Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

I like to allow the weeds to grow and be higher than my veggies. By doing this I am protecting my veggies from the hot afternoon sun and shading the ground to conserve water...


Not everyone here ( my home) is in favor of my gardening method.



And look what visited me today. I do not think I have ever seen this bird before, or if I did I never realized how beautiful it is. ( I have only been feeding birds a few years now.)

About 8 or 9 years ago, we were sitting in the house on a day just like today in May, and we had a flock of Scarlet Tanagers come into the yard. We were giddy with excitement but couldn't get a good shot of them. They were all over the place too, and had to be on migration. I don't know where they ended up, but it was beautiful to see all of them in our yard for about 24-hours, then they left and I haven't see one since.
I need to start filling the feeder again. Now that we have conifers getting to good size, we should see some cardinals coming around again. Kind of tired of nothing but sparrows and blue jays. Although, we have some nasty Red-Headed Woodpeckers who are annual residents. They are so mean to other birds! But still pretty to look at. I think when we remove the last of the big old maples that they will have to move on. We have less that ten trees of the 50 or so that were in the yard when we moved here in 1999. The wind was blowing them down and weren't safe any more, should have been harvested years before we came up them. Now, so will make some guitars and furniture ( my son is aspiring to be a luthier).

 

[lalaland]

Miniechickmama, I am so sorry to hear that blasted weasel is back. Best of luck with the trapping.

Apparently this spring being broody is contagious. I'm up to 6 broodies. Egg production is dropping, and they keep rolling or scuffling for possession of the nests and some of the eggs seem to be breaking and vanishing. And with this rain, I don't want to put one or possibly two in the broody cage as it is outdoors. And it won't fit all 6!

By the time I get home from work tomorrow, there should be 8 or 10 broodies, dagnabbit.

 

[holm25]

Lala Ralphie needs a broody!! Maybe u could have your broodies give his hens a speech on motherhood.

 

[duluthralphie]

Lala Ralphie needs a broody!! Maybe u could have your broodies give his hens a speech on motherhood.

Holm I am making broodies now, I have a broody EE now, which is am almost worthless broody,


And, no offence, to Lala, and she will admit this, she ha had a rough go of it with Maraks, I would be afraid of her birds being the Typhoid Mary of the chicken world. She is so good about keeping the disease away from the rest of us that when I gave her turkey droppings, feathers and dander she would not come within 10 miles of my birds. We meet at a Walmart lot.

 

[Rhetts]

I know hatchery birds are not a good gauge of the breed but I tell you what, I am having second thoughts on the wyandotte. I got 2 varieties, the golden and the silver laced wyandotte. I got 2 pullets of each. Both of the golden are super mean to every other chicken in the coop. I am dead serious. They peck repeatedly at anyone eating at the same time they are. They chase and pull out feathers or just peck at any chicken for reasons I cannot see with my human eyes. One is worse but both are bad. I am honestly thinking I must have received males instead of females. The silver are not as bad behaved so I am wondering if it could just be limited to the color variation and not breed. The golden ones DO have redder faces, wattles, and combs compared to the silvers. I have 2 feeding stations and 2 water stations to take off the pressure of the bullys but it doesn't seem to matter. If my son hadn't picked out the goldens I would make them disappear. I have been talking to DH about setting up a separate bachelor pad for all these roos we have. I would stick the wyandottes in with them until I know for sure which way they swing. Boy those bullys sure can stir things up in a hurry.

 

[I Love Layers]

How many hens do you have with the roos

I know hatchery birds are not a good gauge of the breed but I tell you what, I am having second thoughts on the wyandotte.  I got 2 varieties, the golden and the silver laced wyandotte.  I got 2 pullets of each.  Both of the golden are super mean to every other chicken in the coop.  I am dead serious.  They peck repeatedly at anyone eating at the same time they are.  They chase and pull out feathers or just peck at any chicken for reasons I cannot see with my human eyes.  One is worse but both are bad.  I am honestly thinking I must have received males instead of females.  The silver are not as bad behaved so I am wondering if it could just be limited to the color variation and not breed.  The golden ones DO have redder faces, wattles, and combs compared to the silvers.  I have 2 feeding stations and 2 water stations to take off the pressure of the bullys but it doesn't seem to matter.  If my son hadn't picked out the goldens I would make them disappear.  I have been talking to DH about setting up a separate bachelor pad for all these roos we have.  I would stick the wyandottes in with them until I know for sure which way they swing.  Boy those bullys sure can stir things up in a hurry.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

My SLW and BLRW both live up to the bully reputation of the breed. They are high on the pecking order. I love their colors, comb type and winter laying skills though. Divas!

Mike come winter with a stretch of -25 to -30 you'll be liking appropriate coop floor space. I agree with LaLa -- get your feet wet with appropriate numbers or less and determine what you like and don't like about breeds etc.
And work out the kinks with manageable numbers. Winters can be long sometimes.

 

[Rhetts]

How many hens do you have with the roos

Well, as of right now all of the chicks that were shipped together are still together. 43 birds in all. 10/11 weeks old tomorrow. I have for sure 6 obvious roosters. I have 2 breeds I ordered a few roosters just waiting to see which ones they are. Then I have 9 birds that were ordered straight run that I am trying to figure out which ones are males but I can't tell yet. THEN to top it all off, I think the 2 wyandottes ordered as pullets are roos, and unfortunately my daughters 2 polish look more and more rooish every day. So my estimated roo count could be as little as 10 but as many as double that or more. It is still early yet so I am hopeful I am wrong about the polish and wyandotte.
I am majorly disappointed that of the 4 welsummers I ordered 3 were male. Thanks to Minnie though, I won't be ordering those straight run anymore. And I ordered 4 cuckoo maran pullets of which one is a for sure male. So my potentially 8 dark brown egg layers is down to 4. Bummer!

 

[I Love Layers]

It might get better if you put the younger birds with the older birds, right now I have 4 roos and 10 hens, the roos are very protective especially since three of them are brothers from eggs on e of my hens hatched.

 

[Rhetts]

oooh, blue laced wyandottes are on my wish list if I still like the breed next year. The pictures I have seen of them are so pretty!