Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[LadyBehir]

That's the thing, though. We are not in the flood zone. No idea why Larry's Creek jumped its banks. We didn't get flooded in Agnes according to the guy next door. I've been here 33 years and NEVER had this.

 

[dheltzel]

I just moved the last of the guinea keets for this year out of the basement. So much quieter now!
I didn't expect to find many eggs as the feral guineas are so good at hiding their nests, but I was able to find some nests and hatched about a hundred keets. Sold some, coons got some, but plenty still growing out to replenish the feral ones that didn't make the "survival of the fittest" cut this year.

 

[dheltzel]

Strange happenings in the chick room . . .
I am not very successful with peafowl. Every other type of poultry I've tried I have some success with, but peafowl have frustrated me to the point of giving up - until someone who was moving away from their farm made me an offer I could not refuse. So now I have 7 more than I had at the start of the summer. She also gave me 7 eggs to try to incubate. I have studied what I might have gotten wrong with past incubation, so I set these in my best incubator with precise humidity control. Keeping the temp and humidity very stable seems to be extra important for peas, and I ended up with 4 peachicks.
All the parents are the standard India Blue, but one peachick had white sections of fluff. All had fully developed wing feathers.
All was fine for several days and I prepared to move them to a brooder with more space and a cover to prevent escapes. But I decided a day late - the one with the white was gone one morning ;(
I quickly moved the remaining 3 to their new brooder and search the chickroom in vain until I gave up and resolved to not let that happen in the future. The cover on their new brooder was not completely secure, but it would be a lot harder for an escapee now.
Next morning I checked on the peachicks, hoping no more had escaped and found - four! It was very clear that the missing peachick with the white patches. was clever enough to find her siblings in the new brooder and joined them.
I am rethinking my claim that peas are the least intelligent of all fowl. That little one followed the vocalizations of her siblings a returned home.
I better start advertising to sell of of these. Anyone with peafowl can attest that it is indeed possible to have "too many peacocks". But I might keep the smart one and see if she has unusual colors as an adult, and of course she can't grow up alone . . .

 

[AmyMon]

We have a 9-week-old rooster that we can’t keep in our neighborhood (Tractor Supply mis-mark). 85% sure he’s an olive egger—prettiest one of the flock! We are in the Lititz-Ephrata area and will meet for a dropoff or deliver if close.

 

[AmyMon]

We have a 9-week-old rooster that we can’t keep in our neighborhood (Tractor Supply mis-mark). 85% sure he’s an olive egger—prettiest one of the flock! We are in the Lititz-Ephrata area and will meet for a dropoff or deliver if close.

We found him a home!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

@fisherlady I'm not sure how long it's been since I got Ana and Elsa from you but I found Ana dead in the coop today. Elsa died years ago. Ana had to be 6 or 7 at least? She was my broody extraordinaire! I think last summer was the first time she didn't go broody.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

@fisherlady I'm not sure how long it's been since I got Ana and Elsa from you but I found Ana dead in the coop today. Elsa died years ago. Ana had to be 6 or 7 at least? She was my broody extraordinaire! I think last summer was the first time she didn't go broody.

I couldn't edit my post but I looked back in the thread and it looks like I got them from you in early 2016 which made her 8 1/2 years old! Wow!

 

[Seaslug]

It was very clear that the missing peachick with the white patches. was clever enough to find her siblings in the new brooder and joined them.
But I might keep the smart one and see if she has unusual colors as an adult, and of course she can't grow up alone . . .

Any updates on your peafowl chicks?

 

[dheltzel]

Any updates on your peafowl chicks?

All 4 are doing great. They are 5 weeks old now and the "pretty" one (they will all be gorgeous peafowl) has stayed put, but I don't leave them uncovered at all now.
I have 2 younger ones hatched now, 1 is 2 weeks old and the other hatched today.

 

[feliciadawn]

Been a long time since I have written. Until recently I had 13 hens, but I have lost 3 in the last few weeks to a hawk, including my only frizzle (from Dennis). Today the hawk was loudly squawking in the tree above my pen, and my dog, who is supposed to be a herding/farm dog, was under the sofa terrified of her. I finally got the dog to go outside to chase some sticks, and the hawk flew away.

It is going to be a rough fall! I used to have some tough hens who would chase off hawks, but now they are all wimps, and I can't have a rooster unless he is very very quiet.