The Front Porch Swing

[SelfMadeFarming]

Great pictures!

 

[TexasLisa]

Leslie what a wonderful story and with pictures to boot!

Lisa

 

[bruceh]

I just had the most interesting and unexpected visitor.

While feeding the dog and making coffee this morning, I stuffed my iPhone into my bra (note to the universe: Womens clothes need more pockets). I'd been in bed intending to check out BYC when Gust told me it was past time to get up, so the iPhone was open to my profile page. I guess I boobietapped a button on my page and discovered I had not one but two messages I never knew existed as "comments" on my avatar photo. One was from Robert Blosl. I had posted on his Heritage Large Fowl thread, and not gotten too much of a response, and now I know why ... here is part of what he wrote ... I hope nobody minds that I share it here because I think it is great advice:

"I see you had 100 hatchery chickens and some of these behave different than our Heritage type fowl. Prolaps or vent poping out is common on these as they are breed for one pupose and that's to lay lots of eggs but don't look like the real breed we promote. That's just the way its been for 50 years. I had that problem as a boy in Centralia Washington. Went to a chicken show in Portland and and saw the real chickens and made the change to the old fashion breeds.

"Need to narrow down your numbers of birds and breeds to a hand full, to many chickens on a lot will cause illness. You will figure it out. It's part of getting started. Have you found a few breeds you enjoy? Remember if you pick say Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Rocks from the hatchery they are not the same as we promote. The males can be aggressive and that's because they have Leghorn blood in their linkage to lay lots of eggs. Hope this helps you. Let the rest write something for you. I write to much as it is. bob blosl"

I never knew there was a comments section for my avatar photo, and it never occurred to me that someone might try to contact me that way instead of just sending me a PM ... I wonder if there are any other little easter eggs waiting for me here at BYC.

bob , was a great man. i enjoyed bob. i was supposed to get some of his white rocks before he passed. however bob passed in the most happy way. he was commenting on my good friend jimmy's rhode island red named high stepper. it was in order for bob

 

[Beekissed]

I just had the most interesting and unexpected visitor.

While feeding the dog and making coffee this morning, I stuffed my iPhone into my bra (note to the universe: Womens clothes need more pockets). I'd been in bed intending to check out BYC when Gust told me it was past time to get up, so the iPhone was open to my profile page. I guess I boobietapped a button on my page and discovered I had not one but two messages I never knew existed as "comments" on my avatar photo. One was from Robert Blosl. I had posted on his Heritage Large Fowl thread, and not gotten too much of a response, and now I know why ... here is part of what he wrote ... I hope nobody minds that I share it here because I think it is great advice:

"I see you had 100 hatchery chickens and some of these behave different than our Heritage type fowl. Prolaps or vent poping out is common on these as they are breed for one pupose and that's to lay lots of eggs but don't look like the real breed we promote. That's just the way its been for 50 years. I had that problem as a boy in Centralia Washington. Went to a chicken show in Portland and and saw the real chickens and made the change to the old fashion breeds.

"Need to narrow down your numbers of birds and breeds to a hand full, to many chickens on a lot will cause illness. You will figure it out. It's part of getting started. Have you found a few breeds you enjoy? Remember if you pick say Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Rocks from the hatchery they are not the same as we promote. The males can be aggressive and that's because they have Leghorn blood in their linkage to lay lots of eggs. Hope this helps you. Let the rest write something for you. I write to much as it is. bob blosl"

I never knew there was a comments section for my avatar photo, and it never occurred to me that someone might try to contact me that way instead of just sending me a PM ... I wonder if there are any other little easter eggs waiting for me here at BYC.

What a treasure....a private word from Bob is like a rare pearl of great price! Save it!

bob , was a great man. i enjoyed bob. i was supposed to get some of his white rocks before he passed. however bob passed in the most happy way. he was commenting on my good friend jimmy's rhode island red named high stepper. it was in order for bob

I loved Bob.

He was truly a gentleman.

 

[lindz8504]

A couple months before that, Betty helped us build the Naughty Cage. Most people with chickens have a Betty ...

(yes ... that's me ... )


I didn't even see the chicken in this one until I went back and looked!

This one is for Beekissed cuz I know she likes this photo.

Such determination!

LOVE IT!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Cool pics Leslie. I especially like all the eggs, love all the colors! What kind of ducks do you have? I'm thinking on getting some Campbells this spring. How much do you ask for duck eggs in your area? Who seems to be buying them - regular folks, bakers, Asians, etc.?

Thanks! Here is a plate of eggs from the last few days taken in natural light. Around the outside ring are chicken eggs ... all the eggs in the middle are duck eggs. The big white egg is nearly 4 ounces (112 g). This is supposed to show you the range of colors, but the blue place mat is doing nothing for the pale blue eggs which are in about the 3 o'clock position.




Here is a version of the photo I took with a flash, Kita decided to help, and it shows how green that one duck egg is and how much more blue the other is.


I have NO clue which duck is laying the enormous white egg, but if it isn't one of the Pekins, then I would guess it is one of the Rouens, and I would guess it is the older daughter ... her eggs were much larger than her mother's and started out a paler green, and there is a bit of a swirl to the white of the jumbo egg. The first Rouen lays a minty blueish green egg with a faint swirl. I have no clue what other ducks lay what egg as they all started laying simultaneously.

The breeds we have are Rouen, Pekin, Indian Runner (1 male 5 females) and Khaki Campbell (one male 5 females). We don't like the Indian Runners much and are looking to get rid of them. The two Pekins are probably both male. We started with a bonded pair of Rouens (mutt production Rouens, not the Standard type), and bred three more (one male, two females).

