NY chicken lover!!!!

[what was i thinking]

Quote:
I know what you mean about the extra tags, i did get 2 though.. you could always hunt the special season in tompkins county, 1/12/14-1/31/14 i believe

Yeah I signed up for those tags too. That could have been 2 a day.I hope to get down there ar least once. Between myself, bf, mother and step father we had 18 tags (bow, reg, muzzleloader and 2 doe tags) and I am the only one that got a dear. We didn't even see them to pass on them.

 

[armorfirelady]

I've already cleaned out the chicken coop twice this winter. So much for the deep litter method!   I'd rather take out the dampness then to add more shavings to it. And if we're getting rain I better find a way to cover up that window that is open on one side. Last time it rained the wind must have blown a good amount of the rain into the coop because it was soaked the next day! I had to remove everything out of there and replace it with dry shavings. 

Mine has been wet around the edges but the top gets a damp feeling. I haven't removed any tho. I just kick it up into a giant pile in the middle of the coop and let the girls kick it around. The stuff deep down is dry & has a nice earthy smell. Today after making a big pile I threw some peat moss on it, hopefully when they mix that in it will help the top from getting so hard from them walking on it and keep the dampness down.

The screen door window is open and there is some rain getting in when the wind blows the right way but not enough to get the DL soaked. And the shavings and leaves I dumped in there Monday have disappeared. It amazes me how fast that stuff breaks down. My garden is going to be very happy in the spring with all the DL goodness !

 

[miquwid]

Well, I'm down to 14 hens. And one rooster who is on thin ice. I was wondering why with the warm day and sun none of the girls were outside. So I went down with their afternoon stuff, and by chance counted them. Total of 14. Then I saw that one of the Sussex was hidden behind one of the nest boxes...but I didn't see the other Wyandotte....at the back of the pen it looked like something had been digging, but it really was the Wyandotte with her feathers all scattered. There were wing marks leading to that spot, couldn't see a single bird footprint. I think that a hawk must have snatched her and tried to fly but she was too heavy and couldn't get up high enough and had to stop at the fence. It is significant that there are no marks of Earl coming to help. I don't think he is a very good protector. We may need to be looking for a new roo.next year.

OMG I'm so sorry for your loss. I know my boy is a good protect even keeps kids away LOL he don't like kids some cats are okay but you have to prove yourself to him. I'm seem him chase off squirrels and such He's a golden duckwig Leghorn. I hear Ameraucanas are amazing flock protectors I think one year I might get one just for that reason. It's just myself and my son so we are not too concerned with him attacking people. Plus we live in an area where people steal animals so I'm good with an attacking roo. I'm glad the rest of the crew is okay

One of them looks like a girl I dated. Take your pick

OMG I can only imagaine.

I paid $20 for 4 eggs. Put them under a chicken who had proved her mothering skills. 3 of the 4 hatched. So I got 3 ducks for $20. Not a bad price, really. See if you can find some local so you don't have to pay shipping. I put a sign up in my local feed store. Someone called me a couple weeks later with eggs. I didn't want a dozen, nor did I have the money to pay for a dozen. Some breeds of ducks only lay in the spring, so be prepared to wait on a response to any sign you post.

Thanks good idea. Once I'm out that way I will do. I think I want like 12 because hopefully I have some to eat.

thanks ..
Doesnt someone on the thread have some ?
Oh they have got that weird head / comb thing going on ...
They look like a duck billed dinosaur .


these brown ones are kind of cute ..esp those babies

Yeah they are weird looking remember I pointed them out at the fair? they were big too yum yum!! good eggs as well.

Miquwid ~ I know you're kind of far from this area, but the girl I got my lavender chicks raises Muscovies, I believe she even still has ducks/ducklings for sale. I can ask her if she sells/ships muscovy hatching eggs if you want.

Yeah that will be great thanks.

I made Chicken Pie for supper ! Yummie ! I am so stuffed !

Oh delicious you use one of your chickens?

 

[Overhill Flocks]

Well, I'm down to 14 hens. And one rooster who is on thin ice. I was wondering why with the warm day and sun none of the girls were outside. So I went down with their afternoon stuff, and by chance counted them. Total of 14. Then I saw that one of the Sussex was hidden behind one of the nest boxes...but I didn't see the other Wyandotte....at the back of the pen it looked like something had been digging, but it really was the Wyandotte with her feathers all scattered. There were wing marks leading to that spot, couldn't see a single bird footprint. I think that a hawk must have snatched her and tried to fly but she was too heavy and couldn't get up high enough and had to stop at the fence. It is significant that there are no marks of Earl coming to help. I don't think he is a very good protector. We may need to be looking for a new roo.next year.

So sorry to hear this Glasshen -- have been starting to worry about this myself. My roo is a dream to interact with, but I wonder about him in these situations.

 

[huntin fool]

Quote:
thats too bad, i have heard alot of people saying the same thing, i hope to get a couple more in that late season, not easy unless you have a good spot. hunting land is VERY limited for that special season ,you almost have to know someone who lives in the area. did you ever wonder how many antlerless bucks die during the special season?

