Maybe I will see you there. I will be looking for a few good pigeons. You will know it's me when you overhear a mild mannered man making funny/crafty remarks.... You will hear and say to yourself.... " wait.... I think I know who that is,,,,,, probably "the caveman"
There are 2 ways to look at the early start time. THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM... Which is true if you want what everyone else is after. Then If you are like me and easily satisfied with the second picks, you arrive later and stay till close. At around 11:30 AM (well not equivalent to Mickey Gilley's 1976 hit song,) you can negotiate some fine DEALS. I have purchased nursery stock plants for half price at closing. I also was able to convince a seller that I could only take a hen without a rooster. Earlier they would not separate the pairs. Caveman cant have roosters even if they were free.. All thing are dependent on turnout. It is a flea market atmosphere. I will most likely arrive about 8 or 9. It is an hour + drive for me.The Kankakee swap has also interested me. Please send out a reminder the week before & perhaps I'll be able to met you guys too!I used to be a regular at Lee Watson's swap in the 1990s & then it moved to the DuPage fairgrounds. I've only been there a few times since. I'd like to go Kankakee, but have yet to experience it because of: 1. the very early start time 2. Not having anyone in the house willing to go with me & 3. worried about bringing home too many chickens. Technically, it's only DH that worried about #3 LOL
The Kankakee swap has also interested me. Please send out a reminder the week before & perhaps I'll be able to met you guys too!I used to be a regular at Lee Watson's swap in the 1990s & then it moved to the DuPage fairgrounds. I've only been there a few times since. I'd like to go Kankakee, but have yet to experience it because of: 1. the very early start time 2. Not having anyone in the house willing to go with me & 3. worried about bringing home too many chickens. Technically, it's only DH that worried about #3 LOL
Welcome & just join in. There are plenty of very knowledgeable people here that are willing to help.
Quail hatch is over 8/8! Yay!!! Amazingly 5 are browns and 3 look like they're be white like the a&ms. Incredibly (although I don't know much about quail genetics yet) my female is white and she's in with two white males and one brown one. I also don't think I've ever seen her bred by the brown so I was very surprised.The last three quail did require a bit of help all three of them ended up with a wing stuck to the membrane. Two of them looked to have pipped into small veins and become stuck due to that. My guess is when I first upped the humidity is when they become stuck or at least the third one. I'm glad I looked. I was tipped off when one of them started zipping but didn't go further than maybe a centimeter. Turns out the little one couldn't go any further, as these were the last three and none had made any progress in over 24 hours I decided to investigate. They're all sleeping comfortably and will be moved tonight. I'm so glad I checked and I'm so in love with these little babies I've been dieing to pull them out for a cuddle!
Still I was good I gently and carefully chipped shell away and unstuck their wing and then placed them back in the Bator to go the rest of the way themselves.
Pics later. Got my new phone! Yay. Of course no one wanted to cooperate today for photos but I got some to share and will continue to do so.
Very pretty!
I thought that too about Oopsie, but it seems that she just takes a long, long time to lay her eggs. Or perhaps she's faking it to get more prestige among the hens or to make the roos leave her alone. She's never spent the night in the nest box, so I'm not taking her seriously. Today the little stinker was hogging the 4th box for the entire morning. There was a line of hens waiting & pacing around the coop. The CCL decided not to wait any longer & doubled up in Oopsie's box. The sisters argued for a moment, but neither would leave.
Here's just a few of the pics I snapped today. You'll have to excuse the poor pics the wind wasn't helping. The girls have some bare backs and feather damage from the cocks. We got our first chicken saddles in the mail this weekend too so we'll be putting them on over the next several days. Once the breeding pens are set up that will help too. Didn't get any cockerals processed this weekend hopefully this week we can do some more.
Oopsie's sister has been spending nearly all of her time in the nest boxes. I think she's going broody. Lol
More later guys! Ttyl
I actually got sucked into the chicks at Big R this weekend lol. We got a Silver Laced Wyandotte, Amberlink, Buff Orpington, and an Easter Egger (she was labeled Ameraucana but I doubt that). They are in our spare room, eating, drinking and pooping like crazy. We are considering going to our max 6 chickens with some bantams next week.... but they are straight run and we are concerned what to do if we get a roo :/ The inlaws are visiting in a few weeks and bringing us a bunch of power tools, so coop building can commence.
Hi and Welcome! Just getting started is exciting, and then every spring is exciting, either hatching or seeing baby chicks for sale. Do you have any breeds picked out.
It would be such a fun day if a bunch of us could meet up!
