Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[OneMountainAcres]

Thank you so much for that info! I'll have to figure out how to catch one to see what type of bee it is. I could have yellow jackets or honey bees. Carpenter or bumble bees. We'll see! Thanks!

Also, I have 2 flower beds by my house. I spent all day yesterday fixing them because the chickens love to dig in there and ruin all my flowers. The only thing left is the roses. I went to Stan's Garden Center and bought a willow bush. I hope it survives with the chickens

I wanted to ask you all - what kinds of flowers, bushes, etc, do you have with your chickens?

We have tons if irises everywhere and the chickens don't mess with them at all. We used to have hostas too but they've been decimated lol. They don't mess with the blueberry bushes it raspberry bushes until there's actually berries on them, then they pick them off. We also have lilac and Rose of Sharon that they don't touch.

 

[BullChick]

Not all bees are "good bees". I am kind toward most bees, but the common yellow jackets are not native to the US and have really decimated native bees (and other insects) both by outcompeting with them and direct predation. So, kill all the yellow jackets you can. The only really threatening bees are the hornet-type wasps, yellow jackets and the various hornets. I feel no remorse about killing them anywhere they might encounter people.
The "best bees" are the bumblebees and solitary bees like Mason and Orchard bees. They are far more efficient pollinators than honeybees, but honeybees get the PR because, well honey.
The carpenter bees are another matter. You should protect your wood structures, but they are harmless to people and not worth hunting down unless they are damaging your buildings. I find it very satisfying to wait until they climb into their hole, then push a nail in behind them, turning their ill-gotten home into their tomb.

I read your post in an email, then went to let the dog out. I was immediately stung.
I forgot that I have sting relief swabs. I went straight to the animal medicine cabinet.

Thank you so much for that info! I'll have to figure out how to catch one to see what type of bee it is. I could have yellow jackets or honey bees. Carpenter or bumble bees. We'll see! Thanks!

Also, I have 2 flower beds by my house. I spent all day yesterday fixing them because the chickens love to dig in there and ruin all my flowers. The only thing left is the roses. I went to Stan's Garden Center and bought a willow bush. I hope it survives with the chickens

I wanted to ask you all - what kinds of flowers, bushes, etc, do you have with your chickens?

I think lilac bushes are every bird’s favorite. The turkeys, ducks and chickens always accumulated under mine. The chicks love to roost on the lower branches.
I am currently debating on replanting the new growth and letting the bush continue to spread.

 

[fisherlady]

Mine love the old lilac bushes for lounging and dusting under...And they have survived the chicken onslaught for years, so I would call lilacs a good alternative for hedge rows or chicken run areas, I would fence it off for a year or so though to give them a solid chance to establish a healthy root system. But honestly, fencing off any plant to allow it to gain a healthy root hold is a good idea with birds around...

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Whew! What a day. We left somewhere around 5:00 am (after falling asleep at 12:00) for the hospital. They gave him some stronger drugs and also a script for some pain relief. I called his dentist again and he thought it was definitely not TMJ. We were able to get an appointment with the endodontist and they fixed him up. Turns out he had a cracked tooth and had to have a root canal. I was so glad he finally got relief!

Back to the poultry... I came home and ALL of my turkeys had hatched! 11 chicks all dancing in there. For this hatch, I didn't add any (or only a little) humidity, until lockdown. They all hatched perfectly from neglect. I suppose it was also good because the eggs were fresh.

Im so glad I had my automatic coop door and big bowls of food and water for the chickens all ready, so they were taken care of. My meat birds ran out of food and water, but I took care of them as soon as I got home. @Auroradream26 When did you decide to butcher your Cornish crosses last year? Did you go by weight, or age? I'm not sure of the age of mine, but some of them are close to 5 lbs.

If one dentist won't do thorough testing then go to another, recently had a friend go through similar for multiple weeks, a general xray showed 'nothing wrong' but after a major abscess required draining twice and antibiotics a subsequent test showed the tooth was cracked up into the root, allowing a path for bacteria. She was in agony before it was finally taken care of.

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I am just so glad it wasn't a TMJ thing, because that can be chronic.


