Colorado

[Double Kindness]

Mtn margie- I'm excited to hear about the meatie processing etc, and now you have me interested in quail. Gosh... is is right that they start laying in 6-7 weeks old?

We're picking up 10-20 gallons of raw goats milk tomorrow and oats to finish feeding the capons (that live through us learning how) up similar to the way bresse are finished.. is that enough goat milk for maybe 12 capons over 4 weeks to eat?

The chicks I got at big r in Elizabeth a few weeks ago surprisingly are mostly females, very few male % wise out of 26, I only can tell 9 males, but the slw are harder to tell cockrels from pullets. I'm trying so hard not to break down and buy 50 cornish x. Stop me please!!

 

[Percheron chick]

My SLW roos have been super easy to identify by about 4 weeks. Any hint of white patches on the wings, larger upright stance, fat combs and bossiness are spot on for my boys.

 

[Double Kindness]

Perchon chick -

a few I can tell are boys, but maybe they're just a bit further behind the br & leghorn?

 

[COChix]

we all have animals that choose to remain outside and it is for sure they are aware there are BAD guys out there. 
She had a good time while with you & you have memories .  My chickens, geese and ducks bring lots of laughs..both
while here & for years later when I look at pics or just do some "remember when" time!!

:cd

Thanks, yes it seems the other are taking getting into the coop before dusk a little more seriously. Who had Left Eye and Isis roost in the small coop(aka-chicken hospital) two nights ago, but last night the gang was all in the big coop by 7:30. I am hoping the flock dynamic and pecking order is dying down some.

Hello from Roxborough Village!
New to chickens but what a lot of fun.

Sorry for your loss.

Welcome to them CO board and enjoy your chickens. How many do you have and what breeds?6

Meatie update:  Processing day on Sunday.  Lookin good......    I will give you a non-scientific roundup of the general proceedings and cost calculations for the project next week on the board.  

I will be curious to see where you ended up.

@DK - sounds like things we moving right along for you.


For the group, has anyone ever gotten feed from Happy Hens out of Brighton? I was looking at their ingredient list and it seems like good organic feed with lots of beneficials in it as well. Here is what their pricing chart says. Just wanting feed back if anyone has used it.

BULK PRICES
PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CONTAINER
(Prices are per pound)
Pick-up (with no weight minimum) = .53¢
Free Delivery (200 lb minimum) = .65¢
Delivery Fee (less than 200 lb) = $30.00
BE A HERO / FREE FEED
If you organize a group for a central drop-off for your friends and family you will get 50 lb of FREE FEED and all of you will receive a .10¢ per lb (.55¢ per lb) savings! We do require a minimum of 1000 lb for a central drop off.

 

[Double Kindness]

Those seem like good prices. I assume old feed bags would suffice for containers? I'm all out of feed for my laying flock w rooster so was looking to get a 50lb bag this weekend anyways...

 

[COChix]

Those seem like good prices. I assume old feed bags would suffice for containers? I'm all out of feed for my laying flock w rooster so was looking to get a 50lb bag this weekend anyways...

Here is a link to their page, check out their ingredient list. http://happyhens.biz. We are seriously considering ordering the 200lbs. I would like to source all the grains myself, locally, but not sure if I have time to take on that project right now. So thinking maybe after winter.

 

[Double Kindness]

Cochix- I need 50 lbs tomorrow (after tomorrow I will have hungry chickens!), but 200 lbs is what, like $100? Breaks down to roughly $25 for 50#? That's better pricing than I can get at earthdog on kalamath tomorrow they have their last chicken swap of the season.

I was thinking of going tomorrow to sell 10 of these pullets.. and get feed.. but... the likelihood of me getting more chickens there is too high a risk! Plus I need to go pick up 300# of beef and 20 gal raw goats milk & more cemani chicks.. my bf said don't bring home too many more chickens from my friend that has cemani. Notice he didn't say no more chickens, just not too many. That's way too open ended, what is too many chickens anyways? I have 42.. and have had that number for a bit.. is too many more 10? 6? Remember this number will drop by 26 in roughly 8 more weeks. Add 12 bresse... chicken math indeed!

 

[trsturself]

Welcome ddiaz.
It rained quite a bit here in Boulder too. More tonight I hear.

Who here has bantams? I have 4 d'uccles who have been trying to go broody for, it seems like months. I put them in a large cage for a few days to break them, it works for a week or so. Then they go broody again. I have had one or two in the cage for weeks, on and off...brood...break the broody....broody again...... They are 1 1/2 years old and a couple have started to molt. Will that break the broody run?
Will they be broody all winter after their molt?

