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Things chickens are useful for: termite control. We've got termites in the house and they decided to come out through the kitchen door frame (they are the flying ones that make new nests). Cue to a lot of dumb bugs on the kitchen floor... cue to my brother-in-law leaving the kitchen door open for the chickens to come inside and eat them. Within 5 minutes Megatron and Waffle ate them all 
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Apr 3, 2016 17:11
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We got our first eggs! They're so hilariously small  The chickens seem to be enjoying free ranging, I hope they don't start laying in even more retarded places   Not chickens exactly but I got three broadbreasted turkey polts yesterday and put my deposit down for 10 assorted color Guinea fowl. I guess the feed store only gets a really limited number of Guineas and they're hugely popular so there's basically no chance of getting any without a deposit. I might pick up a couple Bourbon reds when the feed store gets them in stock, it'd be cool to have some turkeys that won't die under the weight of their own breasts if you let them live too long. 
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Apr 3, 2016 18:01
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Chido posted:Things chickens are useful for: termite control. We've got termites in the house and they decided to come out through the kitchen door frame (they are the flying ones that make new nests). Cue to a lot of dumb bugs on the kitchen floor... cue to my brother-in-law leaving the kitchen door open for the chickens to come inside and eat them. Within 5 minutes Megatron and Waffle ate them all This warms my heart. How old is Megatron now? Actually, I was just thinking the other day how old was Roostroyer when he passed?
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Apr 3, 2016 21:41
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Ausrotten posted:We got our first eggs! They're so hilariously small Speaking of, how do I discourage my garbage birds from laying on the floor in corners of the coop, and specifically right under where they roost (& poop)? Yesterday I removed all bedding from the floor, so there's only straw in the nest boxes. No eggs today though. quote:Not chickens exactly but I got three broadbreasted turkey polts yesterday I will be watching this. Please post updates whenever something develops.
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Apr 3, 2016 21:45
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Chido posted:Things chickens are useful for: termite control. We've got termites in the house and they decided to come out through the kitchen door frame (they are the flying ones that make new nests). Cue to a lot of dumb bugs on the kitchen floor... cue to my brother-in-law leaving the kitchen door open for the chickens to come inside and eat them. Within 5 minutes Megatron and Waffle ate them all aww Waffle! Just remembered the video with Waffle and Pancake that Inveigle posted years ago. So CUTE! Glad to hear she is doing well after her rough start!
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Apr 3, 2016 21:54
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hey santa baby posted:Speaking of, how do I discourage my garbage birds from laying on the floor in corners of the coop, and specifically right under where they roost (& poop)? Yesterday I removed all bedding from the floor, so there's only straw in the nest boxes. No eggs today though. mine keep making GBS threads out eggs under trees or in the middle of fields. good job chickens a+
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Apr 3, 2016 23:01
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hey santa baby posted:This warms my heart. How old is Megatron now? Actually, I was just thinking the other day how old was Roostroyer when he passed? Megatron, godzilla, and rusty are about 5 years old now. Turkey and dust were already adults when we got them that same year, so they may be 6-7 years old. Waffle is gonna be 3, and I have no ideal how old our current rooster is, he's 2-3 maybe. Roostroyer was 2 years old when he passed 
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Apr 3, 2016 23:59
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Chido posted:Megatron, godzilla, and rusty are about 5 years old now. Turkey and dust were already adults when we got them that same year, so they may be 6-7 years old. Waffle is gonna be 3, and I have no ideal how old our current rooster is, he's 2-3 maybe. Roostroyer was 2 years old when he passed Oh, didn't realize he was that young. Also, this reads like a who's who of the chicken thread.
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Apr 4, 2016 03:48
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Reading this thread brought back memories of my childhood from the mid 90s. My dad raised chickens for cockfighting (yes, I know, its terrible) and we had between 4 and 8 game roosters in our yard at any given time. Also did a fair bit of egg and poultry raising. There's nothing quote like turning the corner at your house and running up on a hen and her chicks. I still have memories of getting flogged by a mama hen at 5 years old...
