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Tardigrade posted:Something more uplifting: How hens project is helping beat people's loneliness. Heh, "hensioners" also this.
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Aug 7, 2015 09:57
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Velvet Sparrow posted:santa baby, have you held that hen up to your ear to listen for any rattling, gurgling, wheezing, etc? Is that spent brewing grain they are eating, and if so, I'd ask your vet about the safety of it in hot weather--the crop on a chicken is basically a holding bag for food and provides a warm, moist environment for things to grow! Yes to the gurgling - it was audible a few days ago while she was roosting. Something seems clearly amiss. I ended up ordering some dewormer with fenbendazole at a recommendation of a vet (not a bird/livestock vet though). We'll see how that works out. The spent grain was back in April before it got hot, and there was no change in behavior near that time. Whenever I give them some they're usually all over it.
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Aug 7, 2015 15:17
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hey santa baby posted:Yes to the gurgling - it was audible a few days ago while she was roosting. Something seems clearly amiss. I ended up ordering some dewormer with fenbendazole at a recommendation of a vet (not a bird/livestock vet though). We'll see how that works out. Check your PM's.
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Aug 7, 2015 22:00
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What do you guys do for mites? We've got 'em bad, and the Sevin dust isn't doing sweet fuckall to improve things. I keep seeing "OH JUST USE SEVIN DUST" or "DE IS ALL YOU NEED!" except that neither of those things seems to make a difference.
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Aug 7, 2015 23:41
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Lynza posted:What do you guys do for mites? We've got 'em bad, and the Sevin dust isn't doing sweet fuckall to improve things. Napalm.
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Aug 8, 2015 02:07
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Lynza posted:What do you guys do for mites? We've got 'em bad, and the Sevin dust isn't doing sweet fuckall to improve things. Adams Flea and Tick mist, available at most pet stores, this stuff kicks assand works immediately. Great for applying only where it's needed, although my chickens do NOT appreciate cold, wet, stinky behinds. I've found mine at Big Lots for substantially less, though Amazon carries it, too. http://www.amazon.com/Adams-Plus-Flea-Control-Spray/dp/B00C2O3PT0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439016514&sr=8-1&keywords=adam+flea+and+tick+spray I like to combine spraying with deworming orally with Equimax when it's bi-annual worming time, then just using the Adams spray throughout the year on anyone who pops up with a mite problem. EDIT: I also at the same time spray down the nests, roosts, coop, etc. with the Adams, it's great for getting in all the nooks and crannies where mites hide. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Aug 8, 2015 |
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Aug 8, 2015 07:51
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That's the same stuff we bought for the cats/dog last time we had a bad flea season here... good to know it works on chickens too!
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Aug 8, 2015 08:10
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Okay update on the derps. One is perfectly fine and is being an idiot, her name is Jean. Ken is still having issues. Eats and drinks like crazy, but won't use her left leg. It's slightly swollen at the joint above the shank, but I can't see a tendon out of place or anything. He toes are curled, not splayed out and she doesn't seem to be able to control them. Her wings are fine and as she hopss she uses them for balance. When I try to straighten her leg all the way out she cheers like crazy like it hurts. But stops as soon as I leave her leg alone. I have no idea what she did to it. Update: she can move that leg if she chooses and can move the toes so it isn't paralysis. She jerked her foot back when I lightly tried to straighten it out before I left for work, it isn't angled oddly or obviously broken. It's just weird. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Aug 9, 2015 |
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Aug 8, 2015 21:31
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Dammit. I don't know what happened or when it happened, but Reggie is gone. They've been free ranging since 9 am, so it could have been in the couple hours we were out running errands, but for all I know it happened while we were home and we just didn't hear it.  But there's feathers everywhere in the coop and she didn't come in with the rest of the flock. I keep trying to pretend to myself that something chased her off and she's holed up somewhere, and she'll show up tomorrow. But I know better. So what could it have been? With the feather-splosion in the coop, that must have been where it went down. It's a small coop, so that rules out hawk/eagle and dog. No blood anywhere, and no body, so something got her and carried her off. That likely rules out cat and the lack of blood probably rules out raccoon, right? I'm afraid it might be fox. In which case, it's a bold fox to go into the caged run and up the 3-foot ramp into the coop in the middle of the goddamn day to get a hen. I'm really afraid of fox, though, because if that's the case, it's just going to keep coming back and picking them off one by one. It's weird that Reggie is the one that got caught. She's a pretty bold hen, always running with the flock, and comfortably mid-range in the pecking order. It wasn't the broody wyandotte who's been sitting on a nest. It wasn't one of the 12-week-old peepers. It couldn't have been either of the other two marans. Nope. It had to be my drat favorite hen. RIP, Reggie. You had a short life, and the end must have been terrifying. But at least you had a year and a half of the good life before it was over. 
