Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Amyable]

Sooooo- they are saying we are in and ice storm warning and power outages are likely. What do I do about my 5day old and 7day old duckling and chicks? And what about the incubator? If the power goes out that also means that I have no water.....Getting pretty nervous

I have had a terrible few nights' sleep with the storms - I keep checking the clock to make sure we still have power. Put some water aside in jugs or buckets just in case - a toilet will flush just by pouring water in the bowl. For bators just cover them up with blankets to help hold the heat. I was prepared to make hot water bottles for the ducklings the other night when we had the ice - I really like the warm brick idea vicki!

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

My duck are not coming back. How is it that I can leave a rooster out for 9 days and nights straight and nothing takes him, but my ducks (that can fly) come out for a couple of hours and are eaten? Its craziness.

 

[Angiebubs]

BBP: I am hoping and thinking that its the snow-they are huddled up somewhere freaking out over the white stuff and not coming out. Crossing my fingers they come back soon!

 

[irishrovr]

My duck are not coming back. How is it that I can leave a rooster out for 9 days and nights straight and nothing takes him, but my ducks (that can fly) come out for a couple of hours and are eaten? Its craziness.

I hope they prove you wrong! Maybe they're just holed up and out of sight until the weather clears up a bit!

 

[jvls1942]

eta;good afternoon.. yeah, TerriO, I don't want to miss out on anything here.. this is my whole social life..

I am setting up a second chick tv , Pang did not call or come for her chicks.. and it is getting crowded in the hatcher..

the weather is getting really nasty now.. rain/snow/sleet and wind.. good thing the temp are not way low..

.....jimthinkingheisnotgoinganywhereanymoretoday............
eta;
transferred 31/43 and one is still zipped 75% is about par for Pang's eggs..

 

[vickiw]

FRENCHIE~ what company are you using? I don't think you are that far from me. We used to use Schaefer's til they sold out to Servco. We are on an annual contract (you know where you lock in the price in the fall and no matter what it does after that you pay that price til spring) it's optional and so far we have been pretty good at guessing which years to lock in and which years to not. This year we are locked in @ 1.34 gal (with the pay within 10 day discount). No idea if we'll be offered that deal next year since it's a different company. May have to do some shopping around. Really a shame because we had a long-standing great relationship with Schaefer's and they would never charge for an emergency fill as long as it was daylight. Never needed one ourselves but I had asked the driver about it once.

KJ~ keep us updated on the travels of your chickies. Still praying.

BBP~ same for your ducks. Don't give up hope

Wind is crazy and it's starting to snow/sleet here now too. Never got any of the rain (thankfully) and no power glitches yet. Hubby went to town to make sure we had enough gas for the generators just in case. Does NOT want to risk not being able to watch his Master's

Big pot of soup on the stove, lots of wood inside for the fireplace and my Kindle and laptop all charged up so I won't get bored. Opps, better go fill up the toidie buckets so we won't have to dig thru the snow to get to the pump to plug it into the generator. And lots of water for the coffee pot too!!! Have to cover all the necessities of life, right Jim???

Have a safe evening everyone!!!! Sooooooooo, this is global warming, Mr. Gore????? No wonder your 2nd home is in Florida!

......................vickidraggingbucketscheckingcoopandthenpreppingforhybernation...........................

 

[unkadan]

good afternoon folks,

haven't seen a 'skeeter or fly all day, nice breeze

JJ you mentioned White Marans, learned a bit about them this winter, they are probably the best choice to raise if showing is in your future, they are on the list to be approved in the next couple of years. Easy because of the simple color fewer possible faults. Egg color is an issue, some of the best breeders are working on improving that right now (remember Marans are to have a dark brown egg) Other than that about I know,,,lol

Also liked your idea on 0% interest on that fuel pre-buy, good plan. I managed a propane company for 10 years not much fun, 5% of the customers present 95% of the problems. We constantly had "will call" customers run out of gas during "breakup" when the road limits are on and drivers were making emergency deliveries using "lite" trucks running limited hours early morning b4 the roads did their day time thaw. That $75 drop charge doesn't cover the overhead, trust me. Anyone using delivered fuel should check into auto fill, yearly budget plans, and pre-buy, they all save you money and aggravation.

One lone BR hatched 48 hrs late, so far looks to be struggling, we'll see how that turns out.

bbl
dangoingtomakesomecrablinquine

 

[kjgoodman]

Ok so they are finally here. Looks like I might lose one though . it keeps scratching his head and falling over :-( so what is normal behavior do they kind of squash down and sleep at all ?

 

[kjgoodman]

oh and the hatchery sent me 8 xtra chicks, so that was really nice!!. ,anything special I should do for the ones that don't look as good? I put it in its own little area in the brooder, it was getting picked on...seems to eat and drink on its own.

 

[Angiebubs]

KJ: Do you have any Sav-a-chick? good idea to add to the water for shipped chicks...or even a little sugar water for the first day-it might help. Fun times!

So I am trying fermented feed for the first time (yes with my new chicks) Just started it tonight and crossing my fingers that this is a good idea. I read and read about this and going to give it a try:
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html (I believe this website if from "BeeKissed" from BYC) ANy thoughts?