Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Sally Sunshine]

I thought you didn't need to be NPIP to ship eggs or of state, only live birds?

You have to check each states importation regs... most people ship illegally but there isnt much surveillance on the issue yet, but if you ship something that shows up with a disease your sure to have a bit of an issue.

My hubby always said to me, no more critters unless I can eat them. So he was getting some koi for our pond and I told him, no more fish unless I can eat them. So we got some tilapia fry from someone on Craigslist last year. They were little itty bitty fish when we first got them. They have grown since last year but not big enough to eat. I am happy they are breeding and we will be able to make more babies to replenish our stock after we eat some. We have them outside right now in a blow up pool. We will bring them in for the winter. We are building some tanks in the basement now. We have one made and making room to make the second one. We want to have the tilapia and koi separate in the house. It is really cool watching little eyeballs floating around grow into big fish.

what size pond do you have? I told hubs when the kids are older I want to use my pool for that! How big until you can eat them? and growth period

Pretty silly video, some of them can really holler. We have a goat named Dreamer that I think we should have named Screamer, she is a loud one, that's for sure. We sold 3 goats today, I can't believe how much I miss them already.



Here's a pic I took while walking in our neighbors field of a turkey vulture on top of our house, crazy how big it looks.

he does look huge! Do you have the nigerian dwarfs or what breed? I seriously think I want two girls but I want them disbudded I dont see horns on yours, do you do that now? I thought you told me you didnt but you grow so fast I cant keep track of you!

Hey guys, I put up a cute video that I took the other day. It is of my Broody Mama hen calling her chicks out of the coop. If you click on my user name, you can see the second quick video. This is the Mama that has 12 chicks, so you can see how it is tricky for her to keep them all organized.

Enjoy!

Fauna looks like me at times! not sure which way to go and what child to cluck at! Some look unsure of using the ramp, how old are they? Did you have food and water in the house for them at first? I have not had luck with broody hens, except serama and they dont really have a ramp.

 

[barbiegirl]

From what we read online it said about 1 year. After we bought the tilapia, hubby was doing more research and found a guy in Florida that said 2 years before harvest. I know they will NOT survive the winters outside. We thought that we would have been able to harvest them before winter (from what we read before we got them). We actually just have them in one of the blow up pools outside. It's about 3,000 gallons, We bought a I think it was a 12 foot blow up pool for them. We had a huge home made pond for the koi but it sprung a leak and we couldn't find the leak and lost a ton of koi.

Over the winter, in the basement, we had them in one of the little 6 foot blow up pools. They did great and actually bred in it. They grew very nicely in it as well. I have the blue tilapia. They are more tolerant of colder water, so it gives us some time to get them in for the winter. Of course we want to keep a breeder group so we can have more tilapia growing out when we want more! I can't wait to eat them lol.

This picture was from over the winter of our inside set up. This winter we are doing things differently, We are building wooden boxes for them to go into. Takes up less ground space and we can go higher for more gallons. If there is a will, there is a way. Taking pictures of fish is so hard for me lol We had some minnows in this pool with them. I will update you on the size they are now when we catch them for the winter. They I would guesstamate around a foot long for the most of them, some are smaller.




This is a picture of the pool outside now with the koi.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

heading to the Allentown Fair with my whole family!! Sad that there won't be birds. But I'm happy to see the goats and am staying for the Jim Gaffigan Concert, woo hoo!

 

[chippysmom327]

So I've been leaving my eggs in the nestboxes for the past week or so since they were on antibiotics and it's still in the withdrawal period. Well, I got lucky and I found my bantam cochin growling in the nestbox when I went to lock them up. The parents were less than enthusiastic because it's too late and apparently I'll be stuck with them.

So... will you guys take some if she hacthes them? They'll be bantam cochins. I'm also thinking of putting my dutch bantam's eggs under her too. So cochin/dutch bantam cross? Any takers in advance??? They'll be the special BYC friend discount at only a dollar a piece!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

You have to check each states importation regs... most people ship illegally but there isnt much surveillance on the issue yet, but if you ship something that shows up with a disease your sure to have a bit of an issue. what size pond do you have? I told hubs when the kids are older I want to use my pool for that! How big until you can eat them? and growth period he does look huge! Do you have the nigerian dwarfs or what breed? I seriously think I want two girls but I want them disbudded I dont see horns on yours, do you do that now? I thought you told me you didnt but you grow so fast I cant keep track of you!
Fauna looks like me at times! not sure which way to go and what child to cluck at! Some look unsure of using the ramp, how old are they? Did you have food and water in the house for them at first? I have not had luck with broody hens, except serama and they dont really have a ramp.

They are about a week and a half old. I did put food and water in the coop with them for the first few days. Then I helped her bring them outside. This was the first day they all came out on their own. This morning they all flew out in a flurry! My broodys have been pretty good. I have had to help her put all the chicks in at night, every night. She was sitting on them when it got dark, but tonight she went in the coop and left them all outside screaming. silly chicken!

heading to the Allentown Fair with my whole family!! Sad that there won't be birds. But I'm happy to see the goats and am staying for the Jim Gaffigan Concert, woo hoo!

He is hilarious! Enjoy it!

So I've been leaving my eggs in the nestboxes for the past week or so since they were on antibiotics and it's still in the withdrawal period. Well, I got lucky and I found my bantam cochin growling in the nestbox when I went to lock them up. The parents were less than enthusiastic because it's too late and apparently I'll be stuck with them. So... will you guys take some if she hacthes them? They'll be bantam cochins. I'm also thinking of putting my dutch bantam's eggs under her too. So cochin/dutch bantam cross? Any takers in advance??? They'll be the special BYC friend discount at only a dollar a piece!

I spot an enabler!

 

[barbiegirl]

Are Northern Ring-necked snakes dangerous to chickens? I found a small dead one today around my chicken coops. I have a silkie with 19 peeps with her and I don't know if this type of snake will go in there and eat the babies.

 

[Chaos18]

From what I've heard of ring-neck snakes the answer would be no they are not a danger to chickens or chicks. They dont get much fatter than a pencil and usually less than a foot long.

 

[barbiegirl]

From what I've heard of ring-neck snakes the answer would be no they are not a danger to chickens or chicks. They dont get much fatter than a pencil and usually less than a foot long.

Awesome! My hubby had me worried that the adults would get in and eat the peeps. The one I found was super tiny, I think it was a newly hatched snake. I think my guineas killed it, or my cat, I am not sure.

 

[ChrisIsIt]

Speaking of snakes, anyone else notice their chickens eating them?
2 or 3 occasions this year I've seen my chickens eating them...not big ones, smaller garter snakes

 

[emorems0]

Some progress I made on my sister's coop today... this was after all the framing but before the windows and siding went on. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow morning when I go back to finish up, it was too dark for pictures by the time I stopped working tonight. Not too bad for a days work while also watching and tending to a baby!