Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[delisha]

So it has been a very busy few days/weeks.

Work- we are getting close to a new building phase and I am creating documents for a move out webpage, getting ready to place all of my chemical and consumable orders, hazardous waste and biomedical waste is getting picked up next week. Ok, I'll stop there with the details and just say UGH!

Home-dad and I cleaned out part of the garage and moved stuff around so we could get to the 2x4s, took 5 bags of toys & 3 of sheets/blankets to the Salvation Army, washed 6 loads of comforters at the laundromat, then used the 2x4s by hanging them up on the outside of the garage (the part that is in the chicken yard) and (by using nails) hung up all of our garden tools under the soffet. The chicken yard, along the garage, doesn't get much exposure to rain, so the tools won't get wet and now they are organized, accessible, and out of the garage!!!

Everything with dad is going well so far, but DH is being a pill!

Chickens-killed the 3 roosters yesterday (2 blrw and 1 lav orp) and we ate the lav orp for dinner tonight with fresh garden veggies, lots of garlic, and rice. Since I had one lav orp hen and one lav orp roo, the two of them ALWAYS stayed together and were outcasts. They'd sleep over the waterer and food and poop in it, but.....Last night, since I killed off her partner, I went out to the coop at dark and moved the lav orp hen to the roost with the other girls. Tonight, I went out to see where she was and move her if necessary. To my surprise, she was roosting with the girls...YEAH!!! No more poop in the water or food! Anyways, while I was out there, I did a head count (as I always do) and one was missing. I looked around and found her in the nest box. Well, I was also heading out there to give Mr. Gibs some hay, so I put that down and went around to the nest box. I opened it up, heard a pretty sound and saw one of my black orps all puffed up. I moved her to the side and picked up 2 of the 3 eggs. While I was putting them in my pocket, she went to grab the one I left behind. Much to her disappointment, I took it too. She seemed a bit sad. I picked her out of the nest box and put her on the roost with the other girls. So, I guess this is the first act of a potential move to being broody, right? I have a lot of questions, as I have never had a broody.From what I have gathered reading posts from those of you with broodies.....they haven't really gone broody until they consistently sit on the eggs, right? And this is 24/7, right? I know that if she does this, I'll have to provide some sort of additional nutrients, electrolites, etc? So, my REAL question (although I do need answers to all of the earlier ones) how long until I can pop some fertilized eggs under her?
So, unfortunately, the summer is...coming to an end...SHHHH

don't kill me! My schedule is quickly filling up with DD10 (almost 11) pageant activities, soccer season is starting again and I have to run a meeting for all of our volunteer coaching staff, all kids will be back home as of August 18th, then we start school shopping, etc.

Was glad for the rain, as I didn't have to water. But the weeds are trying to grow larger than my plants. Oh well! Glad for the warm weather, while its here, and I am enjoying the harvest. Dad made a raspberry pie from our red raspberries the other day too! YUMMY

Gonna go get some banana bread that I just made...bbl...maybe

Broodys:
You have Orps so they are going to brood. You are doing the right thing by putting them back on the roost. If they stay on the roost at night they will not go full brood. If they get off the roost and go back into the nest at night you will loose eggs.
As far as how long do you have to set eggs depends on the hen/pullet. This line of Orps stay broody as long as they have eggs under them. Keep taking her eggs and she might *stop* her brood. (I doubt it). I have placed eggs under their mom after two weeks of her brood since I could not break her.

If you decide to let her hatch some eggs I have some in my incubator you can give her, and I have more coming in the mail.

Will a rooster attempt to mount a duck? I've never seen Mr. Grinch jump any of the girls, but he was on a duck today. I didn't know if he was attacking or trying to mate, lol. He's almost 12 weeks old.

at 12 weeks he is a cockerel and cockerels will mate with a shoe.

CS, it would be GREAT to have you come in but the politics are a nightmare. Save yourself the stress! I hope I hear something from someplace soon.... how long did it take Carthage to get back to you when you applied?

We just finished up 'cleaning house' at work as well. Now all we need is the safety people to get the unused chemicals out of the lab....... they are taking up too much bench space.

I am not even going to touch that posting on food.....

Back to work........ I need to find something so I am no getting up at the crack of dawn..... Busy day today too, work, a baby birthday party, then the BF birthday party...... and tomorrow a photo shoot.

Everyone have a great day!

If you are coming this way...I can meet at the mushroom place and bring eggs if you need them.

 

[kristip]

Deli... do these look like white rocks?

 

[chikenscratch]

CS, it would be GREAT to have you come in but the politics are a nightmare. Save yourself the stress! I hope I hear something from someplace soon.... how long did it take Carthage to get back to you when you applied?

We just finished up 'cleaning house' at work as well. Now all we need is the safety people to get the unused chemicals out of the lab....... they are taking up too much bench space.

I am not even going to touch that posting on food.....

Back to work........ I need to find something so I am no getting up at the crack of dawn..... Busy day today too, work, a baby birthday party, then the BF birthday party...... and tomorrow a photo shoot.

Everyone have a great day!

Yea, no. I am happy at Carthage and don't need the added stress that I imagine is going on there. Do you have a company for chemical removal? If not, Badger is great and Veolia is also good (just more expensive).
It took a long time...they get numerous applicants, the secretaries filter through to eliminate the weeds, then it goes to the "committee" that is hiring to narrow the pool even further. It is at this point that you would first here of interviews. Anyone not making the cut, may not here from the college until an applicant is picked.

Hi all!
CRS on the first few pages I read, and not much better on the rest!

but here goes.

to the newbies!

Jim.... too bad about the peahen.

Angie.... 2nd son would get real bad nose bleeds, we ad to have his nose cauterized too. They did both sides at once, It was about 2 days of discomfort, but then he was fine. Before he had it done he had a nose bleed so bad he had to have a transfusion! Good you got it done!

vickie.... cute pics!

