10/17/12
Gnarly Bunch Daily Update: Three strong eggs
today...seems to be only three hens laying at all and only two real steady but
once a week there are no eggs at all. Come spring there better be some
eggs in those nests!!!
GOOD: Katy has no more wheezing and
coughing/sneezing. From that I can conclude it was an allergic reaction
to the fresh lavender in the nest boxes and that is now gone. So much for
placing herbs in their nest boxes to deter possible mites and lice. Not
that they have any of those any longer but it's nice to prevent instead of
treat and that was the first time I'd tried the herbs. I can check that
off my list as a no-go for now. I must confess, though... sure did like
those lavender scented eggs.
I think Miss Katie is getting quite
friendly towards me... I've noticed this a time or two before. She will
peck around close to me and stand there and watch me, cocking her head and
staying close even when the others move away.
I
can recognize the signs and have had a few such hens in each flock over the
years. These are the ones that would make good pets as they seem to enjoy
human interaction. Most do not, so I don't force my attentions upon them
but the few moochy hens I get, I will talk to them when they come near and
maybe feed them a treat just for themselves. I like that closer
connection but I don't force it any further than they want it to be. No
need to get clingy....
BAD?
GOOD?:
My mother came back from visiting my sister and brought an EE rooster along for
the ride. My sister can't
have them in town where she lives... she is not supposed to have chickens at
all but keeps a whole flock on the low-low and definitely can't keep a rooster
while trying to do chickens incognito and I don't agree with the whole sneaking
and having chickens anyway as it's just a bad thing to start. I also
don't agree with not killing your own roosters...your rooster, your problems.
But... he's here now and he's my problem.
He
is snow white with green/blue legs, a rose comb, and a loud mouth ~ started
crowing as soon as I placed him on the roost at 9pm and crowed several times ~ no
wonder the neighbors were threatening her. Very healthy in appearance with no mites or
lice that I can see and no evidence of scale mites. He is nicely muscled
out and is very clean. My sister has a decent setup that is very open
air, so she doesn't have any problems in her flock caused by space and
ventilation problems. She seems to do alright with her birds, despite not
wanting to cull when needed.
Ol' Toby may shut that loud mouth
for him tomorrow...we'll just have to see how things go. Too many roos
for this many hens but we'll see how it all turns out. NOT a breed that I would
ever choose for breeding offspring, so he will probably wind up in the crock
pot in the spring, if not sooner.
Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 29 - 10/18/12
Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 29 - 10/18/12
OK, I have a small problem here. After all the work you did rescuing these birds, you're going to mix in another rooster not knowing what he may be carrying? I thought I read a part where you can't isolate a bird, but aren't you taking a change introducing him to your flock? I know, I know, it's from your mom and a friend of her's, but ... that is a BIG 'but' you know what I am going through. Just sayin' ....
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