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I don't think it'd be good for the chicken to be alone  http://www.mypetchicken.com/about-chickens/frequently-asked-questions.aspx#JustOne
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Aug 25, 2011 02:13
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Chickens are very visual animals, and use color to figure out if a chicken is part of their flock or not. A mixed flock generally isn't a problem, since if they're raised together chickens will assume that all of the chickens who look like their flock is part of their flock. It gets trickier when you need to integrate new birds, since chickens who look like other birds in the flock will be accepted faster than chickens who don't. Dr Pain: My chickens, I have eight at the moment, and live in Arizona, go through about fifteen gallons in a week. I have a five gallon waterer that I refill 2 or three times a week, which only takes about five minutes. Scratch is a treat, and you don't want to give them too much. The best thing is to only put out as much as they will eat in about five minutes. Store it in a rodent and wild bird proof container, and you'll be fine. Wild bird will try to come in and eat your feed, which is why hardware cloth for the sides of the coop/run and bird netting over the top is a good idea. Lyz: chickens can be dumb, but I've heard plenty of stories about hens who came from generations of broodies who smothered their chicks or whatever. I've also had several hens who came from generations of hatchery birds who were great mothers. So I think it may depend more on the bird than breeding. loldance: Chickens are flock animals, and really don't do well alone. You want to have at least two, and three is better. Three chickens will give you about a dozen eggs a week, two at absolute max.
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Aug 25, 2011 02:35
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They are social critters. They are meant to be with other chickens, but I have heard of some solo ones that did ok. I have heard the minimum is 3 for chickens. 2 is not quite enough to give them the "flock mentiality" and 3 seems to be just right. But again, I have heard of a few single hens that were house chickens, and got interaction that way by adopting dogs/people etc as a substitute flock. I personally wouldn't want one on its own. Seems a bit sad to me
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Aug 25, 2011 04:23
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I got home from work and went outside to add more ice to the chickens' waterers. It's been in the mid 90s today and my sister put some ice in the water earlier today. When I went out I saw my four chickens and the new one lying on the grass really close to each other. They are still separated by the welded wire fence, but they are finally getting used to each other  .
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Aug 27, 2011 01:41
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I thought you guys would appreciate this
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Sep 8, 2011 21:55
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Kerfuffle posted:I thought you guys would appreciate this
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Sep 8, 2011 22:39
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I was messing with Google Sketchup, and I did a pretty sloppy-copy of my idea for a chicken coop design. Then I found out I could animate. Then I used gimp to make a gif. BE IMPRESSED It's within a 6'x6' plot, the 2"x4"'s frame where chicken wire will be strung (will add additional supports in final design). The split in the front is where I intend to put an outward-swinging door. The opening on top of the coop will be covered with a corrugated aluminum roof, with a small fan installed for hot days. The whole front will be hinged to open for easy cleaning. It stands 1.5 feet off the ground, and the interior will feature six separate 1'x1'nesting boxes, and several roosts made of 3/4" dowels. Within the wire will be extra roosts and some chicken enrichment. Food will be places outside, and water will be available inside and out. There will be daily chicken-tractoring if weather permits. BOrangeFury fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Sep 8, 2011 |
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Sep 8, 2011 23:42
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Can a double yolk egg be fertilized? What happens?
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Sep 10, 2011 20:23
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themindisonfire posted:Can a double yolk egg be fertilized? What happens?
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Sep 11, 2011 03:34
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Tendai posted:Two-headed chickens. Two-butt chicken.
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Sep 11, 2011 03:36
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Yes, both yolks in the egg can be fertile. Both chicks will develop in the egg but they usually don't hatch because there is not enough room in the egg to hatch and not enough air in the air cell.
