Surviving Minnesota!

[LadyVictorian]

I got my silkies from VJP and have always been very happy with them as well. If you follow her on Facebook, you can get frequent updates on what she currently has hatched. All of her silkies are bearded/muffed, which I prefer. Very nice lady. She actually has a few splash right now that I might pick up since I already have the brooder going. An owl took my splash silkie a few weeks back and I have to admit I miss her being under foot every time I go out to the coop.

Your home sounds like mine! You have a barbados ram???? That is so cool. A farmer next to my family farm always had a bunch of them. I've honestly never heard of anyone else having them until you. They always scared me a bit as a kiddo because they're so big. That's pretty funny about your pygmy goats! Lol! We had frogs and various lizards (Bearded Dragon, Anoles, Chameleon) once upon a time, but my oldest boy started hockey and we just don't have the time anymore. I kept my fish - I have a 70 gallon aquarium with african cichlids. We did have a sulcata tortoise for a period of time, but we rehomed him to a very nice couple who actually travel with the renaissance festival with their reptiles. We found it in our yard roaming around. My guess is someone dumped it off. Anyways, we also have a holland lop, chickens, ducks (muscovy and khaki campbells), and peacocks. Oh, and a cat and dog somewhere in there as well. I think it's great you're digging back into your roots! You still live on the family farm?

Ooooh, I am so excited to get Silkies now, I keep hearing good things about VJP, I am almost tempted to get them in January since they have some hatching January 5th.

I seldom hear of anyone owning Barbados rams because they are actually very aggressive and considered an exotic animal. We fixed our boy though so he never got that aggressive, just bossy. Having had him most of my childhood and adult life I actually think all other sheep and goats are small now xD I never considered he was the big one but he was about 34 inches at the shoulder, larger than my two miniature horses (24 inches and 22 inches). He ended up passing of old age in his sleep when he was 15 and was best friends with our redstar hen Tiki. When he died she attacked us and would not let us move his body. We found her laying on his back and trying to wake him up. I think I picked her up and cried for two hours because those two were always together. The sheep and his hen.

Also OMG cichlids. I have been looking into them. If I can move my goldfish to their pond this year I want to get cichlids for my 150 gallon tank or fancy goldfish. I have been seeing some beautiful blues at the fish store lately. Every time I go I oooh and aaah them. I need to finish setup on my guppy/neon tetra thank though first xD and set up my 4 way 20 gallon betta tank I promised the betta community I would do.

I still live on the old family farm. In fact this spring we are going to be setting up the old broad mare barn and turning the two birthing stalls into chicken stalls. It's a nice sturdy barn and our horses live in the newer training barn so I think the hens/chickens will like it. It's all insulated with nice big windows facing the sunrise, an indoor working water pump, and outlets. We will probably also turn the little tack room into feed storage and treat locker. There is a small indoor arena where we use to turn out new mama mare's and their foals when it was bad outside that he might turn into a little indoor 'pasture' for the chickens during the winter so they can stay indoors all year but still have space to wander. I got one of the stalls cleared out but we still have some gear to move into the large storage barn we built and clean out the second stall. I might end up with like 50 chickens once this is over >.<

 

[Momof3plustwins]

Merry Christmas to all! Here is a picture of our chidlers after our Christmas Eve church service.

 

[Momof3plustwins]

Merry Christmas to all! Here is a picture of our chidlers after our Christmas Eve church service.

 

[duluthralphie]

We are home!

We did all the Christmas Eve stuff. Went to Duluth, saw kids and Grandkids. Went to church. Ate Chinese. we really need to change that tradition.

Drove home.

LadyVictorian 50 becomes 500 fast, in chicken math. How does VJP take back roosters? I thought they were NPIP. Do they just take it back or buy it back? I am wondering if they just take them back and kill them. Bringing a bird back into your flock can be a PITA. that is frowned on my the state poultry board.

They had contacted me last spring before I was NPIP about getting some legbars but I think my not being NPIP at the time scared them off.

I also have heard nothing but good about their birds.


@Cluckies if you have a license Plate and description of the truck that took your trailer it must just be a matter of time until you get it back and they are inside looking out, isn't it?


Holms, I understand why you asked that now, never dawned on me it would be anything but set outside for pictures.

I had to fess up as to the turkeys being in the van, Judy found a little something one of them left for us. She asked how it got there and I could not think of a feasible lie fast enough.


Then she asked if I had a picture of it, So I showed her....

That was followed by, "did you post it to your chicken friends?"

So what I need to know is which one of you snitched me out? (and on Christmas eve even) She would have never found the turkey gift on her own!


Mom3&2 Nice looking kids the oldest looks a lot like your Mom did. AND I heard from Judy what you got for Christmas. Your hubby is making the rest (me) look bad! Tell him to knock it off!

 

[LadyVictorian]

We are home!

We did all the Christmas Eve stuff. Went to Duluth, saw kids and Grandkids. Went to church. Ate Chinese. we really need to change that tradition.

Drove home.

LadyVictorian 50 becomes 500 fast, in chicken math. How does VJP take back roosters? I thought they were NPIP. Do they just take it back or buy it back? I am wondering if they just take them back and kill them. Bringing a bird back into your flock can be a PITA. that is frowned on my the state poultry board.

They had contacted me last spring before I was NPIP about getting some legbars but I think my not being NPIP at the time scared them off.

