Michigan

[vkulesh]

GO ELIZABETH!


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[vicki2x2]

Hello all! For those who didn't see my post on the chickenstock thread, which I meant to post here, we are back from FAIR!!

It was a great week and we had lots of fun!! The kids took literally hundreds of pictures, they "documented" everything!! Every kid in the club took at least one trophy, so that was cool, including two Grand Champion Showman and one reserve, one Reserve Best in Show Waterfowl, Several Best of breeds, etc. Oh and our wellie eggs took Grand Champion eggs!!

Rachel said the judge claimed each egg a "work of art!" They were then sold at auction in support of the small animal association for $65!!

Thankfully it was the coolest week of fair we have had since we have been attending, which I think has been 12 years, instead of the hottest week of the year. So that was really nice.

So, we are still recovering and putting things away. We are also preparing to head to NY either Wed or Thursday to pick up our 5 month old Maremma puppy, Remi!! We are super excited!! Hopefully no more losses to dogs, fox, birds of prey etc!!

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

We're chickie parents! Our 2 broodies have been sitting on fertalized eggs from MSU for the last 3 weeks, and we have 1 little chickie as of tonight! Thanks all the way around for your input and support - And as the novice parents that we are, really don't know what to do next! Should be put chick feed in w/the mom? She has some water in there, but it's really not set up for chicks - What I'd like to do is to move Mom and chick out, and set up something different for them that would accomodate feeding for the chick, but don't want to disturb the unhatched eggs - How long can the chick go w/out food/water? I suspect that the hatching occurred sometime between Saturday evening and tonight! How exciting - looking for all the help I can get! Nancy (hustonn)

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

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[citalk2much]

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When the eggs are done hatching then I would move her not before

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

Hi Crystal - I've done more reading since my last post - Obviously, I should have been preparing the last 3 wks -
I should move the broodies to a location away from the rest of the flock, correct?
Could I possible keep the 2 broodies w/their chicks together?
I should expect all hatchings to occur w/in a 3 day range, correct?
Will the little one be ok w/out food for that long? I do have chick mix w/sunflower chips in for Mom - thanks!

 

[briana1975]

Very sweet, mama hen and chicks. Congrats hustonn.

Mr. Big Fella Roo finally stopped crowing in the basement this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't start crowing in the middle of the night.

We started hoeing and weeding our sweet corn tonight. The rows are at least 60' long and we have about 16 rows. We got 8 rows done tonight. Looks like we'll have to finish up tomorrow. We ate our first home raised RIR roo for dinner tonight. BBQ on the grill. Yum!! The only thing we didn't grow for dinner was the potatoes. Feels good to grow and care for everything you eat.

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

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Crystal - any suggestions on what I can keep the hen/chicks in so that they are separated from the rest of the flock? What do others do?? I'm really at a loss on how to separate them from the rest of the flock!

 

[vicki2x2]

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I didn't but probably should have. Another BLRW rooster took Best male and Victor was way nicer!! I was just worried something would happen to him as he is my favorite roo!! There have been years where we have had problems or other people have had problems with someone or something bothering the animals. Fairboard thinks it is coons, I think it is a person. Coons don't bypass chickens and ducks to break legs and teeth on rabbits in the same building. They don't pick one child's animals even when the child's animals aren't in cages next to each other but spread out. Thankfully this year there was no problems that I am aware of, but I wasn't taking any chances with Victor!!

 

[chickflick]

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Crystal - any suggestions on what I can keep the hen/chicks in so that they are separated from the rest of the flock? What do others do?? I'm really at a loss on how to separate them from the rest of the flock!

Do you have a dog crate/cage? That worked pretty good for me. I also have a brooder/hospital double decker that I had one broody in with her chicks. Definately separate them from the rest of the flock. I have read on this site of the hens stealing the babies and killing them!