|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. I’m sorry to hear that. Goondolances to you and your family. Because of you she had an amazing 2 years on grass and in the fresh air, you gave her something the vast majority of battery hens will sadly never experience.
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 13:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:13 |
|
|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. That's very sad, I'm sorry.  It's nice that she got to experience the good life for a couple years though.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 14:18
|
|
|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. I’m so sorry about Daisy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 16:24
|
|
|
Thank you for giving Daisy a blissful final few years on this earth. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 16:55
|
|
|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. drat that sucks, sorry to hear it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 17:25
|
|
|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. I'm so sorry  You take such good care of your girls and obviously love them to bits. It's been a pleasure getting to know Daisy through this thread.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 17:25
|
|
|
Rest well, Daisy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 19:24
|
|
|
Thank you all.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2020 21:44
|
|
|
spookygonk posted:Sadly Daisy died this morning. It was the second anniversary of her becoming a retired garden hen. She had two years of freedom. We are heartbroken. you gave her two wonderful years. she was the luckiest of hens.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 01:12
|
|
|
Daisy was gifted to have you as an Chicken Wrangler. That chicken lived a happy life with you. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 07:47
|
|
|
 He does have 2 legs, I swear. William of Orange chest bumped my leg this morning so I carried him around to show him I’m the boss. I hope that takes care of this behavior. Has anyone else dealt with a rooster who’s showing the beginning signs of aggression? I don’t remember dealing with this with my previous roosters.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 15:33
|
|
|
Ummm he is beautiful.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 19:25
|
|
|
I had a light sussex rooster who would just throw himself at anyone who got in his way. The dogs were poo poo scared of him, the window cleaners still refuse to go round the back years later and I had to wear jeans and proper shoes to do anything with the chickens because he would just attack me on sight. I kinda miss him. Don't get a Light Sussex rooster, they're batshit aggressive all of them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 19:31
|
|
|
I really don't want my chickens (or anyone's chickens) to die from all of this wildfire smoke.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 19:54
|
|
|
Yeah that's what comes to mind, looking at all the burning houses along the west coast. I have never had success with carrying roosters around. I guess their brain is too small to process the humiliation - or mine is at least. I usually just stand there and stare at him or talk to him, maybe slowly walk into him until he finds something more interesting to do. But all our roosters have been bantams, so maybe it's easy for me to talk.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 20:23
|
|
|
Joburg posted:
I don't know anything about roos but wow, what a handsome devil he is
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 20:46
|
|
|
Handsome roo.Joburg posted:William of Orange
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 21:14
|
|
|
Thank you all, he is very handsome. I got him and a couple Orp hens from Tractor Supply, which I think originally come from Hoover Hatchery. Compared to the Orps I got from Murdoch’s last year (can’t remember the hatchery), they are larger bodied and may have smaller heads. Also this year’s Orps lay dark pink eggs, compared to the yellower Murdoch’s hens’ eggs. It’s pretty interesting to see the differences.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 22:40
|
|
|
Joburg posted:Thank you all, he is very handsome. I got him and a couple Orp hens from Tractor Supply, which I think originally come from Hoover Hatchery. Compared to the Orps I got from Murdoch’s last year (can’t remember the hatchery), they are larger bodied and may have smaller heads. I work at a Murdoch's, our orps typically come from Murray McMurray, definitely last year's.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2020 23:12
|
|
|
love that handsome william i caught quimmy playing with a sparrow yesterday. they were darting and feinting and fluttering at each other. it was uplifting
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 00:31
|
|
|
 Our friendliest little dork. She is an Easter egger. Not sure what we are going to name her yet. But she loves being held.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 00:54
|
|
|
Culex posted:I work at a Murdoch's, our orps typically come from Murray McMurray, definitely last year's. I love Murray McMurray. Clarence the Clown was my surprise chick and he’s exactly what I wanted. I’ve had a few EE roosters and their beards attract lice  like nobody’s business and their progeny end up laying brown eggs (which are tasty but not very egg-citing) Clarence should produce colorful egg layers, I hope, and not hide a bunch of lice on his face! fauna posted:love that handsome william That’s so cute!
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 01:07
|
|
|
Errant Gin Monks posted:
Aaaahhhh that is the cutest thing I've seen all day
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 01:08
|
|
|
Errant Gin Monks posted:
She’s very cute  Names: Maybeline Cleopatra Parrot Snuggle Puss
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 01:44
|
|
|
Went out to shut the coop. The chickens were still up. They came flocking over making this weird sound I've never heard before. Kind of a scolding grumble? They were giving me the stinkeye too. Turns out they were grouching because they wanted to go to bed, but my dumb rear end closed the coop door earlier while I was cleaning and forgot to open it back up when I was done. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 03:37
|
|
|
snake and bake posted:Went out to shut the coop. The chickens were still up. They came flocking over making this weird sound I've never heard before. Kind of a scolding grumble? They were giving me the stinkeye too.  you wronged them
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 04:13
|
|
|
snake and bake posted:Went out to shut the coop. The chickens were still up. They came flocking over making this weird sound I've never heard before. Kind of a scolding grumble? They were giving me the stinkeye too. Phew I’m glad it was a dumb mistake rather than a snake or some predator lurking in the coop!
