***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Poco Pollo]

Good morning all, I want to thank each one of you for the comforting comments and thank you all for the prayers, I sometimes think I can handle anything but my kids are one thing that can stop me in my tracks, my son lost one of his best friend in an auto accident and is going through the funeral today . . . .

Prayers for your son and for the family of the deceased.

Robin: Here are a couple of photos of Dominique cockerels from the same hatch. In the first photo you'll see the one you had for a while. He is the darker and smaller of the two, which is why I thought I'd brought you a pullet. He's also lacking sickle feather development. It's pronounced in the lighter cockerel, but I have to put my glasses on to see anything that resembles pointy feathers on the dark cockerel.

 

[nocityboy]

Sure wish the ones getting rain would send some this way, haven't had enough to settle the dust. I might have to start feeding hay to the goats, the vegetation is the goat pens just gets more brown each day. The chickens and goats are enjoying the cooler temps though, just need rain bad. I hope to see some of you at Newcastle tonight.

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm making a late start today. Lots of commotion outside (skunks!!!!) caused Vesta to bark constantly as she patrolled the pen area last night. I'm happy knowing she's on the job, but I have a hard time sleeping when she's barking with more enthusiasm than usual.

Robin - Sorry the Dominique turned out to be a boy. I'll post a photo of one of the cockerels from the same hatch so that you can see how much darker Lucky's friend is. That's the part that fooled me initially. The dark cockerel is also much smaller.

Thanks to all who posted photos recently. I've enjoyed winding down at the end of each day looking at photos of the flocks of Oklahoma chicken friends.

I missed the Coweta sale last night. I haven't looked at my kitchen calendar since school started, so I didn't realize we were at the third Friday of the month already. Joe, if you worked the sale, tell us how it went.

Poco there has been a disscussion on the capon thread about the capons needing to be housed seperate from the main flock b/c of a lot of aggression towards them and thier being so "door mat"ish. Have you noticed this w/ your flock?

 

[BetsyOK]

Lynn, sending thoughts and prayers for you and your son.

 

[Ksane]

Lynn, how devastating for the parents who lost their son. I can't even wrap my mind around something like that. And for your son to be going through the grief of losing a friend at his young age is more than many adults can handle. Somehow in there I hope there's a life's lesson he'll never forget.

Kass, I was reading that about some people needing to house their capons separately. I was going to leave the ones I end up doing in with the groups they grew up with, I hope that makes a difference. Now that's it's down to a matter of deciding who to get caponized I have some mixed feelings. I'm not going to have any done that I'm not willing to risk losing to anesthesia, surgery or infection afterwards...that's really narrowing my list. And the ones I'd be willing to risk losing, why not just try to place them instead of spending the $40 a piece getting them caponized?

 

[Ksane]

I love these babies! I love all the babies I've hatched but there's something about hatching babies from eggs laid here that makes these guys special. The Blue Cochin/Ameraucana & the Cochin are the only ones I've ever hatched that came out of a parent bird I'd hatched. And we lost that rooster last week so this Blue one is super special because he looks identical to his daddy. What an awesome hatch, too-4 out of 4 eggs hatched. These Faverolles/Orloffs are huge. They were literally standing in the food bowl yesterday (wet mash) and shoving their faces in the food eating. This was only *hours after they'd hatched lol They definitely take after their daddy the Faverolles boy. Muesky was onto something with this whole Cochin/Ameraucana project. I wonder if it makes a difference if the hen or the rooster is Cochin or Ameraucana? I don't have a Cochin rooster anymore since I lost mine and I don't have an Ameraucana boy either except my Blue and my Black Bantam Ameraucana boys....that gives me an idea......lol

 

[nocityboy]

Rain!,I'm getting rain

Just hope it last a while, so dry the red wasps have come out once it started raining for a drink.

 

[NanaKat]

We are getting a good heavy rain right now!!! 1/2 inch in 10 minutes...Yahoo!
Was in Shawnee earlier this morning getting feet and it started raining. The boys shrink wrapped the feed on a palet for me so I could drive home...but the rain stopped at I-40.

 

[Reagor]

Did anyone go to the Coweta auction last night? There were not a lot of bidders. I picked up this silkie, and a BO and a barred rock. It was a good night unless you were a seller. I felt bad for a lot of the people selling.

 

[erinszoo]

Rain and 67 degrees. It rained for about an hour kind of steady and then stopped but is starting to sprinkle again. Fall garden off to a good start. Cabbage, Broccoli, and Brussel sprouts all growing. Lettuce coming up and Rutabagas sprouted. Tomatoes are slowly getting a little bigger. Have squash to plant out and more brassicas. Parsnips still not up but I guess they can take awhile. And my durned sorghum that baffled us by sending up a second seed head ... has now sent up third seed heads as well.

I could comprehend that the plants would send up a second seed head in drought conditions (even though they were watered almost every day or every other day all summer long) but to send up a third head after the weather has cooled off ???? Oh well, I guess it's just more grain for us.

Our son came home from college for the weekend. He said he was enjoying the quiet of being home. Ha! He's not used to the constant people in the dorm nor the noise they all make but he has made some new friends that share his interests and, more importantly, he DIDN'T follow his roommate and friends as they climbed out of a window on the third floor of the dorm.

Anyone else having weird laying patterns from their birds? Ours had slowed down some which we attributed to the heat but then when it cooled down we started getting full lays again but this week one day we get a full lay and then the next day we'll get like 4 eggs total and then the next day we might get 7 or 8 and then they'll all lay again. I'm thinking maybe they are going to molt on me, right before the fair of course.

Well, gonna go get some chores done. Have to build screens for the chicken house so that I don't have to run the a/c in there any more. Then hopefully we'll get the apple press done so we can make some cider. Oh yeah!!