Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

Well good morning sleepy chickeners!

 

[memphis]

Hey ya'll....where is Holm? We miss him over on the turkey thread.. ..

 

[duluthralphie]

Well good morning sleepy chickeners!

You bet me fair and square!!


Grats!

 

[jerryse]

Morning everyone . Had to rest up yesterday but not a total rest . Keeping up with the young people wore me down over the weekend .

They have a Summer Camp music festival every year about 10 miles from me . Thousands of people . Cops were busy with that . Glad I was gone . Grocery stores are really bare . Busy restocking . A lot of money into the local economy .

 

[MNChickMom]

Oh How I've considered these doors. The lazy bones laying in bed on a frigid January morning. Not wanting to walk down and let the chickens out. Or the times I've begged family members while I'm on my trips (although there's not been many) to open in the morning or close at night. They are $200 no matter the company. As far as I can tell. I've also reflected that I like the idea of getting myself out of the house in the morning and in the evening to check on things. or to just get outside. Which is a goal of mine anyways. Just to be outside as much as possible. The chickens and the cheaper do-it-yerself pop door ensure that.

My biggest fear is becoming too dependent on the door like you implied. It never hurts to have a little human interaction 5, 6 or 7 times a day like they are getting now. But on the rare instance that we are out of town or come home late it would be nice to have them inside. ooops over protective Mama talking again. They have a secure run and now an unsecure "back 40" that they can destroy so we should be fine letting them in the secure run but you never know. Maybe I have my happy scrapper/tinkerer son create a door for his 4H project next year.

 

[MNChickMom]

Today celebrates the "official 8 week hatch day" of most of my chicks so I graduated them to pelleted pullet 16% protein from Heims Mill last night. I carefully mixed the feed 1/3 pellets with 2/3 of the chick start hoping for the best expecting the worst. This morning I went to check on them 1 hour after my husband "woke them up" they had scarfed down all the pellets and were pecking away at the chick start. Ok....so you girls and few young lads don't really care what form your feed is in.

I asked my daughter clean off the dinner table last night, she proceeded to scrape the content of her plate onto a paper plate, I assumed she was going to give it to the neighbor dog. Nope she fed the chicks Tuna Helper.....Supposedly, it turned into a chick fight over noodles and tuna. "Mom you can cook that crap anytime...the chickens like it."

 

[lvie]

Quote:

Quote:
OOOOORRRRR you could have Tom Hanks and never have to worry about if they are in a secure area because there isn't anything that would tangle with Tom Hanks. Especially in that back 40. And then he would have a LARGE harem and be happy

 

[lvie]

Tom is next to the tree. So HANDSOME! Such STRENGTH! He needs to be kept busy (obviously I still have him and he is alive and doing well) One of these days he is gone - sometime when I least expect it. He will just be missing. I mourn. He just needs more girls and a large enclosed area or a pasture to run. He is an excellent protector. He just protects against anything that gets close to his hens. He came after me again this morning. Just tries to see what will happen. Again, I caught him, yelled no at him and held him and walked around. I let him down and yell NO at him and then keep walking him toward him making him move. We get along just fine. Why can't the men do that? I just don't understand. A two year old, any child, no. Then he could stay in an enclosed area. I am considering this plan BUT he truly would be so perfect for ANYONE who pastures their hens. No fox would get near them.

 

[duluthralphie]

I found Tom to be a formidable rooster. I did not find him to be overly mean. I know how to not react to a roosters bluff so that might have been part of it. I do not think he is that bad of a rooster. I cannot believe your DH cannot hold him and force Tom to kowtow to the DH.

That said some roosters should not be allowed to live. I do not think Tom is that rooster yet, HOWEVER< I would not want to breed him and pass on his mule's mother's rear end attitude.

 

[Siggie]

Got a question for anyone who is listening right now.....I am getting conflicting answers, I am now feeding fermented food to my chickens. When asked how much to feed, I was told how ever much they can eat in about 20 minutes because anymore and they will over stuff themselves and that's not good.....then there are articles out there that say that you cannot over feed them because the chickens will not over eat, they know when to stop. So which is it? Because mine always act like I have been starving them...I don't even have the fermented feed down on the ground and they are swarming like crazy and they jump into the dish, pushing and shoving each other to get to the food faster? I am now putting in two dishes because my more docile or dare I say snobby chicks (the Cochins) stand back like they are just aghast at how their fellow flocksters are acting

they eventually float over to the other dish where the crowd is thinner?