Illinois...

[ChicagoClucker]

I am cutting down my flock further and just posted this ad on craigslist in case someone is interested. Hopefully its just temporary and I will be able to pick-up again soon but sadly that seems to be it for now.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/grd/5624514068.html

May have some others apart from the ad so just ask!

Also willing to do a last hatch of the year on order for folks who might be interested in chicks from my flock before it is separated:

1. Mauve rooster x chocolate orpington hen:

Will produce half mauve and half chocolate chicks

2. Mauve rooster x choc cuckoo orpington hen

Should produce mauve and choc pullets and choc cuckoo and mauve cuckoo roosters.

3. Mauve rooster x Black mottled orpington hen

Should produce mauve and chocolate pullets (both split to mottled)
and black and blue roosters both split to chocolate as well as mottled.

4. Mauve rooster x Black Australorp

Should produce mauve and chocolate pullets and blue and black roosters split to chocolate.

Wish I could take him, he is handsome. But unfortunately, I have quite a few of my own, that I have to sell also.

And MeepBeep is correct, the change is only on liquid antibiotics.

 

[Junibutt]

Wish I could take him, he is handsome. But unfortunately, I have quite a few of my own, that I have to sell also.

And MeepBeep is correct, the change is only on liquid antibiotics.

No worries! I just want a good home for him and someone to continue my projects. Maybe I can pick it back up from where I left!

 

[Faraday40]

Had a BIG party over the weekend. (about 80 people stopped by) With all the kids running about, I locked up the roos & expected the hens to stay inside the coop/run. The hens relaxed in the shade of their fav trees & occasionally came up to someone they knew to beg for a treat. Trouble & her chicks roamed about freely. I stopped locking them up a few days ago & now just let them free range. The only problem is that they can & do slip through the fence to visit the neighbors. The chicks are almost Trouble's size, so I doubt they'll be physically able to slip through the fence for much longer.

The bounce house & baby chick petting zoo were the most popular areas for the party. The weather was perfect. I loved watching people's surprise as they entered our backyard. We live in a suburban neighborhood. Most houses have less than 1/4 acre. Our house is a sideways split-level, so it looks pretty small from the street and blends in with the other houses. It's a surprise when guests first see that the property is much bigger on the inside. (Any Dr Who fans will understand the reference.)

The party was a combo double B-day & hooray for summer party. I called it an "open house" party, so guests could simply stop by to visit, grab food, etc. In the end, it was a 10 hour party & a whole lot of fun! I think we're still recovering!

 

[Molpet]

Had a BIG party over the weekend. (about 80 people stopped by) With all the kids running about, I locked up the roos & expected the hens to stay inside the coop/run. The hens relaxed in the shade of their fav trees & occasionally came up to someone they knew to beg for a treat. Trouble & her chicks roamed about freely. I stopped locking them up a few days ago & now just let them free range. The only problem is that they can & do slip through the fence to visit the neighbors. The chicks are almost Trouble's size, so I doubt they'll be physically able to slip through the fence for much longer.

The bounce house & baby chick petting zoo were the most popular areas for the party. The weather was perfect. I loved watching people's surprise as they entered our backyard. We live in a suburban neighborhood. Most houses have less than 1/4 acre. Our house is a sideways split-level, so it looks pretty small from the street and blends in with the other houses. It's a surprise when guests first see that the property is much bigger on the inside. (Any Dr Who fans will understand the reference.)

The party was a combo double B-day & hooray for summer party. I called it an "open house" party, so guests could simply stop by to visit, grab food, etc. In the end, it was a 10 hour party & a whole lot of fun! I think we're still recovering!

love your Tardis yard

 

[Faraday40]

love your Tardis yard

You got it!

Most of the neighborhood houses have yards that end behind a garage with an alleyway. Instead, we have a narrow house with a narrow single car driveway that leads to a detached garage. Because the house is sideways, it looks rather small & insignificant. The garage faces forward and is almost as wide as the house. It completely blocks any view of the backyard. The backyard continues behind the garage & goes an additional 350'. That's what always causes our visitors to say"Whoa!"

 

[ChicagoClucker]

How is everyone's chicks holding up in the heat? I had the mister going for my older guys, and the all the juvies were good finding worms and bugs on the drive side after I watered.

Spangled Orps are getting so big.


Fluffy butts!


My 2 SL boys are finally venturing out a little further than usual.


Thinking this is my Partridge's baby.

And this is a crossed chick between my mid sized Choc Orp
and my SL bantam cochin. I had 2 oops eggs in my broodies
hatch. This one and the CCL.


I did put a box fan into the big coop tonight. Kind of worried about it being in there, but I have it pretty secured so it won't get knocked over, I hope.
Hope everyone stays cool, one way or another.

 

[MeepBeep]

Hope everyone stays cool, one way or another.

My kids have spent the last week in the driveway with a sprinkler pretty much going all day long... They do turn in on and off or turn it down but it's pretty much been running all day... Really need to get the pool up and running this year, assuming it's all still functional...

Also rushing to get the garden in, we always plan way ahead, all the seeds were ordered online months ago, but always manage to get it in later than expected... Planted the girls flower garden this week, we buy a about a dozen bags of misc flower seeds and let them go wild spreading them in their garden area... I planted a bunch of sunflowers along the side of the coop today and the lady planted some split peas and beans in the garden with the girls after augmenting the container with some peat moss for the season... Assuming we can get some patches of nice weather in the coming days we will get the rest of the garden in... Even though we are late every year we are working every year to refine the process so hopefully we will be more streamlined in a bit...

