East RIver - South Dakota

[jessicaagross]

My barn cats and chickens split our eggs too! My husband and I don't go through enough eggs between the two of us and none of hired men have taken me up on helping themselves to the eggs free choice. I am glad to see I am not the only one!

Also, just saying hi! I am new to BYC and also located East River SD. Nice to meet you all!

Welcome!

I'm going to have to cook up some eggs for the cats before they find out what all the other cats are eating.

 

[birdfreak1831]

Jessica,
I appreciate your trying to help!
Thanks for the west river link, but my dial-up no longer lets me into links. However, sometimes I can access linked info by going to it directly, so I`ll give that a try.
On the other hand, something has just come up [like I said, I don`t plan this stuff] - I might be taking two or three hens instead of just the tiny disabled one from my neighbors, along with the cockerel. This means I won`t be searching for more reject roosters, my small coop has a capacity for four birds max.
The hens are all older, don`t lay any eggs, which means they are in a general reject category too.
My primary interest is in all rejects or abused birds, no matter what the reason is for their being rejects.

The cockerel has started crowing, YES!!! I LOVE crowing! The more and the louder, the better....
He is also trying to mate with his sisters but getting "knocked down" by Papa Percy, his dad.
The youngster is very mellow though and I don`t mind it at all he is healthy, am just so used to ill and injureds.
Since the neighbors let their hens incubate and hatch some eggs, they don`t want there to be incest. This is why they gifted me with Phoenix, the cockerel, and why they cannot keep him.
About the compatibility between Phoenix and Precious, the disabled hen : he gets along with all the hens and his dad [unless he tries to mate].
Precious is amazing!. Most of her toes are missing but she walks fine and can perch. She is quite underweight although she eats normally and behaves normally too. She sometimes does scary "grand mal" type seizures for about 5-10 seconds, then gets up again as if nothing happened.

I might not have the birds for yet another month, or I could get them delivered on very short notice, depends on my human neighbors at this point.
By the way, those human neighbors are great people. They keep a number of non-laying hens for pets themselves.
My first requirement for the chickens is that they LIKE living with me as companions.
If they show signs of preferring to stay where they were born and lived up to now, I will respect that.
Which of the non-laying hens besides Precious I would choose to keep will also depend on Phoenix, depend on which of them he is most compatible with. I will be carefully watching everyone for their cues. If it is necessary to "try out" several hens, then that is what we will do.

birdfreak

 

[Ever True]

Hello, from SE South Dakota. I am glad that SD has an active board.

I live across the river from Sioux City. I am planning to buy my first flock this year. My dad (and next door neighbor) had chickens for a few years. So I do have some experience (and free stuff) to start with. My dad's chickens were packed up and sent away when a rat discovered the free chicken feed buffet available before sundown in the chicken run.

I really missed the chickens and this year I managed to convince my dad that chickens will not bring a rat plague down upon us (he was a hard sell, lol). So now I have a chicken coop that just needs moved and fixed up a bit plus some other supplies.

In my excitement, I did make the task of acquiring the chickens a bit more difficult. I offered to let a few young kids in my extended family pick a chicken for their own "virtual pet." So I now have a Cochin, a Silkie, a Polish and an Americauna on my list. I think that I will be fine with an EE for the Americauna but I don't know if any of the others will be available locally.

At least I still have time to figure it out while I renovate the coop and build the chicken run. I'm planning a blog to share pictures and stories of the "virtual pets" with my young cousins (they all live across the country). When I get that started I will share it on here. They are so excited about "their chickens," all the trouble will be worth it.

Thanks for the info on the FB groups! I joined them as well!

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Sounds like a fun project ever true. You could probably talk a local feed store into letting you add your "odds and ends" to their order. Otherwise if you order with a friend you can split shipping costs.
I usually order through cackle; their minimum is 15 chicks so I dont have to pay small order fees.

Good luck with getting started. The key to keeping rats away is keeping food well contained, or getting a terrier type dog haha

 

[spartman]

Hey all, havent been on here in awhile and thought Id touch base.

Things here have went well for this winter so far, only lost a couple of birds this winter, couple due to an owl who found a way through the netting.

Its looking like I wont need to buy birds this year, but can buy them if I WANT to. LOL

I would like to get some cochin birds, but it seems like the two hatcheries I like to shop at wont have chicks till this summer, has anyone noticed that as well?

Anyways things in the NE corner of SD are going well and if you want to see the birds I have a camera on them here: www.connectcast.tv/spartman

Hope you all have a good one.

 

[Ever True]

Hello, spartman.

It is probably too far of a drive for you but a local store in my area (just over the river in South Sioux City) will be getting Cochin chicks in early April. Also, they will be bantam not standard.

Nice camera setup!

 

[jessicaagross]

Well I put up a couple breeding pens last weekend, mostly out of dog kennels and some old garden fence. My poor spoiled, free range birds are not impressed with being penned. I'm getting some serious stink eye when I go collect eggs, and a couple of the girls have decided not to lay due to being put in "jail". But I'm pretty excited about it, this is my first year selecting a few breeders and not just hatching out a "who knows farm selection" or just one variety.

