Texas

[Aggiedusty]

Well Rod got himself "rehomed" yesterday as he ran out of last last last chances. My first cull of him was unsuccessful a week and a half ago. I knocked him unconscious for about 10 minutes and left him for dead to finish my morning feeding chores. Since then I thought he would learn but he didn't.

In other news got cherry tomatoes planted today, a purple passion flower and Dill for the herb garden. My original passion flower seeds never germinated even after doing the cold stratification for them. So I had to go to the store and buy one for 7.95 a clone from a mother plant. And I'll be cloning about a 400-foot row of this stuff for one of my 6 ft tall hurricane fences in the future. Thankfully purple passion flower is a horribly invasive and fast-growing vine which suits my needs.


Lucky is still with us and we still have three 1 1/2 week old chicks with their mothers. I imagine that's because we kept interrupting the Hawks and that kestrel every time we would hear an alarm call from the flock.

Tomatoes already, you must be in the Houston area or even further south. Up here we can’t plant tomatoes or peppers into after May 1 to be safe. But then they grow and fruit all summer into early fall up here. I lived in Dallas for 40 years and we had to push the season by planting in 3rd week February or 1st week March and then be ready to cover a couple of times. Otherwise the night temperatures would climb too high in late June to support tomatoe flower set and flowering. The night temperatures up in the south plains, altitude here in our area is 4000 ft +, for summer is usually in mid 60s give or take with a few nights in lower 70s. Dallas night temperatures by late June , if not late May, would be 82 or so. I did more winterizing of the chicken houses today. Shortly we will be going down below freezing tonight and not going above freezing until Wednesday afternoon. Snow chances pick up to 80% by 2:00 am and still at very high chances, 70-90% as far as hourly forecast will take me through tomorrow night at 10:00pm. Hey Allen K , I’m with you. I don’t tolerate unruly roosters. First time he hits me, I hit him back hard. If there’s a second strike he’s out of coop and into soup pot. Unruly and also high strung roosters have that in their genetic makeup. If I’ve tried to calm them and befriend them, as I do with all my chickens, and their actions continue they’re out. It effects the rest of the flock and they start to wonder if maybe they should be concerned as well and act accordingly. Don’t won’t those genes past down the line either. Same with our cattle herd. One wild one can make the rest act crazy. And it’s past down into their offspring’s genetic make up.

 

[Tommie Hockett]

So does anyone here have any experiences with the whizbang chicken plucker?

 

[Aggiedusty]

We have successfully rehomed roosters in the past using Craigslist as well. The trick is you don't ask what they intend to do with your young roosters or cockerels if you're not willing to care for them then let someone turn it into a meal or keep it for a breeder and make their own decisions.

Yes sir absolutely. Before I could catch on to the facts. I had more roosters than I knew what to do with. The hatchery really close to me is Privett at Portales . They do not allow pick ups at all. Minimum order is 25 to ship , but I was ordering over 100 each time 6 months apart. Minimum number per breed is 5 pullets but afterwards any number can be added like for me it would be 2 roosters so o would be guaranteed , hopefully, a rooster for each hen group. WELL, they add extras to each breed ordered for coverage I guess, it they always send roosters not pullets as the extras! And they do not sex Cream Legbars. That’s a whole other story. Maybe you have a Local Trading Post based on FB that you could join, list, and put pictures out. Muleshoe Area Trading Post is ours that’s closest. But have found in Lubbock area, an all about chickens group for posting. Also I have had great results at a locally owned feed store in Muleshoe posting my chickens and roosters up for sale. Lot of people don’t to go through 6-8 months of raising chicks up to laying age. And then it’s pulley eggs for a while. Excellent as they are as bite sized pickled eggs, dill or bread and butter, that’s not what most people are looking for. Many have no business raising chicks. It takes a lot of energy, time, the absolute correct facility, and real know how, as we all know. I friend shared a story , he probably should not have, of he buying his sons chicks years ago. Said put them in a coup and that night , came a rain storm, and they all drowned! What is in that story that’s NOT wrong! Anyway he and friends of his are excellent egg purchasers of my eggs. So back on point at feed store from my posted single sheet advertisement of chickens for sale came a number of buyers. One in particular was a wonderful young minninite family that purchased 20 hens and then said how about those roosters in the rooster pen. By then I also had many roosters from my own hatchings. They bought 37 roosters as well. And said later in the catching phase. These will make great soup for winter. I have also had to be ok with one of my customers buying whole breed groups that I decided weren’t right for my place, put them up for sale at same institutions that I use and resale for more money. Go figure! Once the decision is made to let go, let go.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Tomatoes already, you must be in the Houston area or even further south. Up here we can’t plant tomatoes or peppers into after May 1 to be safe. But then they grow and fruit all summer into early fall up here. I lived in Dallas for 40 years and we had to push the season by planting in 3rd week February or 1st week March and then be ready to cover a couple of times. Otherwise the night temperatures would climb too high in late June to support tomatoe flower set and flowering. The night temperatures up in the south plains, altitude here in our area is 4000 ft +, for summer is usually in mid 60s give or take with a few nights in lower 70s. Dallas night temperatures by late June , if not late May, would be 82 or so. I did more winterizing of the chicken houses today. Shortly we will be going down below freezing tonight and not going above freezing until Wednesday afternoon. Snow chances pick up to 80% by 2:00 am and still at very high chances, 70-90% as far as hourly forecast will take me through tomorrow night at 10:00pm. Hey Allen K , I’m with you. I don’t tolerate unruly roosters. First time he hits me, I hit him back hard. If there’s a second strike he’s out of coop and into soup pot. Unruly and also high strung roosters have that in their genetic makeup. If I’ve tried to calm them and befriend them, as I do with all my chickens, and their actions continue they’re out. It effects the rest of the flock and they start to wonder if maybe they should be concerned as well and act accordingly. Don’t won’t those genes past down the line either. Same with our cattle herd. One wild one can make the rest act crazy. And it’s past down into their offspring’s genetic make up.

