Coffee's ready...

[oesdog]

Yes we are indeed very proud. She is comming to stay today as her parents are in Holland until tomorrow evening. So that should be fun.

I had to pull Bertha out of the pen as she was crying and making an awful noise. The other girls have been steeling her food and I had put some lettice in and she had got up to try to get some and I think her damaged foot again it hurts her a lot. So I carried her out in the yard and she is now laying in the sun and eating and drinking away from the others. No one has attacked her because she is hurt but the leg isn;t improving any today? I am worried about her now. I got the "hospital pen" out because I may have to seperate her and Gerty is on eggs in the other coop. I would put Bertha in there but Gerty was not happy with the idea! So I will see whats to do with the other pan though its not been used since last years chicks. It is falling to bits and has a massive spider infestation! Can't imagine how I got it in the yard without screaming the place down!

Oesdog - any ideas how to get Berths better. She must have fallen from the perch and hurt the leg yesterday.

 

[Opa]

Good morning fellow coffee drinkin' chicken aficionados. Been a while since I've been on this thread so I thought I'd drop in and check on how everyone is doing. Typical early summer weather around here. Reasonable temperatures one day and too hot and muggy the next. We hadn't had any rain for several days so I fixed that problem by spraying my orchard. Hard rain last night and severe thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon.

Our construction business is starting to pick up a little but not enough to get excited about. A lot of builders in my area have gone out of business and you'd think that would be good for us. However, they've been replaced by a bunch of guys who were laid off from the previous jobs and decided that since the have watched 3 episodes of Bob Villa and can spell Sears that they are qualified to be carpenters/builders. They aren't licensed or insured so they can charge substantially less than I. Unfortunately most homeowners don't realize that if someone gets hurt while working on their home and that contractor doesn't carry workmans compensation insurance the home owner is liable.

I got 2 incubators that the eggs are in the process of hatching. I needed to hatch out some bantams and some Welsummers to take to Chickenstock on Saturday. I also brined 18 chickens and put them in my smoker this morning. They take about 12 hours to cook but I've taken them to the previous two Chickenstocks and everyone sure enjoyed eating them. I'm going to put 6 on the food table, 2 that are vacuum sealed on the prize table, and sell the rest.

Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers'
Sounds like a winner for dinner.You are right about the insurance thing,Iremeber a certain strike in my area where all the strikers became carpenters"withno licenses or even liability insurance.Big problem for real business men.happens with illegal's in the trucking industry also.

 

[rancher hicks]

Morning folks,

Hope everyone is doing well.

Raining here again. I wouldn't mind so much but it makes things hard because I like to work outside and summer is so short. I can't imagine living in an area that has an even shorter one. I'm not sure I understand what global warming is all about but I had hoped it would lengthen our spring , summer and fall seasons. The wet just brings skeeters. You should have seen the lightning bugs when I got home from church last night. It was like having a yard full of twinkling stars. Well ok not just skeeters but lightning bugs too.

Jesse is supposed to come today and help clean the coop. I hope he has some boots. They really need to be done. Plus I had hoped to do some other stuff as well. I can't or don't like to let the chickens out of the run when it's wet like this. What do you all do with your birds when you clean the coop? Plus I want to make some modifications so cleaning is easier. What do you all do to make the chore go by faster and not disturb your layers?

Anyone know why my silkie roo is crowing already? I doubt the pullet is going to start laying. At least I hope not. I hatched them in April but understood that they were slow to mature so I don't or didn't expect them to start this stuff for a couple of months. I wouldn't even keep them except that DW likes them.

Well take care, places to go and people to annoy.

Rancher

 

[quercus21]

Good morning people,
Looks like more rain is in the forecast for us. The garden isn't doing to well, never really dried our yet. Seeds are rotting in the soil. The only thing that is holding it's own are the started plants. On another food note, canning season has started. We put up 6 - 1/5 pints of strawberry & rhubarb jam and 8 - 1/2 pints of strawberry jam. This weekend we are doing cherry jam.
Chickens are doing good. They have slowed down a bit in the laying area. 1 bird has gone broodie(sp?). Meaties are getting big.
The little rat is stopping in tonight, so the better half is beside herself, all excited. So the "Triple B's" is going to be up and running tonight/tomorrow morning and again Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Opa: I had the same thing here. I had a aborculture business for over 20years. Everyone with a chainsaw and pickup was a tree man. I use to hate having to "clean up" after the weekend warriors. Alot of times, once they were paid, they never finished the job. You had to explain the the customer why you had to charge so much more (insurance and a living for your employees). But you also get what you paid for. The worst part, they would leave the trees in a hazardous condition.
Enjoy the day

 

[rancher hicks]

Well Jesse came as things cleared up and we cleaned one part of the coop and made some changes. We worked on the garden fencing. I did take come pictures and things are looking a little more organized.

The beginning's of a hoop coop..

We're working on the rustic fencing around the new garden. This is the best pic I took of our work. We had much more done when we quit.

And I just had to show 'im off.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Rancher that is a beautiful baby
Q cus I know what you mean, we haven't been able to plant anything except tomatos and onions so far because of the rain.We are on clay and it stays so muddy that the tiller gets all mupped up with the sticky stuff. Not to mention that it is cool for this time of year "again"and nothing dries up.
Got rid of the chicken killers so I should be able to free range the flock again,I like doing it but I hate searching for their hidden clutches.
Going to an auction today, looking to buy about 40 acres. Hopeful anyway.The property is mostly timber and I would use it for hay and hunting.Itook my wife to look at it last night I did not get the go ahead but I did not get the denial either. Easier to get forgiveness than permission!
God Bless!

 

[chics in the sun]

No rain here. You can send some if our way - make sure it hits Math Ace's area on the way down to me so it puts out the fires. I can't plant a garden until I've got the new coop in the aviary done. They won't be free ranging as much then and getting into the garden. And now it's just too dang hot, so I'm looking forward to planting in the fall.
I usually just let my girls out to free range while I clean the coops, Rancher. It doesn't sound like you can do that, though. Lovely pictures, by the way!
Karl - 40 acres sounds nice! I've been interested in how property auctions work. I think I'll look into it this summer and maybe I could find a small, supper cheap office building.

I moved the babies out to the aviary in the large rabbit pen yesterday. They were panick-stricken, but I think they survived the night. The ducks were quite curious about them. I definatley have one boy and one girls with my ducks. The boy duck is getting a little curled feather on his back and his head is changin color. These Rouens are a bit bigger than I had expected, though.

Well, taking the girls and my son to the beach today before they go home again for two weeks. Gotta go make some sandwiches to take along. Have a great day, chicken wranglers!

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
That sounds fantastic Karl - wish I could see it, it sure sounds lovely. I wish DH and I could buy a bit more land here - only a couple of acres not much as DH isn;t well enough to tend it but we want to raise goats and pigs and don;t have room to that at the moment.

I hope you get your land

Oesdog

 

[rancher hicks]

Morning folks,

Karl, 40 acres? Does that come with a mule?

Hope it's a good thing.

I don't worry about rain to much since I use raised beds as you can see in a previous foto. I've put cardboard around the beds to keep the weeds down and of course the chicken will love to tear it up in the fall looking for grubs or whatever. Raised beds warm up faster and make weeding easier. Most are filled with chicken poop and grass clippings topped with a bag of garden soil.

take care,

Rancher