I also have heard nothing but good about their birds.

Not sure but the customer I was talking to said she had two roosters (where she lives roosters are not allowed). She was able to bring the roo's back and trade them in for two hens instead. She also said someone brought back two chickens who were indeed hens and were starting to lay. Perhaps they buy back? If the hens who were brought back are still alive and laying eggs I would assume they don't kill but maybe with less people wanting roo's they may kill the unwanted roo's. Not 100% but the customer at the store did indeed tell me that if you can't have roo's/don't want roo's you can bring them back and get hen's the same age as the current silkies you have.

 

[duluthralphie]

Not sure but the customer I was talking to said she had two roosters (where she lives roosters are not allowed). She was able to bring the roo's back and trade them in for two hens instead. She also said someone brought back two chickens who were indeed hens and were starting to lay. Perhaps they buy back? If the hens who were brought back are still alive and laying eggs I would assume they don't kill but maybe with less people wanting roo's they may kill the unwanted roo's. Not 100% but the customer at the store did indeed tell me that if you can't have roo's/don't want roo's you can bring them back and get hen's the same age as the current silkies you have.

I doubt they would bring them back and use the eggs, it is just too risky if you get caught you could lose your NPIP. and bringing them in is a pain and takes state approval ahead of time. I am just curious. thanks.

 

[I Love Layers]

Got some cool things from my family today! Coolest was a book on my dads moms side. There were some pretty interesting things.

I don't think this John Brown is related to us, just a neighbor way back when. But still weird

I thought this was cool

I'm basically 1/4 Hungarian, my grandma is pure Hungarian, and 1/4 Ukrainian, my grandpa is pure Ukrainian, from my dads side according to this book.


I got a lot of chicken books. No APA standard though.

A box for stuff to take to shows.

A $50 certificate to local breeder. I'm most likely getting 8 Golden Laced Polish since I already have plans for every other breed I want to get for 2017.



And the weirdest one. A camera with night vision for my coop

. I'll admit I thought I'd be the last person to ever buy one or be gifted one. But it'll definitely relieve my stress when I'm away for a few days.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Half Hungarian here, my grandmother comes from Hungary along with my grandfather. I am second generation American but the first 'mutt' in the family. We still have 99% of our family back in the motherland though that we go visit every couple of years. We still own our beautiful little farm in Hungary as well, eventually I want to go move there and take up the old family farm and get her running again. It's a small plot of land but it's in the village where my grandma was born and soooooo beautiful there. We are right behind a giant field of sunflowers and a little cattle farm across the road with a farmer who breeds some beautiful traditional Hungarian horses. Oh and a crazy cat lady everyone thinks is a witch because she has like 50 cats but was really nice and let myself and my cousins name like 20 cats when we were little xD

 

[I Love Layers]

Half Hungarian here, my grandmother comes from Hungary along with my grandfather. I am second generation American but the first 'mutt' in the family. We still have 99% of our family back in the motherland though that we go visit every couple of years. We still own our beautiful little farm in Hungary as well, eventually I want to go move there and take up the old family farm and get her running again. It's a small plot of land but it's in the village where my grandma was born and soooooo beautiful there. We are right behind a giant field of sunflowers and a little cattle farm across the road with a farmer who breeds some beautiful traditional Hungarian horses. Oh and a crazy cat lady everyone thinks is a witch because she has like 50 cats but was really nice and let myself and my cousins name like 20 cats when we were little xD

The crazy cat lady though

. I think most of my grandmas family lost touch. My grandpas Ukrainian side had Jacob come over, he had about 12 kids altogether, some from his first wife who had died and then his second and her kids, his second wifes kids despised him, they are in MN and IL. His family was the first family out here and some of the first Ukrainians in ND. We were a big family back when, ran the whole town basically, post office and grocery store.
There were some that did stay behind. My aunt went over and found some relatives in 08 if I'm correct. Not sure how they are doing now after the Russians...

Up until the 30s my great grandpa still kept in touch until the Holodomor. Basically when I've asked about it the adults pause and say, The letters just stopped coming.
So either they were killed by the Russians, sent to work camps on Siberia, they weren't allowed to send letters, but even then after the Holodomor ended they would've sent letters again. So they most likely starved to death, every single one of them but a few.

 

[LadyVictorian]

I am lucky and very grateful my family survived the era of Russian controlled Hungary. It was actually the time my grandmother and grandfather escape. It's quite the story. My grandma went through WWII and the Cold War. She tells me all about her exciting adventures of running from bullets from the Russian military taking Hungary from Germany and about the German officer and his family who occupied their farm home for a while. She also told me some dark and gruesome stories of watching her neighbors marched out of the village during WWII and then when the Russian's came and basically took all their livestock including her pet goat. She escaped the country under the cover of night arranged for her uncle who was already in America to be her sponsor. Her grandfather went missing through. I think he tried making a run out of Hungary after his wife died and got caught. They never saw him again.

Not sure about my grandpa's family history and his adventures/stories before he came to America. He passed away from a heart attack when my mother was 13 so I never knew him but half of his family were Jewish (married in) and I guess during WWII none of them were ever found again T.T We don't talk much to grandpa's family as they are very angry at our family. I think because my grandma's family is fairly wealthy and they wanted to borrow money and my grandma said no. They were upset about that and stopped talking to us.