Hey since you're comfortable letting us know you're up in the Lubbock area why not edit in your location information into your profile so we can all see what podunk part of Texas you live in? Under my profile feel free to click on laureles I wasn't lying when I said deep South Texas and we're a little Podunk here too! I'm pretty sure our GPS coordinates are just a hair over 26 degrees north an elevation of 24 ft above sea level. Living near the gulf coast is great we rarely see Summer and Autumn temperatures above 100 degrees and we don't have to heat or cool on average about four and a half to five months of the year. I live in a special part of Texas know as the colonias. Formerly I am a North Texan transplant but let's see I've lived in every major region of Texas accept the panhandle and Houston the city with worse traffic than DFW and Austin. Here you can't blame Diddley or squat for running late due to traffic.

 

[AllenK RGV]

So does anyone here have any experiences with the whizbang chicken plucker?

Oh by the way there's a meat bird forum where I bet you can get tons of input based off your query here. @RUNuts Im sure can get you headed in the right direction there.

 

[Aggiedusty]

Tomatoes already, you must be in the Houston area or even further south. Up here we can’t plant tomatoes or peppers into after May 1 to be safe. But then they grow and fruit all summer into early fall up here. I lived in Dallas for 40 years and we had to push the season by planting in 3rd week February or 1st week March and then be ready to cover a couple of times. Otherwise the night temperatures would climb too high in late June to support tomatoe flower set and flowering. The night temperatures up in the south plains, altitude here in our area is 4000 ft +, for summer is usually in mid 60s give or take with a few nights in lower 70s. Dallas night temperatures by late June , if not late May, would be 82 or so. I did more winterizing of the chicken houses today. Shortly we will be going down below freezing tonight and not going above freezing until Wednesday afternoon. Snow chances pick up to 80% by 2:00 am and still at very high chances, 70-90% as far as hourly forecast will take me through tomorrow night at 10:00pm. Hey Allen K , I’m with you. I don’t tolerate unruly roosters. First time he hits me, I hit him back hard. If there’s a second strike he’s out of coop and into soup pot. Unruly and also high strung roosters have that in their genetic makeup. If I’ve tried to calm them and befriend them, as I do with all my chickens, and their actions continue they’re out. It effects the rest of the flock and they start to wonder if maybe they should be concerned as well and act accordingly. Don’t won’t those genes past down the line either. Same with our cattle herd. One wild one can make the rest act crazy. And it’s past down into their offspring’s genetic make up.

I imagine most everyone has been drenched in rain. We received 5” snow starting early Tuesday morning 3:00 am and then another 3-4” of snow last night before midnight. Pretty sure looking out from inside, right? Great moisture for the pastures this spring though. I have 41 Easter Egger chicks incubating In a model 4250. Monitoring the humidity inside it makes me feel like the old mother hen. With our air changing from extreme dry to 76% humidity today because of all the snow, makes the humidity levels do left and right turns on me. I’m equally excited about the new calf crop this year. First 2020 calf should hit the ground within 2 weeks.

 

[Curtisclan]

Hey Texas Chicken woman, I am in the big city of Coldspring, on Lake Livingston, and yep that deep east Texas. 60 miles north of the big city of Houston. Just wanted to say Howdy and keep your chicken feed dry.
bmarshall

Hi there. You’re about an hour away from me! I’m in Montgomery

 

[Curtisclan]

New member from Montgomery ( near renfest) I’ve referred to byc over the years to get answers but now I’m a member!

 

[Kiki]

New member from Montgomery ( near renfest) I’ve referred to byc over the years to get answers but now I’m a member!

Welcome!

 

[Aggiedusty]

Hey since you're comfortable letting us know you're up in the Lubbock area why not edit in your location information into your profile so we can all see what podunk part of Texas you live in? Under my profile feel free to click on laureles I wasn't lying when I said deep South Texas and we're a little Podunk here too! I'm pretty sure our GPS coordinates are just a hair over 26 degrees north an elevation of 24 ft above sea level. Living near the gulf coast is great we rarely see Summer and Autumn temperatures above 100 degrees and we don't have to heat or cool on average about four and a half to five months of the year. I live in a special part of Texas know as the colonias. Formerly I am a North Texan transplant but let's see I've lived in every major region of Texas accept the panhandle and Houston the city with worse traffic than DFW and Austin. Here you can't blame Diddley or squat for running late due to traffic.

Same out here. I may see a vehicle pass my house on my county road 3x a week, maybe. And out here if you don’t recognize the vehicle then most likely that is someone not out there in your best interest. Usually you do of course. The closest community is Maple and I think it has ~15 houses and nothing else. We all drive 40+ miles to get feed, groceries, doctor visits and pharmacy. I go to a town 50 miles away with more choices. You make a list and cover all the basis that you can in one trip and that’s what you’re working with that week. Apologize for terrible grammar in earlier post. Hopefully you could fill in words through deduction. Must have been dozing in and out. My nearesst neighbor is 4-5 miles away, and that’s in only one direction. North, south, east a person may have to travel 11 miles before finding a living soul. Definitely we all go to town with a cooler or two for the grocery shopping for frozen foods, if you want them frozenish when you arrive back. It’s very odd, I’m surrounded by coyotes and their different family packs and yet knock on wood they have not been an issue. A little fox and skunk issues and an occasional rare bird of prey but I think that’s ice been extremely lucky. I do close things up as soon sad they go into their chicken houses. The few times the shopping needed a Lowes or pet supply stop with all the otber normal ones. is when a fox and or a skunk got one or two.