BYC Café

[ronott1]

But, but, ron, I finished all the ice cream days ago. Thursday I may have a chance to get some more.

This is just between you and me but, I had a 3 pack of Magnum ice cream bars, probably the best chocolate coating in the world. I had 6 pints(really 14 oz. each) of my favorite Haagen Daz Rocky Road, and store special 47cents for 48 oz. of - forgot the name something with caramel in it and caramel flavored ice cream.

Ice cream is a food group!

I hope you can get back to the store soon to get more

 

[Mtn Margie]

Especially good with the coffee bean and the vanilla bean foods! What's not to like?
Done with the wood splitting near the house. Now for the 20++ cords down in the woodyard...
Sold another half of lamb. Technically sold a cord of wood for the fall. Wrapped a wing to a young chicken that injured itself. DH is getting the garden ready to plant.
I need to get dinner started before heading off to wrestling.
Our peepers started up yesterday after the cold rains came in and left and the thaw hit the ground level where they hang out. SPRING!

 

[ronott1]

Especially good with the coffee bean and the vanilla bean foods! What's not to like?
Done with the wood splitting near the house. Now for the 20++ cords down in the woodyard...
Sold another half of lamb. Technically sold a cord of wood for the fall. Wrapped a wing to a young chicken that injured itself. DH is getting the garden ready to plant.
I need to get dinner started before heading off to wrestling.
Our peepers started up yesterday after the cold rains came in and left and the thaw hit the ground level where they hang out. SPRING!

You have been very productive!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I'm so sorry Shad!!!

Congrats on all the new babies!

Cap that avy is THE CUTEST!!!

Thanks, and they are cuddle bugs too!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Sunny and 84° here, without a hint of a breeze. I pinned up the laundry to dry on the line.
I wanted to go to a class on making a water barrel in Danville , but couldn't get anyone on the phone to confirm. Sigh. Well i have lots of chores to do anyway so i will be busy. Planted beans yesterday.

 

[Shadrach]

Again, interesting.
Tonight, everyone came into the new coop, Fabio was again the last to come in but he did it on his own. They are having a hard time figuring out how to get up to the roosts. They had to have wings clipped in December to keep them in their electrified pen. Two of the pullets figured out on their own that they could get where they wanted to go by going up the ramp and walking along the roosts. For some reason, they don't want to walk in the sand mixture on the boards. So I placed some of them in it to let them know it was safe to walk in. One by one, I guided the rest of them up the ramp, Fabio being last.
As you know, I've had some pretty bad episodes with him lately. He was totally fine with all my comings and goings today. After I walked him up the ramp and he hopped up onto the roost he turned around to face me and puffed himself up as big as he could and just stared at me.
He seems to have learned that "good boy" in a 'baby talk' voice is a good thing for him and non-threatening. So I very gently stroked his hackles and beard and kept saying "good boy" in that high voice. At first he was nervous and offered a weak peak at my hand but he eventually relaxed, unpuffed and seemed okay with it.
I'm hoping that we will make progress on coming to terms with my presence in his territory as being non-threatening no matter what I'm doing. We'll see. He does seem to respond positively to my speaking to him. I'll keep trying that.

I talk to the chickens here a lot. I find it helps to keep the calm.
I'm fairly certain that once Fabio gets familiar with his new home and most importantly, gets the hens to follow his lead, he''ll calm down.
I don't know if you do or can pick him up without a fuss, but if you can and can carry him around one handed, it may just help in establishing that your not a threat. I've done it with some of the roosters here. However, it does seem to be important how you pick them up and how you carry them. My niece who is here now wants to take some videos of me handling chickens. Unfortunately she also seems to want to do a thousand other things befor she goes back to the jungle so we will see.

 

[Shadrach]

It's been do the most disgusting chicken job here today; cleaning the congealed crap from Ruffles and Fat Birds bum and general vent inspection.
Myth, the baby killer from Tribe 3 has a couple of small cuts just below her vent. She got the Clorhexidine treatment; she wasn't impressed. I bet it stung.
It's manicure and spurs for the chaps tomorrow.

 

[DobieLover]

I talk to the chickens here a lot. I find it helps to keep the calm.
I'm fairly certain that once Fabio gets familiar with his new home and most importantly, gets the hens to follow his lead, he''ll calm down.
I don't know if you do or can pick him up without a fuss, but if you can and can carry him around one handed, it may just help in establishing that your not a threat. I've done it with some of the roosters here. However, it does seem to be important how you pick them up and how you carry them. My niece who is here now wants to take some videos of me handling chickens. Unfortunately she also seems to want to do a thousand other things befor she goes back to the jungle so we will see.

Thanks for the advice. I will try that. He actually has never liked being picked up since he was a 3 day old chick. He was picked up for sure, but he complained every time.
As you know, one gets lots of rooster advice telling you to do this, don't do that but I'm far more likely to take your advice because you have much more experience with what I consider natural chicken behavior than most others on this site.
Fabio actually lets me get closer to him than the most of the girls do so I'll go ahead and scoop him up tomorrow and see how long it takes him to settle down and relax like he did last night when I was stroking his chest and under his chin. I'm not the type to give up on a challenge. He is certainly becoming a challenge but I want to understand how to make things better. I still don't think he is human aggressive. He gives no one else any issues but me and I'm in his territory more than anyone else.

On another note, my chicks arrived this afternoon. I had one DOA. It was very heart wrenching to see that little one in there dead. I was angered by the fact that there was no heat pack in with them like there was last year.

The rest of the chicks huddled near the heat lamp I have aimed at the mouth of the brooder plate I have set up for them and they were doing the loud "I'm cold" cheep. I was so convinced that I didn't have enough heat for them I dashed off for a 250 watt heat lamp and hood (which I loath the thought of using) that I was going to put on top of the brooder to give them a little more warmth. By the time I got back, they were all perfectly happy darting around the brooder drinking from their vertical nipple waterer, eating their fermented chick mash and nodding off under the brooder plate. They just needed to warm up from the shipping box. Such a worry wart I can be!

One of the higher ups, Draco, came to have a peek at what all the peeping was behind curtain number one. She was not impressed and sauntered back out of the coop.

I was also greeted this morning with a pullet that appears to have had a softie break inside her. She came out of the nest box this morning and hopped down to go out the pop door with everyone else. As I was filling their feed trough that hangs near the door, I saw a clump of straw coated in yolk and that's when I realized it must have been her. She struggled with a softie about 5 weeks ago and has laid perfectly normal since that one.
I went out to the pen to try to get he but she went deep into the "chicken bush" which is somewhat thorny and I couldn't get at her. Her backside was covered in egg. I'll have to pluck her off the roost tonight for a warm soak and some calcium and amoxicillin. At least her treatments will be so much easier to do every morning and evening because I can get at everyone so much better in the new coop.

This post is getting too long. I'll just share a few pictures and call it done!

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi all

Hummingbird eggs have hatched

G'nite

 

[ronott1]

Hi all

Hummingbird eggs have hatched

G'nite

Can you get pictures?