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Armed Neutrality posted:Are my chickens broken? Aside from mealworms, chopped egg white, scratch and feed they seem awfully picky. Apples, cabbage, no luck.. If they see you eating it, they may get interested and try to steal it from you. that's how my younger niece lost a pancake (she was teasing the chickens by dangling it over them), and my mom had her tostada and a fried bean taco stolen from her in two different occasions 
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Feb 23, 2013 08:38
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Armed Neutrality posted:Are my chickens broken? Aside from mealworms, chopped egg white, scratch and feed they seem awfully picky. Apples, cabbage, no luck.. Try them on softer fruits & vegetables, such as chopped grapes, tomatos, plums, melons, etc. The apples & cabbage might be too tough for them, depending on their age...how do they feel about fresh leafy greens? Mine love egg YOLK and go for that first. Also scrambled eggs.
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Feb 23, 2013 10:16
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I'm getting so pumped about these chickens. They ship on Monday! Rudimentary chicken target training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUNj4UdSTQI
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Feb 23, 2013 13:45
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Chido posted:If they see you eating it, they may get interested and try to steal it from you. that's how my younger niece lost a pancake (she was teasing the chickens by dangling it over them), and my mom had her tostada and a fried bean taco stolen from her in two different occasions Mine stole my tasty peanut butter corn thin and sprinted around in circles grabbing it off one another and freaking out. They also sit under the pony's head when he's eating his bucket of chaff and gobble up any bits that fall out of his mouth! They definitely love squishy food the best. Kali and Alecto completely ignore fresh cucumbers, but horrible melting cucumbers are fantastic - especially split open so they can get at the seeds. I've tried feeding them fresh apples and pears, too, but they weren't very interested at all, until they've had enough time to sit and decompose. They also seem to appreciate having the more unwieldy things held in place for them while they eat. That could be me spoiling them, but it's worth it to see a happy chicken neck deep in a cucumber. 
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Feb 24, 2013 12:43
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I'm going to go eat a sandwich hunched inside my chicken coop and see what happens.  Further tests indicate my chickens like cooked rice and popcorn. I threw in some endive leaves but they seemed to sense that I had pocket full of mealworms so they weren't too interested in those. I think they liked things chopped up small.
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Feb 24, 2013 13:01
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I remember during Chickam 2011, Velvetsparrow tossed the young chicks their very first greens. The baby chicks were all "meh" and stomped more on the greens than eating them. 
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Feb 24, 2013 15:42
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We saw some feral chickens on Coco Cay during our cruise, but they were too quick to get photos of. There was a very pretty red cockerel with black tail feathers, some dark gray hens, and one white hen with black freckles on her butt. They were sneaking in and stealing the bits of fruit people were tossing to the iguanas
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Feb 24, 2013 18:30
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Nothing much smarter than wild chickens!
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Feb 24, 2013 20:43
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:Mine stole my tasty peanut butter corn thin and sprinted around in circles grabbing it off one another and freaking out. They also sit under the pony's head when he's eating his bucket of chaff and gobble up any bits that fall out of his mouth! I wonder if your chickens like the alcohol in the decomposing fruit.
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Feb 24, 2013 22:53
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Armed Neutrality posted:
Our chickens adored dried crushed peas soaked overnight in water. Cheap, available in bulk, and the birds love them.
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Feb 24, 2013 22:59
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unprofessional posted:Rudimentary chicken target training:
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Feb 24, 2013 23:02
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I posted this in BYC and i'll post it here too. It's about Baba.quote:I'm worried about this hen i got. I've had chickens for 2 years now, and I've seen most of my chickens go through their molt for the first time. There is this hen, though, that worries me. We got get from the feed store as a pullet last september and she's been a pretty good later. thee thing is, she's over a year old, her back is bare because of my rooster, but on the 5-6 months she had a saddle on, she never grew feathers back. The other hens did. I don't know what do do with Baba. She's always been odd and her eggs weird, and I don't know why she still won't molt and has been losing weight. Everybody has been dewormed and she does eat treats like the little predator she is, so I'm not sure why she's so thin. She doesn't seem to be too interested in her pellets now, though. Does this sound like she might molt soon, or she may be sick?
