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A special day indeed for my ex-batts... One year ago we rehomed four ladies who needed some TLC:  and I'm happy to say that all four are still with us today.  (clockwise from top left: Piper, Dora, Boo, Pip).
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Dec 29, 2012 13:30
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How wonderful! Such beautiful ladies you have. They look like the happiest hens on the planet.
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Dec 29, 2012 17:14
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Spookygonk, what a beautiful thing you did. Not many opportunities for rescue here in Utah. Your hens look healthy and happy! Edit note: It is interesting how each comb is different! I was reading that chickens can tell each other apart by their comb (correct spelling?) piscesbobbie fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 18:08
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One of my chickens has a broken toe. I saw her limping down the ramp yesterday into the run; I have no idea how that happened. I never got around to selling the extra ones that I had and still have 14. Am I a horrible person for killing it? I never viewed them as pets, now that the days are so short I never see them awake on weekdays. I just refill their water and food, and when the discussion came up before I am on record as saying I would not be using a vet or spending huge money on them.
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Dec 31, 2012 20:05
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I don't think you are a horrible person, Zeta. Now I'm dead tired from working and a bit sleep deprived, but you said you killed the chicken right? If you did because of the broken toe, and you don't have the chickens as pets but for consumption/egg production, then I think it's more humane to quickly dispose of the animal than let it be in pain if you can't treat its broken toe for whatever reason  .If you didn't kill it and are willing to give it a try at treating its toe, maybe you can keep it in a crate and try to bandage it's toe and see if it recovers?
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Dec 31, 2012 20:27
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Chido posted:I don't think you are a horrible person, Zeta. Now I'm dead tired from working and a bit sleep deprived, but you said you killed the chicken right? If you did because of the broken toe, and you don't have the chickens as pets but for consumption/egg production, then I think it's more humane to quickly dispose of the animal than let it be in pain if you can't treat its broken toe for whatever reason I noticed it yesterday and have not killed her yet. I can't do it until tomorrow. It's not something I will enjoy, but I am from a dairy farm so I have been around that before. I have no moral qualms about eating ethically raised meat.
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Dec 31, 2012 20:33
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I noticed it yesterday and have not killed her yet. I can't do it until tomorrow. It's not something I will enjoy, but I am from a dairy farm so I have been around that before. I have no moral qualms about eating ethically raised meat. Well all I can say about that then is... how many chicken tamales do you think you'll get out of the chicken? 
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Dec 31, 2012 20:54
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Chido posted:Well all I can say about that then is... how many chicken tamales do you think you'll get out of the chicken? Aw man, I love chicken tamales! Tamales are big down here in south Texas at Christmas and New Year's.  But yeah, Zeta, if the chicken is suffering you should put it down. Don't feel bad about it as it's best for the animal and the chicken lived a good life under your care. And don't feel bad about eating it.
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Dec 31, 2012 21:13
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Didn't Pardalis literally post that quail and the clippers picture in this thread? You aren't awful for slaughtering your own meat. Hell, you're better than most that are too cowardly to do it. 
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Dec 31, 2012 21:25
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Didn't Pardalis literally post that quail and the clippers picture in this thread? I think that was in the chickencheese thread, but yeah I laughed my rear end off at that pic. Give her a pet, say thank you and process her for table. If it has to be put off for more than a few more days you could just splint the toe with a couple of sticks and sports/medical tape to make her more comfortable, though.
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Dec 31, 2012 22:59
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You know then how vicious the other chickens will be to her once they notice her injury. You do the right thing, I agree with the others, there is nothing wrong with raising your own chicken for consumption. Especially since you have extra that you have not sold yet! Has Pardalis mentioned anything new about the quail project, the meat quail and the eggs? Oh, I would like to wish you all Happy New Year!
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Jan 1, 2013 02:57
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I've been busy and not really on the forums, but hopefully this photo of the batch of coturnix chicks that hatched on Christmas will tide you over. The big one is a little hen who is 20 days older than the chicks. She was the only chick to make it from the prior (failed) hatch. My turner stopped working!  She has been in with this group of hatchlings since the first day they popped out and she seems to think she is their mother. I didn't get a pic of it, but I came down to tend to them a few days ago and she had about 20 of the babies under her, popping their heads through her wings and tail as she tried to mantle over them to brood. Here she is keeping watch over them in their brooder while they sleep in a giant baby pile.  