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 04:32
|
|
|
Hi again backyard chicken thread. Happy to report that a washing and some iodine helped my little chick immensely. Onto my next project: building a coop. I've got some highly rated plans for a combo enclosure and coop. I live at the edge of civilization and there are lots of predators in my woods, so its going to be a pretty solid lockup, but I'm also in the great lakes so I need to think about winter. I'm planning to build the coop with foam insulation sandwiched between inner and outer walls to keep the girls warm in winter and cool in summer, but i also need a heat source for them for the winter. Is there a thread approved chicken space heater? I'm going to end up with about 10 birds (nothing like jumping into the deep end) so the coop is going to be about 36 square feet. This is a favorite on Amazon, but I would love someone else's opinion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LX9K1JI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_idVwFb545XTTB
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 04:37
|
|
\
|
fauna posted:
I felt bad, but also thought it was kind of funny how clearly they made their displeasure known. They've never grumbled at me like that before, it was cute These girls are around 10-12 weeks old now. So far I've kept the nesting area in the coop closed because they're not laying yet. It's a separate section with a sliding door that opens into the larger roosting area. When should I open the nesting area? And should I put dummy eggs in it to discourage egg-pecking?
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 05:11
|
|
|
fauna posted:
Oh yes you did. Chickens hold grudges, you know.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 12:26
|
|
|
stealie72 posted:Hi again backyard chicken thread. You don’t need a heater for adult hens. They have feathers and can regulate their own temperature. As long as the coop area has great ventilation and the birds are protected from direct wind and drafts they will be fine.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 12:40
|
|
|
spookygonk posted:Oh yes you did. Chickens hold grudges, you know. Oh no 
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 13:47
|
|
Errant Gin Monks posted:You don’t need a heater for adult hens. They have feathers and can regulate their own temperature. As long as the coop area has great ventilation and the birds are protected from direct wind and drafts they will be fine. Does this hold true for New England winters? I know they can and do get through them just fine but don't want them to be miserable either when we get hit with a polar vortex and its -5F outside for 24-48h at a time. I was thinking about setting up some kind of heating system, even if it was just to bump everything up just a few degrees. Also how strongly / when does laying fall off as it gets into winter? Right now the girls are producing well except 1 legbar who should be laying green eggs hasn't put one out just yet. The rest seem to be producing although we can't be 100% sure if every single one is. 
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 14:17
|
|
|
That Works posted:Does this hold true for New England winters? I know they can and do get through them just fine but don't want them to be miserable either when we get hit with a polar vortex and its -5F outside for 24-48h at a time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 14:22
|
|
|
snake and bake posted:Went out to shut the coop. The chickens were still up. They came flocking over making this weird sound I've never heard before. Kind of a scolding grumble? They were giving me the stinkeye too. So other than that one time when the automatic door closer shut he chickens out and they came to tell us they've mostly been great about going to bed. Except 2 nights ago when they decided to hide all over the garden and go to sleep. Went out to check on them and the door was open but chickens were no where to be found and it was getting dark. So torches out and looking around for them. Eventually found them asleep in a couple of random spots around the garden so carried then and put them into the coop myself. No idea why they did that, hopefully they wont repeat it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 14:25
|
|
|
stealie72 posted:Yeah, this is more what I'm thinking, not keeping the coop at 70 or anything. But if I need to run a water heater in anyway, is it better to keep the entire coop above freezing all winter? Honestly, the above-freezing water alone will do wonders to keep them comfortable. My quails never had issues with polar vortex temperatures as long as they had unfrozen water. Water did freeze overnight, once -- whoops -- and they were yelling their little heads off in the morning. Chickens (and most birds) can generate a surprising amount of heat, and when they're in good shelter and able to snuggle together, they're plenty comfortable. I should add that heat = energy, so keep them very well fed, too! On especially frigid days, you can treat them with warm foods like cooked oatmeal (not too hot!), and they will love it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 14:51
|
|
|
We throw scratch out in the evenings in winter for our birds near Chicago. They were fine in sub zero Temps except for the -20 day/night we had, we took them in the garage that day but that was only because the coop was too big for our 6 chickens. This winter when we have 15 full grown ones we won't bring them in at all unless we see frostbite on any of their combs.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 15:14
|
|
|
stealie72 posted:Yeah, this is more what I'm thinking, not keeping the coop at 70 or anything. But if I need to run a water heater in anyway, is it better to keep the entire coop above freezing all winter? You really don’t. Chickens didn’t have heaters for their first thousand years of being in Europe, they don’t really need them now. Their body temps are about 106 degrees and they have insulating feathers to keep that warm air trapped against them and the snuggle their feather down over their feet when they roost. As long as they aren’t being blown on by wind the only thing exposed to those freezing temps is their comb. If it’s REALLY cold and your bird has a big floppy comb you can sometimes see frostbite on the comb. I mean really if you want to use radiant heating go for it but they don’t really need it. The most it will do is save some combs from getting sores, which is fine as well.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 15:54
|
|
|
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/raising-chickensquote:Massimo Rapella, a 48-year-old chicken farmer from northern Italy, is helping chickens rediscover their wild side. Since 2009, Rapella and his wife Elisabetta have been keeping an estimated 2,100 hens in a patch of pristine Alpine forest near Sondrio, in the heart of the Valtellina valley.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 16:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:13 |
|
|
No pics of the hens and the guard dogs? Lame.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2020 17:01
|
|