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Feb 25, 2013 00:13
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Chido posted:I don't know what do do with Baba. She's always been odd and her eggs weird, and I don't know why she still won't molt and has been losing weight. Everybody has been dewormed and she does eat treats like the little predator she is, so I'm not sure why she's so thin. She doesn't seem to be too interested in her pellets now, though. Does this sound like she might molt soon, or she may be sick? I was watching a youtube video last night about keeping your chicken coop clean and how to avoid disease. (This video was totally over-the-top and was meant for people who raise hundreds/thousands of chickens. They spent a LOT of time washing stuff off with disenfectant.) Anyway, one thing the video mentioned was that chickens who lay soft or oddly-shaped eggs might be sick. 
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Feb 25, 2013 00:39
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My chickens were super weird about treats when they were babies. By the time they hit laying age though they would try almost anything I put in front of them (and honestly I only gave them treats once a week or less, so it didn't take much). They are especially fond of peanuts and cherries. Somewhere I have a video of them jumping for peanuts. Last summer when I was sitting on the porch pitting the cherries we'd just picked they kept jumping up on my lap and stealing cherries from the pitter. Annoying, but pretty cute. Our Wyandotte has just decided to start laying again! Straight into one egg a day for the last 5 days after nothing for ~3.5 months. She was the first to stop, around late October. The others (Easter Eggers) didn't stop until some time in November but they haven't started up again yet. We didn't provide them with any supplemental heat or light but they've done a great job handling the winter. Other than deciding not to molt until mid-December. That was just silly.
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Feb 25, 2013 00:55
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Inveigle posted:I was watching a youtube video last night about keeping your chicken coop clean and how to avoid disease. (This video was totally over-the-top and was meant for people who raise hundreds/thousands of chickens. They spent a LOT of time washing stuff off with disenfectant.) Anyway, one thing the video mentioned was that chickens who lay soft or oddly-shaped eggs might be sick. Baba's eggs were never normal ever since she started laying, so I don't know if they are now a symptom or unrelated. she hasn't laid in a few days either. I'm getting a big order of mealworms on tuesday and I'm gonna give her as many as she wants to eat to increase her protein intake. I gave her a whole scrambled egg which she finished, so I'm gonna ask the girls to help me giver her more food and treats. Hopefully that'll help, if not, I'll take her to the vet later in the week.
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Feb 25, 2013 01:00
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Chido posted:I posted this in BYC and i'll post it here too. It's about Baba. Is she acting lethargic or at least more lethargic than normal?
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Feb 25, 2013 01:01
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Geokinesis posted:Is she acting lethargic or at least more lethargic than normal? A little, although she perks right away if I have treats in my hand, and runs like the little raptor she is to come get food.
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Feb 25, 2013 01:13
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Chido posted:I posted this in BYC and i'll post it here too. It's about Baba. I'm sure you give your girls plenty of calcium...Is she getting enough food with Vitamin D in it to help her absorb calcium? Dark, leafy greens or something like cod liver oil has loads of Vit D... Here are a couple of lists of poultry disease, check the symptoms and see if anything fits...although what you describe fits for external parasites (though I KNOW you have the cleanest chickens around!): http://cleancoops.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=34 http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/dissymp.htm http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/diseases.html http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disproto.htm http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/disfungi.htm Has she been broad-spectrum wormed and sprayed externally for mites recently (when and with what)? Any other symptoms? Is her comb red & plump or shrunken and pale?