I love lilac bushes, and I plan to plant a couple. So nice to know that the chickens like them too! I remember how @BullChick s girls loved to hide underneath when I visited.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

View attachment 1378395
Whew! What a day. We left somewhere around 5:00 am (after falling asleep at 12:00) for the hospital. They gave him some stronger drugs and also a script for some pain relief. I called his dentist again and he thought it was definitely not TMJ. We were able to get an appointment with the endodontist and they fixed him up. Turns out he had a cracked tooth and had to have a root canal. I was so glad he finally got relief!

Back to the poultry... I came home and ALL of my turkeys had hatched! 11 chicks all dancing in there. For this hatch, I didn't add any (or only a little) humidity, until lockdown. They all hatched perfectly from neglect. I suppose it was also good because the eggs were fresh.

Im so glad I had my automatic coop door and big bowls of food and water for the chickens all ready, so they were taken care of. My meat birds ran out of food and water, but I took care of them as soon as I got home. @Auroradream26 When did you decide to butcher your Cornish crosses last year? Did you go by weight, or age? I'm not sure of the age of mine, but some of them are close to 5 lbs.





Thanks for the words of encouragement! I am just so glad it wasn't a TMJ thing, because that can be chronic.


I love lilac bushes, and I plan to plant a couple. So nice to know that the chickens like them too! I remember how @BullChick s girls loved to hide underneath when I visited.

Congratulations on the new babies! Excellent hatch! And I'm so glad that everything worked out for him and he can finally have some relief.

As for the meaties last year, we only went 8-9 weeks and most of them dressed out at about 5lbs. They were a decent size but normally, we would've waited until about 12 weeks to get them just a little bigger. We had to get them done before we went to Oregon for my brother's wedding though so we couldn't wait any longer.

 

[fisherlady]

@AnneInTheBurbs
So glad he got the tooth fixed up, and great hatch for the turkeys!

As for the meaties... There is no 'right time' so to speak, we aim for 10 weeks but more importantly we watch for weight goals and health status. To simplify things we weigh the birds when they begin to look big, usually about 8 weeks, we use a spritz of blu-kot on the tail of birds getting close to goal weight. Any birds with worrisome walking or breathing get s spritz at the joint of neck and back for easy sight in a group. Any birds with health issues get moved to front of the line and are scheduled for butcher at earliest opportunity even if weight isn't optimal because I would rather have a light butcher carcass than none at all if it flips when we aren't there to save the meat. Birds with rattly breathing or 'bulby butt' are butchered within a day or two of first being noticed, dark combs and wattles are also a sign of imminent threat of death so they are butchered almost immediately when found.

If we have a few birds who stay in nice health we often will let them go a couple more weeks to use them as big roasters, it is nice to have a couple of 8 lbers in the freezer for if company comes over.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Thanks @fisherlady and @Auroradream26 . But what is bulby butt?

And processing weight is usually about 70% of live weight, right?

 

[BullChick]

Bulby butt is when you pull a bright idea out of your butt.

 

[fisherlady]

Thanks @fisherlady and @Auroradream26 . But what is bulby butt?

And processing weight is usually about 70% of live weight, right?

'Bulby butt' is just what hubby and I call it when a bird starts to retain fluid... you can cup your hand on a birds posterior abdomen and see how they normally feel, usually some give to it and non-protruded. On a bird with congestive heart failure (CHF) or ascites (abdominal fluid caused by organ disease or infection) their 'butt' gets a water balloon feel and looks 'bulby' to me...hence the name. These same birds usually have a clear yellow/orange fluid in their abdomen when you open them up. We have drained fluid via needle aspiration and gotten an extra week or two worth of growth, but really it isn't an effective management for the condition so now we only drain them if we need to wait a couple of days for a more convenient butcher time. Draining them can make them more comfortable for a couple of days.

And 70% is pretty close to what we average for live vs butchered weight.

 

[dheltzel]

Thank you so much for that info! I'll have to figure out how to catch one to see what type of bee it is. I could have yellow jackets or honey bees. Carpenter or bumble bees. We'll see! Thanks!

Also, I have 2 flower beds by my house. I spent all day yesterday fixing them because the chickens love to dig in there and ruin all my flowers. The only thing left is the roses. I went to Stan's Garden Center and bought a willow bush. I hope it survives with the chickens

I wanted to ask you all - what kinds of flowers, bushes, etc, do you have with your chickens?

Instead of catching them, just observe them. Yellow jackets are really wasps and don't do flowers, so if you see bees working the dandelions and clover, those are almost certainly honeybees or bumblebees. Carpenter bees are found chewing into wood, bumblebees never do that.