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I've lurked a while but never posted here. We've got a six-bird flock, three buff orpingtons, two rhode island reds, and one wyandotte. This is actually our third flock: our first was a "rescue" flock of five speckled sussexes that we ended up trading away to some beginners, and our second ended up getting a disease last winter. So we've never had a flock through the entirety of the winter. We've got our heat lamp going but egg production is basically half what it used to be, and I know some of the birds aren't laying at all. Is this normal for the winter months? At the beginning of last winter we had a lamp going all the time in the coop, but haven't set it up this winter yet, and before the girls got sick last year egg production kept steady. One of the reds has also gone broody for no apparent reason (we don't have a rooster.) She lost .2 kilos in 2 weeks and wouldn't leave the nest box unless we physically picked her up and forced her to. We've moved her to an isolated crate under the heat lamp so we can better keep an eye on her, and she hasn't lost any more weight but she hasn't gained any back either - and she hasn't laid an egg since (at least) we moved her in there over the weekend. It's highly possible that with the decreased egg production she hasn't laid in a couple of weeks, which makes her broodyness even stranger. We collect eggs every morning so there's never been a large clutch for her to sit on. Any ideas about the light/decreased laying, and our mysteriously broody hen?
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Nov 3, 2011 15:47
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:25 |
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Is there a way to make them go, um, un-broody?
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Nov 3, 2011 17:07
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WrathofKhan posted:Chido has mentioned all the usual ways. The alternative is to find someone in your area who has fertile eggs, and slip them under your hen. Or you can order chicks from a hatchery, and slip them under her. Once the chicks get older, and Ms. Broody is done raising them, you can sell them or keep them. Letting a chicken raise chicks is especially good if you want to add birds to your flock. If they are raised by a mother with the rest of the flock, the other chickens will accept them, so you skip the often difficult and occasionally bloody integration part. We tried separating her for a few days and I let her out yesterday afternoon. So far she seems more prone to wandering around than sitting in her nest box, but I had to go into my office today and can't keep a close eye on her. If she goes back to being broody, I'll probably go this route, although it's already down into the 30s at night here (Seattle) and I'm not sure this is the greatest time to introduce a chick to the flock.
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Nov 4, 2011 17:21
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Came home and checked on her: she seems to be doing just fine, wandering around the run with everyone else.
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Nov 4, 2011 20:54
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Plus grab a couple of these and you never have to worry about running out of water provided your tanks are big enough. Best chicken-related investment ever. http://www.avianaquamiser.com/
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Nov 14, 2011 19:58
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I swap some eggs for spent grain and beer from a friend who brews, and my chickens absolutely love it.
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Nov 22, 2011 16:04
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I'm sure you've mentioned it before but I couldn't find it on the last few pages: what breed is Roo?
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Dec 17, 2011 00:22
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It's certainly possible, especially if she hadn't been getting enough grit in her diet. That being said - I had an otherwise completely healthy orpington who woke up one morning making some awful noises as though she was in pain. She was dead a half-hour later. The closest we could tell was that she had some kind of nerve problem, because she got really spastic and twitchy at the end, and spit up some stuff. It honestly reminded me of an epileptic seizure. I found very little information online about that (we lost a couple of chicks to something similar about 1 week after they hatched in this batch too.. which apparently is somewhat common.) So... it's not unlikely, and probably one of those things that's hard to prevent. I'm assuming you were giving her enough grit (or she could find it) and it may have just been... one of those things.
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Dec 27, 2011 23:51
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Yes, they definitely can crow. In fact our two Rhode Island Reds would get up and crow between 4:30 and 5am each morning, which got really old really fast - they even were doing it in the dead of winter in Seattle (when the sun doesn't usually rise until 7:30). And that's the story of how our Reds ended up on Craigslist and my wife and I sleep better.
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Jan 26, 2012 22:12
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Maximusi posted:Are you kidding me?? God, I hope my chickens don't do that or they'll have to go. Sadly, no. We have some very forgiving neighbors but those Reds were the result of the only complaint we've had about our chickens, and we're coming up on the 2 year anniversary of urban chicken farming. They're in a hopefully better home now. The buyer wanted to breed them with a rooster so I can only assume they've had a lesson in who's really supposed to be crowing.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:29
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Chido posted:Well I learned another thing about chickens, hens like to steal each other's eggs to lay on. Oh the chicken drama I've got one who will lay outside the nest boxes about 50% of the time, and whenever she does the other chickens kick her eggs around through the dirt. It's like full time drama at the chicken high school cafeteria.
