Ideal Poultry - Shipping Wednesday *06/27/12* - Anyone Else??

[Adenium]

Oh my. The forbidden ducks.

I THOUGHT about trying to pull that with my husband. Was sooooo tempted. But we've been married less than a year and I want to celebrate a few more anniversaries. Plus we'd need different facilities to accommodate the infamous duck mess.

Make sure you let us know his reaction when he finds out. Maybe take a video. Perhaps if you snuggle one on him when he's asleep and he wakes up to its adorable spatula-like bill?

 

[debir1966]

Adenium: We will be celebrating our 20th in October I am still undecided about the ducks LOL. I know they make awesome pets, and ducks are so much fun, they can be like dogs, following you around like a puppy... and duck kisses - oh my! I love duck kisses (a friend of mine used to raise ducks a long time ago, and the babies would snuggle against you when you held them and rub their bill softly against your cheek - sooo cute!). But messy ugh. Worth it once they are outside and able to take care of themselves as long as, in my opinion, you don't have too many which means messy outside too LOL.

I am not sure if I ordered the ducks more for me or the kids hahaha. I do love variety though and I guess it is the part of me that wants to "relive" my childhood. We had all sorts of critters, from chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peacocks, rabbits, several pet birds (not a worry here, not my thing), various pet rodents over the years, dogs, cats, horses, mules, cows (both beef and milk), goats, sheep, pigs LOL. Yeah, I got my love of animals (and the food they provide!) from my Mom

We were just recently able to move back out to the country and I am in 7th heaven! Within two weeks of getting here I already had two goats and a few days later we had chickens! Once we get done with the new coop, we will be working on the pig pen so we can get a couple pigs to raise up. After that I want to concentrate on saving up for cows, they are sooo expensive right now. I have been watching craigslist every day for a good deal on a jersey heifer calf... my husband is not too keen on the idea of a milk cow, but I am determined to eventually get one. Like I told him, he works 5 days a week, gets a couple weeks off a year for vacation, so we are already tied down with his work and I can plan her dry period to be during our major vacation time which is in the fall (hunting season). And everything loves milk - from the chickens to the pigs to the people, the milk wouldn't go to waste!

 

[Adenium]

Wow am I envious of your childhood. My dream is to expand my menagerie but we need to move first...which will be a few years.

It sounds like you can handle the ducks....and from what I've heard they're often the secret ingredient to prize-winning baked goods as their eggs are extra special. GO FOR IT so that others can live vicariously through you.

I've never experienced duck kisses. Suddenly my life feels less complete.

 

[debir1966]

Adenium: You will have to go down to your local feed store when they get a batch of duckies in and give it a try

CAjerseychick: How is your coop remodel going? Did you try the rabbit waterer on the chicks yet?

captainroo2: How are your RIR and BO chicks doing? Did you put them all in the same box at first or go ahead and put seperate in both brooders?

galefrances: Have you been able to figure a way to keep the shavings in the pen? I thought about it last night, what about cutting up a cardboard box and fit it on the inside as a barrier to help keep them in? You might also try putting a few papertowels under the waterer and maybe that would help them not kick in the shavings so much.

CandleGal: How are your chickies doing? <cough>pics<cough>

txchickie: Is your broody still doing good with the chicks? I still wish I had one to slip a few of mine under! I am hoping the cochins I have coming will prove to be broody. I have read alot of posts on how to "break" a broody but none on how to encourage them to BE broody LOL. As far as I am concerned if I had a couple hens broody from spring to fall I would be tickled pink!

Dutch552: I am hoping one of the black broiler roos doesn't get too big so I can use him as a rooster. I want to be able to raise my own cross meat chickens. If one of the black broiler roos doesn't work out, I am going to get a cornish (not the cross) as suggested by someone here on BYC. How did your chicks fair their first night?

puglady: PICS!!! I wanna see your mixed variety chickies please I am having alot of fun trying to guess what is what with mine.

