What did you do with your flock today?

[FrankieDoodle]

The birds got their last dose of dewormer on Friday, and then today I gave all of the flocks and the quail live mealworms. Everyone was really excited, except for maybe the quail. I don’t know how they do with snacks, but at least one of them doesn’t really care.
No pictures of them with the mealworms, but I did get some of Iris laying down.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Maybe after smudge gets done molting I will get his picture in all his glorry he is a handsome rooster

 

[TropicalBabies]

The birds got their last dose of dewormer on Friday, and then today I gave all of the flocks and the quail live mealworms. Everyone was really excited, except for maybe the quail. I don’t know how they do with snacks, but at least one of them doesn’t really care.
No pictures of them with the mealworms, but I did get some of Iris laying down.
View attachment 2839809View attachment 2839810

Man! He is stunning ♡♡♡ and looks like a total pal. Outstanding photo once again @Frankie.

 

[kurby22]

The birds got their last dose of dewormer on Friday, and then today I gave all of the flocks and the quail live mealworms. Everyone was really excited, except for maybe the quail. I don’t know how they do with snacks, but at least one of them doesn’t really care.
No pictures of them with the mealworms, but I did get some of Iris laying down.
View attachment 2839809View attachment 2839810

He is a beautiful boy!! I love all the rich colors! I have a pretty boy but he’s all one color…someday I need one like this!

I’m trying to work on integrating the young ones with my initial flock of 4 and it’s a slow process! I’ve done the look dont touch since they were 8 weeks, and I’m now doing short supervised time all together. It seems to go much better at the end of the day than in the morning. Today Fluff my bravest chick got stuck by herself and freaked out and started making this hilarious honking noise and flew on my shoulder. I’ve never heard a chicken make this sound. Poor girl i figure they need another 3-4 weeks of this before it will really work because they’re so much smaller than my boy. He’s gonna be 6 months and they’re only 11 weeks. Interestingly, he leaves the bantam Cochins alone. He also got after my Wyandotte hen when she tried to be a butt to the babies. He’s a pretty good boy, just wanna make sure they fight a fair fight! It’s very stressful! He was checking out their coop today though and did so nicely I can’t wait till I just let them all out together without needing to do separate run time! It takes a lot of my time!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Happy Aloha Monday all!
Well, back up with the main flock now. Picked up 200lbs of feed, scrubbed their waters, filled feeders and opened the run!

Photos of chicks this morning after their day out yesterday. Mom dropped a brick on 2 of them by digging underneath it. So glad I am super tuned into all things chicken and I sensed I needed to run out where I found them. Totally scary. Momma is a super excavator looking for bugs. Now they all are grounded and fed mealworms instead. Total miracle- both were fine, shocking.

Speaking of mealworms. I complained about grain mites in my bins a few months ago looking for some tricks to ease my pain.
What I ended up doing worked REALLY well for me. It was the bran from the beetles that I was having trouble with. Ya know, take the beetles out, put them in fresh mix to do their thing again and the left over bran has the worms and eggs in it. That one ended up getting mites after a few weeks when starting new worm bins, so my tiny worms got mites a few times. It was terrible and potentially a total toss job.
I decided to separate the buggy bins (moved them outside on the covered lanai) in a box)) and let them grow up enough, 2 months old at least, then I sifted and rinsed and put in fresh (cooked and frozen) bran in a cleaned container. Tossed old bran far, far away. Then I moved them to a quarantine spot for a few weeks + till I was sure it was a clean bin and all is well. I just had a huge harvest that almost got tossed and it was my 3rd success with growing out and washing them.

Just so ya know
I have been able to share respectable amounts of worms with friends along with chooks.

 

[kurby22]

Happy Aloha Monday all!
Well, back up with the main flock now. Picked up 200lbs of feed, scrubbed their waters, filled feeders and opened the run!

