building paradise for the birds

[birdman55]

well the peas got their worming done...first stage complete all birds are wormed....tomorrow I have to do the second round to the chickens and some of the pheasants....and should be getting some new additions to the birds this weekend...so excited to see what happens
wow....lol...its late I forgot to put the pics with it.....lol

 

[misfitmorgan]

Glad everyone is all wormed up for the first round.

The frizzle/frazzle cochin egg hatched....a little black/grey chick with the fuzziest feet i have ever seen.

In other news, your chevron has been born birdman..Lola had twin bucks yesterday.

i would have pics of goats and chicks but i forgot my phone today

 

[birdman55]

that's great news ....im happy for yah....I still need some goats for the upfront....its my cheap way of mowing....lol...well off to the coops...going to be a long day that's for sure...second round of worming....all orally almost 75 birds...that's gunna take a while...cant wait for this to be done...then I can get back to working on the coops....so much going on right now....my head is spinning...but gotta stay focused....have a great day everyone

 

[aart]

that's great news ....im happy for yah....I still need some goats for the upfront....its my cheap way of mowing....lol...well off to the coops...going to be a long day that's for sure...second round of worming....all orally almost 75 birds...that's gunna take a while...cant wait for this to be done...then I can get back to working on the coops....so much going on right now....my head is spinning...but gotta stay focused....have a great day everyone

Get sheep for mowing....goats are for trimming hedges...;-)

 

[misfitmorgan]

Get sheep for mowing....goats are for trimming hedges...;-)

Mine mow and trim hedges lol..course i also have a ram so maybe he is teaching them mowing lol.

 

[dan26552]

Mine mow and trim hedges lol..course i also have a ram so maybe he is teaching them mowing lol.

same but I don't have any sheep

 

[birdman55]

well stopping in to do an update....ben super busy with everything around the house and such...that no progress has gotten done on the coops...the big coops have two out of the three coops done...and have made a decision on what birds I am going to be getting...im going to be getting two ib hen peafowl and one male ib peafowl all about four years of age....and one silver golden pheasant...male...for the two other females I have....getting everything this weekend...so it will be a busy weekend...and getting another batch of eggs for incubation as well as meeting up with a person on here to give away free eggs...she is going to use the eggs for art...so better I give the eggs away im not using to someone and say thanks to this site yet again then to throw them away while im worming the birds...its great to be able to get my name out there because of this site and im meeting a ton of people...cant wait for chickenstock here in Michigan...im going to be there....hopefully nothing keeps me from that...I also made the call not to get the peafowl from the old guy...I just don't have a good feeling about those birds so I am staying away from them...well here are some pics
as you can see the pupa are just a heep now...and they produce at least ten beetles a day...its so hard to keep up with them and the sorting...at night I sit down and watch a movie and just go threw the bins separating them...it doesn't take to long..

the beetles that are from the pupa changing

and the two worm bins...
thinking about ordering another set and expanding my colony x2 so well see what happens

baby chicks are growing great...u can see quazi is doing great (even tho he has one eye and a crooked beak) he is the small bird on the right (white)

they all have good legs and are moving along nice now...I added pine shavings for the first time....at first they were confused but now they are going crazy on it

this bird just wanted its pic taken

the two silver ones in the back are prolly my favorite....and they have super dark green legs

well hope you enjoy the pics...and the progress...I know its alittle slow but its been super hard for my current situation....hoping tomorrow ill get the last part of the big coop done...so well see what happens...got all the pheasants done on their second round of worming...and its the chickens turn tomorrow...so ill keep you guys posted on the day....have a great one

 

[aart]

Curious...

Why you are keeping your mealworm pupae in a separate bin with no bedding?
What temps are you keeping them at...warm room, some kind of heating pad....?

 

[birdman55]

Curious...

Why you are keeping your mealworm pupae in a separate bin with no bedding?
What temps are you keeping them at...warm room, some kind of heating pad....?

the pupa gets moved into a new bin because when the beetle hatches its cannibalistic and will eat the pupa and they don't have any way to get away...resulting in many pupas deaths...I keep them around 75 with low humidity...they do best in terms of reproduction at 75...if I were to put a heat mat down I wouldn't have such a good rate of pupa and it would cook the worms..i own a hydroshop and have many heat mats for flowers and such...and the heat mat gets well above 100 degrees... even with a temp probe to get the temp perfect the heat ratio has such a big swing from going on and off that it would create moisture on the bins....and from what i have read is a big no no...and as for bedding pupa don't need bedding cause they don't eat or move..and when the beetle pops out it goes into the beetle bin...everyday the beetles are transferred to the beetle bin...I will be making a self sift to on the bottom of these units so I don't have to sift out the crap from the worms...also when you do this method as well you create whats called a nursery for the young ones...that will fall thru when the beetles lay the eggs...beetles have a tendency to eat the eggs as well...and for how long it takes for the reproduction cycle I cant take a chance on only have a low percentage making it...otherwise it wouldn't be worth doing the work...and would be more cost effective to just buy the worms by the pound....

 

[aart]

Quote: They will only be cannibalistic if there's nothing else to eat...but sounds like an interesting management technique.
I found the heat mat to be too hot too, but have them near the radiator with an enclosure keeping the temp about 80 in the bins.