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Lynza posted:We put the Littlies (they're nearly grown, but not laying yet) in with the Harsh Bitches last night. The Harsh Bitches lived up to their name, and pulled a lot of feathers out of my poor Martha. Any suggestions on how to get these babies integrated better? They've been in the same pen sharing the same space for a month now, but two of the HBs chase them occasionally and try to pull out feathers. I don't know. I know Im not helpful but my integration went pretty smooth. The oldest 2 just kind of went "Who are these bitches?" and kept going about their business. Try adding multiple roosts to the coop and run so they can get away and can roost away from the bitches, just make sure they are lower. Then when they are big enough they can demand their place on the big girls perch.
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Aug 22, 2013 22:54
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Agggghhhhh, the Yosemite fire has been vomiting smoke into our valley nonstop since 1PM. The air quality is now 189, 'Unhealthful' and is expected to worsen over the next few hours. We already have all the animals in the house EXCEPT the chickens, which I was hoping to avoid. But guys, it looks like I'm gonna have 50 chickens in my dining room here pretty shortly. KILL ME.  Edit: Just to make things EXTRA hilarious, I've spent the last two days deep cleaning the dining room & living room. Fate is a twisted bitch. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 01:30
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Agggghhhhh, the Yosemite fire has been vomiting smoke into our valley nonstop since 1PM. The air quality is now 189, 'Unhealthful' and is expected to worsen over the next few hours. We already have all the animals in the house EXCEPT the chickens, which I was hoping to avoid. Cam? We demand video of 50 chickens in a dining room
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Aug 23, 2013 01:33
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VS's pain is our gain.
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Aug 23, 2013 01:38
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TIM THE ENCHANTER - THANK YOU for the great pictures! Your critters are just adorable. Again, thank you Tim!  VS, did you say 50 chickens! Oh my!
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Aug 23, 2013 01:52
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CAM! Or 50 chickens in the house didn't happen!!!  VS and 12_String, please put the cam out so we can see them!!!!! 
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Aug 23, 2013 02:25
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Inveigle posted:CAM! Or 50 chickens in the house didn't happen!!! Quoting this. Cam or it didn't happen.
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Aug 23, 2013 02:42
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Well for now it isn't happening, but we're checking them every 20 minutes or so. For now nobody looks in distress and the mister we put out there seems to be helping to keep the particulate crap down. But yeah, if we bring them in we'll set out the cam. Finding them all places to roost would NOT be a joy and they'd no doubt be leaping on my dining room table willy-nilly. I can only imagine the breakage. I, on the other hand, would sell my own grandmother for an albuterol inhaler right now...
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Aug 23, 2013 03:48
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Velvet Sparrow posted:I, on the other hand, would sell my own grandmother for an albuterol inhaler right now... Do they have inhalers on Amazon? Order a few for Saturday delivery.
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Aug 23, 2013 04:12
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I will proudly admit to watching the chickam hatch every year, so I would love to see 50 chickens in a house! But for sanity's sake I hope they get to stay outside. Here's another photo of my little chicken family.  I'll be sad when they are big enough to go in the run with the grown chickens, but I won't miss the smell in the kitchen.
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Aug 23, 2013 06:04
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Lenswork posted:I will proudly admit to watching the chickam hatch every year, so I would love to see 50 chickens in a house! But for sanity's sake I hope they get to stay outside. 
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Aug 23, 2013 06:15
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I do worry about those little knobheads and think they need little protective helmets while they get introduced. This is an excuse to get tiny helmets for chickens.
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Aug 23, 2013 07:03
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SynthOrange posted:I do worry about those little knobheads and think they need little protective helmets while they get introduced. Duly noted. You can find someone who makes anything on etsy you know
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Aug 23, 2013 07:14
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Inveigle posted:Do they have inhalers on Amazon? Order a few for Saturday delivery. Prescription only unfortunately. I pay the copay and buy an "extra" inhaler off somebody with insurance every few years rather than pay the $50 prescription + $$appointment cost. I guess that makes me some sort of criminal but it seems ridiculous to pay that much money to breath easier a few times a year. Lenswork posted:Here's another photo of my little chicken family. Awwww I can't wait to see what those little poof helmets turns into. Any more pictures of broody-mama? She's speck-tacular. That's a wonderful picture.
MisterOblivious fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 08:38
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Lenswork posted:I will proudly admit to watching the chickam hatch every year, so I would love to see 50 chickens in a house! But for sanity's sake I hope they get to stay outside. I'm on the bandwagon, this is just too cute for words! 
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Aug 23, 2013 12:18
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Here's another one from yesterday that shows off mama's plumage pretty well. The chick with her is Chaos (I named the cotton ball heads Order and Chaos) And this one shows off her beard, from about 1.5 weeks ago when Blue wasn't half her size.  I'll have to get one of her hunkered down for the night with the chicks soon. I call her Battleship Chicken because she has 3 extra heads poking out of random spots.