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Feb 9, 2012 20:35
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Ceridwen posted:Anyone have any experience with nipple based watering systems for chickens? I'm already seriously annoyed at how quickly they toss ridiculous amounts of shavings into the waterer. I use these and it was the best chicken-related investment I have ever made, period. I hang two waterers from the wire on the side of their run, change the water every 2-3 days, and never have to worry about poop, shavings or other awfulness in their water supply.
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Mar 19, 2012 04:52
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kreayshawns talent posted:My friend (let's face it) impulse bought her chicks at a farm supply store. I'm guessing they come from the same hatcheries that supply factory farms. There probably are people who impulse-buy from farm supply stores. That's also where we got our last flock after getting screwed (once royally) from unhealthy animals we got on craigslist. The second time, we got them from a woman who didn't believe in any kind of antibiotics or medicated feed whatsoever, and our chickens literally fell apart from the inside-out because of a stomach bacteria they pick up from crows or other birds that's usually controllable if you simply vaccinate young. It causes their intestines to dissolve so they poop them out, then they starve slowly because they can't digest their food without intestines anymore. So in short: beware craigslist sellers and don't buy into the myth the myth that just because it's on craigslist (or antibiotic-free) doesn't mean it's somehow better. Also- my farm supply store routinely gets heritage breeds, which is the only kind we have in our flocks. Most factory farms use Leghorns or other layer/meat superbreeds.
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Mar 20, 2012 16:01
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I want to add, because I made that post before I had enough coffee: most farm supply stores are local businesses and you can track the chicks to the hatchery and get information about how they were medicated (and if they were), where they came from exactly, etc. The clientele tends to be pretty community-based - most of them are small-scale, hobby or backyard farmers like me, and factory farms can get their chicks easier / cheaper from other locations. I have nothing inherently against getting stuff from craigslist, but the likelyhood that you end up dealing with (like we did) a well-meaning but... misguided individual who thinks they are doing the right thing, but isn't. I could go on at length about the arguments for at least basic vaccinations and medications - certainly there's no need to dose your birds full of them all the time, but it's kind of like giving your dog his shots every year, and not doing so is just irresponsible hippie crap - which you find a lot more of on CL than in your local farm store. OK, off my soapbox now.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:29
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I'm up in Washington so our weather patterns are probably similar to yours. First, keeping them by the bed isn't a great idea. Chicken poop has a lot of bacteria in it and you're supposed to wear a mask when you're mucking out the coop because breathing it can cause health issues. But keeping them where you sleep seems doubly risky (and once those chicks get to be twice that size.. it'll be REALLY stinky.) We kept ours in the living room when they needed constant heat for about the first 2 weeks, and then moved them to larger digs in the garage with a heat lamp. They'll be ready to go outside between one and two months. The general rule of thumb as I understand it is when they start getting their pullet feathers and looking more like pullets than chicks, they're usually good to go. Or just use common sense and move them outside when it looks like they're too big for their box anymore. Judging by the size of that terrarium they're in, you'll probably need an interim solution - we ended up using the kennel we had for our puppy and converted it into a chick/pullet house, but we also had eight of them at the time and they needed way more space. Also tell her to pick them up and handle them - doing that when they're young is a great way to socialize them better.
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Mar 27, 2012 16:56
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:25 |
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Tim the Enchanter posted:Always buy vaccinated if the option is there. Most chicken hobbyists wont be able to vaccinate their own flock due to cost and difficulty. This. I'm going to quote a post I made a few pages back because my wife and I learned this the (very hard) way. Always buy vaccinated, always. Peas and Rice posted:There probably are people who impulse-buy from farm supply stores. That's also where we got our last flock after getting screwed (once royally) from unhealthy animals we got on craigslist. The second time, we got them from a woman who didn't believe in any kind of antibiotics or medicated feed whatsoever, and our chickens literally fell apart from the inside-out because of a stomach bacteria they pick up from crows or other birds that's usually controllable if you simply vaccinate young. It causes their intestines to dissolve so they poop them out, then they starve slowly because they can't digest their food without intestines anymore.
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Apr 6, 2012 16:00
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