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Feb 25, 2013 09:31
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I dewormed the flock about a month ago with the dewormer you mentioned to me last year and followed the instructions from your website . I cleaned the coop today and didn't see any indication of parasites. none of the other chickens show any signs of mites, and I've checked Baba to see if she has anything, and her skin and remaining feathers seem ok. I didn't see any mite colonies, eggs, or anything at the base of her feathers, and her comb is bright red and plump (with the usual scabs because she's dumb and never gets the warning signs from the head hoes, and keeps eating their food when the hoes aren't finished yet). She's lost a lot of feathers around her cloaca too, but still I haven't seen any signs of external parasites in there. I didn't think of her not getting enough greens because duh she has full access to the backyard, but the grass is pretty dry right now  . I'm gonna buy some spinach tomorrow along with cucumbers and zucchini to giver the flock; I tried giving them broccoli but they weren't interested in it .What was the name of the powder I can use for external parasites again? It wasn't DE, but I remember either somebody mentioned here (or maybe BYC) about a powder I can use to dust my chickens to help with parasites. I'm also glad I'm getting a resin shed to use as coop, it'll make it much easier for me to clean and even spray it with a bleach/water mix to disinfect it much better than my current crappy coop. Also Baba perked up quite a bit after eating the egg. It was kinda windy and cold this afternoon so she was still a bit fluffed up and standing in one side of the run since she's half bald, but she was alert and ran to me for more treats. I gave her some ham and she ate the whole slice. I'm gonna buy a bit of ground beef tomorrow too to increase her protein intake, and with the mealworms I ordered on Friday and that will arrive on Tuesday, I hope it's enough to get her body better. I've haad these chickens for almost 2 years no and there's still so much i need to learn 
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Feb 25, 2013 10:21
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My chickens are shipping TODAY! 
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Feb 25, 2013 14:25
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There is nothing cuter than a box full of baby chicks =)
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Feb 25, 2013 15:50
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Hey guys, looking for a bit of help here. I'm teaching a poultry class next month at a DIY fair and although that's nothing new its been years since I've done so and I only have about 45 minutes. My question is, is there anything specific you would want to see covered in detail? What was the hardest thing for y'all when you got started? I'm generally covering: housing, nutrition, and health/biosecurity. With a few minutes for selecting poultry to meet your needs and open FAQ. So as you can see time is kind of tight and I'm having a hard time cutting it down to the essentials so I thought I'd goon source some help.
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Feb 25, 2013 17:38
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Chido posted:I dewormed the flock about a month ago with the dewormer you mentioned to me last year and followed the instructions from your website Are you thinking of Sevin? It's an insecticide powder basically--wear long sleeves/gloves/eye protection and a mask, it's a fine dust that is easy to breathe, especially when applied to a struggling chicken. Worm/dust EVERYONE, including the coop/nests/roosts, paying attention to little cracks & crevices where little crawlies like to hide. You did two rounds of wormer about 2 weeks apart to catch hatching worms, right...? Also, for non-parasite issues such as respiratory/fungal ickies, Oxine has gotten fantastic reviews. It's non-toxic to people & birds and can be sprayed on birds and their housing: http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm Can you post a pic or two of Baba, especially her bad-looking areas?
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Feb 25, 2013 17:44
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Tempting Fate posted:Hey guys, looking for a bit of help here. I'm teaching a poultry class next month at a DIY fair and although that's nothing new its been years since I've done so and I only have about 45 minutes. Urban chicken keeping is HOT right now, maybe a bit about the return of backyard flocks? The government really pushed people to keep victory gardens/small backyard flocks during WWII, and self-sufficiency is making a huge comeback these days. Tons of people blog online about it, and loads of people keep backyard flocks, including celebrities--Bette Midler and Helen Hunt both have backyard chickens Urban chicken keeping is another issue--people trying to get city regulations changed to allow a hen or two in city yards. Mad City Chickens are supporters of chicken-y rights: http://madcitychickens.com/ The hardest thing for me when I started keeping my own flock in '95 was the total lack of info online when it came to emergencies/health. While that has improved over the years with more people sharing info and experience, there is still a big information hole. Common misconceptions about chickens (ack, Bird Flu! Filthy animals! They'll peck my eyes out! My aunt had a rooster that would chase me as a kid, so ALL roos are evil assholes!) is another thing. The fact that most people don't even know that a hen can lay eggs with or without a rooster present, but that you NEED a roo in order to have fertile eggs, etc. is startling--people understand their own reproductive process but for some reason chickens are confusing to them. So maybe a section on 'Dumb Questions'?
