"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[foreverlearning]

To rooster or not to rooster....

When I ordered my girls, I thought I was ordering ALL girls. I'm learning that it's not always that easy. Well, I have Harry Larry. He is a BO rooster and right at 20weeks. He's a sweet boy. He wants to be by you and loves his treats, he'd just rather NOT be picked up! I still do a couple times a week to remind him who's boss.

Harry's starting to dance and get frisky with the girls. There are more feathers floating around than before. My blue orpington (Gertie) has a thin spot of feathers on the back of her neck. I do know what's going on, I promise!

I do not have intentions of hatching any of the eggs that they will (hopefully soon) lay. Will it create more trouble to keep Harry, or would it be best to try and re-home him now? Are there any benefits to having him, especially when they free range? Thanks.

PROTECTION!!! Yes roosters are great for protection especially for free ranging. When more girls are ready to lay he will back off the one and the feathers will look better. If you only have the one I would keep him, it's when you have too many that you have to name them Stew and Fryer.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Good morning peeps. I hope that everyone had a great weekend. Was a VERY busy weekend for me. I'm surprised I'm still alive to tell about it. My Friday started off by me meeting a very nice lady that had contacted me about wanting some peacock feathers. Her parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and the theme is peacocks. I may have mentioned this many posts back. My boys were dropping their tails so I would always pick up the feathers because I was going to sell them OR barter. In this day and age, a lot of people do not have readily cash available to buy things but they may have something that is worth more than money. So, in the ad that I posted, I explained that I was looking for canned preserves (jellies, etc) and would be willing to make an even trade. Well after a couple of weeks of texting back and forth we finally sealed the deal. So this is what I received for my bartering for the peacock feathers. I'm happy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 18 Pear 13 Chow Chow 9 Fig 3 Muscadine 2 Peach 1 Salsa 1 Jar Pickled Chicken Egg 1 Small Fig/Strawberry 1 Small Muscadine/Grape Jelly 1 Large Pepper Sauce I counted 51. I tried some of the salsa this weekend and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! I made some wheat pasta with mushrooms and poured some of the salsa preserves over it. All I can say is, C'est Bon. **************************************************************************************************************************************** Well, after meeting with the lady to do the swap, I get home and was outside in the chicken yard. I looked up and saw a utility pole and what looked like lightening. After seeing all the sparks, the lights in the neighborhood went out. I guess a transformer blew. The first thing that I thought about was my pea eggs in the incubator. Nothing I could do about that but to report the outage. So, the lights were out for 4 hours. I don't know what will happen to the eggs but we'll see. *************************************************************************************************************************************** So, I got up at 5:00 AM (after going to bed at 1:30 AM) and went to my farming leadership class in Baton Rouge. Class was over with at 3:15pm. I drove home and changed clothes and I set out to pick some muscadine. There is the very nice guy that told me that I could come and pick ALL of the muscadine that I wanted. When I got there, I had no idea what I was about to embark on. This guy has literally hundreds of acres. His driveway is about 1 1/2 miles long (away from the road). I was lost just on his property. So, I get there and he shows me his muscadine vines along the fence. Weellllllllllllll the muscadine vines were about 1 mile long. I almost passed out. I said to myslef there is no way that I can tackle all of those muscadine. So, I had brought he and his wife 5 dozen eggs for their kindness being as though he was so kind to allow me on his property to pick all of the muscadine that I wanted and did not charge me one single penny. I thought that was the least that I could do. So, after an hour of picking the muscadine, I was overwhelmed and I had to shut it down and go home . But before I left his wife walked back up the mile long drive way and brought me some of the BIGGEST pears that I have ever seen in my life. I was shocked. She said that she was very appreciative for the eggs. So here is a pic of the muscadine that I picked. I picked 5 gallons. He told me that I can come back any time I want and pick what I want. His wife said that their muscadine just go to waste every year because they really don't pick it. So after I leave there, I drive home and cut my yard until 9:00 PM. I know that they neighbors were cursing me to kingdom come because I was out cutting grass that late. I never do that but oh well anyway. :/ ********************************************************************************************************************************************** So I get up Sunday morning after a great night's rest and cleaned the house and was back and forth in the chicken yard. It was nice weather outside. So about 4:00 PM, I set out to meet my co-worker who was picking up some more muscadine for me. I met a very nice guy that belongs to the same wine forum/online group that I do and I was asking about muscadine and he said that he would give me some muscadine . Well things worked out perfect because he lives in Vacherie, LA and I had no idea how was I going to get to Vacherie, LA to get muscadine when I could buy some because the gas to get there would be the same if not more that I would pay for muscadine. So, it worked out perfect because my co-worker is from Vacherie, LA and she went home this weekend, so she was able to pick up the muscadine for me. The guy told me that whoever picked them up to bring an ice chest because they would be frozen. Well, when he said bring an ice chest, I wasn't thinking about how many, I was only thinking about keeping them frozen until they reached me. Well, when I met my co-worker and she said that she needed help getting the muscadine out of her car, I was like, "What? You need help? How heavy can it be?" Well, lo and behold when I helped her to get the ice chest out of her truck and opened up the ice chest, I almost fainted when I saw how many muscadine this man had sent back for me. There were so many in there. My co-worker texted me later to tell me that her mom called and said she left some muscadine in the freezer.. I was like, "OH MY!" This man was so nice to send me so many muscadine. I have never met this person before in my life and I would not know him if I was on the side of him in the check out line in Walmart. There are a lot of good people in the world but I already knew that but this just confirms the goodness of people. Ice chest full of muscadine I did share my preserves and muscadine with one of my neighbors. She was at a loss for words when I went to her house and explained why I was there. I also shared my preserves and muscadine with my co-worker who picked them up for me. ************************************************************************************************************************* Now today, I am going to pick up some free insulation that someone has. She has a warehouse of insulation that she was given from some grant. I think she said that she had 25,000 rolls of insulation. She told me to come and get as much as I want because it's too much for her to give away. She has been trying to give it away but it's just too much. ************************************************************************************************************************ I'm glad that I started taking my B12 tabs for energy because without all of this energy, I would be dog tired. Have a great day ya'll.

