Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[sharron]

sorry to hear...hope all turns out for ya. My Gords are taking over the fence on the chickens run so it well shaded

Pear trees were really full this year

thanks barb, i need to call my niece and see whats going on , hoping hes better but at his age, its a gamble, hes eighty-two, but then he is a strong man.
today i need to go out and pick beans again and maybe a couple of patty pans and of course the tomato's, i know its sunday, but veggies wait for no woman

 

[chiques chicks]

Ohhh sounds like fun.
Maybe 6/12. Whatever you can collect. I love hatching these little fluffly butts. I just hatched my first batch of bbs and they are soooo cutI have a oogd maoint.
All my kids start school Monday, so you name a good day and time and I will be there. I have a Lavender Orpington pullet im going to be looking for a new home for, i have the six LO that im keeping, and have one left to send off. If your interested I could bring her along.

I'll start saving! I'd just throw the lav in my mixed pen if I had her. Not a color i'm really keeping. I'm actually trying to breed it the blue, want yellow and black, like partridge, although haven't really need this year. Mostly hatched SFH to build up that flock. I had a couple lav the other year and sold them to a boy so he could become a chicken addict (he has).

 

[OneMountainAcres]

So after all of the mass confusion, Lily and Cloud are back to laying again. Not only that but Cookie (OEGB), Cotton (silkie), and Lady (SLW) have all joined in. I'm so excited now. Seems like everyone's clocks are syncing and everyone's starting at once! 7 now paying rent, waiting on the other 6 to start

 

[Blarneyeggs]

...

Where are you getting them? I think I'd like 25, are you anywhere near the Southeast? Me could go in on an order, apparently I've got to start filling the freezer again!

I'm getting them from freedomrangerhatchery.com. They are right here in Pa, probably close to you. They are a little over $2.00 each and shipping is only $10.00! That's the best deal I've seen. Most places want around $25.00 or more for shipping. Wished I lived closer, since this is our first time. I'm not ever sure I want all 25. Seems like a lot!

Unfortunately DH is not ready for another group of birds, I might be able to handle some CX, but the freedoms rangers will be putting us closer to colder weather than I'd like to be.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Where are you getting them? I think I'd like 25, are you anywhere near the Southeast? Me could go in on an order, apparently I've got to start filling the freezer again!


The door was open overnight, we discovered it in the afternoon, we cooked A LOT yesterday, most of this morning and I've got some big meals planned for tomorrow. We gave a bunch of stuff away and we did throw some stuff out (vegetables and ham). I did get a bunch of stock and soup back into the freezer.

Wing, I wish I had a pressure canner, I can always ask Santa, it will be second on my list, right next to a barn, and fencing.

Blarney. I might have access to a used pressure canner for sale if you want me to check into it for yoy

Yes, can you PM me details?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Quote: Translation:
'Thank GAWD I was finally able to process my Broad Breasted White Turkeys

~they are eating me out of house and home!!

The male weighed in at a whopping 45 lbs!

His finished weight was 35 lbs (how ever will I fit him in my oven?).

The hen was 23 lbs finished ~ enough for a very large Thanksgiving meal.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

we got a new store opened up close by, rural king , they had the cx chicks in , selling them for $1.39 each, the egg chicks were $1.99 each, thats cheap for the meat chicks i think, course everything else in there i can get from our feed mill alot cheaper but this place is really nice to walk thru AND they were giving away free popcorn and coffee to the customers, don't know if this will be a permanent thing or not, but if you get a chance, check this place out, i love going there

I'm jealous! That sounds like an awesome store to have access to!

anyone else having trouble with the tomato's this year? i know we got a late start on the plants, but they were beautiful, have nice large green tomato's then all of a sudden, the blight hit, we had cut the lower branchs off so nothing was touching the ground too.

My tomatoes were doing amazing, loads of them all green and growing, then at the same time came bites (deer maybe? Pretty sure my fence-hopping hen RedHawk has been a culprit too) and blight. I'm upset. I had planned on canning from my garden, but I'm going to have to order tomatoes this year.

