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[quercus21]

Good morning people,
Looks like we are in for a bit of spring here. Upper 50's to low 60's for the next couple of days. I have to pull some horseradish soon. Nothing like fresh ground horseradish to get the heart pounding and the eyes tearing. You ever wonder way we eat or drink things that are painful?

rngrbill & Gargoyle : I hope it turns around for you 2 with your bird problems.

chics in the sun : You can't be sick, you are a mom, a "super mom" aren't you

? Seriously, I hope you are back up and running, tormenting your little man.

karl E lutz : Hello Karl, welcome back.

The other day, I was splitting up some cook/summer wood and came across a good couple of dozens of grubs. The ole chickens had a field day. The grumps plowed right into them while the youngins just clucked and pecked at them. They weren't really too sure what they were suppose to do.

Splitting wood in the morning, shop time in the afternoon, licking my wounds in the evening.

Kaj

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Q I love to throw bugs to my girls or an occasional frog.They love to eat live meat!
Spring is on the rise here also 72 yesterday! cooler for the rest of the week but then on to april and planting!
All have a great day God bless!

 

[chics in the sun]

Sorry about your chicken, rngrbill. That's tough.

I'm just starting to feel better. My son was diagnosed with broncittis, so he is on an antibiotic. The poor guy just hacks and hacks. Very hard for mama to listen to.

I hatched 9 outof 10 ducks this weekend. Sold 6 so far, four more to enjoy till I find buyers. They are just so cute to watch!

Enjoy the warmer weather, folks.

 

[rngrbill]

thanks. I feel for your son I have had Broncittis for over 50 years now. Keeps kicking up every now and again. Comes to a point when I don't realizing that I am coughing my lungs out. Drives the mrs. crazy. good luck

 

[Gargoyle]

thanks. I feel for your son I have had Broncittis for over 50 years now. Keeps kicking up every now and again. Comes to a point when I don't realizing that I am coughing my lungs out. Drives the mrs. crazy. good luck

Hey, I just noticed you're in Pittsfield, very nice little town (or at least it was when I visited it 40 years ago, when my cousin was living there).

 

[quercus21]

Morning People,
Another spring like day here. I woke up to 48 outside and 62 inside. We haven't seen robins yet, but the red wing black birds are here.
The chickens are cranking up their egg production, 7 yesterday.

Karl: The grumps love anything they can get their beaks on. The youngins are still perplex about insects and scraps. I throw the majority of the weeding from the veggie gardens to them.

chics in the sun: Hope your son gets better soon.

Enjoy the day
Kaj

 

[Gargoyle]

A lot of drama here from our little birds.

After two weeks of chicken prison we tried to reintroduce Donna to the others, but she immediately started jumping on top of Goldie and beating her up. We knew they'd fight, since we no longer have a rooster to keep them in line, but we hoped Goldie could be the dominant one. However, Donna is way more aggressive and it is clear that she has Goldie and Mossy terrified.

I think the other two associate her both with how she was picking at them (their feathers still haven't grown back completely; Mossy really was chewed up, and getting little wounds from the pecking), and also they probably connect her with the loss of Brooster- it is largely her fault. He reacted very badly to the Pick-no-more, trying so hard to get it off himself that he fell on his head and knocked himself out (or maybe he swallowed some and had a reaction?), then two days later he fell off a perch while getting on it in the morning, hit his head on a post of the chain link fence and broke his neck.

Meantime Donna is upset about being in chicken prison for two weeks, but instead of being humbled and apologetic to the other girls she attacks them. A real shame, because she is so nice and docile with me (sitting on my lap now as I type). She's a good layer, 5 to 6 eggs a week. We got them from a small farm near here, it has a flock of 100, so I spoke with the farm manager and she's going back there tomorrow. I figure all the roosters will keep her in line, and while she'll probably get in a few fights the first day, her place in the pecking order will be set. She was there the first 6 or 7 months of her life, until we got her in December; she got along great with everyone at first, until early Feb. when she started pecking feathers. I figure even if I put pinless peepers on her, she has the others too stressed and scared.

Once or twice a day she crows for about 5 minutes, maybe to make up for the lack of a rooster in her life? And the other two girls are growling all the time, maybe because they want me to bring Brooster back?

Here's Donna in chicken prison, what do you think of these sound?


And here are Goldie and Mossy- Goldie is the one growling, Mossy is in back and you see, even after two weeks of being away from Donna, how badly her feathers were chewed.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Gargoyle that looks like the damage a ruff rooster will do to a hen.They always grab the hens by the necvk to do their business so the hens lose neck feathers in droves.I always cull the roosters to 2 or so. This year the roosters got culled by the wild animals so I have none.My daughter brought home ducks last night , she works at TSC so she bought them herself,And She Will Take Care of them Herself! Insist.They are magpies and I don't really know what their colors Will be when they mature.All the ducks and geese are laying again so we are into the eggs and that is good!

 

[quercus21]

Morning People,
Gargoyle: Donna sounds like some of our hens after they lay an egg. Did she just lay that egg? The other 2 look like abused hens from a rooster. Since you don't have a rooster.......... How many chickens have you had with Donna? I wonder if a bigger flock would keep her somewhat under control. I like to keep 7-9 hens per rooster (my own thoughts) so they don't all look beat up. They do seem to have their favorites.

Karl: Are they for pets?

Enjoy the day

 

[oesdog]

I am back - it was really hard. Did lots of the stuff for funeral, all the necissary.( None of that had been sorted) Hard. practically dragged poor daddy bodily through the service and crem. Poor fellow. He is back in the cottage now without mummy. I can;t beleive she is gone. He was a sad little lonely old man I left at the door. Broke my heart. I did my best. He has some good friends to look in on him so that is possitive. I managed to help him press some flowers from the Anniversary flowers. The rest we strung up to dry as he wants to keep them. It was their last day together. I just pulled up my Email and the last thing on it was wishing them a good day together for their anniversary sent on 21st feb for 26th, and hoping they got my card! It is hard to think she walked up the stairs at the end of that day and died in daddies arms. Coroner came back with what we thought Massive MI - Miocardial infarction (Heart attack) Mummy is gone. I feel orphaned.

News from the Oes.