Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Prpjewel]

H

Today I moved over 40 pullets inside to their winter housing today. The Jill Rees pullets are looking really, really nice.
I also got a huge amount of leaves dropped off and bedded down the main coop about a foot deep. The birds loved it!
But I am so tired and sore now . . .

aha that was me yesterday with my 10month old grandson strapped to my chest. Even switching the blower between hands for 2 hrs, my shoulders are killing me.

 

[Werforpsu]

When you are over this way, I will have lots of chicks if the timing of Stake's hatches don't meet your schedule. I will have sexed chicks (autosexing or sexlinks) to produce all the colors of eggs - blue, olive, green, white, brown (dark and medium).

I will keep that in mind. My 9 year old really wants colored eggs. I really want to start over with a new rooster. Plus, I just want more chickens

 

[bobrut]

GM all, I have about an inch, 29 degrees & flurries, so not ready for this

 

[Werforpsu]

Morning All!
34 and windy here with flurries...'feels like 24'. That's a big change from my 65 and the windows open yesterday.
I'm so glad we made the time to close in the open coop before this!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

29 here with almost an inch on the ground and flurries (more snow coming). I'm so glad I got the plastic up on the run the other day! A couple chickens and ducks came out this morning, very confused and went right back in. Goofy turkeys are standing in it, complaining about it lol

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

We use the plastic kiddie pools as brooders, with an inch or so of sand in them they are great for a broody and chicks for a week or so and the meat birds stayed in one for about 10 days.... If you have the room to store it I would say check the asking price for a new one and go for it. Lots of uses for something like that when raising birds!

We used a baby pool that we added sides and a "lid" to for our chicks. I just used old plastic tote lids with some cardboard at the joints for flexibility. The totes would crack and I saved the lids and I had a huge stack of them. I love the idea of sand. We were not experienced and used pine shavings. dealing with spilling water etc was a pain. I loved when we changed over from a heat lamp to a heating pad cave.

That's an excellent idea! I may not need it with my new tub though. Hopefully will be able to get it this week. I found transportation for it! Hooray!

We processed our extra tom today since it's supposedly the last nice day that were going to have. He dressed out apps 16 lbs. He's going to be our Christmas turkey and hopefully we'll be some good eating

Looks great! Was it hard to do, or are you pretty well practiced now?

How old was that tom? I need to go back through this thread and read up on turkeys.

I think 8 months but I'm not 100% positive

Yup, I could see that. We'd get you milking cows too, I bet.

Oh yeah, absolutely lol

How old is too old for turkey? As far as toughness goes. I'm not going to eat my main Tom, but just to know for the future.

Meyer's glossy 2017 catalog is nice!

Aw sweet! I didn't get one yet, I hope I did lose all of my chicken and gardening catalogs from my move...

When you are over this way, I will have lots of chicks if the timing of Stake's hatches don't meet your schedule. I will have sexed chicks (autosexing or sexlinks) to produce all the colors of eggs - blue, olive, green, white, brown (dark and medium).

White? I thought you can't sex california grey until they feather out. Or you can really tell from the white dots on their heads? I sure would like to have one if I can buy a house next year. I don't know what's my company doing now by simply giving up 30 million dollar new buildings and a good stable long time market. We were one of the departments doing the best until the bosses decided to destroy it. I may need to find another job next year, but I don't know yet. Whenever I stablized, I will restart my flock. Hopefully, I will not be too far from you, since we love your birds so much.

I highly recommend the grays so far. My girls have not begun laying yet, but my gray is the first one to squat for me. They are also becoming very friendly considering they were not hand raised. Hoping for great egg production! I want to have such a variety of birds, and I am well in my way!

Today I moved over 40 pullets inside to their winter housing today. The Jill Rees pullets are looking really, really nice. I also got a huge amount of leaves dropped off and bedded down the main coop about a foot deep. The birds loved it! But I am so tired and sore now . . .

Whew! I hear ya. We did our thanksgiving dinner last night and I was on my feet all day yesterday, and even did cooking on Friday too. It all turned out excelllent though!

GM all, I have about an inch, 29 degrees & flurries, so not ready for this

We got heavy winds and sleet and/snow last night. Have a light coating this morning, on one side of the house, haha.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

That's an excellent idea! I may not need it with my new tub though. Hopefully will be able to get it this week. I found transportation for it! Hooray!
Looks great! Was it hard to do, or are you pretty well practiced now?
How old is too old for turkey? As far as toughness goes. I'm not going to eat my main Tom, but just to know for the future.
Aw sweet! I didn't get one yet, I hope I did lose all of my chicken and gardening catalogs from my move...
I highly recommend the grays so far. My girls have not begun laying yet, but my gray is the first one to squat for me. They are also becoming very friendly considering they were not hand raised. Hoping for great egg production! I want to have such a variety of birds, and I am well in my way!
Whew! I hear ya. We did our thanksgiving dinner last night and I was on my feet all day yesterday, and even did cooking on Friday too. It all turned out excelllent though!
We got heavy winds and sleet and/snow last night. Have a light coating this morning, on one side of the house, haha.

Thanks, It wasn't that hard, though we did need to use pliers to get some of those wing feathers out lol. This will be the oldest time we've ever eaten... 7 or 8 months lol so I can't say yet. We'll be eating our older tom next year, he'll be almost 2 so I can let you know then. He's gotten nasty lately but I need a replacement from him before he can make his way to the table.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Good morning everyone! Here are some chicken pics from this morning. The Silkie girls are hiding out underneath the coop. Check out the Bielefelder (Helga), she is next to Rusty Shackleford and is as big as him! I'm so glad to have a short work week so I can finish my run and add some walls to add some protection from the wind.

 

[gonehencrazy]

Hey all! What age is normal for molting? I noticed a lot of feathers in the coop the last few weeks. I was thinking that maybe my black sex link was molting. She is year and half old. But the other morning I. Prices my EE pullet looks a mess. No tail feathers, missing neck feathers and looks a lot "thinner" of feathers in her body. She isn't a year old yet. A CL also seems to be losing feathers. Molting or a different problem?

 

[stake]

Hey all! What age is normal for molting? I noticed a lot of feathers in the coop the last few weeks. I was thinking that maybe my black sex link was molting. She is year and half old. But the other morning I. Prices my EE pullet looks a mess. No tail feathers, missing neck feathers and looks a lot "thinner" of feathers in her body. She isn't a year old yet. A CL also seems to be losing feathers. Molting or a different problem?

GHC:

I have three under a year that are molting right now....and I have a 2.5yrs old molting too....I think its normal to expect a chook to molt once a year.....