Delawares from kathyinmo

[Zanna]

Thats funny and reminds me of when I had the mutt lines my egg production dropped from 9>12 day to 1>2. I searched the grass and under the trailer coop where they would some times lay and nothing. On the third day went to clean out the coop and we keep one of those cattle supplement blue tubs to
haul the poop in by the trailer. It was up side down with the lip on the edge of a pallet. When I turned it over there was the catch of eggs - just over two dozen.
Almost all were crawling under and laying. LOL

We are remodeling the old meat bird coop to accommodate the F5s.
Do you think the girls will like the new floor color ?

OOOH LA LA

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Lost one of the Delaware hens today, then found her on this stash. Le sigh. Must establish a proper, chick-free, nesting box in the Delaware coop. Also must weed whack the tall grass in the run.

We let these 8 and their two foster hens out of the broody box today. We'd kept them in since hatch day (Tuesday) because of the one with the injured food. That chick is getting around really well right now -- by hopping on the other leg. That's both encouraging and worrisome.

 

[LindaB220]

I use sulfur powder. We have honey bees on the farm and it is safe for them and I believe safer for me Sometimes I also spray with a permetherin spray but then you need to remove all water/feed from the area. With the sulfur powder (agricultural/feed grade) it is safe for them to eat so if some gets into the food or water, no biggy.

Now this I like. Thanks

 

[finnfur]

I use sulfur powder. We have honey bees on the farm and it is safe for them and I believe safer for me Sometimes I also spray with a permetherin spray but then you need to remove all water/feed from the area. With the sulfur powder (agricultural/feed grade) it is safe for them to eat so if some gets into the food or water, no biggy.

yes - all we use here is Sulfur and DE - we mix that in with sand or anything similar available and put it in their wallow/dusting hole - replenish after heavy rain. Put some sulfur in a old sock and pat it around your pants legs- great for Chigger/redbug bite prevention.

Zanna
You making fun of that floor color ? I got a sample color sheet from Home Depot and thats the one they pecked out.

 

[Zanna]

Zanna
You making fun of that floor color ? I got a sample color sheet from Home Depot and thats the one they pecked out.

Hee, Hee, No fun making, I love pink!! I am afraid though if I used pink or any other pastel colour, our honeybees would be frequenting more than just the water dishes

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I use sulfur powder. We have honey bees on the farm and it is safe for them and I believe safer for me Sometimes I also spray with a permetherin spray but then you need to remove all water/feed from the area. With the sulfur powder (agricultural/feed grade) it is safe for them to eat so if some gets into the food or water, no biggy.

Can you tell us the brand name for the product that has been working for you? And maybe the quantity & price info? And where you get it?

I was just remembering how ... ummmm ... looking for a nice word here ... I'll go with "challenging" ... it can be to get new stuff from my feed mill/farm store, and would like to be armed with as much info as possible before I start shopping.

Thanks again, Zanna, for being such a great resource.

 

[Zanna]

Can you tell us the brand name for the product that has been working for you? And maybe the quantity & price info? And where you get it?

I was just remembering how ... ummmm ... looking for a nice word here ... I'll go with "challenging" ... it can be to get new stuff from my feed mill/farm store, and would like to be armed with as much info as possible before I start shopping.

Thanks again, Zanna, for being such a great resource.

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=agricultural+sulfur a little goes a long way, I might use a 5LB bag year for 100 birds or so and I dust fairly frequently. I found a small glass parmesan shaker at walmart for $1.00 to shake it on them, works well.

Coyote in the Woodlot this AM. This is first. It got one of DH hatchery speckled sussex, fortunately not one of my nice breeder hens. I think she was nesting in woodlot as I had not seen her for about a week. So prayed it was a deer bounding away from me but not......... I screamed and yelled at it but I don't think it left the woodlot (about an acre area). DH is going to make the rounds tonight, we shall see.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=agricultural+sulfur a little goes a long way, I might use a 5LB bag year for 100 birds or so and I dust fairly frequently. I found a small glass parmesan shaker at walmart for $1.00 to shake it on them, works well.

Coyote in the Woodlot this AM. This is first. It got one of DH hatchery speckled sussex, fortunately not one of my nice breeder hens. I think she was nesting in woodlot as I had not seen her for about a week. So prayed it was a deer bounding away from me but not......... I screamed and yelled at it but I don't think it left the woodlot (about an acre area). DH is going to make the rounds tonight, we shall see.

Oh no! I hope you get it!

Did I mention here that when we were letting our flock out to free range, and they'd range to the front of the house, to the grass in the middle of our circular driveway, they were getting picked off by coyotes? It is a protected area, with a very tall thick boxwood hedge almost all the way around it ... two openings on opposite sides to make a pleasing path straight away from the front door of the house ... and the clever coyote knew to wait until a few birds ventured into the circle through the opening at the house side of the circle, then it would come in through the opening on the opposite (field) side, and catch a bird in the confusion. It took me a few times, hearing the commotion and finding piles of feathers, to figure out it was a coyote and how it was hunting them. Poor birds!

Now I've got something getting into the "ground eggs." I'm finding little holes in some of the eggs the ducks lay on the ground, and something had gotten into some of the eggs the Delawares have been laying in the grass. I suspect field mice? The holes are tiny, and on the underside of the eggs. And it isn't just the eggs that were sitting out over night ... I got two holes in this morning's 8 duck eggs.

Sooooooo ... as much as they'll hate it, I think it is time to confine the ducks to a predator-proof shelter at night and until mid-morning (after they've laid their eggs).

Thanks for the info on the sulfur powder. I'm thinking of putting some in the dust box when I refresh it ... just got the sand and peat moss for that project. Most of the birds dust bathe in the craters they've dug in the run, or in the DL in the coop, but enough of them used the dust box this winter to completely empty it!

Here is a photo of our Freedom Hen teaching some of her Freedom Mutts how to dust bathe in a super sunny corner of the run a week or so ago. A few days later I'd "lost" this hen, and walked all over this corner of the property looking for her, only to find her under a pile of chicks in this hole, just her head sticking up between them. I wish I'd had my phone on me so I could have gotten a photo. It was priceless. The Freedom Mutts are getting very feathered, so are sleeping on their own now for about a week, and explore the property in smaller batches all day. They are the same age as the oldest batch of Delaware chicks we hatched (about 4 weeks old now), so it is interesting to compare.

 

[finnfur]

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=agricultural+sulfur a little goes a long way, I might use a 5LB bag year for 100 birds or so and I dust fairly frequently. I found a small glass parmesan shaker at walmart for $1.00 to shake it on them, works well.

Coyote in the Woodlot this AM. This is first. It got one of DH hatchery speckled sussex, fortunately not one of my nice breeder hens. I think she was nesting in woodlot as I had not seen her for about a week. So prayed it was a deer bounding away from me but not......... I screamed and yelled at it but I don't think it left the woodlot (about an acre area). DH is going to make the rounds tonight, we shall see.

We mix DE and Sulfur about 10/1 ratio in volume and use a old plastic coffee container [ drill 1/8" holes in container lid ] for dusting nests.

Only one suggestion on the Coyote ; TAKE EM OUT ! Once they find the buffet open they will return until the food supply is gone. IMHO

 

[Zanna]

Only one suggestion on the Coyote ; TAKE EM OUT ! Once they find the buffet open they will return until the food supply is gone. IMHO

We will sure try to get him. The war is on!!!