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Apr 4, 2016 18:52
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 this bloody thing adores me through no fault of my own and she follows me around everywhere going borble borble borble
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Apr 5, 2016 12:09
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hey santa baby posted:Speaking of, how do I discourage my garbage birds from laying on the floor in corners of the coop, and specifically right under where they roost (& poop)? Yesterday I removed all bedding from the floor, so there's only straw in the nest boxes. No eggs today though. You could try plastic eggs in the nesting boxes? We only have one duck laying right now and thank god she lays in the same area in the coop cause she digs a crater in the wood shavings and buries them most of the time. There's a plastic egg in her nest which she buries as well and sometimes she buries the ones in the chickens nesting boxes too. 24.5 weeks in and no chicken eggs yet, my cockerel is such a dork. Racing around the yard, trying to mount the ducks (and the drake) getting told off by the ducks and the drake.. He's only just starting to do his adorable dance to attract the ladies, slowly learning that his attempts at surprise sex mean he hasn't actually humped anyone except Stevie drake who moves slower than anyone else.  the jerk squad a few days ago featuring chuck the cockerel ball
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Apr 6, 2016 12:07
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psychotic posted:You could try plastic eggs in the nesting boxes? I thought of that, but removing most bedding from the floor except a very thin layer seems to have done the trick. They can't make a nest on the floor, so they started using the nest boxes. Now I have to dig for bantam eggs in the nest boxes though. quote:The temptation to play soccer must be enormous.
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Apr 6, 2016 15:56
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psychotic posted:... except Stevie drake who moves slower than anyone else.
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Apr 6, 2016 16:26
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guinea fowl are hideous hunched vulture creatures that fly at high speed and make a noise like a rusty gate hinge. i adore them. currently i have nine simmering away and they were supposed to hatch next thursday but one has already popped its shell and is visibly breathing in there so if it survives then i guess it's just going to get born right now and i have to deal. the keets are the noisiest drat things and almost too cute to believe  also when i was looking for the keet pics i found this picture of my plymouth rooster when he was like a week old  he's taller than me now
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Apr 6, 2016 18:35
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That is incredibly cute. I'm getting my Guineas in June, I'm pretty stoked. I wish vulturine guinea fowl were reasonable to own, look at these fuckers 
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Apr 6, 2016 23:16
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Ausrotten posted:That is incredibly cute. I'm getting my Guineas in June, I'm pretty stoked. I wish vulturine guinea fowl were reasonable to own, look at these fuckers Vulturines are beautiful. I want guiness but they are too drat loud. I also lost Strawberry the other day. Heart failure and ascites. We had her put down. She was the last of my original flock. As much as I liked her I will say flock dynamics are a hell of a lot better with her gone. She was so aggressive to the littles that they spent most of their time running from her and squawking. Now everything is peaceful.
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Apr 7, 2016 01:32
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Ausrotten posted:That is incredibly cute. I'm getting my Guineas in June, I'm pretty stoked. I wish vulturine guinea fowl were reasonable to own, look at these fuckers Wow. Someone could make a mint selling those feathers on etsy. Such a pretty bird.
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Apr 7, 2016 04:16
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They could except those birds cost ~$800 each
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Apr 7, 2016 15:05
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These are some blurry-rear end photos, but my chickens will walk speedily in the other direction and hide behind the compost heap if I go try to take close-ups of them. Here's three of my four girls (Brassy, Pewter, and Not Crow) kicking wet leaves around so they can eat creepy bugs. Number 4, a chicken named Crow who looks like a fat magpie, is presumably sitting in a massive bowl in the coop farting out eggs right now.  And here they are all tired out from scratching and gobbling centipedes, so they're taking a nap on a wooden crate. Brassy seems to be the one laying eggs inside here. 
