Surviving Minnesota!

[MNChickMom]

Good morning all! You have got to be really early to get the worm around here.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Yeah, that would be quite the drive. I'm a bit picky when it comes to roosters. I prefer to raise them from chicks. I'd take a juvie or adult if I knew the person they were coming from. I found two people with BCMs. My fingers are also twitching on ebay eggs. I may give it a whirl.




I love the olive eggs! I like speckled eggs, too. What lays the white one?

It's just a paler shade of green next to the darker ones.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Good morning everyone

 

[duluthralphie]

Hey guys, I'm not from Minnesota, but Wisconsin, Go Pack Go. Anyway with a similar climate, when is the best time to incubate chicken eggs? If it takes three weeks to hatch and a few more in the brooder, I don't want them to outgrow the brooder before it's warm enough to put them outside in the colder Coop. Also what kind of chicks do you recommend? Thanks for helping a neighbor to the east and a first time chicken farmer!

Welcome to BYC.. and this thread.

You need to back it up from when you think they can go outside.

It depends on were and what your brooder is too. by 4 weeks they are pretty tough. (fully feathered)

What kind of birds you get depends on your goals with birds. Tell us more and we can give you suggestions.

Good morning all! You have got to be really early to get the worm around here.

That is why I quit playing the :good Morning" game most mornings. I only play on days I can win.

..

Jerry should be disqualified because he lives too close to the Eastern Time Zone...Cluckies gets up for work which should not count ..And Erlibrd has to get up and see if her chicken hating Neighbor is there.. of course, that will not happen now until her DH removes the snow he piled on her drive,,,

And you have a Kid to take to the doc..So I win today!





7 chicks hatched, 9 eggs not hatched. Not a great operation here. No PC eggs for a few days. I am not sure what is going on. Today I will be moving snow again, so I cannot accomplish much.

But first I have to drink lots of coffee...

 

[I Love Layers]

Hey guys, I'm not from Minnesota, but Wisconsin, Go Pack Go. Anyway with a similar climate, when is the best time to incubate chicken eggs? If it takes three weeks to hatch and a few more in the brooder, I don't want them to outgrow the brooder before it's warm enough to put them outside in the colder Coop. Also what kind of chicks do you recommend? Thanks for helping a neighbor to the east and a first time chicken farmer!

For me I start hatching and buying chicks so that they will be fully feathered and grown by the first show. Like Ralphie said by 4 weeks they are pretty tough, I move mine into a separate cage in the coop at 4 weeks and let them free range during the day. I like to get mine in late March to middle of April for layers and for show birds I like January to February

 

[lvie]

Good Morning Chickeners . . . .

Gonna go out and shovel (my work out on days like this). I thought Mr. Weatherman predicted that the 6:00 a.m. rush to work would be bad but that the snow would taper off after that. Where did I not hear of a morning of more snow? Hmmmm

I am about to go out and check the flock.

Oh - I put my six young chicks in the coop at 4 weeks this last time I had chicks. I do not want chicks in my basement ever again. Three times and that was enough for me. So I made a brooder for in the garage in case I need one. But I want my hens to do the work from here on out. Not that I need any more hens. I have 20 laying birds and one roo now. Too many for why I am raising them! Eggs! I want my own eggs to eat.

For the new chick farmer in Wisconsin - I started with Australorp and ISA's. The ISA's because they are layers but only stick around a couple of years. The Australorp's are good layers also but last longer than the ISA's. By the time a year had passed, I had gone through a winter, had the eagles eat three of my girls just after they started laying, after that first year I have a better idea of how to winter them, the supplements to add to their food for more eggs, how to deal with Northern Fowl Mites, cleaning the coop, cleaning the birds, taking care of injuries etc. Now it is my intention to downsize as they quit laying and to acquire birds that are American bred and a variety of egg colors. IF free-ranging a rooster is a must. There are nice roosters to be had (LOL). I am impressed with my California whites. Such nice-size eggs for such a small bird. And every single day. Not flighty or unfriendly. I like the Cream Leg Bar also once she started laying but my one is not an everyday layer. Green eggs from her. I have Speckled Sussex, they lay good brown eggs. Nice size. Pretty consistent in laying. Friendly and curious. I tend to go for the quieter more docile birds. My SS look so nice with my one Australorp with their iridescent featherings. I did not like the Rhode Island Reds at first but now they are more settled and are so pretty. Good layers. Buff Orpingtons - again, docile, somewhat friendly and good layers. It is a diversified flock but needs to shrink Four eggs a day would be plenty for us. I gather about eight a day now.

