Surviving Minnesota!

[Cebarmlds]

Good morning all.

 

[memphis]

Ralph, I understand Judy putting a ban on a diapered house chicken. BUT I suggest you get a flight suit for Snitch & let her watch TV with you. As you know, turkeys are better lappers then chickens!

 

[duluthralphie]

Judy is not one of Snitch's fans.

Snitch likes to consider herself a deck decoration.

 

[KlopKlop]

Good morning all! A nice peaceful morning now that I have 10 less roosters than yesterday morning!

Rooster soup in the coming days

 

[destiny_56085]

G'morning. Work is absolutely nuts right now and I guess everyone wants to spend their holiday at the casino. Lots of long hours means I'm actually making money instead of out spending it...

I think I need to shop where you guys do for shavings. They are $6 a bag here at our local coop. Very rarely Runnings will put a sale on for $4.88 a bag. I go through about 20 bags every 2-3 weeks. If I had a place to store it, it would be worth getting a semi load.

I have something wonky going on with my big Leahy Redwood incubator. It was running, but not heating at all so I had the electrician come and fix a shorted wire. Thought it was ok, but lots of eggs not going full term. Put multiple digital thermometers at various levels and still have a problem. The temps have still been all over the place and spiking all the way up to 113. So that span of warm weather and all those lovely eggs were ruined. So for now I fired up the smaller 400 egg Farmmaster redwood and will deal with that other big bugger later. Its not as though I can just lift it out of my basement to take it to be serviced.

This last week I tore down the show cooping in my garage and can get my truck back in for now. Yayyyy. Birds are all back in the barn. I still have to trim everyone up for breeding and assemble breeder pens out there. Hopefully Monday I get to butcher 5-6 of the last cull roosters that have been running around the yard all summer. Water lines to barn already froze last weekend so had to break down and plug in the hot tape and horse stock tank. I'm reluctant to break out all the heated dog bowls yet....

The war on starlings continues.... Dang things are still taking refuge in my barn this year like never before. I've put over 200' of plastic sheeting up on all the runs in the barn and thought I had all the holes plugged where they were getting in. Well now I got out every morning to find 500+ of them trapped in my pens and I have to open doors and chase them all out. I've gone out several times at night to try and net them. Destroyed quite a few that way but more just keep coming. A BB gun didn't even scare them off and apparently I can't hit the broad side of a barn anymore. I even held some hostage in a cage so they could pass the message on to any newbies. Any ideas?

 

[jerryse]

G'morning. Work is absolutely nuts right now and I guess everyone wants to spend their holiday at the casino. Lots of long hours means I'm actually making money instead of out spending it...

I think I need to shop where you guys do for shavings. They are $6 a bag here at our local coop. Very rarely Runnings will put a sale on for $4.88 a bag. I go through about 20 bags every 2-3 weeks. If I had a place to store it, it would be worth getting a semi load.

I have something wonky going on with my big Leahy Redwood incubator. It was running, but not heating at all so I had the electrician come and fix a shorted wire. Thought it was ok, but lots of eggs not going full term. Put multiple digital thermometers at various levels and still have a problem. The temps have still been all over the place and spiking all the way up to 113. So that span of warm weather and all those lovely eggs were ruined. So for now I fired up the smaller 400 egg Farmmaster redwood and will deal with that other big bugger later. Its not as though I can just lift it out of my basement to take it to be serviced.

This last week I tore down the show cooping in my garage and can get my truck back in for now. Yayyyy. Birds are all back in the barn. I still have to trim everyone up for breeding and assemble breeder pens out there. Hopefully Monday I get to butcher 5-6 of the last cull roosters that have been running around the yard all summer. Water lines to barn already froze last weekend so had to break down and plug in the hot tape and horse stock tank. I'm reluctant to break out all the heated dog bowls yet....

The war on starlings continues.... Dang things are still taking refuge in my barn this year like never before. I've put over 200' of plastic sheeting up on all the runs in the barn and thought I had all the holes plugged where they were getting in. Well now I got out every morning to find 500+ of them trapped in my pens and I have to open doors and chase them all out. I've gone out several times at night to try and net them. Destroyed quite a few that way but more just keep coming. A BB gun didn't even scare them off and apparently I can't hit the broad side of a barn anymore. I even held some hostage in a cage so they could pass the message on to any newbies. Any ideas?

Sounds like the thermostat wafer went bad . Is it a 1 or 2 wafer system ? Sounds like 1 wafer . Not hard to change . Adjusting temp is a pain afterwards . Once you get it set you are good for quite awhile .

 

[jerryse]

Hey BC and Ralphie I identified my wild green from this summer . It is in a article in Backyard Poultry this issue . The green is called fat hen or white goosefoot . Also wild spinach .

 

[Siggie]

Good Morning all! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! It was just my husband and I, all the kids live so far away (makes me sad). But on a lighter note, the chickens are finally starting to venture out onto the snow ...the go from the coop/barn to the round bale holder for the horses....so it's a start My egg production has been cut in half...I usually get 6 - 8 eggs a day and now I am lucky if I get 3. I was thinking of putting one of those lights that turn on at dusk and off at dawn under the lean to where the run is connected to. This will light up their run but not the coop. Will this throw them off too much if it is lighting up the run all night?

I think I am heading out to Fleet Farm for the shavings deal and to get a heated water dish for the chickens. I am afraid they will actually try to drink out of the horse trough and then fall in. It's already happened twice when it was warmer. I had to fish the hen out twice! She jumps up on the trough to jump up on the fence to get out into the drive way... If she falls in now, I will have frozen hen UGH!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Jerry you really know how to forage! Even in less familiar north woods. This fall I tried pickled wild leeks. They were good... But the way they were pickled perhaps I'd like them better with a different recipe.
Well then I bet that blue egg is most likely Hattie's egg then. Beardless blue. She's been roosting next to Junior at night last week or so. She's the lead out of those 3 also. A good girl.

Oh shoot I didn't set my DVR for chicken people and missed it. Of well. Sounds like a dud...?

Got a snow path shoveled to the coop. Birds came right up to the house. Grazed on the grass in the path. The lavender and black new girls had their freak out about the snow as newbies. But they managed to unstuck themselves. Old hens leading the way like pros. Lol. New bucket of wood ash from mom and dad for our dusting bin. Girls did their baths yesterday.

Another day of visiting the folks and sister up from the cities.

 

[jerryse]

Good Morning all! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! It was just my husband and I, all the kids live so far away (makes me sad). But on a lighter note, the chickens are finally starting to venture out onto the snow ...the go from the coop/barn to the round bale holder for the horses....so it's a start My egg production has been cut in half...I usually get 6 - 8 eggs a day and now I am lucky if I get 3. I was thinking of putting one of those lights that turn on at dusk and off at dawn under the lean to where the run is connected to. This will light up their run but not the coop. Will this throw them off too much if it is lighting up the run all night?

I think I am heading out to Fleet Farm for the shavings deal and to get a heated water dish for the chickens. I am afraid they will actually try to drink out of the horse trough and then fall in. It's already happened twice when it was warmer. I had to fish the hen out twice! She jumps up on the trough to jump up on the fence to get out into the drive way... If she falls in now, I will have frozen hen UGH!

I use a outdoor timer like used on Christmas lights . Comes on at dusk and you can select 2,4.6 hours or till dawn .