East RIver - South Dakota

[spartman]

I have one of those fish tanks setting downstairs. Wonder how it would work?

wish you the best of luck with it.

 

[spartman]

Have been thinking about getting some sweedish ducks myself.

have heard they are noisy as all get out though.
What kind of turkey eggs did you get?

One more question, are you going to keep your turkeys with your chickens?

 

[SouthDakotan]

Have been thinking about getting some sweedish ducks myself.

have heard they are noisy as all get out though.
What kind of turkey eggs did you get?

One more question, are you going to keep your turkeys with your chickens?

Not sure about the claim about Swedish ducks being noisy. Mine are extremely quiet. Much quieter than my mallards.

 

[SouthDakotan]

Have been thinking about getting some sweedish ducks myself.

have heard they are noisy as all get out though.
What kind of turkey eggs did you get?

One more question, are you going to keep your turkeys with your chickens?

Sorry for the short answer before. Had an interruption.

(1) Swedish seem quieter than my other breeds. Plus very cold hardy. Great egg layers but suck as broody hens. So if you want then to hatch out their brood have another duck breed around to do that job.

(2) The turkey eggs are Narragansett

(3) No, I don't plan on housing them together. In fact they won't even be in the same pens. I plan on keeping them separate to reduce Black Head disease. I am building a larger pen for them to move about in which will allow them access to weeds/grains and insects.

 

[SouthDakotan]

My new baby ducklings..... two Khaki Campbells, one Mallard drake duckling and one Crested Blue Swede duckling.

 

[SouthDakotan]

The new baby chicks (Arrived yesterday). One was sressed during shipping & didn't survive. Its not in this picture.


In the original order I had 1 Silver Spangled Hamburg Pullet, 2 W/C Black Polish (straight run), 3 Spangled Cornish Bantams (straight run), 2 Cream Lt Brown Dutch Bantams (straight run), 2 B B Red Old English Bantams (straight run), 3 Buff Wyandotte Bantams. I ordered from Ideal.

So now I'm trying to determine which one I lost to stress.

 

[SouthDakotan]

Our two new Silkie hens, Thelma (white) and Penny (Copper).

Here is the silkies I got from Katie

 

[Magpie31]

I am still chicken-less, but progress is being made. I have a confirmed shipping date for my lovelies (May 23), and we are working on the coop. My husband didn't pay close enough attention when he was building, and I ended up with an extra 8 square feet of coop, and a little more than that in run (lucky mistake for me). From the little I have learned about chicken math, this tells me I should think about a few friends for my yet-to-be-delivered flock.

 

[SouthDakotan]

I am still chicken-less, but progress is being made. I have a confirmed shipping date for my lovelies (May 23), and we are working on the coop. My husband didn't pay close enough attention when he was building, and I ended up with an extra 8 square feet of coop, and a little more than that in run (lucky mistake for me). From the little I have learned about chicken math, this tells me I should think about a few friends for my yet-to-be-delivered flock.

You are a lucky lady! I am planning on getting some more birds too, but instead of buying via catalog, I will be buying some more from Runnings Fleet & Farm. I need some "full sized" chicken breeds. Mainly want heavy bird types. So, I figure by the time I add them to my day-old flock in the brooder, they will likely be similar in ages anyhow. My flock arrived last Thursday. But they were all bantams. So we shall see.

Anyhow, not sure where your nearest Runnings or other Ag store would be, but you might also check them out for opportunities. At least it reduces the chances of shipping-stress.

Anisah (in Bushnell)

 

[Woofless]

Hi all, I just saw this thread, been a member here for a while but have been lurking for quite some time. Back when I was more active here I didn't find a lot of SD people here so I am glad to see this thread!

I am in SE SD, out in the country west of Armour. (that's about 55 miles south-southwest of Mitchell for anyone not familiar with the area I joined a couple years ago when I was starting out with my first flock. Had good luck for a year & a half with 30 birds and 5 ducks, then added some meat birds & Wyandotte pullets the following spring....and then we got a mink problem and *nothing* I did was sufficient to stop it. Couldn't trap em. Couldn't figure out how they were getting in- at one point I put my birds inside of a concrete building, and within the building they were inside of a stout hardware cloth type wire enclosure that ran all the way up to the ceiling....and the mink STILL managed to find a way in. Got all my birds over the course of a month, very depressing. I have since totally re-vamped my plans for chicken keeping- new location, new setup entirely, going to employ some electrified poultry fencing and a new coop made from an old camper trailer....and this *should* be predator-proof. And if not, I picked up some tips on how to build a better mink trap, so *if* I have any more issues I'll know what to do (conventional live traps did NOT work).

And so now I am starting all over with 23 pullets....got some Wyandottes, Barred Rocks, a couple California Whites and Production Reds, 5 or 6 Easter Eggers, two bantam Buff Cochins and a Polish for good measure I am hoping a couple of my Wyandottes turn out to be roos because I am pretty sure they were the only straight-run birds I bought. If all goes well I will definitely be hitting the Exotic Livestock Auction they have a couple times a year in Platte- there are always people there with unusual poultry species/breeds, bought a couple Silkies there before the mink issue arose- definitely a bummer to lose those guys Will definitely want to have some more Silkies for egg sitters, hopefully I'll get some broodies in this bunch too

On top of the chickens we also raise bobwhite quail & chukar partridge, we had good luck with 700 last year and we expanded our capacity, plans are to raise 1700 of them (yes that's two zeros LOL) this year. They will be for sale by early August.

I also have a husband, a roommate, four dogs and a good sized garden. Love living in the country And definitely glad to see some BYC'ers from my neck of the woods!