Texas

[tiedyemommy]

Thought yall might like this lol. I hope it doesnt offend no one it is not my intentions at all.

@Starfire669 can relate to this...I'm sure.

- TieDyeMommy

 

[ClovisMan]

Who was it that posted a "how to" on how they made their pvc chicken waterer attached to a rain barrel awhile back? I'd like to go back and look at that because I want to do something similar but don't want to skim through a couple thousand posts lol

Here it is:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/867233/step-by-step-chicken-stick-nipple-waterer

 

[LightningTFarm]

I can sure relate to it, and I am not offended at all!!

Someone was asking earlier about breeding ducks and geese. Starfire gave good advice on the geese. Go for no more than trios, and you would probably have better luck with pairs.

As for ducks, my one very strong recommendation is to make sure you have enough ducks per drake. A minimum would be four, and you may be able to go as high as eight ducks per drake. Welsh Harlequin drakes have a VERY HIGH sex drive and if you don't have enough ducks your drake will make their lives hell. The drakes do tend to have "favorites", which it seems to me is a designation the girls could easily do without. They can be rough, and you wind up with ducks with naked necks and even sores on their head and neck. I have been catching the ducks with sores and applying Neosporin, which helps the wounds heal. Plus, I don't think the drakes like the taste of it. I watched on try to mate with a duck I had just doctored, and he let her go and looked like he was trying to spit it out!

I have one duck I have nicknamed Sinead, after the Irish singer, because she is pretty much bald!! She mostly tries to hide all day. I even put her in the bathroom for a couple of days to heal up, but I don't have any duck diapers and the mess was phenomenal. I have even noticed that the Welsh drakes are more aggressive sexually than my Saxony drakes, who are much more laid back.

When the drakes are young and inexperienced, sometimes they just stand on the duck without doing anything else. I called this "duck surfing". They do eventually get it figured out. Because they grab the feathers on the neck and head and hold on (sometimes yanking hard) while mating, you can't give the ducks any kind of artificial cover like you can with chickens. I keep trying to visualize some kind of duck hoodie, but just can't figure out how to make it stay on and stay dry if they go for a swim!

My best recommendation for both ducks and geese is to get the Dave Holderread books, the Storey's Guides. You can't go wrong with anything Dave writes. I have gotten all of my ducks from his farm.

I hope this helps!

 

[lisaterrell88]

I can sure relate to it, and I am not offended at all!! Someone was asking earlier about breeding ducks and geese. Starfire gave good advice on the geese. Go for no more than trios, and you would probably have better luck with pairs. As for ducks, my one very strong recommendation is to make sure you have enough ducks per drake. A minimum would be four, and you may be able to go as high as eight ducks per drake. Welsh Harlequin drakes have a VERY HIGH sex drive and if you don't have enough ducks your drake will make their lives hell. The drakes do tend to have "favorites", which it seems to me is a designation the girls could easily do without. They can be rough, and you wind up with ducks with naked necks and even sores on their head and neck. I have been catching the ducks with sores and applying Neosporin, which helps the wounds heal. Plus, I don't think the drakes like the taste of it. I watched on try to mate with a duck I had just doctored, and he let her go and looked like he was trying to spit it out! I have one duck I have nicknamed Sinead, after the Irish singer, because she is pretty much bald!! She mostly tries to hide all day. I even put her in the bathroom for a couple of days to heal up, but I don't have any duck diapers and the mess was phenomenal. I have even noticed that the Welsh drakes are more aggressive sexually than my Saxony drakes, who are much more laid back. When the drakes are young and inexperienced, sometimes they just stand on the duck without doing anything else. I called this "duck surfing". They do eventually get it figured out. Because they grab the feathers on the neck and head and hold on (sometimes yanking hard) while mating, you can't give the ducks any kind of artificial cover like you can with chickens. I keep trying to visualize some kind of duck hoodie, but just can't figure out how to make it stay on and stay dry if they go for a swim! My best recommendation for both ducks and geese is to get the Dave Holderread books, the Storey's Guides. You can't go wrong with anything Dave writes. I have gotten all of my ducks from his farm. I hope this helps!

I didnt want to upset anyone I just wanted to put a smile on there face that was all. I posted it then I thought wait that might offend someone so I edited it just to let people knoe I didnt want to offend no one.

 

[lisaterrell88]

I am looking out the window and there appears to be this unusual wet stuff falling from the sky. Ohh yeah that is rain I just aint seen it in so long I forgot what it looked like for a minute lol

 

[magpiesing]

I am looking out the window and there appears to be this unusual wet stuff falling from the sky. Ohh yeah that is rain I just aint seen it in so long I forgot what it looked like for a minute lol

I was hopeful earlier...heard some patter on the coop roof...didn't last enough to even wet the ground.

 

[RustedOak]

I am a newbie from the great state of Texas too. I live in a very small town, Rising Star, near the heart of Tx. We have zero chickens at the moment due to an aggressive predator that wiped us out in 2 nights. The rooster was the last to go. We are waiting to repopulate until we are able to double wrap the pen in chicken wire. One layer wasn't enough. The article about training your chickens is what drew me to this site, but I must admit that I find them completely entertaining exactly as they are. We started with Guineas because that is what my husband thought he wanted, but I find the chickens to be far mor enjoyable at every stage of their growth. As far as their eggs are concerned, I don't need those either. My chickens are like my dog, they don't have to be productive to be welcome members of the ranch family.

Might I suggest hardware cloth? A lot of predators make short work of chicken wire as it's more designed to keep chickens in instead of predator out. Hardware cloth much stronger. Sorry for your losses

 

[lisaterrell88]

I was hopeful earlier...heard some patter on the coop roof...didn't last enough to even wet the ground.

Been raining so hard my directv aint working for about 25 minutes gots max in my lap cause he is scarwd of thunder. I think it is so funny how he is a pit and scared of everything.

 

[LightningTFarm]

We have been getting rain most of the day here in Deep East Texas (just north of Nacogdoches). Even lightning and thunder. Just had a flash of lightning followed immediately by a BIG crash of thunder that made me really jump!!

 

[sandiTX]

It's been Lighting and thundering here in Leander also, some rain but not alot, need LOTS more