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Aug 9, 2015 02:02
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Yeah that sounds like a fox to me. Condolences
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Aug 9, 2015 04:49
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You need to put out a trap right away. The fox WILL be back for more chickens especially since your chooks seem to be easy pickings.
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Aug 9, 2015 06:13
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That's how our couple went earlier in the year. We're pretty sure it was a coyote. Similar thing - no chicken, just a feathersplosion.
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Aug 9, 2015 06:38
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Poor Reggie. I'm sorry man.
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Aug 9, 2015 09:49
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Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the confirmation. I got rid of my rear end in a top hat rooster who kept attacking me, and replaced him with a sweet young easter egger cockerel who's still growing into his own. And now I kind of regret killing him off. Mean bastard would have taken that fox on. I'm sure he would have died in the process, but he would have been the one carried off instead of Reggie. Well, nothing to do but do, I guess. Time to buy a hav-a-heart trap big enough to catch a fox in. And then shoot the fucker in the head. I've got some squirrels in the freezer from last year's shooting gallery (they were eating out of the birdfeeder, and I chucked them in the chest freezer because... I don't even know, I think I was going to chop them up and feed them to the chickens last winter and I never did). That should be good bait in the trap, right?
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Aug 9, 2015 14:48
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Another PYF crosspost, I'm sure there's a whole lot of problems with this coop setup, but points for creativity...
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Aug 9, 2015 15:48
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Adams Flea and Tick mist, available at most pet stores, this stuff kicks assand works immediately. Great for applying only where it's needed, although my chickens do NOT appreciate cold, wet, stinky behinds. I also spray their perches and nests with Adams Flea and Tick. I didn't expect it to kill and deter sugar ants, too.
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Aug 9, 2015 15:56
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Cythereal posted:Another PYF crosspost, I'm sure there's a whole lot of problems with this coop setup, but points for creativity... Coupe coop??? 
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Aug 9, 2015 16:03
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volkswag-hen?
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Aug 9, 2015 17:22
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We've got a racoon at the farm that's no longer satisfied with stealing spilled food. It's gotten two chickens, one of which was Pecky, a favorite of the pre-schoolers. Traps going out tonight, baited with eggs.
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Aug 9, 2015 18:15
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Goddamn predators getting bolder.  I'm curious to know if your areas are suffering a drought, which can force wildlife into more human-populated areas...Gin Monks, I'm wondering if it's a slipped tendon...
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Aug 9, 2015 19:56
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Goddamn predators getting bolder. The same trap also caught the same neighbour's stupid cat, not once, but three times. Obviously our bait was better than the food it was given at home.
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Aug 9, 2015 21:16
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SUNDAY 08/09 2:23 PM MDT Chickam is broadcasting YAY for chickens! Thank you VS!
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Aug 9, 2015 21:24
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Goddamn predators getting bolder. Wonderful. Now the other one has tiny little round open sores around her eye. What the gently caress is with these chicks? Did the dude sell me the most hosed up disease chicks he had?
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Aug 9, 2015 21:26
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Wonderful. Now the other one has tiny little round open sores around her eye. Goddamn. Sounds like it. Pictures? I'd say the facial bumps KINDA sound like dry Fowl Pox, which is related to the Herpes virus (not transmittable to humans) and 99% of the time is hideous to look at but fairly harmless to the bird. Dry Pox tends to look like warts rather than sores, though.
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Aug 9, 2015 23:29
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Goddamn. Sounds like it. Here she is  As for the slipped tendon I have examined it and felt around a bunch of times and I don't see or feel what people describe as a slipped tendon. There is no looseness or tweaks in her shanks or hock, I can feel the tendon run all the way up the shank to the joint and then then pick back up int he hock itself. I will try to get a photo of that as well. Right now her leg is wrapped to keep it safe in case she has a tiny fracture in the joint. The crusty stuff in the photo on her beak is just mash as I snatched her up while she was eating.
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Aug 10, 2015 00:10
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Mites. That's all I'm going to say.
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Aug 10, 2015 01:30
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Check out this yard candy. Pic from Imgur. People couldn't decide exactly what this roo was. Either an Ancona or a Leghorn/Cream Crested Legbar mix. 
