***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[faerielady]

Wish I could have gone to Blanchard last night, but got held up with J and his USMC stuff all danged day yesterday. Gotta get my birds from Mike soon, that's gonna be fun I'm sure. We're preparing J's house for an "in-home visit" from a local PD, he's looking to change from federal law enforcement to local law enforcement today, but I felt so crappy that I stayed in bed until 11ish. I'm just now moving around and doing anything at all. Bad me.

I have a big essay due today too, procrastinate much? Me? Never. I forgot to pick up chicken feed from the store, dangitall. I'm trying to decide now if the price difference between Lumber 2 and Atwoods is enough for me to drive out to Norman, or just stay local (Lumber 2). Will probably stay local (lumber 2).

Ok, gotta get off here and eat lunch with James' mom, her birthday is tomorrow and she's chosen a mexican food lunch for today. Please grant me the ability to keep my mouth shut and not get myself into trouble, yes?

 

[jcatblum]

My girls just crawled out of bed. Going to the auction is hard on them!

Nankat love reading your post & it always reminds me cattle can be loads of work. Dh keeps asking if I want a few calves, but I don't want to be on my own tending to them when he leaves in march. For now the only cows for me are the ones packaged for the freezer.

Going out to work on pens. Have to make the most of our pretty weather!

 

[mamachicken888]

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New to OK, where are you from?

We're kinda like Johnny Cash... we've been everywhere! Originally from Indiana (me) and Pennsylvania (hubby). Lived in TX, AR, CA, IN, MI, FL, and most recently MO (Branson area). Hubby is a retired author, artist, and actor. I still work from my home office as a writer for a television preacher. We picked out a little gentlemen's farm up here in OK and we're happy to raise us some chickens, maybe a goat or two and watch us some FOOTBALL!

Frankly, the way things are 'out there', we have no desire to travel anymore. Hubby has been all over the world... me, just this continent. We are newlyweds of sorts (2 yrs), and we both have small families.

Since we got our girls... (and one boy, evidently), we have caught Chicken Fever. I see some of you guys have it too.

Funny, the last movie we saw was 'Contagion'.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Poco Pollo]

Afternoon! I saw a few posts regarding the Admiral Flea Market. My experiences there have been positive. I used to bring cages of chickens and set them up on tables, but now that I have a trailer, I have cages in the trailer and people can walk into the trailer and look at all the birds. Lots of little kids like to talk to the ducks. The shoppers are mostly looking for meat birds. There are whole communities of people living in Tulsa who miss the open-air markets of their home countries, so a place like the Admiral Flea Market meets their needs. I've seen people bring high-dollar show birds that didn't sell because they misinterpreted the market. Those birds would have been instant sellers at the Shawnee show, but the flea market caters to low- to middle-income families, and many of these people speak English as a second language.

I'm not saying that there aren't a few questionable sellers there, but I am saying that it's not all bad. I have many, many repeat customers for meat birds because they see that my cages are clean, my birds are healthy, and I am polite to everyone and anyone who stops to see what I've got for sale.

I took this photo at 7:00 a.m., so I hadn't sold anything yet.

These are the barred rocks, black Australorps, and cornish crosses I sold before 9:00 a.m.

All the Rhode Island Red and Barnevelders sold before 10:30, as did the ducks, so I had plenty of time to drive into Tulsa to attend our granddaughter's birthday party. Her gag gift from me was a chicken hat. I'm proud to say she noticed that the tail feathers were black and white, which made it the perfect accessory to her new black and white outfit.

 

[Buster52]

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Well, next time we get ready to process some, I'll give you a heads up. You can bring down any you want processed and we can make a party of it, processing yours along with ours. We have all the stuff we need for processing, including a plucker and some scalders, stainless steel sink and table, big cooler for a chill tank. If our experiment works out, we may be doing it quite often.

And when I see a cage full of roosters at an auction, I can pretty much guess where they are headed when bought, and it ain't to somebody's bird collection. People only need so many roosters of the same breed.

