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spookygonk posted:Hello Goons, sorry for the tardy updates, a change of medication for my heart condition threw a spanner in the works... Pics pics pics!
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Sep 4, 2022 22:47
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| # ? May 21, 2024 10:32 |
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Hello Goons, sorry for the tardy updates, Anyway, three weeks ago I drove 30 miles in the loving awful British summer heat to collect these three ladies from their previous life of basically hell (and if it wasn't for the British Hen Welfare Trust, their lives would have stopped on that day). Aircon was fully on for the whole journey back.  It still was a stressful day for them. Firstly, say hello to Liv:  Next we have Blossom:  Didn't know it at the time of collection, but upon checking her over we suspected she has a hernia (like our Molly). It doesn't look as serious though.  Our vet later confirmed she does have a small hernia. He suggested we leave it untreated for now and see how it goes with her egg laying. Blossom is probably going to be the first to have the implant. And we have this little one, who was put aside especially for us to take care of (we are known as good chicken people, which is nice to hear). This is Sky:  As you can see Sky has a scissor beak. Whether she was born like it or it was damaged / mutilated when she was de-beaked before going into the battery cage, we don't know. What we do know is she learned to survive with it in the cage for 18 months and doesn't see it as a disability. Chickens with scissor beaks can live normal lives, you just have to make sure food and water is provided in deeper bowls for them. They'll manage just fine. She also preens her feathers well. Sky (and her nest sisters) got her toenails and beak tidied up at the vets.  Sky after beak tidy. Vet said they were in remarkably good condition otherwise (no obvious parasites, breaks or abdominal masses). Fast forward to three weeks on and they have settled down rather well as a trio. They cracked laying in a nest, organising a pecking order Liv > Sky > Blossom and even put themselves to bed on the second evening. They love the plentiful food and water and grass underfoot. We are also getting three eggs a day from them, with no obvious squabbling or vent / laying problems. Oh and Molly & Nova are NOT IMPRESSED with the new chickens, though there hasn't been that much squaring off and aggressive posturing. spookygonk fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Sep 5, 2022 |
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Sep 4, 2022 22:53
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awww  sweet girls
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Sep 5, 2022 01:56
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Sky looks completely shocked at this turn of events. I love her.
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Sep 5, 2022 07:42
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spookygonk posted:
 You are very good chicken people, thank you for doing what you can for these lovely ladies. I'm sure they're still learning how to chicken properly, but will grow to love it.
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Sep 5, 2022 07:55
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my chickens made their feelings towards the xylophone clear today  here is Wildflower with her three Saturday babies  Clarice actually getting some chick time  City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 6, 2022 04:23
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Cute chicks! Feed store birds are usually not vaccinated from what I’ve seen. The few that do make sure to advertise it since it costs them more money. I would guess that an illness is delaying her development if she is for-sure the same age as the others. She looks more like my 16 weekers based on the size of her comb and wattles. Is it humid where you are? I’ve found that when the humidity increases that I have a more breathing issues in the flock. Last year I treated Dorothy with antibiotic and it helped a lot at first, so must have been an infection. Unfortunately the gasping and coughing returned more than once and the antibiotics didn’t clear it up completely so I didn’t let her suffer. Now I treat it as a culling illness  (Except my Guinea hen, who is not improving yet so a decision will be coming.  )
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Sep 6, 2022 05:02
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City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 6, 2022 06:15
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Sep 6, 2022 18:35
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i cleaned the chicken coop today, and raked the outdoor area they roam in as well. when i was done i got to enjoy some time with the pullets. they weren't too impressed with me invading their quiet nap time but they got over it   also here's Wildflower with her babies, and in the background we can see Darlin' waiting for Lil' Pep to lay her egg  they are certainly in chicken love 
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Sep 8, 2022 02:17
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City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 11, 2022 00:46
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RIP Sophie. Thanks for the info and photos, City of Glompton. Our Guinea mother experiment is over. A couple days ago my neighbor said all the guineas were at his place but he didn’t see the baby with them. Sure enough, I checked when they came to our place in the afternoon and the keet was gone. I looked but never found it.
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Sep 11, 2022 02:20
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City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 11, 2022 03:23
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Well we finally moved our chickies out of the house into the small sub coup, gonna miss having them in but they were getting way too big even with putting them in an outside enclosure shown here. 
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Sep 11, 2022 06:41
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My Guinea hen had been getting worse, gasping all the time not just when it’s hot, and her belly felt very firm and full. Antibiotics and worming didn’t help so I took her to an Avian vet today. She had a huge mass in her abdomen so I had her euthanized. Poor little bird. I have her body laying out in the yard so her flock can see it and know that she’s gone.
