Something Cute to Brighten Your Day!

[FishGuest5123]

Do it. I love my chickies

I can’t. I’m in a residential neighborhood and against deed restrictions.

 

[FishFinatic77]

I can’t. I’m in a residential neighborhood and against deed restrictions.

That's really sad. Chickens are actually really great pets. They have a lot more personality than you would think!

 

[JuiceBox52]

How many chickens do you have?

 

[FishFinatic77]

I have seven right now. How many do you have?

 

[JuiceBox52]

I have seven right now. How many do you have?

9 hen's and a rooster.

 

[FishFinatic77]

Aww, that's nice. They are Sapphire Gems right? Do they have names?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Aww, that's nice. They are Sapphire Gems right? Do they have names?

Yes they are and they do.
The rooster is Chicken Boo (named after the chicken in the Animaniacs show)
And we have torchick, chickoletta, topaz, dino, cinders, squirt, sprout, ninja and nugget

 

[FishFinatic77]

Those are really cute names! Is there a particular reason one is named Ninja?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Those are really cute names! Is there a particular reason one is named Ninja?

She was pure black when she was a baby

 

[FishGuest5123]

That's really sad. Chickens are actually really great pets. They have a lot more personality than you would think!

Oh, I know. My grandkids raise About 200 each year for shows. They are crazy though. They can be standing there eating away and then fall over dead the next. Very fragile as they grow.

 

[Colin_T]

Okay, here is a pic of her outside with them.

View attachment 107853

Plus an extra photo of Papaya sitting in Rocky's neck feathers, just because it's cute.

View attachment 107854

I used to keep quails and they did the same thing. The mother would be sitting down and little baby quails would be poking their heads out from all over her body. She would stand up and baby birds would be dropping off her as she walked around.

I can’t. I’m in a residential neighborhood and against deed restrictions.

get quails, smaller than chickens but do the same thing.

 

[PhantomCarp]

Yes they are and they do.
The rooster is Chicken Boo (named after the chicken in the Animaniacs show)
And we have torchick, chickoletta, topaz, dino, cinders, squirt, sprout, ninja and nugget

If you get anymore name one KFC and another one Popeyes

 

[FishFinatic77]

Oh, I know. My grandkids raise About 200 each year for shows. They are crazy though. They can be standing there eating away and then fall over dead the next. Very fragile as they grow.

Chickens can definitely be fragile, and I have learned quite a bit about that in the four years that I have kept chickens.
I started out with six, and at the time, I had never owned chickens so I thought you could just pick any breeds that looked cute and you would have them for the next ten years.
I lost my first chicken at a year old because of a heart problem. The next chicken went this February because of a hernia, and the third chicken died early this month, I think because her body just kind of gave out. I now have three of the original six.
After the last chicken died, I did a lot of research on chicken life spans and such, and I found out that most chickens are way over bred and they are really only meant to, either get fat really quickly and then get slaughtered for meat, or to lay a ton of eggs in the first two years and then die.
So, I did more research into breeds that don't have those problems. I don't know what breeds your grandchildren raise, but I learned that most bantams are good because they are small and don't lay many eggs. Easter Eggers are also really good because they are basically mutts, so any genetic weaknesses were bred out.
I think where you get them from is important too. Last time, I just got my chicks from a local feed store, but this time I got them from a really good hatchery. You can already tell that these chicks are healthier than my first because they are constantly running around, jumping on things, pecking, scratching, and learning to dust bathe.
I'm sorry this is so long, but I feel this is important to say. Nobody ever tells you these things when you're starting out with chickens, but I think people should know so that they can really the chickens they want.

 

[Colin_T]

Chickens aren't the only birds that are inbred to such a level that they are genetically weaker than their wild counterparts. Most captive bred birds (finches and parrots) are severely inbred and this has been going on for years.

Back in the 70s when I started keeping birds, a lot of finches and parrots were wild caught. In the 80s the government put restrictions on trapping wild birds and by the early 90s there were meant to be no wild caught birds sold in shops. Everything was captive bred and when you bought birds from a bird shop, they were generally related to each other.

I used to go to different bird shops all over Perth, just to buy birds that were theoretically from different breeders, (and most were). But these days, a lot of bird shops have closed down and there are only a couple of shops left. If you buy birds from these shops, they are usually related.

There are lots of people selling birds online now and a lot of old school bird breeders will travel all over the state to get unrelated birds. Some people even buy them from the other side of the country to try and mix up the bloodlines.

It's unfortunate and hypocritical that people will inbreed any and all birds, fish and animals on the planet just for their own financial gains, but they frown upon relationships between family members, which is also wrong.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Don’t know much about chickens. If you got them into the show ring before they died, you could show the dead chicken. You could hold it for the judge to look at it and then set it down and croak! It was gone. After the show there would be a number of dead chickens in the ring. Nasty! Now, pigs are another thing. I can tell you all about swine. Did you know pigs don’t have sweat glands so you can’t “sweat like a pig?” They are clean animals but lay in the mud to stay cool. They are the 5th smartest mammal in the world...humans, primates, dolphins, whales, and then pigs. They have the same internal parts as humans and their hearts have been used in human transplants. Their gestation period is 2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days.