What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

Your ornaments and that cake!!! You have incredible talent, I can’t believe how real that flower looks, well done! I love that you call him a cut-price parrot Bet he tried giving you lots of instructions on what you could do with all that cake and frosting!! “My beak is right here Mom! Down the beak it should go!” I can’t believe you could make such pretty dessert with a micromanager on your shoulder!

Aww, thank you!
Ferdy gives me very clear instructions the entire time, right in my ear! He absolutely loves almonds so the marzipan was a particular target. I always make my own marzipan so I can substantially reduce the sugar - I find commercial marzipan too sweet. I thought I'd outwit him by making a tiny batch of sugar free just for him as I knew he'd be desperate to get at it. Epic fail! He took a tiny beakful and spat it out. Clearly he has a sweet beak!

 

[Shetland lover]

More good Olena news. She sang an egg song yesterday morning, sounded like someone coming out of having a hoarse voice. Had to trim her beak again, and still doing PT with her. She is able to flap more vigorously. Friday begins week #9. Visitors are always surprised by the house chicken. On Christmas Eve, this mama forgot to put her to bed on time, so it was 10:30, and she took lots of naps the next day.

Oh! That's just wonderful news . We knew it would be a long, slow process but, honestly, she's doing so well at just 9 weeks. It's all down to the love and great nursing you're showering on her. Keep it up ❤

 

[Shetland lover]

Biscotti's still the scraggliest chick I've ever seen. He's not growing much...he's getting that wings longer than his body look. But...he is growing. He's energetic and eats great. He's getting his first color coming in!View attachment 3713654
And here he's getting some chick time so he knows what he is View attachment 3713656

I think he's looking great considering his difficult start. He is is absolutely adorable

 

[kurby22]

More good Olena news. She sang an egg song yesterday morning, sounded like someone coming out of having a hoarse voice. Had to trim her beak again, and still doing PT with her. She is able to flap more vigorously. Friday begins week #9. Visitors are always surprised by the house chicken. On Christmas Eve, this mama forgot to put her to bed on time, so it was 10:30, and she took lots of naps the next day.

This is such happy news!! I’m soo hoping she makes a full recovery She is getting the best care

 

[kurby22]

Its always such a pity when breeds you love seem weak as a whole. Could you breed the wheaten to other colors of ameraucanas to strengthen them and still get back to a good wheaten? Or maybe cross to EEs and then select back to a healthier wheaten ameraucana?
Poor Aria and poor Ducky Jr

Yeah the bantam Ameraucanas seem to in general, be weaker in some specific varieties. They’re hard to find too. So I’m guessing the genetic lines are weaker…that’s my theory anyway! I may consider working back towards it, but I’ve been told it would take quite a lot of time based on the other colors I have. Would be easier on a birchen base…all I’ve got are extended E blacks that are unrelated stock. So I’m not going to pursue more wheatens until I can secure them from a good line—if that’s possible. I do have a wheaten hen and a wheaten rooster but they are siblings so that wouldn’t help with the genetics weakness I don’t think. Blah, I’ll need to ponder it! But yeah…Ducky Jr was truly gorgeous and perfect and it just sucks.

I’m so glad Biscotti is eating and has energy! Both of my very small chicks that survived had a good amount of fight in them to eat, drink, and be a busy part of the flock. All good things! He’s super adorable!

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Oh my goodness Ive been MIA from the forum and this thread for so long!

Hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate). It's been so busy over here with holidays and kids on winter break from school I just haven't popped on.

My flock updates: My 4 chicks are 7 1/2 weeks old and have been spending every day outside in the see/don't touch pen with the big girls. We're hoping to have the run extension done this week so we can attempt to set them free. Im definitely nervous about the full integration process but likely overthinking it. My big girls are still pretty young (almost 7 months) and while they are definitely interested and curious about the babies they haven't displayed any real aggression or protest. I think the run extension will help a ton with integration and plan to release the babies and the big girls into the new space on the same day. Hoping it will be a distraction (new ground! new grass! new places to explore!) so the main focus isn't the babies. Also wondering if it can help with any territorial issues as the space will be new for everyone. We shall see!

Other big news is my Easter Egger FINALLY decided to come into lay this week. Her first egg was blue tinted/olive green, and her second egg today was definitely more olive green. So beautiful! One issue- today she completely missed the nesting box and I found the egg on the coop floor. Im assuming it was just a newbie mistake. maybe she stuck her tail feathers too far to the back of the box. thankfully the egg didnt crack. Im hoping it's just a fluke. The other layers always face with their heads outside the box so that never happens. Only one more left to come into lay (No one warned me how slow Buff Orphingtons mature...)

