NY chicken lover!!!!

[Glasshen]

Hi Ginny! Good to see you on, hope all is going well for you. Someone in the last month mentioned that they wanted to find some Buckeyes, so they should contact you.

 

[Pyxis]

Pyxis do you have to cage them or can you free range them like chickens? I really want some but hope I don't have to cage them.

You do have to cage them, but you can build a little aviary for them, or you can build a wire bottom rabbit hutch type thing for them. They need one square foot per bird. I'm going to be building a nice setup off the side of the new coop I need to build this spring and all will be moving in there.

 

[Purpletie3]

You do have to cage them, but you can build a little aviary for them, or you can build a wire bottom rabbit hutch type thing for them. They need one square foot per bird. I'm going to be building a nice setup off the side of the new coop I need to build this spring and all will be moving in there.

Are they winter hardy?

 

[Purpletie3]

Many of us sell eggs & chicks. I'm incubating now until June 1st.

Are you near Syracuse? I saw you have silver silkies... I don't have any of those...

 

[Pyxis]

Are they winter hardy?

Yep! Mine have done fine this year, and they don't have combs to get frostbite like chickens do.

 

[Purpletie3]

Yep! Mine have done fine this year, and they don't have combs to get frostbite like chickens do.

Ohh...that sounds like something I should look into.

 

[Pyxis]

Ohh...that sounds like something I should look into. 

If you decide you'd like to give them a try and you're going to chickenstock, I can bring eggs for you My newest batch will start laying in March.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: I am in Vernon, just east of Oneida. I have Gray silkies, they really are silver partridge, but they call them Gray.

I have eggs in the incubator.

 

[boskelli1571]

Lapeiran ...

I ask about non-GMO all the time and am just told to buy organic ... when I ask again - they say it can't be labeled organic if has GMO - while that is kinda true - we all know about cross contamination - especially in grains/corns .... so I am very disappointed in this answer - it is not thought out and lacking for me - who wants NON GMO well over organic .....

Blue Seal has a nice organic feed - but I am hesitate to pay so much more for it - when I had no assurances it is what I really want.

I hope others pitch in on this discussion and at least ask their feed store ....

Meanwhile - I did a test patch of amaranth last year - it came up well - and with bit stems I just cut off and hung upside down ... if THOSE seeds do well - I am going to try to grow what I need here - not because I want to - but because no one seems to offer what I want affordably - and I don't mind paying a dollar or so more - but not a ton more !!! when all the machines and processing are the same.

I bought organic feed for my birds last year. They can't say it's 'non- GMO' because Monsanto would probably sue!! There are companies out there that are part of the 'non-GMO project, but I haven't seen any animal feed firms so labelled.
Having said that, my ungrateful bunch would not touch the good stuff! They prefer the 'McDonalds' of the feed world.......

They get it now as warm mash on very cold days - and they're still 'iffy' about it!

 

[rancher hicks]

You see quail and eggs a lot on food network. The eggs look awesome, like miniature multicolored dinosaur eggs.

I was reading about pheasants today at the doctors in the Field and Stream. Made me want to figure out how to landscape or manage things so they benefit. Though I've only seen Turkeys.

There also was an article on banding Quail on the prairies.

I don't plan to clear all our land. Not that we have so much but I do want to keep it wild bird friendly. Not Fox or Coyote friendly.