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Thanks, and yeah! I figured as much. Having never raise chickens before, when we got into this six weeks ago, we bought broiler chicks. Wanted to see if we could get the hang of it before we bought our laying birds. All four of our Broiler chicks look the same! I'm figuring that I got four roosters
 
JiltdRoyalty said:
Thanks, and yeah! I figured as much. Having never raise chickens before, when we got into this six weeks ago, we bought broiler chicks. Wanted to see if we could get the hang of it before we bought our laying birds. All four of our Broiler chicks look the same! I'm figuring that I got four roosters
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LOL, that is what it usually means. The broiler chicks are the dual purpose cockerels that got sexed at hatch and were left over at the hatchery.
 
Trish44 said:
My hatch is still ongoing & I have a lot of chicks in my brooder again. This year I have hatched more chicks than ever before, it's kind of crazy.
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Me too - it does feel crazy. I have an aging flock and especially those laying colored eggs are aging so I suddenly realized I had to acquire more chicks in order to continue to get the colored eggs. The past few years I've only added chicks by hatching them but as my only roosters are Barred Rock and New Hampshire, all I was adding were hens that would lay brown eggs and I wanted the other colors as well.

I just agreed to get 10 more chicks from Trish44 so her craziness is apparently contagious :)

Meanwhile, I have a broody turkey and one of my hens who broods every year decided to sit with her so she has taken over a half dozen of the turkey eggs as well. I'll need to get her some chicks to raise when hatch day comes as the poults won't listen to a chicken hen when there is a turkey mama around. Fortunately she's a good broody and mama and has been down this road a few times in the past so I may be able to give her chicks after only a week or two sitting and not have to wait out the full three weeks.

One of my goat kids left today. She went to a really good home, I think, so I'm happy for her and happy to have one less that I'm responsible for. Kilo my LGD came out of the pasture and supervised her being loaded. He appeared to be saying goodbye. He is really attached to the kids and I wondered how he'd be when it came time for them to leave but he seemed fine - just happy to be part of it and to understand what was happening.

Yesterday I looked into the pasture and saw a hen lying, apparently dead. I figured the pups had got her but as I watched she raised her head. I went in and picked her up and I think they did play with because she was slobbered all over. However despite the fact she had been lying on her side looking quite dead a moment before, I couldn't find any injuries on her. Nevertheless, I deserve an oscar for the performance of a lifetime. I sat down on a stump and cradled her in my arms and cried - loud and long. Cried and cried and cried. The whole time I kept moaning "mine, mine mine. Kilo, she's mine. Karina, she's mine". Karina was SO sad to see how sad I was about the hen. She came up and sniffed the hen in my arms and then lay down at my feet, looking up at me sadly. I feel like I really made an impact on them learning that the birds are important to me and need to be protected, not played with. The good thing is, though they had obviously played with her, they hadn't killed her and they weren't anywhere near her when I found her so had given up playing voluntarily, even before I had any idea they'd caught her at all. I'm really hoping seeing how upset it made me to find her like that reminds them that birds are not to be played with the next time they get that idea. After my acting performance, I carried her to the coop and set her down and she ran off like nothing had happened. I was somewhat concerned that if she had a bad shock yesterday, she might die from shock overnight, but today she is fine. Overall these pups have done wonderfully. Poultry are hard for LGDs to learn and they are still young yet. Most of the time they birds can run past them without reaction so I think a few reminders when they're feeling playful and then I won't have to worry about them at all.

Last night was their first night actually protecting the sheep. Due to the rain expected overnight, I didn't want to lock them out of the barn so I left the barn gate open. The dogs have been outside on their own for the past month but without the pressure of sheep to guard since they were still locked in the barn. But, they got through their first night with flying colors - all sheep and goats accounted for this morning
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turboscooby07 said:
We had our first green tree frog of the year this morning....scared the dickens out of me in the mud room! Do chickens eat these guys?
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Yes chickens will eat frogs. Last summer I saw one of mine grab this huge frog that had come out of my pond & run down the hill with it & the chase was on with the others trying to get it away. Chickens will eat about anything honestly. Mine catch mice every opportunity they get & I watched two of them the other day play tug of war with a mouse that had the unfortunate idea of running into that pen. I have had mice this last year that make tunnels under the ground & they make them so they can get into & out of the pens & eat any leftover food the chickens don't eat. If the chickens see them though they're done for.
 
It's sure a muddy mess here. Supposed to have some more rain move in tonight and again Wednesday and Thursday. I wish I could get some more garden planted but it's not happening in this mud. At least I have hopes the stuff I planted will come up if it didn't get washed away. I let the geese out to free range and take advantage of the puddles and the green stuff coming up from the rain.
I sold my pheasants yesterday so now I have two vacant pens. At some point I'll tear the shelter off of them because they are really short and sized more for the game birds to nest in than anything else. I have one coop I can move over there. I need to put a new roof on it, but I'll probably use the tin off the existing shelter for that. All that in time. It's not a top priority.
I've got some changes to make to another permanent pen as well for the ducks after that. Some day I'll have some of this stuff cleaned up an under control.
I have a bounty of turkey poults hatched I need to get put up for sale. It won't be long before I have another group of them.
And of course hundreds of chicks I need to get sold. I'm not getting people to answer who have ordered chicks. Very irritating.
 
Hello everyone! New chicken farmer here. Talked about getting chickens for a long time, finally did it. Got a coop from hubby's co-worker that wasn't interested in raising chicks (poor guy is insane, right?) and after some modifications (ha ha ha) finally have our coop and run up and running. Proud chicken mom of 3 Phoenix/ISA Brown hens, a Barred Rock hen, Silver Laced Wyandotte hen and a lovely Buff Orpington hen. The three mixed hens are out in the run already. They are 6 weeks old. The other three are still in the brooder box in the basement plotting ways to escape. Was trying to find chicken people in the Kansas City area. I have been told that there are a lot of people raising chickens here in Shawnee but haven't found any on backyard chickens. Might have to start going door to door to find them. Chicken danz, I feel your pain about the garden. About a third of ours is in. Was going to plant again yesterday but it rained most of the day. Won't be able to get in the garden until at least tonight. The trees have been helping to fill the bare patches in the garden with their seeds so this should be fun in a couple of weeks removing the forest from the garden! Can anyone recommend a good wine as I sit for hours removing those buggers? Trying to get pictures posted of our chicks and coop. Computer not as cooperative as it should be. Anyhoo, hello everyone from here in Shawnee!
 

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