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Apr 7, 2016 16:30
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People wanted photos of the chicks, so here they are. The brooder when we first put them in. This is half of it, we took out a cardboard wall seperating this from the other half once they got bigger.  Some hanging out by the watering hole.  Holding a baby silky in my hand.  A closeup of a really really young polish white crested.  A group shot. Really scared for one of my polish white cresteds though. It's got wry neck, or torticollis, and we've done all we can and I'm worried that it's not enough. We've separated it from the others, given it its own food and water (and helped it eat), administered a dose of vitamin E, and now it's just hope and time. The polishes are sooo beautiful and cute, I'm really hoping that our tlc will do the trick.
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Apr 8, 2016 04:40
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Awww, yay birbs. :3 These pictures make my life better. Thanks guys 
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Apr 8, 2016 04:42
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CountFosco posted:People wanted photos of the chicks, so here they are. Adorable pics, love the Polish! And now I want screaming blue guinea fowl, too. After the last two weeks around here with huge family drama, upheaval & sad times, beautiful bird & cute chick pics are just what I need.  My page on chicken issues, scroll all the way to the bottom to read about crested breed problems like you describe, I've had great success with it. Don't give up on the little guy just yet! http://jackshenhouse.com/Injuries.htm Also, if you place a single layer of bricks under your chick waterer, it'll stay cleaner and you won't have to spend half your life scooping shavings out of it that the little stinkers have kicked in there. And do yourself a favor and get some live mealworms for some truly awesome chicken football, they'll go insane and it's hilarious. EDIT: Today one of my neighbors brought over her little 5 year old son to visit the chickens...I think they fell in love and their little family has successfully been infected with Morehen's Disease, much to her husband's delight...the mom was absolutely enthralled by the little Belgian d'Uccles. Then I told her we'd be hatching chicks in a few weeks and she and her son were thrilled. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Apr 8, 2016 |
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Apr 8, 2016 10:40
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I'm cautiously optimistic about our sick polish crested. I checked in this morning and he was preening, doing a wing stretch, seemed fairly healthy. He's still got the neck problem, but it's not there all the time. What'll happen is he'll straighten his head out, and then tilt it over again. We're going to continue giving him extra doses of vitamin e through an eye dropper and hope that that'll be the ticket.
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Apr 8, 2016 13:34
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it is time ...for keets         the random feathers in the brooder box are a surrogate mum i put together from my chickens' leavings. normally they have an ecoglow brooder in there too (ecoglow brooders are expensive but fantastic and i highly recommend them) but i took it out for the photos. there are nine keets in total - four lavender, four piebald and one pearl (brown with white spots). i'm so happy! sorry about the photo quality, they just zip around so fast
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Apr 9, 2016 06:41
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Lookit those fat orange toes! Who could resist?!
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Apr 9, 2016 09:50
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Chickens! *shakes fist* My chicks are something like 7 weeks old. I live in CT and the nights are a bit cold, just above freezing. I have a fully enclosed barn with a stall converted to a coop. No drafts, power running to the barn. I can run 1 or 2 heat lamps. Can I put these guys outside? They're starting to get out of the brooder and perch around the house. The dust is driving me insane as well.
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Apr 9, 2016 19:27
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Noise Complaint posted:Chickens! *shakes fist* I think so. Can they escape the barn? Also, we've been getting 25 degrees overnight in NJ, so I would run the heat lamps.
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Apr 9, 2016 20:33
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They can't escape the barn. I put up one heat lamp and put them in the chicken area with fresh bedding and they seem happy. They're hilarious. Following me around like a bunch of lost puppies. They also apparently enjoy antagonizing the horses. No huddling or distress. So I'll leave them out and keep checking on them.
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Apr 9, 2016 23:07
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Your lil peepers look very soft
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Apr 10, 2016 09:16
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Hey all, one of the chicks in the new batch has a weird wing, is this something to be concerned about? It kinda fans upward a bit when it's folded in. Doesn't seem to cause it any distress.