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Sep 12, 2011 13:20
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I need some help. The barred plymouth rock hen we bought 2-3 weeks ago,Spaghetti, has been losing weight. She drinks a lot of water and eats very wekk, and she poops a lot. Recently Rusty one of my pullets got gapeworm so I gave all my chickens Iverpectin to start deworming them. I don't know if worms is the reason Spaghetti is losing weight, but this is what I need help with: Now that she is used to us and very attached to me, I've been petting her a lot and noticed she has huge scabs on the sides of her body, right under her wings. I think her previous owner either had a rooster that mounted Spaghetti nonstop and wounded her, or she was kept with other aggressive hens. The sounds are scabbed and healing, the skin looks good, a nice uniform color both next to the wounds and in areas that are clean. However, I think my cockerel reopened a deep puncture wound on ghetti's left hip/side, because I can see the muscle underneath the skin through the hole, and it's been oozing a big of pus/clear liquid, and there's a huge scab next to it that I think is dried ooze. The wound is a bit under half an inch long, and less than a 1/4 inch wide. I cleaned the area as best as I could with a mix of iodine and water and trim some feathers that were stuck on the discharge, and put some generic Neosporin on the hole until it was filled, and spread it around the wound. Now, because of the weight loss, I don't know if it's the pain or maybe a hidden infection that has been causing it, so I'm also giving her about .6cc of Bactrim and another broad spectrum antibiotic I was given for Rusty when she had a tongue and crop infection. I repeated the same treatment today, clean the wound (it is scabbing over again), try to remove as much of the dry scab with a qtip soaked in water and iodine, the two antibiotics, and lots of Neosporin on the wound. so far it seems fine, but I can't bandage it because Ghetti and the other chickens kept pecking at the saddle I tried to put on her yesterday, and she kept taking it off. Good thing is that Ghetti is the beta hen in my flock, and the head hen tends to leave her alone, so nobody is trying to peck at her wound. Also her wing feathers cover that area most of the time, so it isn't visible. Am I doing everything right so far? I already spent like 400 dollars on Rusty during the summer at the vet, and adding the cost of the coop we bought them, and also having unexpected expenses with college (Fafsa isn't granting me as much money as I expected, so I had to pay part of my tuition). With all these unplanned bills, I have no money left for another vet visit, so I have to treat her on my own .
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Sep 13, 2011 22:39
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Get some anti-pick lotion if you haven't already and put it around her wound, it should keep the other hens from bothering it. Even if they aren't now, it only takes one taste of blood or flesh for them to go nuts and eat the poor hen alive, or at least make the wound a lot worse. Other than that, I guess just keep it clean, make sure she eats and let nature take its course because her best defense is probably her natural one. I wouldn't go crazy on the antibiotics, dosing without specific instructions from a vet tends to lead to the formation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could make your other hens sick and put you in a worse position. Antibiotics aren't something you want to just make up your own dosing schedule for, and they may not even be right for the type of infection she has.
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Sep 13, 2011 23:32
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K I'll stop with the antibiotics, but now things got worse. One of my nieces didn't lock the gate correctly and Spaghetti got into the run with the rooster, and now her wound is about an inch and a half long. The ugly scab that was next to the hole cracked and I can see the muscle too well. Thankfully it's not a hole but a long gash, so the skin can stay together to heal. I cleaned the area the best i could with saline solution, made sure to flush the wound well, then applied iodine with a qtip. Once it dried i put a lot of neosporin to work as a barrier for dust and stuff, and I put a chicken saddle I made on Spaghetti so she can't try and eat the neosporin. I'm gonna try to put some liquid bandage on the part where the scab is so the wound doesn't split open so easily again, but let both ends of the wound unglued so any discharge that may occur has a way out. I'm so glad the skin around it has a healthy color, but now I'm really worried about this wound, it's big and I don't have any idea how long it takes for a wound like that to heal on a chicken .
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Sep 14, 2011 06:53
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What's a good setup for a brooder? What do I put on the bottom? Shavings? What kind of chicken breed is a good egg layer but quiet? When can the chick move from the brooder to the chicken coop?
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Sep 15, 2011 02:32
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Expect to clean the brooder every day. They can go outside when they get their adult feathers, but if you are starting with chicks and you live in the northern hemisphere you should wait until next spring so they are big enough to go outside when its no longer going to be cold at night.
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Sep 15, 2011 02:47
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Maximusi posted:What's a good setup for a brooder? What do I put on the bottom? Shavings? What kind of chicken breed is a good egg layer but quiet? When can the chick move from the brooder to the chicken coop? I've read that brahmas are rather quiet, and my light brahma cockerel (he's 6 months now, and crows like a big boy  ) doesn't crow nearly as much in the morning or during the day as the other roosters in the neighborhood.
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Sep 15, 2011 02:49
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I live in California. I really don't want to keep chicks inside for that long.
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Sep 15, 2011 02:53
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You're really not suppose to put them outside until all their adult feathers have grown in because they can get a chill easily and die.