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Jan 2, 2013 18:20
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Pardalis posted:I've been busy and not really on the forums, but hopefully this photo of the batch of coturnix chicks that hatched on Christmas will tide you over. The big one is a little hen who is 20 days older than the chicks. She was the only chick to make it from the prior (failed) hatch. My turner stopped working! Man, I wish I could dare to process my own meat, but I'm powerless against so much cuteness. I wouldn't be able to avoid naming every single quail and put tiny barbie dresses on them and cuddle them instead of eating them 
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Jan 2, 2013 21:03
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Chido posted:Man, I wish I could dare to process my own meat, but I'm powerless against so much cuteness. I wouldn't be able to avoid naming every single quail and put tiny barbie dresses on them and cuddle them instead of eating them Whenever I get whatever I end up getting to slaughter for the house, their ceremonial sacrificial dinner outfit is going to be a frilly pink dress in honor of Roo and all the other dress up chickens. 
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Jan 2, 2013 21:06
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Naming the bird just makes for more interesting dinner conversation, "Im eating a Senor Fuzzyboots sandwich"!
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Jan 2, 2013 21:48
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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Anyone know what to do about egg eaters?
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Jan 3, 2013 01:26
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Tim the Enchanter posted:Naming the bird just makes for more interesting dinner conversation, "Im eating a Senor Fuzzyboots sandwich"! LOL! You're so mean!  But as long as you respectfully devour Senor Fuzzyboots then everything is 
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 01:26
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Senor Fuzzyboots is quite flaky and tender. Must've been all the time I petted him.
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Jan 3, 2013 01:51
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WOW! Just look at that huge pile of quail! Pardalis, have you had a chance to butcher any or will this group be the first to succumb to your culinary skills?
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Jan 3, 2013 03:42
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Yes, I have. Processing them wasn't too bad. They were delicious little birds.
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Jan 3, 2013 03:51
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Pardalis posted:Yes, I have. Processing them wasn't too bad. They were delicious little birds. I'm impressed. Good for you! More tasty than quail purchased at the market I'm thinking. Are you keeping the eggs to incubate or do you use the eggs in food preparation?
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Jan 3, 2013 04:05
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Both, mostly incubation at the moment because I have other people buying fertile dozens off of me. I also just upgraded my quail rails to real ones instead of the standard chicken ones that come with the turner so we will have lots more eggs per incubation than previously. I hope this means lots of chicks as I have many people interested in raising backyard quail now and they want to buy starter flocks from me.
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Jan 3, 2013 04:15
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Pendergast posted:Anyone know what to do about egg eaters? Gonna run through some things you can try real quick: Remove eggs promptly after they've been laid. Give the offender an egg that has been blown out (make a hole in each end of a raw egg, blow into one end and the liquid contents will be pushed out the other hole) and refilled with hot sauce, so when they peck it, it's nasty. Give the offender a fake, hard egg made from marble or something, they'll peck it, it hurts, they stop pecking eggs. Give them something else to peck, like a cabbage on a string or raw corn on the cob--something to redirect pecking and keep them entertained. If you routinely feed back eggshells to your birds, crush the shells first so that they don't LOOK like eggs. But also see if you can discover WHY the eggs are being eaten--boredom, overcrowding and nutritional deficiencies are all possiblities. When the offender eats an egg, are they going for the yolk (indicates a craving for more protein) or the shell (they need more calcium)?
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Jan 3, 2013 12:29
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Hot sauce wouldn't work on chickens because birds don't feel capsaicin.
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Jan 3, 2013 12:59
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Yeah, it has to be something like mustard.
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Jan 3, 2013 13:22
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Birds don't like the taste of grape kool aid.
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Jan 3, 2013 13:40
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Give the offender a fake, hard egg made from marble or something, they'll peck it, it hurts, they stop pecking eggs. Would a golf ball work for this? Just curious.
