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redsunset

This morehens disease again

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Thought there was a trapped kitten in the garden at bedtime and took me a while to realise the mewling sounds were from the new baby chooks?! Took till now to catch them, and yep they are in the wheelie bin. As soon as they were all put in together, silence. The wheelie bin has multi uses as this is the second time this year it has come to my rescue so they will be quite snug all piled together. :)

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Thanks, they are cute aren't they? As for my garden being tropical.......come see it in a couple of months!! Will probably be devoid of all grass/plants (due to 30 chooks) and the trees will all be bare!! Strangely enough my hanging baskets are still nice as they are south facing and the high fence has helped.

 

Hope the littlies sleep ok tonight away from their chums and that we have another lovely day tomorrow to help with the intros. I find a lot of treats in the first few days helps the older bunch not bother with bullying so much. It was the last newbies who took great delight in throwing their weight around today as they are now no longer bottom of the pack!

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Well the littlies survived their first night ok and found them roosting on a willow branch this morning. Checked the wheelie bin as breeze had blown door/lid closed to find a bemused sussex and speckledy in there having decided it was a good place to lay their eggs!

 

After a bit of googling last night I am now wondering if they are Lemon pyle Brahmas due to their colouring? I guess time will tell if any grey feathers appear around the neck but for now they seem to resemble Lemon at 12 weeks? Anyone have any idea?

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Those new little babies are just so cute and we have been blessed with perfect weather this last week. As for not getting any exotics up here, I was talking to a client at work and she has silkies, barnavelders, cochins, bantams and her friend along the road has silver laced wyandottes!! She is also away to a rare breed poultry auction next month and said if you see anything in the catalogue when it's released...........oooohhh! There was me thinking people had nothing but hybrids up here but seems not. Dare not get any more as will run out of wheelie bins!

 

The little Brahmas' look like they are well on the way to being big chickens but they are all fluffy drawers and no body when you scoop them up at bedtime. Just hope the little eagles integrate before the clocks change and dare to move to a hen house or it will be torch every night.

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:( Lost my Mrs Amber today. She was the one who had a habit of sleeping in my windowsill and found her dead below it at lunchtime. I know there was no frost last night as I have another 4 who sleep in the trees but still can't help but wonder if the cold got to her. Maybe time to lift the others down after dark now. No idea what happened to her but still gutted as that brings my total loses this year to four for one reason or another. :(
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Oh I'm so sorry Redsunset :( I'm sure it was not the cold at this stage, not even up where you are. Also being against the window would have been a fairly warm place. A sudden death like that (from my limited experience) could be caused by one of these things:

- heart attack

- crop problems (is her crop extra squishy but full, or impacted i.e. full and extremely hard)?

- egg problems (does her back end feel sort of hard i.e. with a retained egg / egg bound, or does her vent have a red circle around it as if it is being turned inside out which would be peritonitis).

- breathing problems (was she sneezing, does she have any discharge around her beak)

 

Big hugs to you whatever the case. I've found the hard way this year that one day a chicken can be pottering about and eating fine and the next be very ill indeed. For me the clue I've learnt to look for is if anyone seems to be staying behind in their roosting place when everyone else has got up. If they do, then they need prompt attention.

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Well my guess would be heart attack as she was fine earlier (scrambling for breadcrumbs and some corn with the others), and turned around at 1am to glare at me when I put the ceiling light on whilst turning off the lamps for the night as she usually did. Still lifted the others out of the trees into a house tonight but one promptly went back out again straight back to her perch even in the dark! Found the babies inside my utility room tonight after work as must have left the door open by accident at lunchtime so relocated them to the bin. (temp house in case anyone is reading this thread for the first time!)

 

Think I will start trying to get them all in a house for the next few nights and close them in and see how that goes (babies an all)

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Thank you, it's a way of keeping a wee blog so I can remember when I bought which chicken as well. When I read cage fighters I was like :shock: ....but then I remembered you have ex batts so assume those where what you meant? Yep, those would be welcome in chooksville as well and I think it's fantastic when people take the time and trouble to home those poor chickens.

