Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Terri O]

Good afternoon! Look what I saw when I went into the coop today:

I guess the mamas are training them up well! Made me chuckle to see them all hopping up and down like it was a game. I guess I better make more roosting space--they sure are growing up fast!

The sun is out and there is a breeze! It feels heavenly...maybe it will blow the skeeters out of the yard? I need to hang another load of laundry--later! T

(PS) Raiquee--you shoulda let the little beast walk..that would teach him to hide his shoes! I can just picture him jumping up on the couch and ripping the curtains back...watchdog

 

[Sweetfolly]

BEST DAY EVER!

I bought EIGHT new Cochins this morning....3 Blue Mottled hens, a Blue (carrying Mottled) cockerel, a Black hen, and a GORGEOUS trio of Whites! And people have been having such a hard time finding nice Whites this year!

They're all molting like mad - feathers flying everywhere - but my goodness are they pretty!

We're calling him Einstein - can you guess why?

Anyways, Parkfest here in Lyndon today...our little town looks forward to it all year, we have some of the BEST fireworks you'll see in the area all year long tonight (which I'm sure all the confused new birds will just love

). I'm missing out on the festivities today though, I'm rushing to construct more coops! We would have had them finished last night before we went and picked up the birds this morning, but we umm...had a little mishap with the circular saw, and...well, kind of cut through the cord. Not all the way through though - a little TLC and LOTS of electrical tape, and it's still cutting!

Just one more piece to cut (need to run and buy a fresh blade; cutting through all that acrylic I'm using for the floors chews up the blades fast), I have all the pieces all stained, just need to assemble the thing yet tonight.

Lots to do!

EDIT: And, by the way, fordmommy - I loved the pictures of your garden! They're just stunning! Made me want to go weed my little flowerbed!

 

[Terri O]

Annarie they are GORGEOUS! Makes me want to have cochins as well as.......fill in the blanks! I am so glad you changed your avatar pic too...I was tired of seeing you in WINTER!

It will be here soon enough!

I picked up a nice heavy door in the trash and though I could use it in my house...it is 36" wide! Myst have been a porch door or something. My doors are 31-32". I think I will use it as a door to my new coop! I have to assemble more "good stuff" though so I can get it built...I NEED to do thins before winter. CLeaned out the entryway to the present coop and was thinking about turning that into another area; but where would the feed go? I have another part of that she but it would need TONS of work to make it varmint proof. I am thinking it would just be easier to start from scratch!

Just got the rest of the eggs...if I wasnt so darned hot I would make something out of them...sweating like a PIG! TMO I know but---whew! (must be a power surge or something!)

Terri O

 

[Raiquee]

TO)

I should have made him walk!!! But, to all the snooties I didn't want people thinking I abuse my kid

Some people baby their babies too much!!! I once had someone tell me I wasn't a very good mama for buying off-brand diapers! After flipping my lid and saying "All they do is s^!t in them!" I cried about it for a few days. What gives people the nerve?!

Mind you the mama that said that to me feeds her kids exclusively frozen chicken nuggets and fries, because her kids throw veggies and fruit on the floor.

Somehow I'm the bad mama

Also, those chicks are so cute! Lookit them fuzziness. They are like "Holy cow..I got up here!"

Annarie) O. M. G. LOOK AT THOSE FUZZY BUTTS! Yes, that needed to be in caps. Oh gosh, how good of egg layers are cochins? I want EEs for green eggs, but thats the only reason lol! I don't want to sell eggs, want enough for us and some to give to the family that deserves them

Well I cleaned part of the kitchen. Room mate keeps talking to me. He thinks because the hubby is gone he needs to "take care of me" or something. Asking what I'm doing, telling me where hes going. I don't care!! You're 23, and a big boy! You don't need to check up on me either, I'm older than you are

DS just threw away his paper plate after eating his grapes, and somehow managed to get his fork in the sink!!!

He's only 2!!! Musta heard me complaining about the cheerios!

 

[BigBadCryBaby]

Hello All!

Annarie I love Einstein!!! What a perfect name...I had no familiarity with cochins until we went to the Washington County Fair last week...now I know I need to add a few to the flock next spring, they are terrific birds.

Doc H Hey brother, thanks so much for the offer for some SLWs...boy, they are a favorite around here, people stopping to ask about those birds all the time...those and the ameraucanas. You know, I thought all my SLWs were roosters at one point, they have such red combs and wattles, and so pronounced for young birds, but not a one of them turned out to be a Roo...too bad from 5 I'm down to 2...As far as the weightlifting, I'm bench pressing, too old and arthritic for dead lifts or squats. Hell, I can carely barely get off the thrown in the morning, much less compete!!!!!! The World Record in the bench press for old fellers in my weight class is 435. I'll let you know how it goes, but I've gotten more than that in training these past few weeks, so Im feeling pretty optimistic. We shall see.

And oh yeah, Doc, I spit lemonade out my nose when I read your last post about the only time you see midnight is when you get up to pee!!! I don't think I'd a laughed quite so hard if it wasn't so true, buddy.

Terri O those birdies are so cute on the roost!!! They are loving life! Man it's fun to watch them catch on.

Well, the skeeters here have been outrageous, Mom wants me to grill out all the time when I get up from my day sleep and by that time, even in late afternoon, they are out in fighter formation. I've never seen them this bad, ever.

The good news is that we only planted three tomato and three pepper plants this year and we'll have more than God in no time at all...the growing conditions have been perfect. Thank god we decided to shelve the big garden this year, none of us could have kept up with it. The sweet corn is so perfect this year, and the birds are getting all the leftovers and they are fat and sassy.

