NY chicken lover!!!!

[Metella]

Well - take care of yourself girl !!!! You gotta work - but leave the stress behind if you can !

 

[Pyxis]

Good luck with your new girls! Hope they settle in quickly and give you a lot of eggs.

 

[Purpletie3]

I'm with everyone else... This cold SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to go paint the snow banks green so I can finally see some green again.

Getting impatient...My incubator is supposed to be here today. Haven't tracked it yet, but knowing my luck it won't be till tomorrow.

Got what I think was a good deal. Was out in Syracuse to day and stopped in to Ranchers TSC. Snagged a heated dog bowl for $16.00. I thought that was a good deal. Now how to get the power to it. I already have 2 power cords out there. One is on the timer for the coop lights the other for the outside lights. Maybe I'll try to unplug the outdoor lights and use that cord. I'm just hoping that it will help...I should have got the 2 that they had, but only got the one. Had DD with me on a Mommy and Me day and she was super excited that they had the bins set up for chick days! She loves going in to watch them. She would stand there for hours if I let her. When I told her that we would have a bunch this year ourselves she was over the moon!

I was in the Oneida store today and they had the bins all set up also. Not sure when they place the order. They said they can order for you if you want and they have some sort of brochure.

That's where my RIR girls came from last year. Unfortunately, I didn't have their run as predator proof as I thought & lost them at 5 months...Pretty birds!

 

[PhoredaBurds]

@Pyxis sorry to hear of your loss. Must have been devastating. It's tough to lose birds to predators. This has been a rough winter. When they end their winter strike, I should have fertile spitzhauben & Breda eggs if you're interested. Lots of nice birds in this state. Soon you will have more young birds filling your coops.

 

[myfivegirls]

I set some eggs on 2/13 to "test" fertility and to make sure the incubator was working ok before the Easter HAL.
I couldn't wait any longer & candled Friday morning.
I lost count of how many were clear. Out of 47 eggs set, there's only about 7 that are veining, with a few more ?-able ones.
And I've incubated eggs before, so I know what they should look like on day 7.
I'm pretty sure they were just infertile, as those eggs were from before I had separated the hens and roosters into breeding groups.
So, while I've rotated roosters throughout the winter, the ratio was around 1 roo to 35+ hens (have 40 currently, but some are younger or not laying).
Now, I've separated them, so there's a better ratio of roosters to hens, but with this cold weather I'm not sure if the roosters feel "springy" enough to do their job.
I was able to get one egg yesterday morning that was still warm in the nest, so I brought it inside, and put it in the incubator last night.
I wasn't home during the day yesterday, so the rest of the eggs froze solid.
I'm hoping to collect a few more today and replace the ones that are clear.

 

[demp4]

@pyxis sorry about the weasel! I had one get five of ours this fall until we caught it. I am hoping none find us again!!

@rancher did see the pics I posted on the Roos a few pages back. I tagged you but don't know if you saw them.

 

[rancher hicks]

I think they are marans and had copper so you need to let them go. I picked them up from you end of July.

If they have rose/pea combs they are most likely EE crosses. I have an EE with red in it. One of the fathers in this line was a Lavender Amer. from chickenstalker in PA. My first EE hens has red in them and I'm sure she is in here somewhere though I don't have her anymore. I do get the occasional Olive egger.

(Everyone should know I don't breed Amers. or Araucanas. Just EE's. They may look like Amers or Araucana but they are not. I just breed to get variety of egg color. Generally I just switch out roosters but keep some hens. This last batch of chicks I got one lavender.)

 

[demp4]

Holy snow! Can it just stop now?!

DH and I (and our 10yo) shoveled off our back decks today for 3-4 hours. They had 4ft of snow on them. We are all exhausted. There is another 4-5" on them again and its a white out. Argh! I love the snow. I think it's pretty but man I would like our decks to still be attached to the house in spring.

We have to come up with something else for next year.

How's everyone else holding up?

 

[featherz]

Holy snow! Can it just stop now?!


How's everyone else holding up?

Gotta agree there - it's getting rather ridiculous. I hope our sump pump holds out in the spring.

 

[Purpletie3]

We have high winds today...a lot of drifting in of our driveway to about 7' in some areas. It's over the top of the truck. I am so over this weather. I am not sure if NY is for me much longer~ I just love the summer and the fall! I am ready for the chickens to go outside also~but, that requires building on my part!

The run is completely full of snow. I can't throw it any higher...Hope you all are okay & your chickens too!