New Mexico

[Zoomie]

Hi! Weather is gorgeous here too. Would love to see cranes but on the other hand we have lots of other migratory birds, ducks and geese and so on.

So I have to tell you guys, I got an Instant Pot. WOW. It's a programmable pressure cooker. I needed some hard boiled eggs... they take FIVE MINUTES in this thing and turn out SO easy to peel, the shells just about fall off! I can cook a custard in 7 minutes. I am loving it! And getting a lot of use out of my eggs! Not to mention it cooks tough old roosters in less than half an hour and they turn out perfect for chicken salad. I can highly recommend one!

 

[Peep_Show]

Zoomie -- You're preaching to the choir. I l-o-v-e my Instant Pot. There's space for it in the cupboards, but since I use it every day it hasn't been put away. I like the steelcut oats in a couple of minutes. Last night I didn't want to cook, so threw in some onions, mushrooms, consomme, frozen short ribs and -- voila! -- dinner a short time later. It does great pasta and sauce, too. There's lots of recipes out there on the internet. Wait until you hit the cheesecake one....

I also use it to make my dogs' food and stuff for the chickens. Agreed, it's a great tool!

 

[FridayYet]

Sounds like I should put an instant pot on my Christmas list!

 

[Peep_Show]

You won't be sorry!

(Watch out... I'm an enabler!)

 

[Peep_Show]

FridayYet -- Oh, yes, we have some female Welsummers for you. They're only a couple of weeks old at the moment, so we'll reconnoiter when they feather out more. The parent stock produced REALLY dark eggs, the same shade or darker than the Marans I hatched out. You should get some awesome OE's from that.

I love chicken color/egg genetics. The Cuckoo Bluebars hatched out are 2nd generation from Brinkhaven farms. So the egg vendor bred those first generation hybrids to each other and expected to get the same results as the F1 generation, all blue chicks and blue barred birds. I told her my understanding was that Cuckoo Bluebars were not a "pure" breed but hybrids (this was before they hatched), but the vendor insisted they all feather out blue. Ha ha ha. Only half hatched out the barred blue (and they look to be all male) and the others are the most interesting assortment of throwback colors. I've got one that's Isbar haze (hatched a beautiful shade of mink), one that's feathering out brown, and another that might be a Rees Sport Crested Legbar (it's white) except it's feathering in splash. Nice dark green legs, too. So if male or female, might keep because bred with anything black it'll create a blue bird... And if bred to a dark egg laying breed it'll be Olive Egger, so might go well with the FBC Marans and Welsummers on hand.

 

[FridayYet]

Love crests! I'm trying to keep crests in my flock, because I like the look. Culled my last old legbar hen, but I have two daughters that are half Orloff, so they have crests and beards.

I have 4 hatchery EEs and 5 "Ameraucana": 3 white, 1 blue and one black growing out. They are 7 weeks or so, still iffy on gender. Might keep a few and take the rest to the swap in the spring, depending on how they grow out.

 

[FridayYet]

FridayYet -- Oh, yes, we have some female Welsummers for you. They're only a couple of weeks old at the moment, so we'll reconnoiter when they feather out more. The parent stock produced REALLY dark eggs, the same shade or darker than the Marans I hatched out. You should get some awesome OE's from that.

I love chicken color/egg genetics. The Cuckoo Bluebars hatched out are 2nd generation from Brinkhaven farms. So the egg vendor bred those first generation hybrids to each other and expected to get the same results as the F1 generation, all blue chicks and blue barred birds. I told her my understanding was that Cuckoo Bluebars were not a "pure" breed but hybrids (this was before they hatched), but the vendor insisted they all feather out blue. Ha ha ha. Only half hatched out the barred blue (and they look to be all male) and the others are the most interesting assortment of throwback colors. I've got one that's Isbar haze (hatched a beautiful shade of mink), one that's feathering out brown, and another that might be a Rees Sport Crested Legbar (it's white) except it's feathering in splash. Nice dark green legs, too. So if male or female, might keep because bred with anything black it'll create a blue bird... And if bred to a dark egg laying breed it'll be Olive Egger, so might go well with the FBC Marans and Welsummers on hand.

Does this mean you are considering keeping a rooster? LOL.

 

[Peep_Show]

Sorta maybe kinda perhaps considering it....

 

[Peep_Show]

I'm hoping the splash is female. I've got 8 cute heavy feather-legged Marans I'd like to get fertile eggs from. I'm thinking there might be a market for blue OE's and some purebred Marans, either hatching eggs or young birds.

 

[Peep_Show]

But, then again, my neighbors might hate me (even though they are early risers themselves)