***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

Here are my hostas. Some are already 8 inches tall. After the rains today, perhaps I’ll be able to set them out this weekend.



These came from Gilbert Wild and Son Nursery.
Ive purchased from them for years finding iris, daylily and peony at great prices.
Here are a few that have bloomed this spring. The day lilies will bloom next month.

 

[CLSranch]

The big storms that came in Thur evening went just south of us here. I was also just a head of it on the way home from work. Yet I still had to watch for water on the highway, then crossed a section on the county road home that was bumper deep on the truck. In a car I couldn't have got home. I went ahead and called in late to work when I got home knowing I couldn't get to work on time if it kept up.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

We got lots of rain Thursday, but it warmed up enough that we could mow yesterday. We have a DR trimmer that my son used for the jungle in the swampy area by my straw bale garden, etc. That thing was a good investment! We've already dispatched a pigmy rattlesnake in my garage this season. No reason to tempt fate by letting things get too tall by the house.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

@NanaKat, I have a BLRW today has decided to go broody. Still determining how serious she is. Are wyandottes generally good mothers?

 

[CLSranch]

About a month ago I checked the nesting box the wife can't really reach (after not getting any eggs). I got 8 eggs and only 3 hens. The next day a hen started setting. I know I should've collected for a week then gave them back but I didn't. 2 hatched out days ago and she started taking them out yesterday evening even with food and water in there. She did not go back to the eggs. Found 2 open with mostly grown chicks 7 candled from about to hatch to barely any growth and 2 showed nothing so they got floated and put in the fridge.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

About a month ago I checked the nesting box the wife can't really reach (after not getting any eggs). I got 8 eggs and only 3 hens. The next day a hen started setting. I know I should've collected for a week then gave them back but I didn't. 2 hatched out days ago and she started taking them out yesterday evening even with food and water in there. She did not go back to the eggs. Found 2 open with mostly grown chicks 7 candled from about to hatch to barely any growth and 2 showed nothing so they got floated and put in the fridge.

I remember my first broody experience many years ago. I let her accumulate eggs and then had to put the unhatched ones in an incubator and give them to her at night as they hatched.

What breed is the hen? I have 2 girls that are trying right now. I bought eggs for one of them a few weeks ago since I don't have a rooster, and she refused to set in a different dog kennel, so that was a wasted purchase. I don't want either girl to go into the hot summer as perpetually broody, but I don't want to waste money on hatching eggs either. Especially since "Purple Snurple" quit after I locked her up with fertile eggs last time. Plus both are hatchery girls, so they certainly weren't bred to brood. I'll probably lock the wyandotte up with some of my eggs and trade her for fertilized ones if she's serious.

 

[NanaKat]

@NanaKat, I have a BLRW today has decided to go broody. Still determining how serious she is. Are wyandottes generally good mothers?

Wyandotte are excellent moms. Almost as good as Cochin. I’ve had several who willingly take foster chicks.

 

[NanaKat]

Both incubators are full and the hatcher is in lockdown for a June 2 hatch.

 

[NanaKat]

Our neighbor had a 5 year old cow die during delivery of a huge bull calf in his back pasture. She prolapsed and bled out. Another neighbor across the fence saw coyotes and shot at them to drive them away from the cow and newborn.

The owner lives in Edmond and comes to check his herd twice a week. Then we check on them the other days. He was on his way when he got the call about the cow and calf. He then called us as did the the other neighbor. He and his son Garret moved the calf to the barn.

I took towels, iodine and a bottle of colostrum and my tube feeder to help with the calf. It was still wet, and of course had not nursed.
The owner made it in just as I got there. Garret helped me get the calf cleaned up and iodine in the navel cord. Then we worked on teaching a calf about a bottle nipple...his tongue and face were swollen from the hard delivery process so I ended up having to tube feed him. We estimated he weighs about 90 to 95 pounds...big for a full blood Angus. The calf is well muscled already. He compares in size to our 3 to 4 week old calves.

The owner told me to take the calf home where I could conveniently feed it three times a day and grow him out.
Roger and I had just the day before discussed how nice it was to not have a spring bottle calf this year...guess we jinxed ourselves.
Here he is on day one after moving him to the barn...look at those muscles and round rump!


Minnie the barn cat likes his bottles and visits him frequently.


Here is Bubbie after his night time feeding last night. I videoed him bucking around in the stall in the barn.

 

[Sooner Magnolia]

Wyandotte are excellent moms. Almost as good as Cochin. I’ve had several who willingly take foster chicks.

Well, mine returned to her kennel and practice eggs after a forced constitutional, so I will let her try. The hardest thing will be convincing my daughter that we don't need to keep ALL of the babies if she and the other one are successful. "Bubie" is adorable.

If we were closer, we would definitely volunteer to help a little with the bottle feeding this summer. My grandfather was a rancher outside of Ada. I remember helping with his bottle calves when we went to visit. He had a blind one who would suck on your thumb while waiting his turn for the bottle. They were the sweetest bulls when they grew up.