Photos of chicks this morning after their day out yesterday. Mom dropped a brick on 2 of them by digging underneath it. So glad I am super tuned into all things chicken and I sensed I needed to run out where I found them. Totally scary. Momma is a super excavator looking for bugs. Now they all are grounded and fed mealworms instead. Total miracle- both were fine, shocking. View attachment 2840768
Speaking of mealworms. I complained about grain mites in my bins a few months ago looking for some tricks to ease my pain.
What I ended up doing worked REALLY well for me. It was the bran from the beetles that I was having trouble with. Ya know, take the beetles out, put them in fresh mix to do their thing again and the left over bran has the worms and eggs in it. That one ended up getting mites after a few weeks when starting new worm bins, so my tiny worms got mites a few times. It was terrible and potentially a total toss job.
I decided to separate the buggy bins (moved them outside on the covered lanai) in a box)) and let them grow up enough, 2 months old at least, then I sifted and rinsed and put in fresh (cooked and frozen) bran in a cleaned container. Tossed old bran far, far away. Then I moved them to a quarantine spot for a few weeks + till I was sure it was a clean bin and all is well. I just had a huge harvest that almost got tossed and it was my 3rd success with growing out and washing them.View attachment 2840800View attachment 2840822View attachment 2840823
Just so ya know
I have been able to share respectable amounts of worms with friends along with chooks.

Oh my!! An actual brick? Dang, it’s a good thing you were so aware and helped the poor babies!

Your chickens are lucky to have such a good mom! I am not sure I will ever be able to raise live worms or bugs if any kind for them. It gives me the creepy crawlies! 🕷

 

[kurby22]

While it’s officially now Tuesday…I cannot sleep so it’s actually the longest Monday ever I haven’t felt very good all day and now I’m laying here trying to calm down my nerves from my evening fun. First I decided to do one more round of Elector PSP for the mites, which meant spraying down 19 chickens and leaving me wet and very dirty, and then when I went out tonight to tuck in the birds I found one of my handicapped quail with giant poop balls on her three main toes on the leg she doesn’t really use. :-( I feel awful I didn’t notice until it hadn’t gotten so bad! She’s such a trooper and acts normal so I just didn’t notice :-(

So, I brought her inside and spent an hour soaking her feet and slowly chipping away at the gross balls that I swear are like cement!! After an hour of this torture, I’d finally gotten all the poop off and she was bleeding from two of the toes where the toenail came off with the ball. :-( so then I had to put styptic powder on her toes! By now she’s all wet, bloody, and shaking from the cold wetness, as am I…not to mention all the bird poop in my fingernails! And yet she still just sat there and let me do what needed doing! Such a sweet little bird. I tried dealing with bumblefoot in a different little quail a couple months ago and the stress of it gave her a heart attack and she died in my hands. I now get super stressed out when I have to handle them for too long like this! I think once I get the new quail all moved outside she may come back inside and be my inside bird where I can keep a better eye on her poor little toes. She’s also my best and most consistent layer. Nothing seems to phase her! Ugh. Anyway, now I'm all wired and can’t sleep so I figured I’d share my fun with you all haha. Hope you’re all sleeping well!

 

[room onthebroom]

He is a beautiful boy!! I love all the rich colors! I have a pretty boy but he’s all one color…someday I need one like this!

I’m trying to work on integrating the young ones with my initial flock of 4 and it’s a slow process! I’ve done the look dont touch since they were 8 weeks, and I’m now doing short supervised time all together. It seems to go much better at the end of the day than in the morning. Today Fluff my bravest chick got stuck by herself and freaked out and started making this hilarious honking noise and flew on my shoulder. I’ve never heard a chicken make this sound. Poor girl i figure they need another 3-4 weeks of this before it will really work because they’re so much smaller than my boy. He’s gonna be 6 months and they’re only 11 weeks. Interestingly, he leaves the bantam Cochins alone. He also got after my Wyandotte hen when she tried to be a butt to the babies. He’s a pretty good boy, just wanna make sure they fight a fair fight! It’s very stressful! He was checking out their coop today though and did so nicely I can’t wait till I just let them all out together without needing to do separate run time! It takes a lot of my time!

Sorry about your stress.

When it’s time to introduce the newbies to the flock, try letting the new birds out into the yard about a half hour before you let the older birds out. It won’t stop the the dominance pecking (nothing will) but I find it lessens it.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Man! He is stunning ♡♡♡ and looks like a total pal. Outstanding photo once again @Frankie.

Thank you!

He is a beautiful boy!! I love all the rich colors! I have a pretty boy but he’s all one color…someday I need one like this!

