Colorado

[yawningreyhound]

I tell everyone even when they're buying "fresh eggs" from folks locally, ask to see the conditions the birds are kept in.

I'm absolutely appalled at how people make their chickens live with their poop.

Tiny coops piled with poop and the little chickens are hostage.

 

[Double Kindness]

I clean out the poop and straw in my run and coop every week minimum. I don't really want everyone coming onto my property lol.. but I have lots of pictures.

 

[katie5668]

I clean nests daily or as needed... I keep the floor shavings picked up ...and replace them at least once a month. My hens have a 10x10 wooden shed and a large open yard that has hay thrown on it as well as weeds. I do not mind visitors..I just want notice that they are coming.
I might be out there in my skivvies!!! OOOOH!!!!

That said ...indeed some folks are lacking in maintance..so it can't hurt to ask to view if you are the least uncomfortable.

 

[COChix]

I'm sorry for your losses, and congrats on the new 7 chicks!! I'm about to get my first ever brooder box together to raise my first baby chicks ever from a local friend who has ayum cemani eggs in her incubator.

So I guess I have a few weeks still until the cemani coop and run need to be finished.

Then I read where roosters are even happier if they have 10 hens to cover, and I only hsve 9... see where this is going???

chicken math at it's finest, I see . I think the issue is the hens fair better when their are more to share the love so to speak. It cuts down on the saddle sores. From what I have read, I am no chicken whisperer by any means. Maybe one day, lol.

 

[COChix]

Thought I would post a few pics of me and Rojo our RIR roo, he is 17 weeks now and really coming into his feathering more. He has good instincts and he and the alpha buff seem to work in tandem on the guarding/look-out front.

 

[Double Kindness]

I noticed my roo Lenny is very protective of the ladies, makes sure everyone eats. Calls them over, brings them treats. Steps in when squabbling should momentarily break out, as my ladies are spread out age wise.

Today around roosting time josephine had gorged herself silly on mealworms and dandelions. But being new to laying seems to take its toll on her, she seemed a bit pale after she lays for a day, but only 3 eggs so far from her. I will check her crop tomorrow to make sure she's not pigging out over much. I spend most all day from 5 am focused on my flock and growing veggies, fruits, herbs.

I'm wanting to do an essential oil extraction if anyone local has anything fresh like lavender, thyme, rosemary, yarrow, blue tansy, German chamomile etc. Heliscryum (spelling?) Would be awesome, as I dabble in aromatherapy and holistic healing. I try to be as organic/biodynamic as possible. Just using sevin dust, dewormer are very difficult for me to do, but as I'm new to chickens it's been a learning experience.

On another part of my property in the early spring I was thinking of doing meat birds. I hear by the time it comes to process them you want to kill them on the fast growing breeds. Is this anyone's experience?

After the first round of meat birds I might try one more fast growing breed before switching to the bresse or dominiques. Other suggestions for meat birds? Or I might could do 2 hogs/pork. I'm trying to do the urban homesteading thing on a small .5 acre scale. But our property is set up really well for it, or at least shaping up to get there. Adding beehives possibly sooner than spring.

And it began with a young lady and her boyfriend talking about how his dad had chickens and my bf piped up, hey neighbors across the alley way have chickens. He HATES chicken eggs, won't eat eggs, loves on these chickers with me like they are our children.

This is my first year brushing off a long illness/hospitalizations, and life and happiness and living not just surviving are very important to me.

ok, late night dessert induced rambling.

Getting shopping list for feed store run this weekend at wardel feed in lakewood? Co? Wheatridge? Idk.. if you're Colorado ppl, we should meet up at wardel's at the swap this weekend.

Bf says no more chickers. Hmmm but the ayum cemani... and I'll probably just get 5-8 of them, get the quieting surgery done early, keep the most quiet ones. So I can sneak svart honas in, they look like the cemani.

On a chicken Facebook page there was this adorable little girl with this idk *** expression that is captioned "I have no idea where this new chicken (s) came from when the (bf, hubs, s/o, son, daughter etc asks... "is that a new chicken?"

That's totally how I have become. But I bribe my neighbors and mailmsn/ups/fed ex ppl heavily with gourmet treats I make. They don't even realize I have chickens as my rooster crows... semi-quietly. Semi being the operative word.

 

[COChix]

I noticed my roo Lenny is very protective of the ladies, makes sure everyone eats. Calls them over, brings them treats. Steps in when squabbling should momentarily break out, as my ladies are spread out age wise.


I'm wanting to do an essential oil extraction if anyone local has anything fresh like lavender, thyme, rosemary, yarrow, blue tansy, German chamomile etc. Heliscryum (spelling?) Would be awesome, as I dabble in aromatherapy and holistic healing. I try to be as organic/biodynamic as possible. Just using sevin dust, dewormer are very difficult for me to do, but as I'm new to chickens it's been a learning experience.

On another part of my property in the early spring I was thinking of doing meat birds. I hear by the time it comes to process them you want to kill them on the fast growing breeds. Is this anyone's experience?

After the first round of meat birds I might try one more fast growing breed before switching to the bresse or dominiques. Other suggestions for meat birds? Or I might could do 2 hogs/pork. I'm trying to do the urban homesteading thing on a small .5 acre scale. But our property is set up really well for it, or at least shaping up to get there. Adding beehives possibly sooner than spring.

This is my first year brushing off a long illness/hospitalizations, and life and happiness and living not just surviving are very important to me....

