Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[1876 Farm]

My father-in-law said once. ... By owning a farm you will never be left with nothing to do! And boy is he right!! But I would rather be outside doing something than being inside !!

 

[chickenman1962]

Kevin,

Have you had any experience with Crested Cream Legbars? I'm looking for a blue egg laying breed (CCL, Ameraucana, Aracana) but have no experience with any of them to know which one I should be seeking out. Any suggestions!!

1876 Farm (which is not the year of my birth

)

Hello,
I do not have any personal experience with Cream Legbars, though I do have with Americaunas and true, (rumpless) Araucanas. Of the two I've owned, I'd only deal with Americaunas again, as the Araucanas have too many troublesome issues to consider, making them ill suited for the casual poultry hobbiest to enjoy. For starters, being rumpless, they have difficulty breeding effectively, so fertility is often, (though not always), low. They also have at least one well known lethal gene, possibly more, that make breeding them a test of your patience and heart. This, in my opinion, more than offsets the benefits of their nice blue or greeb eggs.
Conversely, Americaunas are not rumpless, therefore mating, for them, is similar to any other fowl, meaning fertility is similar as well. They also lay various shades of blue or green eggs, and to my knowledge, do not suffer from any set of lethal genes. Their disposition is similar, in my opinion to your average heavy breed bird, being less flighty that a Leghorn and perhaps a bit more nervous than an Orpington.
And though I've never owned Cream Legbars, being a derivative of the Leghorn breed, one can safely assume, they're flighty, good layers of very large eggs, and non sitters. I've been told they're bluer as well, though most of the photos I've seen are similar to Americauna eggs.
I hope I wasn't too "windy" this morning with my rambling.

Kind regards,
Kevin

 

[chickenman1962]

Yes, every day of my life. Today, I begin dropping seed for our greenhouse, and still need to get other things done as well. It's never ending.

Kind regards,
Kevin

 

[jvls1942]

Yes, every day of my life. Today, I begin dropping seed for our greenhouse, and still need to get other things done as well. It's never ending.

Kind regards,
Kevin

Hi Kevin, have you ever made your own seed tapes ?

I am thinking of doing carrots , lettuce and maybe beets..
going to use toilet tissue as the tape..

Do you know of a tiny seed dispenser for putting individual small seeds down individually ?
Like depositing them on the seed tape on the kitchen table ...

I sold a girl puppy this morning..

now we are down to 2 boys and 2 girls..

.......jiminwiscragards..........

 

[Hurley]

Thinking this will be the image of my garden, this year!
Wondering if we'll even have a spring, or just go straight to summer.

Just got home from my uncle's funeral back in Iowa, looks like all the chickens survived hubby's care for 4 days.
Bless him, he had to do chores, which is not his deal. I did take 24 chicks with me to drop to people in Iowa, so that lightened the load somewhat.

The chickens are all over the place today, running laps around the house and dog yard. Snow has finally receded to just spots.

No snow here for us overnight, though not the same for northern parts, I hear.

Hope all are doing well.

 

[Kelsykin]

No snow here for us overnight, though not the same for northern parts, I hear.

Hope all are doing well.

I have not been outside today. Left leg is making it hard to stand or walk. I know I was woken up by wild winds last night a few times. The dog woke me at 5 or 6 this morning barking and would not stop. Until I let him outside. He ran and checked the birds and then peeds a few thousand times and then came back in. lol

 

[Sclark73]

Ok all you styrofoam incubator experts, I now have the Hova-bator again for another try at hatching. I have it setting up now to see if I can regulate but need the best tips and info. Whether to do a dry hatch or not? I think I remember jim saying to tape the seams to keep a steadier temp, hope I remember correctly? Which plugs to keep in or out? It does have a fan and auto turner along with wafer thermo. I bought 2 new thermo/hygro the other day just to make sure I'm running within the correct areas. Sorry for all the questions but the Brinsea needs no tweaking ever, add a lil water put in eggs and walk away.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Isn't the brinsea wonderful? I'm considering selling my LG, because I have no plans to use it ever again. I always left one plug out and did a dry incubation. got humidity up at day 18, 25 for ducks. I didn't have a fan or auto turner, so not ideal.

 

[bigzio]

Sunny and Chilly here today. I stll have 2 feet of the white cold stuff here...no free ranging for weeks to come here....anybody need some snow? I feel so bad for those of you without any.

Glad you had a safe trip Hurley.

I love my Brinsea too. I see they are $100 more now and in 2012 they added a cooling feature. I'm not sure it is necessary though with the good results one has without it.

Gonna be another cold night tonight. It will be a short Spring for sure it's lookin like.

Nothing new here....time to go check for eggs.

bigz

 

[babylady4]

I know eventually the temperatures will rise, so I planted the tomatoes today. 10 different varieties! I decided to try one of those green stripe types this year for something new/different. I also have the peppers started, a purple variety and a jalapeno. Now all I need is a bigger yard........

I am so happy with our little adoptee, she is so sweet and behaves well with little correction. She is also losing weight at a nice slow rate, I will be able to exercise her more when some of this snow clears away.

Too bad the forecast is so cold over the next week. Those weathermen better be wrong.....

Making sliced beef sandwiches on homemade rolls for dinner tonight. Last night I spoiled everyone with baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Enjoy the sun!