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Woke up to another baby under cookie :) the last egg was setting off to the side. She wasn't covering it anymore and it was rather chilly. I held it for a few minutes to warm it up and heard peeping inside still. It had been peeping for a good 24 hours but no external pip. I broke the rules and helped it hatch. I know you're not supposed to but I felt obligated to since we lost the yellow one (dumb excuse I know). When I broke a hole through the shell, the membranelookedlike it was pretty tight on it so I cracked the shell around the whole way to where is head was. I pulled the membrane back from its face just a little and wet it down with my finger. A couple hours later, I went to check on it and show the kids and it just slipped right out of the shell, peeping like crazy. Looks like cookie has her wings full now!
 
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emorems0 said:
I'm glad there is SOME chance that they'll start laying in the winter! For now, should I have the nest boxes blocked off? They've been sleeping in them... I didn't even have straw or bedding in there but they keep going in to sleep (and then pooping in them). Should I block them off for a few weeks to break that habit? They do have a roost and a couple of the chickens do sleep up there (just the roosters and one of the black australorps).
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mine are doing the same thing..they WERE roosting with the big girls, but now they are back in the boxes...someone in there is probably making it hard for them to roost ..that chick-a-dee is a pain!!
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MotorcycleChick said:
Yeah, block them off until they are sixteen weeks.
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Thank you ...will try this too!!
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barbiegirl said:
My hubby just got a weird phone call. We have an ad on craigslist for 3 hens for sale. The person calls asking if we have roosters. Hubby said we do (we were going to process them this weekend but it rained). The guy says he wants an all black one and a black and brown one for eating. He wanted to know what they looked like and we send some pictures. He was really interested in what they looked like. If you are going to eat them why so interested in the color and pattern. Then he asked if we have Muscovy ducks for sale. Hubby said we have Muscovy ducks but they aren't for sale. No where in my ad did I say I had ducks for sale. We found that very odd. I hope he doesn't want to do anything horrible with the roosters. :( Does that phone conversation seem odd to anyone else?
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That is creepy-weird....sounds like MC is on the right track..this dude is looking for something.."not normal", to do with them
MotorcycleChick said:
Barbiegirl, idk if it is related or not, but black and orange cats can't be adopted in October due to Halloween sacrifices.
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..
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/wow, didn't know that one!
 
stake said:
Good morning all:

here's the newest addition to the flock....CCL over Olive Egger.....
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great!!
**good luck to all those hatching and caring for broodies!! Fun stuff and nerve racking -YES!! hahaha...

**Aurora- sorry for your loss...it is sad to loss them in any way.

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OMGosh..just realized in that last post I spelled "plucker"..as "pucker"..ahahhaha...no auto-correct here! But that can be a nightmare too...
 
Morning ALL!

DH and I have decided to try and develop our own self sustaining meat bird flock. Not that I don't like CXs but I'd like to be able to space my freezer camp dates out a little bit more. Right now I make 1 huge order and they all go to camp at the same time. I also wanted something a little less feed intensive than the CX. I've had RIR and NH and they just dont dress out as I'd like them to.

I have the beautiful white rocks already and we had decided to try and get some dark cornish to cross with. I've been researching and found out that the 2 breeds dont really cross well naturally - they need a little AI help. We're still going to try it though when I find some DC.

In the meantime, I found out that the Amish in the area just got a line on Freedom Ranger Chickens. I spoke with him yesterday to make arrangements for slaughtering some extra roos and drakes I have and made arrangements to get my hands on about 6 pullets for next spring! I can cross those 2 breeds easily and see where it goes. I am also going to cross the FR with my orpington roo to see what happens. The Amish guy was really interested in this b/c he sells hundreds of birds a month ethnic groups in buffalo - they wont eat CXs, but they want more meat on the birds than the FR have on their own. If I can get something he said he would definitely be interested in buying any I dont keep.

If you've never heard of freedom rangers - I first read about them in Backyard Poultry Magazine. Here's the link to the article
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/alternatives_to_the_cornish_cross/
They're not a perfect solution - still being a hyrid meat bird, but experimentation is fun.



I'll
 
Kinmera said:
Morning ALL!

DH and I have decided to try and develop our own self sustaining meat bird flock.  Not that I don't like CXs but I'd like to be able to space my freezer camp dates out a little bit more.  Right now I make 1 huge order and they all go to camp at the same time.  I also wanted something a little less feed intensive than the CX.  I've had RIR and NH and they just dont dress out as I'd like them to.

I have the beautiful white rocks already and we had decided to try and get some dark cornish to cross with.  I've been researching and found out that the 2 breeds dont really cross well naturally - they need a little AI help.   We're still going to try it though when I find some DC.

In the meantime, I found out that the Amish in the area just got a line on Freedom Ranger Chickens.   I spoke with him yesterday to make arrangements for slaughtering some extra roos and drakes I have and made arrangements to get my hands on about 6 pullets for next spring!   I can cross those 2 breeds easily and see where it goes.  I am also going to cross the FR with my orpington roo to see what happens.   The Amish guy was really interested in this b/c he sells hundreds of birds a month ethnic groups in buffalo - they wont eat CXs, but they want more meat on the birds than the FR have on their own.  If I can get something he said he would definitely be interested in buying any I dont keep.

If you've never heard of freedom rangers - I first read about them in Backyard Poultry Magazine.  Here's the link to the article
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/alternatives_to_the_cornish_cross/
They're not a perfect solution - still being a hyrid meat bird, but experimentation is fun.



I'll
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For a dual purpose bird the light sussex I have now make a nice carcass at 18 weeks. I have some white Rocks and plan to do some crosses also. Will have to compare notes after the first generation grows up.
 

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