I'd like to reduce the number of males. Dad wants to keep the Pekins ... they aren't any trouble ... at least not yet.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, man, is that lovely!!!!!

That should be in a magazine somewhere....those eggs are stunning! Almost makes me want to have some variety in my eggs too...but we just eat them and I'd be the only one to see them.

Folks, I'm thinking up another experiment......I may just plan a spring project or two or three.

1. Revamp coop...not an experiment, just needs to happen.
2. Might build rabbit tractor and start with a few breeding does and a buck...maybe.
3. Experiment~I've never incubated chicks before and I do not own an incubator...but I think I may try an unconventional way to do a DIY incubation and take someone up on their offer to send me some hatching eggs from quality stock. Maybe....still doing research on it. Will I dare it? Yes, because that's just what I do....think outside the box and march to a different beat. Will post pics and progress reports if I undertake this.
4. Get a batch of CX chicks from TSC and stick them under a broody if I have one and just brood them a little differently than usual if I do not.

 

[Triple Willow]

@Leslie... that pic is so pretty! I love that color variety! They are all pretty, one second I think the dark ones are the pretties but then the pastels are so pretty too, and the whites just set them all off. I want ALL OF THEM! LOL I believe I am going to have to have some ducks...

 

[Triple Willow]

Oh, man, is that lovely!!!!! That should be in a magazine somewhere....those eggs are stunning! Ditto! Almost makes me want to have some variety in my eggs too...but we just eat them and I'd be the only one to see them. Ditto! ...and I wouldn't care if I was the only one to see them. LOL I wonder if you could do some kind of crafty things with those shells? Like a mosaic something? Folks, I'm thinking up another experiment...... I hear another "BOOM!" ...or two or three! LOL I may just plan a spring project or two or three. 1. Revamp coop...not an experiment, just needs to happen. 2. Might build rabbit tractor and start with a few breeding does and a buck...maybe. 3. Experiment~I've never incubated chicks before and I do not own an incubator...but I think I may try an unconventional way to do a DIY incubation and take someone up on their offer to send me some hatching eggs from quality stock. Maybe....still doing research on it. Will I dare it? Yes, because that's just what I do....think outside the box and march to a different beat. Will post pics and progress reports if I undertake this. 4. Get a batch of CX chicks from TSC and stick them under a broody if I have one and just brood them a little differently than usual if I do not. Bee, hatching isn't too hard or I got really lucky. A friend gave me 18 Aussie eggs and sold me a flea market incubator. I had no experience whatsoever- didn't have a clue what I was doing! He told me the temp to try to keep it and to keep a little water in it. There wasn't any humidity checking or candeling. Of the 18, 14 hatched and were perfectly healthy little chicks. I don't know if I could ever get that good of results again or not. Doubt it ...but God is good!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oh, man, is that lovely!!!!!

That should be in a magazine somewhere....those eggs are stunning! Almost makes me want to have some variety in my eggs too...but we just eat them and I'd be the only one to see them.

Folks, I'm thinking up another experiment......I may just plan a spring project or two or three.

1. Revamp coop...not an experiment, just needs to happen.
2. Might build rabbit tractor and start with a few breeding does and a buck...maybe.
3. Experiment~I've never incubated chicks before and I do not own an incubator...but I think I may try an unconventional way to do a DIY incubation and take someone up on their offer to send me some hatching eggs from quality stock. Maybe....still doing research on it. Will I dare it? Yes, because that's just what I do....think outside the box and march to a different beat. Will post pics and progress reports if I undertake this.
4. Get a batch of CX chicks from TSC and stick them under a broody if I have one and just brood them a little differently than usual if I do not.

I'm pondering the whole incubator thing myself. I'm all about DIY myself ... but as I've promised "responsible" contributions to the Delaware project, do I dare? Over on the Delaware thread, Zanna had this to say:

Quote:
I really do want to contribute as much as possible to the Delaware project ... and I had hoped to do that "naturally," but we haven't gotten a broody yet this year. It might be because we have more nesting boxes now and are being more disciplined about removing the eggs promptly ... so a hen who is thinking about it would have to be pretty determined ... she couldn't just plop down on any old convenient clutch and go to work.

I really don't *want* to had raise chicks. Chicks are cute, but honestly they are cuter under a broody.

Incubator ($$) ... brooder setup someplace (my office again? is this realistic when the "target goal" would be to raise 300 chicks this year? and am I really serious enough to go for that target goal? it seems overwhelming) ... then just cross all our fingers and hope we don't have a power outage. Ugh. Do I cave in and get a half-dozen silkies and run a broody shop?

I know we could sell meat birds ... and they are just about the easiest thing to raise ... and the buying group who buys most of my eggs is really pressing for them. There is a day here when you can get some Cornish X chicks for free (5? 10?) if you buy a bag of Purina Flock Raiser. No limit on how many bags of Flock Raiser, either. That's a whole other can of worms ... and I'm reluctant to go there when I still have two freezers full of ginormous Thanksgiving Turkeys. And will have a LOT of Delaware cockerels to process this year ... and the buying group is all about "no corn/no soy" right now, which is not how the Flock Raiser comes.

I really do want rabbits ...

Thanks for the compliments on the eggs, though the photos aren't worthy. I know what you mean about pretty eggs being a bit of a waste. I'd LOVE to be one of those people who breeds for colorful eggs ... it seems like the coolest art project ever ... and I could stand around fondling eggs all day. But as much as I love colorful eggs, right now my priority is the Delaware project birds. I'll have fewer and fewer "pretty" eggs as time passes.