NY chicken lover!!!!

[vmdanielsen]

Ginny---I know that itch. I have two new incubators just begging to be used! I keep saying I can wait, I can wait...

Didnt get much snow but holy cow who installled the freezer! I think it was minus something when I went out to release the beasts. Everyone got scratch and I see no frostbite on any combs or waddles. They all pounded outside to get their scratch and cabbage so I guess they dont really care about the freezer conditions. Even the silkies ran out this morning. They got hot water with their cool as they dont have heaters so I bring in the indoor ones at night. They will get boiling water when I leave as no one will be home till bedtime for them.

Rancher--hybrids are good egg layers. Our 5 red sexlinks are machines. We will be hatching out black sexlinks (rir roo x br hen) so we shall see if they are as good. I have to say the rir hens are also good egg layers. Someone (or two) are laying the most beautiful dark brown eggs I have ever seen. Not as dark as Marans eggs but dark.

Nambroth---if you arent squeamish, its not hard to process your extra/unwanted chickens. They are tasty and as Ginny said, at least you know you have given them a good life for however long you raised them. No added water, preservatives or coloring either!

Stay warm everyone. Its going to be a long, frigid week this week!

Would yo be able to make chicken stock then toss the meat? Would it make funky colored stock? Do they taste different?

 

[rancher hicks]

I am thinking of doing this next time I need a few chickens, but I have been very unsuccessful in finding local chicken folks. I drove an hour to Jamestown to adopt a cochin rooster from someone here on BYC and despite them being good birds from a good breeder, and the best behaved roos I've ever met, she was unable to find homes for months. I think she still has two extras. I am nervous about running into that situation and don't want to irresponsibly hatch some birds out only to not have homes for them all. I'm not set up to house too many.

I got my first non hatchery Dels in Alden. If there is an auction nearby or someone who eats chickens give them away. I'd have no problem sending chicks off with someone else to sell for themselves if they're all roos.

My advice was for someone who keeps more than 12 birds. I have no problem giving away hens that don't work out. My first batch of hatchery birds, I gave away 3 GLW's and 3 Aussies. They were fine just getting picked on to the point they were bald.

Not all hatchery birds are bad, but on occasion you get a few that just aren't good. Diversity is the answer. MY first batch was 8 breeds 3 of each. 4 of which were red bantam frizzles.

 

[rancher hicks]

But they tasted good didn't they? HHHmmmm, I think I will take a chicken out of the freezer.
Would covering a dell with a buckeye, produce similar coloring? I don't want to do this, I am just curious!

EEWW!! I have hatching fever!!! I was going to put the light out in the coop but with this week's anticipated cold weather, decided to wait because I was going to put the nipple waterer out there with the aquarium heater in i,t but didn.t know how it would hold up with the -0 temperatures. I can hold off another week, I can hold off another week...really I can.

I honestly don't know, but may find out in the future if I get some Buckeye. I noticed my BM roo has some frost bite, but he does go out in this weather. I hate to lock them up if they want to go out and breath the cold air. The only roo without fb is the BR. All the other have been bitten and I'm sorry for that. I've tried the Vaseline but it didn't help on the tips.

This is my interest in Buckeyes. I'm not sure there is a peacomb maran out there for the dark eggs. Amers and EE's of course have the rosecomb but they can still get frost bit.

Dels of course don't have a rosecomb but they are still on the critical list and not all that popular. I'd hate to see them die out. They are a nice friendly breed. Easy to handle , easy to keep with other breeds and in confinement. Not prone to picking either. At least for me.

I think any breed will pick if crowded and bored.

 

[rancher hicks]

Would yo be able to make chicken stock then toss the meat? Would it make funky colored stock? Do they taste different?

I'm interested in this too, since this is my plan.

 

[horsekeeper]

I processed 10 silkie roos this fall and so far have made two batches of soup and kept the meat. Rich and delicious! If you add colorful vegetables and some nice small pasta like stelline or orzo to it you don't really notice the color. It just looks like you used all dark meat. The stock was excellent. I also throw in a box of wild and long grain rice complete with the flavor packet and tastes amazing.

Last week was orange cheesecake and it was a big hit next door at my daughter's house. This week is amaretto cheesecake. Yummy. Good thing I have someone next door to help eat all the goodies I cook. Last night a big pot of cabbage/bacon/leftover pork roast soup went over because my freezer is jammed full of ducks.

I raised Cayuga mixes and Muscovies last year and processed all the Cayugas and 18 Muscovies. Tried one of the Cayugas this weekend with orange/cherry/bourbon sauce and didn't care for it much. Muscovy is so much tastier.

 

[Nambroth]

pharmchickrnmom - Not squeamish. I actually hunt. I just admittedly get too attached to my birds.... Maybe if I could keep them in a different pen and interact with them less...

I got my first non hatchery Dels in Alden. If there is an auction nearby or someone who eats chickens give them away. I'd have no problem sending chicks off with someone else to sell for themselves if they're all roos.

My advice was for someone who keeps more than 12 birds. I have no problem giving away hens that don't work out. My first batch of hatchery birds, I gave away 3 GLW's and 3 Aussies. They were fine just getting picked on to the point they were bald.

Not all hatchery birds are bad, but on occasion you get a few that just aren't good. Diversity is the answer. MY first batch was 8 breeds 3 of each. 4 of which were red bantam frizzles.

I've seen, in person this fall, the difference between my hatchery birds and someone's well-bred birds. The vigor, size, and overall constitution of her birds really impressed me. The cochin rooster I got from her is a very fine animal and I am convinced that I don't think I will get hatchery birds again unless someone needs to rehome them.
I have room for 8 birds, realistically, and don't want to overcrowd them. I've got 8 right now so all this is hypothetical in case I lose any.
I am nervous about auctions as disease vectors. What do you think? There are none nearby but if I had to drive a few hours I could.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

It is testing week for the highschool kids here. I got stuck behind the bus picking kids up this afternoon. One girl got on the bus wearing just a long sleeve tee and one boy only a hoodie. The wind chill is negative digits outside. Kids are crazy!

 

[Glasshen]

You are right, Tab. My younger son went through a winter of not wearing appropriate clothing. He was also an athlete, and got sick for some big tournament...lesson learned. Perhaps his body could have fought off the illness if he hadn't been stressing it so by being under dressed. And we can't really know when we are going to be exposed to germs....yes, kids are crazy, and then they grow up and become adults who are crazy in different ways. Not sure how credible I am...

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

I guess I was feeling ornery. We don't have much for heating in the lab where I work. It got up to 60* in there this morning then we turned the oven on and opened the door of it. It was 64* when I left at 11:30.

Being a food plant we have to wear the uniforms provided which aren't the warmest.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Like Glasshen, my (older) son rarely leaves the house with a coat this time of year. This is a new thing now that he's entered high school. He says it's because the lockers are too small, but I think it's more of a "cool thing" with teenagers these days, boys and girls alike. That being said, I pulled an Obama today and gave an executive order to wear a coat. Surprisingly, I got no argument. At 9F this morning with a roaring north wind, maybe even his teenaged brain realized how miserable he would feel waiting for the bus without a coat. [Note: he did refuse to wear a hat because he didn't want to "mess up his hair." I'm sure the wind took care of that.]

Both my boys are going skiing tonight. They are nuts, as is my husband who doesn't see the problem with this. Should I vaseline them up, like the chickens?

Put the heaviest blanket on my horse today. No complaints from him, as I threw another couple of flakes of hay in the stall, either. It's an "inside day" for him and his friends.


TOB