With my aviary day length on 14 hours and getting close to day light savings time change where the clock is turned forward and close to my trip to the Missouri Valley Tournament, when I saw this hen German Roller hen determined to build in her seed cup, I just couldn't resist her sweet face and pleading. So even though I was in a hurry to leave for work, I thought why not and after checking the records, it looked like she would be a great hen for Richey!
When I put her in with him, he immediately did the macho breeding dance and sang boisteriously to her. She then immediately assumed a mating position and he quickly responded.
I placed a nest and nesting material in the cage and left for work. Was I ever surprised the next morning to see the high rise nest she had built! In fact it is too high and too deep for her to cover any eggs well.
So I remade her nest and removed extra material and low and behold she has taken me on and rebuilt the way she likes it with the few material she had left!
Every year, seems like I have a few determined hens that want their way usually with building on the floor or in a seed cup and I spend a few days trying to change their mind and finally make a compromise deal with them!
Wondering how long this dispute would be going on, I checked her abdomen and low and behold she has heat and redness but I do not like the wrinkle and she should be fuller so perhaps she is really fooling with me!
3 comments:
Linda, I'm having trouble with my babies this year. They are nice and healthy when they hatch. Mom feeds the food and they put on weight. Look good and red in the mouth. Nice puffy dry down and then the 3rd day they start dying. Their little bellies turn red with a yellow center! That is the only problem I can see. I'm beginning to think its my mix I'm feeding this year. I'm feeding quinoa, Higgins protein 25, a little nova food, carrot (grated very fine), a little scoop of ferti-cal, and a little spirulina. Do you think it's too rich of a mix? I think I'll just feed quinoa and Higgins with a little wheat bread that I spin in the processor. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks
First make sure you are not using softened water as this throws the electrolyte balance off resulting in chick death but usually not adults. Get some distilled water (distilled not spring or drinking water) and add Dr. Rob Marshall's KD powder to it.
Is there any odor?
When it is a problem with too rich a diet, the down does not stick out and the skin gets sticky red from dehydration. I would take the ferti-cal out of the mix for now. This usually starts happening at banding age 5 to 7 days. So I really suspect your water.
Hi Linda!!
quick question; one of my females had her first clutch 5 eggs; of the the 5 only 2 hatched & are soon on their way out-they're almost a month old & have just begun to eat on their own! Same hen laid a new clutch of 5 eggs, she sat for about 2-3 days, suddenly she was laying on the bottom of the cage unable to get her balance, falling over-kind of loopy-immediately I put her in a cage by herself, continued to feed & she recovered within a couple of days; I'm thinking of placing her back with mate & removing chicks; I now have another hen, laid 1 egg; a couple of days later egg was on the bottom & broken- like they had eaten it? Hen is also acting loopy, unbalanced? could it be a lack of calacium or a vitamin or mineral?? Thanks!! Jon
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