Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[dheltzel]

Thanks, I need to get my butt out of my husbands shop and outside to finish the Silkie coop. Why does it have to get dark at 5pm! I'm ready for bed at 8!

I know what you mean, I went to bed at 8 on Sat night, just too tired to stay up. And it doesn't get light that early either.

Today I put 2 lights in the new coop so it will be possible to work in there after dark. Now I need to find a working timer to set the lights to come on at 3 AM so the rest of the pullets start laying. We're getting about 4 eggs a day, and some of them really are too young to lay yet, but at least 20 of them should be old enough to start laying.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Regarding the Hybrid Poplars - they do grow really fast. Poplars are closely related to willows and they are all known to be very easy from cuttings. They will even root in a bucket of water, but transitioning them to soil is harder than just rooting them in very moist soul. If anyone is interested in either Hybrid Poplars or Pussy Willows, I would be happy to give you cuttings.

While on the subject of giving things away, would anyone like a Blue Ameracauna roo? He's about a year old and came from Whitmore Farms. I just don't need him for breeding and wanted to see if anyone else wanted him before I set him free. I have several other roos too, but he's the most "special".

do you have the weeping (willow) variety?..they are so nice, don't get near as large/tall as the other variety.

 

[fisherlady]

Oh poor little baby lol. I did a test tonight with my mama and her babies. They'll be 5 weeks old this week. I closed off the little coop to see what she would do. She took then all into the main run but abandoned them and went to roost leaving the babies out in the run alone. They were crying quite pitifully lol. They just can't figure out the ramp yet so they wouldn't follow her in. I opened the little coop back up and kicked her out of the main coop again. She was quick to gather her babies and run to the other coop with them lol. How does that work anyway? Will she actually get them into the main coop eventually or will she just abandon them when she's done with them?

She would probably prefer to take them into the big coop and teach them roosting in there if possible before giving them up entirely, most of our hens take there little ones up onto the roost for a week or two before cutting them loose. But that doesn't mean every hen will do the same.

To help things along you can boot out the rest of the flock during the day but keep mama and chicks in the run. then use treats to encourage them up the ramp into the main coop. just scatter a few treats up along the ramp and try to get the most forward of the chicks to follow them up. Once the chicks go up the ramp a time or two they will get the idea. Once you get the chicks and mama into the coop you can offer them a treat or a feeder with some preferred goodies in it so the little ones are more willing to stay in the coop for a short time, this way they won't view it as much as a 'foreign' place and be more willing to go in with their mama the next time.
If mama tries to get them into the coop again you can assist her in encouraging them up the ramp and then let her do the rest, it may take her a few tries to get them to cooperate though, the little buggers are creatures of habit, so you may find them sleeping in a pile on the floor for a bit, but they will eventually get it. You may end up having to either block off or entirely remove the little coop they have been using though...

 

[barbiegirl]

Happy Thanksgiving! Watch till the end.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152389845162595

 

[dheltzel]

do you have the weeping (willow) variety?..they are so nice, don't get near as large/tall as the other variety.

I don't have any weeping willows, but they are pretty common and given how they shed twigs in every storm, it should be easy to get permission to gather these up. Weeping willows get quite large. Pussy willows can too, but I manage pussy willows by cutting them back to under a foot every spring. Last spring I stuck all the stems I cut from out plants into a swampy area at my sisters farm, hoping to establish a small "forest".

 

[troyer]

Just read something similar in a borrowed book. Can't remember the author, but his first name might have been Paul.
Beautiful eggs in your picture, too. I hope to make more OE next year.
Question: What is the egg in the upper left? It's paler with freckles. Interesting.

The speckled egg comes from a Cubalaya pullet.

 

[stake]

Oh poor little baby lol. I did a test tonight with my mama and her babies. They'll be 5 weeks old this week. I closed off the little coop to see what she would do. She took then all into the main run but abandoned them and went to roost leaving the babies out in the run alone. They were crying quite pitifully lol. They just can't figure out the ramp yet so they wouldn't follow her in. I opened the little coop back up and kicked her out of the main coop again. She was quick to gather her babies and run to the other coop with them lol. How does that work anyway? Will she actually get them into the main coop eventually or will she just abandon them when she's done with them?

