Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[muddy75]

Hi all, thanks for reaching out. Sorry I have been MIA, I have been active on the FB page. Anyhow my flock is amazing I love my girls so much. I've had some changes, still have 3 of my original girls. Anya, Buffy, and Willow. Xander had to be rehomed as he became a naughty boy.
Besides my 3 I now have 3 silkies, 2 sultans, and 2 seramas. Had 3 but unfortunately lost 1 that came to me sick and passed after 44 days of fighting. Also just hatched another serama and sultan.

Love the photos Thanks for sharing! AS @Kiki would say, the main site is much better than Facebook page

 

[muddy75]

I'm raising turkeys chickens and ducks as a side business

Happy you stopped by! Good luck with your endeavor

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Hi!

I have a story for you.

Around a year ago, I made the decision to keep my chickens in their coop permanently. They had been free ranging during the day without issue and suddenly a hawk discovered them. I lost 5 in a month. I hated to do it, but the rest of the flock - 11- are safe .

About 2 weeks ago, the flock turned on my dominant hen, Red. I found her unable to walk and her comb had been pecked badly. I don’t know what happened or why. I have two coops with a run in between, so I can separate them sometimes when one is injured or sick or if I have babies. So I put her there alone - I really didn’t know if she would make it. She was laying flat on the ground when I found her. But she is a tough old girl and recovered. After a couple of days, I moved Molly, a blind hen, into the smaller coop with her. Molly and Red are both RIR and Red has “taken care” of Molly from the start. She guides her to the good stuff and nobody bothers Molly ever. She was looking a little lost so I thought it would be good company for Red. Well, Red made a full recovery and I decided to allow a supervised visit with the full flock. It was a disaster. Red flew out to the run swinging and tried to win back her dominance. She wanted revenge! I thought it might stop after a few minutes but it was clear someone was going to be killed. I stepped in and separated them again. They could see each other through the fence and kept trying to fight through it. I figured we were looking at a permanent arrangement, but was just going to take it day by day. Somehow…the flock found a way to get into the little coop and by the time I got there, they had her down again. She was hurt, but could stand. I put cardboard over the fence so they couldn’t see each other. Red and Molly are going to have to live out their lives separately. I hate it. Red has been the best hen and a great leader! She was the most social chick of the flock and was always the uncontested queen. Right now, she just seems depressed. She sits facing the wall in the back corner. Hopefully she will be feeling better in a day or two.

Amazing how these things pull on your heart strings!

Oh, what a tough situation with Red and your flock! It's def. hard when things shift like that, especially with a hen as spirited as Red. Sounds like you've done a fantastic job managing the challenges, though.

Here's hoping Red perks up soon. Keep us posted on how things go!

 

[muddy75]

Well, hello! We have four hens and need more. What is the best broody chicken that you know of? The neighbor dogs got ours.

Sorry for your loss! I’ve had good luck with broody silkies and I’ve heard buff Orpington is a good breed to have.

 

[muddy75]

It’s funny I received this now! We stopped keeping chickens four years ago when the coop was in disrepair and I was drowning in responsibilities.. but April 1st brought home new chicks and I built a beautiful new coop for them we are so happy to be back into keeping chickens!

Congratulations on your new flock!

 

[AccidentalOrpingtons]

Deep diving into my honey bees for about 2 more weeks.

Just chased my own swarm (I knew I should have split last week haha) all over my yard like a maniac hahaha

 

[muddy75]

Hi! Thanks for checking-in. We moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and have not been able to get back to owning backyard chickens. Looking forward to a future flock and a new coop.

Thanks for stopping by for an update! Hopefully we can help with the rebuild!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

A lot has happened since my last post! We had a little issue with the town we live in. The person in charge of animal control / animal ordinances was very lax. It is a slightly more rural suburban town. Unfortunately that gentleman passed and a new person was placed in charge who were enforcing rules that no one knew existed... 6 hen max with a minimum of 1/2 an acre. The lot size we were fine but we had way more than 6 plus (also had a roo). We also added goats to our mini farm. So the situation was kind of a mess. We were in the process of looking for a new home for people reasons and could not find a lot big enough to allow us to apply for a livestock permit (for 6 or more chickens or other animals!) without spending a literal million dollars. We ended up finding the most perfect house and property one town over at a fraction of what it would have been to stay in town. Had a nice ranch fence put in and working on our set up. We actually applied to be licensed as a farm so all the way around we are in a good spot. Planting apple trees soon! Here are the animals all in their own areasView attachment 3813535

Wow, that's a GREAT pic! I'm a bit jealous of your setup (and your wolf-dog in the pic) LOL!

Sounds like quite the whirlwind of changes! Moving to the mini farm sounds like a dream come true. It's great that you were able to secure a license as a farm, that should definitely make things smoother going forward.

Your animals must be loving their new environment, no?

Thanks for sharing your story and pic. Please keep the updates and pics coming!

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for the check in I've been on here stalking dust bath threads for a few weeks haha.

A friend of mine uses 2 old turtle sandboxes as dust baths for his chickens. He has a farm so his chicken run is huge!

My kids have long outgrown our own turtle so I thought I would do the same.

Cleaned it out, put it in coop. Used mulch inside it as when the hens have a brief out of the run time, they always go right for the mulch and bathe.

Nope. No one would go in it haha. Tried using grubblies as lure. My boss hen and her second in command went in to eat the snacks but right back out.

So I took it out and spent some time here searching dust bath ideas. Peat moss and diatomaceous earth seemed to be the most popular. So I have tried that.

Nope! These girls have strongly voted NO TURTLE.

The funniest part to me is, the 2 boss hens will go in, fling substrate all out of it to find snacks, and the others will TAKE A DUST BATH IN THE STUFF THEY FLUNG OUT!

I am finding chicken keeping very similar to beekeeping. Bees do not read the beekeeping books and often don't follow the "rules"

Hens apparently do not read either hahah

MIne love the peat moss. Give them time to get used to it. They don't like new things.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Hi! Right now I'm glad to say that the ladies are doing really well!! I gave one of my oldest ladies (6 years old now!!) Some eggs from a neighbor to set on and she hatched them and is bobbing around with her little chicks. The chicks are Golden Comet and New Hampshire mix which is a new breed for me so I am excited to see how they grow!!
I've got two other hens that are dead set on having babies but I'm trying to break them rn because I don't have the facilities to raise more chicks than the ones I've already got going! So they are in broody jail lol.

Such cute pics, thanks for sharing them!

That sounds adorable with your old lady hen taking care of her new chicks! I love how naturally hens take to caring for baby peeps!

Ah, the challenges of broody hens and broody jail! It sounds like you've got your hands full managing everyone's motherly ambitions. How long do you usually keep them in broody jail to break the habit?