North Carolina

[LukesCityHens]

Meg: kinda took your advice.... didn't do any work all weekend. I built a fire and we sat around it almost all day Saturday and Sunday. I smoked some ribs and she made some in the crockpot ( pork ribs with apples and onions and apple pie spice finished off with bbq sauce)....outrageously good!!!! I'm sad I missed the show but life must go on!!! Happy Monday everyone!

OH BOY! Some of the big wigs just walked in the office to do a "mock medicare survey".......How can this day get any better?!?!?! and only 2 days till we find out the sex of the baby!!!!!

 

[choptank330]

Good afternoon everyone!!!

Just got home from a early morning shift at work. Came home gave the guys and gals some fresh water and yogurt. It is such a nice day here in Louisburg. It was a little misty rainy but turned out to be nice. I am very excited as I am going to get three new speckled sussex babies Friday and I can not wait! Well I have been up since 3am. I am off to take a nap with the kiddos. Then back out to play with the chickens! I hope everyone had a wonderful evening!!!

 

[doubleatraining]

Good afternoon everyone!!!

Just got home from a early morning shift at work. Came home gave the guys and gals some fresh water and yogurt. It is such a nice day here in Louisburg. It was a little misty rainy but turned out to be nice. I am very excited as I am going to get three new speckled sussex babies Friday and I can not wait! Well I have been up since 3am. I am off to take a nap with the kiddos. Then back out to play with the chickens! I hope everyone had a wonderful evening!!!

Lol I was driving through Louisburg about 1 hr ago running errands

 

[langshanman]

there was some very nice langshans there, wasnt sure if they were your or not

I had 4 there of my own I won reserve of breed on a pullet.Out of 22 Large Fowl Langshans half were off of my birds

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

I had 4 there of my own I won reserve of breed on a pullet.Out of 22 Large Fowl Langshans half were off of my birds

Do any of your birds lay the mulberry colored eggs??
Are there any lines in the states that lay those eggs?

 

[ramirezframing]

Langshanman if someone was thinking of showing (not big time mind you) what would you just doing or starting at. Because watching the judges with the birds, well my birds would slap the judge with their wings and all

Everyone said I should show my sumatras, but they are still regrowing their feathers, do judges take that into consideration or is that points off, or should one only show that years hatch?? Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

So...those of you who incubate & brood....at what temperatures do I NEED to have the heat lamp on and when should I turn it off?? HELP!!

Chicks with mama will run out and under as they need to stay warm, so I set my lamps so they can do the same. There's enough space in my brooding area that I can leave the lights hanging low, and enjoy watching them move further and further from them as they feather out. When they ignore the lamps and start sleeping up on the perches, I move them to other quarters.

Meg: kinda took your advice.... didn't do any work all weekend. I built a fire and we sat around it almost all day Saturday and Sunday. I smoked some ribs and she made some in the crockpot ( pork ribs with apples and onions and apple pie spice finished off with bbq sauce)....outrageously good!!!! I'm sad I missed the show but life must go on!!! Happy Monday everyone!

OH BOY! Some of the big wigs just walked in the office to do a "mock medicare survey".......How can this day get any better?!?!?! and only 2 days till we find out the sex of the baby!!!!!

So, how'd it do? Did ya'll actually enjoy spending some time together? You could have come to the show together, you know! (And we expect a report on the sex of the baby!)

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Good morning folks

Why is it that when you need to make progress
on a project that the project seems to go
SOOOOOOO slow but other times a project
will speed along......and it seems that if I get
behind on one project then another gets
behind or slows down......maybe it's the
time of year and I'm just trying to get too
much done in a short time frame......the
hustle of the season

hope your day is a good one

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Good Morning, Happy People!

I had a lovely afternoon at Beths yesterday. She's "loaning" me eggs for the NYD hatch, and to test my new incubator since it's just been sitting here empty. When I'm done with the eggs, I get to return them!