Aura:

All young chicks have a few days where they have a hard time getting back into the coop...not with my young'in....mama came of the roost to cover the pup in a nesting box...with your chooks, mama wanted to return to the flock...since the babies were acclimated to a different environment....the confusion is understandable...a learning lesson in chook behaviors imho....

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I don't have any weeping willows, but they are pretty common and given how they shed twigs in every storm, it should be easy to get permission to gather these up. Weeping willows get quite large. Pussy willows can too, but I manage pussy willows by cutting them back to under a foot every spring. Last spring I stuck all the stems I cut from out plants into a swampy area at my sisters farm, hoping to establish a small "forest".

there are weeping pussy willows...if left unattended, they can get quite large-15-20ft...was just wondering if you had the 'weeping' variety..for whatever reason that type of tree appeals to me and just seems to be easier to keep up with. I don't think i have the room for any 'normal' sized tree...plus being small, we have to keep things 'with-in' reach ..hahaha...making sure that all trees are in the dwarf-size..
Here is a pic of a weeping pussy willow..

***the site got it from....http://blog.pennlive.com/gardening/2013/09/planting_and_growing_a_weeping.html
Good luck to your sisters future forest!!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

She would probably prefer to take them into the big coop and teach them roosting in there if possible before giving them up entirely, most of our hens take there little ones up onto the roost for a week or two before cutting them loose.  But that doesn't mean every hen will do the same.

To help things along you can boot out the rest of the flock during the day but keep mama and chicks in the run.  then use treats to encourage them up the ramp into the main coop.  just scatter a few treats up along the ramp and try to get the most forward of the chicks to follow them up.  Once the chicks go up the ramp a time or two they will get the idea.  Once you get the chicks and mama into the coop you can offer them a treat or a feeder with some preferred goodies in it so the little ones are more willing to stay in the coop for a short time, this way they won't view it as much as a 'foreign' place and be more willing to go in with their mama the next time.
 If mama tries to get them into the coop again you can assist her in encouraging them up the ramp and then let her do the rest, it may take her a few tries to get them to cooperate though, the little buggers are creatures of habit, so you may find them sleeping in a pile on the floor for a bit, but they will eventually get it.  You may end up having to either block off or entirely remove the little coop they have been using though...

I may have to try that tomorrow. Those chicks absolutely love their treats. Hopefully mama doesn't go eat them all before the babies lol.

 

[dheltzel]

there are weeping pussy willows...if left unattended, they can get quite large-15-20ft...was just wondering if you had the 'weeping' variety..for whatever reason that type of tree appeals to me and just seems to be easier to keep up with. I don't think i have the room for any 'normal' sized tree...plus being small, we have to keep things 'with-in' reach ..hahaha...making sure that all trees are in the dwarf-size..
Here is a pic of a weeping pussy willow..

***the site got it from....http://blog.pennlive.com/gardening/2013/09/planting_and_growing_a_weeping.html
Good luck to your sisters future forest!!

My pussy willows are the "old fashioned" kind. They were surprisingly hard to find, but my sister wanted some like out Mom used to grow. I remember my Dad hating the flowering bushes, but especially that pussy willow, so one time he cut it down to the ground. My Mom was furious because it came from her Mom and had sentimental value. I was a young boy, but even then I knew a lot more about plants than my Mom, so I told her to not worry, it would come back - and it did, it grew more than 6 feet high in 1 summer, and the next spring it had the best "crop" of giant-sized pussy willows ever! What a great comeback. After that, Mom let Dad cut it back every spring, after she cut some to force inside.

That is the way I manage our bushes also, cut back to the ground every spring and sheared again in mid-summer to make them branch and keep them lower. Not a low-maintenance hedge or anything, but they have sentimental value for me now that my Mom is gone.