.
By late afternoon the wind was calm so I took the flock for their daily walk where they suddenly become brave foragers and fill up on tasty flying pests.
The whole flock (littles too) put themselves to bed at dusk without me bribing them.. count it as Day 1 and hope that becomes a trend. GN all!

Aloha and welcome to OP @frankiedoodles thread.
Wow! Good test and glad you and the flock weathered the storm with courage and grace. You sound like you have great energy! I love that you grew sunflowers for your babies now that's love lol.
Think you flock knows a good thing and will make you proud putting them selves to bed enjoy. Thanks for the story and hope you share more. Young flocks are so refreshing ♡

 

[kurby22]

You guys, I’m heartbroken Axel died overnight….did I kill him by worming him?

 

[TropicalBabies]

Well...she hasn't actually built it yet...lol.

That's a good looking machine there! Does it have a hatching area at the base?

Mine are rcom 20's too... can't remember if it's the pro. Mine has the universal rack rather then the rack with presized holes at any rate. I also wish I'd gotten the 50. Instead I ended up with 2 20's for probably more then 1 50 cost. But I paid for the second with the money I got this year from selling peas and ducks...so that's the bright spot in it...lol. And I got them on sale..but sale doesn't necessarily mean a good deal

That sucks on the battery back up. I have one Kimi's boss gave me and I love it. No idea what they cost or whats available in them though. We get a lot of power outages where we live. We have a generator but we use it mainly for the fridges and freezer.

I'm sure if I told you how much I spent on incubators you would feel awesome about your smart self and your good deals. I had been renting from my friend and researching incubators for myself for awhile and just about ready to hit the button and then the pandemic hit. We were already having troubles with our mail and feed stores were stopping bring chicks in because of fatalitie rates. We are small isolated isle so when I went to purchase the only one I could get was the rcom direct. I have to say, great service, got here quick and intact (almost a rarity lol). My darling husband even touched it and dumped the water out upside down!! It dried and appears to still be working great. I ofcourse could not (or did not... lol) form sentences for awhile...
So, this is my weird little hobby. I'm old and I like it. The horses seem to want to kill me so I gravitate to the chickens forsure lol

 

[TropicalBabies]

Thanks ladies for the encouragement and support! It always helps knowing I can vent to people who understand!

Today added new fun to my chicken flock’s day…I was sitting thru some boring meeting and brought my d’Uccle Lily in to keep me company and she pooped on me and it was almost ALL roundworms SO, after my meetings….everyone got wormer meds, we cleaned out the coops, and added vitamins to their water. SO disgusting My Fitbit said I burned 600 calories in one hour tonight, we were all exhausted . We wormed 30 chickens, I gave Betty White a bath, cleaned out four coops and added fresh bedding, poured lime and fresh straw in the runs, fed all the chickens and quail, collected eggs, and refilled all the waters. Soo much work!

On a positive note, Axel progressed a bunch today!! He’s not been outside in over three weeks, and he was going crazy trying to clean and itch. So I brought him outside while we did all the chicken chores and I set him in a small garden box without plants and poured dirt on him and worked it around in his feathers and then left him to enjoy the fresh air and dirt…and when I looked down at my feet he was walking very wobbly to me! Full on walking! He hasn’t walked in almost a month I was so proud of him and soooo relieved that the vitamins I’ve been shoving down him every day are paying off and that’s what he needed. Here he’s standing fully upright all on his own! He also ravaged three scrambled eggs tonight. Yay!
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The “wedgie twins” as we now lovingly call them, are doing alright today. They are happy in their little kennel for now and I think I will keep them there till they’re too big to fit back there anymore! @TropicalBabies I’m sure you’re right that they got spooked by some ridiculous thing like being looked at funny by another chicken…

@ChicksnMore your just girls trip sounds awesome!! We are going on a nice long road trip tomorrow! Up to Idaho to see my family and friends and The Chicks in concert. I don’t expect any spectacular views like @TropicalBabies has in her backyard, but seeing family and being home always feels good. @Luv Ducks i too hate going very long without seeing my family, and hate living so far away. I’m envious that you are so close to yours! I was only going to get my “start” in California and then move home to Idaho…and then I met my husband and now I’m stuck here till we retire! Axel is coming on the trip with us so he can keep getting treatment, so that should be an adventure haha.

And just for giggles…here’s Chloe being Chloe
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Oh my gosh would love to see The Chicks! Good fun. Glad Axel is having an upswing and I think it is an awesome idea that you take him with you. You can be one of those fun quirky families with a roo with a doo! I don't think you can hope someone else can give him the care he needs.
Well, have a blast and maybe next trip will be the GC for your view.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Ohhhhh boy, I really need to get better at checking this thread. :/

I admire your patience. A lot of people wouldn’t have been able to keep their cool in that situation, myself included. I’m glad all of your birds are okay, hopefully he doesn’t come back.