I have been meaning to get Grady's formula from him, but never quite get around to it. Tragedy what happened to their ranch. 84% of their 2,000+ acres burned, I heard. They had to sell most of their beef cattle and all of their milk cows. They had to give up their herd share dairy program. Now we have to find another source for healthy milk... where I don't have to do the milking myself, of course. Worked half my youth on dairies. Not something I want to do every day.

If you could PM me Grady's recipe for Carnegie feed mix I would certainly appreciate it. I do want to use Fertrell some day but have not gotten around to it.

Oh, and I'm kicking myself for not buying your NN. I bid on him, but should have gone a lot higher. He could have been a great addition to our heritage meat bird project.

 

[Buster52]

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Yeah, that happens every year, but I have never seen it this bad. Seems like half the birds nobody even bid on. They would try to bring the bidders in by dropping the prices through the floor, and still nobody would buy. Then Jim would turn to Mike and ask him if he wanted them, and out of the kindness of his heart he would take them. Mike said he was even hoping more people would start bidding on them. I saw full grown birds selling for a quarter. And gorgeous cages were going for a pittance. I think this drought and the heat last summer are just killing people all around the animal husbandry and ag business.

We decided mid summer we were going to stick it out till next spring, no matter what. A commitment to a lifestyle more than a business decision, I think, as we are going to take a bath financially speaking. So, adding a few birds and a little equipment didn't seem like a big deal. Might even drop by Mike's place this week to see if he was able to sell all his birds at Mary's this morning, maybe pick up a few more eating birds. Stock up the freezer for the winter.

So how are you lately, Sooner? And Li'l Sooner?

I think the price of feed is a big part in what is stopping everyone from buying. I know for me loosing the feed mill has jumped the price of feed 3.00 a bag.

I have been doing really well lately. I stay busy working on the chickens I have. Unfortunatly I have a pen that is falling apart that is becoming a problem & I have too many birds LOL. We are in the process of building a 12x18 building for Lil'Sooners show birds & my hatching. I plan to thin out my birds but I don't seem to be doing a very good job at it. Show season has started for Lil'Sooner & she started off really well. I have hopes that she will continue to improve. I think Ark is our next show.

I hope that by next spring I can try to set up to butcher the un-wanted one. Still just have too much going with clean up around here to mess with it.

How are you & your wife doing?

She is doing great. We had a great date night last night... dinner and an auction... meaning hot dogs and chili dogs. She even helped me with the birds afterwards. We have found a nice compromise. I watch the auction while she reads books on her Nook. I got it for her birthday. I swear, that thing is the best investment I ever made. Now she is never bored, no matter where I drag her.

By the way, Project Rooster was her idea. The freezer is full of everything but chickens, and I don't want to butcher any of my hens. Time for us to stock up!

 

[prairiehen74369]

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I'm one of the ladies that pulled in beside you yesterday. Our experience at the Admiral Flea Market was pleasant for the first time and we understood who we were selling to...... no problem.

 

[Poco Pollo]

prairiehen74369 - HI! Gosh. I should have chatted with you. You had some really pretty silkies (which I'm not allowed to raise) and some good looking bantams (which are also not on my approved list per DH who is the math wizard and has figured out that I need to concentrate on meat birds... bless his heart. He's looking out for me because my heart rules my head when it comes to chickens some times). I didn't realize that Collinsville wasn't allowing sales at the south end of the lot any more. I often sold there next to a guy who claimed he'd been a regular for over 10 years. I wonder where he sells now?

 

[NanaKat]

Any one know when baby cottontails open their eyes...how old?

Cleaning out a bed in the garden found a nest with four kits in it...actually raked it out of the ground...none were hurt that I could tell. They are fully furred out, ears about 3/4 inch long, tiny tails and squiggley as all get out, but eyes still shut. Had to repack the fuzz in the nest and made a stick and dry grass berm over the top. Found a nest in the garden two years ago but those babies had their eyes open and were bigger. Mom came back to the nest last time and may even be one of those from two years ago. Hope the little mom does this time. If she doesn't, they will make a snack for the Wylie Coyote or Slither Snake or Murdock our cat.

 

[prairiehen74369]

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Next time we run into each other we'll know each other...I've really enjoyed my BYC friends.