Maine

[GrafixMuse]

First Egg! One of my White Leghorns--Charity--how apropos.

Congrats on your first egg!!! It is a beauty!

 

[CoopChick719]

Our dump is now "no picking". They also closed what we use to call the free store. It was a place where you could put yard sale leftovers, etc for people to take what they could use. It's a shame that the town thought it was too "dirty". We can't all wear 3 piece suits and drink imported espresso at work.

Too bad about the free store! Obviously the town isn't following the reuse, recycle, reduce program. My sister's town has an awesome free shed. She's found some great things there! She too is her father's daughter. My DH just shakes his head at us.

I'm collecting Apple's on Tuesday when my mom comes by (I have a four rung limit on the ladder lol). I did pick up the dropsies for the birds though.

Been feeding my birds the drops too! One good smash with a boot heel, the apple splits open and happy birds!

Assisted in my first broken chicken toe amputation at my sister's last night. It was hanging by a thread so we soaked & cleaned out the wound, sterilized & heated up a pair of sharp shears on a stove burner, snipped & cauterized at the same time. Nustocked feet & legs and placed patient in a clean warm dog crate in the kitchen. She was up and walking around within minutes of being placed in the crate. My sis said she was doing fine this morning. When our Mum checked on her later, she was squawking up a storm then promptly laid an egg. I think she'll be back in the coop by the weekend.

 

[buckabucka]

[quote name="pellepeterson" url="/t/1370/maine/10100#post_11983888"]Hey everyone!  Been a while and wanted to say HELLO!!!!  I have been up in Lincoln again and have left Mumma to tend to the flock.  We have had a bit of a problem and I am hoping that you can direct me to the right answer.

All of our girls have been laying like mad, and we love it!   13 hens, at least 12 eggs a day.  Before I left for this job, I moved the fount from the meat bird pen to the layer pen, one less chore for my beautiful lady to have to tend to.  She sent me some pictures last night and today of VERY small eggs...When I was home over the weekend, they seemed happy, clucking and following me around like they always have.  What would cause this sudden change?  I think there is enough daylight still, and they are still nesting and even broody when I open the boxes.  

I hate to think that I have chicks with separation anxiety, but...

Any ideas or help would be great!

Are they laying tiny eggs, or a small number of eggs? 13 hens cannot keep laying 12 eggs a day for very long. If it is a small number of eggs, everyone may have taken the same day off.
Are they pullets? My pullets always start off with small eggs, and once in a while lay very tiny eggs. Or if they were laying big eggs and suddenly switched to tiny "fairy eggs", I've had that happen too, but only with one or two hens. If your whole flock is doing this at once, that's kind of puzzling!

 

[buckabucka]

Sorry, my reply somehow appeared in your quote, but it is there at the bottom. I am before coffee.

 

[Widget]

Really love my neighbors.

Just had a knock on the door. All three horses were next door visiting. Some idiot

had forgot to latch the gate when I fed them this morning. I grabbed the one lead rope that I had handy and trudged through the field and sand pit that is their lawn to where the horses were hanging out munching on grass. The horses were happy. One was begging carrots. The other two were just hanging out. I put the lead rope on the beggar and while walking him back home the other two galloped by headed for home. No issues with getting everyone back in where they belonged and the gate is now securely shut. Thank goodness the neighbors like the horses and dont mind them visiting. They have chickens too so if my girls wander over there no big deal. Same if theirs wander this way.

 

[Jazor]

Really love my neighbors.

Just had a knock on the door. All three horses were next door visiting. Some idiot

had forgot to latch the gate when I fed them this morning. I grabbed the one lead rope that I had handy and trudged through the field and sand pit that is their lawn to where the horses were hanging out munching on grass. The horses were happy. One was begging carrots. The other two were just hanging out. I put the lead rope on the beggar and while walking him back home the other two galloped by headed for home. No issues with getting everyone back in where they belonged and the gate is now securely shut. Thank goodness the neighbors like the horses and dont mind them visiting. They have chickens too so if my girls wander over there no big deal. Same if theirs wander this way.

Eventful day on the farm! Definitely nice to have good neighbors, I've been on both sides of that before!

 

[Widget]

Well the horses have stayed put. Amazing how effective a locked gate is for preventing escapes.

Then again with temps in the low 90s the horses may have decided to just stay put. I can tell all three have started growing in their winter coats. They look like they just stepped out of a sauna with the sweat just dripping from them. Glad I have yet to take the air conditioner out of the window. I am not looking forward to below freezing temps but low 60s for highs and high 30s for lows would be nice.

The birds have also been panting and seeking out the pool and shade. They did find a newly hatched snapping turtle that was about the size of a half dollar. I rescued it from them and put it in the deeper grass. Long way to the river but mama turtle was the one who laid her eggs in the yard. No signs of any other hatchlings.

 

[CoopChick719]

Really love my neighbors.

Just had a knock on the door. All three horses were next door visiting. Some idiot

had forgot to latch the gate when I fed them this morning. I grabbed the one lead rope that I had handy and trudged through the field and sand pit that is their lawn to where the horses were hanging out munching on grass. The horses were happy. One was begging carrots. The other two were just hanging out. I put the lead rope on the beggar and while walking him back home the other two galloped by headed for home. No issues with getting everyone back in where they belonged and the gate is now securely shut. Thank goodness the neighbors like the horses and dont mind them visiting. They have chickens too so if my girls wander over there no big deal. Same if theirs wander this way.

this reminded me of when I was a kid, our backyard boardered a pasture--right in the middle of town no less. Snowball, the white horse who lived there occaisonally snuck out into our backyard where obviously the grass was greener. My mother--a city girl from Mass.--wouldn't let us go outside until she called the neighbor to come get him. It got to the point where we'd look out and just holler to Mum, "Snowball's in the backyard again!" The pasture is now a nursing home.

 

[lazy gardener]

My Dad raised sheep on a farm bordering a major highway in Gray. After repeatedly dealing with them escaping, and heading straight for the road, he finally got so frustrated that he sold the whole lot of them.

Why is it that when an animal gets loose, they go exactly where you don't want them to go?? My girls head for the front yard. I'm happy to have them keep their chicken bombs in the back yard, not so much the front yard. And, they consider my front flower beds to be prime dusting territory. Perhaps b/c I've put a fair amount of wood ash in the beds... much to the demise of the irises. Almost killed them, but not to worry, perhaps the chickens will do what the ashes did not! I think it's been more than 2 years since I've used any nasty systemic rose insecticide out front. (an other reason why I don't want the chickens in those beds) Any one care to venture a guess how long that stuff lingers in the soil?

 

[Mainechick168]

We've got 3 chicks total One is 12 days, the other 11, and the last is 5 days. I have a funny feeling the black one might be a boy- welsummer x marans- if anyone is interested, let me know!