The Front Porch Swing

[Windy Bay Farm]

GUESS WHAT????  I have 6 chicks!!!  3 Americaunas and 3 Speckled Sussexs.  The feed store is getting Australorps in on the 19th and I put my money down for 3.  Guess who is smiling????  DH has the camera, will post pictures later tonight.

Lisa

So glad to hear you got new chicks, Lisa !! It's so exciting

I've decided to get rid of my current flock. There's a lady that lives not far from me who recently lost all but two of her birds to a mink... The dang thing had built a nest in behind the nest boxes where it couldn't be seen. She woke up to 9 dead hens and a badly beaten up rooster who survived and is on the mend.

I've been thinking for sometime of selling my current flock as I have always wanted Blue Australorps and Golden Laced Wyandottes. So in the last couple of weeks I have done some hard thinking and with this lady wanting to replace her flock from the mink disaster, I figured it was a good time to do it. Poor thing told me that when she went out and found the dead hens in the morning that her roo was pacing around nudging at the hens and cooing at them, she said almost as if he was trying to talk to them So sad.

So within the next month my current flock will be re-homed and I will be picking up 8 week old pullets and one roo in early June. For pullets I will be acquiring 4 Blue Australorps, 4 Golden Laced Wyandottes and 3 Buff Orpingtons, and for the roo, he'll be a Golden Laced Wyandotte... Their plumage is stunning !

It will be hard to say bye to my current flock as I will miss having them around but knowing they are going to a great home for a good reason brings me joy ! And re-homing them next month will give me a few weeks to make some coop changes that I had planned on doing... It will make it easier to make changes with a vacant coop and have it all finished before the new flock arrives. I'll make sure and take some photos for ya'll to see the new roo and his harem of 11 ladies once they arrive !

The weather here is just like Spring today with the temp in the low 40's. Spring is on it's way !! Which means new life to Mother Earth and new beginnings for all. God is good !

Hope ya'll are having a blessed weekend so far !!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

YEA YEAH LISA!!!!  e  Mine will be in lock down on Sunday. Going to candle them one more time then and trying to decide IF I want to place them in egg cartons to hatch or leave them lying down in there. I KNOW I will want to remove the hatched ones if they are tumbling the other eggs around and don't want to mess up with the humidity by removing the lid. So I am trying to decide what to do before lock down.


opps we wanna see some pix.  

I've read if you put the eggs in modified cartons for lock down it saves them all from getting tumbled around by chicks.

 

[LindaB220]

wish granted

Bahahahaha I love it. I NEED to have this made to hang. My DD already calls me the crazy chicken lady.

Edited to add: I bookmarked it so I can do something about it later. ha

 

[LindaB220]

Hello I come from Va. along with Boots, got a dog biscket?

Hey WindStep. Good to see you and that good looking Boots.

 

[perchie.girl]

I was gone for a few days and now it's taken me 2 evenings to catch up. So much happening!
Bee - I've been praying for you all week. So glad things are going better for you.
Happy Birthday Michelle! Hope you have a great day!
Lisa, I'm so sad to hear about your chickens - and now very happy for you with your new chicks. Have fun with them!
And deb, You've been on my mind a lot the last few days. I'm so sorry about your experience with the car and the thieves. I'm glad the car is back and hope it can get cleaned up so you're comfortable with it again. Also, hope that garage door gets reprogramed soon!
The reason I've been gone a few days is that we were given an opportunity to travel to San Diego and Yuma for a week. We just spent 2 days in San Diego. Miss being in the country, but just loved seeing green and flowers and smelling freshly mowed grass. We did lots of walking and I kept stopping to touch flowers or get a closer look at them. After months of white and cold, it was a wonderful shock to the system! And so that's why I was thinking of you, deb. You said you're from that area. So as we drove to Yuma yesterday I was trying to picture what your area looks like. A lot of what we drove through was rocks and cactus. It has its own beauty. But I am wondering... what about snakes? We don't live with them around and so they scare me. That's one thing I've always said - I'd rather live with the cold than deal with snakes

. A person gets used to dealing with whatever lives in the area.
Today it's supposed to get to 87F. My poor pale skin hasn't seen the sun in months. Wonder if anyone will notice I'm not from around here. Haha. Other than the friends we get to visit with, I won't see anyone again. I am so thankful for this opportunity. No heavy jacket, mitts, boots, scarf for the next 5 days. Yeah! And a good friend is watching over my "zoo" at home, so I don't have to worry about them. I see that it's supposed to get above freezing by tomorrow at home and for the next whole week! Maybe there is hope after this long winter! My chickens will be soo happy to be outside - they've had to be cooped up for the past few weeks because it's been so cold.
It was great catching up with everyone. Have a wonderful day!

