Maine

[CoopChick719]

Follow up question: How many of you out there in Maine use some type of water heater during the winter? What do you use, and how well has it worked for you? I have to at least buy or make an other waterer as the one I have will crack at the first sign of ice. (It's one of those cheap plastic white and red gravity feed 1 gal. waterers from TSC.) I'm not crazy about buying galvanized as I don't like the idea of leachates, and not crazy about the open rubber tub either, b/c it will be in their loft, and I DON"T want to have to chip a littercicle out of their loft in the dead of winter. Ideas?

I have one of those metal base water heaters that only come on if the temp drops below a certain point. I placed the heater on 2 cement pavers to keep shavings out from under it then put a terra-cotta tile on the heater to act as a buffer between my 5 gallon plastic waterer & the metal water heater. The water did not freeze and the plastic didn't melt so everyone was happy. This year I think I will run my electric cord through some pvc to keep inquiring beaks from playing w/it.

I've just go to say- what a huge difference having chicks raised by a broody as opposed to raising them in the house! Already, I notice that they have feathered out much fast than the ones we had in the house last year, and they seem to not get cold...ever. They are already foraging like champs, with the help of mom- I saw one of them take down a huge grasshopper the other day!

I'll second that!! I also think integrating into the flock is much easier since everyone is living together already. I didn't see as much picking or bullying w/the broody's chicks as I did with my "garage" babies.

No free range time today!

I went out to let the girls out for range time this morning, and just before I came in, I heard quite the coyote song going on up at the end of my road.

Yikes!!

I supervised recess tonight w/my girls...keeping a close eye on the woods since finding the scat a mere inches from coop the other day. I think I'll have DS give me another lesson w/his 22 before he heads back to school tomorrow. Tonight I was only armed with my trusty rake.

Quick question: is it "being broody" if she refuses to let me collect the eggs, but stays off the nest the rest of the day after I've booted her? We've been doing this three mornings in a row now.

I think she just thinking about it. I've got 4 broodys right now...no rooster so it's all in vain. I take them out of the nesting boxes 2x a day and tell them to go play but 2 of them within 10-15 minutes are back in the box. If they are free ranging, I'll put them out the front door & the little stinkers make their way to the back door through the pen. At least they're stretching their legs!

Am I crazy??? Leaving work early just to see my flock out and about tomorrow. We have kept them in their new coop since Monday. It was so hard!!! Luckily DH put in a window so I could see them. I just want to grab and hug each one of them lol!!! I miss them! I've seen them when my daughter feeds them and such but I want to go in the coop and hang with them. Yup I got it bad!!!!

Crazy quailtrail?! No more than the rest of us!! If it's a really nice day, I'll work through lunch so I can get home 30 minutes earlier so I can supervise free ranging. I feel bad keeping them in the run on beautiful days. Shhhh....don't tell my DH! He thinks I spend too much time with them as it is.

mlowen--Love your portable fence! I saw those on YouTube.

Ash, Your geese are just Beautiful!! You must be so proud of them!

 

[buckabucka]

The really giant squash seeds, I dry out and chop slightly in the cuisinart. I don't know if it is necessary, I just read it somewhere and started doing it that way.

 

[lazy gardener]

coop chick: I also asked Hubby for a refresher course with the .22. As I am a hands on learner, I'll wait till he can walk me through the loading and shooting again. Thankfully, he took the scope off it. When we went out target shooting, it was quite the experience with the scope. I'm left eye dominant, right hand dominant, and I'm so poorly coordinated that I never did learn how to close just one eye... add to that that my upper body strength has taken a nose dive. The only way I could shoot the thing was to sit in a lawn chair, manually close one eye with my finger, then hope it would stay shut while I waved the gun around trying to see the cross hatch in the scope... by then, my arms were tired, so I had to hold the gun up with my feet to shoot. By then, Mr. Wile E. Coyote and company would have made off with all of my babies!

I gave the squash seeds to the girls. They checked them out, played with a couple, then moved on for less challenging food. I think they were too big, and perhaps not recognized for the nutritious treats that they are.

