What did you do with your flock today?

[LTAY1946]

I added some feeders to the flock and have added a few watering stations for them outside in the free range areas. The Dark Cornish and White Giant flocks are 16 weeks old today and showing more signs of hormonal development in the roos. Oh Boy, here we go again.

 

[Smokerbill]

I let them out of the run this afternoon so they could eat some fresh greenery and bugs and probably some things they shouldn't eat too. It was really windy, which I think spooked them a little because they hung around really close to the run.

After an hour or so I figured they had enough freedom for the day so I herded them back into the run. I guess they were ready because they pretty much went right back in.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

This week is starting off both in good ways and sad. We spent the past two weeks doing a lot of chicken/yard work, but I’m happy to say that the Cooplex is almost ready to finish, my porch no longer looks like a run down and messy wood shop, all my chickens are outside during the day, and the quail will be headed outside soon! My house feels like mine again, it’s sort of clean, and I’m figuring out what I need to make it more clean.

On a sad note, I decided it was time to find some homes for roosters that don’t fit the plans. They are like tiny band aid rip offs so Aria can handle the process :-/ So I started with Rolley since he was in rooster jail and then immediately went back to beating the crap out of Ruby and Aria was SOBBING. There’s no way we could say goodbye to Ruby, so we decided Rolley needed his own ladies somewhere else :-( I cried…he’s a really nice boy to everyone but Ruby
View attachment 3530074

And there was someone on my local Facebook looking for a rooster that was a guaranteed gentle boy because the last one they had was terribly mean and traumatized her children. So I thought it was a good time to offer one of my MANY bobtail roosters to her. This was VERY upsetting to Aria and took several hours to work through but I got her there finally.
View attachment 3530087
View attachment 3530089
View attachment 3530090
So we chose RooPaul to rehome because it’s going to be a free range boy and RooPaul is the darkest and most capable of being a tougher boy. George and Willie are wimps that love people and hugs The baby is too young so he wasn’t an option at all!

The sick babies have not gotten worse…but there’s hope for wry neck baby—who I decided to name Noodle Neck, or Noodle . I’ve been giving them both vitamin E and Selenium twice a day and fed them egg yolk yesterday. Noodle was actually keeping her head upright some and cleaning her neck feathers…so hoping the supplements will do some good
View attachment 3530095
This is a big improvement!

Today is the first day in I can’t recall how long, that we have nothing at ALL going on after work! So, I’m going to spend some time tonight sitting with the chickens and enjoying them instead of stressing over them for a change.

Oh Aria...the cries that seem to never end, the ache for yet another feather-baby! My heart hurts for her! She is one sweet luvin girl you have there!
Hugs to her
After all that is happened the past couple months here and as the grandkids get more attached to these feather-babies like Aria all my breeding dreams tend to diminish as goals and I just want the peace and joy of sharing another day with the sweet babies I've been gifted the past year!
I sure miss my Lizzie!
Hugs to your girlee for me - I'm so sorry you have to watch her hurt as you make these decisions for what's best for the flock.

 

[kurby22]

Oh Aria...the cries that seem to never end, the ache for yet another feather-baby! My heart hurts for her! She is one sweet luvin girl you have there!
Hugs to her
After all that is happened the past couple months here and as the grandkids get more attached to these feather-babies like Aria all my breeding dreams tend to diminish as goals and I just want the peace and joy of sharing another day with the sweet babies I've been gifted the past year!
I sure miss my Lizzie!
Hugs to your girlee for me - I'm so sorry you have to watch her hurt as you make these decisions for what's best for the flock.

I know, it's so hard to make these decisions when I have to look at that face every time She will need some hugs from everyone tomorrow when they come to get him. It's of course the only day this week the kids aren't in school so she will be here when it's time. I hope she is able to say goodbye without freaking the family out haha.

I am taking a much needed break from my goals and breeding and taking time to just appreciate them for a while. Yesterday I hung out with the teenagers and this morning I hung out with the general population flocks!

Also, this morning I checked on the sickly ones and Noodle Neck is almost back to normal and was drinking water on her own Milton (Aria named him haha) is still in much worse shape, but he does allow me to tuck his legs under him again. I'm not as hopeful about him but he has not gotten worse and still eats.

 

[kbroom]

Hello! This is a place to post pictures/talk about what you and your flock have done today.

I was on a zoom call earlier and Iris, my rooster, decided to stand behind me and crow repeatedly. Thankfully I was on mute, but it was still annoying. They couldn’t see him, but they could see me trying to make him quiet, which was a little embarrassing.
Here’s a pic of my boy with some mini roses.
View attachment 2128202

What about you guys? Have you done anything interesting with your flock today?

Here are a few pictures of my birds.
View attachment 2128859View attachment 2128860View attachment 2128833View attachment 2128869
View attachment 2128894

Oh I LOVE that rooster! He's got style, and he will NOT be denied! Your girls are so pretty too. Looks like they're very happy.

 

[kbroom]

Hello! This is a place to post pictures/talk about what you and your flock have done today.

I was on a zoom call earlier and Iris, my rooster, decided to stand behind me and crow repeatedly. Thankfully I was on mute, but it was still annoying. They couldn’t see him, but they could see me trying to make him quiet, which was a little embarrassing.
Here’s a pic of my boy with some mini roses.
View attachment 2128202

What about you guys? Have you done anything interesting with your flock today?

Here are a few pictures of my birds.
View attachment 2128859View attachment 2128860View attachment 2128833View attachment 2128869
View attachment 2128894

It started raining so badly that I had to grab my Golden Sex Link babies in their open run, and put them back into their safe, dry coop. My older birds just ran underneath their coop, where it was dry. I left their coop open, so they could jump up into it, if they wanted.

 

[Soujrnr]

The raccoons came a'calling again last night, but they will not get in. Three more eggs this morning, so that was nice. Not sure who is laying them though. We get white ones, light brown ones, and blue-ish ones. I am going to install a small Bluetooth cam across from the nesting box to see who is laying. I'm not sure if they are all laying or not.

Bought some new eight-grain feed (I think that's what he called it) for the girls today. He said the stuff sells like hot cakes to local chicken farmers, and our homesteading friends said the same thing. I think they have 40 chickens. We got our girls from them. We're having a blast!!

 

[LTAY1946]

Had a possum come calling last night but he left feeling not so good. All I had was a pellet gun but he at least has a sore spot or to after he took a couple for trespassing. I've been gone since very early until nap time this afternoon so not much time to spend chit chatting with the feathered kids today. Tomorrow is a new day with no appointments to interfere with quality coop time.

 

[PopoMyers]

The escapee and egg eater has been caught, wings clipped, and is in jail, penned up with Velma. Pikake has been out a lot lately, and this evening she was in the garden, had dug a dust bath while we were gone to dinner, and was eating my spinach. When I caught her with a net, closer inspection while clipping her wings showed me the egg yolk on her head. She's a BIG stinker!
They got to have all the arugula that was cut this morning, since they are in process of bolting and was a little bitter.
Did I say that yesterday I raked up all grass and coop shavings that the kids so happily mixed up. Hubby had been emptying the grass clippings in there, and I had raked out the bedding in the coop. Used it as mulch for the potatoes and onions. Some critter has been digging in the straw at night or early morning. Rat, or chipmunk? Maybe Sam will catch it.

@kurby22 , such a hard experience for sweet Aria to go through, but she will grow stronger through it. Glad you all got a break from the busyness to just enjoy the flock and family time.

 

[Smokerbill]

I had a little digging going on in my garden today too. Such is life.