It rained a bit this morning, dried out, then rained again when I went out to get the mail.
I want to say THANK YOU to Ron for suggesting the Brisea spot check therometer. I wasn't trusting the ones in the cabinet because the other two said differently. Well, the spot check got here, I put it in, and sure enough - I have been running at 97 degrees...
, just like the inside thermostat said.. Well its up to 99-100.5 now, I adjusted the thermostat. I had lowered it because one of the other ones was reading 104 and that scared me. I took that one out...
I suspect this last batch is going to be a tad late... Day 21 today and not a pip/peep, nothing.
On days when it's warm out (85-90+) can I take my chicks outside for a while and let them run/scratch/play around in a pen for a while? Or do they need to be a certain age before they can take little fieldtrips outside?
Sounds like the poor mama will take the chicks and congrats on the newly hatched...how many is she sitting on? Don't you love when they peak out from under moms feathers? One of my favorite things.
We spent Sunday separating one of our shed coops into two coops to make the Marans pen. I'm so happy to have them in a safe spot. They were housed in our garden without any real cover. Poor things have endured some nasty winds.
Now all the roosters have to settle their territory through fences. The BCM got out the other day. I put him back but noticed I hadn't heard my EE roo crowing. Finally went to look for him and found him wound in a cord and a tarp. His eye was swollen shut and I had to cut him out! I'm guessing there was a fight.
So now the Polish roo keeps trying to pick a fight with the BCM but I can't blame him, the new guy and his 2 girls are in half his pen (we're expanding the run) and half his coop!
The Polish have a new entrance so they keep trying to come through the fence to come up their old ramp to go in the coop...stubborn little things! Two of them went through a little hole under the coop to go in through their normal door!! Aargh!
Do you like the sign my husband used to make the pop door?
Our dog Kate likes the new digs.
I've been thinking about adding quail. What breed/variety lays an egg close in size to a banty egg? I found some cot eggs locally but then read that they were about the size of a thumbnail. I'm also looking for friendly over flighty. Don't want much do I?
Davis was clear, clear, clear all day! Then around 6:00 PM I started roasting marshmallows and hotdogs in my little fire bowl in the backyard with some friends (chickens trying to jump into the bag with the hotdog buns and sneak a bite) and by 7:30 just as we were making s'mores it started pouring! We bustled everything inside...including the chicks. I think their coop is waterproof, but there seems to be a leak somewhere that I still have to sort out. I caught a few drops of water in the bottom of the coop last time it rained (it's a little coop I bought on Amazon, nothing fancy or home-made).
Also, a question: Do people regularly add supplements to chicken feed? I found a reasonably priced bag of flax seed the other day and thought I'd give it a try, they seemed to peck at it happily enough. I'd love a few more ideas for things to add to my basic Flock Raiser on a daily basis.
Gee, I should have thought to plan an outdoor event or hang some laundry or something so it would have rained here. Have to try it today.
Black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) are good for chickens and they love them, but maybe just throw a few out for them to find. If you mix with feed, they might dig through and spill just to get the seeds.
Also, a question: Do people regularly add supplements to chicken feed? I found a reasonably priced bag of flax seed the other day and thought I'd give it a try, they seemed to peck at it happily enough. I'd love a few more ideas for things to add to my basic Flock Raiser on a daily basis.
I mix up treats every day. A couple of large scoops of scratch and then a small scoop each of BOSS, calf manna, rabbit pellets & kitten food and a couple of handfuls of oyster shell. I mix it all together and then throw 1-3 handfuls into each pen. It gets everyone running to the front so I can do a quick observation of everyone in each run.
They LOVE it, but it's not too much to throw off the nutrition in their food.
from my various experiences with these five broodies so far, i've decided that 8 might be the max number of eggs to give them -- the broody who sat on 13 eggs, even though some were quite small and she seemed to cover them, didn't manage to hatch any, although they candled ok -- guessing that they weren't getting warm enough when they were on the fringe of the nest, even though she moved them around a lot. another who started with 12 has broken at least three -- perhaps they were bad eggs, but i think they got broken when she was trying to maneuver around in the nest (esp. when other chicklets tried to barge in to lay their eggs) -- and Broody #5, who just started on 12 eggs last weekend, had shoved two out of her nest yesterday & then went & sat on a nesting box with only a couple of eggs in it, so i took 4 out, got her back on her own nest, & am hoping she does better with just 8. the one hatching today has 9, 4 of which are small, and so far she seems to have done pretty well.
