Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

..Blarney that is awesome! alot of work!!...I just wish they would stay that pristine!  Are you using Plastic roofing? we purchased that stuff, figuring it will stand up to the elements just as well as metal & not need to be painted or treated in any way. 

Yup! I love that roofing!

blarney, i love the grow out pen, might have to steal some ideas there...are those roost painted tobacco lathes ??and speaking of paint, is it safe to paint inside the coop,,how long you wait to put them in after painting ???

Sally i am also over ran with duckies and plenty more in bators,,,sorry can not help you out on that one....speaking of ducks i seen pics of a duck called a hookbill duck,,  they are surely a little different,  almost thought about getting some just because they are different and not everyone has them,,and the story with them says they are muted..

hubby bought me 2 large calf hutches, i plan on using these as summer time pens, not sure they will work for winter though,,,,hubby seems to think they would be fine in winter if i put straw bales around the outside....thoughts please..  

I love the idea of the calf hutches for poultry I would think they would work year round, as long as they have ventilation. The roosts in my coop are just scrap pieces of wood I had around. I paint the insides of my coops as I read in a book from the 1920's that farmers would white wash the insides of their coop to keep the hens laying with more reflective light. I don't usually have to wait after painting as the time frame from painting to me actually putting the thing together is at least weeks, sometimes months.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

[COLOR=800080]I'm starting to get nervous. We moved here almost 2 years ago, and the beautiful brand new unfinished house next door has stood empty pending a divorce. This weekend for the first time there is activity going on over there. They are working on the house. I put my coops up before I knew anything about laws and such. That being said, all 3 are only about 50 ft. into the property line, and I have roosters crowing day and night! I am really praying some awesome, tolerant country folks get the place, or I could be in for a real headache!:/ [/COLOR]

i think you my have an advantage here being 'the first one in'. Much better having your birds already there while the people are building or looking.

This weekend I picked up some hardy kiwis and a hops plant for free. I can't wait for fresh kiwi.

FREE?! Yowza! I've always wanted a hops vine on a trellis entering my garden...someday. There is a variety that is chartreuse, is that what you have? I'm not sure if you already know, but Kiwis are dioecious, you need a male as well as female plant.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

wooh starting this in two hours

Wow, this is cool. I sometimes draw a map of the eggs in the bator so I can keep track of my candling results. DH bought me birds for Mother's Day!! Not Kiwis, though.

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

UGH!!!! I can not wait to move!!!! We have a sprayer buzzing the house (so it stays under the power lines). I'm sick of having to move my dogs inside every year, now I'll need to worry about keeping the chickens in the coop when they do this. I have other complaints with this Christmas tree field, but this is the main one right now.
Ok I feel a tad better after that rant....Sorry for that.

 

[SilkieSensation]

those that are participating in the may egg swap,,,you wouldn't happen to know who has my name would you,,,,,would it be rude to ask specifically for a certain kind of quail...

It's not me. JJ sold my quail eggs yesterday to a guy who came to get turkey eggs so I just started collecting again. I took pix yesterday but hadn't had a chance to get them to you yet. Our landlord was being a donkey's rear last night & this morning & JJ had to put him in his place. Then we had to run around & grab all the chicks & the bator to take to my son's classroom because the landlord's visit threw us half an hour behind on our scheduled plans.

How much ferrnented feed should I be going thru ??? I have 3- 5 gallon buckets going,,,I dump 1 whole bucket in every day,,,they also still have dry food available, but do not eat much of it...the fermented feed they clean up every day,,,I only feed this once a day.....or should i say dump....the easiest way i found was to just dump it into a plastic sand box (the kind that looks like a turtle)...

I have really noticed a difference in the poop piles, they are solid piles instead of runny, .....just seems like to much since most say they only keep 1 bucket at a time......this is feeding about 10 roosters and about 35 hens....

for some reason i can not get hubbies meat birds to eat the fermented feed.

I use 4 1/2 FULL 5 gallon buckets daily for about 20 LF chickens, 5 geese, 26 adult ducks, 19 quail, 21 meat birds (almost butchering age), 3 adult turkeys, 3 grow out turkeys, 34 ducklings of various ages under 6 weeks old, 20 or so juveniles growing out, and another 20-30 chicks under 7 weeks old. Not sure what that breaks down to per bird, but I guarantee most of it goes to the meaties & juvies. We take about 7 gallons just to the meaties & grow-outs in 2 servings each day.

