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Keeping them warm through the winter is mostly a matter of providing adequate shelter. As long as they can be fully enclosed and out of the weather, they do fine (or so I've been told). You could manage that with a proper porchy coop for sure! I've also heard of people using spot heat lamps to provide extra warmth through the cold days (and to encourage year-round laying).
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Aug 3, 2018 02:26
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| # ? May 19, 2024 18:38 |
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Vertical video trigger warning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGHeDlvtTo8
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Aug 3, 2018 14:27
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Gotta get my birds some watermelon.
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Aug 3, 2018 16:02
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McGiggins posted:Gotta get my birds some watermelon. Ours love it as well, but if Pip has too much she gets the squits. 
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Aug 3, 2018 22:16
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Captain Log posted:Ok, I have some questions.... I lived near Tacoma. It snowed. My quail did not give the slightest gently caress and literally rarely used their hides.
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Aug 4, 2018 00:12
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I lived near Tacoma. It snowed. My quail did not give the slightest gently caress and literally rarely used their hides. Huh, I'll be damned. It's not going to be soon, but I think I'm going to set up a coupe.
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Aug 4, 2018 03:03
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my quail handle temperature extremes just fine, better even than the chickens - just make sure they have dry grass to nest in and they'll do the rest it feels irresponsible to encourage more people to get quails because they'll break your heart, but they are so entertaining that i can't not encourage you 
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Aug 4, 2018 09:04
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avshalemon posted:my quail handle temperature extremes just fine, better even than the chickens - just make sure they have dry grass to nest in and they'll do the rest A good friend that lives near me (and also works at a parrot store) just got two. I think I'll live vicariously through her for the time being. They are so tiny and easily alarmed, it's adorable. Also, seeing something about as aerodynamic as a potato fly makes me laugh.
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Aug 4, 2018 20:54
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Had to put one of my new hens down over the weekend, my original birds attacked her. The other new one still has respiratory problems, but my baytril should be arriving today. Do you guys have problems introducing one new bird at a time to your flocks? I had them all in a dog kennel with a divider all week so they could get acquainted, but I guess it didn't work. Someone else mentioned to me that they only integrate groups of birds instead of one at a time.
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Aug 6, 2018 14:33
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Here's how I introduce my birds: I make sure everybody's wings are trimmed, there's shitloads of food and water, and throw the bird in there around midnight. I've had 0 problems. E: this goes for singles or groups.
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Aug 6, 2018 20:53
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Here's how I introduce my birds: I make sure everybody's wings are trimmed, there's shitloads of food and water, and throw the bird in there around midnight. Your birds must be nicer than mine, cause they went fukken ape poo poo on the new bird. I had been keeping an eye on them for a few days and it was just some occasional pecking, but I went to take a shower and when I came back it was a bloodbath.
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Aug 6, 2018 21:01
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Ghostnuke posted:Your birds must be nicer than mine, cause they went fukken ape poo poo on the new bird. I had been keeping an eye on them for a few days and it was just some occasional pecking, but I went to take a shower and when I came back it was a bloodbath. Was it day time or night time
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Aug 6, 2018 21:13
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It was day time. I tried the sneaking them in during the middle of the night thing too, I assume she was fine during the night but when I came to check the next morning she was huddled in the corner and getting pecked. After that I tried the kennel with the divider.
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Aug 6, 2018 21:46
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Ghostnuke posted:It was day time. I tried the sneaking them in during the middle of the night thing too, I assume she was fine during the night but when I came to check the next morning she was huddled in the corner and getting pecked. After that I tried the kennel with the divider. Weird. Usually they just go "oh huh" and just don't even notice. What are you keeping right now? Any chance she was a polish or something that looked Extremely different?
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Aug 6, 2018 22:46
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Weird. Usually they just go "oh huh" and just don't even notice. What are you keeping right now? Any chance she was a polish or something that looked Extremely different? I've got a Barred Rock, a Rhode Island Red and a Black Sex Link, the new one was a Brahma. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the new one was weak somehow and they smelled it on her. The other new hen that I got from the same place has a respiratory infection so who knows what kind of poo poo birds they were selling.
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Aug 7, 2018 13:44
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When I got my three chicks, two red and a black, I introduced them to the first batch of two older juvenile red birds I bought (let them see them, etc) and once I started leaving them together full time the largest of the two older reds always bullied the then-juvenile black one, but left the two young reds pretty much alone. I always yelled at her when she did it and she seemed to get over it within 2-3 days, but other than repeated pecking and sort of ~hustling~ on top of it, she never really got super aggressive and I just assumed this to be dominance behaviour, or perhaps that the hen was simply racist. It is very unfortunate to hear that your birdy got murdered, but these birds are somewhat independant creatures that sometimes just kill things they see. I've seen adult hens and roosters hunt down and literally eat mice, while they happily sun lounge next to a red belly black snake the next day. No doubt there is a reason they killed your hen, but that doesn't mean it would make sense to us or even that they really had a reason at all beyond that she was new and they didn't recognize her. I can't really see you having done anything wrong here. In slightly happier news, I now have three hens laying concurrently whose eggs I can find, possibly more (will have to go garden spelunking). All attempts at caging the hens have failed, as they have seemingly found the ability to almost literally fly out of it (it's a homemade construction with no roof), and I am thus resigned to having them sleep at the top of my front door stairs until a proper containment facility can be constructed or purchased. Much poop is cleaned off of the stairs every weekend. McGiggins fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Aug 7, 2018 |
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Aug 7, 2018 14:44
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I just feel like I'm roundaboutly responsible for her death since I put her in there. I'm picking up a smaller wire frame crate today that will fit inside my coop. From now on all new birds will stay in that crate for a number of weeks until everyone is friends.
