Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Cindlady]

Bf4..... That sucks about your chicks... hope you get the beast!
DrH... sorry for yours too!

Jim... how old are the Dels that aren't laying well? It dose seem weird. Hope the change in food helps.

 

[Cindlady]

I just went down to the coop.... Storky has at least 2 little peeps

under her!!! I think I may have seen one pipping but hard to tell for sure..now that they're hatching she's like glue on that nest!

 

[Apyl]

Afternoon everyone. Sorry to hear about all the losses.
I've been letting the chicks and ducklings (Is the pekin still a duckling at 5 weeks old considering she has all her feathers and is huge?) run free and they LOVE it. I noticed feed consumption has gone down also which is awesome. They were eating like crazy. I've been removing brush piles and they are going nuts finding all kinds of bugs, grubs, snails, centipedes, etc. I booted the 2 week old ducklings out, they have been outside with the others for a few days now and are fitting right in. My hatch isn't going so well. I only have 2 good Rouen eggs out of 6 and from what I can tell only 3 maybe 4 Guinea eggs are developing, the other 9 are bright and clear. IF any hatch from either the Rouens or the Guineas they should hatch around the 24th, so until then I'm crossing my fingers. Talk about an expensive habit if I only get a couple to survive. Well I better get back outside, I've been working on clearing out my area for my garden so hopefully next weekend DH can rent a tiller and get everything ready for me. I also picked up some sead potatoes, sweet onion bulbs, and started a tray of 72 various veg seeds.

 

[mazojoe]

,,,and a leg hold or conibear trap discriminate?

I , like TO use the GM as a method of control as a last resort,,,in a perfect world raccoons would be as "cute" as they look and never damage crops or livestock. (and never learn to avoid traps) I would not choose to post the recipe simply because any use of a lethal poison needs careful use and consideration. That said it is a simple fix IF used correctly/safely. IMO

suns out time to get back at it

a leg hold, the animal can be released. Leg holds are not the traps from Fog Horn Leg Horn anymore, they do not have teeth and are not meant to injure an animal. I do not use the conibear unless I want to kill whatever gets into it. When I set a conibear I will set it off the ground or recessed into a bucket or box. Trail setting is effective, but I do not set it on public land or anywhere near human dwellings.

 

[bigzio]

Harvest Afternoon All.... One of those mornings that giving thanks to the Creator was in order.....started off with a couple toms and hens almost close enough and then they moved off and away....Waited a half hour and called again....prolly 10 minutes later 4 longbeards without any hens showed up and strutting.....they spotted my jake fan and came a running....bagged a nice tom with 9" beard and prolly between 20 and 24 lbs. You register turkeys by phone now, so the good times at the tavern with the hunters and the digital scale is a lost art...so to speak.

Sorry about the losses you guys and gals....the hardest part of raising poultry for me.
I've lost some really nice birds over the years.

The bash is a celebration of life with chickens and friends....prolly be glad if you make the trip. Folks that don't raise poultry, just don't understand our thinkin....we know it's normal, and worth a celebration of like minded folks.

bigz

 

[vickiw]

Hi!
sorry I am still getting the hang of this board and have been really busy outside with hubby trying to get our chicken coop finished so I can look for some hens. Not easy to find this far north, which by the way to answer your question, is Post Lake area, about 70 miles north of Wausau. (roughly 30 miles southeast of Rhinelander). Coop is coming along. We are converting hubby's toolshed (one of his former hunting shacks) which was already well insulated but I'm beefing it up even more and putting in a vinyl floor and a nice sliding window we had stored in another shed.

Ok, here's my first question~ do any of you put a dust box inside the coop in the winter? My ladies are going to have a nice large, fenced in area to play in (part grass, part what has been my east garden) with lots of nice dusting spots but those will freeze solid fairly early up here.

thanks in advance to all of you pros on here who are willing to help a newbie get back into chickens (had them for a while a very long time ago).

Happy spring (soon) everyone!

Vicki

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hi!
sorry I am still getting the hang of this board and have been really busy outside with hubby trying to get our chicken coop finished so I can look for some hens. Not easy to find this far north, which by the way to answer your question, is Post Lake area, about 70 miles north of Wausau. (roughly 30 miles southeast of Rhinelander). Coop is coming along. We are converting hubby's toolshed (one of his former hunting shacks) which was already well insulated but I'm beefing it up even more and putting in a vinyl floor and a nice sliding window we had stored in another shed.

Ok, here's my first question~ do any of you put a dust box inside the coop in the winter? My ladies are going to have a nice large, fenced in area to play in (part grass, part what has been my east garden) with lots of nice dusting spots but those will freeze solid fairly early up here.

thanks in advance to all of you pros on here who are willing to help a newbie get back into chickens (had them for a while a very long time ago).

Happy spring (soon) everyone!

Vicki

I find that our birds like to dust in the shavings and never seem to use the dust box provided, we do sprinkle Sevin dust in the shaving and nest box to help as a mite preventative. Seems like each one likes something different. Probably need to try and watch what they perfer. Good luck on your coop and adding chickens.

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Crap... Now I have a bad chick! One of my Davis Wheatens is not doing good! It is lethargic and wobbly. I gave it some Sav a hick in a medicine dropper. A few hrs later I ave it a little sugar water same way. What else can i do?!

 

[Celtic Chick]

Crap... Now I have a bad chick! One of my Davis Wheatens is not doing good! It is lethargic and wobbly. I gave it some Sav a hick in a medicine dropper. A few hrs later I ave it a little sugar water same way. What else can i do?!

Got any Poly-vis-ol, no iron formula? You can give it a drop of that. Otherwise, just keep giving it the Sav-a-chick. You could try moistening some of the chick feed in milk, water or the Sav-a-chick & see if it will eat. Or yogurt.

 

[MustLoveHens]

Hi All!!
Long time no post! LOL!! I missed at least 4 days so I'm not playing catch up! LOL!! Hope everyone has a nice Easter! Mine was quite.
No much to report here, I've just been busy and have no idea where the time has gone! I've been getting all the odds and ends chore wise done so that might be where the time is going!
The Girls as all great but I think I have a broody RO-again! I'll but her in the wire cage tomorrow and see if I can get her to break her brood.
Buzzy is well as are Ben and Company. I think Ben and the Ben Minions are all roosters.
The Rabbits are good as well. Processing day is around the corner for some...

Other then that I missed you all....

Ok DH's Pod Cast went well and we had a lot of fun. The Irish Pub were the pod cast was, was terrific even though it was on the Capitol Square in Madison.

Well, just wanted to stop by and say Hi and all.....gotta go let the dogs out or in or something...they are barking....