Surviving Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

I Love Layers I am sorry if I was snarky as ralphy put it. I don't like animals to suffer, I don't like to remove their heads either but will if the bird is sick or injured badly.

NO NO NO.. do not be sorry, it was cool, and you were right!

 

[Cebarmlds]

Morning.

Sorry about the chick Layers.

Animals are better equipped to deal with a physical injury than humans, they do not remember what was, or feel sorry for themselves, they just go on with life with what is. Especially prey animals that know instinctively showing an injury or weakness is a sure way to get picked off by a predator.

Speaking of illness or physical injury, sorry you're under the weather BC. Might I suggest a day of blackberries in the form of brandy interspersed with peppermint schnapps on ice?

Ivie May the funeral go as well as they can. Condolences.


Erli, I loved the early snarkiness! "remove its head"!

I pulled what I think is a hen from the rooster pen. 3 eggs in 3 days tells me I made a minor error in identifying roosters. It is a EE/PC cross, what a bird. It is larger than a PC with a lot of the same coloring but a black hen. A beautiful bird. Because of her size I thought she was a rooster, but her body type looks henlike. I will get pictures of her after she lays and egg and I know she is a she. Her eggs are extra large and olive green. When I crossed her mother to ED I wanted green eggs, so I am happy. If it is a her.

I have a couple others in there that could be hens. Some breeds are so hard to tell hens from roos. I find the BA hard to tell apart too.

I have a trap out, I have been wanting to check, but I am forcing myself to stay in the house for another hour to give the critter a chance to get caught if it is a morning feeder. I am sure my "bait" is wanting me to get him out of there soon. I found a way to use a bait bird and keep it safe. I attached a milk case to the end of a livetrap with HUGE cable ties, locking the "bait " safely inside the case. I know it sounds cruel and maybe, but it is a rooster I would have had to cull if I did not use it this way. I cannot keep it in the birds it's age pen, as it beats the crap out of the other birds. I tried to put it in the young rooster open and they beat the crap out of it.

It has not learned to be humble. If the other birds stop picking on it, it turns and attacks the others, 2-3 at a time. We thought about eating it but there is no meat on it as it is a teenager. So it has become "the goat" in the lion hunts you see on TV. (Ok judge me now)

Time to see what else is new on BYC.. back in a few.

My 3 juvenile roosters were not big enough but I had them processed and they are in my freezer. They will make a small meal and some very good soup stock, evil Amy too.

 

[duluthralphie]

My 3 juvenile roosters were not big enough but I had them processed and they are in my freezer. They will make a small meal and some very good soup stock, evil Amy too.

Oh no! Evil Amy is gone???




BTW I meant snarky in a good way..


I am afraid come camp day I am going to have a lot of small roosters. but whatever it is, is what will be. I can't afford to be feeding them all winter. I am going to even have to cull some girls. I am going through about $1,000 a month on feed that will end soon! Part of that is going to rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks, which I have recently placed on the "soon to be extinct" list here.

Judy is not happy with my chicken feed bills.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Oh no! Evil Amy is gone???




BTW I meant snarky in a good way..


I am afraid come camp day I am going to have a lot of small roosters. but whatever it is, is what will be. I can't afford to be feeding them all winter. I am going to even have to cull some girls. I am going through about $1,000 a month on feed that will end soon! Part of that is going to rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks, which I have recently placed on the "soon to be extinct" list here.

Judy is not happy with my chicken feed bills.

She is gone.

Ok snarky in a good way, I'm not bothered by that. Just didn't want to be misunderstood. Sometimes I just get to the point and don't want to ramble on since I'm not the fastest typist in the world.

That is a huge huge feed bill for chickens.

 

[jerryse]

BC hope you feel better soon . Like the berry pictures . I sometimes tune the radio to 90.1 while at the lake . Got the grandson listening to it . About quitting time they really get the drums going . Found the FNX station on the TV . I have some cucumber slices salted for the creamed cucumbers . Janet makes too large a batch of marinade . Takes a while to eat it all . Anyway going to try the creamed cucumbers .

I canned tomatoes again yesterday . Chickens get the peels , cores and rejects . Lots of cucumbers . Slowing down now . No pickles this year . Still have some left . I like bread and butter pickles . Last time I used pickle crisp . Helps keep them crunchy . Fed some surplus squash / gourds to the chickens . Chickens get a lot of garden treats and weeds this time of year .

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Ummmm. IF I were Judy I would not be happy with that chicken feed bill either. Holy Crap Ralphie.

