California - Northern

[1234duck]

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We didn't get the animals till after we moved to my parents ranch. I'm still learning all this stuff about the ducks & chickens. I decided to try incubating. lol I have 8 fertile duck eggs in incubator due March 8th. 5 more eggs in there too, they went in five days later & I'm pretty sure they are fertile also. Maybe, if your not looking for a certain duck or ducks and you are prepared to have some, I would be glad to give some ducklings a new home. I have to see what hatches, 13 possibly. Very sweet & friendly ducks. They are Rouen Ducks, the drake is a very good size, looks just like a Mallard. Hen is brown/black with some blue on her feathers. Then I have Golden Cascade. Pretty ducks, they are a Carmel & white color the hen is kinda small the drake is a larger duck, they pretty. But, ONLY the Rouen Drake will be the daddy.~ There will be Rouen ducklings & GC/Rouen ducklings. Julie

 

[dldolan]

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These girls never saw your brooder Cheryl (as opposed to SO many of my other fabulous girls) - these two hatched from that very first batch of "extra" eggs that you gave me, and were raised by the co-brooding millie mommas!

I am so glad that you like them Dawn, and that they are mixing in well with your flock.

ha ha I started writing you a response, completely forgetting you are my bestest chicken friend ever, Dyann! nice to see you on byc...and see you this afternoon for a fun fest of vaccinating, wine and hot tubbing!

Oh yeah that's right, I forget you baby hatched those out...

Just spent 4 hours outside in the rain, cleaning (couldn't wait till tomorrow) repositioning tarps, putting alfalfa all over everywhere so the flock doesn't have to swim in the mud and putting a corrugated roof on the baby pen...argh everything is a mess...next to clean the brooder with 37 chicks, I have to take pics and chronicle the wheaten marans growth, at least that what Bev wants me to do...

AND DYANN, you should probably change your handle from cute little Chooklet to something like MONDO CHICKEN HOARDER then I could recognize you! xoxox

They are such good girls! And smart! Took them all of 2 minutes to figure out that I am the treat lady!

Keep the name suggestions coming!
Jeremy, lucky lucky on the non-muddy land!
Today's pics:

And my BCM hooligan boys today -- seven weeks worth of feathering and they are coming along nicely, I think! :

 

[LittleBerkeleyFarm]

Hello all! I'm Taylor, new to BYC and relatively new to norcal, if you'd call Berkeley Northern Cali, some wouldn't but it's north to me!
I'm just getting started with my chickens, almost done with the coop but the rain isn't helping me get there. I have 4 girls almost 5 weeks old now, a Black Australorp (Penny), a New Hampshire Red (Sunshine), and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes (Bunni and Muffin).

For now my girls live in an enclosure in my room, yes in my bedroom and next to my bed in fact. My boyfriend has asked repeatedly if we can move them but I keep telling him they have to be in our bedroom or they won't know us. Truthfully I have just become accustomed to seeing them when I wake up in the morning. Plus Honeygirl my 15 year old Chihuahua is convinced that they are her babies and has recently been choosing to sleep in her dog bed next to their cage instead of under the covers in bed with me, which is very unlike her, so they have to stay.

I've read that they will be ready to go out to the coop at 6 weeks old, but it's been so cold and rainy lately I just can't imagine putting them out there so soon. Hopefully it warms up before the time comes, if not then they can just stay inside a little longer. Any tips or at least comforting thoughts about this? I'd appreciate it. Any tips at all for a first timer would really be appreciated actually.

My next step in the coop includes roosting poles and nesting boxes, I'm a little confused about how thick the poles should be and how big (deep, wide, long, everything) the nesting boxes should be. Also, do I need to have a nesting box for each chicken? This won't be a problem, I'll probably end up with more nesting boxes than I need as I have accidentally constructed a chicken mansion instead of the little coop I had envisioned, but I'd like to be free to add to my flock sooner or later so this is good.

