OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[minihorse927]

I have extra rhodebar roos, they are from GFF, only a month old.

in trying to find one that can breed by June but I'll keep you in mind for sure!

 

[minihorse927]

Totally agree with the long,hard winter!  I've lost three, one egg-bound, one to age (I believe--no outward signs, quick demise), and one little MF D'Uccle to the Polar Vortex-despite moving the little 'un's into the horse barn in the jumbo brooder with straw deep bedding...And two more of my senior's are looking like they will need to be euthanized/culled/killed due to health issues.  Guess it comes when the flock ages a bit combined with the hard winter.

I had several that just, my best guess, froze to death. Mostly bantams. My ccl did not fair well. 3 of 4 died. They wouldn't go in the barn unless i locked them in there! I have one roo that got frostbite on his foot and we had to have the vet cut it off but he gets around great. I'm just concerned about any breeding ability from him. I hate the fact it happened to his foot and i don't know why cause other than some losing a few points to frostbite we didn't have any problems. He was the only one out of over 100 birds. I've had countless questions on what's wrong with him but i hate to cull him out even if he's just a pet here while he's happy and had no problems getting around. We even had heat lamps everywhere for them. This winter was ridiculous

 

[chickadee5002]

I had several that just, my best guess, froze to death. Mostly bantams. My ccl did not fair well. 3 of 4 died. They wouldn't go in the barn unless i locked them in there! I have one roo that got frostbite on his foot and we had to have the vet cut it off but he gets around great. I'm just concerned about any breeding ability from him. I hate the fact it happened to his foot and i don't know why cause other than some losing a few points to frostbite we didn't have any problems. He was the only one out of over 100 birds. I've had countless questions on what's wrong with him but i hate to cull him out even if he's just a pet here while he's happy and had no problems getting around. We even had heat lamps everywhere for them. This winter was ridiculous

Oh so sorry to hear that! I don't know if I could cull a pet unless absolutely necessary, definitely don't want to have to deal with that. It has been a horrible winter can't wait for spring weather!

 

[minihorse927]

It's my poor rhodebar rooster

 

[minihorse927]

On a good note here are some pictures from today of my breeding roos for my SFH pen. They were awesome this winter. Didn't have any frostbite problems and didn't lose a single one to the cold or any other reason!

 

[ShayBaby]

Those are some handsome dudes! Looks like they know it, too.

Random question, but I'm curious after seeing the cute (I may be in a minority with that opinion lol) guinea chatting with your boy through the fence there. Are your guineas penned in or do they free range? I've been considering a long time getting some for the farm here because we have insane numbers of ticks in the summer, but the thought of free ranging them makes me nervous, not knowing if they'd stick around here, fly off, venture down the road and get hit, be chased and killed by the many dogs and cats here, etc etc. Getting attached to them only to have them killed would just be half the problem...those little suckers aren't cheap! lol.

 

[minihorse927]

The guineas (well everyone right now) is supposed to be penned in the 6 ft fence. BUT they all fly out and free range and return to the pen at night. Well that is except for the one silly one you see outside, she paces the fence and chatters every night until I come and grab her and put her in at night. Goofy guineas. I have 4 girls but no boys for them so no guinea keets for me unless I find a boy I like. I want a coral blue or royal purple or chocolate male. Those are not easy to come by, everyone has pearl and thats just blah. I have 3 lav pied and a buff funky color pied guinea. Figure I might find one at ross county but IDK. After the last years fiasco from there with ducks, I don't know if I want to try again from there.

 

[minihorse927]

Oh, yeah, and that black boy is sexy and he knows it! LOL. He puts the cock in cocky. He's lucky he is pretty and isn't mean!

 

[ShayBaby]

Ooh, when I put the ducks away tonight, I found 2 shiny new eggs in the duck half of the coop! Granted, the chickens do have access to it during the day, but as these two were NOT in a nice, clean nest box and instead plopped down any ol' where..right in the middle of the dirt floor..are white, and noticeably larger than even my biggest chicken eggs, I'd say I have my first duck eggs!! About time, considering they're all at least a year old.. So egg-citing! They're going to have the honor of being baked into my DS's birthday cake this week, and I can finally find out if the hype about ducks eggs being better for baking is true.

 

[ShayBaby]

Yeah I was going to look for some at Ross county next month too. Hopefully the switch will be good for it and bring out better..quality this year.

BUT they all fly out and free range and return to the pen at night.  Well that is except for the one silly one you see outside, she paces the fence and chatters every night until I come and grab her and put her in at night.

Good to know they might know where home is then, just have to figure out the not-becoming-dogfood issue now.