Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

Cute ducklings!
Yes, Chippysmom does. She's by the Ohio border.

 

[TillyPeeps]

@Tillypeeps......

....here is my SLW that looks at 2 weeks like the comb is turning a light pink already u can't really see it in the pic. The second pick is,my other SLW .....stella

She has such a large tail and I didn't see significantly pink comb, so I would say pullet for now. Two week old cockerel usually doesn't have tail. SLWs are famous about having pink comb early anyway .

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Sorry for the delay in finding my puctures! This is what I have going on for my turkey shed (I even forget who was asking so I can't tag you!).

'Shed' is made of 4x6 pallets, a chain link gate panel, and some small peels made from 2x2s and hardware cloth that I had used as part of a brooder last year. The turkeys kept flying up over the fence and roosting on the back porch or the top of the chicken coop. After they put several holes in the coop roof I decided it was time to get serious about the turkey situation. I used pvc conduit (the grey conduit is UV resistant, the whit pipe is not) to make arches with top-center ridge support. Then I threw bird netting over top and secured it to the sides of the fence. It keeps them in.


I planned to take off that old bit of wooden 'roofing' (it's just a panel that I picked up with some pallets that happened to fit in the space) and replace the whole top with metal roofing. However, seeing how they roost on the top of the shed walls, I have changed that plan. The bird netting goes all the way over the top of the shed to keep the turkeys in, but they still sit on top of the walls to roost for the night (with the bird netting resting on their backs). So my new plan is to add a few more arches with PVC conduit so that the shed has an arched roof too. Then I will put a few proper roosts up on the top of the walls. I will also cover the shed arches with some laminated canvas or a big tarp to keep the shed area dryer.

Tried to get a picture of them roosting last night.


New shed roof will be something like what I have on the tractor, just a tarp over pvc arches.


This was the first 'roof' I had on the turkey shed... it didn't work, the turkeys would bust through gaps in the old bird netting I had over the run and then walk around up there and rip holes in the tarp, then they starting busting right though the tarp. Water would also pool in there because there wasn't enough of a slope to allow the water to run off. I'm hoping the arched roof with tarp will last, it certainly has on my chicken tractor.

Wow! Thank you!! I was the one asking. This set up looks perfect. I'm going to have to use wood though, because I have too many predators and really do need something to attach the hardware cloth to. ~which I ordered today from Amazon, Thank you Tilly!

Incubator Day 14

Of 14 duck eggs set 12 are going strong with baby duckies moving around (2 were un fertile)
Of 8 goose eggs set 4 are going strong with baby gooses moving around (3 were un fertile, 1 early death)

Hatch date is April 14 for ducklings & April 14-17 for goslings
This will be my largest hatch of ducklings & my first hatch of goslings
Wish me luck

We're gonna have a lot of baby poultry here soon, we have 42 chicks & 3 BBW poults coming over the next month plus I should be doing a lot of hatching soon (Silkies, ducks, geese, & guineas)

Goslings! Fun. What breed?

 

[Redwolf141]

She has such a large tail and I didn't see significantly pink comb, so I would say pullet for now. Two week old cockerel usually doesn't have tail. SLWs are famous about having pink comb early anyway .

thanks Tillypeeps I was looking at her today and the pic is no different then what my other SLW is at the same age. I didn't realize the tail size at two weeks could be an indicator for a chick that is good to know.

 

[Just Ducky10]

[COLOR=0000FF]Goslings!  Fun.  What breed?[/COLOR]

They're Pomeranian Goslings here's what I shared about them before and some pics.

Pomeranian geese are an old breed that was originally developed in Northern Germany for meat. This breed of goose was considered one of the best table birds in colonial times and used to produce smoked goose breast. There is only a handful of breeding flocks left and their status is considered Critical by the Livestock Conservancy.

In Germany they are excepted in Grey, Buff, & White in solid & saddleback patterns.
In America they are only excepted in the Grey & Buff Saddleback pattern.

They are a medium sized goose that averages 15-18 pounds and lay around 15-35 eggs annually. They have great personalities. Even during breeding season our ganders are nice even when we're holding their girls. They make great "lawn mowers" and would rather eat grass and weeds than pellets during the growing season. During the winter they eat hay and pellets mixed with wheat.

They are a beautiful breed that should have a single lobe, pinkish/red bill, legs, & feet with blue eyes. They should have a clean saddle and a solid hood that comes about half way down their neck. But since their numbers have gotten so low breeders have been forced to use less than perfect geese just to keep their numbers up. As a result the breed now also commonly has dual lobes, orange bills, legs, & feet, and messy saddles & hoods. Many breeders are working to correct this while also trying to keep their numbers up.

Our Pomeranians come directly from Laurie Mackie-Malcolms line. (Little Spring Farms in Maine) I showed her pics of my geese and she said that their hoods will fill in more when they're older (they will turn 1 in May)

I just got some pics of our Pomeranian geese for a craigslist ad and decided to share them here. If anyone's in NEPA and interested in goose hatching eggs or eating eggs and me a PM. I threw some in the incubator with some Khaki Campbell duck eggs last week and they're all going strong and will hopefully hatch April 14-17.

Pond (Gander)

Luna (Goose)

Morgana (Goose)

Melody (Goose)

Group Shot

Goose Eggs (150 grams each)

 

[stake]

GM folks:

A question about cleaning the pen....As a background until about 3mos ago I was free ranging the girls and just closing the pens/coops at night(no real cleaning necessary)...with the chooks being penned, their run has become a bit nasty...and I think I need a strategy for keeping it clean...so, what do you find the best way to manage?

 

[chxmama]

GM folks:

A question about cleaning the pen....As a background until about 3mos ago I was free ranging the girls and just closing the pens/coops at night(no real cleaning necessary)...with the chooks being penned, their run has become a bit nasty...and I think I need a strategy for keeping it clean...so, what do you find the best way to manage?

Very similar scenario here. Stopped free ranging in the fall b/c of predators. We hauled a couple tons of sand and dumped it in the run. BEST.THING.EVER. The sand has worked out so well for us. No mud problem, girls love dusting in it, digging holes, etc. Rain drains through the sand and dries very quickly in comparison to the bare dirt. It doesn't become hard packed like dirt. Poop seems to disappear in the sand much quicker than in just dirt. No smells.

I do rake occasionally to help poop disperse quicker, but that may just be OCD on my part. It's a very low maintenance situation and I couldn't be more happy with how it's working out for us.
Hope you find a good solution for your situation.

 

[fisherlady]

GM folks:

A question about cleaning the pen....As a background until about 3mos ago I was free ranging the girls and just closing the pens/coops at night(no real cleaning necessary)...with the chooks being penned, their run has become a bit nasty...and I think I need a strategy for keeping it clean...so, what do you find the best way to manage?

For our outside runs we dug shallow trenches around the fence line perimeter and set in treated 1x6 planks (decking boards) up on their edges, we then got a few tons of fine crushed gravel and filled in the runs about 2" deep. We kept back a couple hundred pounds worth of gravel to use to touch up low spots.

Downside is that it costs a couple hundred dollars to get it set up....
Upsides are that a lightweight lawn rake can keep it pretty clean, the lime dust helps with odor control, it drains water through quickly and once you have the base coat in and it settles it is much less expensive to maintain because you don't need to add more gravel very often.

 

[dgibson0604]

hey everyone im new to this thread im from gardners pa and wanted to say hi

 

[Chaos18]

Welcome. What kinda birds do you have?