Texas

[Brookshire11]

Welcome to byc!

This is my first year with chickens, and I'm loving it!

I love to watch them take a bath. They look like they are having spasms!



Seems like I've had a round of fowl pox go through my flock. That is what it looks like at least. Black scabs on the combs/waddles. Some have it more than others. None have covered their eyes or gone down their throat so far. Laying is off a bit, I get 7 to 10 eggs a day now.

I do NOT like the time change. By the time I get home it's almost dark and no time for them to eat their scratch before roost time. I've switched the scratch to morning time, to give them time to find it all.

I am with you on the time change!! By th time I get home with the kids I have to start dinner then run and put the littles up. They've moved up to the 12x12 chainlink run

Hello fellow peeper keepers Welcme to all the new folks. Greywolf...we are nearly neighbors. We are 4 miles north of Willis. Good looking birds you have!
Been crazy busy...putting in new cupboards where our old fire place was. DH has been rebuilding the engine in our little Toyota truck...it died a couple of weeks ago...281K miles on it. No major damage just alot of wear and grundge in it.

Processed our first two birds Saturday. The two worst of our roos...still have seven more. Going to take two or three more next week after the rain is over. DH dispatched them and I did the rest. Kinda proud of myself...didn't get squimish at all. Took me almost an hour to do each one. But then by the time we did the deed it was more about keeping peace and relief for my hens than missing the bully boys. Been alot quieter in the henhouse too.
It was the last straw when they tried to gang jump my little bantam hens. They are my best brooders. It got so bad that the 4 bantams and two of my big girls wouldn't even go out in the yard. I had to take them and put them in my garden just so they could have some outside time.

Going to keep the SLW roo, Pharaoh, since we have 3 SLW hens for him. Of course will keep Abraham. He was first and came with his ladies. He may be a stinker to me but is a really protective roo. Issac, the brown leghorn will stay for now unless he gets too rough. He is so handsome and DH likes him. Have an Aussie roo...was suppose to be a hen...oh well.
He can stay with his hen...for now.
Got the plastic up over the wire for winter...still rolling it up when it's nice. Looking into getting a propane heater or wood burning stove for the chicken house for when it's really cold.
Still getting some eggs...between the moult and stress from too many roos...not getting but 4-6 a day from 18 hens. I think they are laying every few days because the eggs are always different...
BTW...what color are SLW eggs? Getting several medium size white eggs...only have two hens that would lay smaller white eggs...
Anyway...y'all take care and get ready...they say winter is gonna be a bit rough this year. Magpie

Glad things are going well! And good for you for taking care of the pesky boys.
We're doing a batch of meat birds in the Spring so...I've been reading and watching etc for awhile.

Yuck! I will keep that in mind... I wonder if it's true for ducks too? I feed mine feeder fish a few times a month. I did give my guys some leftover chicken and they wouldn't touch it. Go figure.

Mine LOVE tuna...I've only given to them twice...
Didn't notice a difference, BUT, it was in water not oil, and it was 1 can between 4 girls.
I wonder if the oil content of the fish makes a difference?

Ok my texas chicken family. I have been searching for some jubilee orps with not much success on a local source. I'm in cleveland,tx. Anyone who knows anyone close to me with any they are wanting to sell or trade plz let me know. Thank you

Welcome! I don't know how much luck you will have this time of year :/
There's SD Ranch up here by Dallas that has some gorgeous birds. He MAY ship? Not positive.
I only emailed him about some chocolates but they're not continuing with them
He has beautiful Silkies too

I feed my hens all kinds of leftovers. The two times I've fed them fish is the only time I could taste any difference in their eggs. I feed mine Texas Naturals, which does have fishmeal in it, but I can't taste it. My hens love chicken leftovers! lol

Thanks for the top on the tarps and on using 1x2s to help keep them in place. I've already bought the curtains, so I will try them this year and see how they do. The tarps would be nice though since I'm sure they would last a few seasons. I'll try to locate some and see what the price will be.

