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Let the girls out today and they gorged on the ground cherries that were in the compost heap. I don't think they'll get sick off the berries themselves, but are the husks ok for them to eat? I know Ella and Myr were chomping them down husk and all.
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Dec 12, 2014 19:47
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Faerunner posted:Let the girls out today and they gorged on the ground cherries that were in the compost heap. I don't think they'll get sick off the berries themselves, but are the husks ok for them to eat? I know Ella and Myr were chomping them down husk and all. I had three hens strip the leaves off a healthy rhubarb plant. Then they pecked the crap out of the stems and started digging out the root. They went sort of manic while doing it, but showed no ill effects of the toxicity of the leaves.  Also, "the domestic chicken is the nearest thing we have today to a living dinosaur, with the most primitive chromosome pattern." But we all knew that anyway.
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Dec 12, 2014 22:41
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I won't worry too much, then. Thanks  And another scientific finding the rest of us already knew! Good to have the DNA as backup evidence though! I'd be interested in knowing exactly why chickens, of all birds, are closest to their reptilian ancestors. You'd think with all the domestication they've been through they'd be much further away (like dogs from wolves).
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Dec 13, 2014 01:57
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Peacock is broody atm, currently she's in isolation until she settles down. I've heard that getting fertilized eggs for her to hatch is a good way to snap her out of it, any comments on that and/or actual useful remedies?
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Dec 13, 2014 02:57
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Got some sad news from my family. Alecto the  -chicken has died. She was, as usual, spending a lot of time sitting on the nest (she was still laying eggs though) and being grumpy with her new sisters. (She had come around to letting them roost on the top perch with her though.) She didn't seem sick in the days leading up to her dying, and was eating, drinking, running around, and laying eggs all right. She was spending more time than most chickens on the nest, both on her eggs and on the other chooks' eggs, but no more time than is usual for her. Her favourite hobby is sitting on eggs and being grumpy. Maybe all the sitting in the one spot for a long time each day contributed to it, though. I like to think that Alecto had a good life and enjoyed being a pet chicken. She had a little under three acres to run around in, lots of eggs to sit on, a pony to steal food from (until he died), and she successfully vanquished three sisters to become the boss chicken over Agatha and Virginia. She was a very smart chicken (as far as chickens go) and definitely the most talkative hen I have met.  When I come up for Christmas (I can't spend as much time with my chickens these holidays as I would have liked owing to personal circumstances) I am going to take with me a little miniature rose plant from my work to plant over Alecto (she will be buried in the new pet cemetery out on my parents' block with the pony).
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Dec 13, 2014 03:24
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Vale Alecto. A Good Chicken. She looked a lot like Peacock.
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Dec 13, 2014 03:31
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:Got some sad news from my family. Alecto the CROWS EVERYWHERE so sorry for your loss. Alecto was such a character and she had a wonderful life with you! But dang, it seem this happens frequently with chickens. 
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Dec 13, 2014 03:40
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Ah, sorry to hear about Alecto, she was an awesome hen living an awesome life.
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Dec 13, 2014 10:55
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Does anyone have a pattern for one of those rooster collars? One of the chicks we hatched is driving me absolutely insane. We're gonna try fobbing him off onto my brother, but if that doesn't work out, he's gonna have to be dinner. He starts crowing about 4am and doesn't stop until it gets light, at about 9. He doesn't even crow well, he just kinda wails! And I can hear him through the chicken coop + closed windows + other side of the house + the pillow over my head. I'm going nuts.
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Dec 14, 2014 21:21
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Dec 14, 2014 23:07
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Nettle Soup posted:Does anyone have a pattern for one of those rooster collars? Sounds like ideal xmas dinner to me.
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Dec 15, 2014 15:23
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Sounds like ideal xmas dinner to me. Mum won't let me, and my brother would cry. 
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Dec 16, 2014 15:14
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Some random pictures from yesterday. Hemingway and Jesus.  Groot looks so goofy. I've never seen a chicken before with mostly all-black feathering and then the orange/yellow coming out around the neck. 
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Dec 22, 2014 03:26
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The Rat posted:Hemingway and Jesus. Love their combs and mussy "hair cuts." Very cute! 
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Dec 22, 2014 03:33
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Nettle Soup posted:Mum won't let me, and my brother would cry. "Oh no he got away". And then you have him for dinner. Voila.
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Dec 22, 2014 04:08
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:kawaii: Your chickens are byooooootiful! Mine are lazy. They haven't laid any eggs in, like, a week and a half but they're eating everything in sight! I was only getting 1/day before that, too. Freeloading reptile-spawn... probably because it's been 27* and disgustingly grey the last two weeks. Today it was 50* though. No White Christmas for us! Maybe I'll get a nest box full of eggs instead.
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Dec 23, 2014 05:31
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So. This happened.
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Dec 24, 2014 04:11
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That is the best. Source?
