Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

I wish I weren’t afraid to talk to my husband, but I at least know he’s getting lots of loads, so I won’t be getting a, “gee, I didn’t have any loads this week.”

 

[VictoriaTemple]

So, just moved to Pennsylvania and wondering what plants anyone would recommend planting in the chicken run for the birds? Any plant recommendations welcome but specifically intrested in some type of bush/brush.

Roses, especially cheap or free ones that you don’t mind them munching to pieces. The invasive Japanese multiflora rose that is taking over my area like a zombie apocalypse is a particular chicken delight, they eat every part of it, even the thorns! They also grow in shade, a huge plus! I had 2 little ones in the run growing wild, and they ate every thorn off of them over the winter, but I think the root survived. Good thing they’re free, my woods is full of them! They also like wineberry (another Japanese invasive) and native blackberry. Both will grow in shade, but no berries.

Bamboo, any variety, is sheer chicken paradise! I used to hate people who planted bamboo because it’s SO invasive, but my chickens love it so much I’m finally glad to have it! It has so many vital nutrients in it, it really should be a staple livestock feed.

As far as bushes go, I’m going to try Nanking bush cherry, which supposedly love Pennsylvania. We’ll see how it works out, I intend to keep them in planters outside the run until they’re big enough to withstand my greedy birds!

 

[PouleNoire]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[dheltzel]

Oh wow. I've never seen the local beer distributor so busy! Not even New Years Eve.

On another note, any idea where I could get Scots Dumpy chickens?

The only hatchery with Scots Dumpies is Sand Hill Preservation Center. He is not selling any this year and has lots of trouble keeping them, but he has another breed called American Dumpies that has yellow legs. They are culls from this Scots Dumpy flock and are apparently much more vigorous. I would get those and he does still have them, last I checked.

Glen is a very nice guy too, we have become friends the last few years. I highly recommend buying chicks from him. If you only want the Dumpies, fill the rest of the box of 25 with his assorted chicks. They are only like $1.35 each and usually you get some rare breeds that are just producing better than he has order for.

 

[dheltzel]

View attachment 2053799
This is Tiger, one of @dheltzel ‘s Black Copper Marans. So far he is the first of the 6 to show a touch of copper on his cape. He decided to be friendly tonight, and spent several minutes cuddling with me. I am so in love with this chick! I think I’ve found my new breeding roo! He’s strong, healthy, assertive, intelligent, and has legs like a velociraptor!

Watching dheltzel’s brood mature, I’m starting to realize how little I know about sexing chicks. I wonder if Marans pop their combs young, I know my Pella (BCM pullet from last spring) has a rather large comb for a female. Most of my 9 Marans chicks are sporting combs, but something is telling me they aren’t all boys. We’ll find out before long, if Tiger is any indication!

I wait until I can see about half have much larger combs than the other half. Sometimes the sexes are very skewed, but it is very improbable that you have that many males.

 

[fisherlady]

We just sold 6 hens to someone who only has an old hen and rooster left from a flock from 5 or 6 years ago, they are tired of buying eggs and their neighbor has birds from us so they called hubby out of the blue and stopped by 10 minutes later and picked out 6.
Now only 30 more to go, lol

 

[TillyPeeps]

Winnie-the-Pooh had pasty butt last night too, so she got a bath. When I was drying her feathers, she fell sleep in my hand. I notice her and Blue Bear are the two smaller and do not have too much tail yet. I wonder if that means they are weaker than the others and that's why they had pasty butt? And my son decides that he is the daddy for the chicks. It's so funny to see a 6yr old feeding and petting chicks and keep saying: that's ok, daddy's here. He even read books to the chicks. Then I realized that means I'm a grandma.

 

[PouleNoire]

Aww, sweet!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

We just sold 6 hens to someone who only has an old hen and rooster left from a flock from 5 or 6 years ago, they are tired of buying eggs and their neighbor has birds from us so they called hubby out of the blue and stopped by 10 minutes later and picked out 6.
Now only 30 more to go, lol

As of right now, we have our first swap scheduled for April 4th at TSC in Altoona if you are available to go. We're watching how things progress but as for now, we're still on.

 

[fisherlady]

April swaps would be great, will have to try to get there. With the broody activity from last fall we have a lot to get rid of.