Anyone have luck catching a feral chicken?? UPDATE: Rooster caught, no hen

[Redhead Rae]

The smallest order allowed was 25, but shipping was more cost-effective for 50. 30 layers, 20 Cornish-X. At the highest bird level, I had ~50 layers and 19 Cornish growing out. Big feed bills! I am hoping to do better in this next life!

At my peak earlier this year, I had 83. Of which only 15 were laying. I sent a bunch of roosters to freezer camp and other things and now I'm down to 61. BUT... I just bought 2 incubators, one to be my starter incubator, and one to be a lockdown incubator. This is so I can have staggered hatches. Lord help me. I'm going to be drowning in chickens.

Speaking of freezer camp roosters, I need to fire up the pressure cooker and graduate a freezer camp rooster to dinner.

 

[Suzi18]

Yes. What the heck did that even mean anyway?

This is what I found
n the video games, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free” is used a number of times to pass along information to other members of the team. In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, if a player shoots an enemy and then hides, the player is hunted down with the phrase “Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Aside from that, it’s hard to find published references to the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free.”

Children’s sayings were hardly recorded until the 1950s, and even then, the sayings are very variable. That’s because they’ve been passed down orally from one generation to the next, with no adult intervention or correction. And so, errors in passing the sayings down from generation to generation is not unlike the misheard lyrics of popular songs over the decades.

The most likely explanation for the phrase is that it is a corruption of the German “Alle, alle auch sind frei” which, when translated, means “Everyone, everyone also is free.”

When “alle, alle auch sind frei” is said in a normal speaking voice, phonetically it sounds somewhat like this: aw-luh aw-luh owhk zint fry. Imagine how it sounds when excited children are running about, shouting this at the top of their lungs and it’s easy to see how it becomes this: aw-luh aw-luh owxin fry. With minimal effort, it easily becomes: ollie, ollie, oxen free.

It may also be a corruption of “allez, allez” which is a Norman addition to the English language from French and is pronounced “all-ay, all-ay.” The word “allez” in French, of course, means “go.” The ensuing “in kommen frei” was a phrase popular in Dutch/German New York and Pennsylvania and meant “come in free.” In this case, “Allez, allez, in kommon frie” may have morphed into a French-English hybrid: “Allez, allez, come in free!”

 

[CSAchook]

I don't like the nutritional content of what I have and I like to give the kids the opportunity to cherry pick a bit. When I first gave them pellets, they must have circled the feeder a dozen times before one was willing to try it... Then they got over it pretty quickly. I love watching them eat the cracked grains... Some will go for the candy "corn & oats", others are after the fishmeal and vitamins, while others go after the soy. Once I get back to what I'm accustomed to, there will also be cracked alfalfa pellets in there. They love cracked alfalfa pellets and hate alfalfa meal. Same for soy meal. The only powdery stuff they like is the fishmeal and vitamins. When we have a stressor, weather, predator, what ever... I've been known to put out a bowl of nutri-balancer with some fishmeal free choice. So go crazy over it while others ignore it. I suspect there's truth in the theory that they know what they need.

I just bought a bag of alfalfa pellets (from the small pet section at TSC) to try giving my girls once all my yard vegetation dies off. I want to make sure they still get a variety of greens. Do you think they will eat them as is or should I soak them to make a warm mash? Or even ferment them? Share you thoughts and wisdom please squatchers!

 

[CSAchook]

This is what I found
n the video games, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free” is used a number of times to pass along information to other members of the team. In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, if a player shoots an enemy and then hides, the player is hunted down with the phrase “Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Aside from that, it’s hard to find published references to the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free.”

Children’s sayings were hardly recorded until the 1950s, and even then, the sayings are very variable. That’s because they’ve been passed down orally from one generation to the next, with no adult intervention or correction. And so, errors in passing the sayings down from generation to generation is not unlike the misheard lyrics of popular songs over the decades.

The most likely explanation for the phrase is that it is a corruption of the German “Alle, alle auch sind frei” which, when translated, means “Everyone, everyone also is free.”

When “alle, alle auch sind frei” is said in a normal speaking voice, phonetically it sounds somewhat like this: aw-luh aw-luh owhk zint fry. Imagine how it sounds when excited children are running about, shouting this at the top of their lungs and it’s easy to see how it becomes this: aw-luh aw-luh owxin fry. With minimal effort, it easily becomes: ollie, ollie, oxen free.

