building paradise for the birds

[Flyfish1985]

I just finished up a new fly for a customer. Thought that I would share. Those eggs are amazing. I remember watching Reading Rainbow as a kid and seeing a Russian woman do something like that with wax and dyes. It is incredible the artistry that goes into it. Thanks for sharing!
Hope everyone likes the fly. With this one I used only feathers from a Black Shouldered IB Peacock.




Zach

 

[birdmansmom]

Grandpa on his way to see baby first. Grandma not a happy camper. But come 2 weeks I will be up there for 5 days. Can't wait!! Hugs and Kisses!

Keep that garage door closed at night!

 

[birdman55]

here is the baby from those two birds


here are my aunts peafowl

 

[birdman55]

i have two pitbulls so nothing makes it to the back yard and if it does make it into the yard it sure dont make it out...beautiful dogs jim...
so i still need some guineas this season...you wouldnt happen to have any still out there would you....
here are some pics

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I loved my guineas.... best to keep a large flock... that way they will pick on each other. When I get to do my big coop build it will be set up for at least sixty.

Not the brightest bulb in the string though. If you know they will get out of the yard and need to get back in you need to have a landing board ontop of the fence.

but I have had mine fly from the rocks above the house over the house and zoom down in the yard demanding dinner.

I train all my birds to come at a call for food. Some use a bell... i am really bad at keeping track of suff.

For what its worth they are good with all the little venomous things... scorpions, snakes... even mice. I personally have seen my five Guinea Bachelor flock escort a coyote off my land.... screaming charging and pecking at him. The coyote kept turning back as if saying "this aint right..."

My personal need for guineas is home security or first alert.... If they dont recognize a person they will set off the alarm. Very useful when you live two miles from the Mexican border.

deb

 

[birdman55]

Sounds like me on the eggs. I get roughly a dozen or so a day from 16 girls. I feel thats pretty good considering the weather. And I do use Christmas lights in one of my coops where most of the girls are. I think I am going to start scrambling the eggs up and feeding them back to them when it gets a little colder for extra protein.
By the way birdman I am in love with your pheasants. I might have to add some to my flock in the spring. DO they mix ok with your chickens?

I wouldn't recommend putting them with chickens...chickens carry a lot of nasty stuff that they are more resistant to however I have seen people have them together...however be careful the chickens and pheasants can breed....ive seen it myself...plus you need a top for the pheasants....they are not free range birds...

Are you using supplemental lighting?
How old are layers?

I have little over one year olds that consist of last years chicks and they are about 50percent of the flock...I only like them to be this old and not really any older..seems to me like when they get older they get a bit smaller then what they normally should be..so we butcher then normally after a year...I was told that they loose their good laying abilities and they get quite tough when you eat them after a year as well..iv noticed a decrease in egg production when they get this age as well ....and the other 50 percent are from this years hatch not sure how old they are but my guess in may junish If I would guess.....

well here are some pics of the progress...got one door completely hung and it seems like the frames are not level so when I level them this spring I will have to fix a couple of things...but all Is going well so far....alittle snow as you can see but I was born for the cold...so on we go to the next door...keep watching and stay tuned....

 

[Flyfish1985]

Hey Birdman! Been great talking to you a bit. Thought I would throw those flies up that I showed you that you liked. This is a very interesting thread to read through for sure as well!
Have a good one!

 

[birdman55]

well I figured I would share what happened this morning....it was something else.....so the dogs start going crazy and I cant figure out what they are freaking out about...so I start checking things out and see on the camera something was running down the driveway...so I look out front and here it is two horses...one mini and one regular sized...im like no way...I remember passing a house on my way to a different city and I was like I think those horses belong to them....
so theres the horses that magically came into the yard today



I went out to say hi..and they were friendly

I first started to walk them back to their home...but that didn't work so I got two dog leashes and was able with some help escort them home...and the owners were like thank you so much....I did my good deed for the day...good karma...

mae says that taking the horse home was easier then walking our dogs...lol...she took the little one I took the big one

the big one...you can do anything with a bag of carrots...hahaha

now let me tell you I have no experience with horses either....I guess Im just an animal person....
IM THE HORSE WHISPERER

 

[birdman55]

Advice for the day: If you have a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: Take two, and KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN.