Yes, too much crap in our food.... but we're trained to eat. I breast fed all my kids... went moo more than once! Thought about selling or donating it, but they wanted me to drive all the way to Milwaukee everyday to do it. Someday we could swap stories! LOL

Hey, if a meet up at the mushroom farm is going to happen count me in! I can take you over to where DH works too. It's a restaurant supply with a retail store. Only a few miles east of the mushroom farm. They have some good prices.

cs... did you save the rooster feathers for me?

Well, the first 25 pieces of feather book marks are going to the Ren. Fair today. Hope they get approved. All new items have to be approved by the fair board. If they say no they will take them to the next fair, They have one or two more to do this year then the start again in March. I'll post a pic of samples later. Not too fancy, but all but the string is hand made. (Remember. I even raised the chickens for the feathers!

that counts!)

Ok, sleep time... Night!

I did not save feathers for you

DH did the gutting and de-feathering and mixed all the guts with the feathers

 

[vickiw]

Yep if you really think about it all it is pretty gross. Even grosser then eating an egg or milk is the fact that we eat dead animals !!!!! Pretty gross if you ask me.... It's all in how we were raised....It's the "norm" for us because we don't know any diferent. Wish I liked veggies and fruit better than I do.....

it's better than eating live animals! Sorry, couldn't resist BBP - BTW, I always had a bit of a problem drinking the body fluid of animals and I love soy milk. That said I am a bit hypocritical because I too enjoy a high quality artisan cheese. I actually was a vegetarian until I met my polish hubby who thinks processed sausage is a food group! hehehe.

 

[jvls1942]

good morning, sounds like having Dad move in with you was not such a bad idea.. He seems like he wants to be helpful.. at least he has you doing things to straighten up around there.. Maybe DH is a bit jealous/embarrassed ? Dad is doing things that he should have done ?? GOOD !!!!!

I wouldn't want to move in with any of my children.. the DD's are too messy, I don't like to even go visit them.. DS has strange eating habits.. Lots of raw food.. I am not a rabbit..

WTH is it with people ?? I get tons of replies to my ads, and as soon as I send them my phone # or addy, they do not respond.. why start the ball rolling in the first place ??

I had some advice on how to get spark out of Ollie.. I will give it a try today.. I am just about ready to sell him to the highest bidder..

Roosters, Geese and ducks and turkeys will mount anything that will squat for them.. when a male mounts a male of his own species, it is to show dominance.. what you have to watch out for, is a large bird, (like a turkey) mounting a smaller bird, like an adolescent turkey hen.. they can actually cause harm which can result in death..

too bad the installments we paid across the bar didn't go toward a down payment.. a few of us might be owning a bar today..

We might be a nation of milk drinkers, but many nations always jump at the opportunity to drink milk when it is offered .. I do not drink cow's milk.. I used to.. but after drinking goat's milk for a couple of years., I couldn't stand the aftertaste of cow's milk, and the slimey sh!t left in my throat afterwards.. I do eat cheese , ice cream, and do use a small amount of milk on dry cereal, but I draw the line at yogurt and buttermilk ..

Pasteurization is to protect us from tainted milk.. I worked for a dairy farmer whose wife pasteurized their milk for their own use.. and all homogenizing does is break up the fat into tiny pieces.. and there is so little fat left in most milk, it is almost redundant to do so..

animal milk has been consumed by humans for eons .. if it were so bad, none of use would be here today..

and man has been eating meat just as long, maybe even longer.. ever wonder why you have eye teeth ? maybe we should go back to eating our meat raw ..??

Remember, If you are planning to go vegan, there is a break in period to get used to raw veggies.. go gently..

.......jiminwiscnotreallycaringwhatotherpeopleeat...............

ETA I just had a gosling hatch last night.. sort of a surprise since I have been having no luck with goose eggs this year..

JJ, my wife seldom reads over my shoulder, about the only time she does, is right after I write something about her, sometimes funny, sometimes not.. she seems to have ESP about the timing..

and furthermore, if your wife was reading over your shoulder, your surprise goose egg hatch plan is busted..

 

[chikenscratch]

Deli- would you happen to have any light sussex coming? This is the first time she has sat on the eggs, so I'll see if it continues or if it was a dry run, so to speak. I'll have to get advice on where to order eggs from. What quantities does your supplier normally sell at? I don't want too many, in the end, but I know I have to account for duds, deaths, and roos!

 

[Amyable]

at 12 weeks he is a cockerel and cockerels will mate with a shoe.

 

[chikenscratch]

Well the hen was on the nest this morning and cooing at me all limp again! Time will tell whether she'll keep it up or not.

 

[Bobi9459]

I really like reading everyone's post I can get a lot of information about chickens. And some of your comments are really funny. My wayd. layed her first egg yesterday it was little compaired to the others. So how old does that make her any ideas? I know she was a pullet because the gentleman who dropped her off said so. Also any one went to the Jackson County fair? I went to the chicken section to check out what they had. The had a lot of little chickens in there just wondering if young ones or as big as they get?

 

[jvls1942]

I really like reading everyone's post I can get a lot of information about chickens. And some of your comments are really funny. My wayd. layed her first egg yesterday it was little compaired to the others. So how old does that make her any ideas? I know she was a pullet because the gentleman who dropped her off said so. Also any one went to the Jackson County fair? I went to the chicken section to check out what they had. The had a lot of little chickens in there just wondering if young ones or as big as they get?

your pullet is at least 12 to 14 weeks old.. the eggs will get larger as she goes along..

it is hard to say about the chickens at the fair.. there are bantams that look like mature chickens, but they stay miniature.. people do not normally show young chickens at the fair..