We have a lot of herbs that we use medicinally as well, here is what we have - Spilanthes, German Chamomile, Valerian, Burdock, Yarrow, Calendula, Clary Sage, Wormwood, mints (Chocolate, Spearmint, peppermint), lemon balm, hops, Lavender, Rosemary and I am sure I have forgotten a couple, Anyway, I can discuss with bf and see which he is willing to give up. The Rosemary, Lavender, Clary Sage, Calendula are all 1st year planting, the rest is 2 years. I also dabble in holistic healing, salves, lotions, tinctures, hydrosols, etc. When we got the chicks we did butt checks every night, wiping their booties, if they were irritated, we used a Calendula Salve that I made and that really helped.

Funny we are doing the homesteading thing as well, just getting started really with the additions of the chickens,veggie gardens and bee's. I will be canning this fall, we have 16 tomatoe plants that are ridiculous, but that is what we wanted. Come from a long line of canners and I am hoping to carry on this tradition.

This to is my 2nd year of brushing off long illnesses/2 neck fusions and I could not agree more with living, loving, being happy and living intentionally are very important to me. I was very ill and not healthy, taking over 10 different pharma crappy meds, like you said I was just trying to survive,I wasn't really living. I made the conscious choice to live, which meant getting off the crappy meds, using medical marijuana to help, I also began juicing after I was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer. Juicing changed my life, been green juicing for about 2 years and I can't live without it. I also lost 25 pounds in the process. Just in the past 6 months I finally got the ok for yoga from my surgeon. At my 8 month post op appointment after my second fusion (levels) my x-rays showed a solid fusion,I credit the micronutrients for the juicing (kale, specifically) for a quick fusion. After the first surgery I was not fused until 1 1/2 years later. I am not in the process of coming off my nerve medication, as I have been on it four 4 years andi need to see how much damage to my nerves there really is. The med basically interrupts the pain signal from the body to the brain. You can still be having pain in your body,you just don't know it. It seems like to allows you to do more and possibly furthering the damage to your body.


On the Roo front, ours are not so kind yet to the girls, they don't take them food,if anything I have seen them chase girls off of food. That being said they are 4 months and starting to come into their hormones, I am sure once they are amorous with the females their behaviors will change.

On the meat bird questions, hopefully MTN will jump in as she is doing meat birds.

 

[Debbie82]

We have babies!!!! 2 out of the 7 have hatched so far

.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Meat Bird ?'s First off, stay away from the fast grower CX cross. They do not do altitude at all. Drastic mortality rates the higher you go. I am thinking not over 3000' ft even...., I never checked because we are 8600'.
Slow grow CX or Red Broiler (RB) / Freedom Ranger type are okay. I have never raised the CX, only Red Broilers and Dual Purpose and I have not had any leg or other health issues.
Meat birds (RB) are stinkier because they eat a lot because they are growing like crazy, but they are gone in say - 11 weeks so not too much crowing or serious fighting over the ladies.
Dual Purpose (DP) are processed at 16 weeks or more and so there is more crowing and can be more fighting amongst the boys. You kinda just have to keep an eye on them and perhaps remove a particularly aggressive bird. All different kinds of personalities..... If you raise turkeys, don't wear red into the pen and sometimes that goes for the meat birds as well.

 

[Double Kindness]

Thanks mtn!! Where can I get some meaties locally in CO? We're at about 6000' elevation.

If I start now, I will have them ready about halloweeen? Trying to stock up my freezer.

COChix- thanks!! I have some strawberry blonde calendula growing, would I just macerate it into the grapeseed oil or similar carrier oil to make calendula salve?

Bf doesn't quite realize, we're coming home with baby chicks this weekend.. either on sat or sun!! Now I'm really wanting meaties, b/c like I said I'm stocking up our meat now, beef otw, next will be a while pasture raised hog, then by around then I might have some meaties done.

I was eyeing rangers or frypan specials, idc if they are all male b/c they won't be housed in the linesite of my layers, who btw, I got a blue/green egg and a med brown egg earlier today. So it looks like Jeanette is back on her lay, and I still have 7 others about to come into lay.

I'd much rather get all my chickens locally, I feel it's better for them, and therefore better for me.

I had thought to wait until spring,but the thought of just beef for all winter is depressing.

I need to get more cans!! I have 2 meyer lemon trees in my yard with my 5 different kinds of tomatoes, 4 different kinds of melon, 4 kinds of strawberries. I made meyer lemon and blood orange marmalade this past winter. The new big ball jars, when I used them to ferment chicken food, they cracked and broke... so guess I'm looking for true vintage jars that won't crack and make my hard work go to waste. The san marzano tomatoes this year look fantastic in my garden, and I had been talking w my bf whose name is Duck btw, and for almost 9 years his pet name for me has been Kimmy HEN!

DENBIE82 that's awesome on your newly hatched babies!! Ooohhh o can't wait to get an incubator to see what kinda babies Lenny's gonna produce in my flock!!

He's salmon favorelle x wellsummer x light brahma, I want to incubate my wheaten ameracuna, my white splash polish, rose comb leghorn, and possibly my buff laced ee to see what kind of babies show up!

I'm very much about to get a breeding quad of crested cream legbars!! Blue eggs are a strong drive, as would be lavander eggs, and chickens (self blue?).

I just went and gave mealworms. Always a Favorite here. Daisy my buff laced ee, she chatters to me all day, and Lenny is always on guard protecting his flock. He's even started eating from my hand!! In less than a week he's fit right into the flock.

I have a lead on plucker/scalder for the meaties. A lead on crested cream legbars. Cemani. But no meaties!