 

[Jazor]

Ok so I've been trying to narrow it down to which chick is the "rare exotic" that was included in my order from the hatchery. I have 17 total, of those there are 10 barred rocks and 6 red stars. The red stars are easy to ID, but the barred rocks are all "similar" but not identical. I have one suspect at the moment simply based off coloring:

Anyone have any guesses?! Perhaps it was late in the hatch and they simply gave me another barred rock? Beats me! They all look quite similar, this one just seems to be the most different out of all of them. I think it's a barred rock, but I would only be guessing.

 

[lazy gardener]

How does the comb compare to the barred rocks? Can you show the back of it's head? If the comb looks a bit wider, it might be a rose comb, possibly a Dominique? If the white spot is small and tight, it's probably a female, Dark leg coloring might indicate female if it's a Dom. however, you can almost always bet that your rare bird is going to be a cockrel. What hatchery did they come from??

 

[Widget]

It might be an Australorp. I say that based on what Murray McMurry (if that is where they came from) has available for chicks this week. They did not seem to have too much on the exotic rare side available. Of course it does look like a barred rock too so who knows. And I am by no means great at figuring out what breed is what. Heck I am happy I can tell the Silkies from the Cochins I got in a month ago from Cackle. Ordered fifteen birds. Got seventeen and still have sixteen left. Lost one in a water accident. If all goes well in another month I will probably be looking to rehome a few.

 

[Widget]

Not a chicken post but I just had to share. With the weather being so nice the past couple of days I decided to take my inexperience trail horse out by himself for a ride. So yesterday I saddled up Gosi and he was all set until we got next door. Now he loves to visit the neighbors. When he sneaks through the fence he heads over there all proud of himself. But of course when I want him to go over there he decided that was a bad idea. So we had a discussion and I got off and lead him by their house and down to the trail. So far so good. I got back on and he went about 20 ft before deciding that was far enough and stopped dead in his tracks with no intention of going forward. We had another discussion and once he realized he was not going to get his way he went down the trail. From that point on he had no issues and went down the trail as if he had done it all his life. Today he had no issues with getting to the trail or on the trail. If anything he was eager to go.

All in all it was a great ride both days. Weather was great. Hardly any bugs. Plenty of birds. Saw some wild turkeys. Many deer tracks. Possibly some coyote tracks. Just the sounds of nature. Basically about as peaceful as it can get. Best of all I now have two horses I am comfortable with out on the trails solo. Of course it is better when I have someone else to ride with but beggars cant be choosers.

 

[Jazor]

It might be an Australorp. I say that based on what Murray McMurry (if that is where they came from) has available for chicks this week. They did not seem to have too much on the exotic rare side available. Of course it does look like a barred rock too so who knows. And I am by no means great at figuring out what breed is what. Heck I am happy I can tell the Silkies from the Cochins I got in a month ago from Cackle. Ordered fifteen birds. Got seventeen and still have sixteen left. Lost one in a water accident. If all goes well in another month I will probably be looking to rehome a few.

I tried looking at what they had as well (my order was from Murray McMurray as well) and couldn't get any solid indicators. I wouldn't know the difference either way. Once they feather, it would be much easier to tell--I will need to rehome if this one turns out to be a cockerel.

How does the comb compare to the barred rocks? Can you show the back of it's head? If the comb looks a bit wider, it might be a rose comb, possibly a Dominique? If the white spot is small and tight, it's probably a female, Dark leg coloring might indicate female if it's a Dom. however, you can almost always bet that your rare bird is going to be a cockrel. What hatchery did they come from??

As mentioned, the order was Murray McMurray hatchery. I'll try and compare the combs when I get home tonight. It's tough to even single this one out--the only noticeable difference, if there even is one, is simply that the down on this one mas more variations than the others. Aside from that...it's pretty much like the rest of them! For all I know, this could be a barred rock--and the "exotic" is a different chick altogether. As they start to feather I will keep posting photos.

P.S. sorry for the insane photosize, Tap-a-talk doesn't give me any option on size. You get what you get!

 

[Jazor]

A couple other views, although not very helpful.

 

[CoopChick719]

Hoppy knows her BR's. She could tell you for sure, Jazor.