NY chicken lover!!!!

[critterranch]

i am selling all my goats i decided i dont have time to take care of them anymore.

i have 2 blues eyed mini nubian does 1 nigerian doe and 1 light brown mini nubian and naturally polled nigerian buck


i would like them all sold my thanksgiving pm if ur interested i can do deal on all of the together

 

[critterranch]

here my zip 13143 i am 50 miles from syracuse

 

[Henicillin]

I FINALLY have more than one layer - amazing! I've been getting two a day now, so I'm figuring at least three girls are now shelling out, pun fully intended.

All five cockerels are now crowing. The coop is insulated - I can hear them in the early morning if I listen carefully from the bathroom window, but only faintly, so that's not an issue. The problem is that they crow on and off throughout the day, as roosters are of course prone to do. Our closest neighbor, the one most likely to be bothered, says that it doesn't bother them at all, (their house is quite a distance from the coop and run), but I'm not happy about it in the least - it's stressing me out mostly because I don't want to annoy anyone else. They're also now sparring, and starting to bother the pullets. They need to go sooner rather than later.

DH is back to the "um, I don't know about processing them" mode, which is also driving me crazy - man needs to make up his mind. I'm considering heading to Schuylerville, but I could just send them to Camp Crock-Pot this weekend instead. What to do...

Of course, they're all silent right now. Go figure.

 

[TheBarnSwallow]

Yall need to NOT TEMPT ME with Birds or Goats... its making me twitch with my poultry addiction.. ha ha ha.. Yea waiting until Spring is the smarter idea anyhow since the home we are moving into was built in 1883 our smart choice for the winter is to get settled and work on what will need our attention on the inside of the house... That way come spring when we have bad Cabin fever we can look to the outside "HONEY DO's... ha ha

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Quote:
They heard you talking about them to the dh, Henicillin. Probably have a netbook stashed nearby as well and are secretly subscribed to this thread. Hence the silent treatment. Camp Crock-pot sounds good, as well as stew-away camp, freezer camp and camp grill-a-long. I subscribe to eating what annoys me...usually squirrels, deer, roosters...

Girls are molting bigtime so I am only getting 2 to 3 eggs a day. They look like poor ragamuffings, barebutts and all! I hope they finish soon cause my egg customers would like their eggs again,

 

[Henicillin]

Quote:
They heard you talking about them to the dh, Henicillin. Probably have a netbook stashed nearby as well and are secretly subscribed to this thread. Hence the silent treatment. Camp Crock-pot sounds good, as well as stew-away camp, freezer camp and camp grill-a-long. I subscribe to eating what annoys me...usually squirrels, deer, roosters...

Girls are molting bigtime so I am only getting 2 to 3 eggs a day. They look like poor ragamuffings, barebutts and all! I hope they finish soon cause my egg customers would like their eggs again,

So THAT'S why the HughesNet signal slows in the evening when they go to the coop - they're keeping track of me! AHA!

I had The Talk about the Birds (we've already discussed the Bees - they're coming in the spring) with DH just now. He is now firmly on board with cleaning house of annoying roosters, "since they're stressing you out so much and they're bugging the girls," and he's all for eating them since we've fed them for so long. *phew* So, it's off to Wally World tonight to get a turkey frying kit so we can heat water, and then tomorrow we plan to Do the Deed. He's a hunter, and I've done my share of dissecting various animals in my long and varied college career, so we should be good to go.

My paternal grandparents, rest their souls, had a huge flock of chickens. I can just see Gramma and Grampy saying to one another, "what's wrong with that girl? Stop dithering and just do it!"

It turns out that one of my Orps is one of the Mystery Layers - she was kind enough to lay when I was out there freshening up the coop. I can see broody tendencies in her already. She nudged it under herself and started trying to rearrange the hay in the nest box over it. Sadly for her baby-mama-wannabe impulse, I cruelly took that sucker away and stuck it in my fridge. One of the other Orps has also either started or is coming online, as she has spent half her day grumbling, checking out the boxes, and practicing the egg song (you didn't lay an egg, you feathery little liar - no egg song!).

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Hey--I have a couple of barred rocks like that. They lie through their beaks for an hour or two and nothing. I come back later to find they had done the deed in secret and never said a word. So much for singing. I also have a rock that is a wannabe. She gets bent out of shape and crabby when I yank the eggs out from under her. Hope she gets over herself soon cause this is no time to be a mommy. I have 2 roosters (silkies) and they are fairly quiet. They only crow a little in the morning and if they see me come out(cause they want my attention). Otherwise, they are good boys who arent bothering the girls yet. Sigh...still waiting on those girls to lay eggs. Oh...I think the same way about my chickens. After spending all that time, energy, money and food raising them, the least I could do to honor them is to eat them. Its an investment right? So I get the dividends.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
They heard you talking about them to the dh, Henicillin. Probably have a netbook stashed nearby as well and are secretly subscribed to this thread. Hence the silent treatment. Camp Crock-pot sounds good, as well as stew-away camp, freezer camp and camp grill-a-long. I subscribe to eating what annoys me...usually squirrels, deer, roosters...

Girls are molting bigtime so I am only getting 2 to 3 eggs a day. They look like poor ragamuffings, barebutts and all! I hope they finish soon cause my egg customers would like their eggs again,

So THAT'S why the HughesNet signal slows in the evening when they go to the coop - they're keeping track of me! AHA!

I had The Talk about the Birds (we've already discussed the Bees - they're coming in the spring) with DH just now. He is now firmly on board with cleaning house of annoying roosters, "since they're stressing you out so much and they're bugging the girls," and he's all for eating them since we've fed them for so long. *phew* So, it's off to Wally World tonight to get a turkey frying kit so we can heat water, and then tomorrow we plan to Do the Deed. He's a hunter, and I've done my share of dissecting various animals in my long and varied college career, so we should be good to go.

My paternal grandparents, rest their souls, had a huge flock of chickens. I can just see Gramma and Grampy saying to one another, "what's wrong with that girl? Stop dithering and just do it!"

It turns out that one of my Orps is one of the Mystery Layers - she was kind enough to lay when I was out there freshening up the coop. I can see broody tendencies in her already. She nudged it under herself and started trying to rearrange the hay in the nest box over it. Sadly for her baby-mama-wannabe impulse, I cruelly took that sucker away and stuck it in my fridge. One of the other Orps has also either started or is coming online, as she has spent half her day grumbling, checking out the boxes, and practicing the egg song (you didn't lay an egg, you feathery little liar - no egg song!).

Couple of good vids on UTube on Chicken butchering. We did 4 and it wasn't as hard as we thought. I used my canner for the hot water. If I was doing more than 4 I wuold just bring out a tea kettle of boiling water to add to the canner to heat it up. (Or I could put it on the beautiful brick outdoor fireplace ray just had to "point up" (read REBUILD) before he did anything else on the house....BUT there is no GRATE in the fireplace to hold up pots. sigh)

 

[Cass]

Quote:
I have a duel purpose roo....crows to wake the girls up, then sings the egg song when they get in the nest box. He isn't picky about waiting til they actually LAY the egg, so I have to go check several times to see if they have jumped OUT of the nest box. He isn't singing much lately. Not sure why they aren't laying, but I have my suspicions that is a combination of EVERYTHING that can make a chicken not lay in action. (Overbreeding, molting, changes in coop and lack of light)

 

[greymane]

I wouldn't say winters are all that bad in Watertown, but you may want to buy snorkels for your chickens!

I think that is the only place in the state where you have to buy snowshoes for your chickens. Even the snow geese don't stop there for fear of getting snowed in.