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

Cool ...Did you get them from Bob Whitney? I understand he has nice Australorps
I see you on the same 3 threads I frequent ..New York , Australorp , Natural ..

Yes, I got them from Mr. Whitney in June. He & his wife are VERY nice people. As of right now the roo's are in the bachelor pad ( 'til I decide who's staying & who's going to freezer camp ! ) and the pullets are in with my mixed layer flock

I'm really temped to travel the 3+ hours to the picnic - I look forward to reading this every morning - it starts my day out with some decent humans .... I'm so glad Pyxis told me about this thread!

If I go - any of you have blue egg layers ? I have EE and light green to olive - I want to add a true blue to my mix. That and marans who lay very dark eggs - I found out after I jumped that many color varieties just lay brown eggs - but I want them so dark they look like chocolate.

I'd love to get chicks of any of the two above.


So - thanks all for being such a respectable mix of people here - you are all different - but you all treat each other very well.

I' have a Lav Am. roo and a Blue Am. cockerel in with my mixed layer flock. I also have EE's (from Tab, light green egg ), OE's ( from Tab, rich olive egg ) Blue Am., Lav Am. & Lav. Aracauna,
So there's a possibility of getting pure Am's, not sure what color Blue & Lav. would produce, but the eggs would be blue. Also my Lav. Aracauna lays a bluer egg than the Am's, . She and the others would be crosses., but I'm sure the eggs would be pretty..

 

[miquwid]

Metella your great company as well!

Pharm you have off today? I got a night of soul sucking ahead of me I'm not ready.

The coops are good the girls and guy have been doing a great job with the deep litter I can't wait to dig it out this summer. I put some more straw and DE down. I'm gong to put up another vent this weekend the hardware cloth is in place. I know it's an open air coop but I feel just a simple vent on the back side will make me feel better. The run is a bit mucky but some DE & Straw helped. The heated dog bowl works great. Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who told me to put the water and food in the run, it works great. Yesterday and Today they actually went outside the run and wondered around in the snow I'm so excited. I feel that my efforts in opening the coop and run doors are not in vein LOL.

I went 8 days without getting gas I hope I make to the gas station before work oops! not too worried I have an emergency kit in my truck for the zombie apocalypse with two full gas cans. Speaking of which I want the walking dead back on.

The chicks are 2 weeks old dang are they feathering out. The father is Leghorn and the mothers are amber sexlinks (RIR, White Plymouth Rock cross). I do remember the sexlinks feathering out quickly by 4 weeks and by 12 weeks were huge. The leghorn male is big but my female (not the parent) is small but I got her 16weeks so I don't know she feathered out.

So on the breed front I'm not liking Jersey Giants or Orpingtons okay the JG is 7 months old and she is just a large crow eating my chicken food. My Orp is a buff looking bird eating my chicken food she is 6 months. OMG they are taking forever to mature, I knew this coming into it but I can not wait, I have no patience for these breeds LOL. The reason why we are keeping them is because my son wanted them and he earned his choice because be does most of the chicken chores along with the cats and dogs. Now if it were just me here alone doing all the chores they would have been on my dinner plate LOL. I'm not for the fast maturing "meat breeds" but to size by 4-5 months laying 7months good for me. I'm getting some eggs not a lot but just enough. My mistery bird is just large and white pea looking comb can't catch her to see if she laying yet and I know for a fact that my Brabanter is no where close to laying UGH.

Have a good day

 

[Glasshen]

Thanks everyone. Tomorrow DH will dig a hole with the tractor, I don't know how to dig yet, but until then Phoebe's remains are in a bucket under my porch. I didn't want them to draw predators to the coop/pen area. I was somewhat pleased that I was able to put her in the bucket, maybe I'm toughening up.

Guess that I need to have more safe places for them. The rose bushes, lilac and pussywillow are not much cover in the winter. Perhaps netting next year...

I wonder how it would have gone if I had kept the other rooster? He was a silver americauna, and in the fight for dominance he was winning. But he used to give me looks that made me think we would have problems with each other eventually. DH says maybe we need a great Pyrenese...to live outside. Dollar signs in fencing. I guess it will all settle down in time.

 

[rancher hicks]

Oh definitely! That's why I cracked it open. I've always seen veins by day 4.

My Lonely Orp egg is still going strong! I really hope this one hatches! What a bummer it would be to see so much movement this far and have nothing come of it.

Well i do have some eggs hopefully that will hatch on Monday if you end up with a lone chick and I have some, I'll be more than happy to give you one.

 

[Lynzi777]

Well i do have some eggs hopefully that will hatch on Monday if you end up with a lone chick and I have some, I'll be more than happy to give you one.

I have 7 EE chicks at the moment that will be perfect in size still for this one if it hatches! LOL I'm looking to get down to 3 of those chicks, waiting to see if someone is interested before I list them on the CL...