Well, I have juvenile chickens coming out of my ears and no place to put them really. I built a cattle panel house and the turkeys are now in it...and I have started on a second one for a grow out pen for the juvenile chickens, but I felt yucky for several days and have not completed it. I let my hens hatch some chicks and I sold 50 of them, but I probably have fifty more that I need to sell. They are barnyard mixes and people want full blooded chickens! Since they wanted full-bloods, I bought the hatching eggs and tried to hatch a bunch of chicks. My hatch is finishing up...it was not good. I set about 120 eggs total and ended up with 27 chicks. Most of them are Marans, I did get a few Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, 1 Speckled Sussex and 1 Jubilee Orpington. It was not a total failure, but I am disappointed about the Jubilee Orpingtons the most.
I am trying to integrate some roosters back into my main flock so I can use the rooster coop for young chickens. It has not gone very well, only two are out of it and they have been busy. I have far too many roosters and need to get rid of some, it would be nice if I could sell some...but, we may just be having a lot of chicken and dumplings this winter! Our Polish chickens are getting picked on so badly that they need their own area too, a lot of them are boys...I have learned my lesson...no more straight run chickens! I believe that is how hatcheries get rid of their males. When you hatch eggs it is a pretty even split on getting males to females...I got 1 female and 4 male Polish from a hatchery, even with hatching eggs, I got two females to 4 males! I have just had to high of a ratio for males! I need females so I just hatch more eggs and end up with a few females...but even more males. They can be rather mean and I will call it aggressive towards the females. A whole lot of my poor hens are bald from being over mated. Even though I made chicken saddles for them, the males have torn a lot of those up. I need to remedy that and lock a bunch of them up and process a bunch for the freezer.
I did not plant a big garden this year, all the rain we have had and all the chicks I hatched pretty much kept that from happening. I have very little planted this year and have gotten very little out of my garden, except some strawberries and blueberries. Those plants are not that big yet. This years fruit off the trees was pretty much a bust too...what fruit there was, was eaten by bugs and birds. I still have grapes on the vine, but they aren't ripe yet. I will have to invest in bird netting next year...my only apple that formed was eaten by birds and they got the few plums off of my new plum tree too. I am waiting on peaches, but a lot of those shriveled up and look like prunes. I think all the rain we had damaged them. I have no tomatoes yet and even if I had green beans...it would be hard to tell with all the weeds in that garden. My corn has not flowered yet...I see no silks. I have some onions...little ones...that is about it. I just don't have the energy some days to get everything done I want to do.
I will work on the grow out pen today, I think. I need to get my babies out of the shed...it is getting far to hot for them in there.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Incubation Failure
You take a gamble when you purchase hatching eggs, when eggs come through the mail they can be handled so roughly that none hatch. This is my third try for Jubilee Orpingtons only a few show development. But, even worse after receiving Goose eggs twice, none are developing. A goose egg takes 28 days to hatch I candled on day ten...I see no sign of life. On chicken eggs you can see veins by day 3 most of the time, they only take 21 days to hatch. I tried to candle the Marans eggs too...with the dark brown shell it is hard to see anything inside the eggs with my candler. I probably removed 45 eggs from the incubator that showed no sign of life at day 10, about half the eggs. But There is only one Salmon Favorelle egg left. Salmon Favorelles are on the critically endangered list.
Did I tell you about my little chick Popeye? I name my chicks when they have something special about them. Popeye is a Salmon Favorelle, that hatched a few weeks ago. He was hatched with an eye infection. His eyeball was so swollen I thought it may burst, after doctoring on him for two weeks he is doing a lot better. The swelling has gone down and even though he is more than likely blind in the eye, he is otherwise healthy now. Several of the Salmon Favorelle chicks I hatched have issues. Many have toes stuck together, Salmon Favorelles have 5 toes to begin with...the pinky toe is attached to the middle toe on some I hatched. They seem to be walking OK though. The batch of eggs I got this time was very small eggs, I am wondering if they are very young laying hens they came out of. A hen should have been laying for about three to six months before you hatch the eggs. Small egg size means small chicks...which have a much harder time making it in the world. I think with this batch of eggs, I will be done hatching for the year. I am tired, I have a lot to do and building housing for all the chicks is high on my priority list. I need to do several things, like finish up my breeding pens. Make gates for them, cut down on my rooster population by processing some, make the goose house, because I used the one I made for turkey's...which are doing great by the way.
