Texas

[Little Wing]

Good Morning Texans!

I hope everyone is safe out there. We got word late last night that my husband's parents, who live in Shawnee, OK, lost their home, outbuildings, and vehicles. They are okay. They were headed into the basement when the tornado hit. The walls of the house are still standing. My father-in-law wants to rebuild. I understand that that area is due for the same pattern of storms again today.

Stay safe!

Lisa

I'm so sorry Lisa. Your family is in our prayers.

Ernie has some real Black Marans. You can be sure that his Black Marans are the real thing and NOT just overly dark Black Copper Marans.

I know that all the breeding guides and Marans club people with tell you that Black Copper Marans are ALL Birchen based birds but the truth is that with the right modifiers you can build a Black Copper Marans on Extended Black. Birchen was the first mutation of the two from the wild type. It genetically is just a single does of black that covers up all the brown plumage. The Extended Black was a 2nd mutation that is just two dosages of black that is strong enough to cover up both the brown and copper plumage. With-in each of these based modifiers can intensify or diminish the melonizers (Black color). So...some of the black copper lines are actually extended black birds. The extended black birds require twice the amount of red modifiers for the copper to be expressed. You will have to have so much red in the extended black lines to show any copper on the pullets that the cockerels will have red stippling on their breast. The Birchen based lines will be able to maintain the proper amount of copper on the pullets without any red on the breast of the cockerels, but the problems is that most people have mixed line and they will end up with birds split for extend black and birchen and they will have both black pullets and cockerels (and pullets) with red on the breast from the same hatch. This make the variety very hard to breed. The chicks down is what my Marans mentor uses to distinguish the extended black from the Birchen, so part of telling the difference between he Black Marans and the Black Copper is the down patterns.

The other part is the difference between a gold base and a silver base. For a Black Copper Marans you need a Gold Based bird to produce the copper color (silver based as you probably know would produce a Silver Birchen Marans). For a Black Marans you need a Silver based bird. Gold based birds produce a green sheen to them. I am told the silver based birds will not have the green sheen.

Note: Bev Davis birds are notorious for NOT having the much need copper on the pullets. I have never worked with that line, but am guessing that it has a lot of extended black gold based birds in the gene pool. I don't think that Bev Davis has a Black Marans line (could be wrong) so if they are the Bev Davis line they are almost certainly going to my Black Copper Marans.

I just sent Ernie a PM asking if maybe they are Blacks. The Bev Davis are for sure supposed to be BCM. Great info. Thanks a lot.

I told my husband I wanted bigger windows so he is now thinkin gof how he is going to go about to do that. There are 4 windows total on the coop, but they are all small. Due to living inner-city and having my wonderful dog and fully fenced in yard we don't have to worry about critters as much as we would if we were elsewhere. So I really think bigger windows on the side would be better. I didn't know chickens were chicken of the dark!

Very nice coop! The only thing I would worry about is the heat in the summer. Ventilation is very important.

I'm sure he thanks you...im trying to talk the boss into letting em slip out a little bit early today....poor baby is stuck in day care on his bday!

You better go get that baby out of daycare on his B-day! Happy Birthday Little Dood!!

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

i Noticed some place on craigslist that was selling some land around Iola...and i know there are some plots for sale in my area...Maybe you can work a deal with stelle and help her new farm out?

I wish I could move that far out, but I need to stay close to work, so I need to be within thirty minutes to an hour from work, and I work in Cedar Hill, and my husband works in Dallas.

 

[GFamily]

I love the idea of putting a screen door with hardware cloth on the coop door during the summer and putting the solid door on during the winter. The run and coop doors are different sizes so my husband would have to build the coop screen door if we did that. Just an fyi -the coop and run have shade off and on throughout the day from our big trees so it's cooler than the actual outside temperature is. I will talk to my DH about building a screen door for the coop though! I love the idea.

As for building the coop. I drew what I wanted and the sizes I wanted on a piece of paper. He picked the most level area in our yard to build it and went to town on it. He did quite a few modifications from what I originally planned, but overall I think he did a great job and we need to make a few more adjustments. Our girls love their home so that's great!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! Very very helpful!

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

need a little advice, I did a little mistake and put eggs in my incubator for the first time at different days from 5/3 to 5/12 I believe. I didn't know how long you could leave eggs to sit to collect more so I just put them in the incubator. Now I have a few of the eggs showing signs of life. The incubator is just a few degrees under 99.5. When should I expect the first eggs to hatch with the lower temp, also the incubator has an egg turner, how should I work around lockdown and having to turn the other eggs? Also I have other eggs in the bator that did not turn out to be fertile from the hens I just got, thinking they might have gotten some contact with their previous roo, but it was not so. Should I take these eggs out?

 

[yinepu]

Tornado Watch​

TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 192
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
220 PM CDT MON MAY 20 2013

TORNADO WATCH 192 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR THE
FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

TXC049-053-059-083-085-093-095-097-121-133-143-147-171-181-193-
221-237-265-267-281-299-307-319-327-333-337-363-367-399-411-417-
425-429-441-447-497-503-210300-
/O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0192.130520T1920Z-130521T0300Z/

TX
. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

BROWN BURNET CALLAHAN
COLEMAN COLLIN COMANCHE
CONCHO COOKE DENTON
EASTLAND ERATH FANNIN
GILLESPIE GRAYSON HAMILTON
HOOD JACK KERR
KIMBLE LAMPASAS LLANO
MASON MCCULLOCH MENARD
MILLS MONTAGUE PALO PINTO
PARKER RUNNELS SAN SABA
SHACKELFORD SOMERVELL STEPHENS
TAYLOR THROCKMORTON WISE
YOUNG
$$


ATTN...WFO...SJT...FWD...EWX...

