How is your flock today?

[Marstar]

Hello
My flocks doing Great! I live in Southern California and they were able to see some very rare snow in our yard yesterday morning. I wished I could of taken pictures but I had to work. I only get to enjoy my chickens in the afternoons and weekends.

 

[416bigbore]

@Marstar Hello and Welcome, Thanks for posting, glad to hear your flock is doing Great! I am still waiting for ours to discover snow for their first time also, that should be funny to watch.

It was funny to watch our ducks discover that the top of their pool was frozen over one chilly morning and a few of them skates across the top to their surprise! LOL

How many chickens do you have and what age and breed ?

 

[Sally PB]

@416bigbore, I bet you would have no trouble growing kale this time of year. It is a very hardy green that has withstood pretty hard frosts where I am. There are gobs of varieties too. I have some in my greenhouse right now. That, some lettuce, and some spinach is all I dare plant up there until the days get longer. It's all growing very slowly, but it fills my "I need to see green stuff growing" desires. I snip some kale leaves for my chickens every couple of days.

As far as when cockerels are old enough to "get in the mood..." I had three. Two of them were terrorizing the pullets at 4 months. The girls took to staying in the coop, up on the roosts, because the minute they were on the floor or the ground, one of those two was on them, and this was 5 weeks before they started laying. When I had to take food into the coop to hand feed them, I knew those two had to go. (I didn't mean to get three boys; that's straight run for ya!) My remaining guy is good to them; he's still gotta learn more respect for me.

 

[416bigbore]

@Marster BTW very Beautiful GS you have. My fritz was black and tan also.

 

[416bigbore]

@416bigbore, I bet you would have no trouble growing kale this time of year. It is a very hardy green that has withstood pretty hard frosts where I am. There are gobs of varieties too. I have some in my greenhouse right now. That, some lettuce, and some spinach is all I dare plant up there until the days get longer. It's all growing very slowly, but it fills my "I need to see green stuff growing" desires. I snip some kale leaves for my chickens every couple of days.

As far as when cockerels are old enough to "get in the mood..." I had three. Two of them were terrorizing the pullets at 4 months. The girls took to staying in the coop, up on the roosts, because the minute they were on the floor or the ground, one of those two was on them, and this was 5 weeks before they started laying. When I had to take food into the coop to hand feed them, I knew those two had to go. (I didn't mean to get three boys; that's straight run for ya!) My remaining guy is good to them; he's still gotta learn more respect for me.

That is good to know about Kale thank you, I will definitely have to check into what specific type grows best in our climate.

This is how we come to adopting Chewy because the previous owner had a few small chicks from a friend and once they discovered he was a little cockerel and starting to chase their other hens, he had to go. LOL

Chewy was a very friendly little guy until he hit the four month age and his attitude seemed to change overnight. He is making more different noises besides crowing and he don't like to be held anymore. I hope he turns out ok and isn't a jerk to our hens or he will be taking up a new residents until he is invited for dinner.

The joys of purchasing straight run if you are hoping for more hens then rooster ratio. LOL

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Mine are doing great, the chickens are kinda like cats, thinking the world is out to get them; were as my ducks are just happy to be alive!

 

[Sally PB]

That is good to know about Kale thank you, I will definitely have to check into what specific type grows best in our climate.

More info about kale...

Any type should grow well for you, especially this time of year. It's a "cool weather" crop. It's one of the Brassicas, which is the cabbage family and includes broccoli, turnips, rutabagas, and cauliflower. The seeds of all of these look alike to me! And so do the seedlings. It's amazing to me that turnips and kale are so closely related!

Kale is a favorite of my chickens. It's one of the "superfoods," but I'm not too keen on it. I eat it in smoothies because it's full of good stuff. You should have no trouble finding seeds for some kind of kale anywhere; that's one good thing about becoming a trendy food.

It likes slightly acidic soil and a fair amount of moisture. Once it gets going, it can grow pretty fast.

 

[416bigbore]

Mine are doing great, the chickens are kinda like cats, thinking the world is out to get them; were as my ducks are just happy to be alive!

Thanks for posting and glad to hear they are doing great. Do you have one flock or do you have your ducks and chickens separated? How many of each?

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

They are seperated, and right now I have 4 hens and a roo and 2 ducks and a drake, but I will be getting a lot more in the spring.

 

[416bigbore]

More info about kale...

Any type should grow well for you, especially this time of year. It's a "cool weather" crop. It's one of the Brassicas, which is the cabbage family and includes broccoli, turnips, rutabagas, and cauliflower. The seeds of all of these look alike to me! And so do the seedlings. It's amazing to me that turnips and kale are so closely related!

Kale is a favorite of my chickens. It's one of the "superfoods," but I'm not too keen on it. I eat it in smoothies because it's full of good stuff. You should have no trouble finding seeds for some kind of kale anywhere; that's one good thing about becoming a trendy food.

It likes slightly acidic soil and a fair amount of moisture. Once it gets going, it can grow pretty fast.

Thanks for the addition info very much appreciated. I am glad they all like it so much because I have yet to find a way to eat the stuff so that it tastes any good!

I will have to make raised garden beds this next spring because of the clay soil we have and will all the extra rain this year our garden didn't do all that well.