What did you do with your flock today?

[ChicksnMore]

Thanks @ChicksnMore !

Here's a picture of the crushed eggshell that was under the roost this morning. The way it's broken, being totally crushed from all sides, makes me think that it collapsed inside the chicken, then was expelled.

If it dropped intact and broke when it hit the woodchips, even if chickens pecked on it, I don't think it would be crushed all the way around, but still all in one piece. That's my theory, anyway.

Hopefully all the shards of shell stuck to the membrane and passed out.

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Never seen anything like it! Poor baby!

 

[kurby22]

I wish you had one of Nohope's boys too. It is a real comfort and does make it easier to cope with the loss. Strangely, I also find it oddly comforting that Ferdy hatched the day Sylv died, almost like he left me a gift. Can be a bit spooky when Ferdy gets angry and shouts "ning, ning, ning" at the top of his voice - exactly like his dad and a noise I've never heard another chicken make...

The way the lavender gene works in quail sounds a bit like Lavender Foal Syndrome in Arabian horses. Do both parents have to carry lavender?

They don’t, it’s an incomplete dominant trait like Blue in chickens. Two silvers make a weak white/cream colored bird that apparently is born with a weak heart and smaller organs and pink skin. There’s also a lavender gene they call lavender…so the ones I have are technically silver…and an Andalusian gene and they all look similar haha. Annoying genetics

 

[ChicksnMore]

Yeah, it’s a difficult gene! They call them silvers but it acts like the lavender in diluting all colors but white. It definitely carries weird issues with it! But they are beautiful! This is one of my boys when he was young
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Thanks, I’m really perplexed about her going missing :-( I just don’t understand how she could go missing like she never existed! No signs at all…

I also had one of the new baby chicks disappear. There’s literally no way it got out, they are shut inside the Cube nest box and there are no outlets and no chance for predators to get access either. So I’m thinking it may have died and was cannibalized?? It’s my best guess! I need to move them to a bigger brooder now that they’re all a week old…the lavender babies did not hatch with strong constitutions it seems :-( I have lost three of the 4 that hatched and the ones that died in the shell were lavenders too. I have one lavender left and the white one…and the rest are black or mottled. I know it’s for the best, but it still makes me sad :-(

That is a beautiful color

I wonder if a rat got a baby? I'm afraid I don't know much about rats to even know if that could be. Hoping Sia's simply living happily right down the street from you somewhere. I know it's not a strong possibility...but can always hope. If the fox got her while she slept, it probably was able to take her without a mess making struggle and carried her away.

 

[Shetland lover]

I think she's ok. Since all mine look pretty much alike (to my eye, anyway) I wasn't exactly sure which one it was after she was out of the nest and mixing with the others.

Yesterday afternoon I watched them for probably an hour looking for one showing signs of being egg bound. All were eating and acting normally, but there was one who's tail feathers were drooped down. That's the one I suspected of having trouble laying. No more eggs were laid through the rest of the day yesterday.

This morning at 5AM, there was one good egg in a nest, and a soft shell egg membrane under the roost. At 9AM there were 5 good eggs in the nest boxes, and a crushed eggshell, held together by the membrane laying under the roosting branch. I'm not sure how it got crushed. Maybe it crushed inside the pullet, then was passed out?

But all the pullets seem fine, are active and energetic, and I don't see one with a drooping tail now. Their butts all look clean, dry and fluffy. I'll keep watching for problems, but I think that if one was eggbound, it isn't anymore.

Your girls certainly sound as though nothing is really amiss now they have extra calcium and they're just working the kinks out of their reproductive systems .You're definitely looking for the right things and being observant. Good job

I used to panic Gladys was ill all the time until I learned that she often shows displeasure and annoyance by having a drooping tail. She swishes it like an angry cat. No idea if this is a 'thing' with other hens or not but i often wonder how I'll know if she's really off-colour!

Today Penelope had a very dirty butt so I gave a bath and a Brazilian. Ten minutes later she laid a perfect egg in my lap. An hour after that, she laid an egg with the thinnest imaginable shell. I doubt she's short of calcium, I think she's ovulating too rapidly. She's just turned two so I'm a bit concerned what the future holds for her reproductive disease-wise. I'm considering a contraceptive implant for her, which is the only thing i can think of that might help.

 

[Shetland lover]

Thanks @ChicksnMore !

Here's a picture of the crushed eggshell that was under the roost this morning. The way it's broken, being totally crushed from all sides, makes me think that it collapsed inside the chicken, then was expelled.