OMG.... you went right by my Grandmas house.... And then my house AND By a place where my Dad and his parents lived and had a restaurant in the 40s.... in Yuma.... Right by that bridge that crosses the Colorado River.... Did you know Stern wheelers used to bring Goods All the way up the colorado to Yuma?

As you were in and around the rocks on Highway 8 you were passing my house.... San Diego county line is where the freeway splits and winds its way through Rock Canyons and drops almost three thousand feet. the dividing line between the high desert and the low desert here. High desert is cooler. Were the Ocotillos in Bloom yet? They look like sticks Covered in needles most of the year but if they get a few days water they sprout leaves and Beautiful Red flowers. Big Ocotillos are probably around ten or twelve feet tall..... So as you drop from the high desert down you enter an area called Ocotillo.


Picture taken from the top of the Desert Look out tower. That is about fifteen miles from my house
In a little community called InKoPa.


The Rocks next to my Water tank.


My yard behind the house The person standing there is just outside of my bedroom. The white wall is painted Glass That used to be a greenhouse.... This was the day I got to take a walk though before I bought it.

Oh snakes are around I see their tracks on the road. All different kinds. King snakes Gopher snakes Garter snakes ANd about two or three types of Rattle snakes. I have only come across one at the house.... above and about six down in San Diego.... over the years. I have lived in the San Diego area 47 years.... Every where else I have lived was also desert or high desert, Roswell, Las Vegas, Colton CA....

For what its worth they dont come out when its too hot or too cold. On cool mornings they will come out and warm up on the road On hot days they retreat to shady shelter... So we learn early on to never put our hands in areas where you cant see.... So when moving wood around or getting firewood we have to be careful. My neighbor killed two females when he was brush clearing for me.... I asked what he did with them and he said he had them marinating in Teriaki.... Each snake was probably a good three or four pounds he said. He stretched the skins on a board.

BTW I dont automatically kill snakes. the ONLY one i have ever killed was in my grandmas entry way. They are part of this ecology and belong here. Same as all predators.

deb

 

[LBejaran]

Such optimism!   Congrats on the job, wishing you the best!
I had a job that I applied for - basic entry level drafting, and wound up getting an engineering position that they rewrote for me since I am not an engineer.  Much higher paying than I was expecting.  Loved that job.

I see earrings with those little eggs.  So tiny!

Good luck with the chicks in the brooder, hope you get that straightened out.

Who knows, I could end up hating this job, haha! It'll be a heavy workload from the sound of it, but I did some training this week with another print shop. I only went because I was being told by my cousin/client that I wasn't being proficient. Well, I went and hardly even got "trained". The trainer essentially said that I already knew what I was doing and didn't need much help. He said I just needed more experience and I'd be as good -if not better- than him. I love proving people wrong. e

Congratulations!!!                  That's going to be so fun!  I love to create, but to get to do it as a job would be so fulfilling. 

What's going on with your chicks?  I must have missed something....this thread moves too fast! 

Graphic design...is kinda fun, if you're lucky. Loads of the time, dealing with cruddy customers overpowers the fun. However, the satisfaction of seeing a happy customer walk away with designs that will help their business/project/school makes it worth it.

A couple of my Ameraucana chicks have died in the past couple days. I think there is either too much humidity in the brooder (I've been changing the shaving more often to fix that) or maybe it just needs to be bigger. I'm gonna try and fix it today after I being home a couple more chicks. If I'm gonna be working next week, I need to know they'll be safe and comfortable.

Someone else said it too, and I'll repeat it... I see earrings!

And super congratulations on that job!  Wowee!  REALLY SPECTACULAR! 

I'll figure out those eggies after I paint them. Making them into earrings shouldn't be too hard, but painting will be. These eggs are super thin, haha!

Thank you! It was a surprise but I'm so excited!

Oh I want those cockatiel eggs painted and made into earrings =). You do gorgeous work and I feel your pain about your art WORK not being appreciated. People just don't understand or seem to care how long it took you to do something.

I think that's one of the drawbacks of being an "artist". Appreciating your artwork and finding someone else who does, too, is hard and often doesn't happen. Creating art is often a labor of love, not business. I continue painting because I like it, not for the potential money I could make. I painted a dozen eggs once for someone to sell and I hated it.

Working so hard and being told that my eggs weren't worth the $12 I was charging was painful. The people who ended up purchasing them (family friends) paid only $5 and raved about them. It was a tough pill to swallow, but they went to good homes.

Lead Graphic Designer???  Whoopee, that is so awesome!  CONGRATULATIONS!  Your parents will be lost without you around.  You are always there to help them with everything.  You can take care of the little ones before you leave and when you get home.  I am so happy for you!