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Aug 23, 2013 16:22
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Lenswork posted:Here's another one from yesterday that shows off mama's plumage pretty well. The chick with her is Chaos (I named the cotton ball heads Order and Chaos) Lenswork: These photos are just too adorable! They're nice enough to make greeting cards from...I think it's the lovely backgrounds, but also the shots have excellent compositions/colors and your chooks are particularly photogenic! Please take lots more photos (chicks are only young once) and share as many as you like! You KNOW we love chicken pics and the more the better! Tim the Enchanter: As usual, your chickens are so beautiful! They're such wonderful little feathered meatballs. They're all bantam Cochins, right? Thanks for posting the photos! 
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Aug 23, 2013 20:43
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48...49...50. In my dining room. Cam will be up shortly. No one is happy, including me.
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Aug 23, 2013 23:52
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 You guys going to be okay?The chickens better worship the ground you walk on after all this trouble.
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Aug 24, 2013 00:41
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The Chickam cam is working intermittently, but here's the last thing I saw before the cam went down. 12_String is trying to fix it now. VS's worst nightmare below. FIFTY CHICKENS IN THE DINING ROOM!
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Aug 24, 2013 03:00
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Walking pillows, so many walking pillows. It is glorious!
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Aug 24, 2013 19:29
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That would be a hell of a house to live in. Chaos, chaos everywhere. Having ten chickens here on 2 acres seems busy enough, but 50 in such a small space. . .wow. Some random photos and a video. Clubfoot has been broody for the last two weeks, sitting on seven eggs. Remains to be seen if anything will hatch.  Coop has now been fully upgraded and ready for winter. Put in a bunch of insulation, as well as a removable roosting bar and two removable floorboards. The floorboards are covered with $0.39 vinyl self-adhesive tiles from Home Depot. The idea here is that it'll make it easier to clean. Just take out the floorboards and scrape into the garden or whatnot.  Interior view:  Rumble, one of the two Wyandottes.  Ravage, the other one.  Dumpling's crows have been getting a lot longer and more boisterous. I enjoy the hell out of it. 
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Aug 25, 2013 00:03
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The Rat posted:That would be a hell of a house to live in. Chaos, chaos everywhere. Having ten chickens here on 2 acres seems busy enough, but 50 in such a small space. . .wow. Thank you for sharing. Dumpling is very handsome! Your hens are beautiful!
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Aug 25, 2013 01:02
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Ducks are lazy.
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Aug 25, 2013 14:31
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unprofessional posted:Ducks are lazy. Alright, that is too much cuteness there!
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Aug 25, 2013 14:54
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Velvet Sparrow posted:I, on the other hand, would sell my own grandmother for an albuterol inhaler right now...
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Aug 25, 2013 17:01
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While I think it's somewhat charming that my chickens would prefer to roost on our back porch rather than their coop, I'm getting a little tired of hosing the chicken poo poo off our steps every night. Is there anything I can do to make them prefer their coop? Also they apparently would rather roost in the corner of the run than in the coop up on the log. Stupid birds.
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Aug 25, 2013 17:23
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Uhhhh... I have 4 hens. I found 5 eggs today. 4 around noon and another one just now, I'm so confused.
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Aug 28, 2013 01:21
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We get that a lot, actually. Every so often we get 5 eggs from four hens. Don't worry. It's really unlikely there's a changeling. Really unlikely.
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Aug 28, 2013 01:42
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Uhhhh... I have 4 hens. I found 5 eggs today. 4 around noon and another one just now, Your hens are trying to gaslight you. Pretty soon they'll change it up--sometimes there will be 7 eggs, sometimes 4, other times 2 1/2, than the random banty egg will appear... Chickens are tricky. 
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Aug 28, 2013 08:21
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Your hens are trying to gaslight you. Pretty soon they'll change it up--sometimes there will be 7 eggs, sometimes 4, other times 2 1/2, than the random banty egg will appear... Sonic demonstrated that quite well.
