Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

OK, you better get cooking and make those girls a pie!

ACW, chickens willing, how many chicks will you try to hatch out this spring?

Cheeka, have you ever processed a chicken? I've seen it plenty of times, but have never had the pleasure (well, you know what I mean). Think I can handle all of it except for the actual killing. Those eyes looking at me... I don't know. After it's done I'd be fine, though.

jchny, nice looking rooster. With white legs and that blunt tail, could he be black Orpington? I wouldn't want to mess with bumblefoot with those spurs. Watch out! And remind me, who is Butters? Those chicks are so beautiful. Lavender Orpingtons? Not enough sleep lately, memory's shot.

MC, I use a soaking wet rag and hold it on stuck on stuff until it loosens up. Wouldn't want to wash a bird if it's cold out unless you have a hairdryer or something. I had to wash my Leghorn because she has serious poopy butt. Have to do it again tomorrow. She didn't mind soaking in the warm water.

SBMom, I had to think about 'hay burner' for a bit.

Do you know what a rice burner is? Bet MC does! So you wash your horse with Dawn? I'm going to try that on the Leghorn tomorrow because the pet shampoo I used wasn't quite strong enough. Eeew.

Animallover, did you go back to school today? The schools around here are also having a lot of absences due to some stomach thingy. Luckily, my Mustacheio is fine and went back today. Now he has a 4 day weekend. Woohoo! My first year in high school, I took an art class and really enjoyed it. Learned about shading and perspective, color and composition, and got to try all different types of media. If you ever get a chance, I bet you'd enjoy it too.


Nothing too exciting around here to report. Another hawk is taking an interest in the chickens. It came around at sunset and perched on the fence overlooking the chicken yard. Rodney the watch-cockatiel sounded the alarm, so my son ran out and scared it away. Luckily, I had already locked the girls in. Been very lucky so far.

Happy Friday all and enjoy the long weekend. (Hopefully Monday is a holiday?)

 

[showbarnmom]

W4W your post always make me smile. I love this thread.

Belive it or not, this very country, very big diesel truckdriving girl, does know what a rice burner is. Those are the midget cars I runover .

Yes use original blue sawn, followed by rosemary and mint sauve shampoo and conditioner. Mmmmm they always smell good. Then they roll in poop. Then I wash them again. Dawn works great at cutting mud.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Quote: You can occasionally find useful stuff on craigslist. Sheds, hutches, kennels- I can cobble together a veritable chicken palace without having to take up hubby's weekend. Of course he usually gets involved because 'cobbling together' makes him cringe.

Anyhoo, you can sometimes find good deals, and with the cost of lumber, it's nice to get a bargain!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

W4W your post always make me smile. I love this thread.

Belive it or not, this very country, very big diesel truckdriving girl, does know what a rice burner is. Those are the midget cars I runover .

Yes use original blue sawn, followed by rosemary and mint sauve shampoo and conditioner. Mmmmm they always smell good. Then they roll in poop. Then I wash them again. Dawn works great at cutting mud.

You must have the best smelling horses around. They've got you trained real good! I've only heard rice burner refer to Japanese made motorcycles, but makes sense that they would apply to small cars too. Haha. Hubby still drives my tiny little death trap I've had since college. Too hard to retire it when it has consistently gotten 35 mpg for over 25 years, and who wants to mess up a new car on our crappy country roads! In fact, we have several older cars hanging around. The only thing keeping us from being total rednecks is that they are parked on our over sized driveway and not on what passes for the lawn.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

Thanks! OH, Butters is a buff silkie I got last week, He was a freecycle freebe. He is a great pet, but a mean lil rooster. He attacks any bird he sees! I am looking up breed standards to figure it out, that will make me happy too! He does sure look like an orpington, but australorps are the Australian version of the orps...(austral-orp) is how it was explained to me.... I am super happy either way, i love both breeds. He will go into my "Egg coop" since I only have Red with the 7 girls now. Red doesn't seem to care about other roo's too much. Butters is way too aggressive so he will be a loner for now.
I have noticed the red tails are really active again. Saw several yesterday, ugh. Glad all the babies are hid in the porch. Theres a thing on here, BYC, called scary sally i want to make, looks pretty cool, and i bet it works!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: You can occasionally find useful stuff on craigslist. Sheds, hutches, kennels- I can cobble together a veritable chicken palace without having to take up hubby's weekend. Of course he usually gets involved because 'cobbling together' makes him cringe.

