California - Northern

[sewandgrow]

Hey chicken testicals almost won Top Chef! ( someone said it was the best dish on the show so far, lol) mario gives them as treats to his favorite animal of the day ( dog, cat chicken, turkey etc) they go INSANE for them. They vary drasticaly in size.. and hybred 1/2 silkies often either have mottled testicals or one black and one white!

More then you wanted to know about huavos..


I was going to say if you have a parrot that sells for 2,000 er hatchling the difference is worth it. chickens? not so much unless they are internationally henseminated eggs!
( have I said parrot people are crazy?)
she looks itchy or like she wants more protien. mites or calf manna? Maybe look up feather picking, she could be doing it for the same reasons, but i dunno much about it.

It depends on how dark they are, and what Im hatching with, and if they are shipped, and how big they are. They are tricksy. Chickee is supposed to be an expert! I have some sucess, but don't have enough humidity control for great precision. I'm hoping it gets better with the EXCITING NEW HUMIDITY SOLUTION!

Some say they hatch better, they age less and the protien is supposed to degrade less. But I didnt notice a huge difference.


I wrote a HUGE spreadsheet today, becuse I have no life and someone asked me to, on the ultra mega chicken emergency cabinet. Anyone want to take a look, edit or ad?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuiiQDvORURBdDRvSXBLZ25XLVRhbS1NZjhBVGxlSEE&usp=sharing

I have saved it in my favorite places & will read it when I get through this thread if I ever do........LOL. Thanks Shantih.....

@sewandgrow I will happily regale you with the wonders of CA Greys. They are:

prolific
funny
friendly
small with a good feed conversion
layers of L to XL eggs
in need of saving...no APA so no ALBC recognition

I will give you more details if you want but they are really cool!!

I already have my order in to Debi for 2 breeds she has & now need a source for a few California Grays. My intent is to replace the Brown Leghorns with the California Grays for my white eggs.

Anyone out there ever raised long-tailed birds? If we get any phoenix to hatch just wondering if anyone has suggestions on housing.

I hatched Golden Phoenix, eggs from a local 4Her years ago. A disastrous hatch but got a surviving pullet from it. & my son started a project with her. Being a pullet..no long tail there. My son later had me hatch Yokohamas & we housed them alone in a 6' by 12' cyclone pen with a solid roof. I put multiple perches at varied heights for them & he chose the higher one. We sold eggs & chicks from them the past few years & are now waiting for her to lay to do it again. My son has 4 pens that are his......the Yokohamas, Shamos, (that pair require separate housing except for breeding times) & Lady Amhearst Pheasants. The tails get messy dragging around in the pen.

We will be there as well. Sierra is entering all six of our Jersey Giants and Autumn is entering her bantam Lavender Ameracauna trio.

Here are the stats I received for the show:

2014 Stanco Show Entries


AOCCL69American41

Feather Legged89AOSB31

Modern49Asiatic12

OEGB126Continental19

RCCL95English25

SCCL146Mediterranean11



Bantam Fowl574Large Fowl139



Waterfowl88Turkey8Guinea1



TOTAL BIRDS810



Exhibitors156

Showmanship141 (31 Minis, 18 Novice, 42 Juniors, 20 Int., 30 Seniors)

~~Thanks for the update Wendy. I'll be there with Jules from Madera

Final report on my last hatch. 25 eggs set to hatch day 18. 20 chicks hatched: 6 Pita Pintas, 7 PP/CL mixes (all of these hatched but 1 big fat chick died the first day), 7 Langshans (most helped out and the last one might need toe boots). Of the 5 eggs that didn't hatch, 2 weren't completely developed but late quitters and 3 were completely formed but didn't pip. I have another set of 26 eggs that will be at day 18 tonight and have incubated the whole time in my cabinet hatcher. It will be interesting to see how they hatch. Eggs or chicks, anyone? I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in them!

You already have my order...................I have let tommysgirl know I want California Grays.

Question for quail people out there, does it increase crowing when males can see/hear each other?

I love the sound of his crow but with only 1 male we have only heard him about 6 times. Call me crazy but I wish he would sound off more often.

Every variety I had except the Cotournix were outside so I couldn't tell. The Cotournix were nearby & I could hear them but they were breeding groups & I could hear the roosters crow regularly & it made me giggle inside.

MichaelApple from Sonoma County occasionally shows up here on the Nor Cal thread. He has a young flock too. With all the broody energy I am putting out I should be able to get eggs from him and hatch them this year too.

I could do eggs, chicks or whatever............ Whoever is breeding them & has some to share I can buy some. Thanks..............

 

[sewandgrow]

Some are just louder. If you want mad crowing put them in a cage next to the wimmenz.
(I do not know why I think roosters call female animals wimmenz. But I do! I never call them anything else in the context of male/female relations.)

Boys caged together crow a ton too. The will crow more when the girls are naturally laying and the hormones kick in.
Finding things on this thread is a challange!

The 25 new Cotounix quail we got for my son had a really mean rooster in it. He literally took the top of another roosters scalp off. My son had to put that one out of its misery & got rid of the mean one too. That will leave his breeding at risk for hatching eggs but all the hens are good so he will be good for plenty of eating eggs. They are right at 8 weeks so any day now they should lay.

I agree that finding things on this thread is difficult. I sometimes scan back for many many pages to find something I read & usually just give up.....LOL

 

[Audio51]

Quote:
I have used the "Advanced search" for things on the thread successfully if I know a few key words or who said it. Just this morning I was looking for where Nikki is from because someone on the FB 530 Poultry group is from Susanville. I was asking her if she know of anyone with Seramas for Nikki..