Lisa

Thank you! I can't wait to get to work! There is loads of preparation that needs to get done before Wednesday, though. Fix te brooder, change the light, make a trough for rhe fermented feed for the main flock, etc. I still technically live at home, so I'll have the same hours as my parents. I'm thinking about trying to save up for an apartment, but we'll see. I wouldn't like living in an apartment, I think. I'd miss my chickens.

Maybe I can save up for a foreclosure property! I know it seems like such a big jump from no job to new house, but I like to plan ahead just a bit. I'm a bit of a dreamer, so my ideas are never practical, haha!

I'll be getting up early from now on, haha! All these birdies need some attention or they get snippy. I went on a weekend trip once and when I came back, even my most untamed hens came up to me. I think they realized that I was head rooster, so they knew I'd lead them to food and water. It was very nice to be missed, hehe!

 

[Beekissed]

Hello I come from Va. along with Boots, got a dog biscket?

to the Front Porch!

What a beautiful dog that Boots is!! Love those ears....

Pull up a chair and sit a spell, have a sweet ice tea. What part of VA ya from?

 

[Beekissed]

Welcome to the porch windstep. Wow you guys were busy yesterday. I was away for one day and it took an hour to catch up.

Happy birthday Michelle.

Lisa, glad you got chicks - adorable

Yesterday was a great day. My husband had given me a gift certificate for a day spa package for Valentine's day and I got to use it yesterday. Sauna, body wrap, massage. It felt so good to be pampered. Then I took a major step and had my hair cut. I haven't had a haircut in at least 8 years. Went from way past my shoulders to chin length. I was scared he would hate it, but he can't stop telling me how great it looks and how much younger I look. Life is good and I am blessed. I have 9 chicks in the incubator. Not sure what they will be as I got them at TSC and they can never keep their breeds straight at our local store..
Eggs in the incubator should hatch around St. Patricks day. Won't replace the birds I Iost to the dogs, but it is a start.
Can't make this computer quote. I'll have to try to figure it out.
Hope everyone is having beautiful weather. I can almost feel spring. The motorcycles were out yesterday! A sure sign the Spring is on its way.

Oh, boy, does that sound lovely! A massage and spa treatment...you should feel like a new woman!

That was a brave step on the haircut....I'm going to step into that too this coming week, when I haven't had a salon cut since the 80s. I wish you had done a before and after so we could have oohed and aaaahed over it too.

I was gone for a few days and now it's taken me 2 evenings to catch up. So much happening!
Bee - I've been praying for you all week. So glad things are going better for you.
Happy Birthday Michelle! Hope you have a great day!
Lisa, I'm so sad to hear about your chickens - and now very happy for you with your new chicks. Have fun with them!
And deb, You've been on my mind a lot the last few days. I'm so sorry about your experience with the car and the thieves. I'm glad the car is back and hope it can get cleaned up so you're comfortable with it again. Also, hope that garage door gets reprogramed soon!
The reason I've been gone a few days is that we were given an opportunity to travel to San Diego and Yuma for a week. We just spent 2 days in San Diego. Miss being in the country, but just loved seeing green and flowers and smelling freshly mowed grass. We did lots of walking and I kept stopping to touch flowers or get a closer look at them. After months of white and cold, it was a wonderful shock to the system! And so that's why I was thinking of you, deb. You said you're from that area. So as we drove to Yuma yesterday I was trying to picture what your area looks like. A lot of what we drove through was rocks and cactus. It has its own beauty. But I am wondering... what about snakes? We don't live with them around and so they scare me. That's one thing I've always said - I'd rather live with the cold than deal with snakes

. A person gets used to dealing with whatever lives in the area.
Today it's supposed to get to 87F. My poor pale skin hasn't seen the sun in months. Wonder if anyone will notice I'm not from around here. Haha. Other than the friends we get to visit with, I won't see anyone again. I am so thankful for this opportunity. No heavy jacket, mitts, boots, scarf for the next 5 days. Yeah! And a good friend is watching over my "zoo" at home, so I don't have to worry about them. I see that it's supposed to get above freezing by tomorrow at home and for the next whole week! Maybe there is hope after this long winter! My chickens will be soo happy to be outside - they've had to be cooped up for the past few weeks because it's been so cold.
It was great catching up with everyone. Have a wonderful day!

You have no idea how much the beauty of flowers affect me, even in the dead of summer...they have such a perfect beauty, designed and painted by God, that it renews my soul to even see them, feel them, smell them. Its like God said, "Here ya go...just because I love you that much!" whenever I am around flowers and so I feel the need to give thanks over and over.

So glad to hear you got new chicks, Lisa !! It's so exciting

I've decided to get rid of my current flock. There's a lady that lives not far from me who recently lost all but two of her birds to a mink... The dang thing had built a nest in behind the nest boxes where it couldn't be seen. She woke up to 9 dead hens and a badly beaten up rooster who survived and is on the mend.

