Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[LittleMissPurdy]

We were just talking about this with a few of our neighbors today (the whole 'hood is excited for our chickens... they've come out of the woodwork to "make friends" lol), I was educating them on the differences between egg layers and broilers/friers/meat chickens. They were all surprised, as was I when I first learned this stuff, that there is such a difference in the way their "food" is treated before it is turned into actual food!

I told them that our chickens will be utilized for their egg laying abilities and then will be retired to our freezer once we're sure they won't lay any more, then we'll adopt some more young and healthy egg layers and our retired girls will feed us very well. That is the proper cycle of life and we will appreciate every morsel of nourishment they give us in a way that few people know these days. Even the chicken you buy in the store is not what we are led to believe it is, it's a shame really. It's why I started my garden last year when I finally had space to do so and now this year we'll have our chickens.

Best of all, we are a living example to our friends, family and neighbors that anybody can do the same with just a little space and some out-of-the-box thinking. A little knowledge can go a long way in becoming more self sufficient in an increasingly dependent society!!


Ok, stepping down off my soap box now hehehe.

It is always a great feeling when you can pass along the new-found knowledge!! I thik it is wonderful that you have some many open minded people-neighbors around you!! You are very fortunate!!

Several broodies with chicks. They all hatched last week and I have 2 more hatching this week. Hens are all in my Cubalaya breeding program.

Beautiful birds Troyer! Look at all that fluffy cuteness!!

Need some help to fill an order...
Sorry if anyone is grossed out
I need to do a bator full of balut, can I use Muscovy eggs and if so should they stay in longer than other duck eggs


Sorry again to those that can not even imagine this, but all the info I find just says duck eggs. Some say mallard eggs better but do not give details.


CC, I may need some duck eggs from your neighbor if I can not use muscovy

wow, that is a specialized area of poultry- retail... You definitely can set your own price here...very interesting opportunity!...I would be interested in helping with something like this, but I do believe I am way-out of the way...

Didn't have time to get closeups, I pulled 51 chicks from the incubators this morning!

Find the cochin bantams! (thanks to wingstone)


super blue egg layers and some mixed breeds

wow, is everyone hatching something but me?!

...hahaha, I am this close to going up to the neighbor and grabbing some fertile eggs and letting broody hatch some cuteness!!! The only thing is..what to do with the fuzzy after they aren't fuzzy anymore?!

None of the folks I grew up with much cared what kind of duck laid the balut. So long as the size is right and the egss sufficiently "crunchy" your customers won't mind.

so this is something you have tried?......

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Here are some pics of our coop and run progress. Hopefully we'll get it all finished today... we're behind on the "schedule" we set for ourselves due to DH being under the weather for a couple days. Chicken math was used in the creation of the "schedule" before we even have the chickens lol!

Sorry if this is pic overload, I'm just really excited and very proud of what we're accomplishing.

Framing the run:





Nesting boxes going in:


"Front" of the coop (I love the Rooster hot plate on the door):




Nesting boxes from the inside:


Hard to see roosts in front of their "panoramic window":


4ft total "roosting space" attached with hook things in the middle and screwed into the walls at either end:


And a pic of the pop door with window above from roosts:



Now we just need to close in the nesting boxes and paint the interior and exterior of the coop, finish enclosing the run and get the girls!

This is wonderful!!! Your future girls are going to be very lucky!!

..I was wondering about the picnic table...great idea..i assume the coop is attached to it..

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I am totally taking over the thread...heehee

...pics from today..



Not going to be weeding this garden!! hahaha....the potatoes are popping out all over the "bin"..first time this year, so excited it is working!!

pulled Ginger out of the nest box to be with the other girls..not a happy broody...had something to say the entire time she was picking at the feed I threw in for them...crazy bird..
Haven't separated her yet, had some family issues this weekend and thought I might have to take a trip..so, at some point this week..into a crate she goes!! Unless I take that walk up to the neighbor with the fertile eggs...anyone interested in mixed- egg layers if I do???