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Apr 10, 2016 10:13
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These chick pics are killing me! I miss having little chickies, they're so cute. Plus, the resulting chickens were a lot less afraid of me than the adopted chickens I have now. I managed to take a SLIGHTLY better picture of my girls while they were occupied with food before letting them range.  Clockwise from top left is Not Crow, Brassy, Pewter, and Crow. Not Crow seems to have taken charge since we got rid of Luna, our rooster. Not Crow will make a noise when you get near like HHRRrrrrrRrK! She's an idiot.  That's Luna. He is a big, loud jerk. He lives in the country now, where he can make big stupid noises and jump on chickens all day. Good for him, the bastard.
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Apr 10, 2016 17:18
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PSWII60 posted:Hey all, one of the chicks in the new batch has a weird wing, is this something to be concerned about? It kinda fans upward a bit when it's folded in. Doesn't seem to cause it any distress. As long as it isn't causing a problem or pain I'd say let it be. When she molts the wing feathers the new ones may come in perfectly normal, all you can do is wait.
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Apr 11, 2016 08:48
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I shored up the chicken run with welded wire and machine cloth and stuck the chicks outside with a heat source. They were pretty stoked to have access to their run rather than being cooped up in a brooder. No signs of distress at all In just a couple of days they've managed to shred most of the weeds that are growing into their run which I'm pretty happy about. These guys were a run of pullets from TSC and I have no idea what the breed is, though they're all the same. Any ideas? 
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Apr 11, 2016 16:28
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White Rock/RIR hybrids? Golden sexlinks?  Lawson fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Apr 11, 2016 |
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Apr 11, 2016 17:33
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Our sick polish white crested seems to be slightly better from the torticollis. Interestingly, there seems to be a psychological component to the condition, perhaps? When I observe from a distance, it seems like it can, with some effort, right it's head a bit and be ok. But when the big scary hu-man comes closer it gets all ascared and the wry neck accentuates. So I try to keep a good distance to just let it recover in peace. Worried about keeping it hydrated, as it has a harder time drinking than eating, but we're giving it a lot of high-water foods, like strawberries and such.
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Apr 11, 2016 18:09
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Noise Complaint posted:I shored up the chicken run with welded wire and machine cloth and stuck the chicks outside with a heat source. They were pretty stoked to have access to their run rather than being cooped up in a brooder. No signs of distress at all Agree with Santa Baby...these are also called Golden Comet, Golden Sex Link, Cinnamon Queen, Red Star...all kinds of names. Your chick looks just like Zip, our Red Star hen. She's a lot of fun, very curious & comical and a great layer. Also highly food-oriented. I'd like to have some Black Stars some day, very pretty girls. Brawnfire, Pewter is gorgeous!
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Apr 11, 2016 22:06
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My little Langshan Rocket has been crazy broody recently. The other hens keep farting eggs on her. She managed a month before going broody again.
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Apr 12, 2016 09:13
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Does chicken math apply to other poultry too? My wife brought home two baby ducklings last night. Now that people know we have a farm, we seemingly are always being offered animals.  
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Apr 12, 2016 14:43
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OK- new to chickens. I've got 4 chicks rapidly growing in my garage and am starting work on the run/coop. The spot I'm putting the run has a slope to it- should I bother leveling it?
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Apr 12, 2016 19:25
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Tad SG posted:OK- new to chickens. I've got 4 chicks rapidly growing in my garage and am starting work on the run/coop. The spot I'm putting the run has a slope to it- should I bother leveling it? Only considerations I can think of is that the coop itself stands straight, and that the slope isn't such that a strong downpour makes all water run into the coop. Otherwise the chickens will be happy with a slope in the run. Of course you'll still have to make sure that the fencing goes deep enough in the ground that predators don't dig under it.
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Apr 12, 2016 19:56
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