***OKIES in the BYC III *** - Page 3538

Nathanael is proud to show off his Opal roo he got for his Bday from Carl.  He loves this little couple, his pullet is hiding behind the roo. 

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Originally Posted by Kassaundra 

Ksane you may not like the idea of the fermented oats, but I GUARANTEE your chickens will love it.

 Our birds come running when they see me or hubby headed to the bucket holding the fermented oats.  Once the ones free ranging start fussing for some then the others start fussing for some!  They love it!  We feed them every other day. 

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Originally Posted by NanaKat 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksane 

 

 

Reagor, You probably could save yourself the time and not bother cooking the oatmeal even, A tip I got from others here is soaking rolled oats in water and feeding those. The others let them ferment for several days but I didn't like that idea :-) So I leave the bucket inside in the air conditioned house and add cold water to the oats and feed the next day. They scarf it down, they couldn't possibly love it any more if they were fermented. And they're nice and cold from being kept inside.

Ksane, I don't ferment mine.  I get clean oats not rolled.   I put them in a   2 gallon  bucket half full of water and let them set overnight to get good and soft. then I feed the flock 1/2 of the wet oats..  I make enough for two feedings.  The second feeding goes in the icebox in the barn to hold until feeding time.   I also put a 1/2 tsp of Oxine in the soaking water since the seed has been blown clean but may have mold or fungus in the bag.

I had a 50lb bag of rolled oats I picked up a couple weeks ago or so, when I got home from work I had some things in one hand and tossed the bag over my other shoulder with the intent to move it closer to the house so I could get to it easier for soaking or whatever it's about 100 yards from where I started and half way there I decided to set it down and see what had gotten on my arm that felt like it was crawling, I guess the underside of the bag was a good place for an entire colony of pissants to take up residence and I had thrown the whole clump of them on my arm, I abandoned the oats and did a poor version of the ants in my pants dance the other 50 yards while shucking my shirts so they'd stop biting me... Our chickies really should appreciate all that we go through for them sometimes LOL

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaeldaugherty 

Newcastle sale sat man it's going to be hot....Durant chicken auction tonight no one ever talk's about other auction's any more Grace an Grace'sDad wer from Durart an used to post pic's from the sale ....Banjo is about it on are bord ...If any one out ther on the othr side go's to any sale's tel us about it....[[[[ O YAH the pigeun swap at the World of Wing's was moved to Oct. because of the heat......]]] No date has ben set yet ,,,

The poultry auction in Grove has been moved to Jay. I'll post as soon as I have the detales, but I think it will still be the 1st Friday evening of each month.

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Originally Posted by qldchook 

Hi from Australia, I guess even as I write this (and woder why I am?) That my head will be literally (as in by writing) chopped off. I deal with snakes as a main predator on almost a daily (nightly) basis. My snacks range from 15foot to 2 feet. I have 16 chickens presently, 6 adults & 9 x 6wks old. I have caught & relocated 19 snakes this year. I do not kill them, why?, they are just doing their thing. Why not just catch, drop in a pillow slip and relase at least 5 miles away. I just cannot understand the death wish everyone has about snakes? I caught a 2 ft brown tree snake last night, TINY in my world & actually sat & watched it for at least an hour when I released, she was facinating.Anyway, headless I shall retreat.

PS Yes I am female.

  G'day!

 Back a few years ago a friend of mine couldn't even let her grandkids visit because of all of the big Browns that she was finding. The snakes had followed the rats and mice up to the farmstead during one particularly dry year and they were looking for water.  She was talking about over two meters long. Sounds like your Brown was nearly fresh out of the egg!  LOL

  Relocation is what I like to do with the snakes as well, I use 1/4 inch hail screen on the brooders so they can't get through the wire no matter how small they are. In the winter time when you hear of house fires that started in the attic of unknown causes I would almost bet it is from rats, mice or squirrels chewing on the wiring. Snakes help to keep those critters in check. Every year I get at least one call to go out and re-wire an old wheat truck because rats or mice have destroyed the wiring harness in them, and yes more then once I have got up under a dash only to see a Rat snake up in there hunting which causes quite a stir, with both me and the snake. 