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Dec 24, 2014 04:46
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I  
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Dec 24, 2014 04:54
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In chicken news here - it's finally rained so the chooks are loving being outside. Their favourite thing to do at the moment is sneak into the neighbour's pigeon paddock (the paddock attached to his pigeon coop), which is full of long, thick green panic grass that is about waist-high on me. For chickens it is like a delicious grassy forest. It's full of bugs as well as nice and cool. You can see where they are by watching the rustling of the grass and it's amusing when they come dashing through when you call them for grain or the bucket-o'-scraps. With Alecto gone, the two little chickens are trying to figure out who gets to be boss chicken. But Agatha (brown chicken) is so nice and Virginia (white chicken) is so shy that they don't peck each other and have very gentle tussles for the best dustbathing spot/best spot on the roost. When they are both trying to get into the corner of the roost at night, they try sneaking under each other. Virginia also likes sitting as close to Agatha as she can, and even sometimes pokes her head under Agatha's wing when they are sleeping.  They're both laying lots of eggs (Virginia's are white, Agatha's are mid brown) and are good friends with all the neighbour chickens and pigeons.Our neighbours who raise game bantams have recently added white bantam hens to their flock (if they're not game bantams as well they certainly look it - small combs, sharp angular tail, long legs) and has a flock of little adolescent chickens - they're grown up enough that you can mostly tell who's a rooster and who's a hen, but they still cheep instead of clucking. The crazy neighbour has added geese, which Virginia and Agatha were rather frightened by until they realised they were on the other side of the fence. The neighbours with an extensive vegie patch have been getting a good haul now that the fence between their yard and our paddock has been fixed - no more chickens trying to dustbathe in their cabbage patch. Their chickens are enjoying getting fresh vegie scraps as well as green grass I throw over for them.
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Dec 24, 2014 05:08
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You have a whole chickeneighbhorhood going on over there! Sounds like a great time.
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Dec 24, 2014 05:10
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Faerunner posted:That is the best. Source? It came out of a TFR Secret Santa package for me. According to the packaging, my Santa got it from someone on etsy.
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Dec 24, 2014 05:33
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Look at these dumbarse chooks sleep inside the run, not on the door!
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Dec 24, 2014 10:31
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thatbastardken posted:Look at these demon chooks
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Dec 24, 2014 10:50
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:In chicken news here - it's finally rained so the chooks are loving being outside. Their favourite thing to do at the moment is sneak into the neighbour's pigeon paddock (the paddock attached to his pigeon coop), which is full of long, thick green panic grass that is about waist-high on me. For chickens it is like a delicious grassy forest. It's full of bugs as well as nice and cool. You can see where they are by watching the rustling of the grass and it's amusing when they come dashing through when you call them for grain or the bucket-o'-scraps. Jungle Fowl! quote:With Alecto gone, the two little chickens are trying to figure out who gets to be boss chicken. But Agatha (brown chicken) is so nice and Virginia (white chicken) is so shy that they don't peck each other and have very gentle tussles for the best dustbathing spot/best spot on the roost. When they are both trying to get into the corner of the roost at night, they try sneaking under each other. Virginia also likes sitting as close to Agatha as she can, and even sometimes pokes her head under Agatha's wing when they are sleeping. Awwwww Double-Awwwww Glad they finally decided to get along quote:Our neighbours who raise game bantams have recently added white bantam hens to their flock (if they're not game bantams as well they certainly look it - small combs, sharp angular tail, long legs) and has a flock of little adolescent chickens - they're grown up enough that you can mostly tell who's a rooster and who's a hen, but they still cheep instead of clucking. That sounds like a very active neighborhood! The Rat posted:It came out of a TFR Secret Santa package for me. According to the packaging, my Santa got it from someone on etsy. I stay out of secret santa stuff and TFR secret santa sounds like a whole ball of worms I'm glad I knew nothing about. I mean my budget is "Buy Mishaco a new pair of black shades" so... We could probably update:  I mean, we already have  and  (seconding the "hold a yardstick up next to WeedCat" BTW)
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Dec 24, 2014 12:59
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MisterOblivious posted:
Oh my god. I was on a cross country trip a few months ago, and my sister tasked me with finding The Worst Hat. I got the blaze orange camo trucker hat version of that shirt, except it's from Kansas. It is The Worst Hat.
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Dec 24, 2014 14:26
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MisterOblivious posted:
Frankly I'm amazed that I didn't get any weird porn or sex toys in the package. My Ralphie cannot say the same. 
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Dec 24, 2014 16:12
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This morning I let the chooks out and collected their eggs, one from Virginia and one from Agatha. Then just now around mid-morning I went out to give them their Christmas Day bucket-o'-scraps (there are lots of good things because Christmas lunch is made of about half a dozen salads). When I dropped it off, Virginia was sitting in the nest again. At first I thought she had gone Christmas broody but as I watched she popped out another egg! She then wandered off to eat some scraps and then out to eat some bugs. Both of her eggs today are a little smaller than usual, but not hugely so. You notice the size difference when comparing them to other eggs she's laid this week, but they're not quail-sized or anything. She must be getting plenty extra protein from all the worms that have come up with the rain, and the fat bloody mosquitoes I've been squashing and giving her to eat when I sit with them in the afternoons. 
