Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

Welcome back Rhetts. As I've said I sometimes wonder if some of these DNR--boots on the ground guys--half way just want you to handle it yourself. That's almost the way they act...dont you think? What a PITA.

Destiny I can't get over that rat. Has Minnesota always had rats or is it just sort have been in recent years we've had them move in.

A friend of mine in St. Cloud said she saw a dead oppossum in the middle of I-94....What!? I thought all that stuff was south of us or on seaboards.

Rats and opossum are EVERYwhere. Don't be fooled.

Oh, and not all rats are the same either!

 

[SleepyOwl]

I don't know about rats, but I have seen a lot of dead possoms on the roads over the years.

 

[NathanZee]

Will have no effect on eggs. Use it as soon as you are able. and if you can do it twice a day in the beginning, that would't hurt.

Okay good. They aren't laying yet but when they start I just wanted to be sure. Their feet are already healing on their own, I think the mud must help, but I will still use the bag balm and chlorhexedine as much as I can.

 

[Rhetts]

Still got the game cams up? I wouldn't let your guard down either way.

Yes, both cameras are still up and running. Not even a skunk or yote coming in to see what the rotting is in my yard!

 

[KlopKlop]

I decided on a half day off from work and hit fleet farm on teh way home. glad i did! i bought a huge stack of 2x4s for a buck a piece and almost a dozen 1x4s for a buck a piece. not sure why they are clearanced. they have some minor chips or splits but for 2x4 studs they are completely usable! the 2x4s will go into stabalizing the roof of my run we were discussing the other day. i found a nice sized tarp for 9 bucks and I am going for it. hopefully i will have it covered by tonight! it wont be water tight but it should be pretty comfortable for them in there once i get it done. i will put down sand in part of it and the part that is grass still will get straw probably once they start to eat that down and it turns to dirt.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Minnie... That silkie chick of yours is a silver gene based white. It will be one of the most brilliant white birds you will raise. They don't yellow in sun or from eating yellow corn. Its a good thing! If you get to really show extreme double dose of the gene, your chicks will come out a dark blue and feather out white. As adults the males will have almost a smokey undertone and when bathing you will find them to be almost pewter when wet.

That was exactly what I thought! Not my chick, but wish all of mine were like that, I have a mix of gold base and silver based. I need to pay closer attention to that next Spring while I am hatching and just get rid of the gold based ones.

Do white silkies typically yellow in the sun or from eating yellow corn? What determines the silver gene? What is gold based? Tell me everything. Lol

 

[Minniechickmama]

Do white silkies typically yellow in the sun or from eating yellow corn? What determines the silver gene? What is gold based? Tell me everything. Lol

LOL She is going to be typing a long time!
I think destiny mentioned earlier than other breeds were introduced along the way to make different varieties of Silkies. In the beginning, there was just the whites. So, some colors (black and white usually) are silver based colors. Colors like buff and reds are gold based. So, depending on what the genetic soup is that makes up your white chickens, you can have gold that comes as a bird ages, as is the case with one of mine that I know, or exposure to sun. Eating corn, especially a diet higher in corn or feeding it as an extra can help give chickens more yellow legs and beaks, but this is the first I have heard it effects feathering color.
The gold base is what gives the Black Sex Links their orange or red or yellow coloration around the neck. The gold base color is being expressed like a leakage. That is why in some crosses, you may have a barred bird, like Ralphies crosses, but then they get gold leakage in the shoulders or hackles or saddle feathers. It is kind of like natural highlights. Sun will intensify that and make it look more yellow. It can and does do that to a lot of white chickens though, which is why show breeders won't just turn their white birds outside all the time. My New Hampshires, if out all Spring and Summer, their feathers go from golden bay to yellow and look terrible.
There is so much that goes into color genetics, it can get really crazy. I know there are threads on here that are just about color genetics, but be careful, because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, which is why I always try to remind people, don't just listen to what I say, research further.

 

[ejb3810]

Minnie, I would like to inform you that both Ralphie and I have the same situation. We are in charge at our house. That is whenever our wives are not here.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

You boys and your toys.

My "DH" went to North Dakota duck hunting with my son yesterday afternoon. This summer it was determined that my son needed his own 12 GA. He was ready to move up from the 20 GA. So as we're determining where to get $800 from to make such a purchase. I asked my husband if we didn't have another 12 GA filed under the King sized bed....because we are like princess and the pea...except in place of mattresses...my gun collector has mounds of gun cases and all sorts of guns under the bed. So you have the picture. I just couldn't understand why we would need another 12 GA in the house when I should wonder if there wasn't another one here that would suffice. Because with that mound under us...certainly there wouldn't just be one 12 GA. It's like just having one phillips screwdriver for a construction worker....right? Not going to happen....

Nope Nope Nope...he needs a 12 GA. We don't have a 12 GA that he could use.

So the packing and loading of the truck happens Tuesday night. His friend stops over and I hear their conversation outside. Yeah bringing a 3rd gun just in case one gets locked up on us or seized or whatever the right term is for malfunctioning shotgun. He comes in for another load. I say, " Is that a 3rd 12 GA?! I though we didn't have another 12 GA that DS could use?! "

"He can't! It's not right for him." What?~!
Needless to say I feel buffaloed and lied to by a gun fiend in the form of my nutso husband. We women are onto you..... I should have trusted my gut instinct earlier this summer. As it turned out DS wanted a gun to call his own and he has saved birthday and Christmas money for 13 years of his life and was able to purchase something that fit him and that no doubt will last him his whole life if he takes care of it. But I don't like the round about words DH has fanagled things. He's something else.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

LOL She is going to be typing a long time!
I think destiny mentioned earlier than other breeds were introduced along the way to make different varieties of Silkies. In the beginning, there was just the whites. So, some colors (black and white usually) are silver based colors. Colors like buff and reds are gold based. So, depending on what the genetic soup is that makes up your white chickens, you can have gold that comes as a bird ages, as is the case with one of mine that I know, or exposure to sun. Eating corn, especially a diet higher in corn or feeding it as an extra can help give chickens more yellow legs and beaks, but this is the first I have heard it effects feathering color.
The gold base is what gives the Black Sex Links their orange or red or yellow coloration around the neck. The gold base color is being expressed like a leakage. That is why in some crosses, you may have a barred bird, like Ralphies crosses, but then they get gold leakage in the shoulders or hackles or saddle feathers. It is kind of like natural highlights. Sun will intensify that and make it look more yellow. It can and does do that to a lot of white chickens though, which is why show breeders won't just turn their white birds outside all the time. My New Hampshires, if out all Spring and Summer, their feathers go from golden bay to yellow and look terrible.
There is so much that goes into color genetics, it can get really crazy. I know there are threads on here that are just about color genetics, but be careful, because a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, which is why I always try to remind people, don't just listen to what I say, research further.

I see. Learning stuff everyday on here!