Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[LadyBehir]

We had hail! A lot of hail. And a rockslide just off the turn off to our town,about a third of a mile from me.

 

[emorems0]

Finally remembered to take my camera outside with me in the morning to get a few pictures of the turkeys and meaties.

Romeo was standing tall this morning so I snapped one of him as well (and you can see the turkeys in the background). He was not happy when the turkeys moved in 'next door' but I planned on eventually having the turkeys and chickens all in one, larger run. Should I wait until the turkeys are as big as my roo before I let them in there? I don't want him picking on the young turkeys.



Gobble gobble... these guys are about 7 weeks old now (got them from Hacker Hollow... chicadoodle (I think) on BYC)


Chicken tractor for the meaties.. still needs a lot of finishing, but it worked well enough to get them out of my basement/garage before my daughter's birthday party last weekend. They are doing SO much better since I got them outside.


I throw scratch grains and they all act like chickens, even the Cornish Roasters


Is it normal for one breast to be significantly larger than the other? I feel like in all of the chicks we lost they were way out of proportion and then they stopped walking and just sort of faded.


I kind of hate these Cornish Roasters although they've been better since I got them outside. They produce so much heat it feels weird to touch them, especially when they are half naked.


The size difference is incredible! Cornish Roaster with a Delaware, both are 5.5 weeks old


Cornish Roaster with a Dark Cornish - also 5.5 weeks old

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Well today our 10 chicks are 2 weeks old. The seem to be thriving. Working on getting them used to less light at night and teaching them to use a watering nipple. They are loosingtheir fuzz and are feathering out gradually. The Coop and run are just about ready.

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Very nice!

@ Aurora, nice to see that older chick helping the little ones. Seems like mine are always trying to kill each other.

 

[oletymer]

can rats dig holes and tunnels or do they just use another critters tunnels

I set 3 rat traps and caught one last night...

 

[wingstone]

can rats dig holes and tunnels or do they just use another critters tunnels I set 3 rat traps and caught one last night...

Rats will build some impressive tunnels

 

[DylansMom]

can rats dig holes and tunnels or do they just use another critters tunnels

I set 3 rat traps and caught one last night...

Rats will build some impressive tunnels

They dig like prairie dogs, I even had them tunnel up through the concrete floor in my barn. Granted the concrete is old and probably a bit crumbly, but still! We had to resort to poison, it seems to have done the trick because filled-in holes haven't been dug out for several weeks, so hopefully the problem is taken care of. We had some jumbos too.

 

[Yayah]

Everybody loves peeps, right? Svart Hona cuteness! Hatched Saturday.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

can rats dig holes and tunnels or do they just use another critters tunnels

I set 3 rat traps and caught one last night...

They dig like prairie dogs, I even had them tunnel up through the concrete floor in my barn. Granted the concrete is old and probably a bit crumbly, but still! We had to resort to poison, it seems to have done the trick because filled-in holes haven't been dug out for several weeks, so hopefully the problem is taken care of. We had some jumbos too.

yuck!

..they can be so destructive!...

Everybody loves peeps, right? Svart Hona cuteness! Hatched Saturday.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

We had hail! A lot of hail. And a rockslide just off the turn off to our town,about a third of a mile from me.

nasty stuff!! didn't have that bit of nasty here..thank goodness...just bad anyone had to have that rough storm

 

[SilkieSensation]

Very well put CC
Little more advice needed for the little goslings ( I think that is what they would be called)
I thought I had 2 little boys because of the yellow under color, but two little girls will be good also.
Anyone have a pic of a little boy for comparison
Anyone have a little boy for sale
Is it OK if they eat a 24% starter feed for now
That starter is a base mix for my other feed, when can they have the mix with the seeds in it. ( the meat birds get started on the mix at 1 week old )
Are they always friendly, talkative and just plain nosey, or do I have rejects.

Just covering the basics, I gotta admit this worries me, I have never met any friendly geese.

Try the Pilgrim Geese thread for pix & breed specific advice. Females are darker all over, males are yellow with soft grey swirls.

24% is way high for geese. Mix that 50/50 with your scratch grains as long as the corn is cracked & not whole. Pick handfulls of grass & weeds & toss in with them. Too high protein causes angel wing & leg problems...opposite of ducks!!! Lots of greens. Diced veggies, kale, collards, romaine, anything but iceberg. Rabbit pellets would be good too if you don't have anything else to cut protien in the chick starter with since rabbit pellets are mostly alfafla & hay.

I'm sending eggs to silkie tomorrow. I'll probably get some in return in a couple weeks. If she has more pilgrim eggs then, she can just throw some in for you @wingstone. Or give them to you. Maybe you'll get the other sex. I don't even know what a pilgrim goose looks like. Are they a meat bird? I can't imagine keeping geese, although if they graze, they could keep my field trimmed. Or my "lawn", aka weed collection.

I have mixed geese hatching now which would be great weed eaters. I'm not sure my pilgrim will lay any more since I moved her. She was over half way through her laying season. We shall see though. If you just want mixed geese, I can ship those after hatch. The eggs weren't mine, so what hatches is all I will have. I was planning to sell them all anyway. If you handle the goslings from babies on up, they will be pretty friendly. I've never had 1 enjoy being picked up as an adult but they come when called or when they see me with food. The only time I have to watch is mating season. The ganders get hissy & nippy trying to protect the hens & nests. I just hiss back & stomp my foot & my boys back off. I don't turn my back on them though. My daughter got nipped twice this year trying to grab eggs when she turned her back on the gander...lol My boy has calmed down considerably since the move & the girl stopped laying.

My limited experience: turkey fly much better than chickens, especially heritage breed. If you plan a run, cover it or they'll be roosting in trees.

That said, they are very friendly. Mine used to fly out of the run and come down to the house waiting to be fed. Then they would just lead me back to the run and wait for me to open the gate. Not sure why I bothered with the gate. Or the run. Or the coop. They never used it. I hope some of mine hatch. I loved their personality.

good luck on your hatch! Mine will all be heritage breeds and we definitely plan to cover the run. We will be letting them free range too though, so hopefully they get into the habit of using their coop and run lol

Turkeys fly quite well & may or may not return to the coop if you let them free range. My 8 free ranged all winter. They roosted outside the coop but near or on top of it. They only went in when we had 2 ice storms & maybe 2-3 nights it was about -20F. If I wanted to catch the 4 that weren't hand raised I had to wait til after dark & pull them from where they were roosting. The 4 younger ones I raised myself are much more tame & let me pick them up. Even the tom doesn't complain too much about being picked up.

One of my hens toe is infected what should I use on her?

Mix peroxide with warm water & soak the foot a couple times per day. You can also use blu-kote. I would not use neosporin unless you are isolating her & wrappibg the foot.