NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Beautiful day today and just got home from work to see dh had let out all the terrorists (aka rir group). Everyone is enjoying their freedom, which is really making the hens mad as they are still locked up in their run. Since the one roo (whitefeather, cause he has a white feather in his hackles) like to chase down 2 of my big girls and rape them repeatedly, it is better for them to be safely locked away for now. Whitefeather has a date with the fridge tomorrow and then on to freezer camp. Survivor--Chicken Style will be down to the last three contestants and only 2 can win. Who will it be??? At least the pullets are ramping up their laying, as more and more start laying so its time for me to make some calls to my egg customers.

My hens are still laying but not as frequently as I would like. Still debating on whether or not to send some to freezer camp. We have time and they are freeranging most days so they arent eating a lot of feed right now.

My silkie boys are growing nicely and getting quite nice looking. Arwen, the little girl, is starting to grow in leaps and bounds and looking really good as well. At least the boys arent being mean to her anymore. The boys keep trying, from time to time, to jump my blue silkie roo Little Man, who is a year older than they are. It never ends well for them, as Little Man puts a beatdown on them, especially if they started with one of his women. You dont mess with his women!!!! He is a very sweet, gentle rooster who always runs to me if I call him but he wont tolerate the young upstarts not having good manners. Boys...they are still learning.

Lap--the hardest part of the whole roo process is getting them beyond this jerk stage to really get a sense of their adult selves. Our first roo was not a planned event(since it was his brothers who murdered him) but the last two and the next one were easy because they were just mean and serial rapists. The other three are maturing nicely(with some quirks but hey...they are males) so it will be hard to choose from them. Good luck. BTW...the taste cant be beat!!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher, I have 5 Dels. What should I expect, egg-wise, on average?

Thanks,
kamir

Where did you get your Dels? Eggwise, I'll put in some Birchen Marans, EE/Amers, (which will most likely be black Amer types) and some Lav/split orps and Dels. The Lav orps and Dels will be marked. I will put them in the auction.

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher Hicks, what's a CR?

Columbian Rock. I got these as eggs from Scott in Georgia.

 

[rancher hicks]

I have been having problems with early and late blight too. I put 2 tomatoes in large containers and while the tomatoes are smaller, the plants look much healthier. I may do fewer for a couple of years in pots and see if I can eradicate it from my soil. The other major pest I have is squash vine borer. I have covered the plants, moved the plants and dug the little grub buggers out of the stem. EEWW!!! I hate the things!!

If you have blight do not throw dead plants in the compost. I prefer to start my own plants as blight can be brought in from the south on commercial plants as happened one year.

I planted Swiss chard and it's still doing good as did the spinach and lettuce. Chickens love these types of things and I also toss them split tomatoes.

chicken manure is good for leafy greens as they like the nitrogen but not so much for Peppers, tomatoes and other "fruit" plants. I will be mixing in lots of Peat Moss.

 

[Cass]

At what stage did you put the oyster shell down? I have a big bag of it, toss a few handfuls in with the layer feed. If I could toss it down now and save the tomatoes that are left, I will. If it needs to be done while the plants are small, I will plan on lime (and mulch) for next year.

Threw it out there about 2 weeks ago. The ones that had already started to ripen still had a problem, but the ones that started to ripen recently and/or are still green are doing great. I water daily, when it doesn't rain, so the calcium is leaching into the soil every day to be taken up by the roots. (I wasn't careful where I threw it, just heaved it out there, so some got on the leaves with no ensuing damage to them)

 

[Cass]

(And FWIW, I never move my broodies out and they do just fine. Only had one incident a year or two back, but that was a witchy chicken who is no longer here - a black australorp from heck!. Have all my broodies in the coops now with chicks and no losses .. maybe it's just that they have more space?)..

She doesn't have a coop, just a little tractor with nest boxes built to stick out the side, top door for egg retrival. Several have told her to fence the hen in, move the hen out or do SOMETHING to keep the other hens from getting into her area. This is the THIRD set of eggs this hen has brooded with absolutely NO LIVE CHICKS to show for it. Apparently something is wrong with her set up and she just won't move the hen cuz someone somewhere told her that "I moved a hen and she gave up and abandoned the eggs". Oooo Kay....however how will that result be different from the result she is getting right now....no live chicks 60 days into this brood?

 

[kamir]

Quote:
Rancher, I meant how many eggs might I expect my Dels to lay (no roo)? Sorry for any confusion.

kamir
PS: Got the Dels as 2 day old chicks from Cackle Hatchery.

 

[Adoravachick]

Got our first egg today!!!!!!!!!! YAY!

Not sure which silkie hen laid it though.

 

[County Boy]

If there is anybody gettinf rid of Am. pullets let me know. I would like 1 more.

 

[Sachasmom]

Anyone have any Guinea keets available? Thought I would ask before I ordered them online, lol How hard are they to hatch out? I've got silkies that are brooding nothing, lol