California - Northern

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: I have to make my own granola - have you ever priced the gluten free stuff? Its EXPEN$IVE! And the home-made stuff is so much tastier - you can put exactly what you like in it - and no artificial anything.

brief broody update: the one that was moved last night that was NOT sitting on her nest this morning, IS sitting on it now that i'm home from work this afternoon, and seems quite contented -- so that's a huge relief.

so she's started today on Chiqita's eggs, i've got a few from Deann that will go, together with shipped eggs from Molly, tomorrow under the broody australorp -- my SPPR has about 12 days to go to hatch and Eleanor the basque should be hatching on/around this sunday! so much anticipation of baby chicks!!!

and quick question: Molly's eggs are being sent, since i don't have time this week to make the drive -- should i let them "rest" for a day, after they arrive, before putting them under the broody australorp, or can they start cooking right away?

thanks!

I know when I moved my broody I was afraid she would abandon ship too. I only turned her around in the coop so she faced another door and blocked off the other section - but I was so relieved when she came out to poop and drink that she went right back to the nest (after looking around in total confusion

)

Oh, on the egg question.. I would candle them when they get there. If all the air cells look great I would set them - if ANY are messed up let the whole batch "rest" for a day to re-attach..

This is from the turkey hatch along.

Do you think maybe one of my eggs was "starting" to go bad???


I'm glad I decided to investigate the slight smell that was coming out of the cabinet. Do you think a spray of Oxine and a little candlewax will fix it back up???

I'm not kidding, the smell was only slight...............................and I have a very good sense of smell.

I checked the egg on each side of this one, they were both waving at me.

Thank goodness you caught that - oh my and ICK!

Um... maybe two sprays of Oxine.. and a box of crayolas...

all colors...

I am so glad you didn't stink up your new bator and ruin the hatch...

 

[debs_flock]

Thank goodness you caught that - oh my and ICK!

Um... maybe two sprays of Oxine.. and a box of crayolas...

all colors...

I am so glad you didn't stink up your new bator and ruin the hatch...

Yeah, there were nearly 300 eggs in there.............................I would have been sad

 

[WildflowerJLH]

You know, I have a question I ask every time somebody starts telling me how to raise chickens. I ask them "What kind of birds do you raise?" Different breeds do different things. I wouldn't feed Cornish X scratch - they really do need all the protein from the starter mix. However, if their answer is "none".. or "I know somebody who raises birds" then I look at their advise in a different light.

I had one very opinionated person tell me one time that "Chickens are Vegetarians" I laughed so hard and she looked affronted and told me "No, my grandmother raised chickens and they never ate meat"... hoo boy - I still can't get her to change her mind. I have seen my own chickens eat each other until I separated out the picked on one. I know they eat bugs and worms - and I have even heard of them eating rats (I wish mine would) and mice. I have seen them after lizards and snakes. I still don't know why they have chicken food that is marked "no animal by-products". I bet my birds would LOVE some animal by-products...

That is a great way to decide how much weight to give their "advice." We ONLY feed chicken feed with animal protein (fish meal). Most of us here know that chickens are omnivores. Feeding a vegetarian diet seems like it would be missing some critical amino acids!

I have a friend that won't even put table scraps with meat out for her chooks. She carefully separates the veg from the meat. When I told her that chickens were omnivores, she said, "not mine!"

 

[Happy Chooks]

Eeeeew deb.

 

[PetRock]

That sounds yummy, I just saw a recipe in one of my food magazines that sounded good maybe I'll have to make some this weekend.

Here is the basic recipe that I use. I usually double it and vary the dried fruit that I add. It is wonderful with milk or as a snack mix.

Homemade Coconut Granola

ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut (I use unsweetened large flakes)
1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds
1/3 cup pepitas
1/3 cup shelled raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit or raisins, optional
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or substitute honey instead)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, almonds, pepitas, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and coconut extract. Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients. Stir until dry ingredients are well-coated.
3. Pour the granola mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread granola into an even layer. Bake for 50 minutes or until granola is golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let granola cool completely. Store in an air-tight container for up to 1 month.

 

[Janeothejungle]

Question peoples.

I have a group of 6 that I bought as pullets, they are 5 weeks or so now and free ranging in the backyard during the day together (with me outside on my laptop). I've noticed that Little Dave (formerly Lady Di) is the ringleader. Unfortunately this is a big city. No roosters allowed. So, I found little dave a nice adoptive home. My question is this..... Should I do it now, and remove him so the girls can work out a new pecking order before I move them all into the coop I am building, or would it be better to 'break up the band' at the last moment (ie when he starts trying to crow). I'd rather limit the stress on my girls since they are already getting used to little dave being the lookout. At the same time, I feel guilty about rehoming him and keep thinking I should give him as long as possible with "his girls". Am I crazy to even worry about this?

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:

I guess it wouldn't do any good to tell her they are cannibals too? I have actually witnessed it on one of my hens - somebody pecked out some back feathers and drew blood - and they all joined in eating the poor squacking chicken - who I had to rescue and patch up. Why do you think the big growers have to cut their beaks off? They would eat each other when they are overcrowded!