It may also be a corruption of “allez, allez” which is a Norman addition to the English language from French and is pronounced “all-ay, all-ay.” The word “allez” in French, of course, means “go.” The ensuing “in kommen frei” was a phrase popular in Dutch/German New York and Pennsylvania and meant “come in free.” In this case, “Allez, allez, in kommon frie” may have morphed into a French-English hybrid: “Allez, allez, come in free!”

Wow! Thanks for sharing! I seem to vaguely remember saying that as a kid to announce a game of hide and seek was ended...and anyone still hiding had won. I had no idea where the phrase came from till now though! You al, teach me so much

 

[Sassysouth]

Quick question. What is the best thing to put in the nesting box I can get in a small bag, probably at WalMart?

 

[Parront]

At my peak earlier this year, I had 83. Of which only 15 were laying. I sent a bunch of roosters to freezer camp and other things and now I'm down to 61. BUT... I just bought 2 incubators, one to be my starter incubator, and one to be a lockdown incubator. This is so I can have staggered hatches. Lord help me. I'm going to be drowning in chickens.

Speaking of freezer camp roosters, I need to fire up the pressure cooker and graduate a freezer camp rooster to dinner.

That was when I started pressure cooking the old chickens. Orpington tacos, noodles & orp, orp sandwiches! The orpingtons met the pressure cooker most often, they laid a lot less than the brown leghorns. I did not hatch (much), just ordered more from the hatchery.

 

[CSAchook]

Quick question. What is the best thing to put in the nesting box I can get in a small bag, probably at WalMart?

If you want a small bag of something, I would go to the small animal section and look at the bedding for hamsters and other small animals. I think they usually have pine shavings and a paper stuff. I bet either one would work

ETA: I use pine shavings in my boxes

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Mornin peeps. I got up at 5:14 then said the heck with it and rolled over!

Happy to report to sun is OUT AND SHINING here after 21/2 solid days that looked like twilight.
Seasonal depression gets me really down.
I need sun.
Like NEED. IT.
that's why we live in a southern state.

@Anansi ...sweetypie.
I have told you before, you are one of us. Is it that you think you don't "have anything to contribute to the class"?
YES. YOU. DO. !
Tell us something.
What did you eat for breakfast?
What's the weather at your house?
Ever have your coffee go down the wrong pipe and cough it out your nose? (Happened to me
This morning!)
You too??!!
No way!!!!!
See how easy that is?
An-y-thing!

Foxes: thanks for that!
Used to hear them all the time when we lived in Virginia near the blue ridge mountains. Sometimes they sounded like kids screaming.
Scared the dickens out of me til we figured out what it was.

Pellets:
It's not like the pellets are huge.
That's what mine eat. In a hanging feeder. I take it away and lock it up at night.
I never see any on the ground and I have to refill it, so they must be eating it.

Morning mash:
Yup me too.
I fill a small dog bowl halfway with pellets throw some warm water on there and let it "cook" while I make coffee.
Remember Guilty party?
Well he is a weird cat and always comes running. I don't know why but he thinks that stuff is deeeee-licious.
I gets a blob of plain no fat yogert on top and out it goes. Those girls love it. They always empty the bowl.

@rjohns39 so sorry about your tomatoes!
I have a comeback plant I let go to see what it'd do and have 6 good sized green tomatoes on it ( only 1 starting to blush a little).
I'll have to pick them today and bring them inside because I'm forecasted to get your weather tonight.

I still have okra growing too.
-they are the plant that keeps on giving. One of the plants is not like the others and has reached a height of about 15 feet.
Watching it grow this season has been like watching jack's beanstalk grow.

I have collards in but something's eating it and it's too much trouble to
Try to figure it out. After I pull the okra I'll have to let the girls work over that little garden space.

Everything else is herbs and such growing in half barrels.

Hmmm what to do with all that ginger ? It's such a pretty plant. Yet another thing I propagated from a chunk of storebought.
Any suggestions are welcome.

Except for the sweet potatoes.


Never did harvest the herbs the other day.
Need to.
I have a lovely barrel just bursting at the seams with dill. Had to put hardware cloth around it because dill is one of the chickens
F A V O R I T E Things to hijack here.