Wow that was a mouthful. Going to click back some pages now and read what the rest of y'all have been up to!

 

[ForFlocksSake]

The only food I buy for my chickens is their layer pellets. I get the cabbage leaves for free at the grocery store, so I need a leaf feeder. And I just finished putting it together.

I mounted the feeder cage onto the board and tacked a couple of roofing nails into the back, at the top. It hangs on the hardware cloth, and is height adjustable. LOL

I put the brick on top of the cabbage to push the leaves down as they're eaten. And also to prevent the birds from trying to eat cabbage out of the top.

They were working at eating the cabbage, until I threw each of them a ripe tomato. They like tomatoes much better than cabbage.

View attachment 3713471View attachment 3713472

interesting! Mine won't touch tomatoes. We have our tomato plants growing right near the run too so it would be really convenient if we could just toss any damaged fruit in there, but it just sits and gets covered in ants.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Oh my goodness Ive been MIA from the forum and this thread for so long!

Hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate). It's been so busy over here with holidays and kids on winter break from school I just haven't popped on.

My flock updates: My 4 chicks are 7 1/2 weeks old and have been spending every day outside in the see/don't touch pen with the big girls. We're hoping to have the run extension done this week so we can attempt to set them free. Im definitely nervous about the full integration process but likely overthinking it. My big girls are still pretty young (almost 7 months) and while they are definitely interested and curious about the babies they haven't displayed any real aggression or protest. I think the run extension will help a ton with integration and plan to release the babies and the big girls into the new space on the same day. Hoping it will be a distraction (new ground! new grass! new places to explore!) so the main focus isn't the babies. Also wondering if it can help with any territorial issues as the space will be new for everyone. We shall see!

Other big news is my Easter Egger FINALLY decided to come into lay this week. Her first egg was blue tinted/olive green, and her second egg today was definitely more olive green. So beautiful! One issue- today she completely missed the nesting box and I found the egg on the coop floor. Im assuming it was just a newbie mistake. maybe she stuck her tail feathers too far to the back of the box. thankfully the egg didnt crack. Im hoping it's just a fluke. The other layers always face with their heads outside the box so that never happens. Only one more left to come into lay (No one warned me how slow Buff Orphingtons mature...)

Wow that was a mouthful. Going to click back some pages now and read what the rest of y'all have been up to!

Your integration thoughts all sound good

 

[ChicksnMore]

We had a plumbing leak start a week or two before Christmas. Ended up hiring an outfit to replumb our entire house. When we were negotiating the contract, I told hubby to skip having them fix the drywall because I can do it easy. Well, I had noooooo idea what I was signing up for . Anyhow, they're back again today and I'm hoping they're done cutting holes all over the place and ready to start running pipes. I can't wait to put my house back together! I didn't quite realize how long all this would take.

I'm hoping to spend the day outside avoiding all the hoopla. There's always plenty of work to be found . Hopefully I'll get some pretty pictures to share with everyone . I'm grateful my birds give me a good excuse to be outside right now .

 

[TropicalBabies]

Good morning gang!

@kurby22 I am so sorry for your loss. I know you love your wheatons ♡ hugs to Ari . Please tell her her fellow chicken people are sad too. Also, she does a really good job and gives her babies a good life, sometimes that is the best we can do ♡. Blinking mites. About to do battle with them myself. Gift of the feral broody that I have not been able to rid myself of yet. Gunna halfta try much harder... but where to find the time?!!!!

@Smokerbill love the cabbage holder and the resourcefulness of food finds. We used to raid the stores for our animals when I was a kid. I did trade eggs for bruised and ruined papaya for a bit but then a goat farmer sourced my source. Honestly, I can raid my fridge and keep my chooks in snacks just fine, plus fruit trees. Just processing out loud

@PopoMyers I love hearing of your terrific progress with Olena. Your bond sounds so strong ♡♡♡♡ I am hella impressed an proud of you. House chicken lol. Keep up the terrific work, you are doing great!!!!

@ChicksnMore my heart just stops and I'm holding my breath for little Biscotti. So beautiful and fragile. I love the photo and story updates ♡♡♡ Just another day at the zoo ♡♡♡

@Shetland lover your cake and ornaments are just stunning. You certainly have a plethora of gifts and talent. You are amazing!!!!!

@ForFlocksSake Sounds like you have a good plan. If things get dicey, you can add little getaway spaces for the young ones. Big enough for the littles but not the bigs. Though, you sound like you got it and I am sure I am just reminding you about what you already know. ... I need reminding sometimes as the basics will escape me with time.

@LTAY1946 I hope all is okay . You do worry me as you sound about as accident prone as my DH. Try stay outta trouble today ♡♡♡♡