I have been away from the thread for a few days and need a little more information. Does persimmonous actually mean " to appear all puckered up and unable to speak"?
Ditto times thirty five! My son's (temporary resident) dog killed all but one hen and one guinea. The good, the bad and the old layers all died in one day. It is my experience that once a dogs kills a chicken they never stop. Fortunately, I had a few nest with fresh eggs that went to the...
Sadly, I am starting over on my Black copper breeding program. A couple months ago my son and his family came to live with us for a few months while they relocate back to this area. One of the family members happens to be a German shorthair / blue heeler cross. Today she decided she either...
I wonder if you bred a male from a dark egg line with dark egg laying,mossy, pullets if you could establish a line dark egg layers. Would the moss increase with generations or could you then cull to decrease moss while maintaining egg color? Personally, all I want is an SOP flock that lays #8...
I have been really busy at work so I haven't been able to pursue the process. I did find a breeder that was interested but dropped it after that. With all the things I see going with domestic U.S. Black Copper Marans, I will at some point give importation a try. It may take a trip to France...
I always have chickens and always have dogs. cafarmgirl has it right. You must invest the time and consistency of action to have a good stock dog. My current stock dog is a four year old Rottweiler that is absolutely the calmest around livestock of any dog I have had around. I ranch 25,000...
I've been reading about the snow and have to admit I am a little jealous. It's going to be near 90 here this weekend and no moisture in sight. I have some barnyard BCM chicks hatching under broodies. These are friend chicks for neighbors that keep egg flocks. It's still exciting.
Regarding aggressive roos, They are all about who is in charge. When I have one that begins to think he is the boss of me, I carry a willow switch or a bamboo gardening stake with me. It only takes a couple discussions to establish the hierarchy. Also I have never injured one of the roos...
I haven't been able to check the thread for a few days. As usual I missed a lot of great stuff. After reading back through, I am sitting here trying to process the information and this question keeps coming to mind. At what point will we have a consistent population of BCMs? My original /...
Regarding wasp / insect control: Have you considered a few Guinea fowl for insect control? I keep a few around and they are wonderful at controlling wasps, etc. The benefit is worth the noise and drama to me.
We have a LOT of raccoon in this area. I use live traps baited with plain sardines in oil. I works great most of the time. I have treated a few wondering tomcats to fish dinner but it is worth it to catch the raccoons. In warm weather, I have caught them with spring traps baited with foil...
That was probably an inaccurate statement. They either did not start forming or stopped developing early in the cycle. The remainder that did not hatch had developed enough to be visible when candled late in incubation. I did not perform any post incubation yolk inspections on the unhatched...
I really like getting chicks in the fall or early winter here. I always have better results this time of year. I would really like to find some good BCM breeders so I can purchase more eggs to incubate. Does anyone have a list?