First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[1zooman12]

Duluth Ralphie,
Your prose is a riot of funny stuff. Did you ever do any publishing of your humor? Can't wait for the next installment!
Your chicken observations are very interesting too.
Stay well, we need your take on things,
Neal, the Zooman

 

[duluthralphie]

Holy cats we are in a heat wave it has been in the upper twenties lower thirties. So we have pulled out the t shirts and put away the coats!! The chickens are loving it

Us too!


I actually went to Menards yesterday wearing shorts and a jacket!


MM the moisture stinks, ( I changed that word for the censors).

I will not have a full comb next year on any of my single comb birds. Poor Rick is going to lose half his comb. There is not much I can do about it. I am thinking for future laying hens I will have to concentrate on small or no comb birds. even my Cx's are showing some minor frost bite.


BTW The CX's are babies! Heavy babies, but babies...


The guineas caused a problem in the gulag today and the babies got into the Guineas cell somehow. I had to lift the babies out as they were too stupid to find the door. They are heavy! I bet the rooster and the one hen go 30 lbs! I was shocked when I picked them up.

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh Ralph, I already knew you were an old busy body. Lol! Just so you know, I'm a redhead. Therefore, no one steps on my toes unless I let them. But anyway, no, I appreciate the concern and questions. Food for thought is always good. You never know if there was something that you hadn't thought of if someone doesn't offer suggestions. I am also one of those that doesn't get offended easily. I was raised right.

So today I hung cds from the trees where my girls like to hang out the most and was the scene of the crime. I have erected the body for the scare crow, now I just need to rummage through my husband's drawers for some clothes for the scare crow. Next thing is to move the farm truck out so that there is a place for the girls to run and hide when spooked and my husband is going to make a mini shelter from a large freight box we have laying around. The real problem with the area is no place to run for cover. I screwed up on this because it really was at the back of my mind that this was a problem. Boy did I get a slap in the head to get me moving. Stupid me!

We acquired a little more info on the business today and are still in the research and writing up a proposal stage. Still trying to decide what we shall do.

Linda: My husband and I tend to jump in with both feet on business opportunities but we do nonstop research to make sure we are making the right choice first. We have discussed hoop coops for the lightweight aspect but my husband wants to do something a bit more substantial I think. No huge pole barn with chickens stuck inside though. I want my chickens feet to touch grass. We don't have a huge amount of land but we know people that do so, we will see what happens.

I missed this, but I see you posted it one minute before I did. I need to change the picture of you I have hanging in my bedroom, I had you blond on it..... (BTW My wife is always asking who the women in that poster are and why they are there.......)


We use to do that too when we were younger. The jumping into business thing. No risk equals no gain. Most businesses require good common sense management to make money. It is amazing when you start looking to buy businesses how many are seat of the pants and waste money.

I have no idea what they cost, and I have no idea what you two are thinking for substantial buildings, but I have a neighbor that has one of those hoop type buildings made out of that really heavy plastic. It is a green or blue buildings. It actually looks nice. I looked at one 20 years ago but thought the winters would destroy them. This one has been here over 10 years and still looks new. It must have a 20 ft peak to the arch a huge building. I might even consider one myself.


Contact your friendly local realtor or want ads, I am sure you can get more land....LOL LOL LOL.....

 

[1zooman12]

Hello Lazy Gardener,
Finally a point wherein I might be a tiny bit of help. I think Ralphie might be referring to the fact that it is very difficult to make a bird with dark feathers
into a clean carcass without the dreaded pin feathers. Of course the situation is the same in white feathered birds but the feather parts are less obvious
so we eat them without so much as a care. We humans are weird…
Sincerely,
Neal, the Zooman

 

[JessicaThistle]

That is so funny you guys pictured me as a blond all this time. I had a customer recently that I worked on a large event promotion project. She and I spoke on the phone multiple times throughout the project. Finally, near the end of the project, I met her to deliver a round of flyers. Before she walked away she said, you know you were not at all what I pictured. I was sure you were blond. What was even funnier is that I had her totally pegged for a brunette but she was blond. It's funny how we build mental pictures of people.

Me = 5 ft of spit fire redhead, no freckles, green eyes.

I would LOVE to buy a larger property. Around here, larger properties make for humongous houses and expensive price tags most of the time. I want a huge property and a tiny quaint house. I don't want room for the kids to move back home or heaven forbid the mother in law!!

So Sunny has located the auto feeder in the main coop!! Egads! I have had to chase her out a couple of times per day. I hadn't lifted her in some time and I went to grab her up and carry her out. OMG, baby got back. Holy cannolis, I think she weighs 25 pounds! Now I have a small rake and a bucket blocking the pop door, so the other chickens can squeeze through but she can't. Ugh. It's like having a room full of kindergartners.

 

[duluthralphie]

Duluth Ralphie,
Your prose is a riot of funny stuff. Did you ever do any publishing of your humor? Can't wait for the next installment!
Your chicken observations are very interesting too.
Stay well, we need your take on things,
Neal, the Zooman

Thanks,

NO I have never published anything. I have thought about writing a book or trying to get something published but it will never happen. I enjoy writing, However, my grammar is lousy (phrase changed for the censors) my punctuation is worse. I am a two finger typer. None of these is conducive of publishing.

My brother is on his 4th book right now, so I have a desire to write one just to prove I am better than him. No sibling rivalry here.

