Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[puglady]

I just got a couple of the 10x10 kennels 2-3 weeks ago from TSC and am using them for the chickens. I just finished dropping nets over the top of them on Saturday so no hawks can get in. I was looking on CL as you can sometimes get them cheaper there however none were listed. They went up fairly quickly, about 30-40 minutes a pen. In the spring if I want to increase their runs it'll only take two panels in each and I can double their space to 10x20s.

 

[madamwlf]

I just got a couple of the 10x10 kennels 2-3 weeks ago from TSC and am using them for the chickens. I just finished dropping nets over the top of them on Saturday so no hawks can get in. I was looking on CL as you can sometimes get them cheaper there however none were listed. They went up fairly quickly, about 30-40 minutes a pen. In the spring if I want to increase their runs it'll only take two panels in each and I can double their space to 10x20s.

I saw TSC had them at a fairly decent price. I'd start getting a few but I have no way of getting them home. I'm sort of stuck until April.

 

[puglady]

We have a truck but they were too long. I ran down the road and rented the Lowes truck at $19.99 and was able to do it within the time they give you.

 

[cluckitall]

Mmmmm! I love baking days! The whole house smells so lovely, even with the thirty-odd chicks in the kitchen!

Baklava cooling on the counter, cookie dough firming up in the fridge, dishes washed and counters wiped down... Now time for a cup of tea and a few minutes dreaming about chickens again!

Speaking of chickens, my outside crew wanted a run this morning despite the snow flurries so I let them out for a bit. Well, the snow started coming down thicker, and thicker, and twenty minutes later I see them all "trapped" in the doorway to the barn, huddling under the awning, staring at the white-covered ground in dismay. I had to lure them out and around the corner of the barn to their coop with bread crumbs. Silly things!

 

[cluckitall]

I've got eight turkey eggs in the bator. Seven are developing, one might be late (everything is a little behind). I told G and he laughs and says, "and you were worried that Hoover wasn't doing his job and we wouldn't get enough poults." Well, I had four in before and the only one that froze didn't develop. But Hoover isn't very graceful about breeding, he takes forever. But he is getting them bred.

I'm looking at more hens. Someone has a bunch of bb turkeys for $10 each, full grown. If I can get more hens, especially at that price, I'm going to. They'll have quarantine time to get ready for laying if they aren't already.

Mmm! Turkey eggs

**wistful sigh**

 

[chicken fever]

I have isbars and I would say that they are a fragile breed, when I had a dozen eggs shipped only 5 hatched. I have to watch them more closely than any other breed I have.

I cant do any goose eggs till laying increases and orders are filled........ waiting for all of the pastels to start


wonder if the isbars are more fragile as a breed in general?

 

[babymakes6]

Forgive me for being so far behind, but I am playing catch-up! Still have 30 pages to read through, so I'm sure I'll have more to comment on.

Always easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, lol. Then you can mention that the birds are less expensive than a divorce, lol. My beg forgiveness plotting landed me 43lbs of lamb in the freezer and a stern "no animals larger than the turkeys" discussion. Lol. While talking about pens, he said they only needed to be turkey height, instead of 6'. I explained that if I got emus, they'd need some head room. That was shot down. I didn't mention the peafowl eggs I have coming in spring. It's only the tail that makes them bigger than a turkey, right? Certainly they don't weigh more than my bbw turkeys, lol.

My peafowl eat almost nothing at all! Seriously, I fill a big rubber feed bowl for them and it lasts a week or more. (Peahens are smaller than turkeys, too!)

43 pounds of lamb? YUM!!!!

All right. I have a kitchen to muck out, birthday cards to address (why does it seem 3/4 of my friends have birthdays in January?), and laundry to bring in before heading out to go look at chickens this afternoon Have a good day, all, and I'll see you this evening!

My birthday is in July, not January!

Did you really?

sigh.

I told him:" but, but,but....they are only a dollar a piece!!!" and the look he gave me was deadly. He and I both know it isn't 'bout the money at all. It's about where to put them.

And if I didn't already have a bunch of chicks coming in the spring from swapping and eggs, I probably would have ordered some anyway but I am worried a bit about his reaction to those when they start to come in. LOL. I am already thinking up excuses.

I wish we all lived closer... we could do a weekend at each person's house building coops and grow-out pens. it would be fun!

That would be a lot of fun, but we'd need several weekends here to get all the pens built that I need for Rachael's birds!

I swear the men in my family are frickin' idiots! I asked a simple thing of DS. I even paid him to do it. I needed a gate for another chicken run. How hard can that be? Cut four measured pieces of 2 x 3s, screw them together into a rectagular shape, cover with welded wire, add one diagonal piece to keep gate from sagging, attach to wall with hinges. Make it exacly like one of the three gates I already have. Same size. I already have a piece of welded wire just the right size, might need to be trimmed to fit. Simple, simple, simple. I've been waiting two weeks for my gate. First DS & DH both say my piece of welded wire won't fit, it's not wide enough. Yes it is. No it's not. Did you check it? Yes. Then it fits, I know it fits, I already had it over the opening and the gate must be smaller than the opening. It fits. No it doesn't. I'm quite confused but I tell them to go ahead and use chicken wire then. So DS runs the chicken wire vertically. It's not wide enough for the gate either. So he just runs a second strip overlapping the first. Staples top, bottom, and one edge but not the other. It looks like ****, isn't stretched, and wouldn't keep nothin' out if it pushed up against the unattached vertical edge. Sigh. So I spent this the morning pulling staples to rotate the wire and staple all four sides. I ended up wasting about four feet of wire (in two pieces.) (And yes I know not to use staples but I don't have a problem with that here.) I get this gate done and take it out to hang it and it's six inches too wide! It won't fit the opening. I called DH (who's at Lowes getting me more chicken supplies) and he says yes, he was supervising, why?. Ugh!! Now I still need a gate. Next week it might be funny. Um, no, I doubt it, not funny.

Sorry, Candace.

Those of you waiting on the labor strike with the contingent from Iceland, they made (laid) two concessions today at the negotiating table. I'm expecting a full contract agreement shortly.

Deb

Good deal!

And Jeannie, I am sorry to hear about your chickies and especially your bunny.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

 

[cluckitall]

I have one SBMs and one SBEL from DMRippy that have hatched this morning. The rest are in their quiet resting stage.

Congratulations, chickenbelle!! I'm playing with my three-week-olds and trying to ignore the eggs in the bator -- they haven't even been in there 48 hours yet!

 

[cluckitall]

My birthday is in July, not January!

That just means you're among the select 25%!

 

[Bettacreek]

Mmm! Turkey eggs    **wistful sigh**

We haven't eaten any yet. I did get a double yolker on Friday though, so I'll eat that one. The turkeys are my favorite. Biggest, yet gentlest birds we have. My friends and family are always shocked that I can just walk up to them and pick them up for cuddles, lol. The inmates get a kick out of them too.