New additions to the family!

I ordered these from a hatchery and they came in the middle of March.  I ordered two of each kind but the other Pekin died within hours of arrival.  When they arrived I noticed the white Pekin in the picture above had a spot on her side.  I dismissed it as a skin discoloration.  She acted fine and was eating and drinking so I thought nothing of it.  After about a week I noticed the spot had grown quickly and was turning green and I had absolutely no idea what to do.  I was scouring the internet looking to see if anyone had encountered something similar, no luck.  I made the decision to use the knowledge I had from treating my chickens.  I gave her a shot of Tylan (which is mainly for respiratory issues).  I knew it may not work but I had to try because I could tell it was an infection and she was so small I knew it would kill her quickly.  I also coated the infection with vaseline to seal it.   (That was an idea I got from another blogger).  After giving her the first shot she was tired but the next morning seemed a tad better.  I gave her three shots of it total and then I just waited.  She limped around for about two weeks because the infection had gotten into her side under her wing.  She was also picking at it a bunch so I coated it with Blu-Kote and then she left it alone (she quickly learned it tasted nasty….which was obvious from her having a purple bill the next day).  I have been waiting to put them on here until I knew for sure she was going to be OK.  Well, the Tylan worked.  The infection is all gone and her feathers grew in over the area.  She is the sweetest girl!  We have named her Mango after my daughters favorite fruit:)

To lay or not to lay…..

My girls were laying real well for a few weeks but my egg production went down again due to the nasty weather we have had.  I have lost one so far to a virus.  I have been keeping a close eye on the rest to make sure nobody else has it.  I am cleaning out the waterers a lot and checking to make sure the coop is sanitary.  (As sanitary as a house full of poop and straw can be.)   I am considering putting down some DE to help.  If any of you have tried it in your coop let me know how it worked out for you.

Front porch chickens

A few months ago I found one of my hens sleeping in the corner of my front porch.  She is a friendly Golden Comet…they have the best temperaments!   It was freezing out and she was sleeping on concrete.  Yikes!  I know I would be a tad cold.  So I grabbed a milk crate and filled it with straw and my hubby picked her up and stuck her in it and she has used it off and on since.   Because of her wandering nature I have named her Hobo.  Well a few days ago I walked onto the front porch and peeked over in the crate…and I saw three eggs.  They weren’t from the same layer.  So I made sure to pay attention the next day to see who is laying them.  A soon as I heard a hen in the front yard carrying on (bragging about her egg laying capabilities I guess) I ran to the front door and sure enough there was Hobo announcing to the world that she is the greatest egg layer of all time.  Well, that’s how it sounded anyway.  I looked over and saw a big brown egg from my girl.  I also happened to notice that there are two more hens waiting.  A Rhode Island Red and a Black Australorp.   So my question was quickly answered and now the three of them lay in there everyday.  I am hoping that word doesn’t get out about the front porch, because I really don’t feel like hosing it off everyday.  Here is a pic of the corner crate and the eggs my girls left me.  Today there are four eggs so I have no idea who laid that one.  So I suppose the mystery isn’t completely over!