Idaho?

[EPetrilli]

You got here in the right weather. It hasn't been this nice until lately. I just changed my chickens back from 18 percent protein to 16 percent. We had an inversion with very cold weather for quite a while here. Have you got family in Parma? I probably don't know them but you never know. I was born here and have been away for a while and now been back for about 35 years but I am not a social person. My SIL knows more people here than I do and she is a California transplant of 20 so years.

I do not have family in Parma but a very old friend of mine just retired and she and her husband bought a small ranch and a few acres so I thought I would visit for the weekend after I dropped off the horses!! Their place is absolutely beautiful so I will definately be coming back to visit again soon!! They are also looking to get into some chickens so I will have to set Lynn up here on BYC to meet some people everyone I met while there was so nice and it was amazing being able to get fresh produce in feb lol!

 

[EPetrilli]

...

Yeah, give us a heads up next time you come through, I'm sure there will be someone along the way that would be willing to swap/sell, whatever eggs with you! 

That would be fun! I will be making another trip this spring or summer!!! Maybe I can put a swap together and transport some chicks and eggs

 

[Mo5C]

Both are good looking! Sounds like he is doing ok now. I hope he doesn't turn out like my hen with the mental problem. LOL I am sure when he gets older he will assert himself over the hens.

I hope so too. I am going to get him some new hens when I can finally set up the permanent coop (right now he is using a spare doghouse) and see how he does with them. I am glad your rooster was able to fully recover from his fall. How do you like living in an underground house? It sounds like a neat experience and a great way to cut down on heating and cooling costs.
I am not brave enough to "snuff" my chickens... I actually have a rooster (not the one in the picture) that is still alive because I couldn't "snuff" him, he twisted his leg and broke a toe along with getting really sick over the winter, but whenever I went to do it I would look at him and start crying. He is doing much better but still walks with a limp and is such a wuss when it comes to standing up to the hens but they don't pick on him at all except for the occasional peck on the hind end when he is in a sunny spot one of them wants, he also has remnants of his frostbitten comb visible (I have tried to no avail to catch him to doctor it but he is too fast for me. I love your idea of canning the meat, and home grown chicken does taste very yummy, growing up my family lived on the farm and my dad would always make sure there was some meat be it chicken or rabbit (we raised both) in the freezer.

 

[mbleily]

I do not have family in Parma but a very old friend of mine just retired and she and her husband bought a small ranch and a few acres so I thought I would visit for the weekend after I dropped off the horses!!
Their place is absolutely beautiful so I will definately be coming back to visit again soon!! They are also looking to get into some chickens so I will have to set Lynn up here on BYC to meet some people everyone I met while there was so nice and it was amazing being able to get fresh produce in feb lol!

This is a good place to get interested in chickens. I got a little too interested last spring and hatched a lot of eggs I got here and some of my SILs and my own. Mine did not do well as I had only one roo fro about 30 hens. But now I have 4 roos for about that many so should have good eggs to hatch. I don' know that I want to hatch any this year though unless they are for someone else. I hate having to cull my chickens. I get too attached.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Is a rooster likely to harass young newcomers the way hens do?

I'm borrowing an incubator from the Extension Office next Monday and will be getting some eggs from a friend in IF this weekend...problem is that his hen that I want the eggs from is probably the rooster's sister. That doesn't bother me but I wouldn't want to keep a rooster from this hatch to breed his sisters, so I'm thinking about getting an older unrelated rooster when my chicks are old enough to go out in the coop. Is this a bad idea?

 

[mbleily]

Is a rooster likely to harass young newcomers the way hens do?

I'm borrowing an incubator from the Extension Office next Monday and will be getting some eggs from a friend in IF this weekend...problem is that his hen that I want the eggs from is probably the rooster's sister. That doesn't bother me but I wouldn't want to keep a rooster from this hatch to breed his sisters, so I'm thinking about getting an older unrelated rooster when my chicks are old enough to go out in the coop. Is this a bad idea?

In my experience it would be better to have the roo close to the age of the hens. If he is older he may want to start mounting them and they will be afraid of him if they are too young. If you could get a small one and raise him with them that would be ideal. Could you get some chicks from a hatchery around that time with a roo that you want. I know they are not always sexed so you might have to get three or 4 just to be sure you have a roo or two to pick from. If you go the way with an older roo you need to separate them so they can see each other through the wire for a while. I would wait until the girls are ready to lay before putting him in with them. JMO Sometimes they go easy and sometimes takes longer. Each time it is a little different. Some times I wander why I worried about it and others I didn't worry enough. LOL They usually sort things out between them and get the pecking order down but sometimes one will just be a pain and have problems adjusting. Never know until they are together. It does help if they are close in age though.

