Online Large Fowl Chat Thread

[shellyga]

Right now I just have 4 coops.. with plans for another 3. Gotta wait for more $$ before adding on. We spent ALL day yesterday working on cleaning out that closet/room.. boy do we have alot of "treasure" stuffed into a small space. We will be hauling out trash and vacuuming all morning I think but it will be so nice to finally have that big job done.

I did have someone come buy a rooster and he also wanted 5 of my new chicks.. was hard to part with them, but the $$ just means I can buy more. Selling the extra roosters are easier since it seems I always have an abundance and can't kill anything.. but the chicks that I hatch out are a bit harder. I steered him away from the two cochin babies..but he chose the dark little one I liked so much..

they are all mixed chicks from my laying flock.. so I know there will be more.. I keep telling myself that.. lol. I have eggs coming from Deb.. plus a few empty spots here and there.. so let me see how many eggs I can fit where..

I have someone coming for two white leghorn laying hens this morning.. those buggers will NOT stay in the fence and I refuse to clip their wings.. I want them to be able to fly away from a predator... so I can't have it both ways. Plus someone wants to come Friday for some.. she called LATE last night as I was getting ready for bed so not sure which ones she wanted.. first come with the $$ first served..

My experiment with guinea hens is a bust.. I can not stand their racket.

Listed them this morning on Craigslist..if they are still here on the 7th..they will go back to the auction with me. Lesson learned.. but if we had not tried them.. we would have always wondered..

Well the sun is rising..so that means I have to do something.. I hear either an alarm call or an egg song.. not sure which.. now where are my shoes??

Shelly

 

[CapricornFarm]

Happy Birthday to me.... We ate at Red Lobster. Very good, but... the portions were smaller, and the price was higher, plus they did not offer a refill on my sweet tea. Still it was yummy. They used to give you enough to take some home. Tonight I ate it all.

First time there was not enough to have lunch the next day.
I was pleased to get a load of sand today, about four tons i think. That should make some headway on getting the runs fixed up. I got the frame done on the grow out pen in the barn, now to add wire and an upper section for the door. Someone is coming Saturday to visit, i think they want to see the coops to get an idea how to build theirs. Eventually they will want livestock. The goats have not started kidding yet. I was getting ready to toss the eggs that didn't hatch from the christmas hatch. DH said there was a lot of peeping from the back room, so I went and looked and there was a little polish baby shrink wrapped! So I helped her out I thought maybe a NYD hatch chick was arriving early, but tomorrow is lockdown for them. I seriously need to get another coop under way. The SLW pullets I bought the other day are laying! The egg i checked was not fertile, which is good since the lady did not have a SLW roo. She told me they had been separated, but I wanted to check. So Good, now to do a test hatch in a little while.
My kitty is having surgery Friday, so I have to keep her NPO after midnight. That will be a challenge since she will even eat the dogs food, and tries to drink out of the toilets. I hope she does OK.
Cuteness fix for today, baby Coturnix

 

[mrheinz77]

Happy belated birthday Deb.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Thanks, Jim! My birthday gets lost between Christmas and New Years, people are just too busy. When I was a kid I always wanted a summer time birthday so I could have a pool party:-D My combined birthday and Christmas gift this year is my laptop, which I love.
Today we got 11 tons of gravel for the driveway DH and I spread all of it, but he did about 2/3 of the work. I also raked leaves. Plus I got the top and two ends, plus half of the last side covered in wire, for the grow out pen. Let me tell you, even after a hot bath I am stiff! I only had time to move a few pails of sand into the runs, because it was getting dark and I had to feed critters.
Tomorrow is surgery day for the cat, I must remember to take away the food and water at midnight. And I will need to get up early Lockdown today on NYD hatch eggs, oh rats I forgot to remind my neighbor and she is asleep by now.

 

[mrheinz77]

I had 82 eggs go into lock down today. I candled all the rest and put 42 in the turner that were in egg cartons but in the incubator already for 3 day into the turners. I also set 61 more eggs today. If I get my hatching issues figured out I could end up with a lot of chicks (and ducks and geese). My goose has laid 2 eggs now so they went in along with 6 duck eggs). I think I'll start blowing the duck eggs and goose eggs unless I find somebody that wants to hatch some. (Hint hint Shelly)
I swapped my Welsummer cockerel out with another one today. The original one holds his tail funny. I may use him on a limited basis because otherwise he is really nice. Tomorrow I hope to put the door on my Ameraucana pen so I can get them separated. Next up will be the BCM and the RIR. Then I need to do a new grow out pen so I can get the Guineas in their pen. I also need to separate the geese by breed and move the ducks.
Well, time for bed. Best of luck with your cat tomorrow Deb.
Jim

 

[CapricornFarm]

Hey Jim, got pics of the Welsummers? I think I might have one pullet I hatched from a batch of eggs. I don't have a pic of her yet. What kind of ducks are they? Deb

 

[mrheinz77]

Here are two pictures of the Wellies.

I'll have to find pictures of the ducks. The female is a crested duck (I'm unsure of her breed but she was from Ideal). The drake is a hybrid. I have hatched fawn, blue, and chocolate offspring.

 

[mrheinz77]

Here are the ducks. The 2 on the right are the parents. The 2 on the left are their 2010 hatch, both drakes. One must have the crested gene but not show it because I have had some embryo death and when I opened the egg the skull was open (a sign of the double crested gene).

 

[CapricornFarm]

That turkakahnis duck is huge!:-D Yes , it is a welsummer pullet I have, no rooster though. They lay a darker egg , don't they? I think if I do ducks it would be those blue green shiny ones , east Indies I think they are. I hatched one Rouen and gave it to my neighbor. She loves it.

 

[mrheinz77]

Yup. They lay dark eggs.
Maybe your neighbor wants more ducks.

I'd like some Cayugas. They are black with a green sheen. They lay black eggs too.