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Pardalis posted:Would anyone be into the idea of shipping me fertile eggs in a few weeks? Any breed suggestions? How do you ship eggs? I could try and send you eggs from Waffle and Pancake if you'd like them  Unless oyu live somewhere near LA county, then it'd make it easier.
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Apr 13, 2013 21:15
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Greycious posted:I see Like Disco Nixon said, they stop laying completely. It's why you want to discourage your layers from going broody if you don't have any eggs you want hatching! If you notice your hen sitting on her egg for too long, or taking over someone else's eggs, or getting snippy when sitting on her eggs, it's a bad sign if you want her to keep laying eggs for you. It's great if you want her looking after eggs or babies, obviously. Giving the broody hen a bit of grain outside her nesting box, taking her eggs and showing her you have taken her eggs, and gently lifting her out of the box should be enough to eventually discourage your hen from not laying if she's just started taking too much of an interest in her eggs. If she is hissing and fluffing up and pooping once every three days, it's probably too late! E: Velvet Sparrow posted:
I love them when they get to that stage  Everyone I know who hasn't raised chickens is very surprised to learn that they talk to their eggs, and that the eggs can even talk back. In some birds they even seem to use individual "names".I'm so excited for baby chickens! CROWS EVERYWHERE fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Apr 13, 2013 |
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Apr 13, 2013 21:19
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Chido posted:How do you ship eggs? I could try and send you eggs from Waffle and Pancake if you'd like them It's kind of a pain and isn't cheap, plus shipped eggs have a notoriously iffy hatch rate. But all those things considered, here's how I usually ship mine, plus I like to double box to protect even further from temperature changes & rough handling: http://www.poultryhelp.com/eggpacking.html People are on the fence as to whether to mark the boxes as 'Fragile--Fertile Hatching Eggs' or not. Some feel this only encourages rough USPS handling, others find it helps avoid it. Also, the USPS may or may not x-ray the box, so it should be marked DO NOT XRAY. If marked thus, they may open it to inspect it. Also, one thing I've learned is that if you live at a high altitude, sea level eggs ain't gonna hatch worth poo poo.  Sea level to sea level is fine, and high altitude eggs to high altitude or sea level works, tho.Edit: I figured the chicks can hear me now, so I've started talking to the eggs. Once in a while they wiggle when I do. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Apr 13, 2013 |
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Apr 13, 2013 21:27
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Velvet Sparrow posted:From the 2011 hatch: Thankyou! It must've been Dinner I was thinking of, he was a light Brahma too wasn't he? I heard about Rafe from here and Peeps from twitter, I was so sad so I can't imagine how you and your family must have felt Peepsquire was a thread favourite iirc, the only Marans. I loved Rafe, he sounded so sweet from your stories about him.How many roos do you have now? Just Weedcat and... the bantam, was it Scott? I remember you rehomed Smokey before you moved, did you end up having to give him to a store to rehome, or did you find a new place for him? He was my favourite.
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Apr 13, 2013 21:32
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Messing with broody hens is awesome, though! (excuse the horrible voice)
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Apr 13, 2013 21:47
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Edit: I figured the chicks can hear me now, so I've started talking to the eggs. Once in a while they wiggle when I do. Gah! That is too many levels of cute! And Broody rusty is adorable. I wouldn't be able to resist messing with a big poofed up hen. Thanks for all the info on hens going broody, hopefully I won't ever have that problem.
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Apr 13, 2013 21:52
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^^^ You will, if you have chickens. Hens go broody once in a while, doesn't matter if they have eggs, a nest or a roo. Nature just flips the switch.eating only apples posted:Thankyou! It must've been Dinner I was thinking of, he was a light Brahma too wasn't he? I heard about Rafe from here and Peeps from twitter, I was so sad so I can't imagine how you and your family must have felt Yeah, we had to rehome Smokey before we moved. We have Weedcat the Head Roo, Bloop the bantam MilleFleur Belgian d'Uccle who is Beta Roo (in his eyes) and Scott, our elderly Mille Fleur d'Uccle/Frizzle mix roo who is ACTUALLY the Beta Roo but has retired from mating hens and just likes to hang out with his old ladies.  A lot of our flock is very elderly--Bear, the Head Hen, is the oldest now at 11 years old, 7 others, including Scott are 10, a bunch more are between 8-9 years old. That's one reason I like to hatch chicks every year--you always have losses due to accidents/illness/old age every year.
