Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[christine9]

@NotableNancy

Oh yes! I buy whatever squash is on sale! If I'm going to eat it, I feed them the insides. If I don't eat it, I just cut it in half. They eat it all!

I still use the same flock block recipe that was posted here. I am pretty happy with it. I change it up all the time based on what I have around. I can post the recipe when I get home.

Do you really think peppy will one day roost in the coop? I really hope so. He just seems so happy out in the run. Although I've scared him awake every morning this week going out to open the pop door. I think it makes him nervous that he is away from the rest of them and can't watch them. If I startle him enough, he starts crowing. And this is 330am! I hope my neighbors are sleeping soundly LOL!!

 

[COChix]

Holy cow.... that's a lot of eggs and so colorful!  Love the label. Is that to put on the cartons to sell or for your donations?

We will not feed that pumpkin to the gang as we only have two, however they will get the innards. We have just cracked open squash before farther and they go bonkers. Seeds from squash and pumpkins are a natural dewormer.

Thanks on the eggs and label, the label will be printed on hang tags and attached with burlap twine to the carton. In Colorado, since we do not sell more than 250 eggs a month,we are exempt from labeling requirements. They will be attached to the donation eggs and any that we sell.

I feed whole pumpkin seeds to my chickens with all the insides. They love it. I plan on buying a few pumpkins to just split open for them once a week too. Last year my daughter and her friends carved some for Halloween and she brought me all the insides and later after Halloween we tossed in her carved pumpkin. I've heard of people making a mixture of the insides with crushed garlic, red pepper and yogurt and putting it back in the halves of the pumpkin and feeding it that way. Think it was for worming.

interesting on the garlic, etc.

 

[NanaLynn]

Hey gang, a I have been MIA for a bit. Been super busy with harvest upon us and getting ready for winter. The flock is plugging right along, we have built 6 more nest boxes that where installed into the big coop, Left Eye has just started joining the group this week during free range time and she is laying which completely made her one of the flock. Today we got 21 eggs, most ever, two short of the whole flock laying in a day. The shot of the eggs are all the clean eggs we got in a weeks time, 127, not bad. We have donated 24 dozen eggs to two different non-profits that help people in need and that has been pretty exciting and rewarding. Here are some shots...I am looking for some down time this winter, just a fe more weeks to push through and then we can hibernate....then I can get back to my BYC addiction.

Our soon to be egg label...NoBo stands for North Boulder, Colorado. Haven't decided yet on the size of label, but am leaning towards hang tangs with that logo and our info on the back.


Lastly been tracking feed and I can say we go through roughly 5.6 pounds a day, for 25 chickens. That is about 168 pounds in 30 days, is this also considered a type of chicken math?

I love your label too. Did you design it yourself? All those eggs, they are beautiful, I am so jealous. We got 4 eggs today, 7 is are big egg day now, but that rarely happens. Nice pumpkins! I hope to grow some next year.

 

[trsturself]

Holy cow.... that's a lot of eggs and so colorful! Love the label. Is that to put on the cartons to sell or for your donations?

How old are your girls of laying age? Hopefully they will restart after molting.

Awww, Izzie is pretty sad looking. I don't have any major molting going on but I'm afraid it will finally kick in as soon as it gets cold here. My RIR hasn't laid in a few weeks and now finally I'm finding red feathers around. Not a lot though. Maybe just a light molt? And my 2 BA's lay once or twice a week but no molting yet.
Sorry for all the trouble and extra expense in the kitchen remodel. Hopefully the end is getting closer!

I

Victoria too!!! And I love Clara with her darker head. Such a pretty contrast against the lighter body. Love the natural roosts too.

Peppy's growing up! Maybe if he finally moves into the coop to roost with them they will start listening to him. I hope he stays a nice rooster for you!

We have 6 that area around 18mo - they are the ones going through the full body molts and all have looked/look horrific. The rest are around 7 months old. They should be laying but one is sick, one was terrorized by the roosters before we got rid of Dinner, and I don't know why the others aren't laying. Wish they would hurry up and start again. Sucks feeding something that isn't contributing anything!

I've read the birds go through their first large molt at 18 mo.

We will not feed that pumpkin to the gang as we only have two, however they will get the innards. We have just cracked open squash before farther and they go bonkers. Seeds from squash and pumpkins are a natural dewormer.

Thanks on the eggs and label, the label will be printed on hang tags and attached with burlap twine to the carton. In Colorado, since we do not sell more than 250 eggs a month,we are exempt from labeling requirements. They will be attached to the donation eggs and any that we sell.
interesting on the garlic, etc.

