Surviving Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

LOL! Yes I agree! They are very friendly and curious when I am in the room and always come over to investigate what I have in my hands...The Australorps (which are HUGE compared to all the others) are curious too and then the Cochins appear to be the most stand offish right now. My Wyandottes will occasionally come over to see if I have treats. The way it looks I have 4 Barred Rock roo's , their crowns are already turning a vibrant orange, I also think I have 4 hens and only 1 roo in my Cochins (yay) not sure with the Wyandottes or Australorps yet.... still too many roo's and an unlucky few will need to be culled

You are looking at it wrong, a few will get the privilege of becoming soup and feeding their masters....

 

[Siggie]

UGH... I know, I know...I need to change the way I look at this dilemma

 

[duluthralphie]

Muscovy ducks, but I don't know if any will hatch. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope you get lucky and have none hatch.....I didn't like how the eggs looked when I put them in lockdown. I have 8 other eggs that are about 10 days in and all are fertile and looking good so far. My one duck is sitting on 18 eggs the last I counted and another on 6. Times like this I wish I had a nice broody Cochin or Silkie.

What would happen if a broody was sitting on eggs a week apart in the incubation process? My guess would be she'd get up and take care of her first hatch discarding the others. But I really have no idea. Seriously this can be a problem. I always have a small incubator running when a hen is sitting. Just in case. A few cool hours will not hurt them other than set them back. I always take the eggs after the hen leaves the nest and put them in the incubator. Normally I get a bird or two, but they are often weak and fail to thrive. Maybe the hen knows this.

And my neighbor does have homing pigeons. I figured that much out. Here's my not so great pictures from the road....Lol...







Do you just have one blueberry bush?



I think this was already mentioned, but with Barred Rocks the roosters will definitely be lighter due to the double barring gene they carry. That should be clearly noticeable by 8 weeks (I'm not sure how old yours are). I have two GLWs that are 7 weeks old and I have no idea what they are! You'll have to fill me in if you learn any Wyandotte tricks. The only trick I have so far is a crow.


I thought the hens were lighter? Does anyone know is this the same in Dominiques?

 

[duluthralphie]

@bantiesrule is there any magical number of roo's you can keep? I have 22 chicks and at this time I am estimating I have 7 definite roo's so far? (and you know there will be more...it's inevitable) Can that large of a number get along? I just don't know how I am supposed to choose who I cull

Start with obvious defects. Funny feet, crooked toes, bad colors. bad attitudes Keep the size you want, larger is normally better for me. and go from there. You will only want 2-3.

Maybe 3 over winter and 2 for breeding.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have never gotten walla walla onions or other full size onions to grow bigger than a golf ball. The onion seeds I started this year flopped and I don't think I will bother planting any and just buy from the Amish market by harmony again.
I have found seeds for several types of 'bunching onions' including 'hardy varieties' on Johnny Seeds. Is that what I should try?

I think I heard someone call mine Johnny Onion once. They area a bunching onion, during the summer a seed pod or little onion grows on the top of the plant and falls to the ground to reseed it. I will try to take some pictures. Or maybe bring you a few when I am forced to next visit the witch.

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh and for the record, I think I want homing pigeons!


Would someone mind telling my wife this for me? She might smother me in my sleep if I tell her this.

 

[Siggie]

Start with obvious defects. Funny feet, crooked toes, bad colors. bad attitudes Keep the size you want, larger is normally better for me. and go from there. You will only want 2-3.

Maybe 3 over winter and 2 for breeding.

Thanks! I will need help on the "bad color" thing because I'm new. I bought from a hatchery so I may not get very high quality birds to begin with right? I wish I would have known about breeders vs. hatcheries before I got them. Never again from a hatchery though, so lesson learned. I don't plan to show anyhow but I am still interested in your Minnesota Australorps

(OH NO! the chicken math has already taken hold)

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks! I will need help on the "bad color" thing because I'm new. I bought from a hatchery so I may not get very high quality birds to begin with right? I wish I would have known about breeders vs. hatcheries before I got them. Never again from a hatchery though, so lesson learned. I don't plan to show anyhow but I am still interested in your Minnesota Australorps

They are not turning out as planned. The f4 is reverting to a single comb I am afraid. I will know more next year. My MA hen is now broody and I am allowing her to sit on eggs,I will breed her again in a couple months. I do not mind her having a break now she has been laying so many eggs for me.

Just because the birds come from a hatchery does not mean they are bad. Some hatcheries contract birds or eggs from breeders.

 

[Siggie]

They are not turning out as planned. The f4 is reverting to a single comb I am afraid. I will know more next year. My MA hen is now broody and I am allowing her to sit on eggs,I will breed her again in a couple months. I do not mind her having a break now she has been laying so many eggs for me.

Just because the birds come from a hatchery does not mean they are bad. Some hatcheries contract birds or eggs from breeders.

No worries, I am in no rush ha ha! Well that's good to know about the hatcheries. I ordered from Strombergs, mainly because it is here in Minnesota and the birds would not be traveling far. All of my birds seem to be happy and perky, ask the little bugger who tried to escape this morning!

 

[KlopKlop]

I think I heard someone call mine Johnny Onion once. They area a bunching onion, during the summer a seed pod or little onion grows on the top of the plant and falls to the ground to reseed it.  I will try to take some pictures. Or maybe bring you a few when I am forced to next visit the witch.

You would give up a few of your prized onions for me? I'm touched!

Do you mulch over your onions in the winter or are they hardy enough without