Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

EBJ sorry about your losses and the girls needing to be locked up.

I do not think it is so much a fascination with being redneck as it is being like me.

Coffee, I seldom wear my stilettos anymore. they hurt my ankles. A woman that fillets fish and baits her own hook is a great rare thing.
I will be contacting you further as soon as I sell my current DW, I am placing an add on CL for her now. she refuses to clean a fish. I doubt I will get much for her with her lack of skills,,,,,


We had a great chicken TV time tonight, I fed them bacon instead of scratch they went crazy for it. Lots of keep away games.

 

[Wild Child]

I believe the proper term for a Northern redneck is a sledneck I love to hunt and my I don't mean to toot my own horn but I've been told I am a darn good shot! I love to hunt and can cook a really tasty Venison steak (my mouth waters at the thought of a fresh tenderloin... Mm!)

 

[MN Chicken]

The poor Legbar had a rough start here. We let them out of the carriers for a bit in the coop while I finished the new pen, Zeus came tearing in and launched himself on him. Jerk ended up cowering behind the feed can while I kicked Zeus out of the coop.

The Cochin, renamed Mini-Max, jumped ion my back every time I bent over. DD just loves him!

Minners or mini-max is a lover isn't he. I might have cried when he left. As for Jerk Alice, I knew Zeus would sniff his bad attitude out. Hopefully he is reformed and has some manners now. How is Clem the scaredy cat?

 

[lalaland]

Hey Coffee, wow, that coop! looks really great - and looks like you really know what you are doing. Welcome!!

 

[Cluckies]

Yea i Did It.. read all 874 pages of MN BYC.. took several days but I did it..sure i will get behind again by the time im done posting this. btw not sure if im posting right. we will see. where to Start??? Hello... i never join forums but told myself if i read all this and like it i will join. guess what i think you all seem great. My name is Tina. I dont have any chickens yet but im working on it. Im almost done with my coop but i keep changing things the more i read the more i change. i still need to make more vents now that i know how important they are. then MAYBE paint,again. I always wanted chickens but was always to busy I was married almost 28 years me and hubby sold our lake home and bought a home in Anoka till he retired then had plans to move up North WAY up North.. but 7 days after we bought our temp home he died of cancer that was almost 2 years ago/ no we didnt know he had it. it hit him hard and fast BUT i guess thats a good way. he gave me the best life i could ask for, I have 1 son that turned 24 couple days ago. he went to college then joined the army and is now married she is also in the army. So it is just me now. Ive been trying to stay busy and thought what the H.. might as well get chickens..LOL...so I have been learning to build. I dug through hubbys tools and hit menards.. Ive been watching you tube lots of you tube.. seems like every time i put a board together it is wrong so ive taken it apart and started again. strange how if everything isnt squared up it doesn't turn out. I think im finally getting the hang of it..I will try and post pics of my progress so far but i think i will just try and post this 1st to see if it works..fingers xx/ed.....

Welcome to BYC and the thread

I cannot believe you read the whole thread! wow, that is amazing! Yes, good luck with the coop, looks good so far!

 

[Cluckies]

Sorry about your losses EJB, do you know what is taking them?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Yea i Did It.. read all 874 pages of MN BYC.. took several days but I did it..sure i will get behind again by the time im done posting this. btw not sure if im posting right. we will see. where to Start??? Hello... i never join forums but told myself if i read all this and like it i will join. guess what i think you all seem great. My name is Tina. I dont have any chickens yet but im working on it. Im almost done with my coop but i keep changing things the more i read the more i change. i still need to make more vents now that i know how important they are. then MAYBE paint,again. I always wanted chickens but was always to busy I was married almost 28 years me and hubby sold our lake home and bought a home in Anoka till he retired then had plans to move up North WAY up North.. but 7 days after we bought our temp home he died of cancer that was almost 2 years ago/ no we didnt know he had it. it hit him hard and fast BUT i guess thats a good way. he gave me the best life i could ask for, I have 1 son that turned 24 couple days ago. he went to college then joined the army and is now married she is also in the army. So it is just me now. Ive been trying to stay busy and thought what the H.. might as well get chickens..LOL...so I have been learning to build. I dug through hubbys tools and hit menards.. Ive been watching you tube lots of you tube.. seems like every time i put a board together it is wrong so ive taken it apart and started again. strange how if everything isnt squared up it doesn't turn out. I think im finally getting the hang of it..I will try and post pics of my progress so far but i think i will just try and post this 1st to see if it works..fingers xx/ed.....

Welcome to the flock, Coffee!

 

[scandiafowl]

Time to try out my new knife.

My oversexed young rooster has attacked one too many of my baby Jerseys. I think he wants to usurp Zeus.

@duluthralphie - care to share your brown sugar brine recipe?

 

[lalaland]

The gol darn predators have been causing a reduction in my flock. They are taking the hens during broad daylight right in the open mowed field. If I can get a glimpse of them they will be served on Ralphie's toast. I am going to be forced to confine the flock to safe quarters, and they will not like that.

ejb, I'm sorry, thats awful.

are you thinking fox? that's how I lost Grace, open field, gone in a minute. A fox will come back until there are no more left. one hen a day is common...

I am still keeping them in the run and letting them out in the front lawn under supervision. The back garden area opens to a woods and is where the danged critter took off with her based on a feather trail. So in the front, I have fenced run at my back, a temporary net fence to keep them out of some gardens, and a good expanse that I can watch.

Dragged a chair there, and I am set. It is hard though, some days they don't get but 15-20 minutes to roam. On the good side, there are lots of really good and tender greens for them in this area - clover, plantain, sorrel, dandelion, etc.

I dont know how long it will take before I feel ok about letting them out without supervision. I saw a kit (very young fox) on the road about half a mile from my place, and I thought her mother must have fed Grace to her.

 

[duluthralphie]

I lost a chick last night. Just laying in the covered run dead. No idea why.

I am thinking it was smothered or crushed. It was laying so peaceful. I was not even sure it was dead until I picked it up. I hate unexplained deaths, at the age it was, it should not have happened. When I get one like that I imagine every nasty disease in the world has invaded my flock. So I am down to 68 Cx's.

Lala Where EJB lives he has a myriad of predators that would give us heart attacks. Those in the arrowhead region have way more variety of chicken eaters than we do. What ever he has I hope it ends up on toast soon. Do you have a dog? I fox would be kept at bay by a dog I would think. Of course, the dog would have to be able to be trusted with the chickens.


My young'uns are starting to learn they need to go inside at night. The night before last I had 2 turkeys and a Creamette that we needed to put inside. Last night I had 6 turkeys and a creamette sitting on the fence. The turkeys I just have to "push' them off the fence and they walk in sulking like a 3 year old. The creamette is a different story. She walks with the turkeys towards the door, and as the turkeys go inside she makes a break for it. The "road runner" gene kicks in action and we spend 10 minutes trying to get her inside. AND if we forget to close the door during this chase, the poults come back out to watch the chase. It is the same bird every night. It is a beauty, but a PITA.

I should have chicks in the next few days hatched by my Turkey hens. As soon as the chicks are old enough to free range with the Mom's I am going to connect my covered pens and put my laying flock into the coop the poults and babies are in. I am going to separate out the creamettes and move them So I can see what exactly I have for creamettes and if I which ones I want to keep for breeding next year. I am thinking of selling some off. I know they are sex linked, BUT I still cannot tell the boys from the girls.

After a few weeks in the correct coops, I will be building a "hoop" coop for a bachelor pad. I am going to try and keep the rooster away from the hens until breeding time. It would be nice to have feathers on my hens backs.