Montana

[karlamaria]

Here are some of my girls, so pretty !! the others were in the nesting boxes lol. so I snapped these in my yard today.



Not sure what she is,( wheaten or wheaten maran ? ) but I get the most beautiful blue egg from her. a very dark blue egg. and she is soooo sweet!!





Male hen ?? what do you think all ? about 11 weeks old.

 

[karlamaria]

Fluffy butts lol


Look at the tall legs on this girl almost 3 months old. leghorn.

 

[karlamaria]

wheaten maran?? I get olive eggs from her, and large ones now !

 

[DuginMT]

You have some nice chickens Karla. I like that Wheaten Maran or whatever it is, those dark blue eggs makes her a star! Thanks for the compliment, the boys and chicks are doing well. We got 1.6" of rain here, almost all last night, there will be plenty of green for the chicks in the yard this summer! Love experimenting with free ranging, I am probably too protective since I have no good fences, the neighbors are within 200', and there is a dog or three running around here. Usually we get hordes of grasshoppers in the summer so I plan to let them out to eat bugs. Does anyone know if excessive bugs can taint the flavor of the eggs?

Doug

 

[DuginMT]

Looking good Duginmt, I think you'll find that they won't go too far even if left out for a few hours. Just leave the coop door open so they can come and go as they like. I don't think you should have problems with hawks this time of the year, but watch it as fall rolls around. Great you've got your "chicken herders" handy.
We had another round of wild weather last night, the lightning and thunder was so bad that the house was shaking and I was hiding under my covers. I checked my rain gage and I got about 2" over night, and I have another "lake" in front of my barn. I'm loving the rain, but the nasty storms could settle down some.
Would anyone in the Billings/Roundup area like a free EE pullet? I have a very sweet little girl at point of lay that for some reason my flock started beating up. I have tried to reintroduce her several times but each time the entire flock jumps on her and just tries to kill her. She is about 4 months, very sweet and does fine by herself, but I think she would do well if put with 1 or 2 younger pullets that wouldn't pick on her. She is very meek, and just lays down and screems when they start picking on her, and I think thats why the entire flock comes running and tries to kill her.

Azriel, I would take her - but you need to know I have 12 pullets and a BO roo just a little younger, and have no way right now to segregate her. I could give her a shot, and return her if my flock picks on her. I don't see much abuse right now, just a peck or two here and there. I love the EEs and have two other ones who are doing great with the flock. Just let me know if you want to try her out at my place. Thinking about letting the flock out for 15 minutes or so tonight - thanks for the advice!

Doug

 

[karlamaria]

You have some nice chickens Karla.  I like that Wheaten Maran or whatever it is, those dark blue eggs makes her a star!  Thanks for the compliment, the boys and chicks are doing well.  We got 1.6" of rain here, almost all last night, there will be plenty of green for the chicks in the yard this summer!  Love experimenting with free ranging, I am probably too protective since I have no good fences, the neighbors are within 200', and there is a dog or three running around here.  Usually we get hordes of grasshoppers in the summer so I plan to let them out to eat bugs.  Does anyone know if excessive bugs can taint the flavor of the eggs?

Doug

I would definatly keep an eye on the girls if you have dogs there, it's just to dangerous if you live close to dogs with open fields. My yard has always been safe, but one day when I was gone a dog was in my yard. I let him out and he jumped over my very tall fence. Shocked I decided not to let my girls out unless I was there and am able to keep an eye on them. If I loose my girls I would have to wart all over agan, no way do I want to do that! I can not wait until your girls lay for you, that's the real moment when you realize how fun raising chickens are!

 

[karlamaria]

All my girls are laying , I can not believe it there all laying together. Filling up a carton a day is pretty awesme. Hence egg eati tme lol. Quiche tomorrow, eggs tonight with French toast and bacon, feeding my parents, extended family. Life is good. Lol I plan to freeze many of my eggs in small containers for winter time quiche etc.
Dug, how old are your chickens ? I can not wait until they start laying! Things are good here, nice rain today, cooling things down, to bad the chickens have already eaten my kale, my tomatoes and worked it faily well on my lettuce. Ugh.

 

[DuginMT]

Karla, congrats on your great egg harvest! Eggs, its whats for dinner! I picked up my 1-5 day old chicks at Big R on March 15th and March 17th, so I guess that makes them about 15 weeks old now. Should I gather up some golf balls and put them in the nesting boxes now? Just bought my first bag of layer feed a couple of days ago. They are still eating all flock feed now (unmedicated).

 

[DuginMT]

First dog threat! I was letting my chickens free range tonight about 8 and they were having a great time and doing some crazy flying stunts outside of their run, when King, the roo, uttered a loud and concerned cluck and looked off toward the east. I looked over there and saw a boxer dog about 150' away putting a stalk on my flock! I ran towards the dog, telling him to get and go home, which he did. He was probably 30' inside my property line (old barbed wire fence). I then herded the chicks back into their run. Now, I am thinking about putting up an electric fence, about 3' outside of the run fence. I have a 20-mile fencer that would zap him good. Scary, I have never seen that dog before but believe he belongs to my new neighbors, who rented the adjacent house and are moving in this week.

 

[Azriel]

electric fences work great for dogs, just make sure to mark it well for your kids and any playmates they might have over. Put at least 2 strands, one about where the dogs knees would be, and the 2nd about chest level. works great for coons also, but you would need a lower strand for them. i've watched the young coyotes hit the electric fence and scramble to get away, its rather funny, they never come back