What did you do with your flock today?

[629864]

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I don’t remember when I was last on here, so I’m sure I missed a lot. I was planning on catching up yesterday, and updating the thread on my babies, but I forgot. They’ve been going outside for the past two days, and they’re loving it. I think their favorite part about being outside is sleeping on my shoulder. They’ve wanted on there since they first realized they were allowed to climb on my arms.


I lost Papa Smurf today. I don’t know what happened. She was completely fine all day, but suddenly she was just dead. From what I heard (I didn’t go out to look) she wasn’t attacked or anything, and there wasn’t a single feather out of place. Mom found a slight prolapse, but I’ve had a lot of birds prolapse before with no issues, so idk.
I thought it was rat poisoning at first, but after some research I don’t think that would be likely. She wasn’t a tiny bird (4lbs) so it would’ve had to be a larger dose, and I’d imagine I would’ve seen signs before hand.
She was about 2 1/2yo, so I guess she was right around the heart attack age. I hate that I’ll never know what happened. : (

That’s the third bird I’ve lost in a little less than two months. It’ll be four when I eventually have to rehome Sonny. This year sucks.

I'm so sorry about Papa Smurf. That's do sad 1

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Oh I’m so sorry Papa Smurf was just so adorable I so feel for you about chicken losses, it really does suck! I’ve learned a lot of sad lessons about chickens this year…the worst being how fleeting some of their lives are…and how much it hurts to lose them :-( I’m glad you have the little chickens you made so you always have a way to remember her

Hey @FrankieDoodle I am so sorrry.. I have been concentrating on Puglsy he left the gonads at the Vet clinic yesterday. Doing very well.

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I'm so sorry about Papa Smurf. That's do sad 1

Thank you! She was a weirdo, but I love her. She had the best cheeks. Despite being half his size, she was almost as tall as Iris, and skinny as a toothpick. XD

A lot of people have been saying it was fatty liver disease. It’s still shocking to me, because there were literally no symptoms before hand. Earlier that day she was “growling” and pecking the other birds because they were all trying to cram on my lap, and then suddenly she was just gone. : (

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Today was the third day of Sonny and Cher being outside. They’re loving the dirt, and finally being able to run, fly, and dustbathe, along with all of the other normal chicken things. I’ve been bringing them out when I let the other birds out, and bringing them in when it starts to get cold and a little dark. By the time they’re back inside, the poor peeps are worn out and they haven’t complained about going to bed.

They love sitting on my shoulder. Now that I think about it, I haven’t had chickens that liked climbing on me this much since Papa was a chick. Earlier I had my hood pulled up, and both of them jumped on my head and took a nap. I’m glad they’re still so small, because that would’ve been really uncomfortable. XD

Sonny is really starting to confuse me. When I said he was starting to go red, it turned out it was only the lighting. He’s been getting slightly pink in the wattles after running and jumping (which, to be fare, my face also gets red when I do those things, lol), but his comb is huge. I’ve looked back at pictures of my previous roos around his age, and all of them were REALLY red at that point.

Here’s a pic of his face I got today. He’s about 5wo. The comb makes me say cockerel, but nothing else really screams boy to me.

As opposed to Beast, who was around 6wo in this pic:

And then Angel, who was around 5wo.

Looking back at pictures of Iris wasn’t very helpful since his comb is different, but even he was relatively pink at that point.

Idk, I bet it would’ve helped if they were all the same breed (or at the very least if I knew what breed Sonny is), but I still won’t hold my breath. I just really want to know sooner rather than later.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

I almost forgot. Today I started using some sort of drawing salve on Iris’ bumblefoot. I’ve never heard of it before so I have no idea if it’ll work, but my neighbor swears that’s what everyone in Poland uses and has a lot of luck with, so at this point it couldn’t hurt to try.

Lemme tell ya: this stuff is nasty. It smells “fowl” (hehe) and is a disgusting brown color. It’s thicker than Vaseline, but it’s just as messy. Thankfully I had the forsight to keep a towel on my lap and wear gloves, because it got everywhere. Iris doesn’t like having stuff rubbed in his feet, so the poor boy was pretty upset. I’m hoping it’ll help, because I’d hate to do this everyday for I-don’t-know how long, just for nothing. I don’t think he’d want that either, lol.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Still on the little dog here .. He is doing well bittwer apple should be here like monday or Tuesday then life can be a bit more normal.

 

[kurby22]

@FrankieDoodle Im glad that Sonny is showing some hope!! I think you will just have to keep it longer to see!

@pennyJo1960 I'm glad that the puppy is doing well!

My weekend was rather uneventful but lovely. The weather has been amazing and the chickens have been very happy—thus I have been happy! I made Puff enjoy it with me yesterday haha.

Also I made an interesting discovery that answered my frizzle question I had a bit ago! I contacted the breeder today to ask her a question about something else and showed her some pictures of them now that they’re all grown up and she told me they aren’t barnyard mixes after all! She is working on a project with her Marans…and she said they are all Marans from her project. So that explains why my frizzle lays Marans eggs! She also said that my mauve Orpington is probably not an Orp, but a mauve Marans. Aria Jr she said is a mauve splash Marans, and Ms Frizzle is a blue copper frizzle Marans! She said they all look slightly different because she’s still sorting through the genetics and the clean legged ones usually get sold as pets so that’s why they have various feathering amounts on their legs. She also said there’s a chance that Coco might lay an almost purple egg so that would be fun Anyway! She was a bit sad to see she’d sold them all for $5 each and didn’t realize that the frizzles were Marans! And on top of this news…I got 4 chicken eggs today and the quail are starting to lay again! Woohoo!

 

[room onthebroom]

@FrankieDoodle Im glad that Sonny is showing some hope!! I think you will just have to keep it longer to see!

@pennyJo1960 I'm glad that the puppy is doing well!

My weekend was rather uneventful but lovely. The weather has been amazing and the chickens have been very happy—thus I have been happy! I made Puff enjoy it with me yesterday haha.

Also I made an interesting discovery that answered my frizzle question I had a bit ago! I contacted the breeder today to ask her a question about something else and showed her some pictures of them now that they’re all grown up and she told me they aren’t barnyard mixes after all! She is working on a project with her Marans…and she said they are all Marans from her project. So that explains why my frizzle lays Marans eggs! She also said that my mauve Orpington is probably not an Orp, but a mauve Marans. Aria Jr she said is a mauve splash Marans, and Ms Frizzle is a blue copper frizzle Marans! She said they all look slightly different because she’s still sorting through the genetics and the clean legged ones usually get sold as pets so that’s why they have various feathering amounts on their legs. She also said there’s a chance that Coco might lay an almost purple egg so that would be fun Anyway! She was a bit sad to see she’d sold them all for $5 each and didn’t realize that the frizzles were Marans! And on top of this news…I got 4 chicken eggs today and the quail are starting to lay again! Woohoo!

I. Need. Purple. Eggs!

 

[kurby22]

I. Need. Purple. Eggs!

Hahaha I know! I would be SO excited!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Have to get you eggs basket colour here I get like 3 purple eggs every day

 

[629864]

Have to get you eggs basket colour here I get like 3 purple eggs every day

Photo please. I don't think I've ever seen a purple egg.