***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Kassaundra]

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Those are millipedes. They eat decaying matter such as leaves and such. If overpopulated in your garden they can eat emerging seedlings, but you'd have to have a lot of them to cause much damage. As a defense they emit a very mild toxin but in such small quantities that it poses little to no risk in humans and most larger animals. They are poisonous to ants, though. A good thing if you have an ant problem. I have had them for years around here and sometimes find them in the house, probably trying to escape the cold weather. My cats eat them as do my chickens without any harmful effects. Think of them as extra protein for you critters.

Thanks to you and nanakat for the identifications. I'm always looking for a good bug, something I don't have to wage war with over my garden food! The chickens do like eating them, but since they aren't bad ones I won't go out of my way to feed them to the girls.

 

[michaeldaugherty]

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Nice pic...!!

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
Those are millipedes. They eat decaying matter such as leaves and such. If overpopulated in your garden they can eat emerging seedlings, but you'd have to have a lot of them to cause much damage. As a defense they emit a very mild toxin but in such small quantities that it poses little to no risk in humans and most larger animals. They are poisonous to ants, though. A good thing if you have an ant problem. I have had them for years around here and sometimes find them in the house, probably trying to escape the cold weather. My cats eat them as do my chickens without any harmful effects. Think of them as extra protein for you critters.

Thanks to you and nanakat for the identifications. I'm always looking for a good bug, something I don't have to wage war with over my garden food! The chickens do like eating them, but since they aren't bad ones I won't go out of my way to feed them to the girls.

We find Scolopendra heros around one of our ponds. The ones whe have are orange headed with a dark black green body with yellow legs and v in the back. these are extremely venomous. They grow up to 8 inches and are beautiful to look at. We caught one a few years ago to show the grandchildren what not to pick up. Walking across your arm, they can leave little spots that whelp up.

 

[banjoejoe4783]

took some more pic time to post

golden laced cochin

 

[banjoejoe4783]

and blue and splash cochin

 

[banjoejoe4783]

and the new hamps

 

[Ksane]

Quote:
They used to be popular, over a 100 years ago. There even used to be a hatchery in PA that sold only orloff chickens in several different varieties! They were standardized as "Russians" by the APA, only to be removed later on due to a decline in interest.
A year or so ago, when I was looking for stock, 9 times out of 10, the folks I contacted had already sold out or gotten rid of their orloffs. Their reasoning was due to a sharp decline in egg productivity after the first year. A true steward of the breed would try to improve the productivity, not toss them all together for the latest fad. Trying times, very trying times.

Well I'm really liking these 2 a lot. They're one of the prettiest chickens I've ever seen and am going to probably look for for more. If I can find a male you can have all the eggs if you want.
Man, OEGB are not very nice to newcomers. I put the 3 pullets and the cockerel I got from Michael D in with the Dun OEGB I got from GotGame last week and they were mean mean to her

Her name's Possum (Matt's wife named her) and she's already one of my very favorite chickens, the sweetest tiniest thing who loves attention and being held. I can't stand to let them "work it out" when it's one of my favorite chickens getting beat up. So I put her in the 10X10 pen with the Faverolles hen, the black Cochin bantam and my super gentle Dark Cornish. They accepted her right away, that's the sweet and gentle pen. The Faverolles hen mothers everyone, I love that girl a LOT and will never part with her. Is that typical behavior for OEGB? Are they really such angry little buggers? lol At this rate I won't be able to add any to them. I'll get little Possum's picture tomorrow, she's a adorable and the neatest color.

 

[GotGame]

Ksane, one thing you can do is put possum in a pen for a week by herself, then put the male oegb with her. Leave them for a week, and add a female to them, and keep doing that til they were all together. They should do ok that way.

 

[Ksane]

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I did think of doing it that way except the pen she's in now is such a nice calm pen and she fit in so well I may just leave her there. The male liked her just fine and started feeding her and flirting right away trying to get her attention. It was those dang girls who were jealous lol I could probably put her and the male together for a week then start adding the other females one by one. Heck, I was afraid the other girls would turn on each other if I did it that way though. The pen she's in now is the Nice Girls Pen. They accept others and only the very gentlest get to live there.

 

[GotGame]

I would just be careful of how big a rooster she goes in with.