Hens and Roos
Herd Master
I think he's out catching up on everyone else's threads 
Bruce's Journal
- Thread starter Bruce
- Start date
-
- Tags
- alpacas. chickens
- Thread starter
- #552
Bruce
Herd Master
H&R is right, and it is an impossible task!
No friendlier, not checked hooves but I'm going to have to do that and get them sheared or buy the tools and do it myself. I'm going to need to build a squeeze chute of some nature just to get a halter on them I think.
They aren't keeping up with the spring grass at all, mostly eating in the old "riding ring" area. There was a lot of tall (10") thicker grass between the barn and the pond (the "original" area) that they weren't touching. Similar stuff with a LOT of weeds of all types out west of the old "riding ring". Before I had the boys I used to mow the ring and behind the barn, the rest was "field". Yesterday I mowed behind the barn and the "new" area. I fenced in that 1 acre (including the pond) more for the dog to have more space. Now I have more to mow and no dog.
Need to take pictures of the chicks, they are 3 weeks old today. Sure was spoiled with the last set that Zorra raised and showed the ropes to. She is now in the broody buster wanting to hatch chicks but having NO interest in the chicks she could be raising. Pretty sure the "sexer" at Meyer screwed up on at least one this time around. Small yellow comb on one of the Barnevelders, no tail to speak of, still has fuzz on the "shoulders" and legs a weight lifter would be proud of. The other Barnevelder has bigger legs than the other breeds but not like this one, has a full complement of feathers, a tail and less comb.
No friendlier, not checked hooves but I'm going to have to do that and get them sheared or buy the tools and do it myself. I'm going to need to build a squeeze chute of some nature just to get a halter on them I think.
They aren't keeping up with the spring grass at all, mostly eating in the old "riding ring" area. There was a lot of tall (10") thicker grass between the barn and the pond (the "original" area) that they weren't touching. Similar stuff with a LOT of weeds of all types out west of the old "riding ring". Before I had the boys I used to mow the ring and behind the barn, the rest was "field". Yesterday I mowed behind the barn and the "new" area. I fenced in that 1 acre (including the pond) more for the dog to have more space. Now I have more to mow and no dog.
Need to take pictures of the chicks, they are 3 weeks old today. Sure was spoiled with the last set that Zorra raised and showed the ropes to. She is now in the broody buster wanting to hatch chicks but having NO interest in the chicks she could be raising. Pretty sure the "sexer" at Meyer screwed up on at least one this time around. Small yellow comb on one of the Barnevelders, no tail to speak of, still has fuzz on the "shoulders" and legs a weight lifter would be proud of. The other Barnevelder has bigger legs than the other breeds but not like this one, has a full complement of feathers, a tail and less comb.
Last edited:
Mike CHS
Herd Master
It is amazing how fast the vegetation grows this time of year.
Baymule
Herd Master
Sometimes you get surprises in baby chicks.....that's how I got my nasty EE rooster. I guess nobody told him he was supposed to be a pullet!
- Thread starter
- #555
Bruce
Herd Master
Am I right or am I right?
the presumed boy
and the other Barnevelder
Welsummers (brown birds on the right)
Exchequer Leghorns. Feathering more slowly but at the same rate as each other. Not worrying (much) yet.
Cassiopeia (EE)
The alpacas must think the chicks are just another type of non threatening songbird. The second one is fuzzy but I include it because you can see how far they go into the boys' area.
After I took those pictures I heard the littles farther away. They had gone through the alpacas' alley and out the door. To my knowledge this is the first time the littles have gone outside. They will, of course, die out there since it is 65°, they are 3 weeks old and they aren't fully feathered yet
Chicks require ambient temp of 95° for a week, dropping by 5° each week until they are 4-5 weeks old my (donkey)!!!! So many people bake their poor chicks following this "they say" "fact". These girls hadn't been in their brooder area with their MHP since I let them out at 7:30 AM.
the presumed boy
and the other BarnevelderWelsummers (brown birds on the right)
Exchequer Leghorns. Feathering more slowly but at the same rate as each other. Not worrying (much) yet.
Cassiopeia (EE)
The alpacas must think the chicks are just another type of non threatening songbird. The second one is fuzzy but I include it because you can see how far they go into the boys' area.
After I took those pictures I heard the littles farther away. They had gone through the alpacas' alley and out the door. To my knowledge this is the first time the littles have gone outside. They will, of course, die out there since it is 65°, they are 3 weeks old and they aren't fully feathered yet
Chicks require ambient temp of 95° for a week, dropping by 5° each week until they are 4-5 weeks old my (donkey)!!!! So many people bake their poor chicks following this "they say" "fact". These girls hadn't been in their brooder area with their MHP since I let them out at 7:30 AM.
