Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[bigzio]

Evening to All....Good to read everyone is having fun. Picked a bushel of tomatoes and a 5 gal pail of pickles, and almost was eaten alive by the skeets...My GOD they are terrible here even during the day. Need to do inventory in the basement to figure out what needs put up with the tomatoes.
Doc, my carrots have a ways to go yet. We can and freeze them too. If the grid ever goes down, it's nice to have a pantry for long term.

Wow Terri we don't have brussel sprouts here til late sept or Oct. We pickle most of them too. I like them in cocktails. Some end up in stir frys too. Prolly dust them with sevin tommorrow. Seems like it rains, everytime I dust.

We received another inch of rain last night. Sunk pretty far in the gardens today, but I had to get er done.

Talked to Jim, and he is on his last hatches of guinneas and chicks...then he's pulling the plug on the bators for this year. Said he still learned a few more things this year.

Time for a cold one by the fan and the tube. Have Fun.... ~ bigzio

 

[Raiquee]

Wooo! You guys, I had a great day. Slept in, got up, got an Ipod touch, got to eat delish sushi for lunch, drove to Terri O's place, and after much truckin' around the farm found Frankie and her babies, and took 5 home. Took ducks home, set them up, gave them a pan of water and showed them where it is (they hate me btw.) went to F&F for food/shavings/water & feeder. Went out to eat again at my favorite mexican resturant and ten came home, let the ducks take a dip in the pool as they had some poop stuck to them due to the box ride home, and then put shavings/new water and food down, put ducks back, got bit by duck, said goodnight to them. Trying to figure out my Ipod right now, finally got my email working on it. Pretty nifty!

DH fell asleep already (which is good, he didn't fall asleep until 2:30 yesterday morning, poor guy!) and i'm not far behind. It's been a busy busy day, and I'm done with it! Although, I must admit, I had a very happy birthday

Ciao guys!

 

[Dr HaHa]

Good Morning All! Ready for the hotest day of the year? TO Ahh summer

Raiquee glad you had a great B'day! Think your new ducks will adjust after a bite.

Bigz that's a good amount of produce all your hard work is paying off! Annarie those are some neat looking geese and glad to hear/see that the hatching is progressing nicely. hd_darcy glad you found some chicks, they'll bring lots of joy! Canning the relish this morning and hiding in the house the rest of the day. Got the hay made with the mower again. Seems like the squitos are better than before here or maybe it's just too hot for them.

 

[Arcnadius]

Is this forum open to all Cheeseheads? I'm new to BYC and chicken farming, but I'm from Western WI about a half hour north of Hwy 94 near the MN border. No birds, yet. Coop construction begins when the heat ebbs - soon I hope - so we can get chicks in the spring. Oops, gotta run. Sorry for the short intro - more tonight!

 

[raimnel]

Arcnadius

yes ALL cheeseheads are welcome!
Annarie

you ALMOST make me want some geese!
FM congrats to ur friend..... I had a girls outfit that was pink camo! very cute!
glad your b-day was fun Raiquee! All I want for my bday is sleep! I havent been able to sleep through the night for like 3 nights now. I went to bed at 11 last night and woke up at 3am havent slept since. IDK if its heat or what? I think its alittle of everything. got a guy comming tonight for 5 cornish X that aren't butchered yet.... better get out there!

I'm not doing these things again. Maybe a diff. meat bird IDK! till later Amy ps my bday in Monday and I'm gonna stay in bed ALL day

ya right with 5 kids!?

we got new layers in our flock now!! our "babies" (almost 19 weeks) are starting to lay! now we got a darker brown egg! it looks cool! My DS wanted to eat the new egg as soon as I brought it in yesterday. I told him to wait till today so I could get a count on how many eggs we got. we now have 13 layers! I was hoping yesterday we would have gotten 12 eggs but alas we still have never gotten more than 11 in one day! soon we will! I forgot how small they can be, I cant wait to crack that baby to see if there is a yolk its so small. talk later

 

[raimnel]

I forgot to ask. When do ducks start to lay eggs? do they get switched over to layer? if so when?

4 more weeks and I can remove all chick feed!! except for the ducks maybe? everyone will be over 17 weeks!

and the ducks will be 13 weeks by then! hoot hoot!!

what is YOUR favorite "summer" treat for your chickens? my chickens are ready to kill me cause I dont bring them any scratch in the a.m.!

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

ducks lay in the spring, the first year they can go all summer but if it get very hot they stop, if you ducklings where hatched early in the year they some time start to lay in the fall but that is rare, now if you have 'scovy's this doesn't apply

I don't feed my ducks layer (it has the wrong protein) they don't need it,specially if they are outside all the time, you will need a duck feed

 

[Raiquee]

Ok duck people, I think i'm a bad duck owner. lol.

