Egg Eating

[thistlebloom]

Mary, I would have gotten 10 but my little coop is only 4 x 8 feet, with a 12 x 16 ft yard. This brings me to 9 chickens.
This afternoon was....interesting. One of the barred rocks is pretty feisty; she got into it with a couple of the older girls. She also has a bare bottom, I guess from molting---or being picked at previously. I have some blue-kote, which I will use on her tomorrow if it looks like I need to.
And to everyone who is tisk-tisking at me for not quarantining the new girls-----I know, I know! But generally if I don't do something on the spur of the moment, it won't get done.

Oh hey! No tsking coming from the Queen Of Impulsive Actions over here!

I think you did just fine! I've been looking at a few pullets on Craigs List.....but fortunately I have absolutely positively no room. And I mean it. Somebody needs to remind me of that often...

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle, that is so not true. You have TONS of space for more chickens.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Thistle, that is so not true. You have TONS of space for more chickens.

Mary

Well not in my little coop I don't! And they aren't coming in the house!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thistle, you're a clever girl. I'm sure you can figure out how to have a bigger coop built by spring. Just include a nice run area too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No criticism from me, So Lucky. Quarantine can be a very effective tool in the right circumstances and used right but most of us are not set up to do it right. I'm sure not. From what I read on BYC the vast majority of quarantines are not done right and there is still very little spread of disease.

Yes, there are bad things that can happen, the new chickens might bring in a disease or a parasite. Your flock may be the one that has the disease or parasite but have built up an immunity so they might infect the new ones. You might have had an accident driving home from the feed store. A piece of space junk may fall out of the sky and hit the coop. Lots of bad things can happen, but usually they don't.

It's possible you could bring in a disease that wipes out your entire flock but that is pretty rare. If the new chickens bring in anything at all, it's probably going to be a parasite of some type that is an inconvenience but that you can deal with.

Farmers/ranchers buy and sell cattle all the time and just turn them out to pasture with the herd with no quarantine. We could easily spread a disease but that doesn't stop us from trading seeds, bulbs, and plants all over the country. There are some risks I won't take but I'm not going to let fear of some risk I consider minor control my life.

 

[baymule]

I was given a derelict rabbit cage and put 4x4 legs on it, metal top and enclosed half of it. I now use the top for feeder and water storage and the bottom serves multiple purposes. It has been used as death row, overnight for chickens that are going to be butchered. It has been a brooder cage after chicks get a few weeks old. It has been the maternity ward, the home of a broody hen and her chicks. Grand daughter calls it chicken jail and she chases down the hens, catching them and putting them in the cage. As a brooder cage, I stapled opened feed sacks on it to deflect the wind. It is small, 2x4 but it serves for whatever I need.

 

[thistlebloom]

Thistle, you're a clever girl. I'm sure you can figure out how to have a bigger coop built by spring. Just include a nice run area too.

Thanks Ridge! Way to be an enabler!

I'm not real sure my husband would appreciate my "cleverness".
Somehow my clever ways always seem to end up with him, hammer in one hand, nails in the other.
He just completed a spiffy new 3 sided run in shelter for the midget horse and mule. And I have his spare time next year all laid out with a hay shed and a roof on the dog run. But maybe he would have time for a coop expansion.....hmmmm....

 

[so lucky]

Update on the "new girl" drama at my house: When I opened the gate to let the old girls out to roam today, I left it open to see if the new girls would get out and orient themselves. Took a while, and they didn't go far, but they managed to get out of the way for the old girls to go to roost first this evening, then eventually two of the new girls went in and got on the low roost with my two Sussex. The new sex-link stayed out after dark, and I ended up catching her and putting her inside, then shining a flashlight so she could see where to crawl under the nest boxes where she has been holing up.
I haven't seen any feathers flying since yesterday, but they have been avoiding each other like crazy.
As a side note, I am not getting any eggs from anybody. Grrr! Oh well, at least I'm not having to clean up broken eggs.

 

[Smart Red]

The drama can cause a disruption in egg laying. Hopefully the situation with newbies will smooth itself out soon. My new birds spent a lot of time together -- almost like two different flocks -- when they first were put together. It sounds like things are going well.

 

[so lucky]

I have often wondered if chickens choose whom they want to hang around with by color or breed or happenstance. Funny how some seem to fit right in and some are always renegades. It took over 6 months for the middle group to start hanging around with the old group. They still seem to segregate by breed, to a large extent.