Our D'Uccle is molting, 1 1/2 years old, and broody right now. She went broody a couple weeks ago. I just kept taking all the eggs out from under her and she broke herself in about 4 days. This is her 3rd day this time, she was out with everyone this morning but I haven't checked on them this afternoon (too chilly!).
I hope she doesn't go broody again.

Welcome! Glad you are here.

Quail update: In one week they have quadrupled their size and are trying to fly and they eat and poop and zoom around like maniacs. They are really fun to watch. We did lose a runt that just never got going on about day three. I believe it was the last one to hatch and just did not respond to care so we have 31. Which is 3 times the amount I was planning on but hey, that's how it goes sometimes.
Meatie update: Processing day on Sunday. Lookin good...... I will give you a non-scientific roundup of the general proceedings and cost calculations for the project next week on the board.

Looking forward to hearing the results.

Mtn margie- I'm excited to hear about the meatie processing etc, and now you have me interested in quail. Gosh... is is right that they start laying in 6-7 weeks old?

We're picking up 10-20 gallons of raw goats milk tomorrow and oats to finish feeding the capons (that live through us learning how) up similar to the way bresse are finished.. is that enough goat milk for maybe 12 capons over 4 weeks to eat?

The chicks I got at big r in Elizabeth a few weeks ago surprisingly are mostly females, very few male % wise out of 26, I only can tell 9 males, but the slw are harder to tell cockrels from pullets. I'm trying so hard not to break down and buy 50 cornish x. Stop me please!!

Our SLW from Big R was very easily to tell, about a week ago his comb turned red and grew overnight. We also got an EE roo from there. Out of 7 we have 2 boys.
I almost had DH convinced to get some meat birds to fill our empty deep freezer with but then my friend is moving back from KS and we have to put her birds in the area we were going to do the meaties, so I guess I'll have to live vicariously through everyone else until spring.

Thanks, yes it seems the other are taking getting into the coop before dusk a little more seriously. Who had Left Eye and Isis roost in the small coop(aka-chicken hospital) two nights ago, but last night the gang was all in the big coop by 7:30. I am hoping the flock dynamic and pecking order is dying down some.
Welcome to them CO board and enjoy your chickens. How many do you have and what breeds?6
I will be curious to see where you ended up.

@DK - sounds like things we moving right along for you.


For the group, has anyone ever gotten feed from Happy Hens out of Brighton? I was looking at their ingredient list and it seems like good organic feed with lots of beneficials in it as well. Here is what their pricing chart says. Just wanting feed back if anyone has used it.

BULK PRICES
PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CONTAINER
(Prices are per pound)
Pick-up (with no weight minimum) = .53¢
Free Delivery (200 lb minimum) = .65¢
Delivery Fee (less than 200 lb) = $30.00
BE A HERO / FREE FEED
If you organize a group for a central drop-off for your friends and family you will get 50 lb of FREE FEED and all of you will receive a .10¢ per lb (.55¢ per lb) savings! We do require a minimum of 1000 lb for a central drop off.

I used to buy food from a kid in Littleton. It was whole organic grains from Kansas. I think he charged .46/lb. You had to bring your own containers too. Sounds similar. I stopped buying it because my chickens wasted a ton of it. They would go through and pick out what they liked and threw the rest around. This was before I started fermenting. Now I do whole grains and fermenting , and now they seem to not waste it.

Cochix- I need 50 lbs tomorrow (after tomorrow I will have hungry chickens!), but 200 lbs is what, like $100? Breaks down to roughly $25 for 50#? That's better pricing than I can get at earthdog on kalamath tomorrow they have their last chicken swap of the season.

I was thinking of going tomorrow to sell 10 of these pullets.. and get feed.. but... the likelihood of me getting more chickens there is too high a risk! Plus I need to go pick up 300# of beef and 20 gal raw goats milk & more cemani chicks.. my bf said don't bring home too many more chickens from my friend that has cemani. Notice he didn't say no more chickens, just not too many. That's way too open ended, what is too many chickens anyways? I have 42.. and have had that number for a bit.. is too many more 10? 6? Remember this number will drop by 26 in roughly 8 more weeks. Add 12 bresse... chicken math indeed!

Chicken math is crazy! I found that the swaps this late in the season had a lot less chickens than earlier in the season, except a few POL ones. Just my experience though.

 

[maggiemo]

Can't wait to hear how the meat birds did Margie.


It feels like fall is here. I am canning tomatoes and tomato sauce today.

 

[maggiemo]

Our D'Uccle is molting, 1 1/2 years old, and broody right now. She went broody a couple weeks ago. I just kept taking all the eggs out from under her and she broke herself in about 4 days. This is her 3rd day this time, she was out with everyone this morning but I haven't checked on them this afternoon (too chilly!).
I hope she doesn't go broody again.

Broody and molting? Blah.
I haven't tried just leaving them to see if they break themselves. I guess I could try that.