NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

My black Easter Egger pullet seems like she wants to go broody. Tough luck, chica - not yet!

 

[vmdanielsen]

My black Easter Egger pullet seems like she wants to go broody. Tough luck, chica - not yet!

My broody neither....thought long and hard about it though, almost put some buckeye eggs under her.

 

[rancher hicks]

My black Easter Egger pullet seems like she wants to go broody. Tough luck, chica - not yet!

My broody neither....thought long and hard about it though, almost put some buckeye eggs under her.

You two meanies. I just give them three eggs. I mark them by running a ring of black marker around them so I can tell the newly laid eggs if someone else gets in there and lays an egg.

Vmdaniel - seems to me you'd have an easy time selling Buckeye chicks.

 

[Adoravachick]

Just thought you might like to see the local eagles!!

Beautiful!

 

[ChickPrincess]

so what do you do with all of your extra roosters when you hatch your own? I can't see people keeping 50% roosters.

I don't have a problem with people eating my roos... just not me.

I will sell them or give them away to people I know will kill them humanely and eat them or give them a good home.

I think they have been there for 4 years now. Every winter you can see them in there nest when the leaves are off.

Dh and my FIL were trolling on Hemlock and threw an undersized fish back in. Before it even had a chance to swim away, an eagle flew down and scooped it up. The guys just sat there with their jaws on the floor. They said it was the most majestic thing they'd ever seen.

I totally understand not wanting to buy chicks from a hatchery for many reasons but they're having to dispose of male chicks is really not that different from me having to cull roosters because they are not allowed in my city. Let's face it roosters even as babies get the short end of the stick and I don't know anyone who would keep 50% hens and 50% roosters. So this means that someone has to kill all these guys. Someone might think their saving a rooster by giving it to someone else but there's no way that all of those roosters remain alive. So to me a kill is a kill. killing a rooster is just procrastinating the killing of a male chick. When I was looking for chicks last year I hated the idea that I would have to get attached to them for a few months and then have to get rid of the roosters. So I took the easy way out and got my pullets at TSC where I was assured that most if not all of my chicks would be girls.

I would much rather have a day old chick killed rather than have it go to a poultry factory and spend its entire life in a battery cage. I think Stony has the more realistic way of looking at it. If I eat chicken I'd feel better knowing that chicken had a great life regardless if it was a rooster or a hen. Stony, I'm giving you all of my roosters if I accidentally get any.

I won't even get into my thoughts on poultry farms (funny, those things you don't give a second thought to unless you raise chickens). As for the roos for me, there's a big difference in getting to live out some quality life and then being humanely killed and getting ground up live to become dog food. If I sell them or give them away, I don't expect them to see tomorrow.

 

[Adoravachick]

Julia, my lovely white broody, officially pecked me today for attempting to snatch an egg out from under her. I was glad to see a little attitude

Although, "Miss America" keeps sneaking into the nest and laying.

 

[Cass]

All this talk of hatcheries and chicks reminds me- is there any sort of chicken swap/meetup type thing around New York? The only event that comes to mind is the Big E. I'm really curious if there's anything else even remotely nearby where people can go meet/talk to other chicken folk and buy non-hatchery chicks/chickens?

I am gonna have chicks early May. Annie (HappyHensNY) always has way way way more chicks than she can keep. We are both close to you geographically. Featherz comes down to the Train station in Rensselaer and might have too many chicks/hens in the near future. (I have a couple of her birds when she downsized last year, they are wonderful girls) Hmmm...who else is close to Troy? Sometimes we get a "train" going and someone will go out and pick up birds from one of the folks in the Western part of the state and bring them back for all of us to share. (Throw some money in the pot for gas)

And we try to get a bunch of us together once a year to just talk and talk and usually chickens change hands at that gathering. Right now, no one has stepped up to host this year's gathering...but it's early in the year yet. (I soooo wish I could host, but I have absolutely no parking here cuz some genius put the septic and leach feild at the end of the driveway. grrr)

 

[stonykill]

Would you care to share where they are? You are not so far from me.

I have seen a Bald Eagle on route 295 by the old Columbia Box, now Sundog Solar... I think ,And on the Ghent Omi road, right near Letter S road, by the artsy fartsy place. We have them Ginny.

 

[County Boy]

Would you care to share where they are? You are not so far from me.

They are in North Petersburg headed to Hoosick Falls. I know I should be able to describe it more but the resaurant thy are located near has a new name everytime we go by.

 

[Cass]

If we don't hatch them, we eat them. Making bread pudding now. SO glad eggs are back!

And Cass - I will have more chicks the end of March. Promise to only give you 4.


or 14, 15, 16. Packing peanuts for that LOOOOONG drive home....

Annie,

You missed my posts regarding what I did in a moment of insanity.....I offered eggs to the local grade school. They need 48 and I get the chicks back. OMG, what was I thinking. LOL

A few of them are spoken for by people who only want 2 - 4 chicks and I have one buyer for 6-8 of them. (I will give them away to BYC people, the rest of the world pays. LOL) So I am thinking I'll have enough to give you a refund on the chicks you "loaned" me last year.

I hope to keep any Ameruacana chicks (thank heavens they have those puffy cheeks so I can tell them from the rest of the black chicks)

I haven't quite decided if I am going to separate the eggs by who laid them and only give each teacher a certain hen's eggs (or breed's eggs)....thereby kinda knowing what chick is which by which teacher gives it back to me OR if I am just gonna mix them all up, so the kids have the fun of having a rainbow in their classroom 'bator. I'm leaning toward the rainbow, cuz I think the kids will get a kick out of it....and sort them all out later....like at 4 weeks when they have feathers so I can tell. LOL