I didn't give my birds an option on the feed. If they get hungry they will eat it, then they will discover how good it is & won't eat dry any more.

The turtle ended up in the run when I needed something for a few ducks,,,it kind of never left because the birds prefer the dirty water,,,I now have 4 of those large rubber black bowls from TSC that i use for water and only 1 regular chicken waterer.......the tubs get added to daily then dumped and cleaned weekly,,,,,,,,,

They really do prefer the dirty water...

That's how the turtle sand box ended up in my grow out pen. I stuffed ducklings in with chicks.

I meant quart jars

You must not have very many birds. I have five 5 gal buckets going.

 

[bigT88]

was scrolling through past posts. any meetups in the future?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

was scrolling through past posts. any meetups in the future?

The Green Dragon Exotic Sale is this Saturday, I would guess a few from the PA Unite thread will be there.

Bobbie, I just sold a nice MF Cochin boy...I was even going to ask you before I sold him, but didn't want to seem pushy. I got my first birds from Gaetano Farms in Connecticut. This New Years hatch I hatched out some eggs from Nancy (Fancy Feathers?) here on BYC, I'm really liking her line, not bad coloring and some type too!


I

 

[LFchixranch]

I am about a half hr east of Hershey. As for the birds I want, I had hatchery stock in TN but I really want heritage birds this time around, and a pretty wide variety. The biggest problem will be the Dark Cornish, me thinks. At this point it's a brain fart until I find the location so there's plenty of time.

 

[Chick a dee1023]

Hi All !! I'm from Schuylkill County, I have a small flock of 10 birds,9 hens of mixed breeds.Have had over 50 at one time ,but no-more.Nice to meet my Pa neighbors!

Welcome!

 

[missydcpc]

Hi All !! I'm from Schuylkill County, I have a small flock of 10 birds,9 hens of mixed breeds.Have had over 50 at one time ,but no-more.Nice to meet my Pa neighbors!

Welcome, there's a link in my signature and several others with where we are all located.

I would say it would do well as long as you could provide a block for the door and ventilation near the top/rear of it.  If you want to use it for multiple years you could cut out plywood in the shape of the door and attach it... then you could cut in a 'pop door' into the plywood that could be secured if you need it to be.  Hay bales for wind breaks around it and straw inside to give them something to nestle into should do the trick.  If they don't have floors you may want to create one from pallet with plywood top or something similar, that would help prevent them from feeling the cold damp from the ground.
 I'd snap one up in a minute to use for a summer type tractor for my meaties or teenagers, just add roosting bar and secure dog run and you are good to go!
Yep, and don't forget the fresh eggs! And if they have teenaged girls let them have some rooster feathers too!
Welcome!!   If you'd like to get back to your 50 birds just let us know, plenty of folks here with almost anything you could want!
You have one of those in your chicken run too??!?  LOL.... our birds love the turtle for their water. They found it last year where it had been stored for years and immediately decided that was their favorite water bowl.  We finally moved it into their run.  We clean their waterers regularly, put fresh, cool, clean water in them daily..... and they run to the turtle to drink water with leaves and twigs and goodness knows what else, in it!  Now we just dump in a swig of ACV every few days and I dump it every once in a while and scrub it out before we are due to have rain.  Guess they can decide which to drink out of.
They also like the dogs' water dishes we have scattered around on the porches and in the yard.

Ours is in the coop..it's a lady bug. I have it under the 2 5 gallon waterers to catch the drips....except of course I don't actually put water in them anymore...should start putting water in the ladybug!

was scrolling through past posts. any meetups in the future?

There's a meetup on June 22? Look up PA Unite Meetup chat thread to get details.

I am about a half hr east of Hershey.  As for the birds I want, I had hatchery stock in TN but I really want heritage birds this time around, and a pretty wide variety.  The biggest problem will be the Dark Cornish, me thinks.  At this point it's a brain fart until I find the location so there's plenty of time.

Lots of people have heritage breeds around here...and being east of Hershey, you're located right among the biggest chicken enablers.