Surviving Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

Good morning people

no one has posted this morning and my first instinct was to close. Then I thought duh, I get to be first!!

I have been here for hours, I was waiting for Ivie to post, I hate to have her become depressed with my constantly winner first post of the day contest..

But Grats on your win today!





Your bear in the yard with the chickens and coop would have to become extinct here. Bears should be handled in the same manner as neighbors dogs. Just incase you have an overly zealous warden up there....

I am thinking my deer may need to have an accident. He has stripped 1/3 of the leaves off my new cherry tree. ( I know the fence is not done, but I have been busy and 95 degrees was too hot for fence building,,)

 

[Dandelioness]

Erli.. I bet you two could make cute little swings. I have a million things more important to me than swings. Judy and I seldom have the same idea on what needs to be done and when.

Pow-wows are interesting and can be fun. I have not been to one in 15 years or so now.

Yeppers the Porter eggs are in the incubator. Chicks should start hatching tomorrow.

I moved a bunch of birds this afternoon, None of them seem happy tonight. Too bad they don't have a swing to work out their aggression on... I thought Bert was going to attack me tonight, He was not happy when I captured 3 BA hens to move them to the layer coop. They escaped and were in Berts pen when I caught them with the net they screamed and cried and Bert came running. I have never seen him so upset. I actually had to put my hand into his face and back him off.


King George came running too but he was on the other side the fence. I find it amazing how the roosters run to protect the hens, even if they are no theirs. Ed was moved tonight to a new pen, Green grass and I hope it stays drier for a while, until I can move him again. I wanted to give him a butt fuzz trimming but he was upset enough with the move. Trying to trim his butt might have been a bridge too far at this time.

I had to move Ethel and her eggs, I have no idea if she will take them back or not. I really do not care, I was going to give her guinea eggs in a few days. This way if she takes them she is in a place she can raise them.

Oh, I took some pictures of the blue egg gene rooster, I think Dandilioness wants it, if not it is up for grabs. It is an interesting bird, with a great pedigree. Grandson of Ole, son of Sven. What more is there to say.










Oh, his name is Dusty... But I doubt he knows it, if someone wants to change it. The neighbors 4 year old named him.

Nope, he's not available, folks!

I had a fun day trip with the kids down to Zumbrota to see MinnieChickMama! She is such a sweet gal. We got rained out, so we couldn't visit as much as I would have liked, but I'm glad I finally met her. I really liked how she had her breeding pens set up. I came home with two adult black silkies and two black silkie chicks....plus four Buckeye chicks!! The silkie mamas have taken to mothering all six chicks together in the quarantine pen. I finally have Buckeyes!

The incubator project is going well. 17 of 19 guinea eggs are showing growth. I think I will ask a friend to lend me her incubator for about a week to use as a hatcher. I'm still looking out for a broody! I hand turn all the eggs because I'm stubborn and won't spring for a turner. It's kind of fun, though.

The meatballs are really taking to the pasture. I've been feeding the grower ration wet, and they cannot seem to eat the entire daily ration. So I've cut the dry weight down to about 60% of what's recommended per bird (then adding water). They take a while to finish that, but the trough does get cleaned up every day this way.

Everybody fared well through the heat of the past few days. Lots of water, I rigged an old sheet on the side of the sheep corral for some extra shade. It is funny how the chickens stayed under the trees in the shady areas whenever I let them out this week. Looks like we get a break for today anyway.

Have a nice day, all ~

 

[ejb3810]

Nuisance animals need to be seriously discouraged from staying around. If not the problems continue and will likely get worse and more troublesome.

Jerry, I would like to read the account of hanging onto a tree waiting for help during a flood. In case you can recall such an experience I suspect many would like to read about it.

 

[I Love Layers]

Which one do you guys like better?

 

[jerryse]

Nuisance animals need to be seriously discouraged from staying around. If not the problems continue and will likely get worse and more troublesome.

Jerry, I would like to read the account of hanging onto a tree waiting for help during a flood. In case you can recall such an experience I suspect many would like to read about it.

How did you find that bit of trivia ?

 

[duluthralphie]

How did you find that bit of trivia ?

I did not know that trivia, but I want too now!

 

[duluthralphie]

I was looking up juneberries..

They look like blueberries? Do they taste like them? Would they grow here? Are they open land or forest crops?

