Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

Pics
Date sort Score sort
barbiegirl said:
Anyone know what kind of weed this is and if it is safe for my chickens to eat?


Click to expand...

barbiegirl said:
Anyone know what kind of weed this is and if it is safe for my chickens to eat?


Click to expand...
That plant looks a lot like pokeweed. If it is---it's typically regarded as poisonous. I wouldn't chance it. I've got a medicinal plants of Pennsylvania book that I use for reference/research and it mentions it as toxic.
Here's a link to a similar pic I found online of pokeweed: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZZIV92Sne4/UaFEpT7EafI/AAAAAAAACMI/MDDcmBLx7Ak/s1600/pokeweed.jpg
 
http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/pokeweed-poke-sallet/

Another good link and pic reference.
smile.png
 
dheltzel said:
Just checkin' in - I'm exhausted after 2 gorgeous days. I'm off work (presently between jobs, start my new one on Monday, so computer access is more limited and no cell phone at all) and working hard at the farm.

Moved around a lot of chicks of various ages. Some of the first ones I hatched back in Feb and March are looking big enough to start laying soon. I know it will likely be some weeks, but they sure look good.

On a related note - if anyone is interested in Welsummer cockerels, PM me, I've got a few extras. These are from a strain that lays lots of very dark eggs, darker than any Marans eggs I've seen. If you want to make "olive eggers", these would be good. They grow out very pretty also.

I sold most of last weeks hatch (except the special breeds from msladyhawke), got almost $50 for 19 chicks. The money goes to my niece's college fund, so that made her quite happy. I have hatched over 300 chicks so far this year, but haven't sold many. Early on we weren't trying to sell them, we need to build up the laying flock. But now we have extras to sell.

Tomorrow's lockdown has the first eggs from our "wheaten looking" Ameracaunas. I know they aren't colored quite right, but the hens started laying at a young age and the eggs are the bluest of any eggs we've ever had from our flock.
fl.gif
Click to expand...
Good luck with your new-job!! & Your hatch! ...Sounds like you know how to keep yourself busy!
wink.png
...
Auroradream26 said:
So we FINALLY got the run done yesterday morning
smile.png
everyone was a little nervous about venturing out lol. Picture time!



Sugar was the first to Brave it


After Sugar was out and having fun, our little OEGB girl came out and ran around like roadrunner before running back up the ramp to tell everyone else how great it is.


Then the parade began!


let the fun begin!





It was great to finally get to see them out and running around and playing
smile.png
they truely enjoyed it though they only ate about half of their food yesterday. I think they were having too much fun. I only saw a couple go back into the coop at all but I think they were just grabbing a drink.

Quick question though. I thought that at dusk they would put themselves back to bed. Only a couple actually went into the coop. About 5 of them managed to wedge themselves together to roost right in the chicken door between run and coop lol. The rest formed a big cuddle puddle under the coop. I gathered them up one at a time and put them in so I could latch the door. I just don't trust the security of our run yet to let them out all night. So, will they just learn if I keep putting them back in or am I just going to have to suck it up and deal with it?
Click to expand...
Your coop looks awesome!! A lot of work but it is such a great feeling huh?! Those girls do look happy!
Questions for you...the concrete that your run posts are on...are they "sitting" on it, what did you use to attach the posts ?..or are they actually "in" the concrete? The concrete looks like those 'footers' you can buy...if they are that, how was it working with them?...Great job!!
thumbsup.gif
 
LittleMissPurdy said:
Your coop looks awesome!! A lot of work but it is such a great feeling huh?! Those girls do look happy!
Questions for you...the concrete that your run posts are on...are they "sitting" on it, what did you use to attach the posts ?..or are they actually "in" the concrete?  The concrete looks like those 'footers' you can buy...if they are that, how was it working with them?...Great job!! :thumbsup
Click to expand...

Thanks! It was a lot of work (still have a lot to go but no rush anymore lol). Those are concrete footers and the 4 x 4s are down in them. The entire shed/coop and run is built on them since Hubby didn't want to dig huge holes and pour concrete. They were ok to work with (HEAVY). A couple of the 4 x 4s had to have the corners shaved of them just a little to get them to fit right into the footers and they all had to be pounded in. A couple of them were rough and didn't want to go in straight but it was easier than trying to keep posts straight being cemented into the ground lol. Overall, I'm happy with the way they worked out. We did have about a 1ft gap from the bottom of the hardware cloth to the ground which we just put plywood pieces there. Right now, they're only about 2 inches into the ground but we're actually going to use them as the backs to flower boxes were going to build in front of them, the whole way around the run.
 
Yesterday, we had our annual picnic for our son's birthday and everyone had to take turns seeing the chickens lol. They really enjoyed it to. They were getting pieces of lettuce and tomato and even a whole red pepper which disappeared in a flash (my mom was thoroughly amused with that one!) By the time the picnic was over, anytime anyone would walk over to the coop, they would all run to greet them, hopeing for a handout lol
 
I really like how you have the run covered with the roof for shade/protection etc. I've been toying with covering all of mine or maybe even just half of it and just leaving the "open" part covered with hardware cloth. My hubby told me I'm officially on my own if I ever need to modify our coop after he's done with this one----he started building it with an annoyed interest to get it finished so he didn't have to hear me talk about getting it built anymore, but now he's as obsessed with it as I am lol.
 
PlaidBattleAxe said:
I really like how you have the run covered with the roof for shade/protection etc. I've been toying with covering all of mine or maybe even just half of it and just leaving the "open" part covered with hardware cloth. My hubby told me I'm officially on my own if I ever need to modify our coop after he's done with this one----he started building it with an annoyed interest to get it finished so he didn't have to hear me talk about getting it built anymore, but now he's as obsessed with it as I am lol.
Click to expand...


lol, my husband was the opposite. We started it both obsessed with it and raring to go. The it kinda became me just pushing him cause he was sick of doing it and then mostly me working on it while he was at work lol. He did get excited when it was almost done though lol. The roof, we figured would be best if we just covered the whole thing. It would've been shaded anyway since it's built right between a bunch of trees but now we don't need to worry about anything coming down in from the top, it'll be nice and dry when it rains, and the snow won't pile up in there during the winter so I'm really happy with it that way :).

Thanks for all the comments everyone. You all here have basically been my motivation to get it done and do it good lol. I think we went way overboard with insulation, size, and linoleum and stuff but we have some seriously happy birds now lol.

Question. Are snakes attracted to the scent of chickens because the eat eggs? We've been at our house for a year now and never saw a snake in the yard but the other day our daughter saw one cruising the street and then yesterday this was the scene lol.
400

400

400


We didn't kill it. Hubby threw in the woods across the Street. I figure it'll eat mice and rats and stuff but is this going to be a regular thing?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom