"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[kuntrygirl]

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Glad to see you here.

 

[grambysfarm]

AmyLou22!!

Well, my baby goose finally hatched. Here are a couple of pics.

This gosling is from my Saddleback Sebastopols. Both parents are Saddlebacks. The goose is Buff (she's my avatar), and the gander is Gray/Split-to-Buff; therefore, the gosling could be either Gray or Buff Saddleback. I think it will be a Buff Saddleback. Both of my Saddlebacks are smoothbreasted and I expect that the gosling will be smoothbreasted as well. Next year, I plan to have both smooth and curly breasted Saddleback Sebastopol geese. I'm getting some curly breasted saddlebacks to mix with my flock this year.

The gosling has already identified me as "Momma" and when I go to check on her in her box she scoots toward me for me to pick her up. I may have to keep this one because she's already steeling my heart.

 

[NonnasBabies]

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&

have fun with your new chicks!!

 

[NonnasBabies]

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Oh my goodness. That is too cute. So glad it finally made it's appearance.

 

[eastercreek]

I wish I would have thought of this before expo....but here goes anyway. Does anyone have any old grungy galvanized chicken feeders or waterers laying around that they dont intend to use because you have upgraded to the more modern plastic ones? Our coop is almost finished and it purposely has an antique-look to it and it would be a shame to plop some brightly colored plastic thingys or shiny new metal ones in there! Of course I can disinfect any old metal pieces. If nobody has any...can you direct me to a resource? I have been told First Monday Trade Days in Canton....but it will be a couple of months till we can get there. I have also checked Craigslist...but our local Craigslist is sorely lacking

Thanks for any help

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Soooooooooo cute.

 

[chickenguru]

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I did have some older galvanized feeders around someplace but would have to look. If I do find where they were stashed I will hold onto them for you but
it may be a while before I could actually get them to you.

The two chicks that you have questions about really look like cornish crosses to me. I could be wrong but I have
bought several in the past. It will not take long for you to know for sure. As far as having them die in a few months.
that doesn't have to be the case. When you can tell for sure that they are cornish crosses hold back on their feed a little.
Do not feed them like it is recommended or they will definately have problems. A lot of people, even some of the BYC
experts will say they are not good foragers. Bull> I started putting mine out of the brooder and onto the ground at two weeks
old. At first we would catch crickets and such to give to them while they were still that young. It did not take too long
and they were out foraging with the rest of the chickens. The main thing I found out is to keep plenty of fresh water around even while they
are free roaming. They seemed to get hotter quicker that my layers and keeping water close by helps a lot. It will take them
a little while but soon enough they will be running all over the place chasing bugs,scratching like the layers and they love dust baths.
Now the reason I say hold back on the feed is to keep the body from passing up the legs too quick. The first batch I raised I
kept in a pen. They would hardly ever walk around and would actually squat down at the long feed trough and eat all they could
reach and then scoot down to where more feed was and keep eating. My first ones consisted of 5. I finally got rid of them to a friend
and it cut my feed consumption in half.
The next two groups that I got I kept plenty of water in the brooders and only filled up the small red plastic feeder 1x/day.(For 5 broilers)
I started them on the ground at two weeks and it gave time for the legs to get strong enough to carry their weight. Even as they got older
I only gave them feed 1x/day. Feeding them as recommended is only for someone planning to butcher them in 5 to 6 weeks.
You can actually raise them up to where you can collect eggs from them if you want to. When they get to that age and start
laying though, it is possible that the eggs may be too large for them but that is not always the case. I have a neighbor who butchered out
a few of his that had started laying and also a rooster or two of the same age. The hens dressed @ 15lbs and the roo dressed @17lbs and
turned out to be pretty good baking birds but had losta lot of the flavor that he would have had a 6-8 weeks old.
Didn't mean for this post to be sooo long but just wanted you to know just because they MAY be broilers didn't mean they would
automaticall up and die on you.
chickenguru
Oh..I will post a picture on the other website since it is easier than posting pictures here for you to see.

 

[NonnasBabies]

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Just to let you know those nice shiney feeders & waterers will be dull in no time!!

I LOVE my feeders ( I have the 5 or 10 lb one and also the 40 lb one) but even though I still use my waterer when I have a bunch of batches of babies the waterer rusts SO bad!!

If I happen to see any on Craigs list I'll let you know!!

Oh and I did try to look last night for that picture I was telling you about but couldn't find it anywhere's!!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Here's a cute little pic! So far she's being a good little mama!!

Still waiting on the others to hatch. So weird since they were all put under the broodies at the same time and when I candled them Friday before I put them on lockdown they were all perfect!! Still being optimistic!!

Oh Terri & Mike I removed that egg today and candled it and there wasn't any movement at all this time! I went ahead and threw it out!!

So sad!!

 

[amylou22]

I have changed my mind. I am now getting 8 on Friday or Saturday. Don't tell my husband, lol.

Based on the numbers I have seen here, a 6x12 run with a 4x6 elevated coop will be enough, right? I am still thinking of going 8x12 for the run and 4x8 for the coop...