***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[jcatblum]

Insomnia is taking over again this wk.
Nana did Rogers test last wk show anything new?
Cathie I am sure you are way flustered dealing with that owl. Good time to be thankful DH is home & not out racing. I imagine tomorrow the guineas will still sleep in the trees. Silly birds have shkrt term memories. My best behaved guineas are the ones raised by my Rose Comb RIR. The make me want to let all broody chickens hatch keets.

Went to let the dogs in, they have a smell like nothing I ever smelled before. It isn't a skunk- almost smells like burnt garlic. Both girls agreed they all had to sleep outside. Hope the smell dissolves itself.

 

[jcatblum]

Keep getting double post on my phone-- must be the amazing signal I have at home.

 

[Poco Pollo]

Joe - That's a nice looking brooder house. Sounds like you're working overtime to get everything finished.

Your coyote story makes me think I should be carrying a weapon of some kind when I tend my flock in the morning. I hear the coyotes, but it's rare to see one. I tried to picture myself face to face with a coyote, but couldn't, because I'd already run away : 0

Robin - I'm so sorry to hear you lost most of your Faverolles. I'll let you know if I hear about anyone who's got eggs.

Kass - Prayers for your FIL.

 

[poultryand bees]

I posted the following on the Wyandotte thread but thought I'd add it here too
Several of my layers in the CW pen have decided to try going broodie! I want 50 chicks out of each pen first so will watch them closely and put them in hanging cages in the sun to break them. I've already had six broodies this winter. One I was able to break and place in a breeder pen. Two others are rearing chicks and three are sitting.

The first .batch of chicks from collected pen eggs comes out of the hatcher on the 20th and will go under the three laying hens that are already sitting on eggs. I pulled their eggs a week ago and set them in the bator. Then I gave each a new set of eggs. the first set of eggs hatched this week and those chicks were given to a hen with two chicks. Their second set of eggs will go into the incubator for their final 7 days.

This means these three hens have been sitting on eggs for 4 weeks each, partially brooding two sets of eggs and will now mother about 50 chicks between them. I had to stretch out their broodie behavior a week to match the hatching window on the big batch...and it appears to be working.
I much prefer letting broody hens foster incubated chicks because they make wonderful mothers and the chicks are sooooo much stronger.

These broodies include a Cochin, and two Cochin/Wyandotte hens. Fortunately, I also have two Australorp hens that attach themselves to any errant chick and take them on as foster chicks. The two hens with babies right now are first time moms and are doing a great job. One is a Columbian Wyandotte and one is a Cochin. I have set up a 15 x 25 foot pen on new grass beside the goose pen as the grow out area for these chicks and hens when the chicks hit the ground at two weeks of age. That gives me time to finish their coop.

Sounds like you have a great system going for your chicks. It would be easier to raise chicks if all of them could be placed with a mama hen willing to accept them. It never ceases to amaze me how nature takes care of the little ones by giving the mama hens a desire to accept whatever hatches from the eggs she has been sitting on - or what she thinks hatched from those eggs.

 

[Oakieridge]

Spunky, that is one adorable fluffy baby!!! Man I wish I had room for more breeds, but dh might not appreciate having to help build more pens. Somehow the excuse "but it's so adorable" doesn't fly with him anymore, lol.

Nana, the CWs are doing great! Getting big! The roo had been behaving himself nicely until the other day and one of the girls in his pen got out. (He has a harrem of SLW girls with his girl at the moment) When I went to put her back in the pen she was making a huge fuss and he came at me. I let him know I was boss and no more problems from him. But I don't hold it against him because in his eye I was causing issues with his girls, lol. I can't wait until they are laying. Right now none of my Wyandottes are laying they are all to young I guess, the SLW are about a month younger than the pair from you. I can't wait to hatch some of their babies!

Banjojoe, can I just say I LOVE your new brooder space!!! I have tried to talk dh into something like that, he thought I was nuts. Glad that Coyote didn't get any of your birds and was handled so quickly.

Christina I think your right those stupid guineas will be back up in that tree again tonight! I told dh I need to pull all the ones that are free ranging that I want to breed this spring by the weekend. I don't want to take anymore chances of anything happening to them. I am really surprised we haven't lost more before now. We have only lost one other and a rooster to something coming in at night. Then not to long ago we had something attack one of the free ranging roosters. He is fine now, minus some pretty feathering but he is fine all the same.

Well gotta get busy, need to send dh a list of the roosters he can sell today. Have someone coming out to buy some for their breeding flock. Which between this person today and a friend at church who just wants 5 roosters to eat ticks out of their yard I won't have any extra roosters running loose except Peanut (he is a BA and my MIL feeds him peanuts out of her hand on the front porch) and Rusty (he is a BR/RIR mix and is an expert at keeping the peace with the free ranging guineas. They are all scared of him, lol).

 

[Elbert Garrett]

Good morning friends and neighbors! It`s a cold start to what is looking like a beautiful day.......I hope y`all have a good `n!

A couple of pics from this morning......

After I fed, water and cleaned the pens I sat down and enjoyed a tall hot cup of coffee and hung out with the birds for awhile.....Life is good!




My Kelso Pullet in her new pen.....




She is blue legged and she looks like she will be sporting a set of spurs.

 

[chicksooner]

Oakie-glad you found homes for your Roos. I am going to give my rooster a little more time. Sorry bout the guinea. Haven't seen any owls around.

Face to face with a coyote is not anything I would want to try. I keep telling my DH that I need a little gun of some sort. My little BB gun won't even run off the neighbors annoying dogs.

 

[cathiesue]

Well, you will need a charger. We have three different kinds. We have a solar, a plug in, and a battery operated one. We use the 110 current one hooked up to the house to run three of them, with an electric line going to each one. I wouldn't put my 110 charger out in the weather. When you buy the netting, you will want to get the two prong, step-in type. The one prong is very hard to set, although starting a hole with a hammer and a big nail helps when you have clay and it is hot and dry out.

Some people prefer just step in posts running several lines of polywire or poplytape. You can run it a long way for a lot less money (electronetting runs $200 for 164 feet). We might use that just for backup. Double protection. Create a large paddock and run the several netting setups within it.

On setting up the netting, they say have it in a rectangle or square, but it is much easier to set up if you use an oval. Just lay it out on the ground and drag it around until the ends meet, then step all the posts in.

Thanks, that good advice. Appreciate it!

 

[Poco Pollo]

Evening : )

I saw a bobcat on my way home from work. Just now, after locking all the coop doors, I heard a scream from the back pasture.

That's got to be the scariest, most unsettling noise ever. Do they call to each other? Or was I hearing the cat announcing his presence to anyone in earshot? I'm still feeling shaky.

 

[banjoejoe4783]

poco bobcats can be verry scarry i had a pair try and climb my tree stand one year it was verry scarry stuff

im taking a break from the biulding to eat and pop in and say hi

them its back out to try and finish out the booder pens