 

[Cluckies]

I am done work for the day, Too darn hot now! I moved one batch of CLB's to the integration pen. These are the ones without the recessive white in them. I gave the others twice as much room now and two coops for right now, The heat has affected Judy's brain. I just came in to have a quick lunch and some ice water.... I can not start drinking Mike's for another 10 minutes or so.. She said "look what I found".. And she shows me a couple chickens on swings in a coop... She then said "they are having so much fun! Why don't we have them". I replied, "I don't know." She then says " well, get them some our chickens needs swings too".. Hopefully she will forget about them.

My DH rigged up a swing it is too light though, have to weigh it down, it swings to much. The girls can't stay on it. Won't even try.

Checked weather back home predicted 93 . High here in Washington 60 .

HAHAHA about right though! The weather out there is great. I kept my eye on Eugene Oregon for about a year (temps) Hardly ever went below 30, Hardly ever went above 80. Perfect.

Just got 2 out of the 3 appenzeller roosters

Woot woot!

A bear was here again last night, it didn't even wait until dark. It knocked down a bird feeder and was going to leave when we all went to the patio door then it came back and sat down next to the feeder, eventually it left because of the barking dog. Its getting too used to people and will end up shot. This is the 4th time this spring we've had bears or a bear in the yard. That we know of. I guess it hasn't noticed the chickens.

Don't put and bird food or for awhile, or any other food. Yikes!

Which one do you guys like better?

They are both gorgeous!

 

[duluthralphie]

Nope, he's not available, folks!

I had a fun day trip with the kids down to Zumbrota to see MinnieChickMama! She is such a sweet gal. We got rained out, so we couldn't visit as much as I would have liked, but I'm glad I finally met her. I really liked how she had her breeding pens set up. I came home with two adult black silkies and two black silkie chicks....plus four Buckeye chicks!! The silkie mamas have taken to mothering all six chicks together in the quarantine pen. I finally have Buckeyes!

The incubator project is going well. 17 of 19 guinea eggs are showing growth. I think I will ask a friend to lend me her incubator for about a week to use as a hatcher. I'm still looking out for a broody! I hand turn all the eggs because I'm stubborn and won't spring for a turner. It's kind of fun, though.

The meatballs are really taking to the pasture. I've been feeding the grower ration wet, and they cannot seem to eat the entire daily ration. So I've cut the dry weight down to about 60% of what's recommended per bird (then adding water). They take a while to finish that, but the trough does get cleaned up every day this way.

Everybody fared well through the heat of the past few days. Lots of water, I rigged an old sheet on the side of the sheep corral for some extra shade. It is funny how the chickens stayed under the trees in the shady areas whenever I let them out this week. Looks like we get a break for today anyway.

Have a nice day, all ~

Grats on the new birds!

I would like to get some of her stock she has such great birds, but I am just not ready for more at this time. I would like some buckeyes, the eggs I got from Urich did not develop for some reason. The black silkies sound cool. I would like to get some more crested and fufu birds, but I really need pens for them. Penned birds mean more work, so maybe not.




I have my breeders either back in the layer flock or working their way back into it. I have my BA and non sport CLB's together in the "can't we all get together" pen. I need to double band them before I turn them into the free rangers. The NPIP band is too hard to tell at a distance so by using regular bands of color I can identify them on a fly.




I think "Dusty" has unique colors. I kept him when I sold out all my other EE chicks because of the color, I was hoping for him to be a her, but I should have known better, all the best looking birds always become roosters. I am thinking at adulthood he will have that large flowing blue tail Ole and Sven have(had). I am 90% sure he has the blue egg gene, Sven has it and came from a blue egg, Ole had it and Dusty was hatched from a blue egg. ( that is mainly the color egg I hatched early this spring) I put some olive and green in later. I need more green layers so I am hatching myself some now. They should be hatching right now, I have not looked in the hatcher today, no reason to nothing I can do anyways but let them hatch.

Let me know when you want to get him.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Erlibird and ralphie. I built a swing... They did not touch it. Time not well spent. I still have it. Maybe the young curious ones will give it a go this fall/ winter when they are snowed in.

Ralphie with you're great grandma heritage hunting season starts in July for you doesn't it? Erli the bear issues had me take down all my wild bird feeding. Deer also were getting good at helping themselves. We have fruit trees now and I have them individually fenced but I don't think their smell carries as well as feed and Boss. So no issues lately.

But also, Sadie... She is a barker. Highly territorial. This is the first year I've not had garden flowers, hostas, hydrangeas not nibbled on. I'm sure it's our dog that's making the difference. The only wild life I've seen in the yard since her arrival has been a painted turtle laying eggs this week.