WC Sorry to hear about your birds, there is a learning curve here in chicken ranching that no amount of reading seems to help. I read all about predators and I still ended up screwing up and losing five great birds early on. As far as the lice go, sevin really does the trick for me, I keep the coop clean and dust pretty regularly. By the way, welcome and it's great having you here.
Bigz good to see you again, Mate...sounds like all is well by you!
Doc H Yeah it was a chilly one this morning...but oh how I love this weather! Those SLWs are the most consistent layers I have and they've got a beige egg on the small side so far...yours are coming soon. I just wish I hadn't lost three of those birds early on. People just can't believe how pretty the SLWs are.
Now that we're getting lots of eggs everyday and everyone is going gaga over how pretty the birds are, Mom has definitely become Chicken Mom. She was not happy this past spring when I had 28 chicks in two brooders in the sunroom...not happy at all. But she reluctantly put up with all of it and has seen how happy it makes the girls and Dad. Now she knows all the breeds and went to the county fair and state fair with us as we ran to the chicken barns and looked at all the great birds, and well, the chickens have definitely gotten under her skin. So, she's all for me doing meat birds starting next spring! I'm excited about that and I've got plenty of family and friends that want organic cage free chicken meat, so I'm going to cordon off more of the barn and do a meat bird set up for some cornish crosses or freedom rangers starting in May '11.
I also wanted to say hi to Annarie good to see you again, glad to hear the ducks are doing great. Amyable, congrats on your new addition and I was getting caught up on my reading and saw the pic of you and your family, what a happy, beautiful flock you are! I sure did love when my kids were young, gosh now they're both in college. It goes fast, girlfriend! H&R sounds like you're chugging along with your home projects, good on you and your hubby!
Well, Jerry Lee is going to a new home tonight, courtesy of the hmongs that work in the fields around here. They've got a vegetable stand down the road a piece from here, and the one girl who works the stand speaks english fluently...so I went down and asked if anyone wanted a rooster, and the three old hmong women who were standing by all nodded their heads like bobble dolls and they're coming tonight to pick him up. I offered to slaughter him prior, but they want him live...until they get the pot ready, I suppose. Well, he's too aggressive and went after Mom and the girls three times yesterday, so there is no debate, but my little girl sure loves him and is walking around with a sad expression today. She's so darn good with those birds, I call her our Chicken Whisperer. You'd love to see how she rolls up her sleeves and works with them, cleaning out the coop and helping me examine them and collecting eggs all that good stuff. I am so proud of her, and feel so bad here favorite rooster is getting culled.
Next post, pics!
