California - Northern

[Alli Lea]

I had a friend ask how we could get eggs since we have no rooster. Then he asked if I had thought about getting a castrated rooster to boost egg production. Crazy.

 

[liz9910]

Last night at about 4:00am I woke up to squawking and bawking. I ran outside making noise to scare whatever was scaring the chickens away. One of the chickens was making a noise like it was being held or dragged. I grabbed a flashlight and went down to the coop. Everybody was there, no blood. There were about 4 chickens at the front of the coop and were in slight shock. 2 were on the very end of the left side of the roost. 2 were on the rabbit hutch (used for laying and sometimes roosting).

I soon figured out there was a coon that got stuck somewhere in between 2 pieces of the coop. Everybody was fine this morning. I only saw a couple fresh breast feathers near the rabbit hutch.

I'm getting ready to put up some coops soon...

How awful! I'm glad all of your chickens are ok.

 

[liz9910]

We keep a several different species including crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, leachianus geckos, ball pythons and russian tortoises. It's a lot of fun!

That does sound like fun! The Russian tortoises are really cute

 

[WildflowerJLH]

Hi, All!!! Monet and I are back in California after spending a week helping with my sister's girls while she had surgery. It was special to be there with them but we sure missed our chickens and I was happy to see them this morning!

My sister is doing fine and is thankful that the tumor is gone! After removing it, the doctors changed the status from stage 0 to stage 2 because it had grown so much in the past 2 weeks and had some aggressive characteristics. The lymph nodes were clear so she will probably not have to have radiation but may need to have chemo. The pathology report won't be in for a few weeks and once it is in, the doctors can decide where to go from here. I was very impressed with her doctors and the hospital.

We got back in Oakland late last night. Our first day back home in California was sure eventful. All of my chickens were fine but someone hacked into my eBay account and charged my PayPal account for shipping for 35 international packages. It was a huge amount of money and I didn't have enough in my PayPal account to cover it so PayPal took the money from my bank account. When I went to pay a bill this morning, my bank balance was at $0!

Talk about a shock! Thank God that I caught it on the day the charges were to go through! My credit union was able to reverse the charges and put a block on my account so PayPal couldn't withdraw the money again. I spent all morning and part of the afternoon on the phone with PayPal and eBay. I think that I talked to 6 different eBay customer service representatives working out of India. Talk about frustrating! One operator had me void all of the shipping labels and change my password. 2 of the packages were already in transit so I was unable to void them. They were shipped from Banks, OR and Azusa, CA. I have my money back but I'm sure that this isn't the end of the problem! Someone will have to eat the $55.40 in postage for the 2 packages that were mailed but they better not try to make me pay for them!

All I wanted was a nice relaxing day with my chickens. I just poured a glass of wine and I'm headed off to watch some mindless TV! Have a good evening!

Welcome home! All of the Paypal/Ebay stuff sounds horrible! I have about 50 packages that I will be getting ready to ship (many are international), so I know how quickly that adds up (particularly with the NEW increased charges!) I hope you are able to get it all straightened out without a whole lot more trouble.

 

[liz9910]

So far my favorite comment from a friend is she is grossed out by sperm injected eggs. Not enough hours in the day to help people understand how it all works. Ah well

I just overheard my boss say that he won't eat free range eggs because they eat their poop if they free range, and that caged birds don't have access to their poop. OMG!!

 

[debs_flock]

Thanks for the encouragement, Deb!

I wasn't sure about the Lakenvelders, but the hatchery said they couldn't provide the ordered Golden Campines, so I looked at some pictures & thought I'd take a chance. I'm glad to hear that you are happy with both the breeds I selected, and the one that is being sent as a substitute. Are you raising Gold Campines? That was the breed I was especially interested in, since my "mystery" chicken I acquired from a friend was identified as a Gold Campine. She was a little hands-offish, but very sweet, and layed beatiful eggs - she probably would have been more friendly if I had had her as a baby like I did my Rocks.

I almost took home someone elses chicks from the Post Office. I stopped by to let them know I was waiting for a chick shipment, and I heard baby chicks from the counter. The clerk brought the box up, and I was about to leave, when I looked at the chicks, who didn't look like they were the right color for my order, and the shipping tag - not my babies, but a neighbors! However, at least I know that a) they call immediately when recieved (he said his wife was picking them up), and b) the chicks that were shipped yesterday afternoon made it by this morning.

I am now babbling because I'm waiting with bated breath for my new little angels

Cackles & coos to everyone!

Jan

I always have golden campines, they are one of my major breeds. I collect around a dozen eggs from them per day. If you want chicks, let me know and I can set some. At hatch they would be straight run, but I can usually sex them by 10-14 days.

Hi Alli Lea and CapayValleyChick -


Quote:

I am actually in Sacramento County, and my grandparents had an orchard in Woodland, so I'm pretty close to you guys and am familiar with the area. It's nice to have other chicken people close!

Clucks and coos!

Jan

I live in the Placerville area, so just up the hill.

People refuse to buy my eggs because I have roosters. Sheesh.

I had someone ask me how the rooster fertilized the egg after it was laid.............................

Deb

 

[OR4-hmom]

I had a friend ask how we could get eggs since we have no rooster. Then he asked if I had thought about getting a castrated rooster to boost egg production. Crazy.

The FDA/USDA inspector that came by yesterday said the same thing. Looks like he will be buying a couple of BLRW when they reach point of lay. He was surprised at the size difference between hatchery and heritage, first time he was able to see them side by side.

ETA- He also asked how much I fed each one, no concept of always having food available for them.

 

[WildflowerJLH]

Finally caught up on this thread, AGAIN!

Welcome to all the new recruits! This is a great group!

 

[chiqita]

It says I am supposed to have 4 of these and I only have 2. I cannot find these parts online though.

Those just hold the wire down can use paperclips or a rock

 

[gryeyes]

I decided to get "a few" chickens - a very firm four, or six, maybe eight - for their fertilizer. Horrible soil where I was living and I was so tired of buying and lugging soil amendments for the raised beds I built. Then I learned chickens eat bugs. Whoo hoo! Oh, yeah, they lay eggs, too. Not much of an egg eater back then.... But I could start.

Now I'm a big egg eater. Can't keep up with a flock of 54 pullets/ hens, though, even in the winter. I sell some, give some to a local church pantry, eat lots of 'em, and give a dozen as tips to service techs who come here for various reasons. (Filling the propane tank, the UPS delivery folks, my contractor...)

Yeah, thinking back to "4, or 6, maybe 8" chickens.