The Middle Tennessee Thread

[Tracyree]

My son's kindergarten hatched a few chicks this springv which got him interested in chickens. Him talking about them and being so excited about them got me intestered again. (I gave up chickens when he was born and our coop was over run with mice, babies make me germaphobic!).

I'm glad he got to enjoy the hatching process, I think we may try to get some hatching eggs for any broodies next year, there's just nothing like watching a mama hen

 

[believer01]

Sure wish we had known that chickens were so fun when my kids were little. They would have loved them (then) - now my son's a big tough military man and my daughter is too busy jumping out of airplanes to slow down and enjoy a chick.

I now have 8 girls. The Red Star I got from Anne is the leader of the young ones....she is Sparky. Both for her color and her attitude. Oh yeah.....this girl ain't afraid of nothing! Learned right off what the treat sound means and comes a'running! Gave me my first chicken kiss the first time I held her.

I'm thinking about naming the black EE Elizabeth Taylor! Seriously, this little lady has the most beautiful black eyes (I know, wrong color) and there's an emerald sheen to her feathers. Figure I could call her ET for short - looks a little goofy with her poofy cheek feathers. Or Liz, of course, when she's being flighty. Tried flying to the top of the coop last evening, but there's deer netting over the pen and nothing to keep her from sliding off the roof.

The barred rock isn't named yet. Sweet personality, just nothings popped up yet as suiting her.

I have a friend who decided to get some chickens after visiting with mine. She's had a rough year with multiple back surgeries/recoveries (ongoing) and her 4 girls and silkie roo have kept her company. Her eyes sparkle when she talks about them!

Our birds are feathered blessings, aren't they?

 

[cpegram]

I love love all these chickens running around

. My 5 yr old DD just loves it. I can't wait for her to start 4H so she can start showing. The birds are my stress reliever. After a long day at work, I can go to the barn and everything goes away. To me it's not chores it's fun and love watching them interact. A couple of my silkies will come to me an peck my boot to get my attention to be held it's the sweetest thing. They talk to me the whole time I am holding them

Raven1 how's the hatch going? I am excited

 

[Jenski]

Morning everyone! Glad to hear about all the chicken doings out there.

Sounds like we have lots of hatching, scratching, pecking, and general feathery busy-ness going on. Love it!

With the garden season running full steam ahead, I'm not always at the computer in the mornings, lingering over my coffee. I'm usually outside trying to beat the heat - - gotta get at them dern weeds before the sun starts beating on my head! (we need a hot, sweaty emoticon here)

I rebuilt half of my veggie garden this spring - - I totally tore up the old rows, pulled all the irrigation lines, and made English garden style beds with a path through the middle . . . lined with leftover bricks from a nearby subdivision being built. (yah fun!) It looks so much nicer than a regular veg garden, and I now mix my herbs and flowers in with the annual veggies. It's more fun to keep it up than the old garden, since I'm a flower-herb lady in my heart.

If I ever get it looking decent I'll snap a few pics. The best thing is that many of the herb beds will be perennial once they are established - - cilantro, oregano, parsley, thyme, etc. will all either spread or re-seed.

And then there are the chickens! Since I am getting old and I can't always remember when I hatched my older birds, I decided to follow the ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) yearly tattoo letter recommendations for naming my birds. Now stay with me here, it will make sense in a minute.

Every year the ADGA uses a consecutive letter of the alphabet as a recommendation for the first letter of the ear tattoos given to registered animals. Many farms go ahead and name all that year's new kids with the corresponding letter so they can keep track of their ages. . . . So . . . last year, 2010, they started over again with A, and 2011 is B, and so on. My 2011 chicks are Bud and Bindi (bantam cochins), and Bella and Bianca (bantam Ameraucanas). In later years I will be able to remember they were hatched in 2011, etc. etc. Don't know if that will help anyone else hatching, but if you do it a few years in a row it's nice to have an easy way to keep track!

Well, I've lingered long enough. The weeds are calling me! Hope you all have a great weekend.

 

[Raven1]

Got up this morning to the beautiful music of hatching babies they were popping like popcorn!

So 1newegg and Holly we need to get together this weekend

Only had about 6 of the BL/BCMs when I left but too many pips to count so it looks good YEAH

 

[HBuehler]

I'm meeting with Brown Chicka Sun morning around 10:30 in Lebanon other than that I'm pretty flexible all weekend...Paul's working all weekend at Fakes & Hooker redoing all of their stairway displays so other than helping him out some I get to play with my critters

 

[Raven1]

Where are you meeting Brown? We can meet then and I can meet yet another BYCer!

 

[HBuehler]

Raven once again I can't open my messages so if I don't answer it here e-mail me
I'm meeting her at Home Depot-easy on and off the interstate from 840-she's going to CityGirl's first.

Ahh I've gone and done it now...brought home a pregnant Lionhead this morning...that means baby bunnies sooner than expected

Gosh I need these chicks to play with..have my last bunch going to lockdown tomorrow then a few more I started in the bator for my last broody hen..she has a pile under her but since I didn't clip my ladies when I candle the eggs tonight under her and in the bator I won't have very many for her to sit on..got to get this AI mastered I'm not clipping the fluff

 

[matlock585]

Well I got my new eggs set earlier tonight. I'm excited about 'em.
Here's a pic.

The 4 in the green box are blue/lemons, the 4 in the red box are mille fleur callicos, the 3 in a line end to end are mottled frizzles, the 2 closest to the red wire nuts are splash frizzles, and the loner is a red. I wanted more of the reds, but I'm happy to get one. Hope it hatches.

 

[cpegram]

You definatly have to post some pics once they hatch