Colorado

[COChix]

Looking for a young Silkie Pullet.  I live in the city limits of Longmont and don't want to get a silkie chick since there is a 50% chance it will be male.  I would like to find a young pullet.  I searched this tread but had a hard time finding a breeder that sells silkie pullets.  I might just have to wait until the Boulder County Fair in August.  I think there will be some for sale there. Thanks.

I believe @sonshine15 was hatching silkies.....

 

[21hens-incharge]

Good morning everyone!




21- soil amendments can be exhausting, but I'm glad you finally had some luck with the tomatoes! I'm going to be doing a lasagna style of cardboard/compost/brown material over a portion of grass this year. I'm trying to go no till and adopt a lot of practices that gives carbon back to the soil. It's going to be a big experiment so we'll see what happens!
Have you heard of the urban homestead tour? It's a one day tour that goes through 6 properties in Fort Collins and Loveland (3 in each town) and you get to see what's working for others in your area, maybe that could help with the garden? It's on July 30th this year.

I am completely jelly of your space! What a cool shot of the sunrise and happy chickens.
I am going away from trying to till anything in the soil and doing raised beds as well. Back breaking to get it started for me but will hopefully be worth it in the end. I will have to watch for any announcements of the tour.

I am afraid after looking at the trees really close today that the apple tree is a loss after the diseases got to it last year. Bummer to lose it but I will count it as an opportunity to use the gained sunlight and space for something else. The other trees all look like they made it in fine shape. I was concerned about the tiny apricot and new peach trees.
Lots of flowers coming up and butterfly bushes look to have made it too. Going to be colorful soon around here.

 

[coop410silkies]

Beware the LATE FREEZE. If I had fruit trees I'd be worrying about now. I had a white peach tree once - a Polly - and it hadn't born a single peach in years. One year we had a late freeze that zapped all the flower buds on all the trees except the Polly, which was a late bloomer. As I was digging all the moth larvae out of the bark around its base, I told it I was going to cut it down if it didn't start producing peaches pretty soon. It went into shock and didn't even leaf out until June, when it at last started blooming profusely. I think I was the only one who got peaches that year. They dropped, bruised, rotted and caused a fuss everywhere on the block: I was buried in peaches - so I cut the thing down anyway. Nice to know about the tomato trick. I haven't started any veggies since I moved here as the wind has been more than I can manage. Am working on it.

I lost a Light Sussex hen to coyotes a few days ago. 'Twas the first in two years, and I chalked it up to my not letting my dog patrol the field. Last night, I locked up the coops late, and this morning I found the remains of 3 more hens. The coyotes are very active now, maybe have more mouths to feed. I have to be way more vigilant than I've been in the past.

Married at first sight?! Makes me wish I had a TV! I've been watching Colony, downloaded from Amazon. Starts out slow, kind of boring, then the betrayals get nail biting intense. It's a morbid post-apocalyptic tale I would recommend to no one. I've started noticing how many movies and videos have chickens in them. Gosh, it's amazing how I never noticed them before.

My Silkies are due to hatch at Unihill next Tuesday.. It's probably not going to be a really great hatch as it was pretty cold the week I collected the eggs. We'll see, may have some pullets next fall.

A couple of my birds have paired off, as though married for life and inseparable. They are quite the pair: a black barnyard loner hen and a big white flockless Light Sussex cock. He is such a considerate and devoted rooster and she stays with him constantly. They are fun to watch.

Just checked in the basement to see if my dog was in or out. She was out, but she'd let one of the roosters in, and there he was, sacked out on one the shelves, like that was just where he was supposed to be. Thankfully, he is one of the good guys that actually like people.

Yes, Uzi, you should enter some photos!

Yes, it would be sinful to pass on those aggressive rooster genes. Am not going to do that.

