I have darks left but I’m considering moving to just whites. In my experience, I’d rather have egg layers and meat birds. Dual purpose makes an iffy show on both sides. Getting a dual purpose bird to dress out at 5-7lbs really doesn’t happen except for old big roosters. Depending on where you...
I’ll get back to you on that. We’ve been dealing with wicked cold that we haven’t seen the likes of in a long time so it will be hard to get good photos.
Sadly, I generally have a no-face picture on social media rule for my kiddos. Too bad, I have some freaking adorable pics of my kids and kids holding various chickens.
Hi folks.
DH and I castrated 5 piglets today. We have 9 piglets, 3 girls, 6 boys but one boy has an umbilical hernia. I’ve heard it isn’t good to castrate a boar with an umbilical hernia because they could bleed out or their guts could start coming out the castration incision because their...
We held a little funeral for Peep and its buddy. Peep is the little spoon chick in the photo. Had the kids get some flowers and greens to bury with the babies.
The kids were all torn up for a bit. I let them hold the chicks’ bodies and pet them. Thing 1 kept trying to wake Peep up by talking...
Thanks! I am feeling a bit better now. The almost dead chick recovered and I can’t tell which one it is anymore. I was at least able to save one of them.
I’m so sad right now. I meant to go back out to the coop 30-60 min after I showed the chicks where the food and water was this morning. I went out just now and 2 chicks were dead and one was mostly dead. One of the dead chicks was Peep. I feel so bad for the little booger. We’re going to have to...
The kids have enjoyed playing with the baby. Poor thing got really lonely.
The meat chicks and a “free rare chick” that looks like it might be an olive egger came today… from Iowa… in less than 24 hours. 14 of 15 meat birds plus the free chick survived the journey. I’m getting ready to move...
The best mama hens I’ve had were buff Orps, Cochins or mixes of those. Nice and fluffy for keeping the babies warm and very nurturing. I did have one leghorn that raised 5 chicks and mothered them all until they were bigger than her. She never went broody a second time though.
In my experience, heritage Cornish aren’t great moms. They can sit well but their close feathers make it hard to keep babies warm. Particularly this time of year. They also aren’t good at not stepping on babies.
I had a surprise this morning. We were coming back from chores and I heard a periodic “bock-bock” noise coming from under our shed. One of our Cornish hens had made a nest under the shed and went to brooding. The reason I heard her is because she was talking to her chick. One chick. When I...
You’ll probably have to go out after dark a couple of nights in a row and put them into the coop. If they are used to sleeping in the pen and have access to it at dusk it may be difficult to get them to switch their sleeping spots. Be persistent though, they will get used to it eventually. If...