Our big goal this year is to cover all the raised planters and garden plots with black sheet plastic as soon as we harvest to cook off and prevent any late season weed growth, remove it right before snow and then replace it right after the snow clears so it burns off and prevents any spring weed growth, figure this will save us a bunch of time and remove the need to pre-weed the garden before planting... Plus if we luck out it will cook off a majority of the seeds in the soil and kill them off as well so less weeds all season...

 

[ChicagoClucker]

My kids have spent the last week in the driveway with a sprinkler pretty much going all day long... They do turn in on and off or turn it down but it's pretty much been running all day... Really need to get the pool up and running this year, assuming it's all still functional...

Also rushing to get the garden in, we always plan way ahead, all the seeds were ordered online months ago, but always manage to get it in later than expected... Planted the girls flower garden this week, we buy a about a dozen bags of misc flower seeds and let them go wild spreading them in their garden area... I planted a bunch of sunflowers along the side of the coop today and the lady planted some split peas and beans in the garden with the girls after augmenting the container with some peat moss for the season... Assuming we can get some patches of nice weather in the coming days we will get the rest of the garden in... Even though we are late every year we are working every year to refine the process so hopefully we will be more streamlined in a bit...

Our big goal this year is to cover all the raised planters and garden plots with black sheet plastic as soon as we harvest to cook off and prevent any late season weed growth, remove it right before snow and then replace it right after the snow clears so it burns off and prevents any spring weed growth, figure this will save us a bunch of time and remove the need to pre-weed the garden before planting... Plus if we luck out it will cook off a majority of the seeds in the soil and kill them off as well so less weeds all season...

I set up the pool for the grandkids about 2 weeks ago, that way I could get my flowers and veggies in while they were busy. I had saved my seeds from last year, but I never got the chance to start them, so ended up buying some starters. I am trying something different this year also. I had gotten 2 compost bins last year from a friend and had them filled by Dec. They have been cooking away since then, and I used the one mainly filled from my poop tray in the coop. The pine shavings were still not broken down completely but used it anyway. Such a difference, everything is taking off fantastically. SO happy with my chicken manure compost. I have also sunk coffee cans that were drilled with holes at varying heights and filled them with compost. Purpose being, once the plants root system takes off, I will fill the compost can with water and it will slowly release the compost tea to the roots of the plants. We will see if it makes a difference. Since I have the chickens in the yard, all my planting this year is in large pots on the side drive, wish I had more land.

I think the plastic will work out nicely. Will save you tons of time and back aches and your plantings will appreciate not having to compete.

 

[chickendreams24]

Today was rough on the flock we've been pretty cool the last several days and then wham! this hits us. Ice packs in the waterers and frozen treats for the girls including raspberries and tomatoes got everyone through but I was pretty worried for a bit. All the flock was feeling it even the EE and brown Leghorn chicks the ones I think least bothered by it were the silkies lol which were also our only breed that was completely free of frost bite after last year's bitter winter lol

What really helped was finally managing to coax most of the flock out to the front yard in the shade where there was the most breeze. Ugh I thought I was going to have heat stroke too. Our hatch is going well though not as well as I had hoped. We've lost five chicks DIS to I think all some level of eyp.(These eggs are part of a stagger that started last Friday and many had to be washed when a chick hatched with a disgusting, not absorbed, ruptured-and not quite fresh egg yolk that it then smeared everywhere.) I am not sure but all the chicks that were DIS hadnt absorbed their yolks and all had some variation of green/grey coloring. Am I right that this is an egg yolk infection? We had one malposotioned of those five and one cross beak. Strangely enough all of our mal formed chicks have been from one buff orpington hen we have. I don't think we'll be hatching her eggs anymore although by the number of eggs of hers we've hatched we've only had two or three malformed chicks. Not including our original shipped silkie eggs.

That being said I have a little silkie chick from my buff silkie, Ginger, who I'm very much hoping is a pullet. We have one chick that just hatched and are waiting on 4 more. There are ten healthy happy chicks in the brooder being kept nice and toasty and tomorrow hopefully they'll be joined by their last siblings. From this hatch then we have eggs due next Friday and Sunday followed by one more hatch that was set 4 days ago. That is the last of our hatching for the year unless we get the eggs were planning to buy from a local woman. Some of the eggs set 6/6 are also under a broody silkie although a crazy buff Orpington climbed on top of her today(something this bird normally doesn't do) and broke an egg.

We are as expected after the month or more ago loss of my flock master experiencing very large losses due to lack of fertility. Not a big deal.

How are everyone else's flocks? And CC if you decide to sell one of those silver laced boys or if I can just borrow one let me know lol

We have dreamed up a project bird and I will be needing a silver laced roo for a bit. We haven't decided if we want to go the slw or orp route. Please don't take me too seriously or be offended not expecting anything just throwing it out there.

Will try to add pics tomorrow. Goodnight all

 

[Blondie1026]

Rural King in Peru, Illinois had 99 cent chicks because they were 2-3 weeks old. Had 2 oldest girls with me and need I say more.....we came home with 6 new chicks. 3 isa Browns and 3 black sexlinks. My hubby is still building a big brooder box so we are at this brooder a max. My girls are ecstatic!