Surviving Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

Minnie, can kids from ND participate in Hutch?



Yes, youth from out of state can participate in the show here. We encourage youth from anywhere to come and join in the fun! Youth also may enter both Junior and Open but they have to be different birds used in each as each bird is cooped by itself in the section it was entered. They have Showmanship for the juniors as well.

 

[I Love Layers]

I will have to look into that for next year then!

 

[duluthralphie]

I have just had a difficult day,

I was out with my birds. Cleaning them up, cleaning cages and telling them how proud of them for doing so well at the show.

They all wanted to know why they did not get a trophy or ribbon if they did so good. I will be calling the show secretary and telling him what they said. I hope he takes me more seriously this time...



Also Mike Gilbert is good. He picked up one of my Dom Pullets Saturday and asked me if she was laying yet. I told him not yet. He felt of her and said well she will be soon, She laid an egg this morning.

I am amazed.

New Ulm has a show on the 19th of Nov... in case anyone is interested. I hope Smith Poultry will be there. I missed the announcement they were leaving on Sat, and I wanted to buy more stuff. I got feeders and waterers that attach to the cages at a ridiculously low price Around a buck each.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Well the more stories I hear about the Mike...the more I'm impressed. A chicken OB/GYN of sorts as well!

I wonder if he'll make house calls out here to my neck of the woods. I have 5 pullets I'm tapping my toe on.... It's a gorgeous sunny day out there today. Hard frost last night. Maybe the girls will like all the blue sky and sunshine today...though...


It would have been nice if you would have got a little Foofa-La to put in the barn at least so the girls and guys could puff out their chest a bit more about being so fancy. Good suggestions ralphie. I would have done the same. Plant the seed....

 

[duluthralphie]

Well the more stories I hear about the Mike...the more I'm impressed. A chicken OB/GYN of sorts as well!

I wonder if he'll make house calls out here to my neck of the woods. I have 5 pullets I'm tapping my toe on.... It's a gorgeous sunny day out there today. Hard frost last night. Maybe the girls will like all the blue sky and sunshine today...though...


It would have been nice if you would have got a little Foofa-La to put in the barn at least so the girls and guys could puff out their chest a bit more about being so fancy. Good suggestions ralphie. I would have done the same. Plant the seed....

It all comes down to one thing,,


Who wants a chicken with low self esteem?

BTW I snitched on Jerry to Mike telling him how Jerry killed my rare pea comb CLB cockerel!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Jerry's Pet Raccoons...right?

 

[duluthralphie]

Jerry's Pet Raccoons...right?

Yep, Jerry does not have them very well trained.

 

[I Love Layers]

Only caught 2 roosters

leaving in a few minutes

 

[Minniechickmama]

If you all want to learn to evaluate hens, when pullets are coming into lay and which are good layers and which are not, download the e-book "The Call of the Hen", I think it is by Ben Hogan (or is that a golfer, I know I get two of them mixed up). It is called the Hogan method, I know that much. You can tell if they are coming into lay by feeling their pelvic bones and their spread along with the flexibility of those bones. It's a book that has been around for a long time.
You can tell when they squat or when their combs and wattles suddenly start to redden up a lot too.

"Bleaching" is the term used to describe when a hen is getting close to molt or getting to where she really isn't giving up eggs much any more. It is the lightening or fading of color in the legs and the face/wattles/comb. So look at your ladies right now and see how light their legs and faces are as they are dropping feathers all over the coop and yard.
You should also notice when their feathers start to fade in color or lose their lacing color, that they are getting close to molt too.
Along with all that, they may go hunch in a corner somewhere for a couple or few days as the molt is hitting them, and they look sick, then suddenly they are fine again. Call it PMS for hens. I would hate to go through what they do. I have read that a hen laying an egg every day is like a woman giving birth to a 9-pound baby every day. NO THANK YOU!!!!!

You can complain to Mike, Ralphie, but I don't think they are going to start handing out ribbons to everyone You could always make some for your low self-esteem birds. They carried themselves proudly over the weekend and their time in the spa really make them sparkle and shine.

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, as it turned out I did not buy any Irish birds. My club is having an auction on 11/20 in St. Paul, and so I felt compelled to save my money to support that. We are partnering with two other organizations, and it should be a good turn out with many birds and bidders.
Mike Gilbert did very well with one of his bantam PC's at the Hutchinson show. I will have to put it on the calendar for next year. Hope I can last that long. It is a question at my age.