What's your chick story?

[bantambury]

Have you ever had a chick that has gone through so much????? write it here!!!! share your stories with others and hear new ones too!!!

 

[ariconnie48]

Once I got five Cornish x Rocks from Tractor Supply. At least they were supposed to be Cornish x Rocks. I noticed one of them was a lot smaller than the others. We also got 20 other meat birds of a different breed. I forget the name of the breed. As they grew, I started calling the small one ''Jumpy'' because she liked to fly out of the brooder. When they were full grown, Jumpy began to fly over the fence of the pen we kept the chickens in. She never at as muck as the others, and as they grew, she stayed small. When I saw White Leghorns, I noticed how much they looked like Jumpy. They had her white feathers, her big comb, and her small tail. The day they were supposed to be slaughtered, they were too small, so we kept them longer. We decided to keep Jumpy because she was so small, and wasn't growing too much. A little while after that, we knew she was a Leghorn. The meat birds, however also have a interesting story. When we rescheduled to have them slaughtered, we didn't here them come, and they left. After that, when we rescheduled, they all got slaughtered. Exept for Jumpy and two other meat chickens. Turns out, when they opened the gate, they all escaped. Jumpy was in the egg layer/pet chicken coop, and was no longer with the meat birds.When they escaped, they caught all the chickens, exept for four lucky chickens. Sadly, two of the chickens weren't so lucky and got caught. The other two, later named Lucky and Squawk, came back after they left. They were the other breed of meat chickens, so they were more healthy. They sure are lucky!

 

[bantambury]

Once I got five Cornish x Rocks from Tractor Supply. At least they were supposed to be Cornish x Rocks. I noticed one of them was a lot smaller than the others. We also got 20 other meat birds of a different breed. I forget the name of the breed. As they grew, I started calling the small one ''Jumpy'' because she liked to fly out of the brooder. When they were full grown, Jumpy began to fly over the fence of the pen we kept the chickens in. She never at as muck as the others, and as they grew, she stayed small. When I saw White Leghorns, I noticed how much they looked like Jumpy. They had her white feathers, her big comb, and her small tail. The day they were supposed to be slaughtered, they were too small, so we kept them longer. We decided to keep Jumpy because she was so small, and wasn't growing too much. A little while after that, we knew she was a Leghorn. The meat birds, however also have a interesting story. When we rescheduled to have them slaughtered, we didn't here them come, and they left. After that, when we rescheduled, they all got slaughtered. Exept for Jumpy and two other meat chickens. Turns out, when they opened the gate, they all escaped. Jumpy was in the egg layer/pet chicken coop, and was no longer with the meat birds.When they escaped, they caught all the chickens, exept for four lucky chickens. Sadly, two of the chickens weren't so lucky and got caught. The other two, later named Lucky and Squawk, came back after they left. They were the other breed of meat chickens, so they were more healthy. They sure are lucky!

wow!!! I love your story!!!

 

[bantambury]

Exactly 5 months ago, we began a new flock. We had gotten 7 eggs, one RIR, and 6 other eggs which we hoped were Americana's and Silkies.....but ended up with a mixed flock!!! As we began letting our black Australorp hen sit and brood them, she accidently crushed the smallest one the day she received them, and another never ended up hatching.

(one of the brown eggs is an Australorp egg)







weeks and weeks later, the chicks had grown and you could see all of their hearts beating and little veins moving. It was so touching to see my babies before they hatched!! Our RIR hatched, and we bought another silkie to go with him. The RIR ended up being a rooster and the silkie a hen. Here they were when little! Romeo Marshie.

Soon enough, my little babies began hatching!!! Ed was our first, hatching 5/29/1, an unknown breed, we found was a hen:




Ed was pecked on the top of her head by her mama, we don't know the reason for this, but we took her away and washed her wound and applied medicine. (you can see in the picture)

Cadbury was our second, our little jap bantam, we found was a rooster:




Cadbury was the only chick which turned out to be all right....ner pecked or anything!!! he looked so perfect to me. I loved him. so, I took him as my own and hamed him Cadbury.....to me, looking like one of those Cadbury easter chicks on the commercial! I even dressed him up for the occasion!!!