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Hey guys, I'm not from Minnesota, but Wisconsin, Go Pack Go. Anyway with a similar climate, when is the best time to incubate chicken eggs? If it takes three weeks to hatch and a few more in the brooder, I don't want them to outgrow the brooder before it's warm enough to put them outside in the colder Coop. Also what kind of chicks do you recommend? Thanks for helping a neighbor to the east and a first time chicken farmer!

Welcome Oreagano. Middle of April seemed to work for me for Layer type backyard birds. I brood in my car garage. The garage is insulated but we run a chauffer service for teenagers so sometimes that door was opening & closing alot in 40-50 degree weather and under the brooder light the chicks did just fine. Was kind of balmy in there some days. LOL. Chicks feathered and ready for cooping on their own by Memorial Day or early June. Depends on how fast you get the feathers/temps and or coop ready. But I do advise a ready coop before you get the birds even. Good luck over there in Sconnie.

And the verdict is in. Son has a broken shoulder, thankfully no concussion but they are having me wake him every hour to be on the safe side. 4 hours now the er, only to be told come back tomorrow at 7 am to see orthopedics specialist. In my best whiny voice but the roads stink... so i told my husband stay in fargo i can handle this. His response, "i never doubted thst you couldnt handle it, by the way did you plug in the skid loader." So because i didnt plug in the skid loader...i called my father in law. First thing outta is mouth.." I bet you didn't plug in the green bean." Nope. "I'll bring over the big artillery." So because i had so much free time. I spent a little time cleaning the spilt water mess in the coop, feeding, rebeding only to knock over the water when refilling oyster shell. If it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck today. Cheers to a better tomorrow.

Oh MNChickMom what a crazy day/night for you. When it rains it pours! Well wishes for your son and fast healing.

The games were still on last night. Roads were 'meh' around here. My local little county roads for work are H.S. but I just poke along doing 35-40 all the way and I get there. Probably tick off a few truck driving fools when they get behind me but I don't care. Anyhow. DS won their game and DD lost theirs. These double headers are kind of nice for DH and I as we don't have to spread over the country side for both of them. I think it helps the school save $ busing as well. Sort of works out good. It was a weird one though...Monday. Why would it rain when it's 16 degrees out?! Freezing Rain=No good!

RJ's wattles...way way down. Red. Better. Not sure what happened. I think we got real cold those days...He nipped just the front edges and then he slept very close to the red lamp one night and the heat maybe opened the lymphs and blood vessels and he puffed up....all is well though with no intervention from me. Life is so much easier being less of a freak about it. LOL.

The moon last night was fantastic. I wish I had a really good camera to catch those moments. But No flashlight required to go to the coop to shut it up at 9 o'clock last night. Walking under the moon shadows of the big Norway Pine trees where the coop was located. Snow was Baby blue. Makes you stop and take pause to take it all in. Beautiful.

It was very dark and overcast here this morning....very gray at 8:00. But I see blue breaking between some clouds now. I like that. Jerry don't blow away down there.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Also @oreagano look for bird types that have cushion or rose combs for winter hardiness in a rooster. Hens it doesn't matter a whole lot as they tuck their heads under their wings. But Large single comb roosters suffer frost bite damage on those extended cold streaks. Once you have that sorted then start looking at egg colors, feather colors....fun stuff!

 

[duluthralphie]

BC you mean the TV lied to me when they said all evening events at Longville-Remer were cancelled?


Terrible, if you can't even believe the TV any more!

 

[lvie]

Also @oreagano look for bird types that have cushion or rose combs for winter hardiness in a rooster. Hens it doesn't matter a whole lot as they tuck their heads under their wings. But Large single comb roosters suffer frost bite damage on those extended cold streaks. Once you have that sorted then start looking at egg colors, feather colors....fun stuff!

Amen to those combs! Way to go Bogtown