Those Fowl Fords

It's baby Alligator Snalling Turtle season!! ♡ they're so cute when they're babies. Tiny dinosaurs. They're important for our ecosystem. Even thought when they're giants, they're terrifying. I still love them.

My baby birds have Cocci. My incubator humidity thing freaked out and killed more than half of my babies that should've hatched this weekend. I'm babysitting my 18 mo nephew, so I'm exhausted.

Coccidosis is awful. I've never dealt with it before, but I had seen several local folks had been dealing with it this year, so I got a bottle of corrid just in case.

Coccidosis is a serious intestinal parasitic infection that will wipe out a whole flock in no time. It is easy to manage, as long as you catch it early. You just get some corrid and mix it in their water. You've got to refresh the water every 24 hours. After the 5 days of treatment, you have to give them probiotics to replace their nutrients.

So far, I've lost 2 dark brahmas. I am devastated. I hope that I don't lose any more. I hope that I've started treatment in time. What I did not know is that I can smell it. I had changed the shavings in all of my baby boxes just a few days ago, but the smell is so overwhelming and awful! I did not expect it.

My incubator does not regulate its own humidity. It is very hard to maintain the humidity manually. Especially overnight. Especially when there's a toddler sleeping in that room that you are desperate not to wake up.

This is Will and Kate.

He *KNOWS* he's the prettiest boy at the party.

Croissant had a bit of the Pasty Butt!

Pasty butt is an obnoxious problem for baby chicks. If left undetected, it can be fatal. Their little poops get stuck in their feathers, blocking their ability to carry on defecting. The way I usually fix it is give them a nice warm bath, and then blow dry them gently so they don't get too cold. Poor baby Croissant was shivering so hard! She is safely back in the brooder, nice and cozy!

Also, Ms Thistle was quite sick yesterday, but after a bath, a rest, and some prebiotic, it looks like she has pulled all the way through!

My office is still overrun with babies. I'm still not exactly sure what I was thinking when I brought home this many babies at once. 🤣

Here is a picture of my tiny baby brooder. Currentl6 home to a few bantams, salmon faverolles, and dark brahmas.

I want to tell you how much I love my Brahmas. These are the friendliest chickens I've ever met. They come running to me when I go outside. They'll follow me around to see what I'm doing. They'll eat out of my hand. My girls lay 3 eggs a week all year. No winter pause for Brahmas. I have two grown up light brahma hens, but I love them so much that I've gotten a whole bunch of brahma chicks this year. Something I didn't know is that both buff brahmas and dark brahmas can be seed pretty early on. The buff brahma chicks in the photo are an example. The pullet, or girl chick, has smoky gray shoulders. The cockeral, or boy chick, has white. Dark brahmas you can tell once their feathers start to come in. I have another week or so on that, but I'll post a picture when they do!

Behold! I have grown flowers!

This is really tricky. I do not know how to vent sex. I am very nervous to try. I have recently adopted quite a few chicks, and I'm curious as can be. Apparently, you can see a difference in Buff Brahmas. The girls have grayish shoulders and chests. Boys will have bright white. I am going to mark which I think are girls and which boys. Then when they grow up, I'll get to see if I'm right.

Dark Brahmas are easy to tell apart once their feathers start to come in. Hens have penciled lacing on their feathers, roosters are black and white.

Similarly, Salmon Favorelles chicks are distinguishable once they get their feathers. Roosters will grow black feathers on their shoulders.

The other two new to me breeds that I got are Exchequer Leghorn and Black Copper Maran. I am fairly certain I won't be able to tell them apart until combs and wattles start to come in in a few weeks.

No matter what, I am thrilled with this batch of chicks. I'm having so much fun watching them grow. I will certainly end up selling most of these once they're bigger. But for now, I will love them! ♡

I have a sick baby this morning. I'm not giving up on her though.

I do hot shit!

I sing to myself as I clean out a chicken coop at 7am