..hahaha

This is the hen that had her eye pecked at during food-time..her bottom lid is gone now, (white bottom part), sometimes the best thing to do is leave them alone..I had applied a 'blob" of triple-bac on it at the beginning, but just left it-be..it had dried up and fell off on it's own. No infection, she is not bothered by it.. She does look a bit weird, but considering how bad it could have been....
Hope everyone is doing well..here is some nasty weather coming down from the north..right through the middle of the state..over us

...hoping it won't get too intense..

 

[KlingKlan]

Looks great! My only suggestion would be to add thin (3/8ths or 1/2 inch) slats on ramp about every 4 to 6 inches to provide traction for the birds. Loving the rest of it and so awesome to see you doing an urban set up!

Thanks! And yes I will be adding slats, DH was just showing me which board he plans on using for the ramp (I thought it was too narrow hehe).

 

[LizardCat]

so this is something you have tried?......

Well to be fair, I'm Filipino. So yes. Not my cuppa, but I can see how people would like em.

 

[LizardCat]

I am totally taking over the thread...heehee

...pics from today..



Not going to be weeding this garden!! hahaha....the potatoes are popping out all over the "bin"..first time this year, so excited it is working!!

So I see from left to right:
Flowers
Eggplants
Lettuce on the "EndCap"
Peppers
Tomatoes
Some Brassicas. (Is that Kale? Collards?)
Next you have some hills/furrows. I'd almost think this was a potato row if I hadn't seen your bin at the end. What's in here? Corn maybe?
The next area is squashes right?
And then you have a fenced area, next to the bin. What's going in there?

 

[fisherlady]

Several broodies with chicks. They all hatched last week and I have 2 more hatching this week. Hens are all in my Cubalaya breeding program.

They are adorable little families!! I do have a question... did your broodies set on that many eggs each or do you graft day olds under them after incubator hatches?

 

[troyer]

They are adorable little families!! I do have a question... did your broodies set on that many eggs each or do you graft day olds under them after incubator hatches?

These were all hatched by the broodies of their own eggs. I don't usually remove any eggs from their nests, unless they exceed 18 eggs. It depends a bit on how big the broody is and the egg size. These are all first time Mommas, having being hatched in 2013 themselves. My experience has consistently been that first time broodies almost always have more eggs than a 2 year old and older hen will have.

 

[fisherlady]

These were all hatched by the broodies of their own eggs. I don't usually remove any eggs from their nests, unless they exceed 18 eggs. It depends a bit on how big the broody is and the egg size. These are all first time Mommas, having being hatched in 2013 themselves. My experience has consistently been that first time broodies almost always have more eggs than a 2 year old and older hen will have.

Awesome! So cool to see another breed which has obviously maintained it's broody tendancies.... there are so many that no longer express the broody genes anymore.

 

[LizardCat]

Things aren't going well for my chicken who was attacked by a fox Friday. She still lays in the corner all day and night and isn't injured. Now she's resisting when I try to force her to drink, so she might just die. The chicken appears to be in a trance, I'll stick a handful of food in it's face and occasionally she'll snap out of it but other times it just zones out

We had a fox attack two weeks ago. Attacked 3 of my hens. One lost some tail feathers, one got it pretty bad on her back (I had to stitch her closed) and the third one died two days later. Was the last of my langshans. Poor Oreo was always skittish; I figured as fearful as she was that she'd be the last one to ever get caught. :-(

It's a bit late now, but our girl who had the open wounds was acting the same way for the first couple of days. We kept her on scrambled eggs, and wet feed. She didn't eat much on her own, but seemed to eat fine if we presented our hands with treats. (Guess it was a good thing we've been hand feeding them so much... Spoiled brats!)

More difficult than the food was the water. She wasn't drinking from a water dish, she only seemed to take drinks from a bottle with a nipple dispenser. She didn't start drinking from the dish till she started eating from her feeder again.

Anyway, it's been two weeks now, and she's doing much better. Walking around, albeit with a limp, and she's more than able to leap from the ground back to the coop, and up to the roost. The feathers that were bitten off, and the one I pulled to clean the wound, are all starting to regrow. About the only place where she doesn't have new feathers or pins are where the wounds themselves were.

We're still keeping her separated from the flock; when we tried a re-introduction last week, her sisters were picking at the scabs. Figure if the feathers grow in, they won't see them and won't be tempted. Will try again this weekend.

How's your girl doing?