(Yes, she would have given me eggs, but I'm after certain breeds for restocking.) It's always hard to leave Beth's house!

Today I can finish cleaning out the guest room. When hubby comes home he has one more piece of furniture to pull out of there, then we can clean that carpet. Tomorrow we'll move our bedroom furniture in there. Then we can clean that carpet. I'll have a week to wash walls in there and do whatever else I feel the need to do, before the new set gets delivered. And somehow I have to make room in the wool room for the air mattress. Both kids and a guest of my daughters will be here the day after the furniture gets delivered.

Then I have to get the rest of the house clean so we can put up a tree. We always get a live tree, so don't want it in the house too long. They don't survive so well if they spend all month inside.

Spent a good amount of time last night when I got home watching chickie TV. The RIR are the most curious about me. I've gotten a couple to eat treats from my hand. And although they weren't yet using the new perches, as I was leaning near them watching chicks, two of them jumped up on the perches to get a closer look and see if my clothes were edible. Then they started hopping from perch to perch, playing. They settled here for the night, but it's a lot warmer so not a fair test of "grown-up-enough-to-not-need-heat-lamps". When they stay on the perches during a cold spell, I'll know they don't need them anymore and they'll have outgrown JDC.

The doggies are all staring at me, insisting they are deprived creatures who have never been fed in their lives, and they are starving!

I guess I need to go cook their breakfast!

Have a great day!

 

[NewHomesteader2010]

Meg - you should be ashamed talking to us while depriving those poor creatures sustenance!! LOL

I am getting excited. My mother and aunt should be arriving some time today with my great-grandmother's baby grand piano...still have NO idea where we are going to put that thing, but it's a family treasure and I am so blessed to be getting it. I have fond memories of her trying to teach me songs from memory that weren't in English and I still giggle at the shocked expression on her face when she would realize I'd never heard this song or that!! It will be nice if we will be able to afford lessons for the girls and then one day they will be able to play!! I am having a lazy few days!! I am SICK of morning sickness that lasts all day and my house is beginning to show my lack of attention!! I have dust bunnies on top of dust bunnies!!

I am determined even if I have to stuff saltines in my mouth while I clean...I'm getting some work done around here today!! I am even MORE determined to get some baking done as my poor hubby hasn't had a decent treat in AGES and I did promise that I would make a big batch of buckeyes and such for him to take to work!! I NEED to get on that. Anyone want to come over and help?? LOL FREE SAMPLES of a family secret recipe!!

DD1 is LOVING the chicks...she still fusses when they peck her little hands, but I try to get her to always have something in them for the chicks to eat (like a meal worm) so she will not get pecked, but she always drops it right as the chick is going for it, so... LOL My mother is hoping to be able to hold a chick as she has never done that before, so we'll see how it goes. I'm rather interested to see how she does, plus I'd really like to handle these chicks so they are not so skittish when they are adults. It will make checking them for parasites/lice/mites/etc SO much easier than having a hands off approach!! It's a pain to stand there and chase chickens while avoiding ducks and guineas!!

Guinea advice: My guineas are starting to get aggressive...(sadly I can't figure out just which ones) Is it "normal" for them to chase and peck the teenagers? I had 2 that actually chased and killed one of my teens (he was a sassy fellow, so I am sure he provoked it somehow...lol). I suspect the 2 that killed the chick were males because I have seen 2 chase each other and pull feathers out, but I cannot catch them and cannot get near enough to them to do anything as they are SO flighty (not to mention...their claws are VERY sharp). They all chase the little ones (not my chicks but my last hatch back in Sept/Oct) around and if they get too close, the guineas will clamp down on their tail feathers and the poor chickens run away screaming with a guinea attached to them. I didn't know if anyone had any suggestions on what to do...or if this is normal...or what. Could I be underfeeding them?? They all free-range so I don't give them much feed - just a coffee can in the AM & another in the PM... should I feed more?? (I am really hoping you all say NO to more feed...LOL) Thanks in advance if you can offer any help!!