Same here as everyone else, we feed any squash seeds from squash we are eating the flesh of, and any we aren't eating we feed the whole thing. I always give some to the horses also. They only like the innards though. Once they are done I pick up the rest and give it to the chickens. They clean the rest out (I make sure they get half of the innards to start with so they get the worm benefit).

Actually, the cottage foods act in CO still requires labeling for eggs. The 250dz/week only applies to being inspected. Here is a link to the act.

I'm working on my logo. There is a neighborhood market here that is open every saturday. I make my own lotions and deodorant and thinking of selling that until the egg count and veggies come back in the spring.

 

[COChix]

I love your label too. Did you design it yourself? All those eggs, they are beautiful, I am so jealous. We got 4 eggs today, 7 is are big egg day now, but that rarely happens. Nice pumpkins! I hope to grow some next year.

Yep designed the label around a downloadable graphic for $5.00, then changed a few things and added our name etc., Why are your girls not laying, molting? I am sure ours will slow down soon, suppose to have our first night below 32 On Monday. Also the impending light change and we won't be adding supplemental lighting. Let them be natural. I am glad we got the Rainbow assortment pack, cold hearty. It makes collecting eggs everyday so enjoyable....now doing it in the dead of winter I might say something else.

 

[NanaLynn]

We have 6 that area around 18mo - they are the ones going through the full body molts and all have looked/look horrific. The rest are around 7 months old. They should be laying but one is sick, one was terrorized by the roosters before we got rid of Dinner, and I don't know why the others aren't laying. Wish they would hurry up and start again. Sucks feeding something that isn't contributing anything!

I've read the birds go through their first large molt at 18 mo.

Same here as everyone else, we feed any squash seeds from squash we are eating the flesh of, and any we aren't eating we feed the whole thing. I always give some to the horses also. They only like the innards though. Once they are done I pick up the rest and give it to the chickens. They clean the rest out (I make sure they get half of the innards to start with so they get the worm benefit).

Actually, the cottage foods act in CO still requires labeling for eggs. The 250dz/week only applies to being inspected. Here is a link to the act.

I'm working on my logo. There is a neighborhood market here that is open every saturday. I make my own lotions and deodorant and thinking of selling that until the egg count and veggies come back in the spring.

I have a couple of my older hens that are 1 year and 34 weeks that are molting and most of my younger hens are molting at 1 year and 14 weeks old. The leghorns are suffering the most and it seems all the white layers are molting, both my Blue Andulasions, GLP and my Campine. So no white eggs, which I find odd that they're all not laying at the same time. I think one of my constant broodies, my CM is broody again too. These chickens can keep you on your toes. Since we're without a sink right now, I really don't mind not having tons of eggs to wash. My egg skelter has been stored right now too since there is no counter to put it on.

That's so neat that you make your own deodorant and soaps. I hope that your egg production improves soon.

Yep designed the label around a downloadable graphic for $5.00, then changed a few things and added our name etc., Why are your girls not laying, molting? I am sure ours will slow down soon, suppose to have our first night below 32 On Monday. Also the impending light change and we won't be adding supplemental lighting. Let them be natural. I am glad we got the Rainbow assortment pack, cold hearty. It makes collecting eggs everyday so enjoyable....now doing it in the dead of winter I might say something else.

You did a great job with the design. Yup, the molting is hitting us pretty hard. I guess I need to move the one broody to a broody cage tonight too. I'm glad that we have 21 hens now since we're getting so few eggs, if we had less hens, we'd probably not have any eggs.

I won't be putting light in the coop for mine neither. I agree with the natural approach. We do not have too bad of a winter here so I'll just have a couple weeks here and there of really cold weather.

 

[COChix]

We have 6 that area around 18mo - they are the ones going through the full body molts and all have looked/look horrific. The rest are around 7 months old. They should be laying but one is sick, one was terrorized by the roosters before we got rid of Dinner, and I don't know why the others aren't laying. Wish they would hurry up and start again. Sucks feeding something that isn't contributing anything!

I've read the birds go through their first large molt at 18 mo. 

Actually, the cottage foods act in CO still requires labeling for eggs. The 250dz/week only applies to being inspected. Here is a link to the act.

I'm working on my logo. There is a neighborhood market here that is open every saturday. I make my own lotions and deodorant and thinking of selling that until the egg count and veggies come back in the spring. 

Yep, forgot about the Cottage rules, good thing I am not done with it and have spent the time printing already. Thanks. Also read the same thing on molting, ours are 7 months, doesn't look like large molt, looks sporadic. I make lotions, salves, lip balms and tinctures, I would be curious to see if you have success. There is a small market north of us that carries local products from the area, might see about next year.

I fed the gang, tuna and let over quinoa, they went crazy. I bought a pumpkin today at the store, couldn't help it. Tomorrow the gang will get their first intro into fall, I am sure they will pass with flying colors as they are pigs right now!