I’m trying to work on integrating the young ones with my initial flock of 4 and it’s a slow process! I’ve done the look dont touch since they were 8 weeks, and I’m now doing short supervised time all together. It seems to go much better at the end of the day than in the morning. Today Fluff my bravest chick got stuck by herself and freaked out and started making this hilarious honking noise and flew on my shoulder. I’ve never heard a chicken make this sound. Poor girl i figure they need another 3-4 weeks of this before it will really work because they’re so much smaller than my boy. He’s gonna be 6 months and they’re only 11 weeks. Interestingly, he leaves the bantam Cochins alone. He also got after my Wyandotte hen when she tried to be a butt to the babies. He’s a pretty good boy, just wanna make sure they fight a fair fight! It’s very stressful! He was checking out their coop today though and did so nicely I can’t wait till I just let them all out together without needing to do separate run time! It takes a lot of my time!

Thanks!
He’s gorgeous! I adore your little silkie.

Happy Aloha Monday all!
Well, back up with the main flock now. Picked up 200lbs of feed, scrubbed their waters, filled feeders and opened the run!

Photos of chicks this morning after their day out yesterday. Mom dropped a brick on 2 of them by digging underneath it. So glad I am super tuned into all things chicken and I sensed I needed to run out where I found them. Totally scary. Momma is a super excavator looking for bugs. Now they all are grounded and fed mealworms instead. Total miracle- both were fine, shocking. View attachment 2840768
Speaking of mealworms. I complained about grain mites in my bins a few months ago looking for some tricks to ease my pain.
What I ended up doing worked REALLY well for me. It was the bran from the beetles that I was having trouble with. Ya know, take the beetles out, put them in fresh mix to do their thing again and the left over bran has the worms and eggs in it. That one ended up getting mites after a few weeks when starting new worm bins, so my tiny worms got mites a few times. It was terrible and potentially a total toss job.
I decided to separate the buggy bins (moved them outside on the covered lanai) in a box)) and let them grow up enough, 2 months old at least, then I sifted and rinsed and put in fresh (cooked and frozen) bran in a cleaned container. Tossed old bran far, far away. Then I moved them to a quarantine spot for a few weeks + till I was sure it was a clean bin and all is well. I just had a huge harvest that almost got tossed and it was my 3rd success with growing out and washing them.View attachment 2840800View attachment 2840822View attachment 2840823
Just so ya know
I have been able to share respectable amounts of worms with friends along with chooks.

Wow, I’m glad they’re okay! Those long legs are ridiculous. I love them! XD
I remember your posts about the mites! I’m glad you found something that worked to get rid of them. So far I‘ve been lucky enough to have minimal issues, but I’m definitely saving that information if/when something like that ever happens.

While it’s officially now Tuesday…I cannot sleep so it’s actually the longest Monday ever I haven’t felt very good all day and now I’m laying here trying to calm down my nerves from my evening fun. First I decided to do one more round of Elector PSP for the mites, which meant spraying down 19 chickens and leaving me wet and very dirty, and then when I went out tonight to tuck in the birds I found one of my handicapped quail with giant poop balls on her three main toes on the leg she doesn’t really use. :-( I feel awful I didn’t notice until it hadn’t gotten so bad! She’s such a trooper and acts normal so I just didn’t notice :-(

So, I brought her inside and spent an hour soaking her feet and slowly chipping away at the gross balls that I swear are like cement!! After an hour of this torture, I’d finally gotten all the poop off and she was bleeding from two of the toes where the toenail came off with the ball. :-( so then I had to put styptic powder on her toes! By now she’s all wet, bloody, and shaking from the cold wetness, as am I…not to mention all the bird poop in my fingernails! And yet she still just sat there and let me do what needed doing! Such a sweet little bird. I tried dealing with bumblefoot in a different little quail a couple months ago and the stress of it gave her a heart attack and she died in my hands. I now get super stressed out when I have to handle them for too long like this! I think once I get the new quail all moved outside she may come back inside and be my inside bird where I can keep a better eye on her poor little toes. She’s also my best and most consistent layer. Nothing seems to phase her! Ugh. Anyway, now I'm all wired and can’t sleep so I figured I’d share my fun with you all haha. Hope you’re all sleeping well!

I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. I can’t imagine how long it must’ve taken to spray all the birds.
Poor girl! She looks like a sweetheart.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Oh my!! An actual brick? Dang, it’s a good thing you were so aware and helped the poor babies!

Your chickens are lucky to have such a good mom! I am not sure I will ever be able to raise live worms or bugs if any kind for them. It gives me the creepy crawlies! 🕷

I'm sure your love for your chickens will override your creepy crawlies. When they look at you with those cute faces it's hard to deny them anything ♡
I actually REALLY enjoy raising the mealworms. As gratifying as getting eggs maybe.