So, they are in a brooder with shavings, waterer and a feeder. They are on non-medicated chick starter (18%). They seem to have eaten and watered themselves. However, they are just huddling in the corner and scared poopless of me! Is this normal? I think it is, since they were raised by mama. I think I am freaking out. They make peeping noises and I go to check and they scatter and clump up in the corner! I feel so bad

lol. I don't want to check on them because they freak out, but I also don't want to NOT check on them, in case they are peeping in distress! lol.

I think my issue is I can't wait until they like me. lol. I put a dish of shallow water with like..10 peas in it. I am trying to buy their love!!!

I'm hoping to get them hooked on peas, then realize that I have give peas, and therefore get hooked on me!

It looks like we have (if to judge by size for sex...which is just a guess) 2 boys, 2 girls and a what? Either a big girl or small boy! lol. For his/her sake it better be a girl!

Well I will have pictures up later tonight, early tomorrow. DH took the camera to work with him?? So, it's in the truck. I'm about to go and hang with my BFF, so I won't see the ducks until later tonight. Hopefully DS will be kind to the ducks! (they are in our dining room, but the bin is too tall for him to reach into, but he can still look at them hanging over the arm of the sofa) Looks like the ducks will have to skip a dip in the pool today, too busy busy! I'll give em a dip tomorrow.

Annarie) Where did you buy those leg bands? I want to get some for my duckies, for the ones I keep. Do they grow with the duck, or do you buy them for when they are adults? I looked at F&F and couldn't find anything.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/catalog/bands.html

The ones I got are the "Large Bird Snap-On Marker Bands". Although, when you put them on, they don't really snap - I slide them shut top to bottom...if you see them, I think that'll make sense. You'd want either the 16 or 18mm size for Muscovies - the 16mm are just right for my Stanbridge Whites, which are about the size of a Magpie or Pekin...maybe 16mm for the females and 18 for the males? I don't know Muscovies very well.

And, if you don't want to use the color-picker tool, you can just put the bands in your cart and request the number or bands you want in each color in the comments box before you check out. They didn't have a color-picker button for Light Blue, but it says the 14mm bands come in Light Blue, so I asked for it in the comments box, and I got Light Blue!

I buy the adult sizes and put them on as soon as the ducklings are big enough that they don't slide off (and if they DO slide off, I just wait another week and try again); otherwise you could buy smaller sizes and watch and change them into larger ones as they grow...but, if you forget to check, the legbands could grow into the leg and cause some pretty serious damage. I don't trust myself to remember.

And, Raiquee, don't feel bad. My new geese really hate me too. When I was locking them up for the night last night, one of them shot poop all over me

, they hiss at me, and they're generally terrified of me. I still love them though!

It's 95 degrees in the SHADE right now here. I'm hiding in the basement where it's cool, but every few hours I have to go check all the birds water, and run the risk of collapsing of heat exhaustion and being drained by mosquitoes.

 

[Terri O]

Yup--those ducks dont hate you, they are just scared. Try a big stuffed animal for their mama. They will tame down really fast if you hold them each by themselves. Also they havent really been eating anything other than corn and grass and dandelions and whatever else Frankie found for them. They really didnt have access to feed per se so you might need to give them greens. They will come around.

While we were touring the farm I found 3 other ducks that were working on another batch! This will be Frankie's 3rd for the summer. Her first ones are really gorgeous and I hope some of the ones that Raiquee got turn out like them! She actually has one this time that looks likeit has a brown head instead of the black so I am hoping for another chocolate like her! Unlike Annarie I am not up on my duck genetics so she will have to give us a refresher. Possible fathers are a Rouen, a pied muskovy or one of her sons from the first batch. Would any of them throw that?

Since it is SO HOT today I think I will continue canning....really have no choice! I am thinking that DH will be so spoiled from living in a hotel all week that he will put the window air conditioner in the bedroom tonight! It was pretty darn hot last night but that wasnt the worst of it: I was getting so bitten up my skeeters while I was reading in bed; I thought I was outside!!!

I finally got another fan from my son's room and sprayed the corners of the room where they were flocking with flea and tick spray...hey, it was all I had! It worked but it made me sad that it also killed the giant spider that was on the ceiling. It fell down almost in my popcorn!

Today I will bring in the dairy spray that I used to use in the barn (before Fly Predators) and spray my room before I go to bed. I guess I really need those new windows hey?

Going out to dump another bucket for potatoes...I think the beans are done...I picked the last yesterday and filled up the hole in my canning shelf...I am so glad that I got this "new" canner at St Vinnie's...I am actually friends with this one! Been a long time since I have pressure canned!

Stay cool---YEAH RIGHT! Terri O