Eggy was our third who hatched, a little white silkie, we found was another rooster:




Eggy, was not babied well by his hatching mother, and fellow flock members. the chickens pecked the entire shell off of poor little eggy, leaving him in the inner shell membrane, in the open air. Eggy was not ready to hatch, but was forced to hatch without an egg on 5/29/13. We were not sure if he would live, being attacked by the flock, the egg being pecked off. We ended up opening the membrane up, to let it hatch without his egg. We fed this little guy propel, but his eyes were still closed, and he was still in his egg shape. Once he moved a bit out of a fetal position, he was still attached to the egg. He had a small piece of shell on his umbilical cord, slightly moving it we accidentally tore it away, beginning to loose a mass amount of blood (some you see in the picture) We cleaned it, putting medicine on and flour to stop up the bleeding. His strength slowly began to increase, but we would still have been surprised if he would make it. He did not do much laboring. We kept feeding it propel, hoping a little miracle would happen. One day passed, and this little chick was still not well. we did the same routine, feeding it propel, lifting its head, and diluting chick feed for him. We knew it would be a miracle if he lived. The next day, I woke up to the little bird gone from his fetal position spot. I began searching the brooder for him....but where had he gone?!?! I found him under my elder silkie chick's wing!!! He was all dry and running around!! he was a whole different chick. Because of all he had gone through, we named him Eggy.

Pumpkin was the last chick who hatched. Another unknown breed we had thought would be a hen. Here was little pumpkin: when pumpkin was hatched by our black astralorps, we had two hens who had gone broody, and would try to steal the eggs from each other. once pumpkin hatched, the other broody hen came to see her, and the hatching mom pecked her head on both sides, on her ears, attempting to kill her so the other mom could not take her. we instantly took pumpkin in to out little 'icu' brooder, and fed her propel (the same as eggy) to give her strength to live. we tried cleaning her wounds, and putting Neosporin on them. Once we went to tend to eggy, we had realized little pumpkin had died. We sat her on the outside of the brooder In a little tray, and began to rub its little breast bone; up and down, up and down. suddenly, little pumpkin sputtered to life! At those very minutes, two people had witnessed pumpkin die, and within 5 minutes come back to life by a little rubbing CPR. After pumpkin was about two months old, her ear wounds were healed, but she began to develop a lump, which was her deformed ear because of the pecking. her lumps grew outside her head, one bulge being bigger than the other. she is sensitive when you touch it, but it is soft if you do. We do think pumpkin is deaf, and she does get picked on by eggy, but she seems to be just as strong as the other chickens, and is very dominant!!! That is our story of little pumpkin, who died and came back!!!

Once the babies were old enough, we took them out of the brooder, then built a small pen for them I the coop so the big girls could get used to them.....


Three months later, and we let the little guys roam in the coop with the ladies...then came the fight. the RIR rooster got in a fight with our biggest hen, scrambled eggs. his comb ended up having a small cut on it, so we put him back into the tiny coop. all of the other birds then ganged up on poor pumpkin and pecked her. these chicken are three months old!!! you would have thought they would get along with 2 year olds!!! well, guess not. we realized we couldn't have these chickens together no longer, so ended up giving them to a friend, where they have happily loved for about three months now.

I have heard Australorp are great mamas.....that didn't even show with our birds. I thought this was rather strange.

well, soon the RIR rooster decided he wanted to get messy with Ed, so we turned him out. free range he went.

Now there are only 5 birds in our flock. they are all very small, bantam sized as a matter of fact. this leaves us with so much room in the coop! like room for 4 big birds and maybe a few other bantams!!! we hope to add a few to our flock soon, but since winter is just 'round the corner we are staying put with these birdies until they begin laying and the spring has come.

here's the gang!

Here is our small flock, Marshie on my shoulder, Pumpkin in my left hand. Cadbury between my legs, Ed on my knee, and Eggy in my left arm. Everyone is doing great, and are all happy. they love hanging in our backyard, and love to be photographed......especially Pumpkin, who loves to photo bomb!!!!
Yes. all of our birds are small, and bantam sized

Now our birds are about 6-7 months.....but having too mutts and a silkie we really have no idea when they will begin laying!!!

if any of you think you know the breed or possible mixes of either pumpkin or Ed, please PM me!!!

Ed
Pumpkin

~Bantambury