Chicken (Poultry) Addiction Anonymous *Chat Thread*

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

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That string thing is suppose to work over a pregnant womans belly. Never heard to hold it over a chick.

As far as the vent sexing, there was a show on Dirty Jobs where he went to a hatchery and was taught how to vent sex chicks. You can probably look it up. Try youtube. What I remember about the Dirty Job show is you have to squeeze the poop out and use your fingers to open up the vent and look. If you see a shiny bump, it's a boy, no bump it's a girl. But see if you can find the show on Discovery.com before you hold me to what to look for. I may have to do the same thing to be able to sex the silkies. Luckily one crowed and the others started laying eggs. Pretty much was definate after that.

Yes! It does. If you take a sewing needle and dangle it off of 6 to 8 inches of thread over a pregnant woman's belly (or forearm) about an inch or two above bare skin...if the needle swings in a circle, it will be a girl....if it swings in a line it will be a boy. My first pregnancy it read a boy. My second it read a girl. You can use this to determine how many kids they will have, too. I did this when prego w/ my first born. It came up boy, girl, boy. My first is a boy, my second is a girl and I've had several miscarriages.

So I can say it's at least 2/3 accurate.

I'll try that! I'm also gonna try vent sexing... so now I have 2 techniques planned!

 

[featherz]

Gmorning fellow addicts! It's snowing here and I am just musing..

So lemme see. I have one coop with 7 chickens (capacity 6 so that's full), one coop with 8 hens and a roo (capacity 14, so could put a few more in there) and one trailer coop that could hold 8 chickens and currently has 4 tiny banties so I figure I could put 5 or 6 standard babies (when they get to a similar size to the banties). I have 13 chicks in a bedroom, half of which are probably roos and will be rehomed so those girls could go in with the banties. Oh, and I have two huge horse barn stalls, but those are 'last resort' and may be used for a bachelor pen until I can get rid of the roos.. THEN I have 24 OE eggs coming next week - those I have someone that will take chicks from if needed.. AND THEN I have 30 (!!) pullet chicks coming from meyer in March. Where the heck will I put them? LOL..

Was going to cancel the chick order but will wait for a month or so.. just in case.

We do have a three sided, roofed thing (not sure what it's called) that the previous owners used for horses. It would make a great and huge coop which is in a perfect location if only DH can figure out how to put a front on it. Too bad no BYC coop builder types live close enough to come give him advice as that would be perfect!

Ok enough musing. Time to clean my kitchen and collect my eggies.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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Not bad, not bad!

Heather, take a pic of your 3 sided structure. I'll see if DH can help you. I noticed something missing on your list...where are your guineas? You are so lucky to have so many structures for your birds. I have a feeling DH will be outside building me a new coop in February! Burr. I'll be sure to load him up on hot coffee...keep him warm and caffeine motivated.

Where are your OE's coming from?

 

[chicken stalker]

hey muggs,
You think you will still have those silvers you offered in March? They may have to come home with me

 

[featherz]

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I rehomed the 17 guineas to someone in salem with 100 acres. He promised me eggs so we could try again - he had only males and I had mostly females. They are adorable, but they got it in their little guinea brains that standing on our front lawn hollering as soon as the sun came up was the thing to do. we wanted them to go in the woods - so next time we will use the trailer coop and locate them in the woods and hope they use the back of our property NOT stand near our neighbors.

I had LOTS of calls for them so they are pretty popular.. and umm, loud.

Natalie/Sonew is the source for the OE eggs. I have one woman who always buys chicks from me so if I need to I can sell extras to her.. but again, I wish I could sex them. The dangling leg thing doesn't work, I am not about to try vent sexing (although I would if someone experienced would show me in person) and I've never found the wing feather thing to work either unless they were bred for it.

I'll get a pic of the structure thing. It's faaar away from the neighbors so I might be able to sneak a roo in there. Oh, and remember that metal nest box I bought? the chickens love it. I may get one for the three sided thingie too if we make that into a coop.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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I have a breeding pair left. And the hen is laying. I will hold them if you want them.