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Apr 13, 2013 22:13
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Framed up the coop and run today. Tomorrow I finish adding the supports and put the roof on, then wrap it in hardware cloth. After that it's Coop finishing time! So one or two more weekends after this one.
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Apr 13, 2013 23:59
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Framed up the coop and run today. This looks awesome. What are your dimensions? Is it going to be high enough to walk in? This looks like something I would like to have. Also, how many chickens do you plan to have?
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Apr 14, 2013 03:17
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piscesbobbie posted:This looks awesome. What are your dimensions? Is it going to be high enough to walk in? This looks like something I would like to have. Also, how many chickens do you plan to have? It's 10' long, 5'6" wide and 6'4" tall. So I can stand up with 2 inches to spare. My wife is 5'2" though so she thinks it's massively tall. It was a fun day working, but it sure does take a long time to do all this crap. Right now we have 4 chickens. 2 Silver Cuckoo Marans, 1 Rhode Island Red and 1 White Australorp. Also I think my Australorp is a friggin rooster. She's 3 weeks old and is starting to grow a comb just like the maran rooster. That's 2 Roos and 3 hens. I don't have good odds with this chick picking thing.
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Apr 14, 2013 04:15
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Errant Gin Monks posted:It's 10' long, 5'6" wide and 6'4" tall. So I can stand up with 2 inches to spare. My wife is 5'2" though so she thinks it's massively tall. It was a fun day working, but it sure does take a long time to do all this crap. Australorp hens DO have big, healthy combs though...watch for roosterly behaviour.
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Apr 14, 2013 04:53
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Chido posted:Messing with broody hens is awesome, though! (excuse the horrible voice) What is proper chicken scooping behavior? do you just put a hand under them and lift? or get under the feet?
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Apr 14, 2013 06:46
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AtomikKrab posted:What is proper chicken scooping behavior? do you just put a hand under them and lift? or get under the feet? I'm not sure what you mean by proper chicken scooping behavior  I tend to scoop the hens if they are broody because they tend to just lay down, so it's easy to just put a hand under them and lift them to get them out of the coop. for the other hens I cradle them in my arm as if I was holding a football, just making sure they aren't near my face because some of them try to peck at my teeth if I'm talking, or try to rip off my earrings... or in the case of my head hen, peck my eyes and give me a corneal abrasion when I made the mistake of holding her too close to my face.With Roostroyer I have to hold him with both arms because he's pretty big and heavy and even though he's pretty docile for a rooster, he doesn't like to be held. I have to make sure I'm holding his wings too or he'll flap and hit me in the face, and he hits pretty hard. Whenever I check his feet for bumblefoot, I need my older niece to help me, because he's too strong to be handled by one person and I don't want Roo to hurt her if he tries to get free.
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Apr 14, 2013 07:08
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AtomikKrab posted:What is proper chicken scooping behavior? do you just put a hand under them and lift? or get under the feet? It's best to hold them as Chido described and allow their feet to dangle--if they can get a grip with their feet, they can launch themselves out of your arms and possibly scratch you up with their claws or hurt themselves when they land. It's also a good idea to keep their wings against their body so they don't suddenly flap and bitch slap the Hell out of you. Hens are usually OK with being held, some roos resist since it just ain't macho to be snoodled in front of the girls/other roos. Bloop my banty roo actively seeks out being held & petted, and if you DON'T scoop him up right away and carry him around petting him, gets all pissed off and jumps on your feet. He can be quite the pain in the rear end about it, actually. Chickens each have their own personalities, some love to be held & petted and will jump in your lap the instant you sit down, others think you are trying to catch & eat them. I currently have a Giant Cochin hen, a Brahma hen and 4 d'Uccles that figure that THEY are entitled to sole proprietorship of my lap, so when I sit down I'm bombed with chickens. Sometimes when I'm not looking. Sometimes from across the run in a flying, squawking leap if one of them thinks the others might get to me first. Tiny broody banties can often be scooped up like Chido demonstrates in the video, they tend to be chicken pancake blobs and just settle wherever you set them down.
