Texas

[Patti in TX]

Hi all! I'm new to keeping chickens as well, just moved to Longview from Northern, CO. Couldn't have chickens or a garden and now I have both....lovin it. I have 7 Americauna hens (these were my trial run) and I just added 11 Buff Orps and a Blue and a Black Roo. Everyone lives in an 8x10 shed with an 32x64 run and I just leave the gates open and they free range when they want. The EE's easily lay an egg a fat and the Buffs just started and will hopefully lay all winter.
pleasure to meet all of you!

 

[needlessjunk]

Hi all! I'm new to keeping chickens as well, just moved to Longview from Northern, CO. Couldn't have chickens or a garden and now I have both....lovin it. I have 7 Americauna hens (these were my trial run) and I just added 11 Buff Orps and a Blue and a Black Roo. Everyone lives in an 8x10 shed with an 32x64 run and I just leave the gates open and they free range when they want. The EE's easily lay an egg a fat and the Buffs just started and will hopefully lay all winter.
pleasure to meet all of you!

from Round Rock

 

[magpiesing]

Hi all! I'm new to keeping chickens as well, just moved to Longview from Northern, CO. Couldn't have chickens or a garden and now I have both....lovin it. I have 7 Americauna hens (these were my trial run) and I just added 11 Buff Orps and a Blue and a Black Roo. Everyone lives in an 8x10 shed with an 32x64 run and I just leave the gates open and they free range when they want. The EE's easily lay an egg a fat and the Buffs just started and will hopefully lay all winter.
pleasure to meet all of you!

Welcome from the Willis area...by one of the late nighters. Sounds like you have a house full!

 

[magpiesing]

Sorry I have been off here for so long. I had a really busy summer.

Because of the storms the past few days and the fact that my goose nest flooded my geese and ducks decided that the chickens nest boxes would make a lovely place to lay and try to raise a family. I snapped this picture this morning.

BTW...how are your dogs coming along with their training? Have they done any more events? Just think that type of agility work is so cool to watch.

 

[Starfire669]

BTW...how are your dogs coming along with their training?  Have they done any more events?  Just think that type of agility work is so cool to watch.

The dogs are doing very well. We did have another event. I have become an assistant trainer. Dawn has become our agility demo team's best equipment dog, and will soon move up to competition level agility! She loves making the teeter come down as hard as possible, that crazy girl swing her head like a horse to make it come down harder! Sasha is an all around obedience/agility demo dog, always gives her all and is reliable. Phantom finally made the team, but he needs to mature more before he is at the girls level, he will do exceptionally well one day, then the next day run off and be silly, but he is only 11 months old. However his conformation training is doing very well, he should be in his first shows this January. Phantom and Dawn take their CGC test next week, they pass. Rascal is doing very well in competition obedience. The only dog not doing well is Cheyenne, my puppy mill rescue, she still has tons of fear issues, but I'm not giving up on her. Fiona, the Rottweiler I rescued finally found her forever home 2 weeks ago! And we get a new baby girl puppy December 13, she is 2 weeks old right now and so very adorable!

Here is a photo from our Halloween agility demo, with my guys in costume. Dawn was an angel, Sasha was a witch, and Phantom was an prisoner, lol. I dressed up as a court Jester, but my mask kept slipping.

 

[henless]

Hi all! I'm new to keeping chickens as well, just moved to Longview from Northern, CO. Couldn't have chickens or a garden and now I have both....lovin it. I have 7 Americauna hens (these were my trial run) and I just added 11 Buff Orps and a Blue and a Black Roo. Everyone lives in an 8x10 shed with an 32x64 run and I just leave the gates open and they free range when they want. The EE's easily lay an egg a fat and the Buffs just started and will hopefully lay all winter.
pleasure to meet all of you!

Welcome neighbor!

The dogs are doing very well. We did have another event. I have become an assistant trainer.

Sounds like you've had a fun and busy summer! I did agility years ago with one of my Collies. It was so much fun!

 

[Greywolf1962]

Wow! Those are some big birds. Some serious meat there...no offence...I know not everyone eats their chickens. We cull the roos and will the old hens much later on. We would be interested in a couple of hens come spring if you are successful at hatching them. This is our seabrite Becka and her clutch from last spring...they are all PR and RIR mix chicks all are now way bigger than she is.

sure thing on you getting a couple of hens. I'm always looking for folks I can swap with. I'm going to put one of his chicks back him, I'll have four birds in my breeding coop. Those chicks will be for freezer camp. Would love to meet you and the hubby. Always good to know chicken people.

 

[RustedOak]

Anybody feed suet cakes to their chickens in colder weather? I made some of my own last night and plan to give my girls a bit once a week. There's a million complicated recipes online but I just used what I had available.

 

[Patti in TX]

I have been saving grease from browning GB so I can...but like you said, many recipes online. What did you use?

 

[RustedOak]

 
I have been saving grease from browning GB so I can...but like you said, many recipes online. What did you use?

I made a big pot of chili last night so I had quite a bit of grease left over from browning the hamburger. I mixed scratch grains, BOSS, and some wild bird seed in a small casserole dish. After the grease cooled enough to handle but was still liquid, I poured it over the mixture and refrigerated it to set up. I'll cut it into slices later for individual feedings. Simple and used available resources so didnt require any extra $ or a lot of fuss.