I'm also planning to make a couple broody pens to try out hatching with broodys this year. I've tried using the hens who want to be broody in the past, but I've never given them a spot where nobody else could bother them or lay new eggs in the nest, so I haven't had good results.

I've got 4 pens of ducks and one for chickens. My duck pens are Silver Appleyards and Saxony's, Welsh Harlequins and a "mutt" pen for blue ducklings, Cayuga drake with a Buff hen and a Saxony hen, since I sadly lost my Cayuga hens when they were young.

And my chicken pen is a project for split wheaten Ameraucanas to get wheatens with more type. So I have a wheaten pair, with 2 split wheaten hens I bred last year and 2 black girls (to make more split wheatens). And a black copper maran hen just for fun to make some olive eggers. If anyone is a hard core ameraucana breeder on here, I will have all of my splits banded so I can tell who is who. And it's just for myself, I'm not trying to sell them.

Now I just have to prep the garden this weekend, and I might actually be on time for spring this year

... that's never happened LOL I don't know what I'll do with myself if I'm not rushing and stressing.

Well that's my update. Hope everyone else is enjoying this warm weather!

 

[jessicaagross]

Hey all, havent been on here in awhile and thought Id touch base.

Things here have went well for this winter so far, only lost a couple of birds this winter, couple due to an owl who found a way through the netting.

Its looking like I wont need to buy birds this year, but can buy them if I WANT to. LOL

I would like to get some cochin birds, but it seems like the two hatcheries I like to shop at wont have chicks till this summer, has anyone noticed that as well?

Anyways things in the NE corner of SD are going well and if you want to see the birds I have a camera on them here: www.connectcast.tv/spartman

Hope you all have a good one.

I had two young owls living near my property and I lost a couple this winter too. They were very bold, I went out there and they were both IN MY COOP! One flew at my head and everything. Freaked me out. I had to fix my door and ended up having to put a big flappy tarp up by the coop, tied my dog out there during the night and finally they left. But they took out a couple pullets, cockerals and a turkey before they left.

I know what you mean about the hatcheries, it seems like you have to preorder chicks in December to get the spring chicks nowadays

 

[jessicaagross]

Hello, from SE South Dakota. I am glad that SD has an active board.

I live across the river from Sioux City. I am planning to buy my first flock this year. My dad (and next door neighbor) had chickens for a few years. So I do have some experience (and free stuff) to start with. My dad's chickens were packed up and sent away when a rat discovered the free chicken feed buffet available before sundown in the chicken run.

I really missed the chickens and this year I managed to convince my dad that chickens will not bring a rat plague down upon us (he was a hard sell, lol). So now I have a chicken coop that just needs moved and fixed up a bit plus some other supplies.

In my excitement, I did make the task of acquiring the chickens a bit more difficult. I offered to let a few young kids in my extended family pick a chicken for their own "virtual pet." So I now have a Cochin, a Silkie, a Polish and an Americauna on my list. I think that I will be fine with an EE for the Americauna but I don't know if any of the others will be available locally.

At least I still have time to figure it out while I renovate the coop and build the chicken run. I'm planning a blog to share pictures and stories of the "virtual pets" with my young cousins (they all live across the country). When I get that started I will share it on here. They are so excited about "their chickens," all the trouble will be worth it.

Thanks for the info on the FB groups! I joined them as well!

Hi, welcome! I agree with SD Bird Lady, I know my Bomgaars will order special chicks for individuals with their normal orders. And if you want to order chicks, Strombergs will ship as few as 3 chicks.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Well I put up a couple breeding pens last weekend, mostly out of dog kennels and some old garden fence.  My poor spoiled, free range birds are not impressed with being penned.  I'm getting some serious stink eye when I go collect eggs, and a couple of the girls have decided not to lay due to being put in "jail".  But I'm pretty excited about it, this is my first year selecting a few breeders and not just hatching out a "who knows farm selection" or just one variety.  

I'm also planning to make a couple broody pens to try out hatching with broodys this year.  I've tried using the hens who want to be broody in the past, but I've never given them a spot where nobody else could bother them or lay new eggs in the nest, so I haven't had good results.  

I've got 4 pens of ducks and one for chickens.  My duck pens are Silver Appleyards and Saxony's, Welsh Harlequins and a "mutt" pen for blue ducklings, Cayuga drake with a Buff hen and a Saxony hen, since I sadly lost my Cayuga hens when they were young.  

And my chicken pen is a project for split wheaten Ameraucanas to get wheatens with more type.  So I have a wheaten pair, with 2 split wheaten hens I bred last year and 2 black girls (to make more split wheatens).  And a black copper maran hen just for fun to make some olive eggers.  If anyone is a hard core ameraucana breeder on here, I will have all of my splits banded so I can tell who is who.  And it's just for myself, I'm not trying to sell them.  

Now I just have to prep the garden this weekend, and I might actually be on time for spring this year  ... that's never happened LOL I don't know what I'll do with myself if I'm not rushing and stressing.

Well that's my update.  Hope everyone else is enjoying this warm weather!  

Sounds like you've been busy. Good luck with all your projects!!