Has anybody ordered colored boilers from Moyer hatchery? If so were you pleased? I'm looking for some meat birds, but I don't want the Cornish giants. They just don't seem natural to me. Right now we have buff brahmas. I love them for everything except for the meat. Very little breast meat and the legs are tough. However it has a good flavor. We just want to try some different breeds until we find what we like.

I've got a batch of CX from Moyers that I'm feeding up currently, they're almost 3 weeks old. I've lost 5 of my 26 in the first 2 weeks. 1 DOA and 2 actively dying upon arrival and then 2 unexplained losses. I guess that's pretty typical from large shippers and I'm happy with the birds that are still alive, but I think they had a bad shipping experience. Next time around, I'll pick up the chicks myself.

Did my two BBW tonight. He was 45 live, and 35 done. She is 23.

That's impressive!! Congrats. I'd like to get turkeys in the spring.

Dealing with a 'mishap' here has made everyone grumpy. Someone left the freezer door open in the garage, everything melted. Including the almost 20 meat birds we just had processed, 5 quarts of tomato sauce, ALL the green beans we grew, harvested, processed and froze (up till midnight doing the green beans) along with lots of other stuff. Our homegrown stuff is what hurts the most. The stove top, grill and crock pot have been going non stop and I am ready for a break. My poor son is so aggravated about the meat birds he raised, he doesn't know what to do with himself.

I'm ready for a break.

I am so sorry for your loss.. I'm glad you were able to salvage as much as you could so it wasn't a total loss.

It would be a lot of work but you can save that chicken.. cut it up and can it ( pressure canner). My daughter does whole bone in pieces and some cut into chunks for casseroles ..... this is what happens to my old roosters.

I think that's a great idea. I can a lot of our venison, but I've never tried chicken.

 

[LisaYolkUm]

Blarney ----I am so sorry about your mishap! I would be very sad too , in that situation.

I have been freezing more of my home grown items and want to bake some healthy things for later use...........I worry about a power outage that would ruin all my hard work and money involved in it all.

tmrutter------I am also so sorry to hear bout your brothers health difficulties..............this is truly sad ------feel for you

---------------------------

on a different note ............I am happy to report my chickens seem to be figuring things out!

Last night I came home and checked on them and low and behold all 4 were fast asleep on the upper roost bar................just as it was designed for them! They found their beds in the new coop finally! I took a couple of days............but 4 chickens quietly lined up on the roost bar felt very satisfying to THIS MOTHER HEN! it was so sweet!

This morning I also found 4 eggs in the nest box! all before noon with no obvious panting or stress related to" where does one lay an egg in a new coop"...................kinds of behaviors!

eggs in the nest box
chickens sleeping on the roost
calmer behaviors and happier sounds
eating and drinking nicely

all this makes for a happy mamma!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

[COLOR=0000FF]Translation:[/COLOR]
[COLOR=FF0000]'Thank GAWD I was finally able to process my Broad Breasted White Turkeys  e ~they are eating me out of house and home!!    [/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF0000] The male weighed in at a whopping 45 lbs!  [/COLOR]   [COLOR=FF0000] His finished weight was 35 lbs (how ever will I fit him in my oven?).  [/COLOR] [COLOR=FF0000] [/COLOR]

[COLOR=FF0000]The hen was 23 lbs finished ~ enough for a very large Thanksgiving meal.   [/COLOR]

Lololol!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

So my girls were extra noisy this morning, and I heard some strange squawking. So I went out there and couldn't find all of my chickens, but I did find a large pile of feathers. Fearing the worst, I searched and searched. Only found 4. Thankfully after a few minutes one emerged from under a pine tree with low branches. Then I found one who was hiding incredibly well near the fence, the one who had lost feathers. I checked her over and it looks like it was just a superficial scratch or tear and a bunch of missing feathers underneath. She seemed a bit shaken up, but an hour later she was back to normal. I did pour Hydrogen Peroxide on her cuts; I'm not worried about the other chickens seeing blood, there was very little and it was between her wing and tail. They wouldn't really see anything thankfully. The hawk was back, but I'm glad it was not worse. My girls are getting good at hiding, not sure if that is a good or bad thing..,

I will definitely have to get their run fully secured before winter, when there are more hungry mouths on the prowl. ....