Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[kie4]

Good evening all:

I do not know how it happened, but my smallest CCL chick (6wks +) is mia....she was in a pen enclosed with 2x4 welded wire on all sides with 2' hardware cloth around the bottom....no signs of anything getting in....???...

Oh dear I hope she's in the pen somewhere hidden away and safe.

 

[chickachickayea]

Welcome all new members!

Minus the new nesting boxes we're adding this afternoon, here is the just about completed chicken palace. The original coop and run are on the front and right side. The new crew's digs are behind the coop on the left. Their new nesting area is being added to the back left.

:O You have the little blue coop that we have - but better upgrade! It looks awesome!

My husband has informed me he wants to put a live feed camera in our chicken coop so we can watch the chickens all the time. For someone that said the chickens were my project and that he would help when needed he sure is getting into this raising chickens thkng! QUOTE] Yes please to chicken cams!

My New girl arrived !But I am stuck in the hospital so my "ciity boy" husband is on duty. He has her quarantined on the porch off our bed room---what else? Electrolytes ?This is my first time posting from a phone so I apologize if something comes out screwy! l

She is gorgeous!

I thought everyone would like a Mira update She's doing really well and has inserted herself back into the flock

The ducklings are doing well also and really enjoying free ranging. Bedtime is tough though. They don't have their wing feathers yet so they can't fly back up in to the coop and with those big, wide feet can't really climb the ramps lol.

The new guy has quickly adopted his ladies but i fear that he's setting himself up for disaster :/ He's EXTREMELY protective of his ladies already and has been attacking turkeys through the fencing. They're not going to put up with it. He'll probably be too aggressive to integrate into the flock so after i get some chicks from him, he'll most likely go to the freezer. Hate to say it but if he can't integrate, he can't stay. For now though, i don't worry about the girls he's with lol

Daffodil is so being a great mama to her little welbar pullet and Ana still spends most of her day with her little boy (CCL X RIR). Both girls have their babies up on the roosts at night now

And last bit not least, my boys, Romeo and Dinner. They are the sweetest young toms ever! They always need hugs and attention

So happy to hear about Mira! Everyone looks so good!

We got home from an overnight trip this morning, and found All 5 eggs hatched!!!! 4 look like this little one, and one is all black. Momma is all fluffed up and funny to watch with them

BABIES!

He said yes! e. Even before he got his dinner or dessert! So excited, I've wanted silkies again since we had to give up our Roo Hercules. Now I get fluffy girls that may go broody. And plenty of other girls to lay fertile eggs for them. My chicken math will go from addition to multiplication in the spring, haha.

YAY! Congrats on the shed as well!

Lovely looking flock!

 

[dheltzel]

Thanks @dheltzel , will do.
On Saturday before your talk they were giving away free pumpkins in East Goshen Park. We got some for carving and the chickens got all the innards. The grown up chickens loved the pumpkin pulp, but it's proving too long and stringy for the 5 week old Welbar and Legbar. Funny to watch them flinging it around though! .

Unfortunately after a full morning at the park our kids fell asleep and we weren't able to make the trip to Pughtown. Hope the talk went well! Will you be doing another?

There were about 10 people in attendance. Not bad for a bright sunny day in October. I learned a few things and will put on some shorter talks in January. I'm thinking 30 minutes each, with topics like this:
1. Do you really want chickens? (for people thinking about it, but not sure)
2. Caring for chicks
3. Coops and general care
4. Dealing with problems (predators, parasites, disease, introducing new birds, etc)
5. Hatching your own chicks at home

Maybe some other topics too.

 

[chickachickayea]

The trouble with putting straw in there is that it soaks up the water, then sits there, adding to the mud. If you are willing to rake it out once it has done its job, it works.

Yeah that's what I've heard. And while I'd like to think I'd clean it out as often as possible, life happens and I feel like a bad chicken mama...

I will never again put bedding of any sort in an outdoor run. Sand and gravel work great, but hay, straw, and leaves get soggy and you will regret putting them anywhere that rain gets to them.

True. I already dislike the dirt in the run because of the muddiness during heavy rainfall. Right now it's fine, only because it's been dry. I'd like to get some sort of shelter/covering before snowfall, but I'm still working on logistics because while I am crafty, I am not *that* crafty. I assume something similar to a pavilion construction might suffice... Gotta look around for inspiration! Thanks!