 

[tommysgirl]

she looks itchy or like she wants more protien. mites or calf manna? Maybe look up feather picking, she could be doing it for the same reasons, but i dunno much about it.

Hmmm...they get a 20% all purpose ration. Last year it was 16% layer but now that I have boys and sometimes chicks I give them all the multi purpose feed. I was going to pick up some Calf Manna anyway. How much would you feed. One pen has 10 in it one has 8.

I do have to do a mite check this weekend. Ashamed to say I have never done one.

The fermented feed went over pretty well yesterday. Thanks for your guidance! I also let Laurie know that you thought she had a beautiful healthy flock but that I wouldn't be able to make the trip any time soon.


@PetRock Thanks for this:

Originally Posted by PetRock

"But with "floaters" you would have an additional source of protein for your flock! Pickled mice treats!

I enjoyed reading about your chicken plans! It is always good to have a plan and fun to deviate from it! When we started with chickens, I really liked Barred Rocks and planned to get more. Then I got hooked into trying out different breeds. I brought home a blue Langshan chick from the feed store and fell in love with her. So, BBS Langshans are at the top of my chicken list along with Pita Pintas. Some breeds I thought that I would like until I had them. They were okay but not good layers or not friendly enough, etc.

My DH is supportive of my habit. He helps me build coops and work on the pens at the farm. He even cleans out the big coop almost every weekend. He usually rolls his eyes when I talk about more chicks but today he told me to put all the Pita Pinta eggs that I have into the incubator. Me thinks the man does not know what he is saying! I have dozens of Pita Pinta/PP mix eggs sitting here on my counter top. I accidentally dropped two cartons today and was upset about it until I realized there are a lot more where they came from!"

LOL They would love the snacks but I would have traumatic flashbacks to when we first moved into our house and we had a mouse issue. Found them in the diswasher...after they had been through a cycle..(((((((((shudder)))))))))

My DH also builds coop and he is helping me learn as I build this most recent one. He just doesn't understand the NEED for more chickens. I think your DH is a genius for his PP suggestion!

I love my barred rock. She is chocolate and I hatched her from an egg from ChooksChick. She just finished a molt and her brown is darker and more chocolatey...She doesn't lay a very big egg though. She is my biggest girl but her eggs are still dinky. I hope to hatch blue rocks/blue barred rocks from DMRippy at some point.

 

[capayvalleychick]

My power & water are back on. Over 100 homes lost power around here, yesterday. Maybe due to the wind? Way behind again.

@ronott1 I stored that last batch of eggs pointy end up, without turning. See if that makes any difference. When I thought about it ... hens store their eggs on their sides. Broody raised eggs are never on either end. So why are incubated eggs put on end? Maybe stored eggs should be on their side?

Congrats on that great hatch, btw!

Speaking of pallets, I (with help from DH) made my first pallet project - a brooder. Not pretty but works ok. Chicks were without heat all day, yesterday. 65-70 degrees when I checked. 11 days old. They didn't seem affected at all, were perfectly fine. Strong, happy chicks.
I hadn't attached the heat lamp yet, when I took these photos. The stand is the free one that Premier sent me to replace the broken one.

 

[tommysgirl]

I already have my order in to Debi for 2 breeds she has & now need a source for a few California Grays. My intent is to replace the Brown Leghorns with the California Grays for my white eggs.


I could do eggs, chicks or whatever............ Whoever is breeding them & has some to share I can buy some. Thanks..............

You can find him on this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/160857/california-greys/200#post_12761886 or you can search for him. Maybe @Michael Apple will see this tag and seek you out. I hope it works out for you.

 

[ronott1]

My power & water are back on. Over 100 homes lost power around here, yesterday. Maybe due to the wind? Way behind again.

@ronott1 I stored that last batch of eggs pointy end up, without turning. See if that makes any difference. When I thought about it ... hens store their eggs on their sides. Broody raised eggs are never on either end. So why are incubated eggs put on end? Maybe stored eggs should be on their side?

Congrats on that great hatch, btw!

Speaking of pallets, I (with help from DH) made my first pallet project - a brooder. Not pretty but works ok. Chicks were without heat all day, yesterday. 65-70 degrees when I checked. 11 days old. They didn't seem affected at all, were perfectly fine. Strong, happy chicks.
I hadn't attached the heat lamp yet, when I took these photos. The stand is the free one that Premier sent me to replace the broken one.

Nice setup!


The next hatch is early this time. A Dorking and a Delaware were out this morning. Two were pipped on the turner last night.

I need to move your incubator down one switch. The chicks are healthy though with now visible problems.

 

[OR4-hmom]

One great thing about small communities, my mail carrier just called to ask if I wanted her to deliver the eggs or if I wanted to come and pick them up in town?
They were marked for pickup but she called just to make sure. She did say they weren't smelly like a previous order of basque eggs were. She will stop on her route and we will talk chicken when she sees them cruising in the front yard occasionally. She calls the basques the smelly birds.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Nice setup!


The next hatch is early this time. A Dorking and a Delaware were out this morning. Two were pipped on the turner last night.

I need to move your incubator down one switch. The chicks are healthy though with now visible problems.

Oh good! At least one Dork so far. So the incubator runs hot?

Did you have enough brooders for all your chicks? Your house must sound like a whole lot of chirping!

 

[ronott1]

Oh good! At least one Dork so far. So the incubator runs hot?

Yes, just a bit hot but enough to make them hatch early. The thermometer said 100 to 100.5.

It is not terrible to incubate a bit hot. It is much better than too low.