 

[chicken stalker]

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I have a breeding pair left. And the hen is laying. I will hold them if you want them.

unless you sell them between then and now... if so they were just not meant to be but if you still have them in March I will be happy to take them and probably some other am's...I will probably have for you also. I'll let you know when the time gets closer.

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
I rehomed the 17 guineas to someone in salem with 100 acres. He promised me eggs so we could try again - he had only males and I had mostly females. They are adorable, but they got it in their little guinea brains that standing on our front lawn hollering as soon as the sun came up was the thing to do. we wanted them to go in the woods - so next time we will use the trailer coop and locate them in the woods and hope they use the back of our property NOT stand near our neighbors.

I had LOTS of calls for them so they are pretty popular.. and umm, loud.

Natalie/Sonew is the source for the OE eggs. I have one woman who always buys chicks from me so if I need to I can sell extras to her.. but again, I wish I could sex them. The dangling leg thing doesn't work, I am not about to try vent sexing (although I would if someone experienced would show me in person) and I've never found the wing feather thing to work either unless they were bred for it.

I'll get a pic of the structure thing. It's faaar away from the neighbors so I might be able to sneak a roo in there. Oh, and remember that metal nest box I bought? the chickens love it. I may get one for the three sided thingie too if we make that into a coop.

Loud guineas...hmmm. I have a horrendous (oblivious, inconsiderate) neighbor who has Golden Retrievers that bark throughout the night, and day. Methinks guineas could be what we need to give them an understanding of what we deal with, with their dogs. Nothing I've said has helped. She tells me it's my fault we have chickens, it's her husbands fault he works far away, it's her son's fault for not letting them inside. I don't know how they can sleep through it. And they will leave for vacation and leave their dogs outside. Someone comes to feed them, but they bark constantly for attention. Yeah, guineas would be fun.

 

[featherz]

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ROFL!! Yes, guineas are neat birds. I loved mine. but they are LOUD. Picture all of your roos crowing non stop all day every minute of the day every time a blade of grass turns the wrong way.

Make sure you get keets or eggs tho - they turn out more tame that way. Mine would follow me around and eat out of my hand but I could never pick them up. Oh, and they are loud. Did I mention loud? LOL. Actually, the guinea people on here say they are less loud after a year or so. We may try again - we had NO ticks last year with all those guineas!

Here's a pic of the thing in the back of our fields. It's far enough away that we might be able to use it for guineas. But it needs a front and a door. It's pretty decrepit looking but appears to be very sturdy and it's huge. maybe 12x12 or thereabouts. Problem is we have no truck to pick up large lumber, just an 8x4 trailer I put on my jeep.

what think DH? could we make this into something?

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
ROFL!! Yes, guineas are neat birds. I loved mine. but they are LOUD. Picture all of your roos crowing non stop all day every minute of the day every time a blade of grass turns the wrong way.

Make sure you get keets or eggs tho - they turn out more tame that way. Mine would follow me around and eat out of my hand but I could never pick them up. Oh, and they are loud. Did I mention loud? LOL. Actually, the guinea people on here say they are less loud after a year or so. We may try again - we had NO ticks last year with all those guineas!

Here's a pic of the thing in the back of our fields. It's far enough away that we might be able to use it for guineas. But it needs a front and a door. It's pretty decrepit looking but appears to be very sturdy and it's huge. maybe 12x12 or thereabouts. Problem is we have no truck to pick up large lumber, just an 8x4 trailer I put on my jeep.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy358/fuzzyslipperz/P1010338.jpg

what think DH? could we make this into something?

That structure is very doable! You are so fortunate. I hope the next farm I buy has a plethora of outdoor buildings. Craig started rattling something off about the adding to the structure...it went in one ear and out the other. Based on the picture, he says it looks like an easy upgrade. He should email your DH.

When we go to Lowe's, we always check their culled lumber first. This summer we got a Lowe's truck full of 2X4's x 10ft for about $300 bucks. They delivered it for $75. The driver had a "spider" on the back of the truck and grabbed the lumber from the trailer, drove out to the back of our property and placed the lumber right where we needed it.