I've been thinking for sometime of selling my current flock as I have always wanted Blue Australorps and Golden Laced Wyandottes. So in the last couple of weeks I have done some hard thinking and with this lady wanting to replace her flock from the mink disaster, I figured it was a good time to do it. Poor thing told me that when she went out and found the dead hens in the morning that her roo was pacing around nudging at the hens and cooing at them, she said almost as if he was trying to talk to them

So sad.

So within the next month my current flock will be re-homed and I will be picking up 8 week old pullets and one roo in early June. For pullets I will be acquiring 4 Blue Australorps, 4 Golden Laced Wyandottes and 3 Buff Orpingtons, and for the roo, he'll be a Golden Laced Wyandotte... Their plumage is stunning !

It will be hard to say bye to my current flock as I will miss having them around but knowing they are going to a great home for a good reason brings me joy ! And re-homing them next month will give me a few weeks to make some coop changes that I had planned on doing... It will make it easier to make changes with a vacant coop and have it all finished before the new flock arrives. I'll make sure and take some photos for ya'll to see the new roo and his harem of 11 ladies once they arrive !

The weather here is just like Spring today with the temp in the low 40's. Spring is on it's way !! Which means new life to Mother Earth and new beginnings for all. God is good !

Hope ya'll are having a blessed weekend so far !!

No big black rooster?????

Won't you miss his fwosted wittle face?

A fresh start is always a good thing...that's why these people that keep their hens into nonlaying retirement are really missing out. An old bird is an old friend and I too am susceptible to their charms, but new hens have a new story and many of those stories are just wonderful editions for a library of flock experience. That's how life is...constant renewal, a new year, a new spring, a new story. Blessings on your new flock and may they also follow your old flock wherever they may go.

 

[Gldnrose]

Why don't you just initially treat the birds, the roosts and the nest boxes. Stripping down a whole coop, particularly if you have valuable deep litter cultures~don't know if you do~is pretty drastic. Get some good ol' castor oil to rub on those butt wounds, dust your gals and the places they sleep and nest and then just watch what happens.

Give it a little time and watch what happens. I wouldn't spray your coop and whatnot until you see if the body treatment will work or not work. For sure and certain you will not be able to kill every little parasite in the coop/run/yard environment...they can just come on back, but you can protect, and prevent them from feeding on, the food source.

That is what I ended up doing. I didn't remove next boxes or roosts, etc. I don't do the deep litter method, so I just took out all the shavings from nest boxes and floor and dusted eveything, including the birds. I did use Permethrin though. When I took everything out of the nest boxes I examined super closely and still didn't see any form of mite or lice. Although I know that seeing mites might be near impossible.

I once again observed last night at roosting time the same hen jumping up and grabbing butt feathers from the girls already roosting. I never see any bullying going on throughout the day. I believe this only happens at roosting time. I watched them all and they all seemed to want to be in specific spots and there was some squabbling trying to get someone to move from that spot. Nothing major though. If this one hen is the culprit of what is going on I'm not sure how to stop it. I don't know if she caused the "scabs" near the vents either, maybe jumped too high and got that area instead? I put some neosporin (without the pain med) and then put some bluekote to cover any redness and it already looks better today. There is no feasible way for me to be out there every single night at roosting time. Hmmm.

Castor oil! I had forgotten about reading on one of the posts where you talked about that! I will most certainly try that.

I am at a watch and see what happens time now.

Thank you again!

 

[Beekissed]

That is what I ended up doing. I didn't remove next boxes or roosts, etc. I don't do the deep litter method, so I just took out all the shavings from nest boxes and floor and dusted eveything, including the birds. I did use Permethrin though. When I took everything out of the nest boxes I examined super closely and still didn't see any form of mite or lice. Although I know that seeing mites might be near impossible.

I once again observed last night at roosting time the same hen jumping up and grabbing butt feathers from the girls already roosting. I never see any bullying going on throughout the day. I believe this only happens at roosting time. I watched them all and they all seemed to want to be in specific spots and there was some squabbling trying to get someone to move from that spot. Nothing major though. If this one hen is the culprit of what is going on I'm not sure how to stop it. I don't know if she caused the "scabs" near the vents either, maybe jumped too high and got that area instead? I put some neosporin (without the pain med) and then put some bluekote to cover any redness and it already looks better today. There is no feasible way for me to be out there every single night at roosting time. Hmmm.

Castor oil! I had forgotten about reading on one of the posts where you talked about that! I will most certainly try that.

I am at a watch and see what happens time now.

Thank you again!

Off with her head. Here's an experiment...keep her confined for a bit where she can still see the flock and they her, but keep her penned for a couple of weeks and see if this tail end damage stops while she's gone. If it does, take out the problem and don't try to work around it. It's a bird problem at that point, not a flock problem. Easy fix, that one.