Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[eryan7]

I had them on nutri drench. It's so strange. Hopefully it doesn't happen again!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I had them on nutri drench. It's so strange. Hopefully it doesn't happen again!

If you can get your hands on some liquid infant vitamins with NO iron, I would give her some. Vitamin deficiencies can cause some weird neurological symptoms in chickens, it can't hurt, might help. Good luck.

Quote: I've read several times that Pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer, and the chickens seem to love them.

When it gets this hot, we freeze water in 2 liter jugs or gallon containers, then we put them into the runs. The birds will gather around them ~and then they get nasty so we hose them off before putting them back in freezer.

 

[stake]

Ready to start our next great adventure! We honestly probably won't have any bees til next spring unless a swarm moves in but we're still excited

The guy that we got them off of was very nice and explained a lot to us about keeping them and caring for them. This should be really cool

Auro:

Congrats on the hives....not to be preachy, but make sure you clean them really well, whatever may have gotten at the previous tenets may still be lurking....my two cents....I am also currently reading "Bees at the bottom of my garden" . I was told by a Brit who runs a local bee club back in UK, that it's a complete 'how to' type book....

 

[BullChick]

Good morning!

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Good morning!

..morning....tried to post some last night..the tablet i have is extremely frustrating, soooo...i just read posts now from that thing, and have to use the laptop for typing and posting.
got some pics this-morning...have to ge them downloaded then will share them...oh lucky you

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

**MC...thank you soo much for all the info!!
yeppers, gonna need to do some shopping here soon..

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will be visiting that website and doing some lateeee..... night reading.

**Blarney....thank you

....glad to be back!!

Update on the broody bunch. They hatched 4 of 4 Wheaten Ameraucanas. I only have 1 hen, so every egg I can hatch is great. Ended up with 3 girls and a boy from the 8 Bielefelder eggs. I'm going to take them some more eggs and see if they get the same success with ones that have been incubated for a while first. They might just get the hatch chicks the rest of the summer!

"Normal" (LF) broodies are quick to jump up and take care of any chicks they hatch. These bantams seem more inclined to just sit together and incubate/hatch eggs. None of them were trying to get the chicks to eat or drink, which is fine because I took all the chicks to a brooder. Gave them a peacock egg to replace the chicks, LOL.

Thanks for trying! I appreciate it. Do you find you get better hatches from the Bieles from your broodies vs. an incubator?

I had them on nutri drench. It's so strange. Hopefully it doesn't happen again!

Hopefully, but be patient. If the chick seems healthy otherwise, it could just be a glitch. I suspect its just falling asleep on its back. I used to love when the chicks would fall asleep with their heads in the food dish.

 

[dheltzel]

Thanks for trying! I appreciate it. Do you find you get better hatches from the Bieles from your broodies vs. an incubator?

Certain breeds hatch well in my incubators/hatchers, some not so much. I get about 100% on my Silkied Lavender Ameraucanas, but recently no Wheaten Ams hatch at all. They sit next to each other in the trays . . .
Under the broodies, I got 4 chicks from 4 Wheaten eggs. The Biels had a few infertiles, but I got 4 chicks from 8 eggs and in the incubator I would have been delighted with a single chick. So, I moved most of those 2 breed's eggs under the broody bunch yesterday, along with the peacock eggs. I have no idea if they can hatch peas, but I'm not getting anything to hatch in the incubator, so they might as well try.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Quote:
How long do pea eggs take to hatch? Are you looking to sell Peafowl, or just hoard them for yourself?

 

[fisherlady]

When you have a chance, can you post some picture of your coop setups? I plan to buy a shed as our next coop and will let DH build an elevated frame for it. All the chickens spend all their time under the coop when it rains, so I would like to have space there for them in the future too. In the mean time, buying a shed instead of build everything ourselves can save us lot of time.

I didn't forget about you asking, but waited to have good connection before trying to upload pictures....
Sorry for the overload on pics, folks....but here are some shots.
This is the 'LOWER COOP'... It is a purchased shed with 8' walls and a barn roof style to allow lofting on either end. I had a man door put into the side, on the lower end is a set of double doors. It has an opaque roof vent option to allow in light through the day. We decided to cut the man door in half to make it a 'dutch door' so we could leave it open for ventilation but prevent drafts on the floor when we had broodies in the people area.
As you step in the man door there is an aisle way about 4 ft wide straight to the back with a 6x12 coop to the left and on the right it is divided into 2 coop areas which are about 5.5x5.5 each.
The aisle way is what we call the people area and allows for storage, access to the overhead lofts and a shelf on the back wall with an area under it used to give broodies a place to set or hatch chicks.
Shed is placed on a foundation of railroad ties with large gravel.
'Porch roofs added to provide covered runs. The roofs are actually independent of the shed to avoid too much additional weight being borne by the shed walls. Porches can actually removed and rebuilt at a new location if the shed needs moved. There are a couple of clear roof panels in each porch roof to keep plenty of daylight in their covered area.

This doesn't show the outside enclosures completed but gives a good view of the overall style/setup.

The man door, with an added in 'coon gate' made of pipe and welded wire...with two hasp latches to secure it. The coon gate allows us to leave the door open for ventilation during hot weather and as you can see we have a fan hung on it for additional ventilation.

The full width coop on lower end, double doors are opened when they are able to free range...otherwise they have a pop door into the covered run.

Two smaller coops on upper side...

A couple of general pictures. Pop doors can be simply cut in where ever needed...cat carriers are popular with our hens for egging or brooding in. They fit easily on the shelves and just get moved as needed. White LED Christmas rope lights make good low level lighting.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

LMP!!!! I have missed you! Anytime you want to meet up, let me know. I still go to Calico. Sometimes TS. Are you still having trouble with the idiot neighbor? I still have the strong hubby with the intimidating looks, if that would help....

I have missed you too!!....you know you are more than welcome to drop-in anytime you happen by. When it's not feeling like the Sahara outside, you can usually find one of us outdoors doing something.
Yes..he is still an issue, but not making him important enough to worry about anymore...
Thank you for the offer of husband borrowing..hahahaha...now that doesn't sound right

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I had such a good time at the farm show, we have to do it again, hopefully we will both have some breathing room around that time!