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Apr 14, 2013 08:52
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Velvet Sparrow posted:It's best to hold them as Chido described and allow their feet to dangle--if they can get a grip with their feet, they can launch themselves out of your arms and possibly scratch you up with their claws or hurt themselves when they land. Definitely this, a chicken using your forearm as a launching pad is not a great experience. Nor is getting a faceful of wing. Holding your chicken under her tummy with her wings securely at her sides is generally the way to go, whether under your arm or cuddled against your chest. Do what is most comfortable for you and your chicken! Mine like being tucked under my arm. I once had a very relaxed ISA Brown that liked to be put inside my hoodie and zipped up so she could stare out the neck. This is also a good opportunity for me to bring up my chickens again! Alecto is the more nervous of ours (hence all the staring she does) and she used to get upset when picked up for her daily inspection. Part of this was also due to the fact that she is convinced she is Kali's shadow and gets very concerned if she can't see her. She actually started making her "I'm lost, where is everyone" squawks when she was the only one being picked up. So I tried a few things to try and make her relax more, like giving her some of her favourite grain when she was getting a cuddle, tickling her neck, making soothing noises, and so on, but nothing worked. Until I tried rubbing her little toes! Turns out that calms her right down. Alecto is now quite happy to be picked up and carried around and cuddled and generally subjected to indignity as revenge for her biting my knee that one time.
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Apr 14, 2013 11:52
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Chicken/duck photodump           
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Apr 14, 2013 15:37
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Love the ducks! They look like they have it made. Love the fancy roos too of course, that polish looks like he is strutting around all 
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Apr 14, 2013 15:58
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The polish is retarded. He stood on the driveway for about three hours, doing poo poo all. Guy came up and bought the Sumatra for $30, today. Not bad for a $5 purchase. Said he's spent nearly $200 on eggs this year, with nearly none of them hatching. Felt a bit bad for him.
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Apr 14, 2013 17:22
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unprofessional posted:The polish is retarded. He stood on the driveway for about three hours, doing poo poo all. The Polish was celebrating the removal of the rival rooster! Polka is one handsome mofo though. He's really spectacular-looking! That guy who bought the Sumatran, he should have ordered a Chicken Surprise Special, like you did. Looks like your original duck still prefers to hang out with his chicken buddies. The new white ducks look really cool and seem to be enjoying your pond.
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Apr 14, 2013 17:41
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Chido posted:Grass, what is that?  Your old grass! :p 
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Apr 14, 2013 18:06
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Figured I'd give a little update on our girls... The weather's been nice finally so we've been giving them some supervised free-range time. (Wish we could let them out more but the dang hawks...  )  Three of our older girls- Taco, Grace and Shadow  Dust baths  (lighter one is Houdini) One of the younger girls, Speckled Sussex, no name yet  Polly and unnamed Gold Laced Wyandotte. Polly is so named because she MUST be perched on my shoulder whenever I go in to feed them.  'Nature Girl' finally feathered out!  Aaand, hopefully this is okay to post but my parents decided to try to raise a few chickens for meat since a local feed store had some Cornish Rock Crosses... As usual I'm taking care of the babies and we hope to have them out on grass for as long as possible.  But my luck with chicks is apparently still terrible because one of them won't grow! They're almost 3 weeks old but she's still baby sized. She's eating and drinking normally from what I can tell but I'm expecting the worst. I'm not sure if I should separate her in case the bigger ones will bully her... I don't really want to get too attached either though 
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Apr 14, 2013 18:49
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Woah! Unprofessional, are those from the chicken surprise or whatever you got like a month ago??
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Apr 14, 2013 18:51
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c355n4 posted:
Summer 2011, only 4 chickens.    Winter 2013.  the grass in the run is long gone, and the maain yard is mostly dry rright now, but there are patches of green coming out finally.
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Apr 14, 2013 18:52
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Grass in a chicken yard. HAHAHA..you guys kill me.Customer Service posted:Figured I'd give a little update on our girls... Is it possible the hatchery slipped up and tossed in a non Cornish Cross chick? Is this chick the exact same as the others? Cornish Cross have gigantic feet and are quite blocky. If you ARE sure it's 'failure to thrive', yeah, sooner or later they fade and go.
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Apr 14, 2013 18:57
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ozzy8bats posted:Woah! Unprofessional, are those from the chicken surprise or whatever you got like a month ago?? Also, Polka's so loving happy the Sumatran is gone. He's back with all the the chickens, doing chicken stuff.
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Apr 14, 2013 21:03
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unprofessional posted:The white ducks and roosters are from a weekly sale-barn auction I went to, but all the rest are chicken surprise chicks!