MY GOODNESS!!!!

You have been very busy!! Now you need a day off, to recover from your days off! I can't wait to hear about your next adventures. On a side note...I wonder how long 30 chicks last? The picture has been there for weeks!!

I so love my adventures. Most people wouldn't believe me unless they were actually with me riding gunshot. My cousin asked me about my daily adventures. When I told him he asked me, "When do you sleep?" All I could do was laugh. 30 chicks huh? Interesting.

 

[kuntrygirl]

To rooster or not to rooster.... When I ordered my girls, I thought I was ordering ALL girls. I'm learning that it's not always that easy. Well, I have Harry Larry. He is a BO rooster and right at 20weeks. He's a sweet boy. He wants to be by you and loves his treats, he'd just rather NOT be picked up! I still do a couple times a week to remind him who's boss. Harry's starting to dance and get frisky with the girls. There are more feathers floating around than before. My blue orpington (Gertie) has a thin spot of feathers on the back of her neck. I do know what's going on, I promise!

I do not have intentions of hatching any of the eggs that they will (hopefully soon) lay. Will it create more trouble to keep Harry, or would it be best to try and re-home him now? Are there any benefits to having him, especially when they free range? Thanks.

Yes, even sometimes the hatcheries will mess up. I'm not a expert at sexing at all and I don't claim to be one and I surely won't tell people that I know how to sex birds. That's why I sell straight run or wait until I know what they are 100%. I am not putting my reputation on the line trying to "guess" what's what with old tymers methods and sell a male when I thought it was a female. That's too risky. Some roosters are very good when it comes to protecting their girls while some roosters are just down right mean. If he seems to be a good rooster, you could think about keeping him. If the girls begin to have bare backs from him being too frisky, you may want to re-home him. Do you in an area where you are allowed roosters?