I don't think you have to worry about anybody on here thinking ill of you on here Erli. With that type of injury we all know what the answer is for that unfortunate bird.

I have ventured onto other threads yesterday. I'm sure I will be back here, solely, with my tail between my legs. LOL.

 

[jerryse]

Erli good call on the chick . I have a strict policy of no special needs chickens . A sick bird is also dispatched quickly . I want no recovered carriers on the place . Works well for me . Sickness is rare .

 

[Minniechickmama]

June and July--> No eggs for us. Dixie was brooding, and the others are getting to be older and a bit spent. The influx of newbies coming into POL this fall will be a nice change up. Dixie I believe, when I got her from you...I estimated her to be the same age as my first brood. So I believe she is 4. My mind is always thinking about things like this...but I think the broodiness/hormones on and off keeps the fertility tract healthier, IMHO. And of course, I suppose eggs coming down the line for longevity.

I know she doesn't have that fluffy of a crest, Minnie...but I've since learned that her beautiful mulberry/black skin as a buff colored hen was no small feat on your part. Hard to get that coloring, so I've been told.

Ralphie. I will try one of those chanterelles tonight. I also got a "Yuppers" from Mike the Minnesota Mushroom guy on his facebook page. Feeling less chicken...LOL.

I am not sure where you heard it is hard to get the right color on the Buffs' skin. I think people who say such things haven't had much experience or they are making excuses for breeding poor quality. I do have some that come out with lighter combs, but they go to be pets or eaten. There is plenty of correct stock out there, so there is no excuse for propagating poor traits. I miss the Buffs, and I will miss the rest of the Silkies once they are gone, but I will get over it.

She is gone.

Ok snarky in a good way, I'm not bothered by that. Just didn't want to be misunderstood. Sometimes I just get to the point and don't want to ramble on since I'm not the fastest typist in the world.

That is a huge huge feed bill for chickens.

I like to ramble, which probably gets on people's nerves sometimes. However, your assessment is correct on that bird. Leg dragging, then there is no use in trying to perform miracles.


My daughter decided after going to the fair with me last week, that she wants to re-join 4-H and show birds. So, now that I have sold off a bunch of them and I am cutting back more, she wants to get Bantam Cochins. Uffda! I don't really like messing with more feather-feet, but if she wants to show, I will get a trio to breed from. I am just making an effort next year to hatching only what I need and that is it. I will sell hatching eggs otherwise. I hope to be down to about 40 birds or so over-winter, which is about 150 less than I was, and it is about 90 less than last year. So, I am cutting down.

I took a dozen butthead Buckeye cockerels to the processor this morning. They will be canned later today after I pick them up. I can only guess that the birds I got from a breeder in Ohio have some of his Aseel game birds in them from the way they act and the color problems I have encountered. They were out of a hen he got from me and had sired them with his rooster. I have never had such a bunch of complete a)(*$)&)%( cockerels EVER!!!! They gang up on and beat the snot out of the other birds, even trying that crap right in front of me. I got fed up and took the big boys in. They will be nice additions to salads and soups this fall and winter. The guy at the meat locker had never heard of Buckeyes before.
What really irks me is that these are suppose to be calm and gentle birds. Sure, I have had some males scrapping in the pasture in the past, but not like I have seen this year. I have some on the mend still where they got the backs of their heads torn open, a few have had missing feathers on the backs of the head for a while now. There is no reason for that kind of baloney. I might just scrap all of them if I can't find one who will behave himself.

I am planning to go to New Ulm on Saturday, which means I have to come up with enough cages and kennels and carriers to haul all my excess birds over there. I am not looking forward to driving that far so early in the morning, but if it means cutting my feed bill and emptying pens, and getting rid of a few more of the butthead cockerels, I am all for it.

So, I am off and running again. You all have a lovely day!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Jerry is 90.1 where They play the big band stuff? I have to say I have an older soul and have in my own music collection several CD's of Big Band collections, Louis Armstrong, etc. I love it as backdrop music for dinner parties, etc.

After we said our vows, DH and I had a base player and pianist at our wedding play "It Had to be You". LOL. Love that music. As a child of the 80's even.

 

[Cebarmlds]

I went blackberry picking yesterday, I only got 1/2 an ice cream bucket full. My friend I picked with got a full bucket, she's a much better forager than I am. There are tons of unripe berries out there.
I tried to post pictures but it's kinda slow. Also elderberry growing wild, not quite ripe yet. Bogtown I also saw ghost flower they are so cool looking.