Surviving Minnesota!

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, I was thinking about you and your disdain for du___. It came to mind that there is an old Tom T. Hall song which you may not be fond of. It starts out with the line " I love little baby du___, old pickup trucks and Well you get the idea. Geese and ducks can be amusing but are a messy nuisance.

Those berry photos look very good Jerry, but it will be a while until any are ripe here.

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie, I was thinking about you and your disdain for du___. It came to mind that there is an old Tom T. Hall song which you may not be fond of. It starts out with the line " I love little baby du___, old pickup trucks and Well you get the idea. Geese and ducks can be amusing but are a messy nuisance.

Those berry photos look very good Jerry, but it will be a while until any are ripe here.

No, No no..do mot get me wrong, I love ducks, they make a great compost.

 

[jerryse]

Did some research on the Himalayan blackberry distribution . So anyone seen this trailing blackberry in northern MN ? Looks like it could get there . I have never seen them here . Just taking a lunch break .

 

[Bogtown Chick]

No Loretta this morning or this afternoon. Dixie is still in the big coop. Everybody else ranging. I'm guessing she is afraid to come out. She saw something. No sign. Not one adolescent feather. It's not looking good. Still upset about it.

I think I'd still have a chick too if I had a rooster. Even though they don't hang out much the Littles would heed the Roos calls.

Dang it all.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

So I drug Dixie out of the coop. After witnessing the horrific disappearance of her offspring. I thought I would try something to cheer her up. I've been letting my brooder babies free range the other side of my house. there's an RV parked there that they love being under and then a couple strips of grass. Large Hydrangea bushes for cover. Flower pots etc. Garage door to where their brooder is. all the comforts of home in a pretty well covered free range set up. I brought Dixie up and introduced her to these other two babies. I just felt so sorry for her after all her efforts of sitting and hatching, tending and raising a chick for 5 weeks, then it all snatched away. Part of the problem beside no rooster also...I firmly believe is just the one chick. Several chicks--safety in numbers/chaos. Anyways. Dixie immediately took to them --wants to be their Momma! They were a bit aloof with her...totally independent, but curious about her willingness to find and give them food. Of course. Dixie did her post partum dust bath that must have lasted an hour under the Hydrangea. The chicks came over and started dusting too. Charmers. Then as I'm getting ready to head out the door to my folks place. I grabbed the chicks and started to tuck them in their brooder. I don't trust the coop and the probable bird of prey that's casing the coop. Dixie came immediately to their protesting to protect them. So I picked her up and put her in the brooder too. No light needed anymore. They are all hanging out famously. I'll do this for a while maybe a week or so until I feel comfortable putting them down at the big coop.





Here are some gardening pictures. My Lettuce bowl I'm growing on the deck. Soon I can just walk out there and snip off a salad for lunch.


Peonies unraveled yesterday. They are so neat. I wish they lasted longer. Clary Sage blooming in the background.


These are the big different looking poppies and cheddar pinks below a ground cover. I believe they belong to the carnation family. Dianthus? Sweet Williams also fall into that Genus.





Mint growing like hotcakes as usual.

 

[Cebarmlds]

So I drug Dixie out of the coop. After witnessing the horrific disappearance of her offspring. I thought I would try something to cheer her up. I've been letting my brooder babies free range the other side of my house. there's an RV parked there that they love being under and then a couple strips of grass. Large Hydrangea bushes for cover. Flower pots etc. Garage door to where their brooder is. all the comforts of home in a pretty well covered free range set up. I brought Dixie up and introduced her to these other two babies. I just felt so sorry for her after all her efforts of sitting and hatching, tending and raising a chick for 5 weeks, then it all snatched away. Part of the problem beside no rooster also...I firmly believe is just the one chick. Several chicks--safety in numbers/chaos. Anyways. Dixie immediately took to them --wants to be their Momma! They were a bit aloof with her...totally independent, but curious about her willingness to find and give them food. Of course. Dixie did her post partum dust bath that must have lasted an hour under the Hydrangea. The chicks came over and started dusting too. Charmers. Then as I'm getting ready to head out the door to my folks place. I grabbed the chicks and started to tuck them in their brooder. I don't trust the coop and the probable bird of prey that's casing the coop. Dixie came immediately to their protesting to protect them. So I picked her up and put her in the brooder too. No light needed anymore. They are all hanging out famously. I'll do this for a while maybe a week or so until I feel comfortable putting them down at the big coop.





