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Auroradream26 said:
These pictures are property of duluthralphie. I borrowed them to show you guys what his toads are.


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On the left is a young turkey. I can't remember for sure but I think he said it was around 12 lbs. On the right is a toad, about 15 lbs.
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Thank you for the answer--and, wow, that is a BIG chicken! Handsome, too.
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Today I continued my work from yesterday on improving the coop and run. Here are some pics below of the current setup. I adjusted the pvc pipes so that they are now arched and hopefully be better to keep the rain and snow from piling up. The tarped roof is temporary for this winter. I finally made a door, and it barely fit! Oh well, it was my first time. Also, the last pic is of a sign my MIL found for me.
big_smile.png


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You did a lot of work on that, i can tell because I know about how long that would have taken me to do. I do have one comment, the flexible plastic pipes should be rigidly tied together at the top (and maybe half way down each side). When you get a load on the top, the weakest place is for the pipes to move closer or farther from each other, allowing the load to settle into the valley between them, The wider that valley is, the more snow it collects and the greater the tendency to splay the pipes even further apart, widening that valley., That will continue until the weight causes the pipes to invert or that tarp to come loose, then it will all fall into the run.

I hate to be the bearer or bad news, but actually seeing this happen to your run is pretty discouraging. I've given up on tarp roofs, I either use welded wire and let the precip fall through, or metal roofing (a big, expensive project with structural considerations of it's own). For this winter, you might see if you can remove the tarp and store it inside before major snow or ice events. I know that is not what you were hoping to do with this, but a squashed or trapped bird can be avoided if you do.
 
dheltzel said:
Autosexing breeds and Ameracuanas for 2017
For 2018, I'm acquiring:
bantam ameraucana - buff and silver
Welsummers from Sandhill
Cream Braebanters

Possible breeds to acquire:
Mille Fleur Leghorns
Isabel Leghorns
Wheaten Penedesencas
bantam cochins - barred and black frizzles

I am also thinking about buying a large group (50 or more) of assorted chicks from Sandhill. I had so much fun with the mixed chicks from John Blehm last year. These would come in later (summer), and I will be selling off most of them, just keeping any that particularly intrigue me. It's a surprise what might be in there, and it helps out the hatchery because they can unload whatever surplus they hatch that they can't use to fill orders. If I do this, I will post a list of what I got here and anyone that wants them can have "first dibs".
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Hi @dheltzel,
If your summer 2017 Sandhill mix contains any Lakenvelders I'd be interested in buying one from you. They're very nice to look at and the catalog says good foragers.
 
Auroradream26 said:
I'm getting rid of the Marans. I'll be breeding lavender ameraucanas, silkies, silkied lavender ameraucanas, CCL, Welbars, and hopefully Ayam cemani on the chicken front. Turkey poults will probably be my main focus. I'll have bourbon buff/red, red bronze, mottled black, hopefully some royal palm, and any combination of those. I feel certain that I'll have muscovy ducklings too at some point whether by choice or not lol.

I'm going to try to get some hatching eggs from @duluthralphie sometime this spring if his "toads" are laying well so that we can raise some sustainable and self breeding meat birds
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We will be in the market for some turkey poults this spring... Hubs decided to ditch his pheasant project and go back to turkeys, but we want something other than bourbon reds this time. Haven't decided which breed yet. It's okay to put a couple of BBW in with heritage turkeys, right?

I missed the conversation about the "toads"... can anyone enlighten me? I plan to have my Delaware x Dark Cornish crosses breeding this year (finally, after losing nearly all of my project flock to predators last spring). I'm hoping they'll have a nice deep breast and large size for a sustainable meat flock.

The laying pen is going to make beautiful cartons of eggs this year. At the moment, I am getting nearly 1 blue, 1 green, and 1-2 tan/brown eggs a day, but once they all pick up and starting laying I should be getting a dozen or so a day of mixed blue, green, brown, and chocolate :)

We're planning on processing our meaties next weekend, I hope it's warm outside! We'll be borrowing a plucker, but we may do some of the biggest ones tomorrow and just skin them and part them out in the garage. Between my neighbor and I we have 30 meaties to process.
 
dheltzel said:
You did a lot of work on that, i can tell because I know about how long that would have taken me to do. I do have one comment, the flexible plastic pipes should be rigidly tied together at the top (and maybe half way down each side). When you get a load on the top, the weakest place is for the pipes to move closer or farther from each other, allowing the load to settle into the valley between them, The wider that valley is, the more snow it collects and the greater the tendency to splay the pipes even further apart, widening that valley., That will continue until the weight causes the pipes to invert or that tarp to come loose, then it will all fall into the run.

