Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[FrenchToast]

Ok. Here are my chick pictures. I had 3 eggs due to hatch and they all did. The white (really a splash) on is SUPER puffy. It's bantam cochin/silkie and it looks like it has a beard and muffs, but no puff on the head. The black and white one has the puff on the head and no visible beard/muffs. Both have feathered legs and the fifth toe. Then there's the turken. Which I am convinced is Iowa blue and is a cockerel. All my Iowa Blue mixes that hatch out this reddish color turn out to be roos. I guess time will tell. It is a standard but came out of a pullet (bantam sized) egg. It didn't have much room to grow in that tiny egg. Hopefully it will catch up and be normal size. I thought I was setting eggs from just bantam cochin hens. oops.

OMG I love that little turken. You can tell it's a mix. It has way more fluff then a pure turken does. They dont' have fluffy butts. They are naked butts !!! LOL

 

[FrenchToast]

No FT she got a boy and a girl. They are spotted--born in November I think. I am going to see them on Saturday and will take pics then. They are both spotted. She only wanted a female but the woman said she could have them both for $25. The boy was the runt I think. They were not from iron ridge. Now she has 3 just like you do! She was feeding the original one regular pig food and she says it is big enough to be the newcomer's Mom! I told her to stop that! I will have to give you her email. SHe lives right next to where we had the fall bash in Lake Mills.

CC I keep forgetting to say thanks for that key to finding the time of post. (Hovering over the time lapsed since post.) I am glad Jim asked cause that bugged me too! I like to see how long CC and FT stay up! LOL!
Terri O

Oh yes, I'd love to talk pig with her. If we email then we wouldn't boar (get it) the rest of you !!! $25 for both, good price. I paid $50 for each of my spotted and $22 for Porky.
If she is going to get them spayed and neutered it's best to do it sooner. It's cheaper. The UW Vet clinic does boys for $25 while they are still young, more as they get older and I think $250-$300 to spay a female. I'm getting my girl done for $164 plus the NAPPA is sending me a $30 certificate. They will send you one per year. They want to encourage people to spay and neuter their pigs.
Can't wait for pigtures !!! Are her's sassy too? Or did I just get wild pigs? LOL

 

[jvls1942]

Nope,, 3 miles west and then 5 miles north..

Quote:
Jim, Aren't you on the East side of Wausau?

I'll tell DH about the plucker. I really do need to downsize roosters, but they are so pretty.

Btw the only mean Rooster I ever had was the polish that wouldn't let you out of the coop. He passed from natural causes. Maybe a kick from DH? (just kidding)

 

[Cindlady]

Cind, the cheapest place I found for the fingers was from Herrick Kimball on the whizbang chicken plucker website.. You will need 125 of them.. he sells them in lots of 25 per bag..

If the boys are using a 22 inch dia feather plate, , that will handle a goose.. the motor HP will need to be at least 1/2 hp.. 3/4 hp is even better.. you shouldn't need any larger motor than 3/4 ..

did I send you the photos of my plucker? I lost a whole mess of addresses when I switched to this computer.. I sent those notes and photos to 45 people and those are some of the addresses I lost.

........jiminwisc............

Thanks, Jim... you did send the pic.s! The guys are using them as a guide along with directions they got somewhere. Son has 3 motors 3/4 hp and over that he knows work, which one he uses may depend on what shafts and other parts he can scavenge. Guess the barrings and holders will be all I'll have to fork out for other than fingers. Thinking also what about putting a rheostat on so it can be slowed down for smaller birds?
Yep, really want this plucker! I would rather gut than pluck! Maybe that's 'cause as a kid that was the job I got stuck with.

Made my little hands cramp after a few then it hurt doing all the ones after.

Grrr... can't get those aprons to fit right.

Hummmm..... my yard seems to have disappeared.... all that's out there is white stuff!


Guess that's it.... Night all.

 

[Dr HaHa]

Good Morning All! H&R so sorry to hear about Cassie!