CntryBoy777
Herd Master
Glad to see things are growing there and ya can disconnect the snow blower for another summer. The chicks are looking really good and we put ours outside at 3.5wks, but it was in June here....they are almost a yr old now.
Good that your trip went well and ya made it back safely.
Good that your trip went well and ya made it back safely.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
We have given all of ours some supplemental heat with the 'safe' heat lamps but it isn't much. They have been pretty hardy here but our temps are nothing like yours. We didn't baby them much once they got past 3 weeks old.
Baymule
Herd Master
Mine are in the brooder on the porch. We got a cold front with night temps in the low 50's. Yeah, I know that is the norm for most of ya'll this time of year, with a frost or two or three thrown in just for fun, but for us, that is unseasonably cool for this time of year. So I screwed their light bulb back in. I think it's a 75 watt, need to change it out for a 60 watt.
- Thread starter
- #559
Bruce
Herd Master
Yesterday I removed (*) a long piece of 4' chicken wire from the old fence and put it in front of the sheep and goat fence I used to enclose the area outside the north end of the barn last Sept in prep for the alpacas. Once I saw the chicks had decided to go out the alpacas' door I knew it was just a matter of time before they went through the fence just a foot past the edge of the open door. Yep, I had to herd some of them back in to put the wire in their way. I still need to wire it permanently to the S&G.
Zorra's pea brain is spinning. While she was in the buster she took great umbrage when I picked up a chick and it did the "I'm gonna get killed!!" peeping (so did the Fav that helped raise the last batch). I let her out of the buster Wed morning since she had started "talking" more normally. She hung out on the south side of the alley since I had run hardware cloth across it to let the littles have access to their brooder space and the run. Yesterday she laid a massive 80g egg and again positioned herself in front of the run. I didn't put up the wire separater. She won't let the other bigs get near "her" area but isn't' hanging out with the chicks either. But I saw one chick go closer to their door to the coop and she chased it. I don't know what is going on in her head. I put the wire back up at 5 PM and herded the chicks into the brooder so they could get to their food (they had been foraging outside) and water.
Also mounted the alpacas' automatic waterer on the H-brace for the gate that keeps them from coming up between the barns. No use in freezing weather but easier for me than filling their bucket in the barn with the 2.5 gallon "jerry can" (over the 3' high hardware cloth "fence", through their gate) Right now it is fed by a hose that LOVES to kink in many places, useless on a reel and most everything else that requires moving it. Long term I would like to bury a pipe at least from the house to the little barn since at the moment the hose runs across the grass and I'll have to disconnect it when I mow. I know, whine whine whine!!
* TONS of pneumatic gun long staples in posts and top and bottom "support" boards. Another addition to my scrap metal pile.
Zorra's pea brain is spinning. While she was in the buster she took great umbrage when I picked up a chick and it did the "I'm gonna get killed!!" peeping (so did the Fav that helped raise the last batch). I let her out of the buster Wed morning since she had started "talking" more normally. She hung out on the south side of the alley since I had run hardware cloth across it to let the littles have access to their brooder space and the run. Yesterday she laid a massive 80g egg and again positioned herself in front of the run. I didn't put up the wire separater. She won't let the other bigs get near "her" area but isn't' hanging out with the chicks either. But I saw one chick go closer to their door to the coop and she chased it. I don't know what is going on in her head. I put the wire back up at 5 PM and herded the chicks into the brooder so they could get to their food (they had been foraging outside) and water.
Also mounted the alpacas' automatic waterer on the H-brace for the gate that keeps them from coming up between the barns. No use in freezing weather but easier for me than filling their bucket in the barn with the 2.5 gallon "jerry can" (over the 3' high hardware cloth "fence", through their gate)
Right now it is fed by a hose that LOVES to kink in many places, useless on a reel and most everything else that requires moving it. Long term I would like to bury a pipe at least from the house to the little barn since at the moment the hose runs across the grass and I'll have to disconnect it when I mow. I know, whine whine whine!!* TONS of pneumatic gun long staples in posts and top and bottom "support" boards. Another addition to my scrap metal pile.
CntryBoy777
Herd Master
Sounds like Zorra took to her new area that ya gave to her and she was rehomed into, and is Defending her territory. She laid an egg and probably still wants to set, but her eggs keep disappearing so she is frustrated. Also, she may like the peace and quiet without all the hen Drama.
What if ya set up a barrel in the barn that ya could fill with the hose, and then....with a spigot or valve attached....ya could turn a handle and fill the water buckets from the barrel? Ya will still have to deal with the hose, but may be only once or twice a wk. If it stays a decent temp in the barn it could aid during the cold weather too.
What if ya set up a barrel in the barn that ya could fill with the hose, and then....with a spigot or valve attached....ya could turn a handle and fill the water buckets from the barrel? Ya will still have to deal with the hose, but may be only once or twice a wk. If it stays a decent temp in the barn it could aid during the cold weather too.