 

[yinepu]

Short Term Forecast​

SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
327 PM CDT MON MAY 20 2013

TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-202230-
MONTAGUE-COOKE-GRAYSON-FANNIN-LAMAR-YOUNG-JACK-WISE-DENTON-COLLIN-
HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-STEPHENS-PALO PINTO-PARKER-TARRANT-DALLAS-
ROCKWALL-KAUFMAN-VAN ZANDT-RAINS-EASTLAND-ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL-
JOHNSON-ELLIS-HENDERSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-HILL-
NAVARRO-FREESTONE-ANDERSON-LAMPASAS-CORYELL-BELL-MCLENNAN-FALLS-
LIMESTONE-LEON-MILAM-ROBERTSON-
327 PM CDT MON MAY 20 2013

.NOW...
A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS UNTIL
10 PM CDT.

A DRYLINE REMAINS NEARLY STATIONARY ACROSS WESTERN PORTIONS OF
NORTH TEXAS...WEST OF ABILENE AND WICHITA FALLS. THUNDERSTORMS
HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED IN THE HUMID AIR EAST OF THE DRYLINE FROM
ARCHER COUNTY AND WICHITA FALLS...NORTHEASTWARD INTO OKLAHOMA.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP FURTHER SOUTH...
IMPACTING AREAS FROM GRAHAM TO COMANCHE BY 6 PM.

ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. TORNADOES WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE
WITH THESE SUPERCELLS.

INDIVIDUAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST...BUT THE
ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE GRADUAL PROGRESS EAST INTO THE
EVENING HOURS.

$$

25

 

[yinepu]

Hazardous Weather Outlook​

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
249 PM CDT MON MAY 20 2013

TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-211215-
MONTAGUE-COOKE-GRAYSON-FANNIN-LAMAR-YOUNG-JACK-WISE-DENTON-COLLIN-
HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-STEPHENS-PALO PINTO-PARKER-TARRANT-DALLAS-
ROCKWALL-KAUFMAN-VAN ZANDT-RAINS-EASTLAND-ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL-
JOHNSON-ELLIS-HENDERSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-HILL-NAVARRO-
FREESTONE-ANDERSON-LAMPASAS-CORYELL-BELL-MCLENNAN-FALLS-LIMESTONE-
LEON-MILAM-ROBERTSON-
249 PM CDT MON MAY 20 2013

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM ALONG THE DRYLINE THIS
AFTERNOON AND WILL MOVE EAST AND NORTHEAST ACROSS MAINLY THE
WESTERN AND NORTHWESTERN PARTS OF THE AREA THROUGH THE EVENING
HOURS. THE HIGHEST CHANCES OF SEVERE WEATHER ARE GENERALLY WEST OF
A LINE FROM SHERMAN TO DENTON TO GRANBURY TO KILLEEN. ATMOSPHERIC
CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS
AND POSSIBLE TORNADOES. AS THE STORMS HEAD EAST INTO MORE STABLE
AIR ACROSS CENTRAL PARTS OF NORTH TEXAS...THEY SHOULD WEAKEN BELOW
SEVERE LEVELS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.
SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE AREA
TUESDAY AND INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. A SQUALL LINE MAY ORGANIZE ALONG A
COLD FRONT DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS AND PRODUCE A SWATH OF
DAMAGING WIND AS IT HEADS EAST AND SOUTHEAST. LARGE HAIL AND
ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL CONTINUE TO BE THREATS IN ANY STORM THAT
IS SEPARATED FROM THE LINE.

A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS RETURNS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY
MORNING GENERALLY NORTH OF THE I-20 CORRIDOR.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON IN WESTERN
COUNTIES...SPREADING EAST OVERNIGHT AS THE THUNDERSTORMS MOVE
ACROSS NORTH TEXAS.

$$

 

[Little Wing]

need a little advice, I did a little mistake and put eggs in my incubator for the first time at different days from 5/3 to 5/12 I believe. I didn't know how long you could leave eggs to sit to collect more so I just put them in the incubator. Now I have a few of the eggs showing signs of life. The incubator is just a few degrees under 99.5. When should I expect the first eggs to hatch with the lower temp, also the incubator has an egg turner, how should I work around lockdown and having to turn the other eggs? Also I have other eggs in the bator that did not turn out to be fertile from the hens I just got, thinking they might have gotten some contact with their previous roo, but it was not so. Should I take these eggs out?

Other than getting or making a separate hatcher the only way is to let them go. How many were set each time? How many are there total? Maybe you could take out the turner and turn the rest by hand. I have forgotten to remove eggs from the incubator and they hatched sitting in the turner cups. Sure was messy.
Not sure what to tell you except get or make a hatcher. Yinepu should be able to help you on this one. Good luck

 

[Chucklecluck]

On myway to northDallas my son has an appointment in the morning UGh long drive

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

Other than getting or making a separate hatcher the only way is to let them go. How many were set each time? How many are there total? Maybe you could take out the turner and turn the rest by hand. I have forgotten to remove eggs from the incubator and they hatched sitting in the turner cups. Sure was messy.
Not sure what to tell you except get or make a hatcher. Yinepu should be able to help you on this one. Good luck

is the only problem letting them hatch in the turner the mess? If it is I can deal with that honestly. I would rather not have to disrupt the rest of them... if I do take out the turner and start turning them by hand, will twice a day suffice? Two eggs were set 5/3 and the others were one on each day 5/4, 5/7, 5/8, 5/10, 5/11, and 5/12