Minnesota!

[FoxyChicken]

My Mama Summer has been a great mother. All 7 chicks are growing so fast (4 wks). They are so much more apart of the flock. I Have a couple that look like they will have tuffs & puffs. The 1 feather footed already is getting comb & waddles. Any Idea when Mama will start laying again?

My broody starting laying just after four weeks, then she promptly kicked the babies to the curb

 

[aussiegal318]

A cozy nest in the hay bin.

Tonights chicken TV

Torch the Wellsummer Roo

Hatchlings

Mama Summer & 6/7 hatchlings

 

[aussiegal318]

My broody starting laying just after four weeks, then she promptly kicked the babies to the curb

Thank you. That means it could be any time. I have watched how she keeps expanding their world everyday & has been letting them get farther from her. They still hide under her even with as big as they are.

 

[Wild Child]

I have a chicken problem.
My Black Sex Link has been laying 8 eggs in a row than skipping a day ever since I got her, last Saturday she didn't lay and egg and hasn't laid one since. I looked all around the run to see if she had a nest hidden somewhere but nothing is there! Any of you guys know what is happening with her?
Also, the other day I got my dog killing three more chickens. She pulled three of the four Cochin chicks I got from Theri I really liked those guys but at least she didn't kill my favorite one. She has also killed one of my partridge brahmas. I love Rieka (the dog) to bits but she's darn lucky she has a litter of pups coming because I was just about ready to give her a lead injection! The Cochin survivor, named Comet, has become a people chicken. She hates everyone of the chicken except for my new Orpington rooster named Thor ( I love that dude, he's the size of a small turkey!) it's really cute because she sleeps on the floor with him every night. She also LOVES my rabbit and enjoys spending time with him in his playpen on the yard

 

[Wild Child]

Oh and by the way the Black Sexlink is nine months old.

 

[Rhetts]

Is the little one just a fart egg? Or is the other a giant screamer egg?

They are both extreme. The big one is very big like a jumbo size and the little one is about 1 inch tall. I figured the little egg is a pullet just starting to lay. These first eggs have been very small and very slowly getting larger. The big one in the picture is the biggest by a long shot!

@NikonD2xer I missed your recipe conversion!! I could have used it too. I miscalculated and ended up not making enough liquid.

Here are the fruits (veggies) of my labor:

 

[NikonD2xer]

Looks like you did a fine job. If i had beets they would never have made it into the jars. I am getting a little sick of green beans and broccoli.

 

[Rhetts]

Rhett, I took pictures during chicken TV time of the birds I think your chick will look like. Except yours will have feathers on their backs, Unless Ole moves north again.


I could be wrong, but I think I got the right two here.

Ralphie-your birds are very pretty! I am really starting to appreciate the EEs and all the different colors and their fluffy faces. And to get colored eggs too. That is just the icing on the cake. Beautiful birds those EEs are roosters included!

 

[Rhetts]

Looks like you did a fine job. If i had beets they would never have made it into the jars. I am getting a little sick of green beans and broccoli.

Thanks. I am not a beet fan. This is purely for DH's eating pleasure.

I tried pickled beans once this summer. They called them "Dilly Beans" it wasn't bad tasting just different. They were served right out of the jar (no heating I mean) so it worked as a summer side dish. Most certainly a change in flavor town as far as beans go. I might try to can some this year. Maybe.

 

[KlopKlop]

So I have been rolling around the idea of decommissioning my coop that is built in one side of my old corn crib or at least building another coop before winter because while there is plenty of roost space for 33 chickens, there just isnt enough floor space in there for the days when they wont want to leave the protection of the coop. I know this will happen because they are already hiding out in there on really hot days as that is the shadiest and coolest place. This is resulting in them roosting on the nest boxes and pooping on the eggs.

All this talk about cattle panel hoop houses has been inspiring and I do plan to use some slightly smaller 'hog panels' to make a turkey hut for next year, i think i may try an build a hoop house out of a larger gauge EMT conduit similar to my hoop tractors, but larger. My train of thought is that EMT is cheaper than cattle panels, both of which I would need to cover in welded wire/Hardware cloth anyways.

My other thoughts revolve around Geodesic Domes, but that would be a little bit bigger ordeal.