Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

Sweetpea3829 said:

Just for clarity, we were at -15 F!!!! Honestly, I don't remember how to convert from F to C so I'm not sure how cold that is in Celsius. But either way, it's been freaking cold.

Click to expand...

-4 C is 24 F, and -15F is -26 C.

Guineas...our "Englisch" neighbor has loads of animals that he does not take care of. Cow, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, guineas, dog (poor thing), ducks, you name it.

His animals are CONSTANTLY making their way onto our property. Most recently (aside from the pot bellied pig that escaped and has been roaming between our properties for the last week...assuming its still alive), his guineas found there way to our maple trees, lol.

Ashburnham said:

-4 C is 24 F, and -15F is -26 C.

Click to expand...

LOL, you get use to the cold. From what I understand, your blood volume thickens in colder climates.

Look at it this way...most winters, we feel like 20 degrees F is pretty cold. But THIS winter, when it's 20 degrees F, we're feeling pretty darn toasty, lol!

Biggest downside, chicken-wise, is that I have to run out to the coop several times a day to swap out the waterer and check for eggs. I could put a water heater in, but we're not ready for that just yet. And if I let eggs stay out there too long, I'm afraid they'll freeze. At least, the cracked ones have frozen very quickly, anyways.

Sweetpea3829 said:

Just for clarity, we were at -15 F!!!! Honestly, I don't remember how to convert from F to C so I'm not sure how cold that is in Celsius. But either way, it's been freaking cold.

Click to expand...

Up near 40+F today. Lately coldest that I was sure of was -27F cuz I went out to save my wife locked her truck with keys in and running. When I was little My mother and I stayed up with woodstove one night cuz it was calling for -60F w/o wind chill when we lived in WI 1 winter. Last 8 years it seems to be getting colder winters and hotter summers in my area.

On the Guinea side of the convo I am out of that batch for now. Last 3 were ok until I did put them in the garage and 1st night I lost em all. Dunno why really.

Did a count last night and have 50ish hens and 4 roos for this year. Hope they make the rest of winter. And just 1 pair of rouens. Offspring of my breeding pair from last year. I don't know what happened to the parents or the other birds. That had almost completely moved to the pond. So I not sure if I wanna breed them this year being full brother/sister.

On a side note 3-4 of the hens are Meat birds that I didn't process. Hoping to try breed em with one of my males and see if I get a passing meat bird from them.

Things have been busy in here today!

Sorry to read the trip has been postponed Oz, funds for me were looking lean, so an extension give me another chance to raise some funds.

In 'tree news', we have been looking at multi grafts to save space. A freinds showed me a site called http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/ a variety of multi gratfs available.

We are going to do similar, but will attempt the grafts ourselves. Now I stalk other peoples tasty fruit trees in search of good scions

Bens-Hens said:

Things have been busy in here today!

Sorry to read the trip has been postponed Oz, funds for me were looking lean, so an extension give me another chance to raise some funds.

In 'tree news', we have been looking at multi grafts to save space. A freinds showed me a site called http://www.fruitsaladtrees.com/ a variety of multi gratfs available.

We are going to do similar, but will attempt the grafts ourselves. Now I stalk other peoples tasty fruit trees in search of good scions

Click to expand...

Mrs Oz is a gorilla gardener.

She used to walk our dog in LA with a pair of pruning shears and take a snip here and there of plants over hanging onto public areas.

Nowdays she pulls up the car and knocks on peoples' doors and asks for cuttings. She had rooting power, paper towels and plastic bags in the car.

Wisher1000 said:

If there are lots available next to yours, why not expand?

Click to expand...

2.5 acres of beachfront is more than plenty.

The price has quadrupled in the 12 years since I bought.

the lots next door are 1.25 acres and 10,000sq feet.

The smaller lots are around $15000 for beachfront and a little less for one row back. The 1.25 acres is probably near $80,000

Good Agricultural land is between $2000 and $4000 per acre. I could be tempted to buy 10-20 acres for a piggery/dairy/orchard in the future

ozexpat said:

Thanks for the advice.

First I will do a count of my birds and try and work out how many males I have. I do want to eat some but I will do it only if there are more males than females. I am always cognizent of carrying extra birds on my feed bill but I dont want to mess up breeding.

My Guineas are not free ranging. I was hesitant to let the first generation go out into the world in case they did not come back. Our fence is still being constructed. Its a long manual process. I estimate about 75 yards to go. Thats a couple of months work.

The current plan (ever changing) is to get half of the F1 birds into a Guinea Coop at the far end of the farm and attempt to train them to return using a bell each afternoon. Some people say this works, others just laugh. I will give it a go - As long as I have a breeding pen.

Click to expand...

It works Sir Oz. My grandfather before in Cauayan used to call his chickens back home by beating a bamboo ( "Tultugan" in our dialect). The chickens are practiced by beating the tultugan before giving them feeds Sooner once the hear the beating of the tultugan the run home expecting to be feed.

One of my blue layers gave us an egg with a very watery white.

What are the chances that this is egg drop syndrome? Or is it more likely that, because she's just started laying in the last week or so, that her cycle is still sorting out?

Sweetpea3829 said:

One of my blue layers gave us an egg with a very watery white.

What are the chances that this is egg drop syndrome? Or is it more likely that, because she's just started laying in the last week or so, that her cycle is still sorting out?

Click to expand...

Most likely just sorting things out. And if they happen to drink more water it'll change too. Really, I still get eggs like that every once in a while. Or a wonky yolk. It's like those fancy handmade artisan products, no two are alike

Edit: I think if an egg gets frozen, they get runny too. Just thought of that. Still perfectly edible though. I've had a few that were really cold, but I leave them on the counter for a bit before putting them in the fridge. That way I don't get eggcicles for breakfast.