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Sep 13, 2022 20:36
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City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 21:59
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I looked in her abdomen and she was egg bound. The egg mass was the size of a softball. I am amazed that she lived with that as long as she did. Gross necropsy pictures:   The other guineas did react to her death, so I’m glad I brought the body home for them. https://youtu.be/hm8eslWwQ9g
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Sep 13, 2022 22:45
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Joburg posted:I looked in her abdomen and she was egg bound. The egg mass was the size of a softball. I am amazed that she lived with that as long as she did.  oh wow. thank you for posting those photos, they're fascinating, but also horrible. that poor bird, you did the right thing - thank you for taking her to the vet instead of just letting her suffer  it really is amazing what they can live through
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Sep 13, 2022 22:54
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the quail still aren't laying, but the ravens have had twins
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Sep 14, 2022 00:33
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i love that raven, it's lovely
City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 14, 2022 04:20
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Joburg posted:She had a huge mass in her abdomen so I had her euthanized. Poor little bird. I have her body laying out in the yard so her flock can see it and know that she’s gone.
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Sep 14, 2022 12:40
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Blossom, Sky and Liv are all doing well, they've bonded without [too much] fighting and so we're going to move them into the big run with Nova and Molly this weekend. We're getting three eggs a day now!  (there's another eight just off camera). Molly was at the vets this morning.  He says her abdomen is swollen, possibly eggs or possibly a tumour. She's over nine and a half, so we are not looking at any invasive treatments or x-rays. Have her home with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Molly's getting all the attention now (as it should be), but we are taking things slowly now.
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Sep 14, 2022 13:07
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lovely eggs. i hope Molly is comfortable here's Clarice and Navi working together to keep their chicks warm on saturday:  they were doing this again tonight in the coop. Navi worked very hard to steal all the babies for awhile, but at this point, her chicks and Clarice's chicks just go to whichever mom is convenient. none of the other hens and chicks do this. it's pretty cute to see them work in concert to care for their babies, even though cooperation is not in either hen's nature. City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 15, 2022 05:34
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Those chicks are maintaining a delicately balanced dmz and don't know it.
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Sep 15, 2022 07:29
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Joburg posted:The other guineas did react to her death, so I’m glad I brought the body home for them. You have such a good heart That poor guinea
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Sep 15, 2022 10:15
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City of Glompton posted:
their chick antics sustain me
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Sep 15, 2022 10:16
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praying for molly  Enfys posted:their chick antics sustain me
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Sep 16, 2022 02:08
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look at these bad chickens teaching their babies to be bad  
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Sep 17, 2022 18:38
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got an awesome stump from a neighbor to give the chickens something to stand on/hide under (and actually it makes a really great bench for people, too, very sturdy)  Susan jumped up to sit with me this evening  
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Sep 19, 2022 04:34
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So is the end-of-summer rat invasion going to be a thing every year for as long as we have chickens or is it just us?
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Sep 19, 2022 15:27
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We had rats every year until recently a neighbor moved in that has outdoor cats. No rats since then. I asked the neighbor in the last block party if the cats have been eating the rats and they gave me a long story about rats being delivered on the back deck. Before they moved in I had inquired to the city pound about barn cats, if you're eligible you should see if you can do that.
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Sep 19, 2022 15:40
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Thankfully we rarely have rat problems what with local cats and making sure all foodstuffs are swept up and locked away (we caught and released a few rats a couple of years ago to nearby parkland, same with any mice). Anyway, Saturday was the first time the new three ladies were allowed out of their run into the garden:  Blossom > Sky > Liv All three explored all around the garden, even the hard-to-get-to places (it's like they had a map of the garden showing all the sights). Interesting how the three stick together throughout the day, they've really bonded as a mini-flock:  We've made sure any bowls are deep filled with water, layers mash or seeds so that Sky can easily eat & drink. Sky especially likes seeds:  All three have now had their first proper dust baths. Slight problem is Molly was unable to assert her seniority over the three, though Blossom and Sky were easy to peck down. However, when Liv started pecking back and then Blossom and Sky went into help [so 3 onto 1], Molly just slunk off and sat under a bench. Her and Nova have been keeping a distance from the new ladies since then. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to all 'get along'. spookygonk fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Sep 20, 2022 |
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Sep 19, 2022 22:17
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Oh no look what happened
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Sep 19, 2022 22:38
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Alterian posted:I can't wait till I live somewhere that I can have a rooster. I want to get the prettiest, fluffiest rooster there is!
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Sep 19, 2022 23:02
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those hens look like they are having a great time spookygonk Alterian posted:Oh no look what happened lol oops rooster! he's lovely. City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Sep 19, 2022 23:05
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spookygonk posted:Close enough. I hate my neighbors and want them to move and he was a rehome on nextdoor because they had another rooster that was picking on him. The front runner name is Robert Smith...or Trent.
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Sep 20, 2022 00:20
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Alterian posted:Robert Smith
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Sep 20, 2022 06:57
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Sound for peeping and disgruntled mom. https://i.imgur.com/eePcjJg.mp4
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Sep 20, 2022 15:04
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Wonderful chicken news on this page! Congrats on all the new additions. Marge’s chicks hatched on Sunday, so today she decided they are ready to go outside! Out of 7 eggs she has 6 live chicks. Here they are learning about dirt. 
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Sep 20, 2022 15:48
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| # ? May 21, 2024 10:32 |
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congratulations Large Marge, those are beautiful babies i love when you move a hen and the chicks scatter. it's the cute version of moving a rock and all the bugs running away
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Sep 20, 2022 15:51
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