I do not have the education necessary to write a book. My brother has fits with his editor and he possesses a PHD, I have no advanced degree.

I also have a limiting factor for writing a book or getting anything published. I have severe PTSD. I have more phobias than Carter has liver pills. I cannot and do not go into crowded areas. I am afraid of personal contact with anything other than a couple people at a time. I do not handle pressure well anymore. Whether it is self imposed or by others. I do well with my chickens they never ask for more than I am willing to give them and they hardly ever start a major conflict with me.

Of course, the guinea fowl are another story.

As I reflect, it s sad, I use to be an extrovert, now I am a case study in introvertism ( I coined that word so ignore the spell check.) I will stop now as this is not the place for personal reflection.

Anyways thanks for the compliment.....

 

[duluthralphie]

That is so funny you guys pictured me as a blond all this time. I had a customer recently that I worked on a large event promotion project. She and I spoke on the phone multiple times throughout the project. Finally, near the end of the project, I met her to deliver a round of flyers. Before she walked away she said, you know you were not at all what I pictured. I was sure you were blond. What was even funnier is that I had her totally pegged for a brunette but she was blond. It's funny how we build mental pictures of people.

Me = 5 ft of spit fire redhead, no freckles, green eyes.

I would LOVE to buy a larger property. Around here, larger properties make for humongous houses and expensive price tags most of the time. I want a huge property and a tiny quaint house. I don't want room for the kids to move back home or heaven forbid the mother in law!!

So Sunny has located the auto feeder in the main coop!! Egads! I have had to chase her out a couple of times per day. I hadn't lifted her in some time and I went to grab her up and carry her out. OMG, baby got back. Holy cannolis, I think she weighs 25 pounds! Now I have a small rake and a bucket blocking the pop door, so the other chickens can squeeze through but she can't. Ugh. It's like having a room full of kindergartners.

I told you they are heavy little babies now!

Solid too.

I have been feeding mine too much lately, I worry about the cold so I let them eat at will, only holding them back a tad. I need to cut them off sooner I think.


How much land do you have?

I did not picture you old enough to have kids that have left home already... (time to make another change on that poster).

Here is a link to the buildings I was thinking of, after seeing the price on them, I might put one up. They would serve my purposes well, I think.

 

[JessicaThistle]

I'm 38 Ralph. My son is 19 and moved out when he went to Alaska last year. My daughter will be 18 in 13 days.

 

[duluthralphie]

I'm 38 Ralph. My son is 19 and moved out when he went to Alaska last year. My daughter will be 18 in 13 days.

Good to know, I will put the grey crayon back in the box for now, 38 is like a spring chicken to me......sigh......

I think my daughter is 38, If I had not failed math class I would know for sure....

She was born in 77, what ever that makes her....

 

[LindaB220]

Oh Ralph, I already knew you were an old busy body. Lol! Just so you know, I'm a redhead. Therefore, no one steps on my toes unless I let them. But anyway, no, I appreciate the concern and questions. Food for thought is always good. You never know if there was something that you hadn't thought of if someone doesn't offer suggestions. I am also one of those that doesn't get offended easily. I was raised right.

So today I hung cds from the trees where my girls like to hang out the most and was the scene of the crime. I have erected the body for the scare crow, now I just need to rummage through my husband's drawers for some clothes for the scare crow. Next thing is to move the farm truck out so that there is a place for the girls to run and hide when spooked and my husband is going to make a mini shelter from a large freight box we have laying around. The real problem with the area is no place to run for cover. I screwed up on this because it really was at the back of my mind that this was a problem. Boy did I get a slap in the head to get me moving. Stupid me!

We acquired a little more info on the business today and are still in the research and writing up a proposal stage. Still trying to decide what we shall do.

Linda: My husband and I tend to jump in with both feet on business opportunities but we do nonstop research to make sure we are making the right choice first. We have discussed hoop coops for the lightweight aspect but my husband wants to do something a bit more substantial I think. No huge pole barn with chickens stuck inside though. I want my chickens feet to touch grass. We don't have a huge amount of land but we know people that do so, we will see what happens.

Oh honey, I'm so excited for you. Yes, research, research research. That's the ticket. I think I'm sitting on such a goldmine that I'm considering asking my youngest DD to go in on this venture with me. She loves to can, cook and can help wash and pack eggs and pick veggies. I'll hire someone to get the beds up and running. My buddy in La is sending me some really good Crested Cream Legbar eggs on the 3rd. I'm lucky to be able to buy these so close. That's my blue eggs. Then I'll get a few good Leghorn eggs and raise me a bunch of Super Blue Egg Layers. They aren't super blue, just light blue but lay consistantly like a leghorn. The two I've got, I never know that they are here. Super mild and docile. But this is months down the line so I'll order the ISA Browns and some EE's. DD Aimee said the closest upscale subdivision has 150 homes. It may pay for me to actually pay for organic certification later. I don't know. My mind is going in a circle. Love it.
I put the babies out in the storeroom last night and made a big mistake. I used a 100 watt red bulb instead of the 250 one. They were bundled uptight and so quiet this morning. ( 45 degrees) I immediately changed it out and within 5 min they were basking in the sun, wings spread. Happy babies. I showed them how to use the horizontal waterer I made of a coffee creamer container and the 2 nozzles are fine for them. They also had their very first fermented feed. Yum!!!