Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

This list moves so fast .what's the chicken train?

The chicken train is a nickname for a kind person who is making a roadtrip.  They are kind enough to pick up some poultry from someone on one side of the state and meet up with someone else for delivery.   I have not participated, but I have read and observed!

Well Put. This is an excellent description of the Chicken Train.

 

[dheltzel]

Oh that is awesome! I'd settle for just the hatcher lol

The price includes both, but they look to be dirty and heavily modifed for hatching emus. If I had the time (and it was closer), I would buy them, restore them back to their original functionality and sell the incubator for about $400 (and excellent deal for a fully working GQF, new ones that don't hatch any better, cost about twice that).

 

[dheltzel]

This is not true. I have seen the farm! You may not have time, but you do have room. Haha!

I meant room inside adequate housing. Building more coops is time (and money) consuming. The initial purchase of the stock is cheap compared to the long term cost of housing and feeding. I *know* you've experienced that firsthand.

 

[dheltzel]

I see that these Welsh Harlequin ducks are gorgeous. What else about them do you like? And when you decide to vent sex them, can I come over? I'd love to try to figure it out.

They lay like Khaki Campbells (from which they were derived by a Welshman). I have 4 ducks and if I usually get 4 eggs each day. If I only find 3, I go hunting because it is rare to get only 3 eggs from them. They lay better than any chicken on the farm. I believe they eat more and they took longer to get to POL, but they are extremely good layers. I only wish they were tame. Somehow I didn't tame them right.

There is a video about vent sexing ducks on the Metzger Farms website. WH's are also supposed to be sexable by the color of their bills when hatched, but I didn't find that very helpful last year, so I want to learn to vent sex this year. You're welcome to come over. If they start hatching well, I may have a dozen (or more) ducklings every weekend.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

@dheltzel I'm already thinking of keeping one of the Biele Roo chicks, and having him to give me some pure Bieles from my hen. Do you think the bloodlines are too close?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

This rainy morning has been a particularly tough one for me. I have decided to battle the negative by ordering myself a dinosaur suit. What do you think?

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Haha! Excellent idea! Now we want to see pics of YOU wearing it!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Haha!  Excellent idea! Now we want to see pics of YOU wearing it!

If it gets delivered in time...I can wear it to my son's Regatta in Philly on Sunday. Nothing says, 'I love my kids' better than embarrassing them to death.

As it will not come in time to torture my son, I think I'll wear it outside with the chooks and see if they think I'm their Momma... lol

 

[dheltzel]

@dheltzel I'm already thinking of keeping one of the Biele Roo chicks, and having him to give me some pure Bieles from my hen. Do you think the bloodlines are too close?

I doubt it makes much difference. All Biels in the US are derived from a single import by Greenfire, so if inbreeding is the source of their problems, there is no way out of that, other than crossing them to some other breed. If I were to embark on an improvement program, I would say the best breed to use is a the Welbar. They are quite similar in many ways.

 

[BullChick]

This rainy morning has been a particularly tough one for me. I have decided to battle the negative by ordering myself a dinosaur suit. What do you think?

I want it!