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

You can do the deep liter method

 

[BullChick]

Good evening all:

I do not know how it happened, but my smallest CCL chick (6wks +) is mia....she was in a pen enclosed with 2x4 welded wire on all sides with 2' hardware cloth around the bottom....no signs of anything getting in....???...

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I am known as the crazy chicken lady of Saint Thomas, PA! South central. Momma of 68 chickens, 2 guineas,1 duck, and 1 goose

Welcome! Only 68 chickens? We can help you with that. . What kinds do you have?

Showing of hands of those who have been called a crazy chicken lady/man?

Welcome! I'm being called 'Crazy Goat Lady'. I miss my 'Crazy Chicken Lady title.

Can I butt in? When you are placing an order, can you let me know? I may want a few special chicks.

Anyone close to me is welcome to dream about what chicks they might want from Sandhill
I am thinking a of getting Welsummers (different line than the ones I got from Whitmore Farm) and Partridge Penedescencas. They have lots of other really neat breeds, some that are impossible to get anywhere else in the US. I want to decide soon and get the order in soon to get an early spot on their waiting list.

So, let me know if you are seriously considering anything. They are all straight run and will arrive at a random time next year, making it a little harder to get chicks than with a large hatchery. I fully support what they are doing, it really is a labor of love for them, so I am willing to be flexible with the order. Of course, I can house your chicks with mine until it is a good time to pick them up from me.

In your specific case, Anne, I would suggest that you pick a rare breed to concentrate on and setup a dedicated breeding pen for them next year. I (and others here) can help you with breeding, hatching and marketing. If small operations focus on a single (or at least very few) breed, they can become a significant source of stock and publicity for a breed that is near extinction, as least in the local area. Some people are already doing this with breeds like Barred Hollands and Scots Dumpys, but many other breeds are impossible to find (anyone ever seen Redcap or Erminette chicks for same on Craigslist?)

Just a warning - you can waste many hours poring over the Sandhill catalog and looking up pictures on Google. I don't want to get blamed for that . . .

I'll have to check this out!.

 
*sigh*
Our turkey "Tasty" who showed up a few months ago is MIA. She was around this morning, and gone now, the kids have been searching everywhere for her and are heartbroken. I pray she comes home!!! Do Turkey's just run away??????

She may have run off with a guy named Tom....

Agree.

 
Thanks @dheltzel
 , will do.
On Saturday before your talk they were giving away free pumpkins in East Goshen Park. We got some for carving and the chickens got all the innards. The grown up chickens loved the pumpkin pulp, but it's proving too long and stringy for the 5 week old Welbar and Legbar. Funny to watch them flinging it around though! . 

Unfortunately after a full morning at the park our kids fell asleep and we weren't able to make the trip to Pughtown. Hope the talk went well! Will you be doing another?

There were about 10 people in attendance. Not bad for a bright sunny day in October. I learned a few things and will put on some shorter talks in January. I'm thinking 30 minutes each, with topics like this:
1. Do you really want chickens? (for people thinking about it, but not sure)
2. Caring for chicks
3. Coops and general care
4. Dealing with problems (predators, parasites, disease, introducing new birds, etc)
5. Hatching your own chicks at home

Maybe some other topics too.

this sounds good and well thought out.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Looking through old photos and found that I come by my poultry obsession naturally. This is my mother with her duck, 'Fluff'.

 

[hippiechickX4]

How often does everyone collect their eggs? I have around nine laying. There isn't usually any until mid day. I read that you should place there eggs in the nest box to encourage the hens to lay in the nest boxes. A couple of ours just lay randomly in the coop. The thing about leaving the eggs is that when we go back out that evening to lock then in the eggs are gone. So we have a egg eater. I have found several smashed on the ground too. They get plenty of food believe me, someone is always feeding them.

 

[dheltzel]

You can do the deep liter method

Deep litter only works in well covered areas, I can tolerate a little water, but a good rainstorm with convert a foot of friable litter into a foot deep sewage area. Anaerobic decomp (what happens when bedding get wet, the water drives out oxygen at the microbial level) accelerates the release of ammonia. With deep litter, you hope to tie up the ammonia as much as possible in the bodies of the various critters and fungi living in the litter.