Blessings

 

[uzisuzuki]

jmdes, sorry to hear about your chicks but I'm glad the others are doing well. They sure look happy running around. e

Latestarter, sorry you can't seem to catch a break. At least your troublesome hens can provide you with a tasty dinner since they refuse to give you breakfast.

coop410silkies, sounds like you could use an ax and a tree stump too. Glad you have another option and you don't have to use those naughty boys for breeding. No sense letting them pass on their genes.

uzisuzuki, have you seen the contests in the hatch-a-long section? There is one for male fowl and I think a separate one for other fowl. Plus a few others. I bet some of your pictures could win, they are beautiful.


So, I'm a bit of a dunce. I got my first egg on Saturday so I have been sticking my head in the pop door and checking the run every day to see if there were more. To clarify, my coop is raised and I'm short so the door is just below my head level and on the far left side of the coop. I didn't see any eggs so I chalked it up to irregular laying for first time layers. This morning I peek in and see one egg in the far right corner. I got excited and opened the access door. To my surprise I find six eggs in a pile in the front right corner. So my ducks have been laying and I just couldn't see them. I thought I'd find them in the middle of the coop like the first one.  Oh well, at least I can attribute this little blunder to being a newbie. Plus it hasn't been hot so all the eggs are still good. I'll be sure to check all the corners from now on. I plan on adding nesting boxes soon for the chickens I'm getting in April to use. I know they won't need them till fall but maybe the ducks will use them in the meantime.

Thanks! I didn't know about those contests. I appreciate that!

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry you've lost some birds to coyotes Coop410... They are very smart, and always hungry, and becoming less and less afraid of humans. They are now actively luring dogs to follow/chase them away from their homes so the pack can take them down for food. I heard a whole pack of them yipping and howling no more than 1/2 mile away the other night. My LGD keeps them away from my place, but I have him fenced in so he CAN'T chase them and get himself overwhelmed.

On another note, I just happened to be out at the coop when one of the New Hampshire hens (the egg eating bunch) was circling and getting all nestled down on the floor in a corner making an egg nest... As soon as she got settled another hen started hovering and clucking over her. It was one of the ones I had marked earlier when I caught her eating an already destroyed egg. I opened the enclosure and went in and scooped her up and sure enough, as soon as I stepped back out, the first hen moved and had just laid her egg. It was still wet with bloom. One of those birds had already eaten at least one egg earlier. I now have the 2nd hen I grabbed sequestered in the house. We'll see what happens tomorrow. If I collect good eggs tomorrow from those birds, the one inside is history.

 

[coop410silkies]

LateStarter: thanks for the tip about the coyotes; I am surrounded by them. I think they are what was causing Abbie to roam so. They seem to be getting more urban all the time. Am so happy to learn you are making progress with your egg eaters.

Uzi, am glad you found your eggs. It is not unusual for me to lose eggs in a nest that's eluded my all too casual eye. I guess I know what that feels like. Are you going to hatch your eggs?

 

[Knew]

thank you

 

[uzisuzuki]

LateStarter: thanks for the tip about the coyotes; I am surrounded by them. I think they are what was causing Abbie to roam so. They seem to be getting more urban all the time. Am so happy to learn you are making progress with your egg eaters.

Uzi, am glad you found your eggs. It is not unusual for me to lose eggs in a nest that's eluded my all too casual eye. I guess I know what that feels like. Are you going to hatch your eggs?

I'm confused. I didn't lose any eggs.

 

[coop410silkies]

I'm confused. I didn't lose any eggs. 

I'm sorry, I didn't mean that YOU lost any eggs; I meant that sometimes [ myself have missed nests/eggs (almost in front of my nose), only to discover them later when I don't know how old they are: THAT is when and how I consider them lost. Sorry to confuse, I'm really glad you found yours and that you didn't lose any.

Have more blessings

 

[Latestarter]

It was @lomine who found the lost eggs in the litter

I've identified the egg eater for sure. I have collected multiple eggs from that group today and she laid an egg in her container and.... ATE IT!