 

[CackedNut]

PROTECTION!!! Yes roosters are great for protection especially for free ranging. When more girls are ready to lay he will back off the one and the feathers will look better. If you only have the one I would keep him, it's when you have too many that you have to name them Stew and Fryer.

Yes, about the naming of extra roosters...

We had another (notice the past tense) rooster. We had named him Taco (he was a Speckled Sussex) he was supposed to be a hen also. Well, Taco became aggressive when he started feeling his oats. As a result, he was re-homed to a nice family that put him in a soup pot, or maybe even a taco. On the brite side, he did feed a family that could very much use him. My brother did comment, that I was to NEVER name one of his pets!

 

[CackedNut]

Yes, even sometimes the hatcheries will mess up. I'm not a expert at sexing at all and I don't claim to be one and I surely won't tell people that I know how to sex birds. That's why I sell straight run or wait until I know what they are 100%. I am not putting my reputation on the line trying to "guess" what's what with old tymers methods and sell a male when I thought it was a female. That's too risky.

Some roosters are very good when it comes to protecting their girls while some roosters are just down right mean. If he seems to be a good rooster, you could think about keeping him. If the girls begin to have bare backs from him being too frisky, you may want to re-home him. Do you in an area where you are allowed roosters?

We are in the country. There are no rules against us having a rooster. I will continue to watch him mature, and see what happens. It has been fun watching him "dance" for the girls.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes, even sometimes the hatcheries will mess up. I'm not a expert at sexing at all and I don't claim to be one and I surely won't tell people that I know how to sex birds. That's why I sell straight run or wait until I know what they are 100%. I am not putting my reputation on the line trying to "guess" what's what with old tymers methods and sell a male when I thought it was a female. That's too risky. Some roosters are very good when it comes to protecting their girls while some roosters are just down right mean. If he seems to be a good rooster, you could think about keeping him. If the girls begin to have bare backs from him being too frisky, you may want to re-home him. Do you in an area where you are allowed roosters?

We are in the country. There are no rules against us having a rooster. I will continue to watch him mature, and see what happens. It has been fun watching him "dance" for the girls.

I love the dance as well. However, I have a rooster who will dance to let the girls know that he has found food and they come running. Bad thing about that is that he is LIEING because there is NO FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I always tell him, "STOP lieing to them because you have found NO FOOD over there." He is pathetic. He is an attention getter.

 

[foreverlearning]

I have one named Stew and the other Stir Fry unless I can find a new home for them. Whereas my Casanova calls all the girls over for treats and helps me watch Stew and Stir fry so the girls can get treats first. Sometimes you do get dud roosters, but if you have a good one I say keep him. You want one that calls the girls over for treats, watches for predators and alerts, and will correct a hen but not be mean. If one of the girls gets out of line Casanova will sort of growl at them and if they keep it up it just takes one peck.

 

[foreverlearning]

Have any of you had Langshans? If mine are typical of the breed than I will never get any more. I have 3 Black Langshans sold as pullets, 2 roos and a pullet, my luck... The roosters act like really mean hens, the pullet crows, all three are really dumb for chickens, and when they come out of the coop I have to look for the tree that fell. They are so massive that there is a "thud" coming out of there.

 

[foreverlearning]

I love the dance as well. However, I have a rooster who will dance to let the girls know that he has found food and they come running. Bad thing about that is that he is LIEING because there is NO FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I always tell him, "STOP lieing to them because you have found NO FOOD over there." He is pathetic. He is an attention getter.

awe he just loves his girls...

 

[bugglesmommy]

Have any of you had Langshans? If mine are typical of the breed than I will never get any more. I have 3 Black Langshans sold as pullets, 2 roos and a pullet, my luck... The roosters act like really mean hens, the pullet crows, all three are really dumb for chickens, and when they come out of the coop I have to look for the tree that fell. They are so massive that there is a "thud" coming out of there.

I have 2 12 week old langshan chicks, a cockerel and a pullet. I haven't had any issues so far.