Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

AND since I removed the two CLB roos to the coop outside (remember - they are in that plastic brooder with a well-supported heat lamp) the chicks inside the house have settled down nicely. They were all over the place and very excitable with the CLB around. Those two roos are beautiful too.

I am committed to keeping the SS roo though and two roos (already have the barred rock, Tom Hanks) will be plenty for me.

At this time I will have 2 ISA's (great layers)
1 barred rock (gilda radner)
and they are in a coop with Tom.

Then I have the two RIR's (Ruby is finally getting feathers back on her back after Tom's exploits) in the large coop with the two CLB and their brooder.

So that is five hens but the two RIR are not laying real well right now.

Then I will have the two SS and one roo;
two BA,
two California Whites,
two buff orphingtons. That is 13 hens for now.

Fifteen more coming? I dunno. I am thinking of cancelling that 15 from Cackles IF no one else wants a few of them. I go back and forth on the cancellation. I would love to have the different colored eggs.

 

[NathanZee]

Yes I think so
Hey! I'm in 4-h, I've never had ducks, I show my chickens. I think call ducks would be cool to have, why do you hate them so much?

Good! My theory is he was attacked by a duck in his childhood, he's never recovered.

You should definitely get some ducks Violet!

The only difference between ducks and chickens is that ducks like to swim. I like my chickens and ducks equally.

And ducks are easier to herd, are more cold hardy, and the males are quieter!

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks Ivie!!!


They look so great.

My SS's are the only chickens I have that are lappers. The layers go to bed around 4pm. I have no idea why, but they do. So I lock them up and let the SS out to forage for a few hours.

The SS do not go to bed until 7pm.

The SS hens follow me and jump up on anything around my waist high so I will pet them. I think they do it because they know King George hates me touching his girls. Tonight I was gathering and marking eggs using the turkey run as a desk. One of the British girls came over watched me and stood right there until I picked her up and scratched her.

It is kind of nice having a "pet" chicken. The rest of mine would never allow that. I think Aussiegal actually made pets out of these SS before I got them. It is hard to believe they are just that friendly on their own...



Also I plan to get some chicks this year too, Dominques are still on my list as are Welsummers and Marans. I might just get some eggs and hatch them too, one never knows.

 

[Dandelioness]

Klop Klop glad your chicks arrived safely & are doing well.

Anyone looking to make an electrolyte without honey, just use sugar. Someone mentioned garlic, too. I add 2-3 crushed cloves per quart, too, but I don't think I mentioned it.

All the speckled Sussex chicks are beautiful! I hope I get some in my assortment again. Sounds like they'll be here end of April.

My DH had to drive all around the metro in the snow, but nothing here. I'm still parking at the end of my driveway for fear of getting stuck, but it's starting to get more solid.

Love the cow pics, Holm

Have a good night, all ~
Have to be up early to meet the feed truck.

 

[memphis]

Ralph, SS are just sweet layed back chickens. They are super curious, therefore they tend to follow you around to check out what your doing.

Klop, your gonna love 'em!

 

[duluthralphie]

Good morning..

Coffee time. No posts this morning yet...Why? Do you people not realize your duty is to get up before me and type?

My little dining room chicks are ready to go outside. There are about 7-8 of them perching on the baby roost and the edge of the feed box.

Even Igor is going to go outside, other than being small and having a crooked neck he is doing fine. I have to look hard to figure out which one he is.


Oh, and I would like to announce I have made my error for 2016. My error was thinking I might have been wrong taking my snow plows off early this year.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Good morning
Yeah Igor!

Still waiting for a hen to go broody so I can get her some eggs....

 

[ejb3810]

Well Ralphie boy, you dodged a bullet on that storm. Not too far from you they got a substantial amount.

If you decide to get one of those automatic feeders which Jerry posted about, I would suggest that you get Bluewing Teal to put up at the cabin. They are small but by far the best tasting duck in my opinion. Then if you give me directions to your cabin I will check in on them for you.

How many eggs in your incubators at the moment? How are the chick sales going? If you have excess you could take them to one of the swaps in your area?

 

[duluthralphie]

Well Ralphie boy, you dodged a bullet on that storm. Not too far from you they got a substantial amount.

If you decide to get one of those automatic feeders which Jerry posted about, I would suggest that you get Bluewing Teal to put up at the cabin. They are small but by far the best tasting duck in my opinion. Then if you give me directions to your cabin I will check in on them for you.

How many eggs in your incubators at the moment? How are the chick sales going? If you have excess you could take them to one of the swaps in your area?

I do not have enough room in the incubator. I think I have about 20 slots open and 50 eggs to go in.

The CLB's sell as fast as I can hatch them, the girls anyways. The boys might be destined to the Asian live bird market. I am still around 50 hens behind on "orders".

I have lots of people asking about turkeys, but they are mainly tire kickers I think. I do have some black turkeys sold, if I get any. I have one hen that should give me 25% blacks, and another that gives me around 12% blacks. Who knew people would want them. Had I known that I would have kept the black Tom I had.

You are more than welcome to check the native birds at the cabin anytime you want. We have hundreds of blubills in the fall and assorted other ducks during season there. The problem is we are not on a flyway so one shot and they up and move to Iowa.


Directions are easy to the cabin Head west from Togo, when the road bends you go straight...

 

[duluthralphie]

Good morning
Yeah Igor!

Still waiting for a hen to go broody so I can get her some eggs....

I am hoping not to get a broody yet. I have a turkey hen, that is on the edge of going broody. It is the one I need to lay the "black" eggs. I will be sending her to gitmo if she does go broody. I am not sure if I can break a turkey hen, but I will try.