How is your flock today?

[416bigbore]

My flock is doing good today, and the chicken's should be happy for awhile again now. They got another 50-pound bag of feed, another 50-pound bag of mixed scratch, and a bale of alfalfa hay this afternoon. I plan on cleaning out the nesting boxes tomorrow and putting some fresh bermuda hay in those.

Our flock is also doing good, the last few days have been kind of nice with the sun wanting to shine so the ducks really love to find a nice place to sun themselves and sleep.

The weather is going to turn again today with more rain and possibly turning to snow, so this will be their first time with the white stuff and that should be fun to watch.

I have also been busy placing used concrete pavers and blocks in our goat pen to help keep the goats hoofs out of the wet mud so we don't start to have hoof issues. The ruff concrete blocks also act as a file to help groom their hoofs so it's a win, win project. The only miserable part is my having to hand carry everything because of all the mud, the wheelbarrow wont push through it!

I also put out some fresh wheat straw last night for everyone and they really love to forage through it to see what goodies they can find? I must of stirred up a small moth that was sleeping and it was funny to watch the chickens and ducks chase that poor thing around the coop.

 

[theoldchick]

My flock is doing well despite the cold and muddy conditions. The Sapphire Gems are unstoppable in their desire to enjoy life. I'm going to lay an egg, yay! I found a bug, yay! You stepped on my foot, yay! You are in my nest box, let's share, yay! I pooped on your shoe, yay! You are in my spot, yay! Let's mob the rooster, yay! My two senior Jersey Giants are like, I wish the sun would fall on them. And, despite their age, those two old ladies rule the coop!

 

[deidreg]

My flock is doing well despite the cold and muddy conditions. The Sapphire Gems are unstoppable in their desire to enjoy life. I'm going to lay an egg, yay! I found a bug, yay! You stepped on my foot, yay! You are in my nest box, let's share, yay! I pooped on your shoe, yay! You are in my spot, yay! Let's mob the rooster, yay! My two senior Jersey Giants are like, I wish the sun would fall on them. And, despite their age, those two old ladies rule the coop!

You must submit these hilarious pictures for a caption contest!

 

[Sally PB]

The Sapphire Gems are unstoppable in their desire to enjoy life.

Let's hear it for happy chickens! Yay!

 

[BlueBaby]

I have seen different videos on how they sex ducklings and chicks and I think they purposely throw one or two in a batch because they too have a hard time trying to sell just the males.

I usually hatch over here quite frequently, but my last hatch from out of mine was back in June. The reason why I have all of these pullet's now that haven't layed an egg yet is because I added new blood to my flock. I plan to be spitting up what I have now into 3 separate pen's soon when I start the breeding and hatching process again.

I have sold some of mine from different ages. Some want the chick's when they are still in the brooder, and I have to tell them I don't know the sexes of those yet. Once they are in the grow-out pen outside and I am able to tell the males from females is also better for them, because they are then adapted to being outside. I sell the pullet's, but my extra boy's are free if someone want's one for breeding.

This year I am starting working with the Aloha's and I will also be starting my NN-Aloha project. The Aloha rooster's are supposed to average 10 pound's, and it's my understanding that the NH was one of the breed's that went into developing the Aloha's. They sure are pretty though with that colorful feathering.

 

[416bigbore]

You must submit these hilarious pictures for a caption contest!

I try to take my phone out to the coop in the hopes of catching a funny picture or two, but things usually happen so quickly I miss it by the time I get my cell phone out and ready.

 

[BlueBaby]

I try to take my phone out to the coop in the hopes of catching a funny picture or two, but things usually happen so quickly I miss it by the time I get my cell phone out and ready.

Last spring we were having hen's going broody over here left and right, that we got where we were telling the first person that they must have left the cell phone in their coop and her hen's were calling our hen's to recruit them.

 

[416bigbore]

@BlueBaby I didn't quite understand what you meant by your Aloha Project until I went into your Breeding Journey thread post and had a looks see, That was Awesome ! Looks like you have yourself a very fun little project in the works. So why that breed and combination? What got you interested in incubating eggs?

I find it very interesting how people have crossed different breeds of poultry to come up with something better. Awhile back I done a quick search on Isa Browns to learn more about them and it was very interesting to learn their history of development and their sole purpose of being great layers for a few years, while being an awesome pet. I have to agree they can be a little to friendly at times. LOL

I would have to say that I am more of a duck person over chickens if I had to pick one over the other. Maybe that is why we just have the four hens to twelve duck ratio going on. LOL Room is our big hurdle at this point and hope to find something more spacious in the area with a pond if it's not to crazily priced like everything else now days!

I grew up in the rural Midwest in a waterfowl migrator fly zone, and just loved to hear the load distinctive quacks of the large Mallard hens as they would fly over or hang out and rest for a few days before heading on their way.

A friend of mine has a neighbor with a very load Rooster and that thing will crow non stop 24-7 I swear! That's a little to much for me. Chewy does his little crowing in the morning and then is quite the rest of the day thank goodness.

Chewy attitude is definitely changing and now the little pecker head didn't want me to hold him last night when I went to close up the coop for the night, so I left the little turkey out there! The temp wasn't going to be to cold or I would have brought him in. I sure hope he mellows out with his new attitude before he finds himself relocated to freezer camp.

Chewy is a little rescue Roo, he was culled from a small flock when the people discovered he wasn't a pullet. LOL I was told that his mother was a Brahma hen and his father was an unknow farmyard Rooster. So it should be interesting to see how big he will be and what feather colors he will have? That's about eight months away yet, if he makes it that long! LOL

I thought I had a pic of Chewy to post, but I guess I will have to post one a bit later.

 

[BlueBaby]

@416bigbore I have already been working with the Naked Neck's for about 3 year's, and found that they handle our hot summer's here better than some of the other breed's. I played around with the egg color genetics in them, and even have a NN/CCLB cross hen that lay's green egg's. I liked the Aloha's because they are so colorful and big, and they were developed right here in Arizona. I thought that it would be cool to help in the breeding of more of those Aloha's, plus cross some into my NN's also to make some NN-Aloha's. The Aloha rooster's are supposed to average 10-pound's as weight, so I was told.

I got my rooster that's in my Avatar that I named Manoa from @wolfwalker . Then I went and picked up the 10 newly hatched chick's from Sommer who is the one that developed these. I'm still waiting for the chick's to mature. The pullet's will be for Manoa, and I'm planning to keep one cockerel to breed with the only NN that I have that has the yellow leg's. I've been looking for more NN's like her, but have been unsuccessful so far. My other NN's all have the darker colored leg's.

I have been incubating egg's for a few year's now. I like the idea of replenishing my own flock. I first decided to even start having a flock a few year's ago when the price of egg's went up so high. Now with what I have, I can have meat and egg's if need be.

No, I won't be getting any duck's as I don't want to have to deal with all the water and mud.

 

[BlueBaby]

I swear that these weren't chicken from my flock that were apprehended at McDonald's, but it was new's worthy. I guess they wanted more than just the veggie and seed's?:

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/chickens-wreak-havoc-at-new-jersey-mcdonalds-parking-lot