Surviving Minnesota!

[holm25]

Ralph I hate to say it but heritage breeds do not fill out hardly at all. My 9month old Royal palm toms dressed out at twelve pounds each but they put on alot of weight the last few weeks. I put them on a low protein cow feed and it put a nice layer of fat on them and they were nice and juicy. Not dry at all. So if you wantthem a little bigger I would putthem on straight corn or a mix for filling out cattle. It has mollases to so they get some nice flavor in the fat!!

 

[Rhetts]

Late to the early morning party.

Good luck at work Klop! Hope the numbers line up! I am interested in what you get on your camera. How are the kittens doing in the shed?

Ralphie-hope your trip is a good one. I am sure those birds are beautiful as they are coming from EJB! They sound pretty and I don't even know what they are.

Yeah I am having issues with frostbite on my single combs. Both the ones in the coop and the bachelors that have an open air coop. Just too much moisture then temps plummet at night.

Have a good day all!!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Gloria and Henrietta were getting it done today out on the range. Notice GLoria is missing her tail. She is in the final stage of her molt and looking better than she ever has. Her new pins are getting real long and have a pink hue. is that blood in them, I assume?

Kloppers you always have great pictures of your flock. I love it. Chickens in the snow.... I think the term I've seen on those particular feathers is "blood feathers" and "pin feathers" too.

well Ralphie you can tell Judy I did it again she practically laid it in my hand.. i held this one while it was still wet.. so i went to coop and i was sitting in the run ,she jumped in my lap, so i was petting her and she started screaming at me again, so i picked her up and took her inside to nest box and she jumped out, then started snuggling down on floor and making a nest so i picked her up and put her back in box and messed up her nest, she jumped out again and did the same thing,,so i again picked her up and put her in nest box. I put some plywood over the spot she wanted and OHHH MYYY she was mad.. so i sat down on the plywood and she jumped in my lap and laid an egg on my leg as i was petting her,, it came out so fast i had to grab it with my hand or it would have rolled down my leg and fell on the floor..LOL it was super cool... the egg was still wet and very warm,, i actually watched the egg dry... so i placed the egg in the box and set her in there she looked at it and jump out,, I told her Thank you gave her another pet and left with the egg.. I LOVE HER,, and i finally gave her a name today It is Strawberry,,,,

Oh my Gosh, Coffee. You had me at the face you posted. But then hearing of Strawberry's egg laying preferences has me in total love with her!!! LOL. And the name too.... That is so perfect. What is poor strawberry going to do when her Momma goes on a trip?! LOL. When more of the girls get going she'll probably learn that she will like her privacy. Too absolutely cute!!! I just chuckle reading about her. I'll have to share this with the kids. They'll get a bang out of it. You'll have to get a video or something of her doing all of this for you.

Late to the early morning party.

Good luck at work Klop! Hope the numbers line up! I am interested in what you get on your camera. How are the kittens doing in the shed?

Ralphie-hope your trip is a good one. I am sure those birds are beautiful as they are coming from EJB! They sound pretty and I don't even know what they are.

Yeah I am having issues with frostbite on my single combs. Both the ones in the coop and the bachelors that have an open air coop. Just too much moisture then temps plummet at night.

Have a good day all!!

So it was a bit cooler this morning than I expected! I have not turned on the heater once this winter. I guess that would be no surprise to anyone here. I kind of like that I haven't!

Recheck on my Big Tootsie last night. He has some scabbing that is sloughing off but he looks pretty good as far as no scrambling pepper flakes.

Ivie, building chicken coops is usually a progression until you have it the way you want it. I have at least 3 major things I would love to do to my coop and I've had it almost 4 years. One guy who was interested in my coop and a carpenter said to me. "Rome was not built in a day." --just some words for DH. And not to worry he has his brain in the Ice Castle right now. He'll come around this spring when he can't fish in it and there's some time before the lake ice is off.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

@Coffee 1st If I were you, I would try straw in the nests. I've heard from more than one person that hens like straw or hay grasses in their nests vs. shavings. Just an idea if you don't want to catch eggs every day. LOL. But I would for a while myself I can tell you. LOL. total entertainment with those chicken tricks!

 

[holm25]

My poor LuLu passed away in the nest last night!!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I'm sorry to hear of LuLu's Passing holm. Of the hens that I've lost to some odd causes...they've always went into nest boxes to die peacefully. There is security there or something. Poor Hen.

