Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[SilkieSensation]

Does anybody know if ducklings would be able to drink and eat from these

ducks are a mess, this is what we do to keep the mess to a min..... scroll to the waterers and feeders section https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/duckling-care-brooder-ideas

Sally I do a lot of ducks and they got messy till we put them in a rabbit cage with a small priority mail box used for a dry area, this is easily changed and the mess drops to the pan below

My duckies go in the stack cage asap, sometimes at just a couple days. We just. empty the pans & hose them out as needed.

I lost a chick yesterday. No, actually lost. I was moving chicks between brooders by age and one was small and weak so I put it in the bride I was going to use for the new ones hatching. When I opened it to add the new hatches, it was gone. Not dead, brooder is 5 feet off the floor, so dog didn't get it, I didn't accidentally put it anywhere else, just gone, lost! Thought you might find this somewhat humerous. (Not to worry, I have 50+ chicks now from new to 5 weeks, I'm just perplexed.)

Check your pockets.

There are many skills being lost because our children are not taught some of the basic games that we grew up on. (I grew up in the '70s.) I played Bridge with my great aunt and uncle. I played Spades with my friends. I worked jigsaw puzzles with my mother and aunt. I played the sliding squares puzzles and later Rubik's cube which took the concept to 3D. I learned half of the Cat's Cradle string game. It continues to amaze me how many of my interests in science have analogies in children's games. It leads me to conclude that games and science are closely related and that the key is to hold onto the wonder of exploration that we all had when small. Not to be frustrated by a mystery, but intrigued. The thrill of learning a new game, not the worry of how well we will perform in it.

I couldn't agree more...play? what is play?..and to do this "play thing" OUTSIDE is an unthinkable habit! They may get dirty or something . DH and I went to a bunch of garage sales on Friday..bought a 'play school' sand box for $3.00 and one of those 'little tykes' jungle gym for $8.00...grand daughter is going to be playing outside when she visits grands-house ..... I learned how to play pinochle with my parents and grand parents..that is like "spades"...fun! Our girls grew up with a childhood of board/ card /dice /puzzles games and a ton of reading...might have a little to do with the fact they both graduated high school Valedictorian....might ...

I grew up playing cribbage, uchre, uno, phase 10, rook, chess, checkers, chinese checkers, mancala, scrabble, dots, tic-tac-toe, & hangman. And if it wasn't raining we were outside in the tire swing, riding bikes, roller skating or making mud pies. My kids also play most of these & get shoved out the door to play.

Would anyone like some coturnix quail chicks? They're two days old. I have 14 available. They are sooo cute I wanted to thank you too Wingstone for your offer the other day. I ended up processing the meat birds all by myself. A huge relief!

Yes yes yes! can you tell the males from females? I would only want one male and 4-5 females.............and I don't know what your location is!

Since those are pharoah colored, you will be able to sex them in about a week. Males will have tan chests. Females will have tan with dark speckles.

 

[randerson846]

turns out, the isa brown was broody, I went out to her this morning and she was sitting on them all but one which she must of chucked out I wasn't sure if she's be able to brood that many anyway, I just have then to her so when I went to get it, she gave me one of those broody growls ahah so I just grabbed it, and felt one of the eggs it was warm, so hopefully she'll stay excited

 

[dheltzel]

3 roosters, 1 wheaten, 2 MF
5 hens all MF

What percentage of the chicks are hatching yellow vs black? Can you remove the wheaten roo to get pure MF chicks?

What I've found so far is the MF pattern if a combination of pied and mottled, both recessive. The wheaten roo probably has neither of these (unless his ancestry included some MF birds - he could be hiding those traits). If he has neither gene, none of the chicks from him will show any trace of the MF pattern, though they will carry them. Because the 2 traits are independently inherited, if you cross 2 of those normal looking progeny (the F1's), you will only get a MF patterned bird 1/16 of the time. If you cross one of the F1's back to a pure MF parent (or a sibling that was from one of your MF roos). then 1/4 of the babies will be MF. Doing that might still be worthwhile if the wheaten roo is good in other ways.

If you are getting black chicks, you might have some black mottled or black pieds in this or subsequent generations. Mottled is a fairly common color in many breeds, kind of a reverse splash looking bird. Pied is the gene that makes exchequer leghorns. Combined, they make the MF pattern back, though whether you would ever get the orange base color back IDK.

 

[dheltzel]

turns out, the isa brown was broody, I went out to her this morning and she was sitting on them all but one which she must of chucked out I wasn't sure if she's be able to brood that many anyway, I just have then to her so when I went to get it, she gave me one of those broody growls ahah so I just grabbed it, and felt one of the eggs it was warm, so hopefully she'll stay

excited

I hope she hatches a lot for you! Good mothering is not that common, especially in the ISA's, but if she does well this time, odds are she will be a great mother consistently, and broody hens seem to improve with age and experience. Broody hens are awesome!!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

This I could use.

http://m.hometalk.com/#!/493273/canning-cupboard-made-from-recycled-pallets?se=wkly&tk=ag7j0f

Is this LMPs pantry? Looks like something she'd whip up.