Here are some gardening pictures. My Lettuce bowl I'm growing on the deck. Soon I can just walk out there and snip off a salad for lunch.


Peonies unraveled yesterday. They are so neat. I wish they lasted longer. Clary Sage blooming in the background.


These are the big different looking poppies and cheddar pinks below a ground cover. I believe they belong to the carnation family. Dianthus? Sweet Williams also fall into that Genus.





Mint growing like hotcakes as usual.

I'm sorry Loretta never came home. So sweet that Dixie has some chicks!
Your flowers are lovely.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Cocoa finally gave up on the last eggs. I did an eggtopsie and the one had quit another looked like it should have hatched but the membrane was very tough...?
Cocoa is not happy, she has taken to a nest box with 3 fake eggs. Ralphie I don't know what went wrong, I am so sorry and I know it was not your eggs, but if anyone is to blame it's the hen whacko Amy. After she chased her chicks away they wanted to nest with Cocoa and the eggs may have been jostled around too much before I closed her off from everyone. I should have done it sooner but never went through an ordeal like that before... I dunno but it sure is sad.

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh Boy, you two are having a rough go of it.

I have a turkey hen I need to move tomorrow. It will not be pretty, she should have hatched by now, but has not. The nest smells of rotten eggs. She is a yearling and they are just stupid.

Erli I have some eggs set to hatch around the 28th (if I recall correctly) if you want to put some developed ones under her. I have some chicks but they are 6 days old and may not take to a hen now.

BC I have no idea what to say to you, I am sorry it happened is the best I can do.




Ethel hatched her Guinea eggs she has been sitting on for 3 days and is a happy mother. Pictures at:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1115158/dateline-minnesota-ethel-adopts-at-risk-youth


I have not done well this year on eggs hens take from the start to finish. I am doing great in the incubator though..

I took a bunch of eggs out of the one turkey hut Thursday. I was not sure if they were fresh or some I missed. There was around 10. I looked in the hut tonight and there are 2 new turkey eggs in there. I am going to leave them in there for the hen to hatch now. That is a safe place I can lock up when she sets.

I had a SS come and want to be held tonight. I was pretty sure it was Lizzie. I finally got smart enough to look at her NPIP number and check the records to see who it is. It is really hard to tell Lizzie from Margaret. It was Lizzie, so Margaret is in the tree.

I had some Guineas hatch in the hatcher in last day, I moved them to the brooder earlier tonight.


Did I tell you Coffee said the other day when she was here, she never sees Porter eat and she was worried about him. I think she figured out what he was eating. Last night she sent me a picture of Porter pacing back and forth next to her strawberries her Husband had just fenced to keep the "wild" animals out of them. Porter was not happy with the new fence.... if I told you this already put it down do being old.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

This has been a rough year of chickening ralphie. Not much to say about it...I agree. After 4 years. My aging flock is dying off and the preds have found me. Pretty cute scene out in the garage. Dixie and the babies sleeping one right next to the other. I'm glad I had some babies for her to take care of.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Erli and I have been having one of those weeks/or years. or whatever.

Time to get back on track! I've thought about getting more littles at L & M or whatever. But we have some extended camping dates coming up. I'd rather not be brooding chicks this late in the game. I actually need to be done with brooding here pretty quick. Actually June and Patsy could go down to the big coop. But they'd hang around and range around that coop...and it's got bad JuJu going on down there. Only the big hens for right now. Nothing Little.