Anyhoo, you can sometimes find good deals, and with the cost of lumber, it's nice to get a bargain!

hahaha and freecycle all kinda cool stuff!!! We bought 4 of these off craigslist and they are awesome for hoghouses.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Thanks! OH, Butters is a buff silkie I got last week, He was a freecycle freebe. He is a great pet, but a mean lil rooster. He attacks any bird he sees! I am looking up breed standards to figure it out, that will make me happy too! He does sure look like an orpington, but australorps are the Australian version of the orps...(austral-orp) is how it was explained to me.... I am super happy either way, i love both breeds. He will go into my "Egg coop" since I only have Red with the 7 girls now. Red doesn't seem to care about other roo's too much. Butters is way too aggressive so he will be a loner for now.
I have noticed the red tails are really active again. Saw several yesterday, ugh. Glad all the babies are hid in the porch. Theres a thing on here, BYC, called scary sally i want to make, looks pretty cool, and i bet it works!

Oh that's right! How could I forget Butters?! Although, sometimes I forget that Silkies are chickens.

Perhaps more pictures would help my memory.

I think you're right about the new roo, probably BA. I was thinking with whitish legs, it would be more of a black Orp, but they actually have dark legs too, with white foot pads. It's the Jersey Giants that have yellow footpads on black legs, which is what I was trying to remember. BAs are much more common since they're bred by hatcheries, and blk Orps usually come from private breeders. The English Orps are roundish and chubby looking and the Aussies trimmed the shape a bit and developed heat tolerant BAs. I love my BA, Matilda. Great temperament and such beautiful feathers. No matter what he is, the new guy will be perfect with your little BAs!

Gotta go look for Scary Sally now!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

hahaha and freecycle all kinda cool stuff!!! We bought 4 of these off craigslist and they are awesome for hoghouses.

Neato! What were they in their previous life? Look great for hogs (and certain recalcitrant teenage boys).

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

a kid keeper! They started out as farm totes for liquids. A lady in indy was using them for houses in her mastiff breeding program. new they are like $250, we got them for $20 each! if they trash out the plastic, the frames will work great to recover. And i can move it with our tractor and forks

 

[cheeka]

JCH, those are awesome! I wonder if I can find anything like that around here... and I wonder how I would transport it home...

I stayed up too late last night (10:15) and didn't want to get up at 5:30, so I slept til 6:20... I'm a bum, and behind on my chores. 2 routes today, hope the mail is light, hasn't been all week, but maybe we've caught up on the stuff that was stuck downstate last weekend. I am waiting to hear if I have to work on Monday. the scheduler is becoming famous for waiting til the last minute. I told her 2 weeks ago that she didn't have to ask me to volunteer, I am always willing to work. she's trying to keep everything in a rotation... Sundays, of course... that's easy, but rotating those weekday holidays may not be so simple. people like to make plans, and the other carriers are getting annoyed with the delay in finding out who's working. if she keeps it up... someone might quit. I don't want to lose anyone, after last summer... I dread being the only carrier.

it's supposed to be another warm day, but windy, which will affect the temp... I really hope to get home early enough to enjoy some free range with the gang. the last couple of days have been wonderful. all right, enough sitting on my butt, drinking coffee... time to go do dishes, scoop cat poop, feed and water all the feathered, and maybe time for vacuuming before I have to leave...