fuzzi's "Gardens and Chickens...and Goats? Oh My!" Journal and More Thread

[fuzzi]

Good on the chicks... sorry for the 6th one... may not ever be right... but you never know. Problem is will she accept a single stray chick several days later????

Yep, black breast feathers are roosters... salmon color are females.

Chick #6 doesn't seem "right", unable to figure out how to eat, doesn't drink either. It acts drunk in the incubator, and it's not the foot. If I thought it was suffering I would dispatch it. But part of me says "Give it a little longer".

 

[fuzzi]

Yep, black breast feathers are roosters... salmon color are females.

That means blue is a girl!

 

[farmerjan]

If you mean the one on the block by the waterer... then I would say yes, that is a pullet. Assuming they are all the same breed... black red pattern has a black breast on the males, black tails, hackle and saddle feathers and wing coverts are a reddish/orange/brown... or on something like lemon blue they will be whitish/yellow hackles and saddles... Silver duckwing they will be white hackle and saddle feathers... but the breasts are mostly all black / blackish blue and the females are always very different, usually a salmon or stippled pattern.

 

[fuzzi]

If you mean the one on the block by the waterer... then I would say yes, that is a pullet. Assuming they are all the same breed... black red pattern has a black breast on the males, black tails, hackle and saddle feathers and wing coverts are a reddish/orange/brown... or on something like lemon blue they will be whitish/yellow hackles and saddles... Silver duckwing they will be white hackle and saddle feathers... but the breasts are mostly all black / blackish blue and the females are always very different, usually a salmon or stippled pattern.

I just went outside, after dusk, to change their leg rings, as the zipties were getting close to being tight. I checked breasts. Purple, orange, and GREEN leg band chicks all had black or dark feathers coming through on the breasts. Blue, pink, and yellow band chicks had a much lighter color coming in.

Thanks for that info!

 

[canesisters]

Chick #6 doesn't seem "right", unable to figure out how to eat, doesn't drink either. It acts drunk in the incubator, and it's not the foot. If I thought it was suffering I would dispatch it. But part of me says "Give it a little longer".

You've seen worse off chicks recover & become beloved members of your flock.

 

[Baymule]

Both!

 

[Mini Horses]

My last 2 incubator eggs had slow learners...after hard break outs. One made, other not. But gave both a chance. Same happens with hen sets, we just don't see them. Hope it goes well but, you still have a nice group of homies that hen will raise

 

[fuzzi]

Chick still won't drink, won't eat. He struggles to swallow when I syringe some vitamins on his beak. He moonwalks backwards and tumbles down. And he's crying nonstop.

Zack was able to walk, eat, and drink. It's not the same, and I know what I need to do. I just don't want to do it.

 

[Baymule]

There are some things that we just can’t fix no matter how we try.

 

[fuzzi]

It's done. I cried. God knew this little sparrow, and I take comfort in that.

I did some rearranging in the second coop, removing the brooder the bigger chicks don't need anymore.

I placed a large plastic tote upside down in the back, and jammed a small tree trunk in position, to help them access the roost.

Silas supervising Abigail digging in the fresh straw I'd added to the wheelbarrow. Naomi and her chicks have started sleeping there.

Resting

Eating

Exploring