Oh yeah, We Got Our First Egg yesterday. The GLW had a little brown one she was setting on, and we figure the first egg cost us about $600...the rest are all free! Our little chicken girl was walking around with it, glowing, like she laid it herself. Lord, was she excited! Found an olive one in the coop this morning, so all the girls are starting to produce. So egg-citing!

Now all I have to do is have them laying in the nestboxes, so the training begins. I've got the nestboxes full of fresh had any we're putting in some decopy eggs tonight...I think I might have to put up a little curtain of some sorts along the boxes to make them more private...any thoughts on that? I'm going to keep them in the coop longer in the morning before they free range, hopefully that will encourage them to lay where we can find the eggs. Any thoughts or suggestions let er rip.

 

[Dr HaHa]

[i[url=https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22780_buster_3_001.jpg]mg]https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22780_buster_3_001.jpg[/img][/url] Morning everyone! BBCB So maybe we'll see your name in the record books! Good luck! The offer will stand as long as I have a pure roo to do the deed. Once these slw's are old enough everyone is welcome to chicks. Buster has already been chasing the girls and pecking the back of their necks. Sorry about the lemonaide! But glad at the same time. Agree on the name Annarie it fits so well. Don't know what the heck is going on with our Roma maters. Their dying from the ground up and have stopped producing fruit. Thought it was the soil but the BFF took 2 from the same batch and his are doing the samething. Just defective I guess. The cherry and big boys are fine. Think that keeping them in the coop/run in the AM should work. They'll get the idea. I'll bet the little chicken girl was beaming! That's

Know all about that first egg being expensive. I gave up keeping track of expenses and egg counts. Didn't like what the math told me. How can you put a price on laughter? Took that pic of Buster a little while ago and "B" was just screaming at me so I pretended to take one of her. OK I'll take one of you, give me your best profile, now stand still, click, there ya go. Seemed to placate her. What a weirdo. Me not "B"! Got up way late this morning 6:20 so decided to take another day off from the woods. It'll get more air to the wood in the shed that way. Ya that's it. So it's paperwork day plus a lot of other things. It won't hurt to take a day away from physical labor. Have a good one!

 

[Sweetfolly]

Raiquee - Cochins can be decent layers...or they might only lay 3 eggs in a month, it all depends on the bloodline they're from. These guys are all from show stock, so they tend to lay fewer eggs (makes the ones they do lay more precious though - for incubating, not for eating!). The guy I bought them from said the one hen is an egg-machine. Mine are bantams, it takes about 3 of their eggs to equal one large egg when you're cooking. But they're so darned cute I don't care! I was adamant about NOT getting chickens, I started out as a "duck person" until, by chance, I won some Cochin eggs and hatched by first Cochins last year. Now I'm addicted.

You know, Terri, I was using the same picture on Facebook, and my aunt said the same thing!

Dr H - Our tomatoes are doing the same thing! Dying from the ground up!

 

[beckyschicks]

Annarie- OMG- I love them! They are beautiful! You know how I feel about cochins, so when they start laying any hatching, put me on your list I will take some. I have been looking for blues and mottled for awhile now and haven't found any that are pure around here. If you selling I'm buying.

I can't wait for the frizzled blue boy and the blue girl I got to get together. They are only 5 months so I will have to wait till next year.

I'm not that patient. Where did you get them from? They are really pretty.
Well I'm down to 19. My girl friend got her 5 today and I gave a really nice lady from Whitewater 4 on Friday. I'm glad that they will all have nice homes. My coop seems so empty right now. Found momma sitting on six eggs yesterday so I moved her to the nursery last night. Hopefully there will be some pretty babies in there. My silver penciled roo was the only one out for that time and I stuck a golden laced couples egg in there so hopefully that's what I will get. Well off to go clean. Talk at you all later!

ps my girls are great layers when they are on. Right now 6 out of the 11 are broodie. Before that I was getting 8 or 9 eggs a day. Now 2 or 3. I've found that broodieness is the downfall of cochins if you want eggs all the time. Otherwise they are a great.

 

[Dr HaHa]

Annarie that's reassuring to hear that your maters are doing the same thing. All kinds of wondering going on in my head. They all did so well the last 2 years still think it's the plant stock. Becky sounds like your empty nest syndrome won't last too long with all those broodies setting. Starting to become the top roo around here the hens are squatting for attention from me again. Anyone still think that Buster is a hen? Left click the pic for a closer inspection. Just looks that way to me. Have one other chick that has a little longer tail feathers but don't see any other attributes to indicate that it's a roo. Eggs have been very sporatic. 4- two days in a row then nothing then one then 3. Had one two days in a row break in my hand with thin shells. Their getting oyster shell, fresh water, food, and free ranging.

Going outside

ZZZZZZZZ splat!

 

[Sweetfolly]

beckyschicks - Oh, absolutely! When I have chicks, we'll have to talk. I'll give you a deal you can't resist.

Dr H - We bought our tomatoes as started plants from Menards this year.

Someone told us to put lime in the soil, and the plants in the pots that we did add lime to (we do ALL of our veggie gardening in pots, so they're all in a good mixture of potting soil and compost) are looking much healthier than the ones we didn't...the ones we didn't are too far gone, we planted them about a month earlier than the others. They're mostly Beefsteak and "Mr. Stripey" varieties. They still have lots of green fruit on them though, that we're hoping ripens up yet!