It's nice to meet you all and I look forward to hearing anything you have to say!
Off to bed now, it's way past my bedtime and my pups are already in there. Goodnight!

 

[cherylcohen]

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[Cacciatore]

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Welcome to BYC and to the Northern California thread.

Berkeley is most definitely in NorCAl in MHO. Make your roosting poles about 2" wide with rounded edges. A closet pole makes a good roost. Make your nest box about one foot square. You will only need one nesting box for 4 hens however since you have room you may want to make a few because a flock tends to become enlarged with little notice, something about chicken math.

 

[calgal98]

Yes, welcome to the Norcal thread. I'm in Oakdale and consider myself norcal. I'm getting ready to hatch 4 dzn chicks this week, a mixed bag, more to hatch next week, as well as another 3-4 dzn going in later this week to begin the incubation process. Now to just sit on my hands and NOT buy more eggs!! My brooder is ready to go. I also have 14 goats due to kid in the next month, so will be very, very busy. All this and we have had so much rain I'm scrambling to keep my heavy does in dry areas so they don't kid in muddy hay if they kid early! Ugh...was really enjoying the spring weather. Now we have deep mud everywhere!

Enjoy your chickens. I guess you know they are addictive??

Vicki

 

[PetRock]

and congrats on the new chickens! BYC is a great place for info on all things chicken plus life in general! I've met the nicest people on here who are always willing to help no matter what the question or problem!

That's great that you made your coop bigger than you need because chicken math is a reality!!! We started last spring with one barred rock chick that was given to us. Went to the feed store a week later and purchased three friends for her. Then found out that we loved having chicks so much that a month later we purchased three more to bring our total to 7. We are anxiously waiting for the end of March to arrive when we will have babies again! We use a 2 x 4 for our roost with the wider side up. We have three nest boxes for our seven girls and they use all of them. I thought about having one large community nest box but I'm glad that we didn't do that. Ours definitely like having the choice of which box to lay in. The top hen will sometimes chase the other ones out of the boxes because she wants to be in there all by herself when she lays. The chased out ones have to sneak back in while Precious is occupied and not looking. At times, all three boxes are occupied at the same time.

Debi

 

[PetRock]

Quote:
ha ha I started writing you a response, completely forgetting you are my bestest chicken friend ever, Dyann! nice to see you on byc...and see you this afternoon for a fun fest of vaccinating, wine and hot tubbing!

Oh yeah that's right, I forget you baby hatched those out...

Just spent 4 hours outside in the rain, cleaning (couldn't wait till tomorrow) repositioning tarps, putting alfalfa all over everywhere so the flock doesn't have to swim in the mud and putting a corrugated roof on the baby pen...argh everything is a mess...next to clean the brooder with 37 chicks, I have to take pics and chronicle the wheaten marans growth, at least that what Bev wants me to do...

AND DYANN, you should probably change your handle from cute little Chooklet to something like MONDO CHICKEN HOARDER then I could recognize you! xoxox

They are such good girls! And smart! Took them all of 2 minutes to figure out that I am the treat lady!

Keep the name suggestions coming!
Jeremy, lucky lucky on the non-muddy land!
Today's pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/65263_img-20110219-000521.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/65263_img-20110219-000501.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/65263_img-20110218-000181.jpg

And my BCM hooligan boys today -- seven weeks worth of feathering and they are coming along nicely, I think! :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/65263_img-20110219-000331.jpg
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/65263_img-20110219-000461.jpg

What gorgeous girls and handsome boys!!!! I "need" some speckled sussex!!!!

 

[Chooklet]

They are such good girls! And smart! Took them all of 2 minutes to figure out that I am the treat lady!

Yeah, the "treat lady" concept is one that they were always particularly good at!

 

[dedicateddourly]

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Where in Berkeley are you? I'm near Monterey Market. I've only had my flock of two for 9 months, so I'll leave it to the experts to give you advice.