 

[mbleily]

I hope so too. I am going to get him some new hens when I can finally set up the permanent coop (right now he is using a spare doghouse) and see how he does with them. I am glad your rooster was able to fully recover from his fall. How do you like living in an underground house? It sounds like a neat experience and a great way to cut down on heating and cooling costs.
I am not brave enough to "snuff" my chickens... I actually have a rooster (not the one in the picture) that is still alive because I couldn't "snuff" him, he twisted his leg and broke a toe along with getting really sick over the winter, but whenever I went to do it I would look at him and start crying. He is doing much better but still walks with a limp and is such a wuss when it comes to standing up to the hens but they don't pick on him at all except for the occasional peck on the hind end when he is in a sunny spot one of them wants, he also has remnants of his frostbitten comb visible (I have tried to no avail to catch him to doctor it but he is too fast for me. I love your idea of canning the meat, and home grown chicken does taste very yummy, growing up my family lived on the farm and my dad would always make sure there was some meat be it chicken or rabbit (we raised both) in the freezer.

I don't kill them anymore myself. I am not as active as I used to be. getting older. lol My son lives with us and he does the killing and skinning. He doesn't like to pluck so I let him do it his way. It is better for canning without the skin anyway. They cook good in the slow cooker skinned too. Just not too good to fry. It needs moisture. Just like the rabbit. I love rabbit too. We used to raise them and goats when the kids were younger. We had 25 goats at one time. I love working with them.too.
You roo is lucky they don't think of him as too injured.

About the house. It is better for the hot and cold weather. We went to Australia years back and lived in the out back for a month in and underground house. That is what got us interested. I designed the house and my husband and family built it. It has windows in the front so it isn't totally underground. It is an open design so it is easy to heat. We use only one wood burning stove in the house and this year we used the wood stove in the greenhouse as well. It was colder this year then usual here. You can see the pictures of the house being built http://www.bleilysgems.com/housepictures.htm This has a lot of pictures. Not of it finished though. I have been looking for that picture and haven't found it yet. sigh. Never remember where I put things on this computer that has soo many folders on it.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Quote: Ok thanks. I was just thinking maybe if I got an experienced rooster he might be more inclined to protect the youngsters from the neighbor's cat...but I think waiting will be fine. Just watched my little dwarf goat completely traumatize said neighbor cat while it was trying to use the corner of our yard. The fence needs washed. ROFL

 

[thebirdguy]

So... need to vent....

We have ten acres east of town where we have all the animals.. It is in the county, zoned agriculture, etc... Since we have coyotes out there and raccoons plus the occasional black bear or mountain lion... we got a great pyrennees LGD.. We would take him out everyday before the fence was finished and since last fall when the fence was completed, he has been out there full time.. We have been transitioning him gradually into full time LGD mode so kept him in the barn except for when we were out there.. The last week or so, coyotes have been seen in the field next to us and since the goats, ducks and pigs are all outside, I decided Porter had "graduated" and started leaving him outside all the time on Saturday.

Last night I got a call from a sheriff's deputy, seems the neighbor to the north... (their house is at least 700+ feet from our barn) called to complain about Porter barking. He was going to issue a citation for disturbing the peace!! I informed him that Porter was an LGD doing his job and that his barking was exempted by the State Right to Farm laws even if there was a county ordinance against barking (which there isn't).. He backpedaled a little saying he didn't know anything about ag law and would send it to the county prosecutor for review..

I texted the neighbor and apologized but reminded them about Porter being an LGD etc... ( I had taken Porter over to introduce him to the neighbors a year ago) they texted back complaining that about all the noise at "our ark" from the ducks and pigs.. said it wasn't fair that we built an ark and didn't live there to hear all the noise. (these same neighbors complained to my inlaws about our roosters crowing last summer). I told him that we wanted very much to build and move out there.. he responded that he couldn't wait to creat a lot of noise for our housewarming..

I took a copy of the State Right to Farm act, an actual case in Oregon where LGDs barking were upheld as being covered by the Right to Farm act and a brief summary of LGDs to the Sheriffs office this afternoon. We'll see what happens..

I don't want to be a bad neighbor or annoy the neighbors, but I don't want anything to happen to our livestock. We lost over a dozen chickens last year before taking Porter out there. We'll be having baby pigs & baby goats starting next month and definitely don't want to lose any of them. Our property is surrounded by farms.. cows in every direction (which will be noisy again this spring when they wean the calves), dogs, horses, emus, sheep, pigs, llamas, goats... just about everything you can imagine animal wise. With that comes periodic noise, smells etc.. but is a big part of why we want to live out there.. It just chafes me that someone would move out there and then complain about the noise or smell!!

Anyway.. thanks for letting me vent!!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

OH man, overly sensitive neighbors are such a drag. This is why I have no roosters....yet....even though we have animal rights and are allowed to have them. We have some people next to us....ugh.....I hope these guys back off! Really, if they want to live in the country, they need to like the things the country has to offer, right>? These guys should move back into town if it is not their thing.