California - Northern

[manychitlens]

Me too...but they are bad here right now. I haven;t ever had them go after my chickens though. We have been hearing them in the walls lately. We had a pest control service for a while, but ail they would do was put out bait stations. I have had better luck with the battery operated traps that zap them. I can only find them at Lowe's now because, apparently someone complained to Home Depot that they were "cruel". OK...how is it crueler to kill them instantly that to poison them and have them die a long, painful death? Frankly...I would rathr be zapped if I were a rat. Besides, when you poison them they can still reproduce and cause damage before they die and there is risk of a family pet getting a hold of the carcass and ingesting the poison too...

In the walls.... *shudder* I would lose my mind, I think. They are such disgusting creatures. I'm with you on the poison, I'm sure that's why nobody can ever get rid of them in our neighborhood, everyone has dogs so we're all worried about poisoned rats.

 

[manychitlens]

We are very good at chicken math here!

Chicken math is alive and well already in my life, just minus the actual chickens, so I'm so glad to find some kindred spirits!

RoseVille has a small animal auction--They take cockerels there.

That's really good to know, thank you! I'm already sad thinking about it but it's just reality I guess. Sigh. I just get so attached to animals!

Here is the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/538337/silly-swimming-chickens-i-mean-ducks-i-mean-chickens

WOW! That is crazy! And so cute!

 

[TheKeeper]

Quote: I miss my yellow lab. She enjoyed bird hunting but LOVED to catch rats. We found a nest underneath the dog house: she got 5 of 7. Chomp, drop, chomp, drop, etc... The last one bit her lip & hung there until we said "Get it". She flipped it up on the air, caught it on the way down, chomp...Wish I had had a video camera.

 

[manychitlens]

Okay so I have a question (the first of many, I'm sure). The section of yard that we are planning on using for the enclosed chicken garden backs up to a neighbor with huge oleanders. We try to keep them cut back from our fence, but inevitably some of the debris from the bushes comes into our yard. I've been searching for info about this regarding chickens. Obviously I know that they are very poisonous, but does anyone have any personal experience with them? A lot of the posts that I read said that their chickens leave the plants alone, so I'm hoping this will be the case for us. Unfortunately it's the only area that we can close off in the yard for the chickens, and it really is the best place (the most sheltered from the sun, etc), but those darn bushes are HUGE! I was thinking of hacking the tops off of them and seeing if she noticed, haha... anyway what are your thoughts? Should I do something to try and protect them from the dropping leaves and flowers? I'm not sure what I could do really but maybe I could figure something out.

 

[chrissyr]

My Genesis is almost a year old now. I had borrowed incubators the year before so this will be my 3rd year of hatching. Last year, I obsessed over the humidity with every hatch. I fiddled around with which section/sections to fill on the tray. I bought different hygrometers/thermometers to check my incubator for accuracy. I panicked if the humidity went above 50 or below 35 during the first 18 days. My hatches ended being okay but not terrific. This year when I brought out my incubator for hatching, I decided to not be so OCD about it all. I've been filling the number 1 outside section on the tray with the beginning humidity of 50-54% then adding more water when the humidity drops below 40% to keep it around 45%. Then on day 18 when I set the eggs for hatch, I fill up section 1 and fill section 2 and the humidity stays at around 60% until hatching starts. I have a length of clear aquarium tubing that I insert through the top vent hole and through the screen into section 1 on days 1-18 and into section 2 on days 18-22. I use a basting syringe to add water through the tube. My hatches this year have been so much better than last year! My last one, I set 23 eggs. I ended up with 20 chicks that hatched, 2 that fully formed but did not hatch, and 1 that shouldn't have made it into lock down because it was just yolk or an early quitter. I am very pleased with the results and I'm glad to have a more relaxed experience. I'm sure if I was setting expensive, shipped eggs, I might be a little more uptight about it. And maybe the breeds that I am hatching like the higher humidity or are just stronger breeds? Almost all the eggs that I have been hatching are from my Langshan roos or my Pita Pinta roo.

Thank you so much!

Here is the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/538337/silly-swimming-chickens-i-mean-ducks-i-mean-chickens

Soooo cute!!!

 

[juststruttin]

i do not plan on using these crossed chicks for breeding, i'm just curious as to what they will look like, while waiting for my female isbars to get to the point of lay. Isbars aren't supposed to be mottled, so no need to introduce that variable into their line!

and there's been quite an interesting discussion of SFH genetics over on that thread, and while they do have wild patterns, they are pretty easy to identify as being black, blue, or splash based -- my pullet (who came from Deann last year) is a beautiful blue-based girl -- the blue is in the "background" of her feathers, particularly on her head and tail:


and she's crossed with my handsome blue isbar:


and the result, so far, is two black chicks and one splash!

Your Swede grew out beautifully. This should indeed be a beautiful cross. I miss my Swedes. Perhaps one day I will have a couple in my layer flock.

 

[juststruttin]

then passing the rest on to create new addicts.

 

[juststruttin]

No, no chickens yet unfortunately. I realize that I'm jumping the gun a little by posting here, but you are all so knowledgeable that I've been reading like crazy. We are going to get our property all set up and secured first, so it will probably be a little while until we're ready. I also want to wait until my 4 month old is a little older, since I'll have more access to my hands at that point, haha.

I have been stalking juststruttin's orpingtons though on her website......

Welcome to the thread. Never too early to join but beware... this forum is full of enablers!!

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Anyone that has isbars, when did they start to lay?

 

[UrbanFarming]

@tommysgirl Thanks! I'm so stoked to collect my own eggs! Do you still live in the area?