We use Texas Naturals too

Wow! Those are some big birds. Some serious meat there...no offence...I know not everyone eats their chickens. We cull the roos and will the old hens much later on. We would be interested in a couple of hens come spring if you are successful at hatching them.

This is our seabrite Becka and her clutch from last spring...they are all PR and RIR mix chicks all are now way bigger than she is.

She's so pretty!

Hi all! I'm new to keeping chickens as well, just moved to Longview from Northern, CO. Couldn't have chickens or a garden and now I have both....lovin it. I have 7 Americauna hens (these were my trial run) and I just added 11 Buff Orps and a Blue and a Black Roo. Everyone lives in an 8x10 shed with an 32x64 run and I just leave the gates open and they free range when they want. The EE's easily lay an egg a fat and the Buffs just started and will hopefully lay all winter.
pleasure to meet all of you!

Welcome!
My BO is a pretty reliable layer

The dogs are doing very well. We did have another event. I have become an assistant trainer. Dawn has become our agility demo team's best equipment dog, and will soon move up to competition level agility! She loves making the teeter come down as hard as possible, that crazy girl swing her head like a horse to make it come down harder! Sasha is an all around obedience/agility demo dog, always gives her all and is reliable. Phantom finally made the team, but he needs to mature more before he is at the girls level, he will do exceptionally well one day, then the next day run off and be silly, but he is only 11 months old. However his conformation training is doing very well, he should be in his first shows this January. Phantom and Dawn take their CGC test next week,

they pass. Rascal is doing very well in competition obedience. The only dog not doing well is Cheyenne, my puppy mill rescue, she still has tons of fear issues, but I'm not giving up on her. Fiona, the Rottweiler I rescued finally found her forever home 2 weeks ago! And we get a new baby girl puppy December 13, she is 2 weeks old right now and so very adorable!

Here is a photo from our Halloween agility demo, with my guys in costume. Dawn was an angel, Sasha was a witch, and Phantom was an prisoner, lol. I dressed up as a court Jester, but my mask kept slipping.

Neat!

I made a big pot of chili last night so I had quite a bit of grease left over from browning the hamburger. I mixed scratch grains, BOSS, and some wild bird seed in a small casserole dish. After the grease cooled enough to handle but was still liquid, I poured it over the mixture and refrigerated it to set up. I'll cut it into slices later for individual feedings. Simple and used available resources so didnt require any extra $ or a lot of fuss.

What a neat idea! I need to try this!

I gave in to my broody Silkie and she got 9 Spangled Russian Orloff eggs Wednesday night!
It was so cute to watch her immediately start tucking them up under her.
I'm sure she feels a lot more fulfilled than when she was sitting on just one infertile egg lol
If a good amount hatch though, I'll have more babies than I can keep! lol

 

[magpiesing]

I made a big pot of chili last night so I had quite a bit of grease left over from browning the hamburger. I mixed scratch grains, BOSS, and some wild bird seed in a small casserole dish. After the grease cooled enough to handle but was still liquid, I poured it over the mixture and refrigerated it to set up. I'll cut it into slices later for individual feedings. Simple and used available resources so didnt require any extra $ or a lot of fuss.

I have trimmings from a couple of briskets...would it be ok for chickens if I render the fat for suet cakes? I usually make it up for the wild birds but didn't know if the fat would be ok for the chickens. When I make it for wild birds I put all kinds of stuff in them. Peanut butter, old cereal, raisins, wild bird seed, oat meal, corn meal even crushed crackers. The problem I ususally have is that it doesn't stay cold enough and the suet melts and makes a mess.....but don't think it would last that long with my feathered grub grabbers. BTW we are predicted a near freeze here in south Texas mid next week. We'll be scrambling to get the chicken house ready.

 

[Greywolf1962]

Good morning everyone. Is there anyone in the Conroe/Huntsville area who might have some laying hens they would part with? I have a friend who just got a Leghorn too and he is in dire need of some hens. Thanks in advance.

