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Last night we've had a huge storm roll through with maybe 70+ mph winds. In 2011 Hurricane Irene rolled through and in 2012 the eye of a weakened Hurricane Sandy passed within miles of the farm. So I've seen wind, but not like last night. A roof of one of my sheds blew 300 yards to the north...

I annoy myself when I talk about feeding my chickens more economically but don't. However, I've gotten very good at feeding my cows economically when I graze them in my pastures. There is a big difference in income between the two! With so few birds, it's tough to justify extra work...

I like this part of your post and appreciate your position. I would use the term break even instead of making a profit. I feel that break even should include the actual cost for replacements and 'facilities' since they may have come out of pocket. I would worry about labor if I were in the...

A few updates: My last hatch which ended two weeks ago was much better than the hatches before, but not where I want to be. I had 22 out of 41 eggs hatch with 2 others not making it out of the shell. The Brinsea thermometer helped a lot although I only got it a few day after starting...

My Brinsea thermometer comes today! Right now I'm holding steady at 100.5 which is a degree warmer than my other hatches. Still having problems keeping humidity up with my incubator in the new room. My 4 Delawares laid 6 eggs the past two days. This is after finding eggs for the first...

I think the topic of thermometer's has been discussed here but I can't find the discussion. I'm looking to start another hatch today and was warming up my incubator and decided to check my thermometer. I artificial inseminate my dairy cows and had a card thermometer that is used in the water...

There is another cockerel at my buddies farm. I sent him along when I moved the rainbow layer assortment. Maybe I'll ask to get him back if he's around. His wife didn't care to be woken up at 4AM... The Delaware pullets were culled from 8 to 4. I only kept one male. The pullet culling was...

My thoughts are that I would be able to cull the hens giving small eggs and those with blood spots although it's been a couple weeks since we've gotten blood spots. As far as quantity during those 2 weeks; I assumed that the change would knock them back, I assumed that some would and some...

As I breed brothers and sisters to eat other, questions start to rise regarding proper breeding. I'm sure it has been covered here before, but could someone give a clear, concise outline of possible breeding directions using the same origin of genetics. My goals are much more production than...

Today I got a commercial style layer cage. I had a buddy that had a couple 10 foot sections laying in his barn for years. I figured I'd take one and use it to hold a rooster or a couple birds if needed. Then an idea popped into my head, instead of trap nesting, which I do not have time to...

My PCV chicken tractor I posted before didn't mind the wind. It's light enough to pull around by dragging. It didn't budge in winds because I think it's low enough that the wind can't get under it. I have the closed off end to the north and your looking at the west end. Unless it's a...

Thanks @bnjrob and @RedRidge for the pics. I have PVC to make another A-frame tractor but do not have the chicken wire. I've considered making the Joel Salatin style chicken tractors but I'm not sure how they'll work with layers.

Do you have pics? I'm debating how I want to build my next tractors.

For winter I moved the NH's from my chicken tractor to a small shed when it got cold. The Del's I got in November were ready to move from the brooder to my main chicken coop in late December. I need to make another chicken tractor but could use two more I guess. I need some chicken wire. It...

Thanks for the link. Looking at the picture, my eggs don't look that flat! I got this idea of watery eggs from a link I checked out last night on Yahoo. The title said something like white eggs versus brown eggs. So I was curious to see what they said. It all checked out okay when they...

The eggs are collected daily. We had below freezing temps since new years day up until this week so we've had frozen yokes from time to time. I'm thinking I'd like to trap nest and get some data including bloody eggs. Like I said, I need to come up with a system to grow out these males...

We butchered my male Delawares on Thursday saving one for breeding. We did 8 cockerels and 1 small pullet. That evening we made two in the oven, one male was 4lbs and the pullet was 2.5 pounds. At 18 weeks they were slightly tough for my preferences... In other words I don't want to have to...

I have two questions regarding egg quality that came to my attention this week. 1. Runny whites when cooking eggs. Can this be bred against? What about feed? My birds are on Purina Layena 2. Bloody eggs. We've had occasional spots in the eggs but in the past few weeks have seen blood...