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Feb 25, 2013 17:54
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Good points Velvet Sparrow, I hadn't thought of a common misconceptions thing. Yeah pretty sure urban chicken keeping is the reason this class is being offered so trying to tailor towards that and local ordinances in mind for housing portions. (Also discussing ducks as an option for people that may want more eggs than can be provided by the three chickens you're allowed to have locally since there's no regulations about waterfowl.)
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Feb 25, 2013 18:15
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Chido posted:A little, although she perks right away if I have treats in my hand, and runs like the little raptor she is to come get food. Well hopefully if you give her some vitamin supplements as suggested she'll perk up. If not one thing I can think is that one of my hens was becoming a bit more lethargic and a bit thinner, I dewormed, checked/treated for parasites etc etc everything and was stumped. Luckily there is a vet locally knows about chickens who had a look at her, unluckily it turned out she had growth inside her abdomen which had been causing the problems and she had to be put down. (Rip Janet )
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Feb 25, 2013 19:21
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VS, have you picked out this year's ChickAM picks? There's Pekin if you can find them...Wikipedia posted:The Pekin is a breed of bantam chicken. Shorter than the ordinary bantam, they are often only 20-30 centimeters tall (with head upright) and their feet and legs are completely covered by their feathers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekin_%28chicken%29 http://everything-poultry.com/the-pekin-bantam-chicken/
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Feb 25, 2013 19:46
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Not sure what is specifically in your presentation but here is what I would have loved to know when I first started: Symptoms of illnesses and how to treat them. Parasites and safe treatment. Please also mention that you should never use any ointment/medicine with an ingredient that ends in 'caine' the Neosporin with pain relief is toxic as well. A list of what foods are toxic to poultry and no serving of mouldy crap that died in your fridge. Using telfon coated light bulbs is also fatal. (fumes) Proper set up of a brooder (HEAT LAMP SAFETY) - I tie every piece of the lamp together and use the guards for the bulbs) and proper nutrition (Scratch should not be a primary source) How a crop works and why crushed granite & oyster shell are necessary. As for protection, even though I live in nowheresville, the worst predator is other people's dogs. When I lived in the city - right on a highway, I had a young hawk kill two chickens before I could put up netting. If netting isn't possible, hang shiny CD's or crinkly plastic shopping bags or a scarecrow. Basically all the crap that can go wrong that no one tells you until you have dead chickens.
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Feb 25, 2013 20:09
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Here is a video of my 5 Black Copper Marans enjoying some plain yogurt. Yes I know the run is too small for all of them, but they get yard time when it isn't wet and soggy. We'll be building them a larger run in the next few weeks, but it's been raining almost every day this month and I can't work with powertools in the rain! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU_gOtXF3EA The 2 roos try to crow in the mornings when I get them out to the run, and I have been encouraging them by crowing with them and giving praise when they get one out. Does that seem strange to anyone? My inlaws don't want to hear it and so far they haven't, I think it will be so faint they won't notice from where their home is on the property. But I love to hear them crow, it's a wonderful sound.