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Aug 10, 2015 06:28
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Chook shed almost done, just needs more perches, swings, nesting boxes, waterer and feeder and some Chooks.
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Aug 10, 2015 13:04
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Kharnifex, that is a gorgeous chicken facility!
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Aug 10, 2015 20:34
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The ladies will be roosting in the display windows. Just like in Amsterdam.
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Aug 10, 2015 20:40
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Kharnifex: That's really awesome. Did you paint it silver? or is the building actually metal? It would look very cool with reproduction metal gasoline station or aviation signs on the side of the structure. Please post pics of your new chooks!  EDIT: Or go with the "Amsterdam" window theme. Add some red neon around the windows and some twinkle lights. Paint alternating stripes of the interior a hot pink. 
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Aug 10, 2015 |
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Aug 10, 2015 20:49
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hey santa baby posted:The ladies will be roosting in the display windows. Just like in Amsterdam. Sometimes a chicken ranch is just a chicken ranch. I also vote for the Amsterdam theme, drat you could win coop contests with that. I'm wondering if inveigle's yard candy pic roo has some Spangled Hamburg or Appenzeller Spitzhauben in him, his breast looks like it. Gin Monks, that looks like peck wounds to me...were the chicks maybe temporarily in too small of a space and were pecking this one...especially if she is at the bottom of the pecking order...? It's weird.
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Aug 10, 2015 21:19
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Sometimes a chicken ranch is just a chicken ranch. I also vote for the Amsterdam theme, drat you could win coop contests with that. No there are just two of them, the injured one and this one. They are inside in a 5x3 foot enclosure. these just showed up yesterday. And unless the retarded broken one sat there all night pecking the bigger one in the face I have no clue what could cause it. They haven't changed much today, just some scabbing over. Nothing new.
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Aug 10, 2015 21:27
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Inveigle posted:Kharnifex: That's really awesome. Did you paint it silver? or is the building actually metal? It is metal, I'm a bit wary of using metallic paints and galvanise stuff around birbs, spent a day washing everything with vinegar then hosing it down. Good idea re gas signs etc, I will get some chook pics once they arrive. I miss my roosters.
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Aug 10, 2015 21:59
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Kharnifex posted:It is metal, I'm a bit wary of using metallic paints and galvanise stuff around birbs, spent a day washing everything with vinegar then hosing it down. There's also some classic advertising signs featuring chickens that have been reproduced. For example, the Bon Ami cleaning powder signs featured a drawing of a yellow baby chick. Bon Ami's slogan was "Hasn't scratched yet."   Oh yes, and my favorite vintage chicken sign "GAY COCK."  
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Aug 12, 2015 |
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Aug 10, 2015 22:24
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Kharnifex posted:Chook shed almost done, just needs more perches, swings, nesting boxes, waterer and feeder and some Chooks. WOW! Nice! Are you in the US and could I hire you!
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Aug 11, 2015 00:58
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Kharnifex posted:It is metal, I'm a bit wary of using metallic paints and galvanise stuff around birbs, spent a day washing everything with vinegar then hosing it down. 
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Aug 11, 2015 02:15
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I've got a whole kitchen wall of chicken-related crap. Amongst other things, The Great Wall of Chicken has this: I love the Brahma hen, but the dealmaker is this at the bottom:  Exploding chickens FTW! Why Lay Or Bust thought this was great advertising, I dunno. Not as uncomfortably bizarre, but still fun is the Chicken Chowder/Hen Chow one: 
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Aug 12, 2015 19:53
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Velvet Sparrow posted:I've got a whole kitchen wall of chicken-related crap. Amongst other things, The Great Wall of Chicken has this: Oh man those are awesome. That first chicken does not look excited about her prospects under the "lay or bust" regime. I think two of my girls are molting! At any rate, they've totally stopped laying, gotten real grouchy, and there are feathers all over the dang place. This is their first molt, other ther than giving them some extra protein, is there anything else I should be doing for them during this Sensitive Time? Speaking of protein, do chickens like nuts?
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Aug 12, 2015 22:03
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Micomicona posted:Oh man those are awesome. That first chicken does not look excited about her prospects under the "lay or bust" regime. They like pretty much everything! If you can find some good multi-grain scratch, that's always popular. Mealworms are like chicken crack if you have a petstore nearby that sells them. Same thing for live crickets. I'll open the box in their coop so they can have fun with chasing down their prey.
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Aug 12, 2015 23:26
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