Thank you! Me too!

That’s so scary, I’m so glad you were able to find them!
I’m glad Axel is getting better. Did you ever figure out what was wrong? You said it might’ve been some sort of gangrenous dermatitis, right?

Thanks @Frankie D I am glad I did not as I think it would have gone in and out of his head and then he and his wife would have talked about the grumpy lady. So, I did not give him that and I did not say anything that I regret. BUT, I'm pretty sure they will be back. So I have heard they are Van Life people. They rented their van out and stayed at the tree house.

2 hippees, 2 babies, 2 big dogs and a kitten.
The tree house is as clean as I have ever seen it with blankets and cans of food.
The only thing that may change in this situation is me. I will be quicker to call DLNR and recall and call again. Heck, I'll call the mayor if there is a next time.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Well….I feel like public enemy #1. My chicks are still freaked out by me, and I’m sure it isn’t helping that I have had to keep checking them for pasty butt. 2 of them had it about 3 days ago. Nothing since but dang it. They have to be talking to my ducks and telling them horrible things . Really though the ducks haven’t had all the much human interaction. She was selling them so she wasn’t trying to get attached. So when ever I come by the older ones scramble around and spill their water everywhere, which of course they do anyway. The little ones will huddle in a corner and NOT MOVE very very still. I tell them all the time “I’m not hunting ducks”. I set there and talk to them but the littles ones still won’t move. The older ones will eventually calm down enough to lay down.

It has only been a day. I’m not counting the first cause we didn’t get them until about 5pm and I didn’t mess with them so they could calm down after a stressful day.

Yesterday I put them in the bathtub and let them swim and play. They had fun and it was so much fun watching them! But I tried to feed the older ones some lettuce and they weren’t going anywhere near me. You can see how quickly the water got dirty

Just have to do this little by little. Eventually, maybe, one day they will love me and know I’m not going to hurt them.

Man! I want ducks just so I can put them.in the bathtub like that just nothing cuter ♥︎♥︎♥︎
I have found favorite food bribes work wonders and the sooner the better so you no longer have to in a month. Bribe them early I say! Healthy bug snacks yum! I use mealworm and sumatra cockroaches and even sergeant fly larvae when I can get.

 

[TropicalBabies]

I have fourteen chickens I know all their names by heart and I don’t have them just for egg laying their my pets. I normally go to the coop every morning to feed them some treats and give them some pets. Sometimes I just sit in the coop and watch them for a little bit, their quite hilarious to watch

Hi @Potato2010 ! Welcome to @FrankieDoodle 's thread! Your flock sounds l o v e l y ♡ we love photo!

 

[Luv Ducks]

Well….I feel like public enemy #1. My chicks are still freaked out by me, and I’m sure it isn’t helping that I have had to keep checking them for pasty butt. 2 of them had it about 3 days ago. Nothing since but dang it. They have to be talking to my ducks and telling them horrible things . Really though the ducks haven’t had all the much human interaction. She was selling them so she wasn’t trying to get attached. So when ever I come by the older ones scramble around and spill their water everywhere, which of course they do anyway. The little ones will huddle in a corner and NOT MOVE very very still. I tell them all the time “I’m not hunting ducks”. I set there and talk to them but the littles ones still won’t move. The older ones will eventually calm down enough to lay down.

It has only been a day. I’m not counting the first cause we didn’t get them until about 5pm and I didn’t mess with them so they could calm down after a stressful day.

Yesterday I put them in the bathtub and let them swim and play. They had fun and it was so much fun watching them! But I tried to feed the older ones some lettuce and they weren’t going anywhere near me. You can see how quickly the water got dirty

Just have to do this little by little. Eventually, maybe, one day they will love me and know I’m not going to hurt them.

They are sooooo cute. It takes time to build up their trust. Mine start to trust me after they will see one of the friendlier ones coming to get the lettuce. I usually throw it for the flighty ones by my feet so that they have to come close to get it. They will come to love you. They know who their caretaker is. The other day I fell in duck pen trying to keep one of the drakes from having his way with an unwilling smaller hen. When I was down they both stopped and looked at me like, Okay, we'll stop, We Need You!!! lol It really was funny because they know I am their only caretaker and if I am down everyone else goes with me, lol.

 

[TropicalBabies]

You guys, I’m heartbroken Axel died overnight….did I kill him by worming him?

I hate to say I but that is a good possibility ☹ I'm so sorry @kurby22. If he was vitamin defficient... Do you think you have time to send him in to be tested so you can protect your flock and become wiser in some way? I'm really sorry I know you tried really hard with him and had high hopes for his future ♡♡♡
Think while worming you should take chook off of poultry vits as it is counter productive. Worm, yogurt for gut health the vits to rebuild ♡