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Just settled the chicks in for the night (i.e. turned off the light). One of them is not too happy about that and is cheaping his/her little heart out. I don't have it fully dark in there, the light in the next room is on so they should have enough light to see to tuck in for the night.

They are all still doing good. We did a head count and I think the DOA was one of my Black Australorps. I am going to see if they can stick a replacement in with my next shipment at the end of July.

I braved up and told my husband about the guineas, he didn't seem to mind... still haven't told him about the ducks, but I got a while before I have to confess that LOL.

Unfortunately I didn't get any better pics! I will keep trying, going to see if I can rig a basket or something and get group shots LOL. Need to get a good pic for my avatar and see if you guys can help m figure out who is who! I think the two Ameraucanas are one light and one dark, going to be interesting to see what they look like. They don't have as puffy of cheaks as I thought they would.

 

[CAjerseychick]

Cajerseychick: I am very interested if the bunny water bottle works. My husband and I have had many "debates" over the chickens using chicken nipples. But after changing disgusting chicken water for almost a month, I am all for the chickens learning to drink from them and I know some of my hens do, I am just not 100% positivie ALL of my hens are. This winter will tell pretty quick because they will not be out to free range in the snow and the only water available to them will be from the chicken nipples. I LOVE the chicken nipples - no poo, no litter, no dirt, no feathers, no gross in the water! Will you be able to post pics of your 6 fluff bottoms when you get them?

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I got my first six from Craiglist! Really am techno impaired ( that s why no pic for my Avatar) and have no idea how to post pics! These first set are 3 weeks old-- and I am using a regular water feeder for them-- was thinking of using the bunny waterer on the next set of 15 that arrive in the mail (not til July 11) as I am planning to use my old metal dog crate ( the wire kind) on that set and the bottle is designed to hang from the cage set up...
Right now I have the little waterer in play and I put it on a 1inch high plastic base and that seems to have reduced the scratching up of litter into the rims-- But boy these birds are messy! Just 6 and a fair amount of cleanup/ constant monitoring of feed/ water! I only can imagine what 15 is like-- am alittle nervous about the whole 24 hr a day brooder lamp thing-- not sure I trust my husband/ 9 year old to monitor the heat on them constantly when I am out of town 2 days a week...(The current 6 only have the lamp on at night, I have them in the garage sink at night! the edge is perfect for attaching the lamp)...
Also I saw at the feed store a sort of row feeder that put you put right up next to the chicks' crate and they put their heads out of the crate (these are the 2 week olds) and feed that way -- waay less mess-- I was thinking to do that with the dog crate chicks....
Will def. let you how the bunny waterer works, the feed store person seemed to think alot of people were doing it this way as well...

 

[CAjerseychick]

CAjerseychick: How is your coop remodel going?

Coop remodel is slow-- we got the run almost complete (its a 6' by 8' section attached to the coop so we can put their feed and water in there undisturbed from the dogs, I plan to let them free range during the day when I am home) just need to cover it-- the sections are all cut out for the extension but we havent actually started nailing it onto the body of the coop yet... Slow going, but thanks for asking!

 

[marlo1968]

captainroo2: my daughter (5) and son (14) are almost as excited as I am LOL. I am wondering about "packing peanuts", extra roos to keep the chickies warm if you have less than 25 per box. Did they give you call also or just an email that they shipped? This is basically my first experience as well since it has been since the late 80's that my Mom last did an order! This is my first order. We used to raise alot of chicks when I was a kid, but that has been many years ago LOL.

CAjerseychick: here is a great link about ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) : http://poultrykeeper.com/health-suppliments/apple-cider-vinegar I really wanted to have some on hand, but we don't have a Traders Joes, we live in a very small town somewhat remote from a big city. I am going to pick some up this weekend when we go shopping in the valley.

I can't wait to get my email tomorrow, I am as nervous as a hen on eggs *wink*

For your apple cider vinegar, have you looked at the grocery store? That's where I get mine.