My condolences.

 

[lvie]

well Ralphie you can tell Judy I did it again she practically laid it in my hand.. i held this one while it was still wet.. so i went to coop and i was sitting in the run ,she jumped in my lap, so i was petting her and she started screaming at me again, so i picked her up and took her inside to nest box and she jumped out, then started snuggling down on floor and making a nest so i picked her up and put her back in box and messed up her nest, she jumped out again and did the same thing,,so i again picked her up and put her in nest box. I put some plywood over the spot she wanted and OHHH MYYY she was mad.. so i sat down on the plywood and she jumped in my lap and laid an egg on my leg as i was petting her,, it came out so fast i had to grab it with my hand or it would have rolled down my leg and fell on the floor..LOL it was super cool... the egg was still wet and very warm,, i actually watched the egg dry... so i placed the egg in the box and set her in there she looked at it and jump out,, I told her Thank you gave her another pet and left with the egg.. I LOVE HER,, and i finally gave her a name today It is Strawberry,,,,

These @%# chickens are so cute, and cleaver, and fun to watch and SMART. Incredibly smart. Lovin this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[lvie]

My poor LuLu passed away in the nest last night!!

My poor LuLu passed away in the nest last night!!

My poor LuLu passed away in the nest last night!!

Gulp. So sad! It is comforting that they can go into their security place to die. How old was LuLu? Do you have any pictures. You just made me realize I need to get more pictures of the birds and start a little slide-in-the-picture album with their stats. That would be a good remembrance.

 

[lvie]

Thanks Cluckies - I won't be in any hurry to bring her in. IF it gets too bad then I will decide. She gave me an egg today. But she did not have a good time doing it. Lottsa noise.

The sun is out! Is this the third day? So nice to see the light.

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[Cluckies]

Good Luck on a good week Kloppers.


Was the trap empty again?

I really want to process turkeys this week. I need to get rid of some Toms. Judy and I looked at them yesterday, they are just not filled out enough. We have never eaten a heritage turkey. So maybe we are expecting more breast than we will ever get.

JJ is a smaller turkey but seems to have a breast. Sidekick is a larger bird and even at 20 months seems to have a breast but it is not huge. I suppose I will just have to clean one to see what they are like. It is not going to be good for Penguin, he is largest. Even if he is not the oldest. ( I am not counting Porter in this as he is actually Coffee's and he is larger).


I am leaving for the north country in about 15 minutes. I am as excited as Coffee with her new egg! I am getting 2 Partridge Chanticler hens from EJB! Ed is going to be making chicks with pure blood lines instead of the mutts he had last year.

I am seriously thinking of getting rid of all the single comb birds the frost bite just stinks!

Hope you are having a good day Kloppers. I also went back today

it is always rough first day back after a couple of weeks off. good side, half a day, bad side, the otehr half was picking dad up from the VA and bringing him home. But, he doing well, so it is all good, just a ways to drive....

Ralph I hate to say it but heritage breeds do not fill out hardly at all. My 9month old Royal palm toms dressed out at twelve pounds each but they put on alot of weight the last few weeks. I put them on a low protein cow feed and it put a nice layer of fat on them and they were nice and juicy. Not dry at all. So if you wantthem a little bigger I would putthem on straight corn or a mix for filling out cattle. It has mollases to so they get some nice flavor in the fat!!

Wow home, that sound delicious! you know your animals!

My poor LuLu passed away in the nest last night!!

Oh no, so sorry for your loss of LuLu,

It is always hard when we lose them unexpectedly... well, even if we expect it it is hard

Went out and checked on the ladies when I got home, they are doing well. boy, when that sun comes out it can get pretty balmy in that run. I didn't want to take the south panels off, the wind is out of the south, so I took one of the north panels off. That sun sure does feel good today, even though most of it I got while driving.

Ralphie, I'm with you, no more single comb breeds for me, only pea comb, cushion comb, walnut comb, or rose comb. I was thinking Buckeye, Chantecler, EE, Ameraucana, Domoniques, Wyandottes,

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maybe some day, if I can afford them Creamettes,
Oh, and has anyone ever tried the Hamburg? I've heard they lay an egg nearly every day? and 4 to 5 years?

Of course it will be awhile before I get any of these as I can't get more until the ladies are reduced in number... or I somehow get another coop...

this, of course would be my DH if I brought that up