I have a couple of my older hens that are 1 year and 34 weeks that are molting and most of my younger hens are molting at 1 year and 14 weeks old. The leghorns are suffering the most and it seems all the white layers are molting, both my Blue Andulasions, GLP and my Campine. So no white eggs, which I find odd that they're all not laying at the same time. I think one of my constant broodies, my CM is broody again too. These chickens can keep you on your toes. Since we're without a sink right now, I really don't mind not having tons of eggs to wash. My egg skelter has been stored right now too since there is no counter to put it on.

That's so neat that you make your own deodorant and soaps. I hope that your egg production improves soon.

You did a great job with the design. Yup, the molting is hitting us pretty hard. I guess I need to move the one broody to a broody cage tonight too. I'm glad that we have 21 hens now since we're getting so few eggs, if we had less hens, we'd probably not have any eggs.

I won't be putting light in the coop for mine neither. I agree with the natural approach. We do not have too bad of a winter here so I'll just have a couple weeks here and there of really cold weather.

thanks on the logo. I guess I feel lucky we are molting harder, seems like a lot of people are. I think that is the best, natural approach to this chicken thing. Sure ours are spoiled but I try to really let them be a flock and don't spend as much time with them as I did when they were younger. I put in my time each day with them, collecting eggs, feeding, turning bedding and taking scraps to them, just trying to let them be chickens....

 

[NanaLynn]

Yep, forgot about the Cottage rules, good thing I am not done with it and have spent the time printing already. Thanks. Also read the same thing on molting, ours are 7 months, doesn't look like large molt, looks sporadic. I make lotions, salves, lip balms and tinctures, I would be curious to see if you have success. There is a small market north of us that carries local products from the area, might see about next year.

I fed the gang, tuna and let over quinoa, they went crazy. I bought a pumpkin today at the store, couldn't help it. Tomorrow the gang will get their first intro into fall, I am sure they will pass with flying colors as they are pigs right now!
thanks on the logo. I guess I feel lucky we are molting harder, seems like a lot of people are. I think that is the best, natural approach to this chicken thing. Sure ours are spoiled but I try to really let them be a flock and don't spend as much time with them as I did when they were younger. I put in my time each day with them, collecting eggs, feeding, turning bedding and taking scraps to them, just trying to let them be chickens....

I just bought a huge pumpkin for my chickens yesterday.

It does help to complain on here. They gave me 8 eggs yesterday. It appears the molt is approaching an end in the next few weeks. That's still not much from 21 egg layers but it's a start.

Let me just complain again. I still have no white eggs from my 6 white egg layers.

I'll be sure to take pictures of my girls with their pumpkin whenever I get around to cutting it for them.

My kitchen remodel is still progressing, slowly but it's progressing. We have all the top cabinets up, I hung the wall paper on the one clear wall and over the window. Today I am putting in the wallpaper back splash which I will coat with a lot of clear sealer once it dries.
Tomorrow we hope to install the bottom cabinets. Then the counter top some time after, trim, crown molding, floor. etc. Geez, still so much to do. Sorry to complain on here.....Hoping we get a sink in soon, you never know how important a kitchen sink is until it's gone.

 

[jonsccm]

Meyers BCMs eggs are beautiful. Not as dark as I dreamed about but I still love them. Just thought I would post to show those that wonder how dark they are. The middle row is BCMs and the other two dark ones are welsommers the rest are barred rocks and blue Cochins.

 

[NanaLynn]

Here's a sneak peek of our kitchen. It is finally looking like a kitchen again.


I am not allowed to blog pictures yet, since family members view the blog and we want them to visit and see all the work we have done, so I'll brag a little to all my chicken friends out there. I hope that you don't mind.

I hung the flowered wall paper on the left empty wall yesterday. Today I hung up the wallpaper back splash. It is a textured wallpaper in shades of tan/brown although the picture does not show it. They'll be another bottom cabinet by the stove on the left. Now if I can figure out how to clean up the black part with the dials on my stove and microwave so they do not look so smudged. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Back to chickens, we'll be back to higher temps this week, so I guess I can relax on the cold temps for another week. I plan on buying this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HHLIXY/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DXN8WRFCXWRA to add to my nipple watering system, but right now it is out of stock. I know some of you were talking about heated water for the chickens.

I think the large nipple system holds one and a half gallons of water, then it refills from the hose. So I probably would have to refill the water each morning but then it wouldn't freeze with the heater after that. If I left the hose hooked up, the hose of course would freeze unless I got a heated hose too, which I am sure will not be happening anytime soon since they are not cheap. I'm glad that here in NC we do not have too many freezing days.