 

[debir1966]

CAjerseychick: I am not hugely techie either LOL. I just push the "Insert Image" on the bar above when I am replying and I push the "Browse" button on the little pop-up window, go to the file I have my pics stored and choose which one I want to post That is probably a sucky explanation LOL. Our coop build is going super slow because my husband is putting in alot of hours during the week so we can only work at it on weekends and usually we have SOMETHING going on at least one weekend day so that leave one weekend day morning when it is cool enough to do anything outside to work on it... yeah, we have not gotten very far LOL.

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marlo1968: Ugh, I am so upset at myself, I forgot to get ACV today! I have been told by alot of people to only use the old fashioned, non-pasturized type with mother in it. I have a chicken "mentor" who is the owner of the feed store where we get our feed and they raise lots of chicken and other critters and she said only the type with mother in it. Though, honestly, I have seen several people on BYC say it doesn't matter. I might give them a little store-bought ACV (which I always have on hand) until I can get some of the old fashioned type next weekend when we go down to the valley again.

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It is HOT today. Almost croaked off down in the valley, by the time we got done shopping I just wanted to come home to our shade and cooler temps, but it wasn't that much cooler here LOL. I was tempted to go jump in the river (which is a definite possibility if the temps stay this high!).
The chickies survived their first alone time, we were gone for about 7 hours total. I put new paper towels down this morning right before we left and by the time we got home you couldn't find a clean spot! Messy, messy birds!

We are converting an old pop-up tent trailer into an outdoor brooder, stripping out the insides, smoothing anything that needs smoothed and building a wood and hardware cloth lid with access doors. We are planning on putting it in the barn while there is chicks in it. My husband wants to just skip the brooder and put them straight into the new coop, but honestly it will not be ready by the time I am ready for these chicks to be out of the house! I plan on booting the little cuties out the door when they are a couple weeks old and hoping that by July 25th (when my next order ships), they will not need the heater at all so I can use it on the new chickies. We have very warm summers, and are semi-arid so it's dry warm summers (temps in the 90's consistently and a few days over a 100 for most of July and August). I think my bigger concern might be keeping them cool than heating them up!

Hopefully tomorrow morning we can work on either the brooder or the chicken house (or both!!!) a little. The spot we are putting the chicken house is currently piled with uncut firewood logs LOL, so we have to saw those up and put them in the wood shed before we get started on the actual building!

 

[txchickie]

txchickie: Is your broody still doing good with the chicks? I still wish I had one to slip a few of mine under! I am hoping the cochins I have coming will prove to be broody. I have read alot of posts on how to "break" a broody but none on how to encourage them to BE broody LOL. As far as I am concerned if I had a couple hens broody from spring to fall I would be tickled pink!

She is doing great! She FINALLY took them out of the coop today and they're all scratching around in the run. I ended up giving our neighbor a few chicks for her daughter to raise, my hen just has 4 now. I love watching mama hens and babies, there is nothing more precious. I have the opposite problem with going broody, I think her broodiness is contagious. When she goes broody, I have 2 or 3 more join her...it's frustrating! I've even had polish go broody, which is supposedly unheard of. Cochins are supposed to be broody, I hope you can get them to raise you some babies! Leave eggs in one nest for a few days, that does the trick here.

And with the ACV, you really do need the organic, unpasteruized kind with the mother in it. The other grocery store cheap kind is useless, there isn't really any benefit to it.


I LOVE seeing the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How fun would that be to get a big ol box like that full of chicks! I'll have to put it on my bucket list, lolololol!

 

[CandleGal]

I wish I had a broody too, maybe next time. Here are my fuzzies. I got 4 Barred hollands, 2 Easter eggers and 2 Black Australorp. I think I am going to have to wait until they are feathered to tell the Hollands from the others but I am assuming the EE's are the brown and yellow. I hope everyone is having fun with their babies.