Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[SilkieSensation]

Incubator done!!!! Cost me less the 10 bucks! Next question is a picture of one of my eggs....any idea or advise on fertile or not?

Not fertile.

hello all---------------I just sent wingstone a PM about quail...............just thought I would post a general thing too since my chicks have been nixed..............darn it! I am thinking its time for coturnix quail raising. first off-------------I want a quieter quail with decorative eggshell with eggs that taste good and meat that might be processed and tasty. second I want to get male and female quail so that there are fertile eggs and hope the birds will incubate their eggs some people say they don't do this but lastly if they don't incubate their own.............I might have to look into an cheapo incubator to try this anyone out their got coturnix............maybe even jumbo coturnix? or what type of quail would you recommend and why? I am also gonna look into a good raising quail book! I am in Chester county and can drive to get these ------------------a reasonable distance............. thanks in advance!

Coturnix are a good place to start. They mature quickly (laying by 6-8 wks old), lay prolificly, are remotely quiet, and don't need much space. Drawbacks are: they are non-setters (you will need an incubator to hatch), they fling food if you let them (ferment or use covered feeders they can't climb into), they are not cold tolerant & will need good shelter for winter if you can't bring them inside.

 

[fisherlady]

Well, we broke down and drove to punxy because they had EEs. Got 4 EEs and left the kids each pick their own Bantam chick. Life just doesn't feel right without chicks in it. Pictures when There's a good signal.

You are close enough to drive to Punxsy? Just where are you (I am having a major memory lapse if you mentioned it before)? Punxsy is only like 25 minutes to the TSC for me! I took Mindy there today... she thought it was Christmas and Valentines all rolled into one! She brought home 12 meaties and 3 buff brahma (which our latest broody to hatch has already adopted into her clutch)

The meaties are in the play pen brooder in the living room and Mindy is floating about 2 ft off of the ground right now with all the chicks everywhere...

 

[dheltzel]

The first little chicky has 2 more friends in there now! All 3 are yellow.

On a related note, anyone close to Pottstown or Norristown interested in some "straight run", mixed breed layers. I will raise them and free-range them if no one wants them, I just figured I'd offer on here. I will have between 3 and 7 hatching today. I also have some older ones if you'd rather they be a week or 2 old.

I'll make someone a sweet deal if they pick them up!

 

[fisherlady]

Well, we broke down and drove to punxy because they had EEs. Got 4 EEs and left the kids each pick their own Bantam chick. Life just doesn't feel right without chicks in it. Pictures when There's a good signal.

I forgot! Congrats on your new little ones!! You will have a blast with them! And the bantams they had in the bin were absolutely adorable!

 

[LizardCat]

On the topic of mites and even other chicken parasites, since it's coming that time of year...

This may seem like overkill, but this is what I do when I find my bird/s has/have a bug... or many.
1) Bath in flea and tick shampoo for cats. I use Sergeant's Gold. Make sure to rinse with vinegar and water mix to remove all the soap (I use a quart per 10 gallons of water).
2) After the bird is mostly dry, I sprinkle them with Sevin.
3) I strip their bedding and spray all cracks and surfaces well with Permethrin (mix as label suggests).
4) I replace the bedding and sprinkle Poultry Dust in their bedding.
5) Just to make sure nothing lives, once the birds are totally dry, I apply Ivermectin pour-on (1/2mL for bantams and 1mL for large fowl).

I had a bad case of lice 2yrs ago and after 2x of cleaning the pens and powdering with Sevin they kept coming back. I went nuclear on them and haven't seen any bugs since!

Our current plan for dealing with this infestation:

- Tonight, we are going to pull the girls off the roost one by one and dust them thoroughly with Sevin/DE.
- Tommorrow, we will chase everyone out of the coop and the run.
- Bedding will be removed from the coop, and burned.
- Coop will be vacuumed as cleanly as possible.
- Windows and doors will be sealed.
- We will set off a Permethrin fogger in the coop.
- 2 Hours after the fogger is complete, we will vent the coop with fans for another hour.
- Fresh bedding and a generous helping of DE will be added to the coop.
- Every 5 days for the next 20, we will pull the girls off the roost and re-dust with sevin.

Does this sound reasonable?

I'm trying very hard not use any sort of additional chemical dust in the bedding, as my intent was to compost the bedding and droppings and use them in the garden. I'm comfortable with the small amount dusted on the girls for treatment, but I'm not as comfortable with adding treated beddings to my food beds.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Congrats on the new chicks

Thank you

You are close enough to drive to Punxsy?  Just where are you (I am having a major memory lapse if you mentioned it before)?  Punxsy is only like 25 minutes to the TSC for me! I took Mindy there today... she thought it was Christmas and Valentines all rolled into one!  She brought home 12 meaties and 3 buff brahma (which our latest broody to hatch has already adopted into her clutch)

 The meaties are in the play pen brooder in the living room and Mindy is floating about 2 ft off of the ground right now with all the chicks everywhere...

we're about an hour away in Patton but I loved our last EES so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get more

I forgot!   Congrats on your new little ones!!  You will have a blast with them!  And the bantams they had in the bin were absolutely adorable!

