First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[duluthralphie]

In the minutes since the last post things have happened here:

1) One of the renegade squirrels bent on over taking the world visited.

2) In an act of defiance, he climbed right over the unset trap left to warn them off

3) I knocked on the window to get him off the feeders

4) I am sure he flipped me off, giving me an " I dare you look"

5) I had no choice but to set the trap, hopefully I will have 2 three legged squirrels in an hour

6) My only White Rock pullet was trying to seduce Bert. She wiggled her tail feathers in his face, but Bert had the moral conviction and good sense to ignore her

7) Bert was outside the coop eating his treats (Black Oil sunflower seeds) which a squirrel tried to steal.

8) Bert ran the rodent off

9) Bert was so proud of himself he posed for pictures, notice the look of accomplishment on his face.

10) Bert insisted I show everyone a picture of him looking over his kingdom.

11) I took picture of Bert to show off his comb and small frost bite.


Below Bert is posing after his victory over the squirrel



Bert surveys his domain below:



In the picture below Bert is making his rounds to make sure the Gulag yard is secure and the world is safe from Guineas.

 

[mountain mom]

Clyde is a silkie. Her counterpart was Bonnie. They only come straight run, so we wanted a boy and girl name

I agree, there are so many breeds to choose from it makes it hard!!! Dominiques are beautiful.
Maybe start with the EE's you are already getting, and go from there. See how they fit into the barnyard. You may have said, but are they grown or chicks? I think you may want to start with a grown bird, otherwise it will just fit into the mix and Nameless or Ernie will remain at the top. How is Bert shaping up for taking control?! I am sure he outweighs everyone!

I CAN'T WAIT for eggs from Ethel! She sounds like such a great turkey. So does JJ. It is cute he is protecting you from the riff raff. He must have witnessed the squirrel incident and doesn't want your fragile self to be harmed by the young toms.

So, my son just brought up a bunch of papers from the printer... for some reason I just printed 8 pages of the thread. How, I don't know. I am so not tech savvy.

 

[mountain mom]

In the minutes since the last post things have happened here:

1) One of the renegade squirrels bent on over taking the world visited.

2) In an act of defiance, he climbed right over the unset trap left to warn them off

3) I knocked on the window to get him off the feeders

4) I am sure he flipped me off, giving me an " I dare you look"

5) I had no choice but to set the trap, hopefully I will have 2 three legged squirrels in an hour

6) My only White Rock pullet was trying to seduce Bert. She wiggled her tail feathers in his face, but Bert had the moral conviction and good sense to ignore her

7) Bert was outside the coop eating his treats (Black Oil sunflower seeds) which a squirrel tried to steal.

8) Bert ran the rodent off

9) Bert was so proud of himself he posed for pictures, notice the look of accomplishment on his face.

10) Bert insisted I show everyone a picture of him looking over his kingdom.

11) I took picture of Bert to show off his comb and small frost bite.


Below Bert is posing after his victory over the squirrel



Bert surveys his domain below:



In the picture below Bert is making his rounds to make sure the Gulag yard is secure and the world is safe from Guineas.

He is so very proud! And what a comb! Lookin good Bert!

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
Love the Australorp's. How about some Delaware's or New Hampshires. They grow out fast and give good meat quality. Both were in fact used in creating the CX's back in the day. I'm going to get some EE's too just to give my eggs some color. The idea of having a tall roost is why I'm going to change my coops to a lower set of roosts. Mayber a couple of roosts 6' wide and 2 1/2' tall with logs on the side to jump up. One level so no bickering at who's gonna be the top hen. That's the way the hatcheries do it and mostly it's because of injury on jumps. I have this elaborate 6' wide roost set up with 4 different rungs. Nobody, buy nobody use the bottom 3 and if they are stuck they get pooped on. The White rocks are just too big for the set up.

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
Computer ate my post again. arrrrg. I love the Australorps. I'm getting some EE's too, to get my eggs some color. You should try to get some good Delawares and New Hampshires. They grow fast and get a good eating size. Both were in fact used in creating the CX back in the day. Not hatchery if you can help it. You really need to think about getting some Cream Legbar eggs from Pam. Fabulous. I'm having to put off buying from her this month. Too many bills. Being old can really do a number on your, can't it? But normally I'm in good health other than the right knee replacement I'm fighting.