 

[birdman55]

What do you use for nesting boxes or areas

and my thread...i will take some pics of the boxes with the chickens...the pheasants however will lay anywhere...i have a cinnamon golden pheasant that is now laying on the roost that is four feet high...she broke yesterdays egg she laid...bummer...have to break that somehow...two days ago...i went into the pen and she layed it on the perch and i just held my hand out and caught it....im going to add more brush to the coop....i believe she is getting picked on by the others when she is trying to lay the egg

Birdman, I've never ordered birds at all, but of course have looked. I was blown away at GFF prices. You paid top dollar for less than good quality birds. I can understand your frustration. I hope they compensate you for the time and aggravation it has caused you.

Went to my 1st swap this past weekend after DHs dog attacked and killed 4 of my hens and injured on of my CCL roos. I bought 3 birds and learned valuable lessons for next time. I bought from what seemed to be a knowledgeable farmer and his birds were large, beautiful, and looked healthy. I got a barred rock, Easter Egger, and a Jersey Giant. All I breeds I currently have. On the way home the Easter Egger laid an egg......LOL! Then as I was putting them in the quarantine coop, I heard the Easter Egger breathing hard and has a cough, and the barred rock has her tail down.

I should've checked them out much better than I did. I gave them a dose of Duramycin tonight at feeding. I never use antibiotics and try to have the philosophy that I seen another byc member had that said something like "If you chose to medicate your flock, you have chosen to weaken your flock." I am hoping these hens will get better and thrive here, and more importantly not get any of mine sick. Very hard lesson I have learned.

here is a great site for you to start with...
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
as for what i would do...i worm her right off the bat...to get rid of whatever she might be carrying..i would worm her orally....or put the liquid on a small piece of bread and give it that way to all the newcomers...as for the "weakening of your flock" i dont think that is true..when you give them vitamins/electrolytes i have read in the long run they will be alot healthier and stronger....i think the to medicate or not to medicate is just a personal preference....most people that are really strong against that ...they want their birds to be organic...and once you give them meds then they are no longer organic...hope they get better for you...keep us posted...if you would like and put some pics on here....maybe someone can see in the pic what is wrong and help out better....just a thought...

so i got up this morning and looked at the phone...and seen a private message...so i opened it ...and the last person i thought would be pming me would be the owner of byc rob ludlow...Nifty-Chicken on here...i was so happy to read what i have inspired and helped people from all over the world...

Ovations Master! SUPER CONGRATS! Top 0.05%

one thing I do from time to time is look at the members that are getting the most “Ovations” and I was pretty impressed with what I saw!

So, out of literally hundreds of thousands of members, your name was in the top 0.05% (yes, that’s 1/20th of one percent!!!) with the most ovations received in the past few months!
It’s fantastic to see other members helping to recognize the contributions you’ve made to our wonderful community.
It’s often hard to know to what extent the things we do help and impact other people in a positive way. Fortunately the ovations you’ve received have pointed to the fact that other members really like what you’ve been posting! What’s even more interesting, is for every member of BYC that your posts have helped, inspired, uplifted, etc., there are literally hundreds of thousands more site visitors (lurkers) over the world that have been helped, but haven’t logged into BYC yet to show their appreciation.

Again, I just wanted to share with you what I discovered and thank you for your contributions to our amazing group! Keep up the great work!

THANKS ROB...YOU MADE MY DAY AND REALLY SHOWED ME TO STAY STRONG FOR THE VIEWERS THAT I HAVE INSPIRED AND TO KEEP THE FORUM STRONG...I WILL DO MY BEST AS YOU KNOW THIS HAS BEEN AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY FOR ME..

THANKS TO EVERYONE AS WELL FOR BEING THERE AND KEEPING ME STRONG...THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE GUIDED ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION...WITHOUT YOU GUYS I DONT THINK I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PUSH MYSELF TO GET AS FAR AS I HAVE GOTTEN IN SUCH A SHORT PERIOD....

THE ONLY THING THAT COULD MAKE MY DAY BETTER IS TO GET A EMAIL FROM GFF...SO WELL SEE ILL KEEP YOU GUYS POSTED...THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE FOR WATCHING...STAY TUNED