Surviving Minnesota!

[Cebarmlds]

Good morning! hope we get some sunshine today and dry the yard so I can do more cleanup

 

[Cebarmlds]

I was first, I WIN

 

[ejb3810]

erlibrd has lived up to her name today. We got another inch of rain yesterday. Time is flying by and there are a lot of fall projects to get done. I hope things stay dry for a few days.

 

[MNChickMom]

We need a super sun baked day with high wind speed to dry out my back yard too.

 

[lvie]

Supposidly not alot of wind today but should be dry. Yeah!

 

[jerryse]

Morning . No rain . Ivie Janet is fine . She tried texting you yesterday . Maybe that number does not recieve texts . Packing up today . Hope to leave lunch time tomorrow . Need to pickup the rental truck for hauling sawmill back home . Got wood to mill at home . Going to go halfway and stay overnight . We are too old to do 10 hours without relief driver .

 

[I Love Layers]

All this talk about chicken showing is raising a question for me. My kiddo is in 4H and might be interested in showing one of our birds next year (cloverbuds so no need for it to be all that special of a bird). But do we need to practice with said chicken in a cage? Or will they tolerate a spontaneous cage at county fair time without prep?

First thing woulf
have been to go to the fair this year just to see how it works, but its to late for that.
I did not read through all of the pages from Monday through today, so I am not sure if you habe figured out what your county does in terms of classes, but this is what my county has. There are 9 classes, Chicken Breeding Class-Standard Breeds:
Cockerel
Pullet
Trio of young birds - youner then one year
Cock
Hen
Trio of Birds- More then 1 year

Chicken-Egg Production:
Three Pullet
Three hens, more then 14 months

Chicken-Market
Three lightweights, under 5 pounds
Three heavyweigts, more then 5 pounds

Chickens- Breeding Bantam
Cockerel
Pullet
Trio of young birds - youner then one year
Cock
Hen
Trio of Birds- More then 1 year

Turkeys
Male
Female
Breeding Pair
Market, one bird under 1 year

Geese
Male
Female
Breeding pair, over a year
Market, one bird under a year

Ducks
Male
Femlae
Breeding Pair, over a year
Market, one under a year

Hobby (pigeons etc.)
Male
Female

Showmanship
Junior Ages 8-11
Intermediate ages 12-14
Senior ages 15-18
(Ages are according to your age on September 1, 2017)

There is also a limit to 12 birds, 2 per breed per class.

That is what I can remember off the top of my head so some of it may be off, but I do no think it is.

In terms of caging it should be done beforehand. Some birds take it fairly well, and others don't. My first year(2014) I did not practice caging and it went fine. But a lot of birds do not tolerate it so well. Seeming as it is your first year I am assuming you do not want to go all out. Instead of having the bird in a cage all the time for a while before, you can just put it in for an hour or so after working with it. And if you do bathe which I am assuming you will do as you have Brahmas, you should probably put it in a cage with woodchips afterwards, so that the bird stays clean.

 

[Elise Ferguson]

So I looked at this past year's premium list for the open classes and chickens have a born before jan 1 and born after jan 1 lot. "All recognized varieties" whatever that encompasses.

The county fair 4H book has pairs listed. But there's also a class for hobby (not state fair eligible) that includes "older birds" and other birds that don't fit in the previous categories. But those lots are all pairs as well. The book doesn't state anything about age of birds but since that hobby class says older I'm guessing it's an unwritten rule (in this book at least) that they be born that year.

Since we're cloverbuds we'll just plan on taking the roo and a hen maybe in the hobby class. Should at least give us a little idea of what's going on for the future.

Now we need to decide if we're going to take a bottle calf as well (how much work does mom want to do next year .

 

[Elise Ferguson]

And if you do bathe which I am assuming you will do as you have Brahmas, you should probably put it in a cage with woodchips afterwards, so that the bird stays clean.

OMG I have to give this thing a bath?

 

[Bantambird]

Ralphie, I won't be able to practice caging. I only have two chicken houses and a machine shed for outbuildings, not even a barn or garage right now. We missed out on a lot once DH got sick, very little has happened in terms of buildings and whatnot. I did shut three cocks and one hen up in the machine shed for two days while it rained, hoping to get a molt, but I had to let them out when the rain stopped for fear of cooking them. Fabio is looking like his tail might be growing back.
On the good side, my cockerel, Odysseus, hatched in February, is looking very handsome and fabulous, and I may bring a number of younger cockerels and pullets from April hatch, along with my ratty cocks.
Wish I could cage train and all that, but it's just not going to happen for me this year, but maybe next when we move into my folks place and have a whole hay barn to work with.
Testing will be this weekend. Now if you need the testing in Montana, I guess you know who can do it...