The Old Folks Home

[dsqard]

Arielle, they did pass.

The judge thought that the older mare looked great for her age and said she would make nice babies. She is 17 and is retired as a brood mare. She has had four foals and has earned her life of leisure. I know people will breed mares into their 20's if the horse is in good enough shape but I think of it this way. If I don't want to have another baby at almost 46 years old, she shouldn't be forced to carry a baby at her age either. She is a sweetheart and I wouldn't want to risk losing her over another foal. This is the same reason I wouldn't breed my other 17 year old mare. She had one fantastic baby when she was 12 but had a hard time delivering her. I wouldn't risk losing her either. Love them too much for that. I am considering breeding the 5 year old next year to a buckskin tobiano spotted saddle horse but it depends on how strong his gait is. Cody is not strongly gaited so I need a stallion who is to try to get more of the gaiting action.

 

[Cynthia12]

dd, it's so good to hear someone talk about their animals like you do. I use to rescue dogs. Foster them as well. I'm sure all of you here have heard about all of the over breeding, just for the money. So sad. I would imagine it happens in the horse world too..cats too. I am all for those that breed to keep a good breed going. In fact, very grateful for those that breed the true breed in a dog, horse, cat, what ever, because as you know, all we would have would be the back yard breeders.

I have been enjoying the windy mornings. I guess I should like it, it's almost every morning here in Spanish Fork. Come Winter, you will hear me saying, man, I wish that wind would settle down, it's cold out there!

 

[Wisher1000]

Welcome Hemet Dennis and the legendary Mahonri! Great to have you here with us!

I had and interesting day, yesterday. I had an EE hen with two adopted babies. She had begun to "wean" them and only tolerated them at night on the roost. The babies had found a way to squeeze out of the coop and were frequently found already outside in the mornings when DH opened up to let them free range. Well, yesterday when I went outside, I found one of them dead and suspected my dog got it before he was penned for the day (he free ranges at night.) The other was missing and I never found it but it was tiny.

So, I thought, reduce the head count by two, tonight. It was 44, so now I should have 42. Last night, I counted at roost time and the count was 44! I started looking at the groups - 3 SLW, check - "the five", check - 2 roosters, check - 2 BSL...wait, 4 BSL! WHAT?! I had two extra BSL hens in the coop! The only other farms that have chickens is about a half mile away and I called them. "Are you missing any hens?" "No, we don't miss them at all, they are mean and if you don't want them, were going to shoot them!" They had been dropped off at my place while I was gone! I guess the count is still 44............

 

[dsqard]

Wisher you might want to look those hens over and possibly quarrantine them from your flock. They might be carriers of bad things. Hoping that they are just fine but it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[whistle 3095]

Hello All am invite myself to the thread---to ole for the kids--hehehe got a question no one will answer--about silkes and their 5 toes--can someone explain to me if it is 4toes front and 1 back or is it 3toes front and 2 back???It has been 50+ yrs since I hae had one in my hands and was to small to count toes.Thanks a lot ole grandma Puckridge

 

[dsqard]

Welcome Whistle.

You don't need a formal invite to the thread.

I don't have any silkies so I can't help you there.

 

[Cynthia12]

Hello All am invite myself to the thread---to ole for the kids--hehehe got a question no one will answer--about silkes and their 5 toes--can someone explain to me if it is 4toes front and 1 back or is it 3toes front and 2 back???It has been 50+ yrs since I hae had one in my hands and was to small to count toes.Thanks a lot ole grandma Puckridge

I'll get a picture for you..back in a bit. It's hard to explain..back or front..so, good question! I think they kind of look like they go down the side..
Ok, here are my two girls..


Just trimmed their around their eyes yesterday, the blue splash
especially has a real thick feathering going on.

Can you see the toes ok? What's up with those toe nails? hmmm

I have had chickens with crooked toes, but toe nails?
I am glad you asked about the toes, or I wouldn't have noticed this.
Now I will go post these pictures on the Silkie thread and see
if and how they clip their chickens toe nails..I have a pretty good
pair of doggy clippers!

welcome whistle!

 

[Wisher1000]

Wisher you might want to look those hens over and possibly quarrantine them from your flock. They might be carriers of bad things. Hoping that they are just fine but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Trust me, I believe in quarantine! There are several reasons that I will feel somewhat at ease with these two coming into my flock without quarantine. First, I saw these hens when he first bought them spring before last. There were four of them and they had lice and were malnourished. He solicited my help in getting them back in shape. We bathed, dusted, wormed, supplemented and fed the BSLs until they were happy and healthy. They were the only chickens he had for a year. During that year, one was taken by a hawk. Second, three months ago, he expanded his flock to include 10 EE pullets, he got those from me! The EE girls have now become his babies and the two old biddies he gave me were picking (probably pecking) on them, that's why he wanted them gone. He kept a third BSL who he calls "the sweet one." I hadn't the heart to tell him that now that the two dominant ones are gone, his "sweet one" will likely pick on the pullets, too! Add to all that the fact that the hens went unnoticed by my DH the first night in the coop (which means they were with my flock for two days and one night before I knew,) I feel that it is what it is and I will try not to loose too much sleep over it! If there is a major problem, it is likely already there and quarantine at this stage is pointless. I will try to gently let him know that I would have taken them anyway and that a quarantine would have been preferred, but he doesn't know about such things and I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. The only reason he wanted chickens in the first place was because I started taking them eggs and they enjoyed them so much. I found out later that they loved those eggs but didn't want to ask for as many as they were eating! Now they only have one hen laying... I think I will take them some eggs this afternoon. One other funny thing to add. He didn't want a rooster in his flock because he didn't want any "funny business" (his words) going on in the yard. He told me that when he put the hens down at my house, the first thing that happened was my rooster ran over and mated both of them and he said they just sat there! I guess they had waited long enough! LOL!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THese look yummy!!! Salsa looks easy to adapt to different tastes--like no cilantro, or reduce the heat a bit for the kids. THanks SCG.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Awfully presumptuous of those people to drop their hens off at your place. I agree on quarantine! And hope you enjoy them.

As far as toes go, it's 3 in front, the "traditional" 3, then 2 on the side/back. You can see the two in the back quite well on this bird, except the stupid extra toe has an extra nail on it... so my silkie has 5.5 toes on this foot.




Edited to add that I started typing up my response, went foraging in the freezer for some ice cream, got distracted by the goats, and finally finished the response and submitted and now I see I'm waaay behind. Nothing to see here, move along.