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Feb 25, 2013 20:13
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I'm going to trade fertile hatching eggs with a woman here in town who has a light Brahma roo and a golden laced Polish roo, her girls are Polish, light Brahma, Buff Orp, Wyandotte, Leghorn and Buttercup. So there should be a nice mix purebreds and mutts, which I love.  Getting eggs locally also may help with our high altitude issue with hatchability...we'll try some of our own girls' eggs as well now that they have had a chance to acclimate and settle in.Vaga42Bond posted:VS, have you picked out this year's ChickAM picks? There's Pekin if you can find them... Pekin Cochins (I know, some people call them Pekin Bantams) are my absolute favorite chicken, far and away. I find them incredibly sweet and to be huge cuddle monsters, even more so than Silkies. Also they LOVE to be mamas and make awesome mothers. Boots is a 10 year old Pekin, my last one since Moet passed:  She never fights with the other chickens, except for two occasions--once when I brought in a new Sultan hen and for some reason they squared off for the first 5 minutes (then ignored each other after that), then about two years ago when she (along with three other hens) was broody and they were out group dustbathing...and a small Sharpshin hawk made the supreme mistake of diving on them. The rear end kicking they delivered on that poor hawk like the wrath of Hell itself was stunning. The broodies held it down and the rest of the flock joined in before it could get away. I tried to hatch some Pekins last year and paid a high price for 6 eggs by mail...only a couple started and they quit on me within days of incubation.  I'm working on dropping hints & losing all dignity and outright publicly begging Tim the Enchanter for eggs. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Feb 25, 2013 |
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Feb 25, 2013 20:45
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There's a ton of stuff I don't really know about chickens. We have a fox running around in the evenings but he doesn't seem particularly interested yet, I think I'll reinforce the closed run anyhow. I think they're ok for the time being, they have a small enclosed chicken wire run that a determined fox could admittedly get through easily enough, but I shut the coop door at dusk too. We've got hawk type predator birds, but I hope my chickens are too big to be of interest. I'm very thankful that we don't have raccoons, when I was a kid growing up in the US we lost chickens to them constantly. Unfortunately that's all I remember about chicken keeping from back then. Ha, that yogurt is a loving mess, I've got to try it.
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Feb 25, 2013 20:56
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Velvet Sparrow posted:I'm working on dropping hints & losing all dignity and outright publicly begging Tim the Enchanter for eggs. Take the hint Tim the Enchanter, take the hint.
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Feb 25, 2013 23:28
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Are you thinking of Sevin? It's an insecticide powder basically--wear long sleeves/gloves/eye protection and a mask, it's a fine dust that is easy to breathe, especially when applied to a struggling chicken. Worm/dust EVERYONE, including the coop/nests/roosts, paying attention to little cracks & crevices where little crawlies like to hide. You did two rounds of wormer about 2 weeks apart to catch hatching worms, right...? I did , because I can't afford taking the chickens to the vet all the time, I try my best to make sure they are healthy so I can use my savings for chicken emergencies. I was kinda expecting baba to have issues eventually because she's never laid a normal looking egg since she started laying, and we'll... She's pretty dumb even for chicken standards. I get the feeling she's very inbred. I'll post pictures when I get home. Btw posting from a phone sucks.Edit: picture time. Poor bald Baba. the white stuff on her beak is cottage cheese. She loved it and ate like two big spoonfulls of it. I offered spinach and cucumber, drat bird only ate the cucumber. I left the spinach outside on a brick for whoever wanted to eat it. It's broken in pieces so They'll be able to eat it easily. I'm also gonna add it to the scrambled eggs I've been giving them so she can't avoid eating some.   The only wing feather that has grown so far.  Chicken butt with broken feathers    Bonus Roo squeezing inside the rabbit crate, and getting out.  
Chido fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Feb 26, 2013 |
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Feb 25, 2013 23:32
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Hyper J posted:Here is a video of my 5 Black Copper Marans enjoying some plain yogurt. Yes I know the run is too small for all of them, but they get yard time when it isn't wet and soggy. We'll be building them a larger run in the next few weeks, but it's been raining almost every day this month and I can't work with powertools in the rain! LOVED your videos,all 4 of them! Inveigle has a video on youtube channel Celestialomnibus of Bloop trying/learning to crow. HILARIOUS! Thank you for sharing your videos. I'll beg for you too VS - pretty pretty please TIM THE ENCHANTER, VS needs some of your eggs, pretty pretty please.
