Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

[thistlewick]

I don't have any calcium but I fork over a ton for extremely fancy shaved oyster shell lol

She's never had a shell less egg before. I'm gonna keep an eye on her tomorrow and see what she does.

I'm very grateful I can be out there with them so much.

We put the Easter Egger bunch down in the floor brooder pen. They were out growing the smaller one. 8 chicks is too many for there!

We blocked off the doors. The big girls don't pick on the teens at all anymore. They forage together quite nicely in the evenings and whenever anyone comes back to lay.

So now the EE bunch (and my own 2 hatched chicks!) get to integrate!

Here is the mystery chick. I think it's my blue laced red wyandottes chick, bc it was a light tan egg and it's a rose comb? Hard to tell

 

[Shadrach]

we're adding sheep soon

Don't do it!
I had ten years of sheep in Catalonia. I did try to like them but...
We had a ram so we had lambs. Major problems in getting them to drink from their mum due mastitis, just not knowing how and mum not able to teach them. One wasn't allowed to kill your own sheep so there is an added cost.
If one is going to do any kind of ranging with the sheep, even with the few we had (6 to 10 and ram) you need a sheep dog. Seriously, it's the best advice I have for people thinking about sheep. No dog and you'll learn at considerable expense both in mental andphysical health that sheep are the most stubborn. destructive. dirty, greedy, easily paniced, uncooperative species.
I found them hard work partly because we shut them in at night and trying to keep them in a prticular area.
A couple of goats which you can tether on a running chain if necessary will eat stuff the sheep wont and give you goats milk and probably kids.

 

[WingItRanch]

Don't do it!
I had ten years of sheep in Catalonia. I did try to like them but...
We had a ram so we had lambs. Major problems in getting them to drink from their mum due mastitis, just not knowing how and mum not able to teach them. One wasn't allowed to kill your own sheep so there is an added cost.
If one is going to do any kind of ranging with the sheep, even with the few we had (6 to 10 and ram) you need a sheep dog. Seriously, it's the best advice I have for people thinking about sheep. No dog and you'll learn at considerable expense both in mental andphysical health that sheep are the most stubborn. destructive. dirty, greedy, easily paniced, uncooperative species.
I found them hard work partly because we shut them in at night and trying to keep them in a prticular area.
A couple of goats which you can tether on a running chain if necessary will eat stuff the sheep wont and give you goats milk and probably kids.

Tell us how you really feel!

The funny part is I've told people I want goats and everyone around here says don't do it. That sheep are much better and easier. Less troublesome (according to the Texas locals).

 

[thistlewick]

Rest assured we have a 3 acre pasture for only 4 sheep and a lean-to they can go in if they want to at night or not. They love it so they mostly sleep in there - but they can roam the entire pasture as they wish.


Funnily enough, we have a border collie and the sheep we bought are dog-broke so they can be herded! lol Our border collie is more like Dory from Finding Nemo though, so she isn't that useful as a working dog lol We LOVE her though omg

We finished the bottom and walls of the hwc around the extension and put in an automatic door;

So we have 2 ingress/egress out - the hen house is open to the run 24/7 so it's essentially one big coop

Then we have an extension beyond that -- and we are going to build another one after that, for a total of 536 square feet (it's 408 now) for ~40 chickens in case we want to go on vacation for a few days.

Still some small things to do to the outer extension, the roof mainly and the corners around the bottom - but seeing as it's only 'open' daytime and they free range anyway I am not that worried about it.

The 13 eggs in the incubator are doing ok I spose it's 33% humidity I am trying for a dry hatch bc why not? So I candle in 1 week (will be 10 days) and see how it went!

We will begin to need a way to handle cockerels after this hatch. Cannot decide if we auction or give to a friend to dispatch or what.

 

[thistlewick]

Very cute cuddle puddle this morning

This isn't all of them - they are doing so well! They try to roost with the big girls but despite the fact that I have 16 FEET of roosting space for them to jump up to, they try and jump up RIGHT in the middle of where the big girls roost and of course, the second they fly up, the big girls make a fuss and they just fly down again lol

One of these days they will figure it out, I hope. For now they still sleep on the floor with the ducks who they love and the ducks love them.

Should we install a mid-range roost? I didn't really want to, as I want them all over the poop boards eventually...

Will this require some late-night stealth to go in and move them up on the roosts middle of the night? Or do you think they will just end up there eventually when they are bigger?

 

[WingItRanch]

They'll figure it out! Honestly even if you installed a lower roost, they'd still try to squeeze up with the big girls.

 

[thistlewick]

I am glad to hear it this is the first time I've had to worry about integrating teens learning to roost.

It's so cute to watch them try at night, I feel bad for them because I am just like "two feet to the right is EMPTY ROOST you nutcakes!!!" but nooooo, 'I wanna sleep with big aunty!!!!'

My big girls don't even do much, just those gentle little bonks of 'watch yourself, youngin' I honestly cannot believe how nice my chickens are. Hope it lasts lololol

 

[Shadrach]

You are so welcome, I am a nervous momma every time I do a hatch as well. Constantly staring into the incubator. I talk and sing to the eggs, sometimes it gets them chirping.

You are doing a great job! Sounds like the eggs are on track to hatch later today. Don't open the incubator until both have hatched to keep the humidity high in the machine. You shouldn't have to intervene unless more than 24 hours passes, but I doubt this will be the case. I am so egg-cited for you!

People think I'm mad enough already without me singing to an incubator.
I do chat to the broody hens a bit though.

 

[TwoCrows]

People think I'm mad enough already without me singing to an incubator.
I do chat to the broody hens a bit though.

I am more concerned about what my birds think of me, but they all know mommy is nuts anyway, so...

Keep chatting with those broody gals, they understand you, I promise!

 

[Shadrach]

About talking to broody mums and for those more extremely impaird, incubators. My chicken friends in a Catalonia, from whome I got a lots of good advice, said they didn't talk to the mums after 18 days. The reason being the chicks in the shell can pick up the vibrations of the sounds we make even if they can't actually hear them and usually those sounds are those their mother makes and, this is part of the imprinting, an important process which one should not interfere with.

Before hearing this I had the habit of sitting next to the broodies nest talking to her while listening to the eggs cracking. I could see the reasoning behind the advice I had been given and stopped doing that and just sat there quietly listening. Did it make any difference?

Around 18 days also happens to be the point at which the hen stops turning the eggs. I've had a few get off their nests on the eighteenth day and go off for a long long dust bath, a chat with the family, a bit of a forage and drink; some have been gone for two or three hours.

Of course I'm starting to wonder if the hens have given up but back they go and chicks still hatch.