***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[ashtree]

@Kassaundra, secure through trial and LOSSES. The window covering came after one of dogs found its way in and extra rocks and wire around the bottom after what I refer to as "The Great Weasel Attack of 2014. Weasels suck, by the way.

@lonnyandrinda, I can't believe someone actually sent those thinking they would make it! Your packing job, however, looks top-notch.

@ashtree, every box of eggs I've ordered has arrived in good condition with eggs wrapped in bubble wrap with more bubble wrap, shredded paper or peanuts as stuffing. The box may move, but the eggs do not. The styrofoam is a nice touch, especially in this heat if there was a cold-pack involved.

@Poco Pollo, if I lived in Santa Fe, we might would live in a yurt! We visited there a couple years ago...so pretty. I have joked though, that if I give up on chickens (which I almost did after The Great Weasel Attack of 2014) the coop would make a good man (or woman) cave.

Since we're moving to such a small house we are planning to get a yurt in a few years, maybe even a shipping container house, probably a yurt tho. The big boys will get the house out there now to be stinky teenagers in. All this is dependent on either buying the lot behind us or getting approval for 2 structures.

Has anyone ever put swales on their property? My husband is going to start designing ours and will rent an excavator for next spring. Just wondering if anyone else has done something like this and their experience.

Also anyone raising dairy goats? We are trying to settle on breeds. We both don't want Nubians and are leaving towards alpines. But how do they fare in the heat? We're also considering nigerian dwarfs but aren't sure about their milk production value. My MIL wants to buy goats as our house warming present

 

[Kyzmette]

SFH+jumbo egg layer d'awwwww.

Rinda, that was an obviously awful packing job. I wouldn't fault you for demanding some form of restitution.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Since we're moving to such a small house we are planning to get a yurt in a few years, maybe even a shipping container house, probably a yurt tho. The big boys will get the house out there now to be stinky teenagers in. All this is dependent on either buying the lot behind us or getting approval for 2 structures.

Has anyone ever put swales on their property? My husband is going to start designing ours and will rent an excavator for next spring. Just wondering if anyone else has done something like this and their experience.

Also anyone raising dairy goats? We are trying to settle on breeds. We both don't want Nubians and are leaving towards alpines. But how do they fare in the heat? We're also considering nigerian dwarfs but aren't sure about their milk production value. My MIL wants to buy goats as our house warming present

We started with goats this year, ours are Alpines. They will be registered but I need to finish their registration papers. You have to be really careful buying goats, just like chickens there are some icky diseases that you can introduce to your property and they ruin your land for goats for a long time if you get them in your soil. It's more important with milk goats than meat goats for obvious reasons. Do not buy from an auction unless you have a way to separately pen and do a round of tests on them. I don't think my friend that sold me my goats has any more at this time. Goats are easier to come by in the spring when the babies are born and breeders move some of their stock out to make way for new ones. If you are on facebook there are a few good pages I can refer you to.

SFH+jumbo egg layer d'awwwww.




Rinda, that was an obviously awful packing job. I wouldn't fault you for demanding some form of restitution.

I sent her these pictures and more and am waiting to see what she says. I did tell her I assume because of the stench the whole batch is bacterially contaminated. We'll see how she responds on whether or not I share my egg packing method with her.

Adorable girl, by the way!

 

[MrsDickey]

Went to my first poultry auction today! Came home with 5 Guinea keets and 3 wyandottes, were supposed to be all blrw but I grabbed the wrong box on accident and came home with 2 gold laced and one blue. Oh well, still pretty brown eggs.. hopefully they're hens! Now to do some looking around and figure out what color of guineas I bought.

 

[Kyzmette]

Went to my first poultry auction today! Came home with 5 Guinea keets and 3 wyandottes, were supposed to be all blrw but I grabbed the wrong box on accident and came home with 2 gold laced and one blue. Oh well, still pretty brown eggs.. hopefully they're hens! Now to do some looking around and figure out what color of guineas I bought.

Try this site for colors.

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/colors/

 

[MrsDickey]

Try this site for colors.

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/colors/

Thanks but my keets are older than those babies pictured so its still hard to tell though I'm leaning towards them just being the pearl grey.

 

[ashtree]

SFH+jumbo egg layer d'awwwww.

Rinda, that was an obviously awful packing job. I wouldn't fault you for demanding some form of restitution.

That is super cute! I love these mixes you're making!

We started with goats this year, ours are Alpines.  They will be registered but I need to finish their registration papers.  You have to be really careful buying goats, just like chickens there are some icky diseases that you can introduce to your property and they ruin your land for goats for a long time if you get them in your soil.  It's more important with milk goats than meat goats for obvious reasons.  Do not buy from an auction unless you have a way to separately pen and do a round of tests on them.  I don't think my friend that sold me my goats has any more at this time.  Goats are easier to come by in the spring when the babies are born and breeders move some of their stock out to make way for new ones.  If you are on facebook there are a few good pages I can refer you to.


I sent her these pictures and more and am waiting to see what she says.  I did tell her I assume because of the stench the whole batch is bacterially contaminated.  We'll see how she responds on whether or not I share my egg packing method with her.   

Adorable girl, by the way!

I'm not on FB but maybe should be only for chicken and farm related connections. And I will be very cautious about selecting our goats. In fact, come kidding season I may get in contact with you for other folks contact info. My husband wants to go out to the goat dairy he lived at for years to get kids. But that's all the way in New Mexico so not sure that's the greatest plan.

Ok I feel like Im constantly battling mites. Is this normal? I think everyone is bug free and then happen to check and feel totally overwhelmed by it. DE seems to have no affect. Does anyone have a working solution that doesn't require poison? I just want my kids to be able to hold the girls and not touch poison. But this bug stuff is driving me crazy. They dust bathe like crazy, seems like all day long, any other ideas?

 

[MrsDickey]

So I've done some reading and I am wondering if I have some black blue laced red wyandottes? Has anyone ever seen any black blue laced chicks? I thought they looked a little different than my glw and now I think I know why!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

So I've done some reading and I am wondering if I have some black blue laced red wyandottes? Has anyone ever seen any black blue laced chicks? I thought they looked a little different than my glw and now I think I know why!

Yes, BLRW use the Andelusian blue breeding chart, blue, black and splash breeding together to make more of the same. So you can have black laced red wyandottes, blue laced red wyandottes, and splash laced red wyandottes although it is common for them to all be lumped under BLRW. http://minifluffsrabbitry.weebly.com/wyandotte-chicken-color-genetics.html

 

[lonnyandrinda]

That is super cute! I love these mixes you're making!
I'm not on FB but maybe should be only for chicken and farm related connections. And I will be very cautious about selecting our goats. In fact, come kidding season I may get in contact with you for other folks contact info. My husband wants to go out to the goat dairy he lived at for years to get kids. But that's all the way in New Mexico so not sure that's the greatest plan.

Ok I feel like Im constantly battling mites. Is this normal? I think everyone is bug free and then happen to check and feel totally overwhelmed by it. DE seems to have no affect. Does anyone have a working solution that doesn't require poison? I just want my kids to be able to hold the girls and not touch poison. But this bug stuff is driving me crazy. They dust bathe like crazy, seems like all day long, any other ideas?

As much as non-poison sounds nice, a good dose of something chemical to kill them all of including a spraying of the coop and roosts is sometimes what it takes. Remember in the meantime they are feasting on your birds- sucking their blood, etc- affecting their health as well. If I were you I would do a single treatment on every bird and on the coop, then repeat again in 5-7 days, and keep your kids from handling the birds in the meantime if that bothers you.