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Sep 15, 2011 02:59
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Maximusi posted:I live in California. I really don't want to keep chicks inside for that long. I live in California too, in Los Angeles county. I had to keep my chicks inside until they were about 3 months old, fully feathered. By then it was June, and they'd be a bit cold at night still. I'd say you'd have to either keep them inside at night until they are 4-5 months old, or wait until March so you can let them grow in the brooder and let them outside in the summer.
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Sep 15, 2011 03:16
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http://www.indystar.com/article/20110915/LOCAL18/109150314/Life-is-sunnyside-up-for-Indianapolis-chicken-owners?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|IndyStar.com|p Haha, this got an article in my local paper. I can't wait until I move out of my rental so I can build a coop.
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Sep 15, 2011 13:19
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Are there places where I can buy adult hens, or is looking for them on craigslist inadvisable?
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Sep 15, 2011 22:19
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Don't really recommend buying other people's used birds. There is a reason they are getting rid of them. Some don't lay, some may be sick, they may have parasites or they may all be roos. Don't get me wrong - some people sell decent birds but you have to be careful. Get pics and try to go there to pick them up so you can see the birds' living conditions.
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Sep 16, 2011 14:03
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You could always buy pullets from some place.
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Sep 16, 2011 14:56
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meriruka posted:Don't really recommend buying other people's used birds. There is a reason they are getting rid of them. Some don't lay, some may be sick, they may have parasites or they may all be roos. Don't get me wrong - some people sell decent birds but you have to be careful. Get pics and try to go there to pick them up so you can see the birds' living conditions. Yeah you have to be careful. Our hen Spaghetti was dumped on the feed store we bought her from the same day we bought her for 12 dollars (she was "donated" during the time I was buying food and my brother in law went to pick me up). We got her because my BiL liked her and we need a medium to large chicken for our hormone driven cockerel. The poor thing turned out to be covered in old scabbed wounds, I couldn't really see how many because Spaghetti would scream and try to jump off my lap for the first couple of weeks we had her. Finally she got attached to me, and I saw all the scabs. To make it worse, my cockerel reopened an old wound, so there was a tear in her skin and you could see the muscle beneath. Then one of my nieces wasn't careful enough when closing the gate to lock Spaghetti outside their run so Roo couldn't have access to her, and Spaghetti went back to the run, got mounter, and the wound split to be over an inch long . She seems to be healing well and I'm doing my best to keep the wound clean while it heals.The previous owner either had a rooster who overmated this poor hen, or she was picked a lot by the other hens that were dumped too, and the lady didn't say poo poo about it when she gave them to the store owner.
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Sep 16, 2011 17:39
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Roostroyer at 6 months next to an empty gallon jug. He's such a fatty 
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Sep 24, 2011 01:12
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Wow! Roostroyer is huge! And such pretty feathers! How is your Spaghetti doing? Did her wounds finally heal up?
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Sep 24, 2011 01:23
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She has one big ugly scab on her wound, but the skin around it looks healthy, so no infection. I keep her separate from Roo until that scab is completely healed to avoid Roo opening it again if he tries to mount her. I rotate the chickens in and out of their run and also which chickens stay with Roo: There you see Dust, the stray hen we caught, locked inside the run with Roo (not in the picture) I often let him and Dust outside and the other hens inside, or I leave Roo with Dust, Megatron and Godzilla outside and Spaghetti and Rusty inside. Spaghetti is growing her feathers back, but she still poops really soft poop that looks like the splats of pigeon poop you see on cars, and she doesn't really gain weight, drinks lots of water and has a crop that feels mushy, but she doesn't have a sour crop nor bad breath, so I guess that's how she is, although I see her lay down on the grass more often than the others, but she isn't lethargic, I just don't know what's wrong with her, if there's anything wrong . She lays an egg every other day and eats well otherwise.Here's the grumpy lady in question 
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Sep 24, 2011 01:42
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Photodump time! Dust, slowly getting used to human contact. She's a cute mutt  Rusty, I love her tail!  Godzilla, she's so soft and has such pretty colors.  Megatron, she's adorable but I think the little hamster in her brain fell off its wheel   Roostroyer being a fluffball  Spaghetti is slowly growing her feathers back. Poor thing should be much fluffier. 
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Sep 24, 2011 02:47
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Thanks for sharing! Your flock is certainly growing, but it's becoming more adorable by the day. Does Dust get along with the others? How long have you had her?
