North Dakotans UNITE!

[LivinNewDreamInND]

Turkeys sound like a good set up. They eat the apples and the beetles and make a tasty Thanksgiving feast. I think that I will look into getting a couple next year. I still don't know if I will be able to proccess my own birds. I'm not really squeamish but the pictures on the meat bird forum made it seem very messy. I'm just a big baby, but I think that I could suck it up and just do it when it came time.

I am looking forward to gardening in ND. I hear that just about anything grows really well if you control the pest properly. That will be a big change from gardening in WY. It seems like you can never quite get enough water on your garden to make the plants completely happy and healthy in WY, unless you want to invest so much in water bills that growing your own veggies no longer saves you any money over the grocery stores. I do think I will take a chance on getting guineas this year. They can brood in the basement while the chicks are in the laundry room

Then I will let them free range during the day and if I can manage to catch or herd them I will put them in the barn at night. My poor sweet husband is going to be spending a lot of free time remodeling coops and building a run

That's OK though it will be good family bonding!

Thanks again for all the knowledge!

 

[Frosty]

Ummm... hate to break it to you but this area of ND isn't exactly known for plentiful rain. That would be the fargo area. Though I will admit that Deering gets more rain than Norwich so you should do ok... I kid you not, I can watch the storms coming at us and they will split just before they hit our area and go around, then join back up on the other side! I could always give you a 1 year old Bourbon Red tom... he is snoodless (think it got pecked off when he was a baby). I don't have any BR hens so don't plan to use him for breeding. Just let me know if you are interested... You could consider him a house warming gift

 

[Frosty]

PS Bookmark this site: http://www.bismanonline.com/ Look under Equipment & Ag, then under Other Livestock. It's not uncommon to find folks selling stuff like turkeys and guineas. And if you want to sell anything, ads are free with one picture.

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

Quote:
I don't think the problem in WY is the lack of rain as much as the lack of overall humidity. We can't even grow simple grass without watering twice a day. The man we bought the farm from says that he never watered his grass in twelve years, and our realestate agent said she only waters her grass once a year. That amazes me! I was planning on using drip hoses in the garden though. That is very generous of you to offer me your tom

. Is he pretty tame? i.e. will he chase my kids? I would be happy to take him off your hands if you are looking for a new home for him. Do you think that he would get used to staying around my property even though it is not his "home"? I will check back with you when I get all settled in Deering and you can tell me how to transport a turkey

 

[Frosty]

I don't water my lawn, but around August it starts turning brown. None of my turkeys chase people, if they did I would invite them to dinner

Get settled and just let me know if you want him... I am retired military and go out to the base now and then, doing that I drive towards Deering and turn just a few miles away. Look on mapquest for directions from Deering to Ruthville... I take 23 toward Deering and turn on 8 toward Ruthville. So I would be happy to deliver on my way, but not until you are ready. If you lock him up for about 2 weeks, then let him out, he should stick around. He's a beautiful bird from Kevin Porter, but kind of muddy right now.

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

I know where Ruthville is! My husband and I have done some driving around to try to gather our sense of direction. I completely lose my sense of direction in ND, I am so used to having a mountain on all sides of me to give me an idea of where I am. It is neat that you are retired military, that seems to be a common thread with all the people we have done business with up there. Our real estate agent, the home inspector and even the guy we bought our property from are all retired airmen. In fact I am a former airforce brat, my dad retired from the airforce about ten years ago. He hates that we are moving so far away but he is happy that we are moving to somewhere with a base nearby.
It shouldn't be a problem locking the tom in our barn for a couple of weeks. We will make sure there is nothing inside he could get hurt on. How much feed do you give one tom? Do you give your turkeys any kind of treats or veggie scraps?

 

[western edge]

hello from dickinson just register onto BYC last week (looking for hatching eggs) and today i ran across this form. starting more heritage breeds in my flock. lots of room to freerange and plenty of quality feed. lets bring the chicken back home to the farm.

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

Finally, new chicks at my new house in ND!

We were so excited to get the call from the post office in Glenburn to come and pick up our chicks. I ended up ordering them from efowl.com and they did a great job. The customer service was really nice and prompt to answer a question I had. I ordered 5 buff orps, 5 black jersey giants, and 5 silver laced wyandottes, the only extra I recieved was 1 extra wyandotte. Time will tell if the extra little peep is a poullet or roo. The rest are supposed to be poullets. They all arrived healthy a peeping. They took to drinking water and eating very quickly and so far my brooder seems to be the right temperature because they are all spread out all the time.

Group photo:

Silver Laced Wyandotte:

Buff Orpington:

Black Jersey Giant:

edited because I had the slw and bjg pics mixed up

 

[western edge]

good job on the chicks. nice selection. got mine on the 19th. From Welp hatcheries- 10 rhode island whites, 5 dominiques and 10 cali whites. From a breeder from Ga.- 25 rhode island red single combs. Got them on the same day . also 16 rhode island red rose combs from MN whitch are 4 week already. pcitures on My Page.

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

Quote:
I have been looking at what I should get next year and I really like the cali whites, I bet they are cute chicks. Do you sell your eggs locally? It seems like most people I talk to from ND free range their chickens. Is that what you do or do you have an enclosed run for them?