If it dropped intact and broke when it hit the woodchips, even if chickens pecked on it, I don't think it would be crushed all the way around, but still all in one piece. That's my theory, anyway.

Hopefully all the shards of shell stuck to the membrane and passed out.

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It's yolk you need to worry about. It can cause infection if it remains in the hen as it provides a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Hopefully she passed it with the broken shell and it was eaten.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Your girls certainly sound as though nothing is really amiss now they have extra calcium and they're just working the kinks out of their reproductive systems .You're definitely looking for the right things and being observant. Good job

I used to panic Gladys was ill all the time until I learned that she often shows displeasure and annoyance by having a drooping tail. She swishes it like an angry cat. No idea if this is a 'thing' with other hens or not but i often wonder how I'll know if she's really off-colour!

Today Penelope had a very dirty butt so I gave a bath and a Brazilian. Ten minutes later she laid a perfect egg in my lap. An hour after that, she laid an egg with the thinnest imaginable shell. I doubt she's short of calcium, I think she's ovulating too rapidly. She's just turned two so I'm a bit concerned what the future holds for her reproductive disease-wise. I'm considering a contraceptive implant for her, which is the only thing i can think of that might help.

Had no idea they had contraceptives for chickens! Amazing! Back when I used to have production breeds, we had the sweetest, most wonderful Easter egger that over layed too. I would have happily got her something like that just to keep her around longer.

 

[Shetland lover]

I put up a simple crushed eggshell dispenser for the pullets. I screwed it down to the board between oyster shell and grit boxes. I mixed some oyster shell in with the eggshells. Yogurt containers come in handy! Glad I save them all.

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I used another yogurt tub to freeze ice blocks that I remove and put in the waterers. The pullets have always shared a single auto-fill cup waterer with no problem. Today I added a second one, one chilled with ice and the other with just fresh, cold water.

I kind of believe what the Rent-a-coop says in their literature about the auto fill cups, that the water is deep enough in the cups that it helps cool chickens when their wattles dip into the water.

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Given that chickens cool themselves via the comb and wattles, it's probably true.
I have cup drinkers but Ferdy won't use them. He has to have a nipple drinker or drink out of a syringe when he's indoors. He can't bear wet wattles, strange boy!

 

[Smokerbill]

I gave a bath and a Brazilian.

A chicken Brazilian? Now I've heard everything!

It's yolk you need to worry about. It can cause infection if it remains in the hen as it provides a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Hopefully she passed it with the broken shell and it was eaten.

Gee, thanks for giving me even more to worry about. LOL

But seriously, thanks. I did not know that.

 

[Shetland lover]

Yeah, it’s a difficult gene! They call them silvers but it acts like the lavender in diluting all colors but white. It definitely carries weird issues with it! But they are beautiful! This is one of my boys when he was young
View attachment 3608331

Thanks, I’m really perplexed about her going missing :-( I just don’t understand how she could go missing like she never existed! No signs at all…

I also had one of the new baby chicks disappear. There’s literally no way it got out, they are shut inside the Cube nest box and there are no outlets and no chance for predators to get access either. So I’m thinking it may have died and was cannibalized?? It’s my best guess! I need to move them to a bigger brooder now that they’re all a week old…the lavender babies did not hatch with strong constitutions it seems :-( I have lost three of the 4 that hatched and the ones that died in the shell were lavenders too. I have one lavender left and the white one…and the rest are black or mottled. I know it’s for the best, but it still makes me sad :-(

They are stunningly beautiful little birds! It's such a pity they're not strong

Cannibalism seems a reasonable guess to me too. Ferdy and Penelope definitely cannibalized their only sibling that hatched, if not outright killed it, as when I found it, they both had blood on their beaks...

Pru actually sat on 15 eggs from Ferdy's hatch but several quit very early on (far too many for her to cover properly) and of the other 6 that didn't hatch, one was black and had managed to pip but got no further. The other 5, when I opened them to see what went wrong, were all lavender. 3 had pipped then quit, 1 had zipped and the other hadn't fully developed. Like you say, probably a blessing in disguise considering the possible issues with the gene.

The one that they killed was a black mottled just like mom and likely the only one of her actual babies.

I wonder what the losses are like for commercial lavender breeders? And if it's only a major problem with specific breeds? For example, are lavender Orpingtons as badly affected as your d'Anvers and the bantam Cochin seem to be?

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

There's a super short leg gene in chickens something like that.

What you are describing is called creeper gene, which makes the chicken's legs only carried centimeters from the ground. And the chicken breed with creeper gene that was used in wars is called Scots Dumpy. I find Scots Dumpies to be interesting, but would not get one because some individuals are nocturnal.