I hate to be the bearer or bad news, but actually seeing this happen to your run is pretty discouraging. I've given up on tarp roofs, I either use welded wire and let the precip fall through, or metal roofing (a big, expensive project with structural considerations of it's own). For this winter, you might see if you can remove the tarp and store it inside before major snow or ice events. I know that is not what you were hoping to do with this, but a squashed or trapped bird can be avoided if you do.
Click to expand...

The tarp roof on my turkey shed has been holding up amazing through heavy rains and snow loads... I wonder if I have a picture somewhere. I do use a ridge pole to keep all of the rounded poles the same distance apart. When I did my chicken tractor, I bought the PVC connectors that look like a + to connect the ridge pole sections to the bent pole sections. But I was out of $$ when I did my turkey shed roof so I found a different way to connect them that I think works even better. I used a long, solid ridge pole (ie, not cut into sections) and drilled two 1/4" or so holes wherever the ridge pole would cross the rounded poles. I also drilled two holes at the center point of each rounded pole. Then I used a zip tie (the thick black ones that have UV protection) laced through each set of holes to connect the ridge pole to the curved poles. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.
 
emorems0 said:
The tarp roof on my turkey shed has been holding up amazing through heavy rains and snow loads... I wonder if I have a picture somewhere. I do use a ridge pole to keep all of the rounded poles the same distance apart. When I did my chicken tractor, I bought the PVC connectors that look like a + to connect the ridge pole sections to the bent pole sections. But I was out of $$ when I did my turkey shed roof so I found a different way to connect them that I think works even better. I used a long, solid ridge pole (ie, not cut into sections) and drilled two 1/4" or so holes wherever the ridge pole would cross the rounded poles. I also drilled two holes at the center point of each rounded pole. Then I used a zip tie (the thick black ones that have UV protection) laced through each set of holes to connect the ridge pole to the curved poles. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.
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That makes sense to me and was what I was trying to explain. I don't trust zip ties for long term outdoor exposure, so I would recommend Anne is wire, something about the diameter of coat hanger wire is smaller than a zip tie, but sturdier (don't want the hole to be too large, it add a "stress point", the plastic pipe will almost always break at a hole). Coat hanger wire is a little harder to bend than some of the softer wire, but better for structural integrity.
 
emorems0 said:
We will be in the market for some turkey poults this spring... Hubs decided to ditch his pheasant project and go back to turkeys, but we want something other than bourbon reds this time. Haven't decided which breed yet. It's okay to put a couple of BBW in with heritage turkeys, right?

I missed the conversation about the "toads"... can anyone enlighten me? I plan to have my Delaware x Dark Cornish crosses breeding this year (finally, after losing nearly all of my project flock to predators last spring). I'm hoping they'll have a nice deep breast and large size for a sustainable meat flock.


The laying pen is going to make beautiful cartons of eggs this year. At the moment, I am getting nearly 1 blue, 1 green, and 1-2 tan/brown eggs a day, but once they all pick up and starting laying I should be getting a dozen or so a day of mixed blue, green, brown, and chocolate :)

We're planning on processing our meaties next weekend, I hope it's warm outside! We'll be borrowing a plucker, but we may do some of the biggest ones tomorrow and just skin them and part them out in the garage. Between my neighbor and I we have 30 meaties to process.
Click to expand...


Let me know when your ready! I already have about 17 turkey eggs in the bator. 6 are due in 2 weeks and are developing nicely :) I see no reason why you couldn't have a couple broad breasted mixed in with them. I'm planning to get 1 or two this year to try them out.

Chaos18 said:
@Auroradream26 Was it you that was planning on repurposing a trampoline frame into a chicken run/area?
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I'm going to use an old frame to one of those frame pools. It'll either be a tractor for meaties or playpen for babies, or separation pen. Who knows lol
 
Auroradream26 said:
....
I'm going to use an old frame to one of those frame pools. It'll either be a tractor for meaties or playpen for babies, or separation pen. Who knows lol
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I couldn't remember if it was a pool or a trampoline. I just picked up a trampoline for free so was planning on doing something for the birds with it as well.
 

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