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Apr 14, 2013 23:24
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unprofessional posted:Chicken/duck photodump Muscovy ducks!  It's nice to hear that Polka is feeling happier now. Bully roosters are not nice, even if they are handsome Sumatrans. E: ozzy8bats posted:Wow, I had no idea they grow so fast! Haha, and what do you do with ducks? Do they lay edible/tasty eggs, or do you just raise em for fun? I'm a little :3 when it comes to animals. Duck eggs are delicious, though they taste a tiny bit different to chicken eggs. I wouldn't know how to describe it exactly. And you don't notice if it's in an omelette or a cake anyway. Their eggs are (depending on breed etc) a bit bigger than chicken eggs, more uniformly white, and have a kind of waxy coating that I assume is meant to waterproof them somewhat. The main thing to remember with ducks is that they need a water source. If they don't have a pond they'll mess up your chickens' drinking water by throwing it everywhere and sticking their messy feet in it and getting poop everywhere. Ducks with no ponds are so messy! CROWS EVERYWHERE fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Apr 15, 2013 |
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Apr 15, 2013 01:54
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Duck eggs make the most amazing French toast you will ever eat. Holy crap. Apparently awesome for cakes, as well, but I have no personal experience with that. We're looking at building a proper barn next year or possibly at the end of this year. I'm figuring about a 10x12 or 12x12 structure with a dozen nesting boxes on the outside (for easy access), storage up in the ceiling for stuff like bedding and feed, and half of the barn for our upcoming goats (next spring). We had such good luck building the chicken waterer with PVC and chicken nipples, we'll probably do the same thing again. I'm going to try to go solar, since the barn will likely not be close enough to the house or workshop that it can get power. It really just needs a couple of lights and maybe a way to automate the chicken door to open.
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Apr 15, 2013 02:36
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unprofessional posted:Chicken/duck photodump This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
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Apr 15, 2013 03:30
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The plumage on that black and white rooster is incredible, unprofessional. I want to steal his discarded tailfeathers and frame them.
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Apr 15, 2013 03:37
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Mmm, sounds like a sound investment. Haha, thanks guys.
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Apr 15, 2013 03:39
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Alright the coop and run are fully framed out. I didn't get the roof on but I will take care of that this week. The it's hardware cloth time. I need a bunc of poultry staples. This is going to take me a while to finish. Luckily I have another 3 weeks before i have to shove the chicks outside.
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Apr 15, 2013 04:58
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unprofessional posted:Chicken/duck photodump Is there a term for those kind of feathers that are a different color on the edge? I've seen a bunch of different chickens that had 'em
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Apr 15, 2013 05:09
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redmercer posted:Is there a term for those kind of feathers that are a different color on the edge? I've seen a bunch of different chickens that had 'em Laced, I think?
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Apr 15, 2013 05:14
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Citizen Insane posted:Laced, I think? It is laced. I don't know much about color patterns or how they are named, but there are some that are really pretty. One of my favorites is the blue laced red coloring, it's pretty unusual. Here's an example of that color in a wyandotte hen. http://silknfeather.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/9/2/3992982/1332745537.jpg
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Apr 15, 2013 05:19
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I've always loved the silver sebright. They are beautiful. I just have no need for health delicate bantam chickens that aren't very good layers and can fly pretty well. Too bad too since they are incredible.
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Apr 15, 2013 05:24
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User Tricky Twisty is hereby allowed to ask questions about chickens in this thread.
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Apr 15, 2013 05:25
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angerbot posted:User Tricky Twisty is hereby allowed to ask questions about chickens in this thread. I'm good too, right? (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 15, 2013 05:26
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Is it okay to feed uncooked oats to chickens and ducks?
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Apr 15, 2013 05:42
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So my cousin's friend is getting some chickens! My cousin has been helping him put together a coop and run for them, and the friend is gonna pay him in fresh eggs, which I totally plan on stealing some of for myself.  Don't know what kind of chickens, I need to find out. They've cleared out like a 12' by 12' patch of ground to build the coop and run on, but they're only gonna have like 4 chickens and maybe a rooster, so the gals will have lots of space to run around and scratch for treats. I'm gonna see if they'll let me go up and play with their chickens. I will probably secretly name them all. 
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Apr 15, 2013 06:03
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