Trying a new ID method

On October 26, 2019October 23, 2019 By CarynIn chickens

I put the Wyze camera where we could see the popular nest boxes. It is neat because we can see the chickens in the nests, but the angle does not make seeing their colored leg bands easy (or even possible).

So we are trying a new method of chicken identification, at least for the purposes of figuring out who was on the nest when. I took pictures of all their combs, which are all slightly different. (Scientists identify orca whales in a similar way; by taking pictures of their dorsal fins.) Trying to get a clear picture of the comb when they are wiggly and their head is rarely still was a challenge, but eventually I figured out to tuck the subject under my arm and angle my phone camera back toward their head. I then used Adobe Lightroom to adjust the photos and get the combs all facing the same way.

I printed a reference sheet and then checked the camera. I think this is a viable method! I was able match Jade’s comb with the reference. Not sure how much time I will spend going through the saved footage to figure out who laid what egg, but it might be helpful if I have an off egg and need to figure out the culprit.

Health check

On October 24, 2019October 22, 2019 By CarynIn chickens

We did a health check recently and from the look of the hen’s vents, we think everyone except Navi and Cockatrice are now laying. Navi has finally gained some weight, but if we let her out of isolation for even parts of the day her crop gets large and squishy. We have decided to go for quality of life and are letting her run with the flock. If she gets lethargic and won’t eat, we’ll put her back in isolation with copper sulfate water.

Magic lost her colored band for awhile, but we made sure it was her and put the band back on. However it does look like she lost weight, so either we mixed up chickens or we need to keep an eye on her too. Seeing as how she was the heaviest chicken last month, and is still the heaviest chicken, I don’t think we have a chicken identity crisis.

They like it!

On October 23, 2019October 20, 2019 By CarynIn chickens, Coop, eggs

They don’t like it as much as the other nest boxes, but I found a chicken in the metal nest box! And she laid an egg there! Cleaning and painting it was not a wasted effort, yay! Granted, their two favorite nest boxes were both occupied.

I have been putting down plastic bins everywhere I find an egg on the floor. We are up to 6 nest boxes. For 12 chickens. A little overkill, but they fight over the two boxes under the workbench. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/6hDRHzRU3fQ. I thought Velociraptors were eating my chickens; no, it was just a hen screaming at another hen coming toward her nest box.

Fun with pumpkins

On October 14, 2019October 8, 2019 By CarynIn chickens, meme

What is better than feeding pumpkin to chickens? Feeding jack-o-lanterns to chickens so they look like headless chickens when they eat. Ha!

I bought a sugar pie pumpkin because they are nice and small, and found one with a nice thick stem to make it easier to hang. Then I cut the face of the pumpkin (going for the shocked look), and cut a large hole out of the back of the pumpkin to attract the chickens. If I do it again, I will probably just draw on a face, since the face attracts just as much pecking as the back. (If… who am I kidding. This is hilarious. Of course I will do it again.)

I hung the pumpkin at chicken head height, then took pictures.

And the made the memes. Because I am easily amused.

Coop clean out

On October 7, 2019 By CarynIn chickens, Coop

We decided to clean out the coop because we haven’t since the chickens took over the whole space.

Carrying of pine shavings by the bucketful

At first the chickens were wary, but as we progressed, carrying more and more things out of the coop, they freaked.

Tigger did something to hurt her feet, probably when she was flying wildly about, so we locked them all in the run so they couldn’t cause themselves more damage. Next time, we will start with them locked in a run! Live and learn.

We swept up all the pine shavings and dust and feathers, put some down as mulch where I am trying to suppress weeds, and the rest went into the compost pile. We then had to do a little rearranging. The metal nest boxes needed to be moved so the back door opened properly (my math missed the perch, sigh). Then we moved the washed and sanitized roost back in. Everything got a good dust of diatomaceous earth, then we put down four bags of pine shavings. Yikes. The chickens eventually calmed down. My youngest made an egg foray into the coop, only to find no eggs. Darn it.

Tigger was struggling still, and just sitting in the back of the coop, so we tried wrapping her right leg. She did not like that at all, but can’t get to the bandage, so we’ll leave it on a bit to see if it helps. We could not identify any obviously broken bones, so we hope rest will help. I put her in the cleaned out isolation ward with the food and water lowered so she could drink and eat while laying down.

In happy news, Navi has gained weight, but her crop is large and squishy again. Sigh.

Critters and Craft

Category: chickens