Nevadans?

[Knemeyer]

Hi everyone! I haven't been on in ages and I have a lot of catching up to do. I am so excited! We got our first ever egg today! I believe it's from Ginger, a EE and she's only 4 months old. I've been bugging my hubbie to put the nests in the coop (and roosts!) so they can get use to them being there when they start laying next month. He wanted me to check on the roosts he put in and Ginger came in and starting burrowing in the corners. I joked that she looked like she was ready to lay so he'd better get the nests in! I didn't think it was possible because she only turned 4 months last week. Later that day my husband installed the nests and I went in to put some bedding in them. My son was in the run feeding them and while he was in there, she layed her egg right by the door entering the run. It's on the small side and it's blue with a slight green tinge to it! Here's some pics!

 

[Paladare]

Hi ShanyaLV,
Thank you so much for the phone call! Sorry I missed you- actually, as you called we were just picking up our new hens from a petting zoo ranch that had some extras. And thank you everyone else for the hints on where to find hens!


Sunny et al,
Here is a picture of our coop with our new tenants. I think being the first night, a few were confused and didn't know how to sleep inside so once it was dark I picked them up and put them inside (hens are all supposed to sleep inside, right?). Also, 2 of the birds we got we selected because they seem to have been lower on the pecking order in the big group and needed some "rescue". They have missing feathers on their backs so if anyone has suggestions on how to protect the raw skin, it is much appreciated!

Thanks everyone for all the help!! Hopefully we'll have eggs really soon!

 

[Eglyntine]

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I used Bag Balm on mine, it stays on really well and it keeps the other chickens from pecking them again. It is not something they find very appealing to get in their mouth so after the initial peck with the bag balm on the pecked bird they never go back.

Growing up in Maine we were told about pine tar but it is super messy and I have heard recently that it is not good to put on animals that you are going to eat. Since I worked on many a Dairy Farm we always had it in the house. It is fairly cheap and you can even find it in Wal-Mart, Sam's or Costco. Costco usually carries it a lot cheaper than any of the feed and seed stores.

The Bag Balm is much thicker and stickier. And it will not sting wounds, either. It is great for helping any picked spots to heal, and it is an antiseptic so it will heal any open sores too. You can still eat the eggs, too, it will not hurt anything. Just re-apply every couple of days because it does get rubbed off from their dirt baths.

That is a really nice coop and run, did you end up going with the pre-fab coop or did you all build that one yourself?

 

[SparksNV]

Eglyntine: thanks for the info on the hay! I have a friend at work who has alot of pine shavings she is not using - so I am going to go pick some up this evening. I have almost a whole bale of straw - not sure what I am going to do with it...

Bag Balm is great! I'm a nurse and we have used it on patients. Always kept some around when my kids were diaper age - it is great on sore bottoms. It used to come in a green square tin. Walmart kept it by the personal care products in the baby section (not by the baby clothes).

I bought 1 lb (approx 1000 red wrigglers) online about 4 weeks ago. I just added to my compost and they are still very active but we haven't gotten sustained low temps. When you put your compost on your beds in the spring, do you try to remove the worms to keep in the compost pile?

Echetino: Beautiful coop! I will post some pics of my roosts but the hens jump up and down between the two roosts. I think if I put in a poop tray they will either land on it or not go to the other roost. Any help will be appreciated.

Paladare: congrats on the new hens and rescuing! Nice coop!

Knemeyer: congrats on your new egg! Very eggciting!

 

[Eglyntine]

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I actually keep my worms in separate bins. Currently I have 3 rubbermaid totes that I keep full of worms. I took the bins and drilled small air holes around the bottom and through the top lid for aeration and then I mixed garden soil with steer and chicken manure (worms love the poop) which helps keep it warm inside the totes during the winter months and then I throw my veggie/fruit scrapes in there along with 1 good sized scoop of used hay from the chicken runs about once a week. They lay eggs every couple of weeks so I have a constant stream of worms coming in.

Once you get a good base of worms (roughly about 10k worms per bin) then I cull them out and give the girls worms for treats, put several big hand fulls of worms into my larger compost bins and also spread them around my gardening beds. Keeping them in separate bins helps promote egg laying and makes it a hell of a lot easier to get to your worms without having to dig around your yucky compost bin trying to find them.

I picked up a 27 cu. ft. freezer on CL's that I am going to bury into the ground and add my worms in there. It keeps it insulated from the freezing ground, gives the worms more space to move around in and it will also ensure that they cannot escape. I want to be able to cover my entire yard with worms for the spring and it will also help increase my worm farm so that I can sell them to other gardeners and chicken farmers. The biggest issue you have with raising worms successfully is keeping the temperature controlled and giving them plenty to eat. If it gets too hot from the compost and manure decomposing you can kill your worms but if you do not keep enough of those items then they starve and it gets too cold for them and they freeze to death.

When I remove the compost from the bins I do not separate those worms because you want to have them in your garden to help aerate the soil and worm castings are some of the best fertilizer you can get.

