Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[Biologrady]

So sad! Hope she was there this morning! I found my neighbors lost dog once via Craig's list posts, maybe you could try that?

 

[mammo6]

Carlinaisland, did your chickie come back? I worry about mine getting out and the other day 3 of them were sitting on top of the fence. A little hop to the other side would put them in the neighbors yard...no more free ranging when I can watch them.
Update on the sick chick. After 3 days on the medicine she is sneezing less and singing more. She has layed 3 eggs since the first day of the medicine and no, we haven't eaten them, but I still save them in the fridge just because it looks nice after years of only seeing store bought white eggs...psychological make you feel good thing I call it. The amount of bugs on her have decreased immensely with only a few seen yesterday so we rubbed in some fresh DE...her scratching/ preening has reduced as well. When I was holding her upside downs to dust her yesterday there was some raspy sounds in her breathing, but I don't expect her to be totally healed in 3 days.
Thanks for all the support leading up to this and I hope more good news is on the way.
Enjoy the harvest and again I hope all members have returned home.

 

[mammo6]

Whoa! Should have read the previous before sending...the very first word was supposed to address CarolinaIsland...sorry

 

[stoopid]

Yes, she called me this afternoon.
Little miss Mona Lisa came back home.

 

[JerseyHen]

Good morning everyone! Glad to hear that the wayward banty has returned. They are insanely good fliers for a chicken. I have a few large fowl that are good at it as well, particularly my welsummers, spitzhaubens, and ameraucanas. They regularly get over my 8 foot fence, so I just let them all range all the time now. Not even sure why I built the run... although it comes in handy when those hawks start migrating. Which is going on already. They are a few months early. Seems everything is a bit early this year. My locust and birch are dropping leaves, the older girls have gone into molt, the hummingbirds are already disappearing, and the hawks are in my yard. In particular, the Northern Harrier and Rough Legged Hawks are back. They decimated my chick flock last year. I have bird netting over the run now, and will start keeping the girls under cover until they leave in March. I have had them take birds while I was standing just feet away in the garden (and the dog and kid were outside). Bold birds. Anyway, just a heads up for everyone to be on the lookout. Something else to worry about right?

 

[JerseyHen]

Will be having to process 2arucanas and the salmon Fav if he ever crows.the rumpless little monsters are already crowing but are very funny not loud al all. But they are already mounting my one little tiny bantam and that has to stop.

Bio, I have always just introduced them at night and have never had a problem. You'll just have to keep an eye on them throughout the day.

Carol, so sorry you ended up with 3 boys. I wish I could take them, especially the salmon fav, but I just can't take on more birds with everything I have going on right now. I never did finish my breeding pens/coops I started in the spring. Maybe in the fall I can get them done, depends on if I go in for surgery over the next few weeks or not (and it is looking that way).

 

[JerseyHen]

Hello everyone I harvested one of my roosters for the first time this week. As with most of us out here I did not grow up on a farm growing up on Long Island but when one of chicks I bought as a future hen turned into a rooster and was blowing up the neighborhood all day I knew I had to do something. It was not a pleasant experience but went pretty well for the first time. To be honest it went just like the videos that are all over the internet. I have two more Roos that I will have to take care of soon. It will be good practice for my meat birds I am raising for the end of September. Anyone else have first time stories?

Congratulations, that is not an easy thing to do. I did my first processing last fall. 6 roosters. The first one was the hardest. Beyond the act of dispatching them, which comes with its own set of mental challenges, there is such a steep learning curve on the process its self. I learned a few tricks, came up with some new ideas for next time, and am happy to share via pm. I don't want to post here since this isn't the meat birds forum and some folks might now want to read about it. They were the most delicious chickens I have ever tasted.

 

[smkchick]

Okay, I just spent about an hour reading all the previous posts. I definitely have to get here more often! I'm sorry to hear the bad news about human health issues, but so happy the wayward chickie returned and the chicken health has improved.

Little Miss Pauline is fully integrated into the flock, and the Jersey girls have begun laying eggs. I got a very nice dark brown egg from Collette, our BCM, and the sweetest little egg from Pearl, our bantam Cochin Frizzle.



I've been working at my friend's farm stand on Saturdays (I'm headed there in about an hour) and have been enjoying some fabulous produce. Today I'm debuting my "veggietowels", hand crocheted squares to gently clean produce.

The girls have breached the garden fence and/or are flying over it, so my big beautiful tomatoes never made it off the vine. But we've gotten a few cukes and a bunch of yellow cherry tomatoes. The homemade compost (chicken poop) has made a world of difference.

Brutus, our orange cat, suffered a serious tailbone injury two weeks ago but has turned the corner and is able to walk again.

We had a fantastic trip to Buffalo to see my brother and sister-in-law. Went to the Erie County fair (disappointing number of chickens), Niagara Falls and the Clarence Flea Market. Great time!!

So happy to see so many new chicken people here. I've missed everyone!

 

[stoopid]

http://www.queensfarm.org/events.html
This is a link for the fair on Sept 21-22. Please enter your chickens (they don't need to be show quality, or even bathed)
We just need more exposure. Suzanne, they have crafting competition.
And baking.
And pickling (You know who you are!)
And produce (biggest zucchini, anyone?)
I started to order the funnel cake, but got the deep fried Oreos instead. OMG!!
Petting zoo.... well, you get my point.
If you are on facebook I can friend you and invite you peeps.
(I may have some free passes too)
Definately two days of fun! Well, three for me. But I get tired around noon on Saturday.
I have a blast every year.
~Roberta

Click on the link at the bottom to download the catalog and see what you can enter. It's fun! Really!

 

[JerseyHen]

My hubby and I had our 20th anniversary on Wednesday. Did I get China? Platinum? No way, not me. I got a pair of cowboy boots and a day of trail riding. I love that he knows me well enough not to get jewelry. I hope we have another 20.