I have not really planted my garden yet. Yeah, I am way late...but maybe I will get it done in time for a Fall garden. I am glad my garden was so successful last year, we are still eating the stuff I canned this year. The birds have eaten all the plums this year, ate my only apple too...I still have pears and peaches, strawberries and blueberries to harvest...but small amounts. My plants are still rather small this year. Maybe next year will be better...and I may have to invest in bird netting to get a harvest. I only have two grapevines putting out grapes this year. None of my seedless varieties have grapes on them though. With the rain coming this week...I am not sure what I will get done. But, like I said, I am tired...maybe this is Mother Natures way of making me take a breather...we are suppose to get upwards of ten inches of rain this week. I have not gone up to the lake to look at the level of it, but if we get that much rain I am pretty sure my lower garden will flood again.
Did I tell you about my little chick Popeye? I name my chicks when they have something special about them. Popeye is a Salmon Favorelle, that hatched a few weeks ago. He was hatched with an eye infection. His eyeball was so swollen I thought it may burst, after doctoring on him for two weeks he is doing a lot better. The swelling has gone down and even though he is more than likely blind in the eye, he is otherwise healthy now. Several of the Salmon Favorelle chicks I hatched have issues. Many have toes stuck together, Salmon Favorelles have 5 toes to begin with...the pinky toe is attached to the middle toe on some I hatched. They seem to be walking OK though. The batch of eggs I got this time was very small eggs, I am wondering if they are very young laying hens they came out of. A hen should have been laying for about three to six months before you hatch the eggs. Small egg size means small chicks...which have a much harder time making it in the world. I think with this batch of eggs, I will be done hatching for the year. I am tired, I have a lot to do and building housing for all the chicks is high on my priority list. I need to do several things, like finish up my breeding pens. Make gates for them, cut down on my rooster population by processing some, make the goose house, because I used the one I made for turkey's...which are doing great by the way.
I have not really planted my garden yet. Yeah, I am way late...but maybe I will get it done in time for a Fall garden. I am glad my garden was so successful last year, we are still eating the stuff I canned this year. The birds have eaten all the plums this year, ate my only apple too...I still have pears and peaches, strawberries and blueberries to harvest...but small amounts. My plants are still rather small this year. Maybe next year will be better...and I may have to invest in bird netting to get a harvest. I only have two grapevines putting out grapes this year. None of my seedless varieties have grapes on them though. With the rain coming this week...I am not sure what I will get done. But, like I said, I am tired...maybe this is Mother Natures way of making me take a breather...we are suppose to get upwards of ten inches of rain this week. I have not gone up to the lake to look at the level of it, but if we get that much rain I am pretty sure my lower garden will flood again.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Sold My First Chicks!
With broody hens you eventually get chicks...since I had fourteen broody hens...I have a lot of chicks. I let them go broody so that I could sell the chicks, bad thing was...people want full blooded chicks not barn yard mixes. I ended up selling 50 chicks for $100. I had more chicks hatching every day, still do actually. I still have three hens sitting on eggs. I have four hens in the "Broody House" sharing 12 or 13 chicks too, one of them is sitting on eggs that I had in the incubator for awhile. I went on eBay and purchased more hatching eggs...I got Black Copper and Blue Marans eggs, Jubilee Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Salmon Favorelle from a different line, and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes...and I got some African Geese eggs. I have them all in the incubator now, except the first batch of goose eggs was smashed to bits and the man sent me another batch wrapped much better the second time...they go into the incubator today.