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Jan 3, 2013 18:13
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Inveigle posted:Would a golf ball work for this? Just curious. Didn't work for mine. But wooden eggs did. Mine wasn't actually tasting the eggs though. She just pecked each one she laid once (they weren't thin-shelled, she was just pecking them hard), hard enough to break the shell but not go through the membrane so she wasn't actually getting anything yummy yet. She was doing it right after she laid the egg too, so there was no way to get them out before she could do it. I put three wooden eggs in each box and it stopped immediately. I'd had golf balls in there already but those did not seem to be egg-like enough to distract her.
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Jan 3, 2013 18:45
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Velvet Sparrow had some good suggestions, but sometimes, you get a really stubborn egg eater, and the only thing to do is cull them, because eventually the other hens will learn the behavior from them.
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Jan 4, 2013 08:15
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WrathofKhan posted:Velvet Sparrow had some good suggestions, but sometimes, you get a really stubborn egg eater, and the only thing to do is cull them, because eventually the other hens will learn the behavior from them. Yeah, this, ya gotta nip it in the bud. Sorry, I was in a hurry--the bad-tasting egg advice I should have amended to read as 'insert icky, but harmless, stuff here'. Some birds hate one thing but not another, so you have may to experiment. Golf balls may work, you just have to try it and see. Sometimes you have hens that regard any roundish object as an egg, like Poof did the other day...  She's getting blinder by the day and mostly navigates by feel/sound now. I was putting away Christmas stuff and found her carefully snuggling in amongst these ornaments, quietly trilling and clucking to them. 
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Jan 4, 2013 10:23
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Oh VS! That picture is THE BEST!
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Jan 4, 2013 16:08
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Sometimes you have hens that regard any roundish object as an egg, like Poof did the other day... This is absolutely the most adorable thing ever. And I love Poof's beautiful headfeathers. I know she's blind now, but could she ever really see with all those head feathers? Did you ever have to hold back her head feathers with a scrunchie? If so, please post a photo!
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Jan 4, 2013 16:16
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Sometimes you have hens that regard any roundish object as an egg, like Poof did the other day... This is the most  thing that has ever been posted anywhere ever.
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Jan 4, 2013 18:46
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Serella posted:This is the most I dunno, it's neck and neck with the time it was raining and we had both Poof and Sugar, our buff laced Polish hen, in the house. Both had to lay an egg and were wandering the house yowling and searching for a spot--needless to say, the impromptu nest boxes we made for them wouldn't do. Poof eventually chose a pile of laundry I was about to fold, while Sugar suddenly got quiet and we found her here:  ...in a bowl of Blood oranges I had picked. We just waited and retrieved the egg after she was done, little weirdo. We never had to do the scrunchie thing with any of our crested birds--I think that's more for show birds, yard birds tend to be more in control of their headdresses due to the amount of everyday digging through bushes and whatnot. Poof's crest behaves itself quite well but Sugar's is more in the way generally. Edit: Found a couple of shots of Poof's face. Looking like some kind of mad musical genius:  My favorite shot of Poof, in the rain being silly: 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Jan 4, 2013 |
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Jan 4, 2013 22:35
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I found the full video for the Private life of Chickens, enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZaSQZQEzU
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Jan 5, 2013 09:09
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Chido posted:I found the full video for the Private life of Chickens, enjoy! Wonderful video on chicken behavior! And good for them for showing how crappy chicken wire is at keeping out a determined predator, that fox got in crazy fast! Those chickens were the most relaxed flock around the introduced predators I'd ever seen, though. Mine go batshit and holler their brains out if they even THINK they see a predator. I like Lloyd, he is just a big sweetie.
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jan 15, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 12:36
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Chido posted:I found the full video for the Private life of Chickens, enjoy! This was one of the most amazing videos I have seen about chickens. So interesting!
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Jan 5, 2013 16:41
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That chicken eating a mouse 
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Jan 5, 2013 17:35
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AtomikKrab posted:That chicken eating a mouse Wasn't that crazy! Swallowed whole!  chicken!
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Jan 6, 2013 02:52
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The whole time I could only think of VS and her chickens choking on spaghetti and long blades of grass. I was watching that tail pretty closely 
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Jan 6, 2013 07:59
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