grannys gone and done it

[Granny Hatchet]

we are not told to trap, only shoot them but i have confined them in my yard or barn and called for it to be picked up. cost the owners a bit but so did my chickens. i thought about that a lot when frosty was missing . i dont know if she chases chickens or not but my neighbors dog killed a few of mine. i returned one time with telling him last chance. keep it home.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

ok, now i am just being nosy. i dont have ducks, dont intend to get any , its just bothering me. is it true you cant put a drake in with a chicken hen ? they said that, well, that he could kill her if he mated her.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

15 hrs. in the torture chamber today. 15 hrs !! thats more time then i have spent in there in the last 9 yrs. boy can i feel it too. ended up with 24 pints of stewed tomatoes and more in the fridge ready to be canned. i ran out of lids. LOL ok, they fell in the garbage, OK ! i threw them in the garbage. i burned my finger, my dinner and something else i cant remember. i put onions, bell peppers ( all the colors) italian seasoning, salt and sugar in them. million dollar question, why?? i dont even cook.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

more babies today. 2 were crushed in the shell as they started to pip. i saved one of them. trying to sex the roos is a little harder then i thought. some are too young, some i just cant tell. working on it though. the silkies are hard as is the mixed breeds. my rir rooster that is with the guineas is starting to flog me. he is the only roo i have with them. beautiful creature though. i dont know why he is just now starting to act like this. he has always been pretty tame and laid back.he is not hitting hard just a sneak attack.

 

[Eggcessive]

Granny, I've had probably 22 broodies this year. I have a large pen where I stick 2-4 at a time to break them. It's on the ground, covered, with a large roost. They all break within 3-5 days. I've had 1 I had to send back to the pen. I gather my eggs several times a day, but if I had eggs sitting around for a few days, I would just cook them up for the chickens to eat. I tried a bachelor pen last winter away from my coop, and the 3 of them got along fine. Not fooling with it this winter though, so any extras will go, but it' too bad when they are so good looking.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

I understand that eggsessive. the roos are what makes the flock. i am wondering if i gave all my hens up . how they would act. we do it to the hens, why not the roosters. my other coop has the egg layers. i never eat the bantam eggs. i just have too many. all i am doing is feeding the stray animals, crows, coyotes, feral cats , ect.... i had asked my mother about turning roosters into hens and she said it is very hard thing to do. caponizing?? I think enola might be on to something with the birth control. wonder if salt peter is still around? and would it work on roosters? hahahaaa i think i have about 10 hens trying to sit right now. i will have to research some i have already and see if they go broody, if not maybe i can keep those and lose the silkies and cochins. i even have a cornish bantam, 2 yrs. old that wont stop sitting. now to remember what kind they are.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

the little bit that i have found on keeping an all rooster coop is that roosters dont care if you are a hen or another rooster. sooo, thats a no.

 

[Sylviaanne]

more babies today. 2 were crushed in the shell as they started to pip. i saved one of them. trying to sex the roos is a little harder then i thought. some are too young, some i just cant tell. working on it though. the silkies are hard as is the mixed breeds. my rir rooster that is with the guineas is starting to flog me. he is the only roo i have with them. beautiful creature though. i dont know why he is just now starting to act like this. he has always been pretty tame and laid back.he is not hitting hard just a sneak attack.

Is he guarding the guineas? Is he trying to mate with them?

 

[Granny Hatchet]

yup !!! not guarding them though . he has 3 hens of his own and i am down to 2 guineas. they do their own thing all day long but he catches them in the mornings. one of them did just start sitting in the coop. is that it??

 

[Granny Hatchet]

did I tell you guys i found a sweet spot in my brooder? lol i have a rolled up washcloth taped at the ends. it was from a while back a chick that hatched too early. any way. when i took those poor crushed eggs that were trying to hatch i stuck them in the washcloth and poured water all over it then set it in the brooder while i finished up my work. of course i forgot it in there for hrs. and i went out expecting it to be dead and it had finished the hatch and i couldnt even tell what one it was. LOL its not a fluke because i have since done it 2 more times. i also made some chili today from the tomatoes i didnt can and it was like taking a whole mouthful of lemon juice at once. my family is going to starve.