Its why we use blu-kote - to prevent them from seeing anything bloody as "food" and reacting accordingly, even each other.

I am sure my birds would eat chicken pieces and parts with no problems, even raw. I guess its only our perceptions of what they should eat that determines what we feed them. They will pretty much eat anything edible - and some things that aren't - like that broken glass, screws, Styrofoam, pieces of paint.. etc...

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Wow, all this talk about cancer is sad to hear and scary!! We eat pretty healthy, but I plan to buy more organic foods!

Candled my dozen shipped "Very Rare Colors" d'Anver eggs last night and wouldn't you know, all of them are growing except the 3 Porcelains that I specially asked for

The good news is that when talking with the breeder (Boggy Bottom Bantams) he said I can breed my porcelain pair to the buff Columbians (that I will be hatching from these eggs hopefully!) and get a percentage of buff Columbian, Porcelain and lavender Columbian colored chicks!

All 8 of the pure wheaten/blue wheaten Ameraucana eggs from my trio that were set at the same time are growing

glad the ameraucana are growing for ya

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA and missed commenting on so many posts. I am happy for the hatches! And thinking good thoughts to people going through rough things, especially health wise. That's so scary. I had/have precancerous cells on my cervix and my doctor wanted to amputate part of it - we want to have more kids and I had amazing pregnancies and water births (and my last baby was over 10lbs! 4 hour birth

) and I really didn't want to mess with preterm labor or possible infertility, so I went to a naturopath and with diet change and some supplements (mostly just green tea!) the cells are less severe and almost gone! It's amazing what diet can do for your body. I wish more people knew. I really struggle with healthy eating, though.

Has anyone ever used local honey to treat their allergies? We just had a man remove honey bees from our wall and are going to get some honey from him. I hope it helps Mark! He's got very bad allergies. Here are a few pictures from yesterday:







Clementine holding a drone. She sat out there all afternoon while the man worked and he told her all about bees. So cool.






He is relocating the bees and uses the honeycomb for candles and sells the honey! He is going to come back and put hives in our back pasture next year.




Yum! We got to eat some.



Our landlord finally came out Saturday and told us we have to move our chicken coop and he changed his mind about us getting goats. Very disappointed. He also told us we have to fill in the little pond the ducks swim in (that was here before we moved in). Can't wait until we can buy a house (which is like 10 years away, thanks student loans

). AND we've found three dog ticks in our bedroom... so, that's terrible.

All the chicks are doing well. Cleaning out the incubator today, don't think I'm up to doing eggtopsies on them. Just going to try and keep the humidity lower next time and see how we do. Really looking forward to our next hatch! Aiming to set April 25th. I need to figure out the best way to clean out our big brooder - it's wooden and has no floor or top. 7 ft long. We have a tarp under it. Any ideas? I did get the Oxine, haven't used it yet.

Well thanks to anyone who read that novel!

that is crazy. yes natural LOCAL honey helps with local allergies

Jason changed his login recently. You can change it once.

Send a PM to Happy Chooks.

I of course will be very confused with the new name but will look for the Big Daddy picture....

yep. I was told I had to ask a employee. Best way is to post asking how to change it and someone will contact you

This is wonderful. I know where many of you are located. We are above Placerville only recently coming from Sacramento after 8 years. We lived in Watsonville, between Monterey and Santa Cruz all our lives. I called it central CA. It is exciting to know each of you. This is actually our first year having chickens. We would like to move to Sanora or Mariposa maybe next year if we find someone who will rent to us with chickens!

welcome I am in EXTREME EAST PLACERVILLE just south of Sierra Springs off Slypark rd

Here is the basic recipe that I use. I usually double it and vary the dried fruit that I add. It is wonderful with milk or as a snack mix.

Homemade Coconut Granola

ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut (I use unsweetened large flakes)
1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds
1/3 cup pepitas
1/3 cup shelled raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit or raisins, optional
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or substitute honey instead)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut, almonds, pepitas, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and coconut extract. Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients. Stir until dry ingredients are well-coated.
3. Pour the granola mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread granola into an even layer. Bake for 50 minutes or until granola is golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Let granola cool completely. Store in an air-tight container for up to 1 month.

yum yum yummy to the tummy

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Ron how are the U of A doing ?
I think I had a bator malfunction.
I have had 3 olive eggers and 1 crele penedesenca hen hatch nothing on the rest. Probably ok as I am getting chick loaded..
I do need more crele and white emps to hatch though.
I have another order to ship then can set more Monday. We have had to fire the stove up with the cold weather which probably has not helped. I had to help the last 2 hatch.

 

[ronott1]

Ron how are the U of A doing ?
I think I had a bator malfunction.
I have had 3 olive eggers and 1 crele penedesenca hen hatch nothing on the rest. Probably ok as I am getting chick loaded..
I do need more crele and white emps to hatch though.
I have another order to ship then can set more Monday. We have had to fire the stove up with the cold weather which probably has not helped. I had to help the last 2 hatch.

I hear cheeping but nothing yet. They hatch late like Marans and take their time hatching.

I hope to see pipping soon!

Sorry about the bator problem..