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Feb 26, 2013 04:20
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piscesbobbie posted:LOVED your videos,all 4 of them! Inveigle has a video on youtube channel Celestialomnibus of Bloop trying/learning to crow. HILARIOUS! Thank you for sharing your videos. LOL. Thanks Piscesbobbie. The video of Bloop (in VS's living room) practicing his terrible baby roo crowing is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNsa6-B3f_A Hyper J: I also checked out your videos. The one of the little roo crowing in the dark was hilarious. Loved the yoghurt video too. You have such cute chickens! I'm hoping the VS might eventually get a couple of Copper Marans...they're such pretty chickens. Also, I am also joining in on begging Tim the Enchanter to give/sell VS a handful of eggs. Tim, has the most beautiful bantams. I used to think that all-white and all-black chickens were dull but Tim has taught me different. His black and white bantams are the most adorable and lovely chickens I have ever seen!
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Feb 26, 2013 04:33
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Speaking of silly crowing, here's Roo when he was starting to crow. 
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Feb 26, 2013 04:40
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Yeah it's weird...Baba looks pretty good other than the skin on her back looking a bit dry. I got a product called Kickin' Chicken for my birds since it is SO very dry up here, I add it to their food about once a week (the label says every day tho) to give them oils/vitamins and it's seemed to help. http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_library_info.html?product=acb7b853-1631-4134-b81b-7454e0cc45d8&showText=1 Other than that I'd say for supportive therapy, high protein foods so she can make feathers and isolate her so the henhoes don't pluck out any new ones starting, chickens can be assholes. It'll take weeks and be a pain in the rear end. I've got a very similar situation going on with my one remaining buff Brahma, Rambo the hen. Missing feathers on her back & butt where the roos overworked her and the other girls last Spring. The other girls have all feathered back out beautifully, Rambo refuses to. We isolated her for a bit and no new feathers even started. It's been months. Other than that she's a big healthy girl. Once the weather warms more Rambo is going into the small run for some serious isolation/high protein goodies/feather growing time. Right now it's better if she can cuddle with the others at night.
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Feb 26, 2013 10:27
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Velvet Sparrow posted:I've got a very similar situation going on with my one remaining buff Brahma, Rambo the hen. Missing feathers on her back & butt where the roos overworked her and the other girls last Spring. The other girls have all feathered back out beautifully, Rambo refuses to. We isolated her for a bit and no new feathers even started. It's been months. VS: thanks for the update on Rambo. I had wondered how she was doing. Chido: the video of Roostroyer's HUGE, fluffy butt jammed in that tiny rabbit crate was hilarious! I love how was soon as he vacates the cage, a hen is running over to climb into the crate in to see what Roo was eating in there.
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Feb 26, 2013 10:38
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I have a dozen chickens at the moment. It is spring so its time to get another dozen layers. I am also going to raise meat birds this year. You have to get 25 at a time.
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Feb 26, 2013 12:12
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My hens have feed 24/7...they are about 6-7 months old now and most all of them have started to lay eggs at this point. Still a bit random on the laying, out of 7 hens we get 1-5 eggs a day. Should I be starting to measure out their food and give them X amount each day? They are on layer feed of course. My chicken keeping in law seemed a little surprised I had them on as much feed as they want. They also get a plastic cup full of scratch a couple times a week. He doesn't keep laying breeds though. It being winter still they unfortunately haven't had the pleasure of being able to graze the yard for a bit almost every day like they did in summer. They don't seem overweight to me, I kind of figured them laying eggs all the time would keep them at a good weight anyways.
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Feb 26, 2013 17:02
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