Icelandic Chickens

[greatergraceoffbg]

Thanks Mary,

Some say that things as simple as providing guests and visitors with shoes or boots to traverse your chicken areas is the easiest and best way to implement Bio Security ..... whew that is such a political sounding term these days

ahhhh well sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee and watch my little Icelandic Bio diversity contribution in my yards!

It sure is a beautiful day here, WARM, thank the Lord, and overcast slightly, all the Icelandics are happy! Soon the trees will be greening, the Irises, lillies, and other flowers will greet us with declarations of renewed life.... I'm getting two hives of bees this year to help preserve the local stock as our National bee population is declining at an alarming rate. We are working on a different approach to management, avoiding treating mites chemically we are developing smaller circular entrance holes that the bees have crawl through, scraping off the larger mites. We have been experimenting and the old bottom opening allows a larger number of bees in and out quickly so we have developed a longer row of these small entrances. After a few months the mites large enough to reproduce are all eliminated and there is no resident population of mites. We are also using the Kenyan long hive model which is more like what the bees find in nature as opposed to the square smooth walled boxes we see in the fields. More fun!

Well, everyone have a great day!

Andy in Fredericksburg

 

[greatergraceoffbg]

Mary,

Thanks for posting this, I am reposting it with a high recommendation for everyone to open the link and Bookmark it! Everyone should also read up on things like this a little bit at a time to get familiar with the diseases of chickens and the treatments so when faced with a sick bird you may be able to call the problem and solve it with less worry! Thanks again Mary!

Chickens having respiratory problems? Ask for a Poultry Respiratory PCR Panel from Zoologix. Read about it here:
http://zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/PoultryRespiratoryPanel.htm

Andy in Fredericksburg

 

[AK Michelle]

OK, I did it, I read the whole thing from start to now (it's not finished yet)

Now the only question I have is...

How on earth am I going to survive the wait till my Easter hatch eggs get here? I want to start some now.

 

[The Sheriff]

Quote:
Why wait? We don't!

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Spend all your free time building coops.

 

[AK Michelle]

Quote:
Why wait? We don't!

Well, I only have to wait till you have some to ship... just sayin...

 

[AK Michelle]

Quote:
Spend all your free time building coops.

Sorry Kathy, it's still frozen outside. I hate building in the cold.

I'm spending my spare time inside, planning. We just moved in January, I have 5 acres, and only 1 coop... We are going to build a coop in the spring so it will be ready by the time the chicks are feathered out enough to be moved outside. Since my goal has always been to have a wide variety, and I can get all that variety from the Icelandics, I won't have to worry about housing multiple breeds

 

[The Sheriff]

Ok, I had a dumb day today. Actually, more like a dumb few months. I have been having trouble with my six month old, blue Ameraucana pullet, Mrs. Howell. She has been chasing the baby chicks, fighting with Judge Judy, and just being bossy in general. Michael and I decided we were probably going to re-home her. Yesterday she came out of the big coop after dark and chased the cochin babies all back into the baby coop, for which I was grateful. I wondered aloud to Michael why she did that when she has been so mean to them. So today she was all up in everybody's business so I went out to take pictures of her to post on Craigslist. As I peered through my $2,000.00 lens, attached to my $4,000.00 camera I saw this....

OMG... Mrs. Howell is not Mrs. Howell, she is Thurston Howell the III! When did this happen? Where have I been? Do I need a new eyeglass prescription? I immediately got in touch with Kelly, who confirmed the morph. I purchased Mrs. Howell four months ago as an eight week old pullet from a reputable dealer, who apparently needs new glasses too.

Then I realized that I had heard a strange crow two days ago that I hadn't heard before and all the Icelandic cockerals haven't crowed yet. OMG, it was Mrs. Howell! So Kelly and I start wondering what would happen if I kept said rooster, who requests that he now be called Thurston, and crossed him with my wheaten Ameraucana, Skye.

They are a lovely couple.

Kelly worked the chicken genetic calculator to figure out that we would get blue or black Ameraucanas! How exciting, except I can't keep a roo in that yard because that is where I am going to breed my cochins. Kelly suggested keeping and breeding him until the now six week old cochins are of age. Hey, that would work!

Meanwhile, DH is sick and he starts whining for an egg-in-a-hole for dinner. So I grab the eggs from the fridge, crack one of Skye's beautiful blue eggs in a bowl...

OMG, it's fertile! See the bullseye?

So Mrs. Howell is actually Mr. Howell and he's been doing it with Skye behind my back. I am senile so I have no clue and have been refrigerating the blue eggs. I grabbed the remaining three blue eggs from the fridge. I am going to incubate these blue eggs and hatch me some blue or black Ameraucanas. But wait, I have promised my incubators to Kelly who is secretly plotting to over-through Kathy as the Hatch Queen and has eggs coming in from all over the country. Drat! She's my local chicken BFF. I can't go back on my word. Who will sex my roos now? Wait, nevermind, she was no help with Mrs. Howell. Anyway, the way I see it Kelly will be stacking her eggs up to make room for my blue eggs!

Stay tuned!

 

[AK Michelle]

 

[kathyinmo]

OMG, I about peed my pants laughing so hard!