NY chicken lover!!!!

[LogCabinChicks]

we have the same lawn sweeper....so how to do keep the leaves and grass from composting in the bag throughout the winter? I love the idea of grass and leaves in the coop in the winter...what a treat. Especially because the winters are SOOOOO long here. ( I live outside of Fort Drum)

 

[wny egger]

we have the same lawn sweeper....so how to do keep the leaves and grass from composting in the bag throughout the winter? I love the idea of grass and leaves in the coop in the winter...what a treat. Especially because the winters are SOOOOO long here. ( I live outside of Fort Drum)

when i got out of the army and had to finish my contract with the militery i was in the guard and we used to do our 2 week training there ..well we spent 2 weeks there drinking more then training ..,lol..home of the 10th mountain ..a very big part of our war on terror..hur raa..

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I have a mystery going on here...dum, dum ,dum...

Yesterday when I went out in the morning to let everyone out like normal. After I let out the ducks I checked for eggs like always, and there was 4 eggs...I only have 3 girls in there. So I automatically assume that one of my hens laid their egg in there...but it was whitish...The only hens that I have that lay eggs that are whitish are my silkie and cochin, who are both broody sitting on eggs. There is also my d'uccle and my frizzle hens, but both of them lay little eggs. The 4th egg was bigger then any that those 2 girls have been laying. I figured that it might have just been a big egg that day. So didn't give it much more thought till this morning when I was cleaning them up to put away when I looked closer to the eggs. It really felt like a duck egg. Cracked it open and it cracked like a duck egg...So now I was stumped. I thought that I had gotten them all out the day before, but I had gotten 3 on Friday. Was it was possible that one of the girls laid it in the middle instead of in the corner where they like and I just missed it... but I had gotten the 3 eggs on Friday..So was it even older then that? But I run the hoe in the coop in the morning after I take the eggs out to fluff up the shavings so you would have thought that I would have noticed an egg in there. Anyway I brushed it off until I went out this morning to let the ducks out...and guess what 4 eggs again. I thought that I checked it last night, but again I could have missed one, but the eggs all look and feel like duck eggs...so am I going crazy or what.

Now I know that you are going to say..Could I have 4 girls...nope I'm sure that I have 3 drakes and 3 ducks. One drake is the blue that is the Alpha male, and the other 2, well they sound like a drake, have a drake feather and have both been mating with the other girls so I'm sure that they are both boys...

So I'm going to clean out the duck hut today to make sure there are no more hidden eggs and really check good tonight before I lock them in and see what happens tonight.

 

[Cass]

I have a mystery going on here...dum, dum ,dum...

Yesterday when I went out in the morning to let everyone out like normal. After I let out the ducks I checked for eggs like always, and there was 4 eggs...I only have 3 girls in there. So I automatically assume that one of my hens laid their egg in there...but it was whitish...The only hens that I have that lay eggs that are whitish are my silkie and cochin, who are both broody sitting on eggs. There is also my d'uccle and my frizzle hens, but both of them lay little eggs. The 4th egg was bigger then any that those 2 girls have been laying. I figured that it might have just been a big egg that day. So didn't give it much more thought till this morning when I was cleaning them up to put away when I looked closer to the eggs. It really felt like a duck egg. Cracked it open and it cracked like a duck egg...So now I was stumped. I thought that I had gotten them all out the day before, but I had gotten 3 on Friday. Was it was possible that one of the girls laid it in the middle instead of in the corner where they like and I just missed it... but I had gotten the 3 eggs on Friday..So was it even older then that? But I run the hoe in the coop in the morning after I take the eggs out to fluff up the shavings so you would have thought that I would have noticed an egg in there. Anyway I brushed it off until I went out this morning to let the ducks out...and guess what 4 eggs again. I thought that I checked it last night, but again I could have missed one, but the eggs all look and feel like duck eggs...so am I going crazy or what.

Now I know that you are going to say..Could I have 4 girls...nope I'm sure that I have 3 drakes and 3 ducks. One drake is the blue that is the Alpha male, and the other 2, well they sound like a drake, have a drake feather and have both been mating with the other girls so I'm sure that they are both boys...

So I'm going to clean out the duck hut today to make sure there are no more hidden eggs and really check good tonight before I lock them in and see what happens tonight.

Now that's a problem I would like to have....I wonder if one of your neighbors has a pet duck that comes over to socialize with your flock and lays her egg there? Stranger things have happened.

 

[Pyxis]

I have a mystery going on here...dum, dum ,dum...