I will have to move the turkeys out to their pen soon...it is actually the pen I am using for the Broody House. They grow quickly, kind of like the ducks and geese. I had several turkeys that had leg issues, spraddle leg is what it is called. One turkey had it and I tried to fix it, worked on him for a few weeks...it steadily got worse. The poor little things leg joint swoll to three times normal, it's foot turned backwards and its hips were not aligned properly, it could not walk any more. We noticed all the other turkeys using him as a pillow, he wasn't eating much either and we discussed putting him down. I got mad at the other turkeys because of them laying on top of him...I say him because of the size and his little tail would fan out like the big boys...he would sing to me when I picked him up. I felt so bad for him, I brought him in the house and bathed him to get all the poop off of him and set him up in a brooder by himself. Crew was going to put him down, I told him nature has its ways...if he survived I would be in shock...but would have taken care of him the way he was. He died during the night, but at least he was in the house, not covered in poop and being abused by the other turkeys. I love all my animals and it hurts me when any are in a bad way, I do the best I can to try and take care of any issues that crop up. At the moment I have a hen with possible Bumblefoot or a bite on her foot that is on the back porch, 3 female ducks that have started limping and have one swollen foot each...probably from running from the boys trying to mate them and one female duck that has an issue with her neck from the boys grabbing her. I am going to have to separate them or get rid of some males...I have 9 females and 8 male ducks...it is a problem for the girls. I do have the 4 girls separated and getting a rest from the males, we are going to inspect them and try to determine how to help them better today, two of them have cuts on the same foot...we need to figure out what it is from.
I will probably be playing musical chicks today, moving the young chick brooder to the back porch, taking the chicks from the broody hens and moving them to that brooder, moving the turkey's to their house, try to integrate the chicks in the swimming pool brooder into the grow out pen. Try to get a roof on some of the breeding pens and put additional small 1/2 inch hardware cloth on one...for another grow out pen. I may not have time for it all...but I will do what I can today. I need to start on the duck and goose pen too...since I am using the one I originally built for them as a turkey house. And since I have goose eggs in the incubator...I am gonna need a bigger house for them.
In the mean time, I got a few things planted...but not near what I need to get planted. The rain made it impossible to use my large gardens, and now I will have to till again because the weeds are taking over. I am going to have to get some large black plastic sheets or something...that way I can cook the weeds, the geese, ducks and chickens are suppose to eat that stuff...but it grows way to fast for them to keep up.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Babies, Babies and more Babies!
Well...I ended up with fourteen broody hens! It seems it is contagious. I did not think I would have so many. In a way it is good...at least I know the breeds I have will reproduce naturally...I let them all sit on eggs though...and now I have a lot of chicks. Not all of the eggs hatched, they kick them out of the nest sometimes but, I ended up taking a lot of them away from the broody sitting on them. The other hens tend to crawl in the nest with the broody hen and lay, they have broken eggs, and killed chicks doing this. I moved, or should I say tried to move the hens to the "Broody House", some of the hens did not like it and stopped sitting and started screaming at me. If they didn't stay on the nest after a couple of hours I let them out and took their eggs in the house and candled them.
I have an egg candler that basically looks like a flashlight with a rubber extension over the light, you place the egg on the rubber part and it shines up into the egg and you can basically see the contents of the egg. If an egg that is fertile has been sat on and brought up to a temperature of around 99 or so, it starts developing into a chick...you can tell by three days if it is developing. Generally you can see blood veins developing around the inside of the shell and a dark little body forming, it is about the size of a tiny pea at three days...sometimes a little bigger. If they were developing, I put them in the incubator...if not, they were either dog food or went into the trash. My chickens destroyed my compost area, so I will eventually start another and start putting the bad or previously sat on eggs in it...just have not started another one yet.
