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MotorcycleChick said:
Tonight I am in Indiana where it is 10*, and -5* with the windchill. Thursday evening I will be in Dallas. Upper seventies!!
I miss my chickens and turkeys, but not cold and its issues!
I am planning my next flocks as I go down the road. I didn't know my white BCM offspring was desirable. I do know the 100% pullet hatch was!
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send us some of that Texas warmth when you get there! I'm freezing my tushie off! I've been telling hubby that I'm more in tune with nature than the rest of the human race. When winter comes and nature freezes over, so do I. I spend hours in hot baths, under electric blankets, and in front of heaters. It seems like my body gathers up external heat and slowly releases it. Once I'm away from a heater for too long, I need something to heat me back up again. My body just can't seem to keep me warm. It's HORRIBLE!
I don't know if the white BCM is actuality desirable. I think they complained about having "that" gene in my birds when I brought it up in the Marans forum last time but it's desirable to me! I do need some luck with the all pullets thing though. Seems my luck with Marans has been leaning to the all cockerels side :/ looks like both of the pure Marans from my last hatch are boys and the one baby I had ahold of today (needed emergency heating up) had one heck of a baby comb on it so I'm guessing boy there too :( jets hoping the other one is a girl lol.
 
So we processed two of our roosters this afternoon, our mixed breed and the australorp with the gimpy leg. "Gimpy" seemed to be doing fine for a while but once the cold set in he really didn't come out of the coop at all. When I picked him up to put in the crate (did the processing at a friend's house), his foot looked a bit curled and he didn't try to stand on it at all. Turns out the leg issue may not have been from a child-related injury after all, once he was plucked we could see that he had a bunch of smallish tumors. He never acted sick, always had a bright red comb, just limped a little sometimes. Our friend removed the skin and said the meat looked perfectly fine so he cut off some boneless breasts and skinless thighs.

I'm wondering what went wrong with him... could it have been something environmental? Are my other chickens at risk?

Other than that though, we were really pleased with our first processing experience. Our friend had a wiz-bang type plucker and now DH is talking meat chickens (timing them when our friend has his so we can do all the processing together). The girls really didn't have a problem seeing their birds either - they didn't see until after they were plucked, but they still had heads.
 
hendricks115 said:
I found a recipe for medlar jam and a secondary recipe to make a medlar cheesecake from the pulp leftover from the jam (a 2 for 1 type recipe). Probably will be the weekend until I get to try anything since some need bletted yet. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My hubby loves planting old (heritage) plants and trees that most people have never heard of. We have over 125 fruit and nut trees on our property that we planted in a little less than 6 years since we purchased it. I jar as much as I can because I hate to loose what we've worked so hard to grow and what I don't jar we ferment into wine. We have quite a wine cellar too.

We have apples, pears, plums, quinces, medlars, apricots, pawpaws, peaches, persimmons, grapes (not included in the 125 number), hops, elderberries, kiwis, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, etc. I would need to pull out our mapping grid to include everything because there is just too much to remember. All this plus the chickens, turkeys and ducks.

Here's another strange one to look into that we grow and provides a delicious little fruit: Akebia
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Where do you live! I would love to come and do a pick your own day---------at your orchard! if this was acceptable and mutually agreed upon arrangement could be made................sounds heavenly! I have currants ,gooseberry, blueberry, and strawberry , raspberries, plants that I am working on with very minimal yield............only 1-2 years so far and I dont have the best sun and places for them...........but I do think I can get get a good yield with careful planning and a bit of luck-------------then I also have a largely container veggie garden on my deck...........I have built one raised bed next to my chicken run for greens like spinach, leek, lettuce ............things that are more cool weather and can handle a little bit of shade.................. I wish I could get more yield on it all................but I do work at a regular job too and the chickens and garden can take time...................... anyway..............your yard sounds so healthy and wonderful!
 
Fisherlady, the temp changes are only a problem if you go to sleep in Colorado while your dh is driving, and wake in Arizona. It was freezing when I fell asleep wearing thermals, and freezing when I woke up. I thought it had been only a few minutes when I was told were stopping. I threw on my coat, hat, gloves and boots. Once I stepped down into the sand, and turned around I came instantly awake. It was 117* and the AC had been on. That was six years ago. I still have not forgiven him!
Otherwise I like getting out of the bad weather. I had the chance to talk to a waitress the other day that said she was building a coop now. She already has thirty chickens and a few ducks. I think that is familiar to many of us!
A big change I would make the next time is having an automatic pop door. I think it would be worth the money.
 
Hope everyone is keeping warm. This cold and wind just gets to my bones!

Yesterday morning every State in the USA had somewhere in its boarders below freezing temperatures including Hawaii and Florida!
 
global warming
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introducing (from right to left) Wynter, Flurry, and Fria. Fria is the Silkie mix. She's going to be hard to tell from the others. She doesn't have extra toes or black skin lol. If the last egg hatches, it "should" be blue or black, it'll be Coal :)

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Midnight trying to keep them warm :)
 
MotorcycleChick said:
Fisherlady, the temp changes are only a problem if you go to sleep in Colorado while your dh is driving, and wake in Arizona. It was freezing when I fell asleep wearing thermals, and freezing when I woke up. I thought it had been only a few minutes when I was told were stopping. I threw on my coat, hat, gloves and boots. Once I stepped down into the sand, and turned around I came instantly awake. It was 117* and the AC had been on. That was six years ago. I still have not forgiven him!
Otherwise I like getting out of the bad weather. I had the chance to talk to a waitress the other day that said she was building a coop now. She already has thirty chickens and a few ducks. I think that is familiar to many of us!
A big change I would make the next time is having an automatic pop door. I think it would be worth the money.
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I would still be mad at hubby too! LOL

I am seriously considering an auto pop door... DH and I both leave for work when it is still dark, during the fall and winter I would much rather leave the door closed till about 0730 but not an option with our current set up. I am not concerned about predators, more so the extreme cold. The chickens would stay on the roost longer in the morning then. As it is they head outside when it is still dark outside!
 
fisherlady said:
I would still be mad at hubby too! LOL

I am seriously considering an auto pop door... DH and I both leave for work when it is still dark, during the fall and winter I would much rather leave the door closed till about 0730 but not an option with our current set up. I am not concerned about predators, more so the extreme cold. The chickens would stay on the roost longer in the morning then. As it is they head outside when it is still dark outside!
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Fisher:

Mine get up before the sun and come off the roost, but don't leave the run(left open) until day break....I think they are pretty wary when they can't see what's out there....
 

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