Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

LMP, your Turkey coop looks awesome! What's with having a coop before the actual birds have lived in your basement for a month or two?....I didn't think that was allowed.

 

[fisherlady]

Finally got the duck house done and got the pond in and drain run.

[/URL]

Looking good!! Love the little house!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

That is the cutest thing ever!!  Such a little guy to be crowing 

He is so cute!  DH loves the bantam roos... I keep telling him NO!!!!  LOL.

Thanks! I never expected crowing so early, especially from the smallest boy in the bunch lol. I had to have it recorded though so I could see how much his voice changes as he grows. I did play it back for him a couple times. He was really rather confused and crowed back at me lol.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Question for you experts. I thought silkies were supposed to be bantam (or at least sort of). As it is right now, my silkies are both just as big as my marans, bigger than my gold comets, and just slightly smaller than my SLWs. They're all almost 6 weeks old. Do they just grow faster initially or will they actually be just about as big as the big girls?

 

[Intheboro]

Hey..**Sharron...looky at this!!! Raspberries!!!! They made it through this crazy winter...thank goodness! ***Chippy- Sorry for the loss of your little one , For whatever reason...sometimes things just don't work-out. I had gone through that too, as I am sure anyone who hatches has. ***Fisher- I will second Wing on.. looked like there was some good wood burning!!!! ...I never would have thought I would get so excited over materials ...wood- in any form, but preferably FREE..as in pallets and fencing..OMGosh, don't even get me started on fencing!! *** Congrats to all the New chicks hatching...and being bought of course !!! Lovin' all the cuteness! ***:yiipchick I have some seriously awesome news...I mean seriously....It is a GO on the BEES...I repeat..it is a GO on the BEES e ...now, I do have to wait..cause we are in the middle of many new, wonderful experiences...Hubby says okay to the bees...after we get our bearings from the other projects...GUYS, I am sooo excited about this....I will take any and all info. one has to share on the subject. We do have a few bee-keepers in the area ..I am going to be picking their brains for everything I can learn too. OMGosh...it is going to happen! We also were able to use part of the yard run to set up the other coop for the turkey and cornishX chicks . We will be getting them on the 3rd of May. *I have a question for anyone here.....I have a SERIOUSLY broody hen...I was thinking about using her to mother the chicks in the separate coop...to help avoid the use of a heat lamp...and to help her through her issue ...Is this a good idea? *I also would like to know...If the chicks must eat 'chick' food... and the hen eats 'hen' food...do I stick two different kinds of feed in for them?...I am a little confused at how to handle this if I can use her to mother-heat them. ..... And on much more serious note... Morning garb for chicken feeding in the wayy too early am! I KNOW the neighbors are thinking " there she goes, look what she is wearing now..that crazy chicken lady! "....I understand it is just too awesome for some... ... I finally got caught up on this thread...boy you all are making up for the slower weekend...Have a good night everyone-Danielle HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you TOO, Brat- MOTORCHICK!!!! .......didn't think I'd do it ...did ya?!

Yeahhhhhhh! Bees!!!!

 

[sharron]

He is so cute! DH loves the bantam roos... I keep telling him NO!!!! LOL.

are you sure? i know where you might be able to get one or two later on

 

[sharron]

Hey..**Sharron...looky at this!!! Raspberries!!!! They made it through this crazy winter...thank goodness!


***Chippy- Sorry for the loss of your little one

, For whatever reason...sometimes things just don't work-out. I had gone through that too, as I am sure anyone who hatches has.
***Fisher- I will second Wing on.. looked like there was some good wood burning!!!! ...I never would have thought I would get so excited over materials ...wood- in any form, but preferably FREE..as in pallets and fencing..OMGosh, don't even get me started on fencing!!

***

Congrats to all the New chicks hatching...and being bought of course

!!! Lovin' all the cuteness!

***

I have some seriously awesome news...I mean seriously....It is a GO on the BEES...I repeat..it is a GO on the BEES

...now, I do have to wait..cause we are in the middle of many new, wonderful experiences...Hubby says okay to the bees...after we get our bearings from the other projects...GUYS, I am sooo excited about this....I will take any and all info. one has to share on the subject. We do have a few bee-keepers in the area ..I am going to be picking their brains for everything I can learn too. OMGosh...it is going to happen!

We also were able to use part of the yard run to set up the other coop for the turkey and cornishX chicks . We will be getting them on the 3rd of May.




*I have a question for anyone here.....I have a SERIOUSLY broody hen...I was thinking about using her to mother the chicks in the separate coop...to help avoid the use of a heat lamp...and to help her through her issue

...Is this a good idea?
*I also would like to know...If the chicks must eat 'chick' food... and the hen eats 'hen' food...do I stick two different kinds of feed in for them?...I am a little confused at how to handle this if I can use her to mother-heat them.

.....
And on much more serious note...

Morning garb for chicken feeding in the wayy too early am! I KNOW the neighbors are thinking " there she goes, look what she is wearing now..that crazy chicken lady!

"....I understand it is just too awesome for some...

...
I finally got caught up on this thread...boy you all are making up for the slower weekend...Have a good night everyone-Danielle
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you TOO, Brat- MOTORCHICK!!!!

