NY chicken lover!!!!

[stonykill]

Here's a goofy little story only chicken people can appreciate. I was home on Tuesday, and happened to leave my phone on its charger in my bedroom in the morning. When I realized that and went upstairs to fetch it, I saw that I had a missed call from our scheduler at work. Now, the iPhone has a really loud ring that I can hear downstairs, so at first I couldn't figure out why I hadn't heard it. However, my ringtone is a crowing rooster. Thinking about it, I realized that I did indeed hear it ring, but thought it was just one of the new crowers out back exercising his lungs.

It's a really good ringtone.

 

[marquisella]

Poop scooping today here too.. I do deep litter so it's more 'poop stirring and topping' but poop all the same. I wish the snow would melt enough that they would go out, but at least it's off my awnings (I have awnings so they have a snow free area, but the big snow berm was still up there until yesterday). I can highly recommend flight netting - it withstood both the snow and the big chunks falling off the roof!!

Anyone going to the poultry congress thing next w/e? (I think it's next w/e, right?).. Never been to one, was thinking about going.

I am, & Roberta is also, don't know of anyone else..Its a great show, as long as you wear your long johns....

 

[stoopid]

Littlecritters (Tina) will be there, I'm not sure who else from upstate, there will be a bunch from Long Island.

I will have boxes of the hand and toe warmers, $1 a pack.
They will will be at my jewelry booth.
I'm the chicken earring lady

 

[featherz]

Littlecritters (Tina) will be there, I'm not sure who else from upstate, there will be a bunch from Long Island.

I will have boxes of the hand and toe warmers, $1 a pack.
They will will be at my jewelry booth.
I'm the chicken earring lady

Oo! I want some chicken earrings. I'll have to find your booth.

 

[stonykill]

Oo! I want some chicken earrings. I'll have to find your booth.

unisex chicken earrings? I have 2 earring holes..... I can see them filled with chickens. Nothing screams ROCK N ROLL like chicken earrings.

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher, I too am interested in Buckeyes and Chanticlers. Also more Speckled Sussex. Ginny, maybe When it gets warmer, and I have a broody I could get some Buckeye eggs from you. I think I would like a non white chanticler more than white...white ones would be beacons for hawks.

I still wish that the eggs could be separated by sex, but even the chicks keep that from me until they can't disguise themselves anymore. I do blame Mama for raising those two boys and not telling me.

I wonder if we could honestly say we'd dispose of those rooster chicks, if we COULD sex them at hatching time. I do know BR's are sexable but not sure I could do them in.

I agree white birds are easy pickings for hawks. This is why barred birds were so popular. There are quite a few breeds that come in the barred pattern. I've even seen Barred Polands though their poof was solid white. I wonder if it's possible to get them entirely in Barred.

 

[rancher hicks]

I've added some lighting to the coop and egg production is a bit up. But my BA's just started laying. Oh my... they are the cutest little eggs I've seen! I keep telling them, "Ok, now you've got to pop them out bigger!". I have 6 or 7 little eggs in the fridge. I don't even want to crack them open!
Collecting the eggs today, someone left me a HUGE present... a 3.6 oz egg! Broke my record of 3.5. Poor girl!

I was at the market today and really need to rethink this hybrid thing. Eggs were huge. The largest I've gotten is 2.6. Most are only 2.0 . Prices were good too. Plus either they're keeping more chickens or their are laying very well..

Though many are keeping the lights on as am I lately. There is definitely a market for farm eggs. I personally could use a few more eggs each day. Got 12 today and that's good, but still not great.

 

[rancher hicks]

Its hard to get chickens to start laying well in the middle of winter when the light has already been dark for so long.

After you turn on the lights, it takes a few weeks for the chickens to be tricked into laying, and of course, they don't lay like mid spring, but they do.

I've also found that if the light isn't the same every day, like if one day its sunny out and the next week the days are cloudy, and if you only have the lights on for a few hours a day, it won't be enough.

I have coops on the east side of my barn that are all windows. In that coop my light comes on at 3am & goes off at 8am. The on again at 4pm & off at 7pm. During even cloudy days there is enough light coming in that I don't need it on all the time.

But, all my other coops, have small windows or are inside the middle of the barn where no natural light comes in, so I leave the lights on from 3am until 7 pm. If I did the west side coops like I do the east side coops I wouldn't get any eggs because there is so little daylight coming in, even on a sunny day.

I know, everyone is thinking, oh, those poor chickens are left in the dark when the lights go out at 7 pm, Well, no they are not. They are already roosting by 5pm so no one is left where they don't want to be. I always wondered how they know that the daylight is gone, and go to roost even when the coop lights are still on.

I use, against my will actually, but not against my pocket book, the spiral energy saving bulbs. 75 Watts per coop. People will say that 40 watts is enough, but it isn't, and those energy bulbs aren't as bright either, so I use a higher wattage than I would if they were incandescent bulbs.

Whew...that was long winded....

I have to agree with them going it even though the light is on. I have been keeping the light on inside the coop til 9:00pm or so, since I don't have a timer and can't leave them in the coop all day. I also can't leave the pop hole door open all night. So while it's dark in the run they are all on the roosts inside. I also use the engergy saving bulbs. I've got one cord from the house and a couple off of that one. I do plant to run another and decrease the number on each cord. They are heavy duty or medium duty outdoor cords.

I do what I can.

 

[ChickPrincess]

I was at the market today and really need to rethink this hybrid thing. Eggs were huge. The largest I've gotten is 2.6. Most are only 2.0 . Prices were good too. Plus either they're keeping more chickens or their are laying very well..

Though many are keeping the lights on as am I lately. There is definitely a market for farm eggs. I personally could use a few more eggs each day. Got 12 today and that's good, but still not great.

Rancher,
I have to say, so far I have been very pleased with egg production. That's with Red Sex Links, Red Productions (I guess that's what they're called) and Tetra Tints.
I hope my Australorps live up to their promise of heavy egg production, too!

 

[vmdanielsen]

The thruway is my friend! But not til the spring.

They are not laying now anyway....Was going to install a light, I bought a timer. when I got home I realized that I had no light to install!! Sheesh.......