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Sep 24, 2011 03:27
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Dust is part of the flock Godzilla, Rusty, and Megatron come from. When the guy moved away he took most of his chickens with him (finally). Four hens were left behind because he couldn't catch them, although dust finally fell into a live trap we have a about 2-3 weeks ago, and we decided to keep her. she is the head hen, she pecks everybody and they keep their distance, with the exception of Roo, he has already had his way with her. She is a bit of a bully, but nothing serious yet because I keep her with Roo most of the time when I separate him from Spaghetti. I do let them hang out for half of the day, or keep her and Spaghetti in the run along with Rusty, and let Megatron and Godzilla with Roo. And here's Roo trying to charm the girls with yummy food too bad it was his turn to be in the run with Dust and his ladies could only watch in despair. You can see him grab bit of cheese and drop it, too bad you can't hear his adorable bokbokbok enticing the girls to come over.
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Sep 24, 2011 04:45
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So I got some chickens! I got a buff orpington and an americauna. Let me know what you think of my setup. They seem to scratch the ground a lot. They peck at their food but I'm not sure they're eating it. I hope that the bottom isn't slippery, please let me know if the shavings are enough: http://imgur.com/a/himaO The images are huge so I just linked to the album. We also built a coop over the weekend.
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Sep 25, 2011 21:04
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I would a big piece of cardboard on the floor so they don't slip too much, and get one more chick, chickens like to be in groups, so three would be much better than two .
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Sep 25, 2011 22:09
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Chido when did those chickens get so big?! Man. Roostroyer trying to be charming and entice the ladies is hella
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Sep 26, 2011 01:56
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Maximusi posted:So I got some chickens! I got a buff orpington and an americauna. Let me know what you think of my setup. They seem to scratch the ground a lot. They peck at their food but I'm not sure they're eating it. I hope that the bottom isn't slippery, please let me know if the shavings are enough: Cute peeps! I usually use paper towels in the brooder for the first week, mainly so the chicks don't eat too many shavings and to give their feet some traction. Make sure they are drinking water. If they aren't, you will have to dip their beaks in the waterer to give them the idea. (Make sure you don't dunk their "nostrils") The coop looks nice. Are you going to build a ramp up to the door?
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Sep 26, 2011 13:36
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Yeah, eventually I will. They're drinking A LOT. I'm going to let them free range when they're much older. Hopefully they don't get eaten! Going to paint it too, but not sure what color.
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Sep 26, 2011 15:45
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Is Roostroyer a Light Sussex? Does he cock-a-doodle-do you to distraction yet?
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Sep 26, 2011 23:32
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He's a light brahma cockerel. He's surprisingly quiet, he does crow in the morning but nowhere near as often as my neighbor's rooster, or the roosters across the street, or the ones a couple of blocks away...
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Sep 27, 2011 00:09
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My rooster just died ._. I don't know what was wrong with him, none of the vets around here will deal with chickens. I put wormer in their food and coat them in mite dust once a month, there were no worms in his poo and he showed no signs of distress, but he seemed to just waste way... Noticed a month or so ago that he wasn't crowing, he was walking a bit funny and his comb had flopped to one side, also his poo was watery, but he seemed bright and alert otherwise, eating and drinking, nice clear eyes and whatnot. He did seem more lethargic than normal. Kept an eye on him and noticed a couple of weeks back that he'd lost weight and his comb was going grey at the ends, so we gave him some ibuprofen and kept him in the bathroom for a couple of days, he ate, drank, crapped everywhere and generally seemed to perk up, his comb went more upright and a better colour, so we weaned him off the ibuprofen and put him outside with the girls again, he seemed ok, not "better" but not worse. He also lost all his rooster-grumpiness, instead of throwing himself at me claws and teeth, he'd run at me when he saw me coming and look in my hands for food. Noticed yesterday he didn't get up on his own, I took him out the house, set him by the food and went to college, honestly expecting him to be dead when I got home, I hadn't realised how much weight he'd lost... He also had a hard lump in his wattles. But he seemed ok when I came back, wandering around the garden and eating, he came up to greet me and frisk me for food. I gave him some more ibuprofen and left him to it. Found him dead in the chicken house this morning. RIP Thorax...
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Sep 28, 2011 18:18
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Sorry about your roo. It sucks when you don't even know why they died.
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Sep 29, 2011 13:33
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