 

[holm25]

Very nice looking bird, but Ralph. He's just like the CX. Not gonna live past a few months. Hybrid. How old were both of your roosters when they died. Under a year?

My aunt had a CornishX and it lived to be three years old.

 

[duluthralphie]

The war on squirrels has taken an ugly turn.

My wife is evil, very devious and very evil. I think she is a witch, not in behavior, but in the style of Salem, Ma. witches. She causes many problems and escalates conflict. She did so today. She knows I hate the squirrels. She has secretly laughed at me, and I think actually rooted for the squirrels to win.

Of course, like a genuine Mata Hara, she never lets on to her true feelings.

We can be having coffee, watching the morning news and if a squirrel gets on the bird feeder, she will say " that darn ( she says Darn because she read the BYC rules on profanity) squirrel is scaring away all my little birds"

Not that she spends 3 seconds feeding them, cleaning the feeders and picking up after them. NO, that all falls on my shoulders.

She also knows the squirrels will run for cover as soon as the door to the house opens. The oak trees here are so old and hollow they can find protection and wait me out anywhere and at anytime.

This morning I was enjoying my second cup of coffee, I had been out and let the girls out of their coop, picked up the first round of eggs. I gave BOSS to the layers and turkeys. I gave the CX's some wild bird seed spread on the ground in front of their coop. I swore at the guineas and went in for another cup of coffee.

BTW I already had potatoes browned and in the oven roasting, bacon on the grill and eggs ready to be scrambled for her breakfast. The kitchen was as spotless as I always keep it. I had fed the dogs. Then as I sipped my second cup of coffee, she crawls out of bed looking like something Godzilla barfed up the night before, she shuffles by me on the way to the bathroom.

She stops at the kitchen window and looks out it and says, " Are you going to just let those squirrels eat all the expensive bird seed?".

Of course I replied " What Squirrel"

Her comeback stung me with " not squirrel, squirrels"

"Where"

"Eating your stupid chickens food in front of their coop"

So I got up letting my coffee get cold and went to investigate. Sure enough there were 2 squirrels eating the CX's treats. I swore at them, in a manner not in compliance with the BYC rules of conduct. She laughed and said " Are you going to just let them do that?"


Here we go, a challenge to my manhood! This had to be righted. I tried to do it in a sly manner, by simply responding, " I have my .17 right here, loaded and ready to go."

Her, " well, it does no good just sitting there".

I am not dumb, I knew she wanted me to try and shoot the darn squirrel so she could laugh at ma and tease me all day for letting it go. Coming after the trapping debacle I knew this to be true.,

I tried to get out of it by saying " as soon as I open the door they will run" Thinking that put the matter to bed, but no.

She replies snarkedly (spell check hates that word) " Your just making excuses for when you miss it".

I think this is when she cast the spell, I am not sure. I picked up the gun, I was going to show her.

I snuck the door open and the squirrels true to form took off. I knew I was in for a day of misery. I stepped out on the deck, and one squirrel stopped climbing the tree to laugh at me. I am sure it was the male of the pair, The only reason he stopped was because the female said in Squirrelese to the poor male "Are you going to let him scare you off good bird seed?"


I took careful aim and shot. To everyone's surprise the squirrel flinched, held on to the branch a few seconds and fell to the ground dead. I left it there for chicken protein.


I stepped back in the house, feeling guilty for killing the poor squirrel, but happy I had complied with my brides wishes.

Only to have her say" How could you kill that cute little thing ?"

It is going to be a long day here for me.

 

[duluthralphie]

A post script to the above story.

I left the squirrel for the chickens to eat, They were not eating it.

I went out with the table scraps and dumped them on the squirrel. The chickens would eat the stuff that fell close but not too close to the dead squirrel. I noticed they were all looking at the squirrels eye. I covered the eye with a ice block and the chickens immediately went to munching on the squirrel.....


Silly Birds!

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
Honey, I say this in all honesty, you're never gonna win. Bottom line. lol

 

[LindaB220]

Quote:
I'm not down grading the CX's. I love them. Just a fact. They don't as long as other chickens. All hybrids are subject to health issues. My ISA Brown's that I want to buy for eggs still will only live for a couple of years. All that fabulous egg production does a number on their innerds. Australorps live long. White Rocks. a bunch. If Ralph wants a rooster that will last, he needs to go looking in another place. BUT the fact is, hybrid seems to be the wave of the future. You know that your birds aren't going to last as long and adjust to the situation.