Yes, Stake and I went to the same High School, but I believe the teachers he had were retired by the time I got there.

I think they sold his abacus by then too.

Quote: My personal experience is that the only way to keep down the stink of ducks is to sell them or give them away. AND, it works. Every Time.

Ok I want to know which hen lays the Cadbury cream eggs. I want a flock of those hens!!!

Mine DO!! So funny that you asked this, yesterday DS put a cadbury egg in the egg basket and then gave the 10 year old chores to do including sorting out the eggs (the cadbury was the reward). If only they always got along so well!

Quote: I have fond memories of being allowed to 'throw down' cards for my older brothers when they played spades. I was also taught how to pump a keg and top off a beer with little to no head at an early age. I most likely served a beer or two to Stake.

I'm thinking of getting ducks not sure what kinds. Does anyone have suggestions? Also need a dog box to keep them in? I'm going to go to green Dragon Friday looking?

I prefer my ducks stuffed...or baked. But since you seem to want the pooping kind, check out Sally Sunshine, she has some great info.

I received these rsl on march 19th as '5 month olds'. They have not laid yet. Can you tell if they're too young from their wattle or comb? They are my first hens

Hello and Welcome! Can't see really well from this pic, but I'd say a 7 month old RSL should be laying and the comb and wattles look like perhaps they are. I see that they're free ranging, have you checked eery nook and cranny in your free range area? Perhaps there's a gold mine of eggs out there somewhere. You could also google 'egg production bleaching' to see how to calculate a hens egg production by the coloring in legs, eye ring, vent ect. Distance between pelvic bones is a good indicator too, although both of these may be difficult for a novice, I'd start by having a good ole Easter Egg Hunt in your yard, you may be surprised.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/4456271456.html

Free chickens!!

Today's lesson...How do you Spell Enabler???

Quote:

I agree, Broody Hens are amazing. I usually have the hatcher all warmed up and ready on hatch day when I have a first time broody just in case she gets off the nest before they're all hatched. Pretty sad when they leave zipped peeping eggs behind to take their first hatchlings out for a walk. Keeping food and water within reach those first few days is helpful.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Wing, every once in a while I would get a tuxedo chick when hatching the Mille Fleur, I believe that would come from the mottled in their background. Mostly the chicks would be blonde, chipmunk or red. I would think that if the wheaten were thrown in the mix that the chicks would be blonde, not black. It's odd that you are hatching mostly black. Although since the Mille Fleur is a project variety, nothing would surprise me.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I just checked out that Free Chickens listing that Anne posted...that's MY neck of the woods! kind of funny that they don't post sex or breed. Probably all roosters

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Very excited! My Jewel confirmed his suspected manhood and crowed for the first time this morning I've called him Jewel forever so I think I'll just change the spelling to Joel.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hmmm I dont have one of those, will have to check with cha cha, you say they have a poop pee tray? wonder if I could rig something

Quote:

Ok I want to know which hen lays the Cadbury cream eggs. I want a flock of those hens!!!

me too

Would anyone like some coturnix quail chicks? They're two days old. I have 14 available. They are sooo cute

I wanted to thank you too Wingstone for your offer the other day. I ended up processing the meat birds all by myself. A huge relief!

awesome! I dont like to eat them, dont like dark meat lol I am spoiled, lived on dark meat and fish until I moved out, and ever since I wont eat fish or dark ha ha ha.

My hen and rooster are still fighting pretty ferociously. -_- I've tried to time out thing for a week now alternating between them.

This stinks so sorry, wonder what the issue is?

I received these rsl on march 19th as '5 month olds'. They have not laid yet. Can you tell if they're too young from their wattle or comb? They are my first hens

they look like they should be any time soon! and I agree with Blarney areyou searching everywhere?

turns out, the isa brown was broody, I went out to her this morning and she was sitting on them all but one which she must of chucked out I wasn't sure if she's be able to brood that many anyway, I just have then to her so when I went to get it, she gave me one of those broody growls ahah so I just grabbed it, and felt one of the eggs it was warm, so hopefully she'll stay

excited

yay!!

Quote:
My personal experience is that the only way to keep down the stink of ducks is to sell them or give them away. AND, it works. Every Time.
LMAO yes I know that ha ha ha!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Do you guys think this will be big enough for my silkie ducks? I do have an open run for them but afraid hawks will eat them, and also note the indoor outdoor carpet???? assuming that gets hosed off or something?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/622377/ducklings-and-building-a-duck-house#post_8287262