Talkin's Flock Thread

[talkinboutchickens]

Hello everyone!! I've been seeing so many flock threads, so I thought that I'd start one and update you guys daily/weekly on my chickens.
My name is talkinboutchickens (well that's my username, not my real name ofc) and I live in Southeast Michigan and I currently have 12 chickens, although that changes almost every year We probably have at least one bird pass each year from various reasons (many unknown) so we like to add to our flock almost every Spring...If we aren't buying chicks, I'm probably hatching them out of eggs from our own flock lol.

As some of you may know....I am obsessed with sapphire gems. I have 3 of them in my flock, two of which are from TSC (Gert and Ledo), and one is their daughter, Opal. I also have a light brahma (Dottie), who we got along with Gert and Ledo, a black sexlink named Winnie, a black australorp named Phyllis, an easter egger named Florence/Flo, an olive egger named Benny, a white rock named Rose, a barnyard mix named Bear (she is the meanest out of our 12), a sapphire gem x EE mix named Lil' Debbie, and a barred rock named Prudence...She is not technically a pure breed, because we have no barred rocks in our flock so she must have been the result of Ledo (who is barred), and maybe Winnie the black sexlink. Prudence is a big mystery....

Anyway, please enjoy my flock thread! I will be posting here about my chickens about every day, if not every day then maybe every other day or so if I can make the time

 

[sourland]

Pictures?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

December 13, 2024

It is a total of 19 degrees right now at my house. This morning I had to switch out the chickie's frozen water for a fresh bucket of water. My chickens who are very used to Michigan's weather by now are tough cookies- so much so that they were out digging in their run when it was even colder than 19 degrees this morning! I sprinkled some scratch in their coop to encourage them to go in there to stay warm but they refused. After not even 5 minutes, my fingers felt like they were going to fall off. But I still needed to give the wild birds some bird seed. And guess what! I even got a little chickadee to come to my hand to eat once! I am really worried about Opal. Yesterday she was shivering so bad and was making agonizing sounds. Her sister Bear, my meanest chicken, has large bald spots on her wings from other chickens pecking her- but she doesn't seem phased one bit!!
Sadly, I wasted 3 eggs. I put them on top of the nesting boxes and forgot about them yesterday, so when I finally remembered about them today, they were frozen and cracked open. Oh well. Lesson learned I guess


Benny, Rose and Opal stay somewhat warm in the coop

Meanwhile...Dottie is outside!

Phyllis

Gert

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I have more pics but still need to upload them to my computer

 

[talkinboutchickens]

December 15, 2024

I am planning to trim the rooster's spurs today. I picked up a pair of doggy nail clippers from Dollar Tree the other day and I plan to use those to get the job done
Benny the OE's spurs are getting out of hand, to the point where he is walking very awkwardly and it's harder for him to run away from my Sapphire gem rooster, Ledo. Not only are Benny's spurs a nuisance to himself, but also to his girls! During the Summer, Benny inflicted awful wounds on my EE Flo and my Sapphire gem Opal. Luckily, the wounds quickly scabbed over with the help of Vetricyn and Hen Healer that were applied daily.
I will keep cornstarch, Kwik Stop or flour on hand in case of an emergency...In a short while, I will let you know how it goes & I will include pics as well

 

[sourland]

Did you manage to accomplish the trimming?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Did you manage to accomplish the trimming?

Hi! Not yet Hoping to do it tonight maybe. It says on The Chicken Chick.com that you should do it at night when they are calmer? I wonder if that makes a difference.

 

[sourland]

Regardless of the timing, it's a two person job. Someone to hold the rooster firmly (swaddling helps) and someone to trim the spurs.

 

[Bawkbok]

Your flock sounds like a lovely bunch of birds - great mixture. What is a Sapphire Gem and can you show a picture of one?

On nail trimming - do you also trim your hen's nails? Just wondering because the nails on our girls look extremely long even though they free range every day which I thought would help keep them at a manageable length. Now I'm thinking they really need a pedicure.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Your flock sounds like a lovely bunch of birds - great mixture. What is a Sapphire Gem and can you show a picture of one?

On nail trimming - do you also trim your hen's nails? Just wondering because the nails on our girls look extremely long even though they free range every day which I thought would help keep them at a manageable length. Now I'm thinking they really need a pedicure.

Thank you! Sapphire gems are my favorite breed- they are hybrids that consist of a blue Plymouth rock and a barred rock. Got mine from Tractor Supply They are also sexlinks which I love. The roosters are so sweet as well as the hens. My SG hen lays really large eggs- and very consistently, too! The hens also have big floppy combs like leghorns which give em a lot of character
Here's one of my SG hens, Gert!

I think the breed was originally "created" at a certain hatchery like Hoover's or Cackle I believe.

I've never trimmed my babies' nails before...Maybe I will after I'm done trimming the roo's spurs. We don't have any pavement at our house so there's no way that they can sharpen their nails, so it's probably a good idea to trim them But I'm not sure how long is too long?