Surviving Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

My chicks are moving out to the coop today. Have a plan for a large brooder area where they will have plenty of room. My mother is very happy!

 

[KlopKlop]

Boy is it windy here today. I am having mental images of my hens blowing around like tumble weeds while out ranging!

 

[MinnesotaNice]

The weather will hold. Cause I said so.

My chicks are moving out to the coop today. Have a plan for a large brooder area where they will have plenty of room. My mother is very happy!

I like the way you think, Scandia! How old are the chicks? I'd like to move mine out by 5 wks or so. Maybe even sooner if it stays warmer at night - I'll toss a heat lamp out there (triple secured, of course!) to make sure they're getting the added heat they need.

Boy is it windy here today. I am having mental images of my hens blowing around like tumble weeds while out ranging!

An image popped in my head and it was amazingly funny!

 

[Violetsfeathers]

Have any of you ever ordered from purely poultry?
I ordered Cochin bantams from them

 

[scandiafowl]

For those of you who band chicks/chickens what method do you use?

 

[duluthralphie]

Good morning chickeners. It is nice out. The chickens are taken care of and our bed made. I am caught up on SM, drinking my morning apple cider/honey medication. That, for me, is alot already. Stimulated by the warm weather.

Ralphie, you are very kind with you comments. I NEVER thought of this property as all that nice. YOU are changing that mind. It happened bit-by-bit. and I like IVIE. It is a little more interesting than LVIE.

I have been told that it is good fishing in the bend. Northerns and of course, carp. Its not really deep below us but the bend becomes four to six feet. I have never fished it. You are welcome to stop for coffee anytime. We will sit outside and watch the river pass by. Sometimes, when I am working outside, I do a campfire (the pit is on a patio behind the garage) just because I take my breaks so I can relax while watching it. Love the smell. Whatever you are comfortable with because I know when you (or anyone) are 'on task' taking a break can be annoying.

Its spose to be 15 - 25 mph wind from the south. Better get the dogs out for their walk. Also, I put plastic milk cartons with the neck into the ground yesterday with the bottoms almost cut off. This year I decided to plant the tomatoes in them before they get too large, using the milk carton as a solar dealy. Then I am going to finish removing the bottoms and leave the rest for protection from cut worms and watering will be easier. I will get the starts into the ground way earlier than usual.

Today is book work day. Pay the subs day. They do like to get paid.

I am sorry, You must think I am from Iowa or South Dakota to consider Carp as a game fish.....

I fished the river 30 years ago the other side of 15 and did well on small mouths.



I am beat! I have been working too hard too long today. I checked the clock and it is 5 O'clock somewhere, so I am having a Mikes.

I have been working in the shed. Making more panels and setting up the future hatchery building. I have a wood working area in the area my chicks are and the building we tested the birds in. I have 40 or more projects going on at once. I have the "favorite nest" box out of the layers coop. The other set is there, and the hens used it before I put the "favorite" one in. BUT now! No way in heck, they are going to use that nest. I got two eggs yesterday. 1 outside in the "favorite nest box" Leaning against a tree before I move it.. The other on top of the Hospital (ICU) units in the coop.

I thought I saw one in the old nest box, but I might have been wrong. I was in and out of the coop and I was sure there was an egg in it.

Pearl. the black lab, was working with me. I went out and did something and I saw Pearl go inside, I did not give it a second thought as she likes to eat chicken feed because we starve her otherwise. ( which is why the VET scolds us annually to cut back on her food).. Anyways I saw her slinking back outside and saw no egg in the nest. I yelled at her to stop. She hung her head low and looked up like she was guilty. But when I had her open her mouth there was no egg in it. So I am sure it was my error.

now back to the woodworking area. This morning "muffin" was following me in the shed for hours. Then she jumped up on the bench behind where I was working and sat there about an hour watching me. She then got up and left and there was an egg there. NO egg song, no talking just a silently laid egg.

About 20 minutes later she came back with Vlad. They walked around my feet, then went back up on the bench, I am sure Muffin showed Vlad where to lay her egg. Vlad crawled on to Muffin's egg and sat down. When I came in Vlad was still there.

I have made a special cage/pen for Igor and her friends. It is like a big parakeet cage. I have a stool in it to make a second floor. I have roosts in it and a ramp for Igor to climb up to the second floor because he is a special needs bird. I used a 4 inch piece of oak flooring and stapled 1/2 hardware cloth to the top of it so Igor can get a good grip. When it is break time, I can sit in front of the cage and watch the chicks. I have to make sure I do not over do it, I could watch them all day long.

 

[duluthralphie]

A rake-- chivalry is not dead. Poor Judy.

Chooks are out. I did a speedy pajama run. Had to stop and admire the cleanliness of my yard. It seems I have become used to torn up cool whip bowls and kemps buckets to navigate my way to the coop. The clean yard had me stopped in my tracks.
I was so inspired I even picked up a pile of old foam board Roger and the girls had been snacking on. Got that put away.

Today/this evening I have teenager sports/ practices to run for. I want more yard time right now...

hey, it's a nice rake and all she has to do is pull it behind her tractor! (We each have our own, These are the darn JD's that Coffee had to spill the beans about)...

 

[duluthralphie]

Do you mean a rake like this?

I have one of those and they do wonders for de thatching and cleaning the yard plus I use it to break up the poo behind the broiler tractors

Yep. just like that but not Green!


I was amazed how well it dethatches! I told Judy when we got it to keep the receipt as this could be a return item. It is not a return item!

 

[duluthralphie]

Yesterday, I had my first golf meet of the year, one of my teammates got 4th, he finished with a 79, I finished with a 128 on Rose Creek in Fargo

WOW. You really whoomped him, beating him by 49 points.. I bet he never plays you again!

 

[duluthralphie]

I have a mutt hen that started out laying brown eggs. A few months later it progressed to green eggs and that's what she still lays. Go figure. Anyways, It's great the prolapse is better with your girl.

Tonight, I'm going to cut some holes in an old ice cream bucket and see if I can get the ducklings to clean up their act a bit. Thanks for the idea! I'm seeing some feathers come in, so I'm hoping to have them outside within a few weeks if the weather holds.

Leave the buckets without holes fill them with boiling water and wax and they should clean up nicely...

I cannot believe on a Minnesota thread I read about people eating Carp, Suckers and Red Horses...I thought I was scraping the bottom of the barrel when I said I have eaten bullheads... Heck I am still in Lobster territory when we throw those other fish in!