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Dec 25, 2014 01:53
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Spoiled the chickens with a whole wheat cracker and some pear slices today, got no eggs still. Jerks.
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Dec 27, 2014 02:49
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 http://i.imgur.com/1pY7hqAl.jpg (linked due to partial hairy male arse)
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Dec 27, 2014 14:48
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Here is another Imgur image that was posted to Reddit. Pretty sure this is the same woman and rooster. That rooster has magnificent wattles.
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Dec 27, 2014 14:52
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That's what the rooster we didn't have for Christmas dinner looks like, I actually convinced my brother we were gonna eat one for Christas and he was fairly ok with it as long as it wasn't that one. There's a hen we've ended up calling Eaglefeathers, might've originally been Delicious, she'll jump onto my arm like that if I hold it out and she's in the right mood. The main problem at the moment is they all like roosting 1-story up on next door's scaffolding and I have to knock them off with a broom and then they cling to the broom and I wave it around to get them off it but they won't let go and it's like a comedy sketch, only it's 2 in the morning I'm in my pants and it's snowing.
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Dec 27, 2014 15:49
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Dec 27, 2014 18:30
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Nettle Soup posted:That's what the rooster we didn't have for Christmas dinner looks like, I actually convinced my brother we were gonna eat one for Christas and he was fairly ok with it as long as it wasn't that one. And the neighbors watch quietly from their front windows, shake their heads and tell each other, 'See, I told you about the crazy chicken people...'
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Dec 27, 2014 23:21
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Nettle Soup posted:That's what the rooster we didn't have for Christmas dinner looks like, I actually convinced my brother we were gonna eat one for Christas and he was fairly ok with it as long as it wasn't that one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ
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Dec 28, 2014 15:50
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This is my first year having chickens. Oh my god, I love them so freaking much! But here's the thing -- I'm worried about two of them, a Rhode Island Red and an Isa Brown, who have both lost their belly/vent feathers. I see no signs of mites or any other parasite, no apparent diarrhea or infection. It leaves me wondering if someone is pulling their feathers (someone being a chicken, not me or my spouse. We have better things to do.) My immediate problem is the weather; it's going into sub-zero temps in a few days and their poor little bellies are losing heat like crazy. The coop is relatively insulated (for a chicken coop) and we're using the deep litter method. I've used a heat lamp on the single-digit nights we've had but it scares me. I only have an extension cord leading to the coop and I'm (rightfully) paranoid of fire. I know the flock of 3 RIRs, 5 IBs, and 2 OEG bantams is hearty in the cold but man, I'm really worried about the two with the bare bellies. Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.
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Jan 3, 2015 15:09
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On the 29th December our oldest two ex-batts, Pip & Piper celebrated their three year annivesary of being retired garden hens. Here's a photo of Pip standing on my head yesterday (giving me that look): 
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Jan 3, 2015 15:54
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Unizee posted:This is my first year having chickens. Oh my god, I love them so freaking much! But here's the thing -- I'm worried about two of them, a Rhode Island Red and an Isa Brown, who have both lost their belly/vent feathers. I see no signs of mites or any other parasite, no apparent diarrhea or infection. It leaves me wondering if someone is pulling their feathers (someone being a chicken, not me or my spouse. We have better things to do.) My immediate problem is the weather; it's going into sub-zero temps in a few days and their poor little bellies are losing heat like crazy. The coop is relatively insulated (for a chicken coop) and we're using the deep litter method. You need to see if they are eating the feathers they pluck fom each other. Usually it's the feathered birds plucking the non-feathered ones, so watch them to spot the culprit(s). Boredom and overcrowding are the two most common causes of feather picking. Try giving them food goodies to distract them, things that take time to eat--corn on the cob, pumpkin or other squash, a whole cabbage, apples, raw yams, etc. Anything that redirects pecking is good. If they are eating the feathers they pull, try upping the amount of protein in their diet. Live mealworms, scrambled eggs, etc. are good. Dry winter weather can also cause dry, itchy skin, I add a bit of a product called Kickin' Chicken to my flock's food ration a few times a week and mix it in so it coats the food (it's oils, vitamins, minerals, etc.). If they are cooped for winter and have reduced free range area, try to get them out in the yard whenever the weather cooperates. Sprout some seeds and grains to give them fresh greens during winter. Variety and keeping them occupied, well-fed and happy are key. Also check them (and their coop. roosts and nests) over for things like mites to make sure you don't have a mite infestation, and check them over to make sure they are generally healthy.
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Jan 3, 2015 21:22
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Thanks. No mites or parasites and general health is good. I think it's quite possible that they're bored. They aren't overcrowded but they pretty much refuse to go outside and play if there's snow on the ground -- which there has been. I've already been tossing some bird seed with some cat kibble into the coop every morning (not to replace their feed but as an activity to keep their tiny brains occupied.) I appreciate the other ideas, too, and will get going on them. Any suggestions for keeping the two naked birds warm during the cold snap that's about to happen?
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Jan 3, 2015 21:37
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I got bored again. "Portrait of the Rooster as a Young Cockerel." Source photo: 
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Jan 4, 2015 03:47
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