Surviving Minnesota!

[MNChickMom]

Ohhhh...Ralphie sorry to hear of the headache.

 

[memphis]

Great interview Ralphie! Ya'll need to read his Breeder Profile interview.

 

[BantyChooks]

Morning all. Ralphie, three months?? That's horrid.

 

[MNChickMom]

Good Morning Chickeners . . . .  Yes! I am up and crowing! Mistaken identity!   Time to move and shake (actually two hours ago).

Hello Harriet Hens - welcome to our forum where these experienced chickeners will answer your questions to the best of their ability, which is pretty darn good.
I am beginning my third year as a chickener and will admit that I envy you being in Minneapolis where you are limited to four birds. My experience, where a chickener can have more than four is that four is a beginning. Within two years you would have nineteen or thirty IF a chickener was not limited to four. Yes. Your birds will become pets and will come when you call them by name (because you will usually have a small treat for them) and they can be trained to jump through hoops. But the best part is the eggs they eat.

I have three of Ralphie's british ladies (Speckled Sussex or SS) They are lovely ladies. Quiet, respectful, curious. My Buff Orpingtons (BO) are quiet also. As a matter of fact the only noisy one of 21 birds is my rooster with his crowing. I happen to like the heritage breeds and the penciling on the different birds. Plus the eggs. I got them for eggs. Remember that fellow chickeners? When I was young and got chickies for eggs.  Build your coop just a little larger than what instructions say. If it says the plans are for four birds - don't believe it. Build it for eight. Your probably going to do the coop once unless you replace it in ten years so spend the $$$ and do it now. Then enjoy. Easier than dogs and fun to watch.

Ivie nailed it with coop space. I owned buff Orps, I did get rid of them due to comb freezing in winter. Very nice docile birds. We also own some of ralphies speckled Sussex. My 11 year old daughter would carry around 2 full grown ss roosters with no issue, they were that tame/docile. I now have 4 week old buckeyes and 4 week old dominiques. I have to say the buckeyes are quieter. Dominiques are a little flighty yet.

 

[jerryse]

Let me revisit the pear topic for BC . We have wild / escaped flowering pear here . They make good rootstocks for fruiting pear . Easy to find and free . I have some on my property that I considered to be these . Fruit is larger than the pea sized Bradford or Cleveland select types . So those are pyrus calleryana . I got to researching hardy zone 3 types and found the Harbin rootstock . pyrus ussuriensis . It seems I have the Harbin or a Harbin x callery mix growing wild here . So a hardy rootstock . One step closer to pear trees at the lake . I have varieties of fruiting pear grafted that can take zone 3 .

 

[I Love Layers]

So today I lifted up the broody to check on eggs since it's day 19. There's 10 eggs under her, and I put 8 under her. Well she laid 2 even though she's been Broody for over a month previous. I will just throw them out after school.
The black cockerel is half ways to understanding how to breed females. He chased and grabs but doesn't mount.
And my dad and I realized why we thought we should've started calving last week or so. It was because that was the day we brought them in the Corrals. So we actually let them out on the 10th. We got our first calf yesterday a black bull

 

[lvie]

Hey chickeners - Harriet Hens started a new forum called Hello From Minnesota on BYC. Brand spankin new! Thought you might want to check it out for the fun of it.

Any suggestions on other forums I should be checking out.

Ralphie - I am not ignoring your pain in the head. Sorry about it that. Take it easy and drink lottsa H2O too. It helps everything.

Siggie - can't wait to hear more. I have never hatched an egg let alone have a broody.

 

[lvie]

Congrats Ill on the new calf. Black is good according to what I just learned from Holm.

And hopefully that roo can stay on for a few seconds soon. LOL.

 

[BantyChooks]

Great interview Ralphie! Ya'll need to read his Breeder Profile interview.

Where?

 

[lvie]

Great interview Ralphie! Ya'll need to read his Breeder Profile interview.

Under his profile on CLB?