.......didn't think I'd do it ...did ya?!

won't be too long before you ask yourself, why in the heck did i get those raspberries, they're taking over the place

 

[barbiegirl]

Question for you experts. I thought silkies were supposed to be bantam (or at least sort of). As it is right now, my silkies are both just as big as my marans, bigger than my gold comets, and just slightly smaller than my SLWs. They're all almost 6 weeks old. Do they just grow faster initially or will they actually be just about as big as the big girls?

I had a silkie hen that was bigger than my silkie rooster. I don't know if she was a large fowl silkie or part bantam and part large fowl. The guy I got her from had the biggest silkie rooster I have ever seen. He would have made my silver laced wyandotte rooster look small. He tried to give him to me but he was so big and I had a rooster and didn't think they would get along. I really think they were large fowl silkies and not bantam. She laid a large cream colored egg.

 

[fisherlady]

are you sure? i know where you might be able to get one or two later on

I'm sure!! We have to sell a bunch as it is! The broodies are going to have us over run at the rate they are going! LOL

I had a silkie hen that was bigger than my silkie rooster. I don't know if she was a large fowl silkie or part bantam and part large fowl. The guy I got her from had the biggest silkie rooster I have ever seen. He would have made my silver laced wyandotte rooster look small. He tried to give him to me but he was so big and I had a rooster and didn't think they would get along. I really think they were large fowl silkies and not bantam. She laid a large cream colored egg.

The european Silkies are actually a large fowl bird... though I don't know just how 'large' of a large fowl, I never checked the weight ranges for the europeans.... so what he had may have either had some european ancestory or maybe someone had just bred them larger and larger over a handful of generations to get back the size. They are used as a specialty meat in Eastern cultures, so the larger body size is preferred.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

GEEZ Purdy, you have so many conversations going on......

your broody....let her run with it...imho give starter crumple to all....your mama will lose alot of girth in the process, take every opportunity to suplement her feed...my two cents

on the bee thing....my limited understanding is get the hive started as early as possible in the spring....Italian and Brit queens are desired, the nuc you will buy will have limited personnel and they need to establish....get a bee keeper to help you set it up...(imho).....(I researched this and never got the $$$ to start..)

sorry, I do that sometimes, lots of conversations..with trying to catch-up..I don't want to leave anyone out, but it is always inevitable

Thank you for your input, you are always one to keep things in check...On the bees, we having tons going on right now, so I am looking to maybe next year-spring..gives me time to research more, save up for the materials and an opportunity for Santa to invest

...hahaha...I will feel more comfortable if I have more knowledge on the subject, remember..this is the chick that took a year to learn BEFORE I ever got a bird! My head was exploding by the end though...

...hahahha...I think a few others on here would remember...gosh, that seems like soo long ago and this has been only my first full-year of having birds...time does fly on by!!

LMP.... you could use your broody to mother the chicks... but only maybe 3 or 4.. by the age of 2 or 3 weeks these CX will be way too big to fit under her anymore. It may work to settle her urges. She will be confused when they are bigger than her by the age of 5 weeks but it should still work.
If you are giving them to her... make sure the new spot for her is ready... she will be more cooperative about moving after she has the chicks. Once she has them she will be OK where ever they are. If you are concerned about bio security issues you can move her to the private coop before you get the CX and make sure she has a day or two to settle in. Moving a setting broody is best done at night, quietly and with minimum of fuss.
We gave one of our broodies some 'adoptees' recently... I brought them home from TSC and never even took them into the house. They went straight to the coop and I held them cupped in my hand and slid them butt first under the hen who already had 2 of her own. The thing with adoptees is that they don't understand what a broody is... they think heat comes from a bright light. A dark broody is foreign to them. So be ready to spend some time waiting around so you can stick the little buggers back under her after the first few times they pop out to explore. After you replace them 2 or 3 times they usually start to get the hint. You should be OK once you see them return to the broody on their own. Also use that time to watch the hen for signs of aggression, some just don't like adoptees... it all depends on the broody. The chicks should be less than 2 or 3 days old for your best chances. Anything older drastically increases the chance of either the hen or the chick not adjusting.


Edit to add.... I forgot to mention... a broody hen does not need hen (layer) food.... the layer feed has supplemental calcium (and maybe other minerals also) which is intended to aid in egg shell production. A broody hen isn't laying eggs and doesn't need the supplement. We feed our broodies chick starter to provide them a protein boost and they share with the chicks after they hatch.

another edit... I see Stake already replied... and I agree with him... take any chance to give the broody girl extra

Thank you Fisher

....I appreciate the detailed explanation...I think this girl will do well, she has been at this for some time now and quite serious about it! I am excited to have her do the 'work' for us...

fingers crossed that everything does go as planned, but just in case not...we do have a 'back-up' to fall on if necessary.

Finally got the duck house done and got the pond in and drain run.

[/URL]

That is cool!!

..Like Blarney says..makes ya wanna get some ducks!...hahahha...nice set up!!

I see pajamas. Headed to Walmart again? Watch that tongue. It is dangerous!
I agree with all Fisherlady said. But since you are unsure of the new momma, I would give them the babies at night.
Oh, and if you were ever mixing hens and pullets, the hens can all eat the chick feed (Stake said that) and then offer oyster shell to the others.

Oh yeah!!..all ready to go!! You like the PJ's?...got the little penguins on them

...Thank you too MC....feeding them all the same stuff really makes life a lot easier, for sure! Momma bird will get some goodies with her food too..we always have produce around here, and I like to share.