Thank you, I know we will. We made dramatic improvements and moved our brooder to the bedroom. The dogs have been banished from there until the chicks are big enough to go outside. The bantams were absolutely adorable and the kids loved how cute they were. They had a tough time deciding which one they wanted lol. I had no idea how tiny they were!

 

[barbiegirl]

I found that tea tree oil killed off mites. We had an infestation of mites and did the Sevin and Ivermectin Pour-On for Cattle on the girls. I used the Sevin in the coop and sprayed the coop with tea tree oil in all the cracks. The mites were crawling on us and we sprayed the tea tree oil on us and the mites died right away. Good luck!

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Hi all...Hope everyone is doing well....too many posts top catch-up on. So, just gonna jump on in here...hahaha. Loven the warmer weather....ready for planting season..have got the seeds all planted inside , just waiting for mother nature to make up her fickle mind!

......
We have had a few issues with the coop-run..with all the rain, the ground being saturated and frozen...well...the birds where in water last week and so we had to do a quick remedy, now we know we have another project this summer to complete. We had to cut some pallets and fit them into the areas to get the birds off the ground/sand/mess! It is quite the mess right now, frozen mess,that will thaw and be a muddy-poopy-even more stinky mess...but for now..this is working.




This little girl here(above) likes to get her head stuck in between the pallet spaces... this is her recovering from the ordeal. She doesn't freak and she waits calmly for me to get her out..she does just fine...crazy bird....

...other than that the girls are doing well though..everyone is laying now...we are getting about a dozen every 2-3 days..give or take. With only 6 birds, not too bad huh?! hahaha ...



Can't wait to be able to scrub everything down and get the "areas" fixed the way they need to be...days like today make me get the "cleaning-bug"!!
Good luck to all who are hatching and to all who are lucky enough to have gotten to TSC or where-ever for some new peeping love!!!! Hope everything is going well and all are healthy!!
Have really missed chatting with everyone...-Danielle

 

[Reyvaughn]

Our current plan for dealing with this infestation:

- Tonight, we are going to pull the girls off the roost one by one and dust them thoroughly with Sevin/DE.
- Tommorrow, we will chase everyone out of the coop and the run.
- Bedding will be removed from the coop, and burned.
- Coop will be vacuumed as cleanly as possible.
- Windows and doors will be sealed.
- We will set off a Permethrin fogger in the coop.
- 2 Hours after the fogger is complete, we will vent the coop with fans for another hour.
- Fresh bedding and a generous helping of DE will be added to the coop.
- Every 5 days for the next 20, we will pull the girls off the roost and re-dust with sevin.

Does this sound reasonable?  

I'm trying very hard not use any sort of additional chemical dust in the bedding, as my intent was to compost the bedding and droppings and use them in the garden.  I'm comfortable with the small amount dusted on the girls for treatment, but I'm not as comfortable with adding treated beddings to my food beds.

DE doesn't address the problem like people believe. Its good to put in the bedding before the infestation but not after the bugs are there. Definitely use Sevin on them and if at all possible, use poultry dust in the bedding.

I may be the odd one out, but I do not use DE nor do I promote it because I don't use it.

 

[stake]

Our current plan for dealing with this infestation:

- Tonight, we are going to pull the girls off the roost one by one and dust them thoroughly with Sevin/DE.
- Tommorrow, we will chase everyone out of the coop and the run.
- Bedding will be removed from the coop, and burned.
- Coop will be vacuumed as cleanly as possible.
- Windows and doors will be sealed.
- We will set off a Permethrin fogger in the coop.
- 2 Hours after the fogger is complete, we will vent the coop with fans for another hour.
- Fresh bedding and a generous helping of DE will be added to the coop.
- Every 5 days for the next 20, we will pull the girls off the roost and re-dust with sevin.

Does this sound reasonable?

I'm trying very hard not use any sort of additional chemical dust in the bedding, as my intent was to compost the bedding and droppings and use them in the garden. I'm comfortable with the small amount dusted on the girls for treatment, but I'm not as comfortable with adding treated beddings to my food beds.

LC:

I have more than one compost pile....I do every other bedding change....and I do not use a lot...I have not finished the first package that I bought a year ago at Pickering....I am researching moving totally to Ivermectin(sp)...as it does everything in one dose.....and though I know its probably not preferred, I think sevrin (sp) is a standard vegetable garden pesticide....(haven't used it myself in the garden).....