Yesterday when I went out in the morning to let everyone out like normal. After I let out the ducks I checked for eggs like always, and there was 4 eggs...I only have 3 girls in there. So I automatically assume that one of my hens laid their egg in there...but it was whitish...The only hens that I have that lay eggs that are whitish are my silkie and cochin, who are both broody sitting on eggs. There is also my d'uccle and my frizzle hens, but both of them lay little eggs. The 4th egg was bigger then any that those 2 girls have been laying. I figured that it might have just been a big egg that day. So didn't give it much more thought till this morning when I was cleaning them up to put away when I looked closer to the eggs. It really felt like a duck egg. Cracked it open and it cracked like a duck egg...So now I was stumped. I thought that I had gotten them all out the day before, but I had gotten 3 on Friday. Was it was possible that one of the girls laid it in the middle instead of in the corner where they like and I just missed it... but I had gotten the 3 eggs on Friday..So was it even older then that? But I run the hoe in the coop in the morning after I take the eggs out to fluff up the shavings so you would have thought that I would have noticed an egg in there. Anyway I brushed it off until I went out this morning to let the ducks out...and guess what 4 eggs again. I thought that I checked it last night, but again I could have missed one, but the eggs all look and feel like duck eggs...so am I going crazy or what. 

Now I know that you are going to say..Could I have 4 girls...nope I'm sure that I have 3 drakes and 3 ducks. One drake is the blue that is the Alpha male, and the other 2, well they sound like a drake, have a drake feather and have both been mating with the other girls so I'm sure that they are both boys...

So I'm going to clean out the duck hut today to make sure there are no more hidden eggs and really check good tonight before I lock them in and see what happens tonight.

Oh, I know how to solve this mystery! Get a bunch of different food coloring and color the vent of each of your ducks in a different color, even the ones you know to be drakes, just in case. When they lay, the food coloring rubs off on the egg. That way you'll know if one of your drakes is actually a duck, one of your girls has become a double egg layer, or if it's a chicken egg or an egg from somewhere else.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

Now that's a problem I would like to have....I wonder if one of your neighbors has a pet duck that comes over to socialize with your flock and lays her egg there? Stranger things have happened.

I live in the middle of nowhere and only have a 2 neighbors, neither of which have any birds.

Oh, I know how to solve this mystery! Get a bunch of different food coloring and color the vent of each of your ducks in a different color, even the ones you know to be drakes, just in case. When they lay, the food coloring rubs off on the egg. That way you'll know if one of your drakes is actually a duck, one of your girls has become a double egg layer, or if it's a chicken egg or an egg from somewhere else.

That is a good idea, May see if I can get them colored tonight to see, but I'm sure that my boys are boys. I have seen their "stuff" hanging out before...Is it possible for a drake to lay an egg? I'll try to color them too just to be on the safe side

 

[Pyxis]

Nope, a drake couldn't lay an egg - he wouldn't have the proper internal organs for it. Maybe you have a really masculine duck, which I have seen before - they even get the curly tail feather. Rare but it happens. Or you have a duck who is laying two eggs a day, which would be fantastic and I bet you'll have people after you for hatching eggs lol.

 

[boskelli1571]

its like magic ..BYC servers keep flipping the image ..isnt he purty ? those are single black feathers he has in all that white ..he has a few under his wings too

He sure is a pretty bird - will make nice babies

 

[boskelli1571]

ha ha That was Momma Chickie and she is so great !

Yeah, they certainly zeroed in that you had food FAST ! The run was even open and they came in from free ranging to beg a bite.

Def a nice relaxing afternoon - which I needed as my truck is down with no Tranny fluid and I am crossing fingers it is just a busted line .... if not - I'll have to pay payments and keep it parked until spring as I can't afford that big of a repair. Blah

but the chickies are all doing great and that always is soothing ... especially how nice my lav orp roo was to Pyxis ... he is a spring roo ..... anyone interested before I put him up on clist ? I am not doing orps - got 2 eggs as a bonus with other hatching eggs .... I can take pics later today. If you are super into lav orps I can part with the matching hen - they are both great - but I usually keep all my hens ..... you know how that goes !

Door on new coop is a repurposed regular door - we are putting it in upside down so the chickies can look out the glass in the morning before I let them out into the run .... Hope they like that ! I figure only a bear can bust through the thick glass ... what is your input NY peeps ??? I could get hardward cloth stapled over it ... but I want to look in on them too !

Hmmm.........I think I would go with the hardware cloth - just to be 101% safe! You can still look in on them, just staple it on the inside

 

[rancher hicks]

Just real quick.

If you have a septic system. We found that Target brand toilet paper breaks down better than Wegmans. It's something to keep in mind if you don't want to have problems or have to pump out your system.