NY chicken lover!!!!

[Chicken girl 15]

My fingers are crossed all hatch well. I have 2 that I think are clear. I'm going to leave them until day 14 when I candle again, or not? First time incubating so advise is welcome.

 

[rancher hicks]

Planted Acorn squash and warty pumpkins today. Covered a new gate I made for the herb garden. Hope to get things so the chickens can't get in there before I go. They don't touch the mint and oregano. Will get pics when I can. Need to buy a new camera before we go to Alaska.

I have garlic that was growing under the black plastic from last year. Uncovered all the beds as mice like to hide in there. There are not enough snakes around to eat them all. Nor cats. Though there was a gray and white cat around.

There is so much to do.

The school where I volunteer needs more help and the friend who heads up the cafeteria is retiring. Her health is not good. I already do in three days a week.

My friend Brother George passed away from his brain cancer this past week. It is sad but at least he didn't suffer for a long time. We are getting older.

Sister Jean and Brother Marty had birthdays today. 80 and 75 I think. Oh and the Queen of England turned 90.

While I downsized there are still a lot of chickens. Three coops and chicks. 8 + 3 + 3 = 8 chicks. Right? Frenchy has her three so they don't count and the other three are older so not really chicks so they don't count. = 8 Right? 2 are Del and clearly roosters. Free to anyone who will take them.

I gave away on Del rooster but there are still three. I thought there only were three. How can I miss a huge Delaware rooster? So I emailed the guy who I gave a Del Rooster to and he says he loves him. He's doing just fine. But I still don't know how I could miss a whole rooster. My eyes must be worse than I thought. Well I still will have to get rid of one of them. I think I still have Joel's email.

Anyone processing of late, this is a good sized rooster. He'll make a nice meal. FREE.

TTFN,

Rancher, can't count, Hicks

 

[Gramma Chick]

Someone posted on another thread...
What we guys feel like after building our 1st chicken coop / Applies to gals too ..

 

[Gramma Chick]

My fingers are crossed all hatch well. I have 2 that I think are clear. I'm going to leave them until day 14 when I candle again, or not? First time incubating so advise is welcome.

You can leave them ...they shouldnt start to smell by then ..they will normally smell by 21 days though

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

I usually harvest my garlic around July. The tips will start to die back, turn yellow when its ready.

Thank you, your awesome!

Rancher, it sounds like your busy! I'm interested in your pictures. Do you plant the squash on a hill or flat ground? We still have kale, spinach and escarole still growing in the garden from last fall. It's amazing!! I'd love to grow some spaghetti and hubbard squash but I don't know how much room and how to actually get them to grow. I'm assuming they'd need to be planted now.

My husband has always wanted to go to Alaska. I hope you post some pictures when you get back. Are you selling all the flock now? I haven't been around so I don't know what's going on with everyone anymore. The forum speeds up a lot now. lol Too much for me to catch up on anymore.

On a sad note, our friends husband passed away two weeks ago unexpectedly from natural causes. He was only 38 and left our friend and their 2 year old behind. It's been just awful. She built a life with him and now she's trying to push through all the pain for her little one. We've signed up for meals for her for a while. I wish I could take her pain away. It's just awful! It has however made us think a bit more. We have our plot already because when our infant son passed away, we purchased our family plot. We have been mulling over family issues however with who would get our daughter in the case something happened to us. So we've put off guardianship for fear of offending people and we've put off the will and power of attorney. After this happened suddenly, we can no longer care about hurting anyone's feelings. We have to get the rest of the stuff together so our daughter will be taken care of. It hit close to home. So sad and scary to think about, but it would be worse knowing we weren't prepared so our daughter would be taken care of.

Back to the joy the girls are bringing us. I have to say they are quite funny. I can't really imagine not having chickens now. Hahahaha Has anyone been warned about a higher instance of rabies this year? A couple of people in Oswego Co. mentioned to us that the county is asking for relief for the higher than normal counts of rabies. That someone caught a rabid skunk in our specific area (which is right on the line of Onondaga Co.). We had a raccoon that my husband chased away a few weeks ago that came out around dinner time but it was still bright light out. I was kind of surprised and mentioned to my husband to be careful. He jumped our 4ft fence and was hoping to eat a chicken or two. Luckily I went around the coop and run to be sure there weren't any extra ways of getting in. I think we did an excellent job so far. We need to make a roof soon but we have hardware cloth on the top and it's covered by a tarp on one half and the clear plastic sheeting from winter on the other half. So far nothing has made it's way in there either. I know many of you have said that it should be expected that a predator will get one at some point. It will break my heart when and if it does.

Now that the ladies are getting along, we're finally adding 4 more in July. I'd like maybe 4 more on top of that as well so if anyone will have older girls (not chicks), maybe we could meet up if your not too far away.

 

[Beer can]

Only plants I ever put in the ground this early is peas and spinach, they need the cooler weather to do good. Everything else waits till Memorial weekend, safe from hard frosts by then.
Well, onions also. going to plant them today. Got the plants from Dixondale farms, went in on them with a couple people, came to $4 a bundle of 60. They sent me a extra bundle and there is always more than 60 in their bundles. I have over 240 onions to plant today

 

[Beer can]

@Gramma Chick awesome video! Have you ever seen 'Weird Al's' 'Amish Paradise' music video spoof of 'Gangster's Paradise' ? It's pretty good and funny.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Someone posted on another thread... What we guys feel like after building our 1st chicken coop / Applies to gals too ..

that was great. I needed a good laugh today.

 

[boskelli1571]

Is anyone here interested in the following: 2 cream legbar males; 2 adult salmon faveroles & 2 juvenile salmon favs - all male. A friend of mine is selling up his flock so I thought I would ask here for him. PM me with offer if interested.

 

[shodack]

I've planted greens (kale, swiss chard, lettuces), peas, onions, and broccoli seeds out so far. I'll wait another couple weeks for a few things (beans, brussels sprouts), and then at least til mid-May for all the tender things- squashes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers. It's really hard waiting, but it's not worth doing all the hard work to lose a lot to a late frost.