I Love weather too and oh no! on the poult...would a red Solo Cup work. it would have to anchored in someway to keep it from toppling but it seems that it would be the right size.
Black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) are good for chickens and they love them, but maybe just throw a few out for them to find. If you mix with feed, they might dig through and spill just to get the seeds.
I've been thinking about adding quail. What breed/variety lays an egg close in size to a banty egg? I found some cot eggs locally but then read that they were about the size of a thumbnail. I'm also looking for friendly over flighty. Don't want much do I?
You want coturnix quail. The eggs will not be huge. James Marie eggs were 2/3 bigger then the regular jumbo egg, and that was the size of a serama egg. But if you are trying to sell them they will not fit in a standard quail carton.
For what you want you should go for jumbo or xxl . If you intend to breed they should not be over 17 oz live or you will be fussing with their feet. This is assuming you are eating them. If you are not, go for quail that are a little smaller the feed to egg ratio is much better.
So it comes down to you want cots. But tell me your plan an I'll tell you what kind of cots.
Oh I did read people were keeping quails and doves together. I don't remember who asked that. And I'm not sure how it would work with intros. But it looks like it is not disease dangerous for either bird.
Davis was clear, clear, clear all day! Then around 6:00 PM I started roasting marshmallows and hotdogs in my little fire bowl in the backyard with some friends (chickens trying to jump into the bag with the hotdog buns and sneak a bite) and by 7:30 just as we were making s'mores it started pouring! We bustled everything inside...including the chicks. I think their coop is waterproof, but there seems to be a leak somewhere that I still have to sort out. I caught a few drops of water in the bottom of the coop last time it rained (it's a little coop I bought on Amazon, nothing fancy or home-made).
Also, a question: Do people regularly add supplements to chicken feed? I found a reasonably priced bag of flax seed the other day and thought I'd give it a try, they seemed to peck at it happily enough. I'd love a few more ideas for things to add to my basic Flock Raiser on a daily basis.
The Flax needs to be the ground kind. The seeds just pass through their systems, so aren't much benefit. Besides the ground Flax, some other nutritious foods I add to the Flock Raiser are: Ground Kelp, Alfalfa leaves (I buy alfalfa leaf tea at the health food store) red pepper flakes, black oil sunflower seeds, old fashioned Quaker oats and garlic granules. I like to give my chicks a whole 7 grain cereal (no soy or corn) I also buy at the health food store.
Thought this would interest you since you love the d'Anvers. I posted pictures of them on the d'Anver thread and the breeder told me the two I thought were Dun Quail are actually the VERY RARE "Khaki" Quail color and I was very lucky to get them!!! I am very excited because this is the color I wanted, but didn't expect to get! It would be like getting a splash colored bird from a blue x blue breeding but the likely hood would be a lot slimmer.
OK, tell me about the orangeville small animal sale. Is it worth taking roostes? Do they have meat rabbits? Is it worth taking fancy stock ( i have a pair of mille fleur leghorns, and im not enamored with them)what about fancy chicks? I could bring a broodies with chicks and she could be my heat lamp but i don't know if people are chick people. I don't have any outside ready pullets so if that is the main thing that sells I might wait. Who all will be there?
Gee, I should have thought to plan an outdoor event or hang some laundry or something so it would have rained here. Have to try it today.
Black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) are good for chickens and they love them, but maybe just throw a few out for them to find. If you mix with feed, they might dig through and spill just to get the seeds.
I used to throw out handfuls of BOSS for the girls and my Red Star (favorite) hen used get more than her fair share. She did have issues with being egg bound once in a while. I cut out the BOSS and it kept her eggs smaller so we didn't have those issues. That was a good discovery. Although the rest of the flock didn't get the treats either, I kept her alive.
I did make the mistake of mixing the BOSS in with their food once, and holy cow that was a rookie mistake. I came home and the whole 10 gallon feeder of food was all over the ground. EMPTY!