 

[tylermills2627]

Hi I'm from central texas near Stephenville and am looking to buy some quality bantam chickens message me if interested in selling any

 

[bnjrob]

I have trimmings from a couple of briskets...would it be ok for chickens if I render the fat for suet cakes? I usually make it up for the wild birds but didn't know if the fat would be ok for the chickens. When I make it for wild birds I put all kinds of stuff in them. Peanut butter, old cereal, raisins, wild bird seed, oat meal, corn meal even crushed crackers. The problem I ususally have is that it doesn't stay cold enough and the suet melts and makes a mess.....but don't think it would last that long with my feathered grub grabbers. BTW we are predicted a near freeze here in south Texas mid next week. We'll be scrambling to get the chicken house ready.

I'm sure the chickens would love the trimmings from the briskets made into suet cakes - or even just thrown out to them. You can feed them pretty much anything, they are omnivores. Our chickens love leftovers when I clean out the refrigerator.

 

[RustedOak]

I have trimmings from a couple of briskets...would it be ok for chickens if I render the fat for suet cakes?  I usually make it up for the wild birds but didn't know if the fat would be ok for the chickens.   When I make it for wild birds I put all kinds of stuff in them.  Peanut butter, old cereal, raisins, wild bird seed, oat meal, corn meal even crushed crackers.  The problem I ususally have is that it doesn't stay cold enough and the suet melts and makes a mess.....but don't think it would last that long with my feathered grub grabbers. BTW we are predicted a near freeze here in south Texas mid next week.   We'll be scrambling to get the chicken house ready.

The key is moderation. This isn't something I'd give them daily. More like once a week and a small enough portion that they'll eat in a few hours. It's more of a fatty winter treat for extra warmth than a food source when it comes to your flock. Another thing I would consider is the salt content. For example, I tend to not use bacon fat for this due to the sodium

 

[Brookshire11]

I candled my eggs last night!
At least 4 out of 9 are developing!
Including one that looks cracked when you candle it, but fine otherwise.
Anything I should do for that one?

I'm sure more will appear by day 6, but they eggs are brown so sometimes it's hard to determine anything other than the air cell and yolk.
And for shipped eggs...I was really surprised. I think all of the air cells were intact

 

[Bazy]

I candled my eggs last night!
At least 4 out of 9 are developing!
Including one that looks cracked when you candle it, but fine otherwise.
Anything I should do for that one?

I'm sure more will appear by day 6, but they eggs are brown so sometimes it's hard to determine anything other than the air cell and yolk.
And for shipped eggs...I was really surprised. I think all of the air cells were intact

I had one egg that I was worried about and so I cut about three inches off the top of one of those red plastic cups to make a sort of collar and made it tall as I could so the turner would not bump it into the element and then I put it around that egg in the turner so that if it exploded in the incubator it would minimize splattering on the other eggs. I also moved it as far away from the good eggs as possible. You just drop it over the egg and it just slides around as the turner moves.

You do need to seal the crack, though. I've heard of using wax, nail polish....some other things, but not exactly how..and keep SMELLING it..any sign of stinky, and get it out of there!

 

[FRANCO2]

HI IM FROM JALISCO MEXICO. IM A BIRD LOVER, DO YOU KNOW ANYONE FROM SOUTH TEXAS THAT BREES ALOT OF VERAITY OF BIRDS? PEAFOWL, PHEASANTS, DOVES, QUAILS, WATER FOWL, CHICKENS ......... IF YOU DO CAN YOU PLZ CONTATME WITH SOMEONE? I WANT TO IMIPORT THEM TO MEXICO. AND I HAVE A FRIEN FRON SAN BENITO TEXAS THET CAN SHIPTHEM TO ME. THANK YOU

 

[tiedyemommy]

So much to catch up on...in due time. For now, the forecast has us getting into the low-30's at night. What are some good ways to winterize my coop? This is our 1st winter with The Ladies & The Girls.