We put a couple Trader Joes Fertilized Eggs under our broody hen this spring. Unfortunately, both chicks turned out to be boys. They are gorgeous small white cockerels, just started crowing.
Please help me find a good home for them. I suspect they have great "laying hen" bloodlines - so if...
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/chicken-farm-vaccine-virus/
Apparently the two different strains of virus in the vaccines recombined to create a third strain that was causing disease. Oops!
...the whole thing got torn out or something. I treated it and put her in quarantine to keep an eye on her for tomorrow.
I'm wondering what even to *look* for. Tomorrow, I'm going to check the yard for anything that might have caught their foot on when they freerange, but... I don't know. I...
Just got a call tonight:
"This is the humane society. Someone turned in your cat, Rowdy. "
What's funny is, Rowdy wasn't even missing, as far as we knew. He was cuddling me at 3am last night. Apparently someone saw him out, thought he was lost and turned him in. They said he looked too well...
DH tells me that when he went to let our chickens out this morning, they all milled around looking confused for a bit. They were apparently waiting for Buffy, our head girl, to lead, but she was in the nesting box laying.
Finally, Barbarella, Buffy's understudy, hesitantly stepped through...
I picked up two pretty girls from Cheryl Cohen: Mille Fleur Leghorns. Leghorns are an Italian breed from Livorno, Italy. Mille Fleur, in Italy, is called millefiori , and is a kind of glass made in the Isle of Murano in the harbor of Venice.
Of course, we had to give the ladies proper Venetian...
So, anyone else got a source for chicken ornaments for Yuletide (or other holidays)? If so, post them here.
I found blown glass chicken ornaments at the Animal Rescue site. They're really pretty - I got one last year, the only color left. This year, I shopped early to get more selection...
UPDATE: Willow passed in the night. I'm sending her to UC Davis for a necropsy.
1) What type of bird , age and weight.
Light Brown Leghorn, 1 1/2, 3 1/2 pounds
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Lethargy, darkened floppy comb, walking like she's "pregnant", poopy vent.
3) How long has the...
So, I found that scraping the poop board in the morning could be a pain sometimes if the poop got kinda, well, sticky. I thought about what I could use to make it easier. Tried newspapers - the girls just scratched that up. Wood chips gave the girls the wrong idea since that's what I use in...
My Buff Orpington, Buffy, laid two eggs today. No other hen lays that color eggs. I checked eggs this morning - so I know it wasn't there this morning.
...I walked over and she hopped off and then hopped up again when I went out. She seems to want to lie on the poopboard (where she'll get, well, *pooped* on tonight) instead of roosting on the roost where she's been for months! I don't understand. Why would she do something like that? Any ideas...
...I walked over and she hopped off and then hopped up again when I went out. She seems to want to lie on the poopboard (where she'll get, well, *pooped* on tonight) instead of roosting on the roost where she's been for months! I don't understand. Why would she do something like that? Any ideas?
Okay - so my broody has been sitting for 21 days and started hatching yesterday. More hatched today. (5/5 & 5/6 hatch) Mixed breeds and sizes. Thing is, those chicks belong to someone else, who wants them back. So....
Tomorrow, I'm going to buy some chicks who were born 5/3 and put them under...
So, my broody BO Buffy got to set on a clutch of eggs. They started hatching yesterday and are up to 7. Woot! My question is, since these eggs belonged to someone else, and they're planning on taking their chicks back, how long does she need to keep the chicks before she gets over being broody...
...work. I know there are some help wanted signs around for basic cashiering and stuff that won't need much skill so she should be able to find *something*. As long as she helps around the house, I'm thinking of having her give me "rent" that I'll put aside for her to make the deposit for a...
...that comes with it, encouraging self-sufficiency moves like gardening veggies (I mean, how can you have all that chicken poop around and *NOT* compost - and if you compost, you have to garden to use it... ), which leads to canning my own produce, and my most recent, hooking up a rainwater...
Everyone says, quarantine new birds for 30 days before you add them to your flock. But, other than dying during those 30 days... what do you look for? Any simple concrete suggestions? I mean, it's pretty obvious if they're lethargic/falling over or have big sores or coughing/sneezing. But...
...realize that Livornese chickens are known in the US as Leghorns.
In any case, the eggs are selling for some outrageous amount (like $4 each!) for *cooking* and I think it's because these people just don't know any better. I mean, granted, my light brown leghorn does lay pretty great eggs...