 

Armful of wee Brahmas just been scooped up as they seem to settle on my utility room doorstep and are now in the head honchos house (Mrs Bluebelle is the matron) but has never been a bully. Closed them in and will repeat between now and Sunday to see if they 'get it', that it's home? They came running up the drive tonight when I came home in the middle of the big girls so they are integrating fine........and probably just realising that Tesco bags mean goodies!

 

Two short years ago hen keeping would never have even entered my head, and now to have 29 and think it's only a 'wee flock really'.......... :whistle:

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Aww shucks...... :oops: Glad some enjoy it as I was worrying re boring people to death with my inane chicken ramblings in my my yr of chicken keeping and all it's highs and lows.

 

Ok, an excuse to keep rambling as long as the mods on this board do not mind the length of this thread??!

 

Still have 3 Isa browns and a leghorn in the willows, despite my trying to intro them to a house. Guess the fact we have had such lovely sunny days this last week will not have them moved. Just over a week until the clocks change and they will be moved and locked in if needed!!! I can't be faffing about with a torch in the trees once the clocks move and scared they will freeze anyway.

 

:)

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More ramblings. Have managed to book a lovely double laced Barnavelder at 20 wks who will be joining the gang next week.........wellllllllll, can't be doing with an odd number like 29 can I?........ :whistle: Will try and pick her up in an evening so I can pop her straight into a house before the clocks change next week.

 

Wheelie bin put away and have resigned myself to lifting the little eagles down to bed from my door step every night.

 

:)

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Oh now that is getting technical and I have no idea how to do that!..........just for you the total by the end of this week should stand at 'cough' 30........... :oops: ...... :whistle:

 

And gavclojak, my silly/fraught/sometimes funny ramblings would never fill a book. Besides if the council knew what uses I had for the glass wheelie bin I'd be in big trouble, but what they don't know won't harm them.......and it is only little temporary uses now and then!

 

Looking forward to Mrs Barnevelder joining the gang this week. Will be the first time I have ever intoduced a lone chicken so hope she won't be to traumatised in the middle of my lot. The couple selling me the chicken also have a beautiful pair of cream crested legbar for sale but as one is a cockerel and my neighbours are a tad close.....

 

Besides I need to wait and make sure the little eagles are all girls (came home from an eve dentist appt at 8pm and had to scoop them up as per from utility room step down to a house) As they are so young can see this taking a while. I go away to the big bad mainland in a couple of wks for some retail therapy so mum may have to do the deed when she comes to baby sit....and possibly find a Barnavelder in the dark too!!!! New outside lights being installed soon to make task easier. Ramblings over and out, until next installment.... :)

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Er chicken themed things.....I have a few of those given as gifts from relatives who have obviously 'bracketed' me as one of life's eccentrics already!! Some are ok, some went walkabout! No this shop is strictly for me and to see some big joined up shops, lol!

 

Having watched Sophia last night on the BBC prog, I remembered about 17 yrs ago and not long after I bought this old house I found a baby polecat abandoned in the garden and it's dead sibling near a dry drainage ditch. Brought it up in my kitchen as it was the size of a kitten and then moved it outside and fed it on cat food for several weeks! He was a cheeky wee thing and two half grown kittens I had at the time used to chase him and he appeared in my house on more than one occasion. I called him/her 'wee hammy' as it looked like a wee hamster and was so cute. It eventually vanished back to the wild which is what I wanted. There has been an extensive mink trapping prog up here in the last few years and never seen one since though I know with our vast moorlands they are still probably a few here and there. Much as I think all baby animals are cute, ie fox/polecat/mink I would be devastated if they appeared in large numbers with a free range gang now!

 

Picking up Miss Barnevelder tomorrow after work so hope she settles in well as a lone chook.

 

Does anyone reading this have any experience of sexing Brahmas chickens? Mine are almost 14 weeks now and still have no idea as know they are slow to mature.

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Sorry, can't help you with sexing the wee eagles (Brahmas) but I envy you the Barnvelder - they have such beautiful feathers (and lay well too). Here's wishing you all the best with the integration but given all the room you have and the free ranging I'm sure it will go without a hitch. I find that sometimes a wee girl arriving on her own will stay pretty much on her own till she becomes mature (starts to lay eggs) when suddenly she will appear in with the rest of the gang :D

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