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Aug 7, 2018 14:47
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A good precaution. Again, you had no reason to suspect a bunch of stupid, feathered morons would take issue with a different feathered moron.
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Aug 7, 2018 16:03
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Ghostnuke posted:I've got a Barred Rock, a Rhode Island Red and a Black Sex Link, the new one was a Brahma. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the new one was weak somehow and they smelled it on her. The other new hen that I got from the same place has a respiratory infection so who knows what kind of poo poo birds they were selling. Ah, not a feathered head but feathered feet. That difference is significant enough to make birds stupid.
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Aug 7, 2018 21:19
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Ghostnuke posted:I just feel like I'm roundaboutly responsible for her death since I put her in there. I'm picking up a smaller wire frame crate today that will fit inside my coop. From now on all new birds will stay in that crate for a number of weeks until everyone is friends. It's ok, poo poo happens. Don't let it bother you for too long.
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Aug 8, 2018 17:15
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My chickens like to sleep in a pile at night for some reason; they're 9 weeks old now. It's not because they're cold as we've had really hot nights this summer, and they have roosts and know where they are, as they get up there in the day sometimes. But come nighttime they all just pile up by the coop door in a big chicken puddle.
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Aug 8, 2018 22:16
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My chickens used to sleep in a corner puddle. They're ex-batts so I'm not sure they really knew how to or were able to roost for awhile. Then they suddenly started roosting together one night. Every once in awhile, they'll puddle up in a corner again for a night.
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Aug 8, 2018 23:13
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Mine have roosts, nice built in ones. But they use the roof trusses instead.
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Aug 9, 2018 13:21
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Ours have several options for perches and roosts and nesting boxes and invariably the little dumbasses end up snuggled on top of the milk crate in the corner, every single night.
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Aug 9, 2018 15:35
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Glad to hear mine aren't the only ones! Hopefully they'll make the switch at some point. Love those little guys and gals.
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Aug 9, 2018 18:08
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Took our three hens to the vet this morning for a general check up and beak trim. As ever chatted with the vet, who despite having a superb job and lifestyle (avian / reptile specialist, has taught in zoos, does marathons and iron man events, poo poo loads of stuff with his equally ultra fit and dynamic second wife who was his childhood sweetheart in South Africa) is jealous of the fact I am paid to take photos and video people / events. Anyway, even before I put Molly on the examination table he said, "I'm going to Bratislava this evening and I've done something to my camera and it won't focus. Can you fix it?" By the time he brought Molly back in I had worked out he'd somehow remapped the focus function from the shutter button to a back one (didn't help it's a Canon camera and I only shoot Nikon, so I had no idea of Canon menu structure, but sorted and explained it and exposure compensation for him). Anyway, the point of this story is Pip, Piper & Molly got a clean bill of health and he didn't charge for one of the consultations as I sorted out his camera problem. One month today, we're bringing home two newly rescued hens.
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Aug 10, 2018 12:23
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That was really really nice of your vet.  MEANWHILE IN QUAIL LAND I'M SO EXCITED!!  Idk who laid it or when but I'm so proud of her and so glad to finally see an egg.
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Aug 11, 2018 15:17
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Try offering it to your birds, and reap the sweet sweet reward of their confusion. (And canabalism.)
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Aug 11, 2018 22:58
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Not chickens, but still awfully drat cute. AP photo.
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Aug 12, 2018 00:22
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 Two days, two eggs! We're on a roll! Oh, and someone pecked a hole into the brain pan of her sister quail, leaving an ugly wound that doesn't look fatal but did produce a giant, thick, gross-looking scab. That quail's now in isolation. I'm hoping she'll be okay, but I guess it's a wait-and-see sorta thing. I couldn't clean up the wound very well without disturbing her new dried blood hat and maybe causing greater harm. Maybe there'll be another egg tomorrow!
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Aug 12, 2018 18:35
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"I got a couple of eggs and one quail tried to eat the other" is the most quail to ever quail and I love it.
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Aug 12, 2018 19:39
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^^^ you crack me up We decided to name her Treppy. She seems completely fine, aside from her scab hat.
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Aug 13, 2018 12:48
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Good news: my chickens have started roosting at night. Bad news: ... in a tree, outside.
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Aug 15, 2018 22:19
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Better than the alternatives, to be sure. On the otherhand: 
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Aug 15, 2018 22:25
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McGiggins posted:Better than the alternatives, to be sure. That bird of your swallowed a balloon.
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Aug 15, 2018 23:05
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Aug 16, 2018 00:11
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Lost another one of my girls today.  No idea why either. She was totally healthy as far as I can tell. Found her stiff as a board, not a mark on her.
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Aug 16, 2018 01:30
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 FIRST EGG! Did the usual thing where I let them out in the morning, give them a treat, and then check the nest boxes...and for the first time ever there was an egg in them! It's probably one of the Sussexes who did it, since they're the oldest, but hopefully this means more to follow. 
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Aug 16, 2018 01:43
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Ghostnuke posted:Lost another one of my girls today. I'm sorry to hear that.
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Aug 16, 2018 02:42
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| # ? May 19, 2024 18:38 |
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I'm sorry about your loss, Ghostnuke. Yet the circle of poultry life keeps spinning. One bird dies, another lays eggs. Here is Waffles lurking in the straw moments before Goofus waltzed over to tell her about the food I'd just put out. She left that nest real quick when she learned she could be eating! 
my cat is norris fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Aug 16, 2018 |
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Aug 16, 2018 02:54
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