NY chicken lover!!!!

[Metella]

I would see if you can hatch some of his eggs - the more I see of my young ones growing into adults - the more I see some personality traits passed on ! You will no doubt get another roo out of the batch.

 

[rancher hicks]

So I just got back from TSC to use my coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. And I found they now carry DE. 40# bags. It's on sale and cheaper than my drive to JJ's. With chicks being born and all it was a good thing. I prefer Dumor 20% crumbles since I think it helps the chicks grow faster.

Plus right now I have to use it for the Adults til the young'uns get near laying age. If I had a grow out place to put them I wouldn't, but they're not to far away.

Also more from Alan Holtman's Husbandry article in Practical Poultry.

Quote:

"One essential requirement for the run is a dust bath of some sort, all birds rely on the use of fine dust as part of their natural parasite control measures.
In it's simplest form, the dust bath can be a plastic box or even an old tyre filled with suitable material though by definition, this needs to be kept dry at all times.
I use a mixture of soil, sand and wood ash from the barbeque, but sprinkle in a good amount of diatomaceous earth for maximum effect. To keep it dry, I arrange the bath under my raised coops. I now stand them all on paving slabs to minimise the undermining problem, so just leave a slab out underneath the coop to form a sheltered dust bath."

Back to me. If you don't get the coupons from TSC you might want to sign up for their ad. I have another for $5 off a $25 purchase.

I use the DE to dust the entire coops, roosts and nest boxes at cleaning time and as far I can see I've never had a mite problem. .

 

[Aria]

We know the LOSS feeling. We lost 6 hens and l Rooster.
And today we lost one Chicken to OLD AGE. We are going to
try and start our flock soon. Regards, Aria

 

[baunlee]

Hey Everyone ~ just checking in from WNY here! It's been the longest 2 years of my entire life but I am so happy to say that I have finally graduated from Columbia and have moved out of NYC and I'm back on the farm!! WHooooot!!

Crazy but after one of my summer class exams, I was walking down a hall and saw a table of "free stuff" with 4 Brinseas. VAT?!?!
I planned on getting more birds right away. But I only had one little incubator. So this "find" seemed meant to be.

my heart filled up with all the feels. Until the moment I ran into this perfect, funny, smart, friendly, pretty girl (you know the ones) from my class. She had also just taken the exam. She stopped me on the sidewalk to talk, or just say hi, but the boxes in my hands were so many that they reached the top of my head. I felt like an idiot. And I'm quite sure I looked like a #$@#$@# weirdo with all these boxes of incubators when we both just got out of our exam. I kept it short for the sake of my arms. However, she was probably wondering where they came from, I saw her look at the box with a puzzled look. Like odd as hell. But I guess that's just my style.

I had been doing some research, but this score gave me the motivation to follow through. Thus, while still in NYC with the 2 minutes of free time I did have, I sought out a reputable source for BCM's. On the way back from NYC, I was able to pick up pure-bred show quality birds from Stacey at Sweet Pea Farm in connecticut- Bev Davis, Cottage Hill, Wade Jean lines. They have a facebook and much more detailed website, which, at the time of this posting was down for some reason. It was a little hard to schedule the pick-up since I wasn't sure how long it would take to pack my h0arders looking dorm into a rental minivan. Hey, I'm not usually pack ratty but I lived in that closet space (literally) for two years and it got baddd. Anyways despite my reluctance to provide a solid meet-up time, she arranged for me to pick up the eggs while she was not home- which I really appreciated because otherwise it wouldn't have worked.The eggs are not cheap but I know they are a good quality bird so I went with that. She also let me take extras, she let me know that the other eggs were show quality birchen marans. I grabbed three of those but one cracked on the ride. So overall I was really pleased. Ordering I could have got the same price for a dozen but not sure if she would have added any, also, I would have had to pay shipping costs.

I set the eggs as soon as I got home and now they are about 7 days away!! I'll keep you guys posted on the hatch. But I really am a little....to be honest...slightly panicking right now. I HAVE 23 EGGS SET. LAWD HALP!

PS: I also set some eggs from the hens I got at chickenswap from marsiquella who i've heard no longer has the BCM's (another reason I had to find another source)

Cheers guys! glad to be back I'll be browsing through the old posts briefly to catch up~

 

[Gramma Chick]

I would see if you can hatch some of his eggs - the more I see of my young ones growing into adults - the more I see some personality traits passed on ! You will no doubt get another roo out of the batch.

Lapeerian - Yes I agree ...some will be Roosters ...Metella -of the one chick from yours that made it ..(the little grey was taken by something under the shed ) Petty sure He is a Rooster with feathered feet

We know the LOSS feeling. We lost 6 hens and l Rooster.
And today we lost one Chicken to OLD AGE. We are going to
try and start our flock soon. Regards, Aria

oh no ....So you lost all your chickens ?

Rooster -
Well cutie is a Rooster - My Little spitz .
Anyone want a cute brown Spitz ?

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I have a problem. I have 9 roosters. I know 3 for sure must stay for breeding purpose. How do I chose the 4th to keep? They are all good boys.

 

[tao chick]

I have a problem. I have 9 roosters. I know 3 for sure must stay for breeding purpose. How do I chose the 4th to keep? They are all good boys.

I have the same problem. As my number of mixed hens grows I consider giving BB a second in command. Perhaps I should pick one of the extra Brabanter cockerels? That still leaves me 3 too many.

What are your options?

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Roosters seem to be the curse of hatching cute little fluffy chickens. I gave away 5 young roosters in the past 2 weeks, think I still have 14+. Several will have go to freezer camp in the fall unfortunately.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

@baunlee Congratulations!!! Both for completing school and scoring free incubators!! Welcome back!

 

[Pyxis]

Baunlee, awesome score! Four brinseas for free!? Who could turn that down?

I think I'm going to lose Pretty Boy I thought his leg problem was on the mend but today he hasn't even hoisted himself out of the coop yet. He was up until this week still limping around and crowing and even making attempts to mate with the hens but today he barely got himself up when I went in the coop, and yesterday he seemed to just be laying in the yard for the most part. He seems alert and he doesn't act like he's in pain so I'm just not sure what's going on with him.

I'm debating putting him down or just letting this run its course. It's hard because he really doesn't seem to be in pain and he does get himself up and into the yard and lays there and enjoys the sun, and if he can have more time to do that I don't want to take it from him, but also if he is in pain I don't want him to be suffering.