Maine

[TAMMACLEAN]

Busy clearly LG.  I want to mention too that EE do not have to have pea combs.  There is no standard at all because they are not a breed it just means they lay a blue egg.  This can happen when cross any blue egg trait carrying bird over another to produce bluish or even teal eggs.  The Legbar has a single comb so it could be what was used to make the mentioned EEs.  It doesn't have to be an Ameraucana that was crossed in, in which case you wouldn't see muffs or beards like you'd expect either.  When crossing pea comb over single you still can get singles.  It doesn't happen often but this is something I know about in practice given the nature of my 'projects' here.

I am getting ready to cull out a few birds here and there.  I have to down size and it maybe that I have to down size a lot more than I'd like... well, that might be normal

I need to send you pictures of the chickens and ducks you sold us. Love them all! You wouldn't happen to sell me a few of your Cochin eggs would you?? I'd like my little one to have some friends. I think we may have ended up with one of each on the polish. Again, I need to send you pictures. Just wondering, what are you getting rid of???

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks Ash. You've changed my paradigm a bit.

 

[SanCarlos6127]

Incubator, purring away at 99.5. Sure wish the Welsummer eggs that were supposed to be here on July 31st were actually here... USPS Priority Mail... Priority my ***, if my eggs can't make it here in less than 5 DAYS! AAAAARRRTGHHHJJVGFKPSDUBJL!!!!

If anyone in Maine has some fertile Welsummer eggs that I can buy locally, let me know.

 

[ashandvine]

Carlos, Priority EXPRESS is 2 days or less not priority. Just in case you have to go through that again.

Tammaclean, I have very bad news on our bird front. The Polish Cap bantam hen who mothered your birds and was shown with good results by my daughter was stolen. She is gone by person or by critter. I assume critter but she was in a pen with her mate and he wasn't bothered at all and I found no feathers. I assume she was taken by a fox but I haven't seen one or heard anything from my neighbors about such. It was a huge loss for us all around as the girls really really loved "Polish" and she was great for educational purposes. Its hard to stay afraid of a chicken with a large puff on their head. And she was show quality so now finding another is going to be tough.

I think I might have a couple blue Anconas ducklings that looked like Swedes when they were little and a couple more mutt ducks that will lay blue eggs... if they are hens. I put up an ad and had more takers than birds, which is good I guess.

As far as you, Tamma, you can buy eggs or you could talk to me in pms. I was wondering how things were going and waiting on another pic of Bubbles.

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

Ash--I'm really sorry to hear about your polish hen, the kids must be heartbroken. We love ours and I can't imagine if something happened to them, Darcy would be beside herself. She loves picking them up and talking to them, and they make cutest sounds back.

I will pm you and we can talk about eggs and I'll send pictures. All of the birds we got from you are just beautiful and doing great!

 

[suzMEchicks]

I'm so glad the cross beak is OK ! My black chicken that got attacked almost 2 weeks ago is much improved. She is able to get up on the roost now.And hop in and out of the coop unassisted. When I let them out the other night to run around for 1/2 hour,she went too and was rummaging around the compost like she used to. The other good news is I got 4/6 eggs yesterday. I've been only getting 2 or 3 since the attack. So the others are feeling better as well. The new fence for the run will be finished
On Monday I hope. It's more robust than before with metal posts every 2 feet and 2 feet of buried chicken wire all the way around so no one will be able to dig. I'll be glad to get it done. The girl I relieved this morning said she had a friend who went home from work yesterday or the day before to find all 12 of her chickens killed by something.yikes! I think I've been lucky so far.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good news finally. I have a verbal commitment from a local earthwork/tree contractor to come and clear my acre, bury all of the stumps and slash, take away the wood and leave me with a huge pile for a marshmallow roast. He laughed when he saw the pile of wood that we had bought for our winter heat... kind of like shipping coal to Newcastle. He plans to start in 2 weeks. My plan is to move the chickens into the 6 x 8 tractor. They'll be crowded. There are 17 girls plus the roo, and they're used to being out to free range almost all day every day. I'll put it up on cement blocks, put a couple of roosts in, wrap the bottom with deer netting, and set the whole thing in FRONT of my garden with the electronet around them. I pity the freaking out they will do about moving and having the heavy equipment working around them, but it can't be helped. Any thoughts about how to make the process go easier for them would be appreciated. I'm thinking about clipping all of their wings, and putting netting over the top of their electronet. Assuming that would be preferable to allowing them to scatter into the woods when the equipment shows up to tear down the woods. The equipment and tree felling will be within about 100 feet of where they will be.

After that, I can start building my new coop. The plan is for 10 x 12 with 2 nice windows on the front, automatic pop door on front, single garage overhead door panel mounted horizontally on the west where the perches will be for easy clean out. North wall will be solid, no openings except for ventilation. East wall will have people door which is steel with full length thermopane window. (My dad jokes that I'll have to wipe the coon paw prints and tongue marks off it every morning.) East wall will also have outside access nest boxes 2 high x 3 wide, with a broody/isolation cage above them, and an outside access storage closet for all things chicken related. Jury is still out regarding roof design. I'd like a clere story, but hubby thinks a standard pitched roof would be easier. I think a clere story would be awesome and provide fantastic ventilation and winter lighting. 6' walls, ? insulation.

 

[buckabucka]

Sorry to hear about your lost Polish, ash.

But glad to hear suzME's black hen is making a recovery.

LG, I'm sure your chickens will freak out for a bit with the move and the loud noises, but I am always surprised at how quickly they adjust. We had a basement put under our house this spring, and you can't even imagine how many machines were here and the racket they made! The first day was sheer terror for the chickens, but it went on for weeks and eventually it didn't really phase them. I did have to keep them locked up most of the time. We had to remember not to use the back door!

The new coop sounds exciting!

 

[ashandvine]

Oh my gosh what an amazing thing to see Bucka! And peaking in that window your house looks pretty interesting inside with all those beams.

Yes, losing Polish was certainly... a loss. I know what you mean tamma about them talking and being handled easily. My girls also loved carrying her around and I might have liked it some too.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks for the reassurance Bucka. I stress, just thinking about it, but it will be SO nice when it's done. I hate to even get my hopes up, since it's taken so long to find someone who'll do the work. I'll believe it when i see the equipment arrive. I plan to spend next week getting the tractor moved and set up, then, at the end of the week, I'll move them in so they'll have a week to get settled in before their world falls apart.