I know that we all have different opinions on snakes.  For me, they give me the creeps.  I have two sons that pick up any snake but I can hardly bring myself even close enough to kill one.  I usually scream for someone else, unless the snake is very small like a pygmy.  I love my eggs, chicks and chickens more and snakes eat them.  There are plenty out there besides the ones I have killed so my vote is to take em out.  Nothing worse than finding your beautiful baby chicks gone and a big fat snake where the chicks used to be. 

I am so worried about this heat.  I also use a mister and keep ice bottles and plenty of cool water for them.  Am hoping they make it through.  The mister works pretty well but if there is no breeze...

So sorry to hear of all of your losses. 

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Originally Posted by prettychicks 

I know that we all have different opinions on snakes.  For me, they give me the creeps.  I have two sons that pick up any snake but I can hardly bring myself even close enough to kill one.  I usually scream for someone else, unless the snake is very small like a pygmy.  I love my eggs, chicks and chickens more and snakes eat them.  There are plenty out there besides the ones I have killed so my vote is to take em out.  Nothing worse than finding your beautiful baby chicks gone and a big fat snake where the chicks used to be. 

 

I am so worried about this heat.  I also use a mister and keep ice bottles and plenty of cool water for them.  Am hoping they make it through.  The mister works pretty well but if there is no breeze...

 

So sorry to hear of all of your losses. 

Seems I was lucky and picked a prime location for my coop.  The girls congregate there during the day when it's hot outside. Then I installed misters.  It's around 80* there in the middle of the day. I sure hope everyone is able to keep their girls & boys cool tomorrow.  It's supposed to be 105* here in Noble!!  Stay Cool Everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ksane 

 

That is a beautiful bird! True Ameraucana have what they call "slate" legs, which is a fancy name for gray. I've got 2 white Bantam Ameraucana that are about a month old now and their legs were gray at birth. Some of the Ameraucana people can be pretty uppity and unless you know the exact background of a particular bird they'll want to call it an EE. The differences can be confusing at times. I've got some hatching right now also, a Lavender and a Black just hatched and 3 others are pipped. I'm sure hoping for the Silver to hatch!

 Yup, just because a bird has DQs for show doesn't mean that it is any LESS a pure bred bird that is perfect for show. I mean I have seen registered Paints come out as solids but yet they can still be registered as Paints. Seen nearly all white or all black Holstiens and they didn't magically change breeds so why should a chicken? I have seen Araucanas with tails too and I knew the lineage of them, they were pure breds hands down. But they wouldn't show. Just because they had tails were they any less an Araucana? Some Araucana breeders won't tell you that they will only breed males that have tails, why? They have better balance and you get better fertility with the eggs.

 Breeders won't talk about "sports" which are birds that hatch out of stock and don't carry forth the characteristics of the parent birds but they are out there. Usually they meet the ax and get culled, never to be spoke of. 

 The Ameraucana is a very young breed that is not yet stabilized, they were bred into existance in the '70s and admitted to the APA in '84. Most other breeds are at least or nearly 100 years old and I imagine some of the Asian class birds and the Games have been bred for thousands of years in the Far East.

 Oh and those green legs? I have seen them turn black with age. If they do would that make the bird an Ameraucana instead of an EE? Does a Black Ameraucana turn into an EE if positive white or red shows up in it's plumage in a later molt?

 Just points to ponder.

We are getting enough thunder to run Red under the computer desk at my feet.   Hope we are getting the rain to go with the thunder  

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Originally Posted by NanaKat 

We are getting enough thunder to run Red under the computer desk at my feet.   Hope we are getting the rain to go with the thunder  

I heard thunder all day today.  When my husband got home I asked him about it and apparently one of the kids opened the Thunderstorm App on the iPad!  Doh!  I feel like a dork.