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Aug 28, 2013 08:33
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OMG OMG OMG WE HAVE CHICKS I saw this one and another little black one when we were going to shut the chickens in for the evening. Tomorrow we will go buy some chick feed and a heat lamp. My vague idea is to set the heat lamp in an old dog house for them and mama, and let mama stay with them and all that. We have a wire cage enclosure we can put in front of the dog house so that they can get out and stretch a little, but will keep the others from getting too inquisitive. Does this sound like an okay plan? I've never had newborn chicks before so I'm still in the throes of /
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Aug 30, 2013 03:14
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Yay! Congrats on the new babies! You know we want all of the pictures of the chicks. My chicks are also my first, and they are set up in their own space with mama. At first we had a heat lamp just in case, but if the mom is a dedicated one, the lamp is unnecessary. I turned mine off pretty quickly because it just made them too hot. Blue is now 29 days old, and has lost most of the cute baby down and has only a few of its first feathers. Awkward baby!  And glamour shots of my "twins"   Chaos has a beak that is half black and half white. Order has a lot more black on the face and a messy topknot from crawling in an empty watermelon half. Edit: Yeah, me and my roommate keep thinking it's a little roo too. Oh well, I've got a few months of enjoying his company before he starts crowing and I have to figure out what to do with an extra rooster I've gone full crazy over and can't bring myself to eat (We don't raise any for meat right now anyway). Lenswork fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 03:25
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^^^ I STILL call rooboy on Blue, BTW. Chaos & Order are so very cute, Polish chicks have that look of contant consternation on their faces.  The Rat posted:OMG OMG OMG WE HAVE CHICKS Yes on the chick feed, they cannot and should not eat regular chicken ration. I'd go with medicated feed to guard against Coccidosis. Make sure they cannot drown in their waterer--put some marbles in the trough until they are about two weeks old. If you give them goodies like fresh fruits & vegetables, dice them into tiny, beak-sized bits. My chicks loved scrambed eggs. Giving mama goodies to call the chicks over to is an adorable thing that will melt your heart and is not to be missed. If your daytime temps are above 50-60 degrees or so and nights much the same, I doubt if you'll need a heat lamp. Protect them from drafts tho, which can kill. Above all, protect them from predators and vermin! Make SURE they cannot slip out through the wire where mama cannot protect them (especially from the other chickens) or that anything can either slip in or knock down the enclosure. Mama cannot be everywhere at once and babies have no worldy-wise savvy yet. Mama by the way looks mondo fierce and not to be messed with. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 03:49
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Thanks for the tips! Given what you're all saying and what I've read, it looks like the heat lamp won't be necessary at this point. I'm in Colorado, so it gets down to the 60s at night lately. Do you think the chicks will be grown enough in a month or so when it starts cooling off, or should I go about getting a heat lamp then? I never planned to go totally retarded about chickens, but at this point they've got their claws so far in me that I can't help it anymore.  And yeah, Clubfoot has been the angriest chicken lately. Any attempt to get near is met with bristling feathers and that gently caress OFF purr noise. Today she even pecked at us when we tried petting her.
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Aug 30, 2013 03:53
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Pecks means they need even more cuddling!
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Aug 30, 2013 03:58
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^^^ This. Growling broody hens are way too fun to scritch on the neck, coo at and in doing so be made to growl even more while you giggle like an idiot.The Rat posted:Thanks for the tips! Given what you're all saying and what I've read, it looks like the heat lamp won't be necessary at this point. I'm in Colorado, so it gets down to the 60s at night lately. Do you think the chicks will be grown enough in a month or so when it starts cooling off, or should I go about getting a heat lamp then? Eh, play it by ear. Depends on how cold & windy it gets in a month. Lenswork just posted that pic of Blue at 1 month old, so you can see that while they do have feathers, they aren't completely feathered in and don't have the fat reserves quite yet. Also the first suit of feathers doesn't have a lot of fluffy body feathers in most breeds unless they are Cochins or Silkies. None of us really ever intended to go full retard over chickens, it just always happens. Hell, we even try to warn others, to no avail. Inveigle and piscesbobbie are perfect examples. They are lost souls already before they even HAVE chickens.
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Aug 30, 2013 04:01
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The Rat posted:OMG OMG OMG WE HAVE CHICKS Eeeeee! Post more pics of broody, angry Mama hen-battleship with little chick heads poking out! Ahahaha! Check out that derpy little tail! All your chicks are so adorable, even in their awkward phase!!! As VS says, yes, I do love chickens! I also have a huge fondness for owls and hummingbirds. I've always been interested in bird behavior.
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Aug 30, 2013 17:35
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So my girls were outside the other day and I went inside and suddenly heard a distressed sounding noise from them. I ran back otuside and saw a hawk circling low around our trees. As soon as I got outside all 4 of those dumb hens ran up to me and leaned against my legs and started bawking up a storm as if saying "There you are you stupid rooster, DO YOUR JOB and get rid of that thing." Well the hawk didnt find me an easy snack (what with me outweighing it by roughly 200 lbs) and chose to go elsewhere. The hens then immediately decided the coast was clear and wandered off, glaring at me with their judgemental beady eyes and probably declaring me unfit to be a real rooster since I was so negligent. I have to watch it letting the dumbs out though if there is a hawk that big in the neighborhood.
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Aug 30, 2013 18:15
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| # ? May 19, 2024 18:52 |
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Inveigle posted:Eeeeee! Post more pics of broody, angry Mama hen-battleship with little chick heads poking out!  Relocated them to a new, more spacious living area this morning. Out of the seven eggs that Clubfoot was brooding on, two have hatched, four are as of yet unhatched, and one looks like it was a premature birth or something like that. Out of the two baby chicks, the mostly-black one has feathered feet, so it's just about a certainty that Dumpling (black banty cochin) is the father. The lighter colored one has four toes and not five, which precludes Tetrazzini (hideous yellow silkie) from being the father. Which means Fuckin' Whitey (hugeass white leghorn) is the father. That asshat who dipped out of here two weeks ago without even leaving a forwarding address for child support. Typical. The Rat fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Aug 31, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 18:23
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