Michigan

[NovaAman]

OR, you could pen the roos in trios... So, 2 girls per boy... or, go and pic up a few more dotte pullets.. like 4 more. Then give each roo 4 girls. I don't know your set up, but, if you are planning to stick with one breed, that would work, since you'd have 2 different roos, each with his own hens, and then those eggs, if you incubate, you could then turn those pullets, (mind, you'd have to know who is who) to the other roo, and any new cockerels, breed to the non siblings... It could be more or less a lot of work, depending on if you can keep track... Oh, I am making my head ache worse just thinking about doing that. LOL. Though I do want to do that with my faverolles and silkies. LOL. My ma doesn't know it yet, but I am sending an email off to Jerry soon, to get me some new faverolles. This week, nothing to pay, except cell phone, and the plan is to finish the summer coop up, move the littles, who are not so little anymore to that, clean and sanitize their coop, and move in some pure faverolles. Yup... thats the plan.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I know how to cook, I just don't have material on hand to put in the pan.
The animals get taken care of first.

I know Raz, i was picking on you! We are the same way here, too. And i don't eat so well myself when left to my own devices....

 

[swampducks]

Dang, I've been so busy today that I hadn't been able to check the thread till a half hour ago. Not as many posts as I expected, only 45! Thing is, I can't figure out what took up all my time! I mean, the chuck roast was in the crockpot last night so dinner was under control, just had to make salsa, enchilada sauce, rice and then shred the beef. Planted some more seeds in pots, hooked up the second set of gro lights, fed birds and dogs, of course, walked the pups a few times, let my neighbor's dogs out to do their business and walked them too, only washed one load of clothes and hung them up to dry. Checked the status of my cell phone batteries, not shipped yet, found out what the cost of my car repairs are,

Walked to the post office to mail a gift, ate breakfast and lunch, checked the coverings on my roses and lilacs and opened them up for daytime, posted over on theeasygarden a couple times, finished my scroggle game, chatted with fellow scrogglers. It's stuff I do every day, so why did I not have time to ride my exercise bike or muck out the coop?

I guess I'll contemplate this while eating my burritos and reading what y'all have posted while I was writing this.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Does anyone know a good number off eggs to have under a banty? She's about the size of a pancake when she puffs on her eggs.... I'm concerned that she's hoarding too many, and i don't want them to be too cold and fizzle out....
I treated for bugs evening before yesterday, most of them are gone now.....

a few immature stragglers are hanging on, but as soon as they mature enough to chew they'll bite the dust too. Girl's combs look brighter already.

I haven't heard from Daron either.... i hope all is well and he's just busy....?

 

[un-named543]

I came home Friday to find my bator had a temp spike and baked all my eggs to 120 deg.. very disappointed to loose everything already. I'm thinking of taking the bater back to the store.

Sorry to hear this.
Mom, hope you are feeling OK.
Had to cull my grey call drake this morning. He could not shake the rapid breathing despite a vet trip and two rounds of Baytril. I broke his neck and hoped I did it quickly enough. It seemed to take forever.....
sad day.

 

[Olive Hill]

The materials are all good for amending the soil, especially if they have composted over the winter. The hillside could work to your advantage. How steep is it? Can you post a picture?

One problem in roto-tilling in clay is that the tines actually compact the soil at the bottom and can create a bathtub effect and hold too much water for the tree. The compost helps, but if often takes years to turn that clay in to nice loam. I think that I would till up from the spot you want to plant the tree. That would give water a chance to seep in and wick down to the tree roots, instead of washing over the root system.

Be sure to dig the hole 3 times the diameter of the root ball and no deeper than the root ball depth. You are better being too shallow with the hole. Remove all packing materials from around the root ball, plastic, wire, twine and even burlap. Loosen any bound or twisted roots even if you have to cut them. Then make vertical slits in the root ball with a knife or saw. That will promote new root growth to move out horizontally.

After all that, a layer of mulch 2-3 inches deep over the ground you have excavated, just don't pile it up to the truck. I keep it away as wide as my hand. Oh, and the root flare should be visible after planting.

How many trees are you planting? Are you getting them from a nursery?

Oh, I don't know how steep it is, not too bad. No choice on that, the whole danged property is a hilly. Here it is:




I'm thinking just 6-9 dwarf cherries for this year. Yes, I'll get them from a local nursery, just haven't decided which one yet.

 

[RIRJen]

The bator is filled with Silkie eggs Next comes more silkie eggs and Speckled Sussex eggs The ones closest to the front came from GA and the rest are my own...interested to see what is developing come the end of the week....

My showgirl hen is still sitting on her eggs...should hatch any day now...I'm getting impatient lol

 

[RaZ]

Oh, I don't know how steep it is, not too bad. No choice on that, the whole danged property is a hilly. Here it is:




I'm thinking just 6-9 dwarf cherries for this year. Yes, I'll get them from a local nursery, just haven't decided which one yet.

That's not as steep as I was thinking. Use some of the clay you excavate to build a berm to keep the mulch from washing away.

 

[sarah92480]

OR, you could pen the roos in trios... So, 2 girls per boy... or, go and pic up a few more dotte pullets.. like 4 more. Then give each roo 4 girls. I don't know your set up, but, if you are planning to stick with one breed, that would work, since you'd have 2 different roos, each with his own hens, and then those eggs, if you incubate, you could then turn those pullets, (mind, you'd have to know who is who) to the other roo, and any new cockerels, breed to the non siblings... It could be more or less a lot of work, depending on if you can keep track... Oh, I am making my head ache worse just thinking about doing that. LOL. Though I do want to do that with my faverolles and silkies. LOL. My ma doesn't know it yet, but I am sending an email off to Jerry soon, to get me some new faverolles. This week, nothing to pay, except cell phone, and the plan is to finish the summer coop up, move the littles, who are not so little anymore to that, clean and sanitize their coop, and move in some pure faverolles. Yup... thats the plan.

Dang, that does sound like a lot of work. At this point anyway, I just started this chicken farming business, lol. I dont have all the same breeds, I actually got like 1 of each when I got them. My for-sure girls are a leghorn, BSL, NH red & ISA red. so if those other 2 are roos, then i'd have quite a variety of mutts I assume, lol. Or "designer breeds" if you will. I was just planning on having the chickens for eggs, but from what Ive read on here, a lot of people start out with that being their only intention! So at this point if I only have 4 hens, then they each have their own nesting box, how bout that. Not that they would necessarily know and appreciate that...haha!

 

[NovaAman]

I had 7 eggs under each of my barney. 5 developed under each at canoeing time. Both panties and large eggs. I chucked 2 that had no development from under one, and 2 that started but quit from under the other.

Leila is broody again. I have to break her. She has not gained enough weight back. Her breast bone is very sharp. I am going to try and get a poop sample, I think she may have worms, as she is eating A LOT but still awful thin.