It's never an easy decision to make. TO that sucks about the quitters! Betting they were all pullets, I got all the roo's

BBP cute babies! Hmmm thinking Tu Tu and sandals, sorry Jim! Too easy. CC started it! Tiki am wondering what kind of barnyard eggs are you thinking about taking to Neilsville? I'm having bad thoughts

FT glad to hear Chuck got called back to work! Didn't get any snow here. Took the chains off the fiord yesterday all the ice is out of the driveway. Got tired of bouncing. Need to sit down soon and figure out the new garden layout so I can change my mind a few hundred more times.

Cind cool beans on the plucker! So much more so little memory!

 

[Apyl]

Ok. Here are my chick pictures. I had 3 eggs due to hatch and they all did. The white (really a splash) on is SUPER puffy. It's bantam cochin/silkie and it looks like it has a beard and muffs, but no puff on the head. The black and white one has the puff on the head and no visible beard/muffs. Both have feathered legs and the fifth toe. Then there's the turken. Which I am convinced is Iowa blue and is a cockerel. All my Iowa Blue mixes that hatch out this reddish color turn out to be roos. I guess time will tell. It is a standard but came out of a pullet (bantam sized) egg. It didn't have much room to grow in that tiny egg. Hopefully it will catch up and be normal size. I thought I was setting eggs from just bantam cochin hens. oops.

In the second pic it looks like the one is wispering to the other about the yellow chick. lol

 

[mazojoe]

And my chickens were just getting use to the lack of snow! I guess I will be able to track where they are hanging out all day now...Any suggestions how to keep chickens to lay only in the nesting boxes and not in random places around the yard? I could understand if they knew it was Easter and were putting eggs out for my daughter, but I really do not feel like looking for eggs every night! My nesting boxes are homemade smaller and dark and have clean bedding in them. They have always laid in them before but the last couple of days I have found some random eggs.

thank you,

Joe

 

[jvls1942]

Cind, I read on the whizbang web site that somebody found fingers on ebay cheaper..
You really don't have to slow the machine down for smaller birds.. the trick for smaller birds would be to add more fingers to the feather plate so that they are closer together.. I did quail in mine as it is,, the only problem I had was the quail could fit between the fingers once in awhile.. I am going to build an additional featherplate to put in right over the top of the chicken featherplate that would be removable.. I will let you know how it works when I get around to doing it...

............jiminwisc..........

Hi All!

MLH... sorry about your dog... know how you feel

Quote:

 

[jvls1942]

chickens are creatures of habit.. you have to keep them locked up until after they are finished laying their eggs.. after a period of times, maybe a couple of weeks, they will have the habit of laying in the nest.. HOWEVER , they can revert to hiding them again, and you will have to "remind" them for awhile again.. occasionally there will be one or two that just refuse to cooperate.. then you have to bend a little and collect the eggs from their chosen nest.. Leave a golfball or something in that nest so that they don't move to somewhere else..

............jiminwisc...........

And my chickens were just getting use to the lack of snow! I guess I will be able to track where they are hanging out all day now...Any suggestions how to keep chickens to lay only in the nesting boxes and not in random places around the yard? I could understand if they knew it was Easter and were putting eggs out for my daughter, but I really do not feel like looking for eggs every night! My nesting boxes are homemade smaller and dark and have clean bedding in them. They have always laid in them before but the last couple of days I have found some random eggs.

thank you,

Joe

 

[Hens and Roos]

Snowy morning everyone, guess winter is back for a day or two or more

haven't got the offical airport reading but figure anywhere from 3.5 to 5 inches in our area, DH left about 5 am to start removing snow, says the roads are slippery but they are making fairly good time.

thanks for the kind thoughts about Cassie, given time we will adjust. DS(6) was concerned about where she was buried - as he didn't see a stone marker for her- told him we would have to find a stone to put there yet- he was better than.

kids have off today and of course want to go and do all sorts of things- told them not with the slippery roads!

mazojoe- if you have newer pullets laying it sometimes takes them a bit to figure it all out! They remind me of little kids and how they get so invovled in whatever they are doing that they wait to the last minute and don't make it. I am thinking that we will have no problem with extra Andalusian male chicks- we have 2 blue and 2 black ones right now that are 8 weeks old- we are planning on only keeping 1 blue and 1 black male Andalusian out of all we hatched- that will leave extras for sure

out to do chores-running behind this am, birds will let me know what they think of that!