If you would like I can take some pictures of what I have setup and what I am planning on building here pretty soon so you can see what I am talking about.

Once you get a good established setup built, you will never have to buy worms again.

 

[SparksNV]

I would love to see your worm set up! Please post some pics. I have a 4x5x3 area that has a lid - I have dirt garden cuttings and food scraps (no dairy or animal) in there. I keep it damp and it is not hot. I put my worms in there. I can take pics also and would value your opinion on it...

carol

 

[SparksNV]

Dh & I were talking last night about trying to sell our home (crazy in this market) and buying a house with some acres. We want to stay in the Spanish Springs area. Does anyone have a realtor they can recommend?

Not only is Sassy squatting but Cabo squatted this morning too!

These are the three oldest - Sassy (Orp/Del) on left, Verde (Orp/EE) middle, and Cabo (Orp/Del) on right - enjoying some pumpkin.

The roosts - any ideas on poop trays?

the roosts are 2 feet apart & the hens jump between them and also jump down to the floor between them.

Here is our composting area - any input appreciated...

thanks! carol

 

[Eglyntine]

That compost bin looks great, and it is the perfect size to house about 3000 to 5000 worms easily.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Sparks – the girls look GREAT! Sassy has so much more color on her wings

and I can see her comb is getting plump! Verde looks like she is getting close – her comb is coloring and plumping – goodness she has GREAT muffs. Cabo is lovely, with nice lacing.

I do use hay in the run – ½ a flake to a flake at a time. Once they have scratched and scattered it around, I rake it up into a pile. The birds will have a blast going thru it again and will eat what they did not the first time (sometimes I even wet it down with the hose after piling it up). I might rake the pile two or three times and then I move it to the compost and give them fresh hay. I also use hay in winter when it has snowed – I shovel a path and spread hay lightly along the path to their favorite areas and food/water areas.

Quote:

Holy Wigglers – that is A LOT of worms.

Knemeyer – Congrats on the fantastic egg.

Jeeper1540 – Congrats on your deer (you and your dad)



Flrpl finally started crowing

– last night of all times, he was hatched approx. 4.19.10 so was just over 6 months old. It is dainty, like him

– I ran in to get the flip so I could share – not a very good or long video, it was almost dark so quality is so-so. The silver laced cochin had been watching him for a while - I think she was flabbergasted that he could crow.

Sunny – I am stomping my foot! No more egg pictures from YOU!

Just the other day I was thinking how nice my Orp brown and EE eggs look – now - *smacks head* look at just how beautiful that arrangement is with the Marans darks, Orp browns, EE olives and those Ams delicate blues – Are the dark speckled from the Wels? …………sigh……

 

[SunnyDawn]

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Thank you! I just love them.

shanyalv congrats on that new accomplishment!

I haven't tried that yet. When I was a kid it was my job to defeather them but I never had to gut them. Now I still need to learn how.

Congrats on getting so much done on your coop Eglyntine! We need pics when it's done.

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Thank you! I thought you had some. I must be remembering wrong.

Well, I DID hatch some out from ke_bens eggs but once I split the hatch with the friend that went in on them with me ... I got all roos. I do have an Olive-egger that is a BCM X EE, but it's not the same.

That kinda stinks! Maybe next spring.

Knemeyer congrats on the first egg!!! It's a beaut!

Paladare congrats on the new girls!!! That is a super cute coop!

Sparks, NV I don't know any realtors that work in the Spanish Springs area exclusively but I work with quite a few in Reno. If you want a few names PM me and I'll send you a few names to call.

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Thank you! I'm so proud of them! You do have the prettiest birds though. I'm just addicted to the pretty eggs.

The large, super dark, speckled one is actually from my cuckoo marans (not a super desired trait in marans' eggs but I'm gaga for them), the large one on the left and at the very top are from my BC marans and my wellies laid the 2 dark (slightly golden) brown eggs. I know that wellies often lay a speckled egg but not my girls. At least not yet. The wellies are hatchery birds though so variations have probably been bred out. I don't care as long as they keep giving me gorgeous eggs. I don't show my eggs I just love to hear my friends, family and customers ooh and aah.

BTW, FLRPL's crow sounds just like Poppy's! Just not quite as loud. Poor HR (we are calling him Urkel now) has just started to crow too but the poor thing sounds like he has a huge phlegm problem.

He kind of chokes and tries to crow but it's just not working. Oh well, he'll get the hang of it I'm sure. Then my neighbors will really complain! He is getting sooo big! So is my dominant roo! Poppy is bigger but Urkel is just gorgeous! I'm sure once he gets some confidence the girls will prefer him. The black Am girls are not growing much yet (your's or mine) so they look absolutely tiny next to these huge roos!

I also want to welcome bkbingham from Bunkerville, NV (near Mesquite) to the Nevada thread. Don't be shy. Just jump in!


Hope everyone had a great Halloween yesterday!!!