It's amazing when you dry herbs. It seems like you have enough to last a lifetime when you bring it inside, then after it's dried all you have is a tiny little jar of it!

That's all from me.

Note to self. Get a dang
Flu shot.

Please post pics of your half barrels.... I'd like to see them... what do you use? I think DH and I are going to do pallet gardening instead of raised bed... it'll take less dirt.

@Smuvers Farm how many babies are you expecting?

I used a giant rectangular Rubbermaid tote for my brooder box.

We started with 15 eggs. Candled at day 3 and kept all. Day 7 candled and 2 were duds. Candling tonight, and I am certain #7 is a dud... and I believe #14 is a dud... just not sure...... Candling tonight, and then again on Sunday... lockdown on Monday!

Never built a brooder. I built a "Cardboard Corral" in the attached 2 car garage. Get boxes, open them up and make the size circle you need, duct tape. As they grow, add more cardboard panels to enlarge coral. Hang brooder lamps from above garage rafter with a swag lamp chain from the 70's, done! Fill brooder with newspaper with shavings, or litter of choice. I confess, I just used plain old newspaper. I never noticed a problem from it like I see folks on here talking about.

I'll post a pic of our cardboard brooder. This is the 3rd one we've *built*. We have leftover packing boxes, but you can get a refrigerator box at Lowes or anyplace else they sell fridges, and use it. This one we've filled with sawdust and leaf mulch. They'll start off with fermented feed and nipple waterers.

For sure! @Anansi.....come out come out where ever you are. Ollie ollie oxen free (does anyone else rememeber that?)

This is what I found
n the video games, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free” is used a number of times to pass along information to other members of the team. In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, if a player shoots an enemy and then hides, the player is hunted down with the phrase “Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Aside from that, it’s hard to find published references to the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free.”

Children’s sayings were hardly recorded until the 1950s, and even then, the sayings are very variable. That’s because they’ve been passed down orally from one generation to the next, with no adult intervention or correction. And so, errors in passing the sayings down from generation to generation is not unlike the misheard lyrics of popular songs over the decades.

The most likely explanation for the phrase is that it is a corruption of the German “Alle, alle auch sind frei” which, when translated, means “Everyone, everyone also is free.”

When “alle, alle auch sind frei” is said in a normal speaking voice, phonetically it sounds somewhat like this: aw-luh aw-luh owhk zint fry. Imagine how it sounds when excited children are running about, shouting this at the top of their lungs and it’s easy to see how it becomes this: aw-luh aw-luh owxin fry. With minimal effort, it easily becomes: ollie, ollie, oxen free.

It may also be a corruption of “allez, allez” which is a Norman addition to the English language from French and is pronounced “all-ay, all-ay.” The word “allez” in French, of course, means “go.” The ensuing “in kommen frei” was a phrase popular in Dutch/German New York and Pennsylvania and meant “come in free.” In this case, “Allez, allez, in kommon frie” may have morphed into a French-English hybrid: “Allez, allez, come in free!”

Thank you! I remember the saying, and this is intersting information. Thank you for posting it!

I just bought a bag of alfalfa pellets (from the small pet section at TSC) to try giving my girls once all my yard vegetation dies off. I want to make sure they still get a variety of greens. Do you think they will eat them as is or should I soak them to make a warm mash? Or even ferment them? Share you thoughts and wisdom please squatchers!

I have a bale of pressed alfalfa straw that we toss into their run. I'll also toss a handful of pellets. We also ferment alfalfa, so I don't think there's any WRONG way to serve up some tasty alfalfa greens!!


Sorry I disappeared.... I had a cuppa and was on here, ready to chat... when DH woke up... UGH... off to TSC and Kroger we went. We bought 4 handy panels instead of 2 cow panels, and we're gonna try to make a panel hoop coop. Just testing the idea to see if it's viable for us.

Now, we're vacuuming leaves and making mulch. YIPPEEEEE the life of a steader....

 

[Parront]

Quick question. What is the best thing to put in the nesting box I can get in a small bag, probably at WalMart?

They sell shavings for gerbils and hamsters in smaller sizes.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

OH, and we use the MHP in our brooder.... since the beginning... love it, love everything about it!!