***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

I had dreams of letting my broody moms raise my chickie doos in the flock all together, but my dreams have been dashed by cruel reality. I have lost more of my chicks today. Gary is going to have to build me a broody pen w/ a covered run.

So sorry to hear that.

Les - Thanks for the Langston link/info. I printed both off to add to my files.

The temps have been so hot, the winds to dry and our lack of rain, we have lost pond water on one of the leases and are out of grass in Choctaw so will begin bringing the herd home to feed here, We have a float tank on another lease in Paden and the land in Prague has two good ponds with grass. Pond water here is based on which 40 acre section you look at...some ponds are still holding water, some are really low. We bought crop insurance this year on the hay fields and got the call from the FSA office to come in Monday to complete the necessary paperwork for the drought losses. We won't be able to bale the fields again and there is little grass growing back since the 1st cutting. We have over 100 head and 65 calves...we will begin feeding hay this week. We have been feeding cubes every other day for over a month.
We were warned by several farmers around us that there was nitrate accumulating in the johnson grass and to have it tested if we baled again. Couldn't bale because it hasn't grown any. If we get rain and it begins to grow we will hve to test it before we let the herd graze on it.

Move 8 young pullets back into the brooder/ youth house under the swamp cooler today. The girls are getting red combs and wattles and with the heat I don't want them stressed when they begin laying. Laying is hard enough on them without the heat too.

The Rosecomb pullet laid her first egg...the size of a dime..so cute!. She laid it on the floor and it got stepped on by a cochin so it was slightly cracked. I have given her a proper nest box her size and also set up 5 of the 10 in the hanging nest box unit for the bigger pullets.

We got a few sprinkles while I was writing this...enough to make it smell like rain...

 

[Darklingstorm]

Hi everyone
I have a dilemma that I could use some opinions on.

Today a woman from down the street comes to my door and says there is a red chicken in her backyard. It showed up yesterday and she did her best to care for it but she is afraid of chickens and knows nothing about them (she didn't even know it was a hen). Since I'm an animal lover I told her that I would come and get it, which I did. I currently have her in a cage in the garage and completely isolated to the best of my ability from my flock.
I asked the only person I know of that has chickens, if she was his and he said that all his was accounted for. He even told me that the other day he found a rooster and hen in his backyard and when he got closer they ran towards my house, so he figured they were mine.
So my son and I drove around asking everyone we found if they knew of anyone that owns chickens in the area. Only 1 person said yes but they live 8 blocks away from us and in town with dogs every where, It isn't likely it was from them.

Here is the catch, my flock has fowl pox. And I don't have a proper place to keep her quarantined for 30 days. She looks to be a production red in very good health and just starting to lay or about to. She obviously has not been kept in a cage or enclosure because she is not liking the cage I have her in now at all. She is also very afraid of dogs.


Should I call animal control? I'm sure they will just kill her since I've seen the pound here and it is barely big enough to hold cats and dogs let alone a chicken.
Anyone in Durant that can take her off my hands?
Or should I put her up for sale? though I feel bad asking for money for something I've not put any money or effort into myself (other than driving around and asking neighbors).

 

[poultryand bees]

We were fortunate this evening and received some rain. I enjoyed watching the temperature drop while driving home in the rain. It was 113 at 5:00 and when the rain began a little before 6:00 the temperature immediately dropped to 103. It started pouring on my drive home and the temperature on the car dash went down to 73 degrees. Once the rain stopped, it came back up to 82 degrees. 40 degree drop in about an hour. I love Oklahoma weather when the temps are going down.

 

[Buster52]

They make the place look a little exotic, don't they?

Yes, and sound it too. I have one Guinea. I don't say own because he belongs to my neighbor. He had a flock of them but his dogs killed them all one by one. This one decided I fed my birds better than he did so it came over and has lived here ever since. Thinks he's a chicken. He flies to the top of my cotton trailer coop at dusk and calls everyone in, then goes inside and roosts with the layers. Even mounts one or two when he can catch them.

I have always wondered what would happen if I tried to hatch one of those eggs.

 

[NanaKat]

Quote: If it hatched, it would have more than one brain cell.

 

[poultryand bees]

Quote: If it hatched, it would have more than one brain cell.

What a concept! If the chicken were one of the flighty white leghorns, you would have a creature that ran up and down the fence all day, while turning in circles and laying eggs as it ran.

 

[jcatblum]

Glad to hear that the goat field day is kid friendly, I wanted to go, but wasn't sure about the girls. I will have to wait before I sign up. Imagine I will be scheduled to be at the farmers market, so hard to be 2 places at once!
Thanks for all the goat well wishes. I can't imagine our place without them. Still not sure how Bambie is going to make it without her sister, those 2 are always in trouble together.
The goats are all walking around & appear to be moving better, but 1 still looks bloated. He is burping everytime we rub his tummy. Normally they have hay for breakfast & forage in the afternoon with comercial feed to call them in for the night. If they don't come out to forage we offer more hay. I am going to keep them from forage until we get a good rain & nitrate chances are down. We do have lots of Johnson Grass in our front pasture, not sure how much is in the areas the goats visit. They seem to do most of their foraging in the woods. The leaves on the trees are better than any other thing I ever offer them.

Last wk there was talk of using oil with feed. I purchased Equine Fat supplement. The atwoods brand even list the dosages for your dogs. It boost there energy & makes their coat shinny. Think the Atwoods brand was about $20, the other was $30 something. Of course I walked out with the more expensive one after comparing the two. Didn't even realize it until I got home. It smells like oranges & the birds enjoyed it mixed on their feed. Haven't tried to see if the dogs like it yet.
So far we have seen a few sprinkles twice today. Only lasted 3 or 4 minutes each time. Glad some of you are seeing rain. Now off to grab a late dinner & crawl into bed.

 

[artsyrobin]

there are chicken guinea crosses, a neat thread on one here on byc- they don't live long, but they are very unique
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/263053/miracle-hello-guinea-chicken-crossbreed

 

[Ksane]

Robin, I'd have guessed Lemon Blue on Captain also. Man, you're lucky to have him!
The person who found the Red Star-I'd try putting an add on CraigsList with a short explaination. Those are really nice hens and laying machines. I love thei personalities.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

Well, just figured out why my pullets haven't been laying yet! Just killed a 4' snake of some sort with little egg shaped lumps in his belly. Well maybe now I'll get more than 2 eggs a day.