I have had chicks hatching every day for two weeks. Some days, only one or two hatch...other days up to 11 have hatched. I have not had to aid any of the chicks in getting out of the shells. There is a big difference when you hatch eggs from your hens and eggs through the mail. Even with opening the incubator multiple times a day, they hatch without help. The chicks are stronger and healthier at hatch and no problems with sticky chick, or dried membranes or birth defects from my chicks! But, getting eggs through the mail is necessary to get the endangered breeds and the breeds people want the most, that is why I have been doing it. I have not been selling enough eggs lately...so I decided to try and sell chicks. We shall see how that goes. Oh, and with the chicks that I hatched from eggs through the mail...I have about 100 chicks between less than 24 hours old and two and a half weeks old...well, and 14 turkey poults, and about 45 chicks in the grow out pen that are from 8 weeks to 10 weeks old, the others that I hatched this year are out wandering around the yard like big chickens do...going on 4 months old, it won't be long until they start laying. Hopefully I will sell some of my chicks and get the money from them to work on my breeding pens. Until my breeding pens are complete, I won't be able to separate the chickens and have full blooded breeds...and that is what I must do to make enough money to fuel my business...OK, continue my addiction, but make money enough to feed them hopefully!
Oh, on that note...I won some auctions on eBay and have more eggs coming. Hopefully I will have some successful hatches out of them. People want Black Copper Marans hens for their chocolate colored brown eggs...well, hopefully I will have a bunch hatch and they won't all be boys! I will keep some of the babies for my breeding stock, and sell the rest. I will have Black Copper, Blue Splash and Blue Marans and hopefully be breeding by the end of the summer...then I can hatch babies of those and sell hatching eggs in the winter time...just thinking...I just may need more breeding pens built!
I have an egg candler that basically looks like a flashlight with a rubber extension over the light, you place the egg on the rubber part and it shines up into the egg and you can basically see the contents of the egg. If an egg that is fertile has been sat on and brought up to a temperature of around 99 or so, it starts developing into a chick...you can tell by three days if it is developing. Generally you can see blood veins developing around the inside of the shell and a dark little body forming, it is about the size of a tiny pea at three days...sometimes a little bigger. If they were developing, I put them in the incubator...if not, they were either dog food or went into the trash. My chickens destroyed my compost area, so I will eventually start another and start putting the bad or previously sat on eggs in it...just have not started another one yet.
I have had chicks hatching every day for two weeks. Some days, only one or two hatch...other days up to 11 have hatched. I have not had to aid any of the chicks in getting out of the shells. There is a big difference when you hatch eggs from your hens and eggs through the mail. Even with opening the incubator multiple times a day, they hatch without help. The chicks are stronger and healthier at hatch and no problems with sticky chick, or dried membranes or birth defects from my chicks! But, getting eggs through the mail is necessary to get the endangered breeds and the breeds people want the most, that is why I have been doing it. I have not been selling enough eggs lately...so I decided to try and sell chicks. We shall see how that goes. Oh, and with the chicks that I hatched from eggs through the mail...I have about 100 chicks between less than 24 hours old and two and a half weeks old...well, and 14 turkey poults, and about 45 chicks in the grow out pen that are from 8 weeks to 10 weeks old, the others that I hatched this year are out wandering around the yard like big chickens do...going on 4 months old, it won't be long until they start laying. Hopefully I will sell some of my chicks and get the money from them to work on my breeding pens. Until my breeding pens are complete, I won't be able to separate the chickens and have full blooded breeds...and that is what I must do to make enough money to fuel my business...OK, continue my addiction, but make money enough to feed them hopefully!
Oh, on that note...I won some auctions on eBay and have more eggs coming. Hopefully I will have some successful hatches out of them. People want Black Copper Marans hens for their chocolate colored brown eggs...well, hopefully I will have a bunch hatch and they won't all be boys! I will keep some of the babies for my breeding stock, and sell the rest. I will have Black Copper, Blue Splash and Blue Marans and hopefully be breeding by the end of the summer...then I can hatch babies of those and sell hatching eggs in the winter time...just thinking...I just may need more breeding pens built!
Monday, May 18, 2015
Broody Hens...
A broody hen is a chicken who wants to sit on eggs and hatch them, it takes 21 days on average for a clutch of eggs to hatch once she starts sitting on them. Broody hens can be rather uncooperative, combative and will scream at you and peck you if you get to close.
I have a lot of broody hens right now. Brown Racer is one of my first hens, she went broody first and it has snowballed since then. I have been really busy lately and since she went broody, I have had a bunch more get broody and start sitting on eggs. Brown Racers eggs started hatching a few days ago, I ended up taking her babies away because the other hens were killing them, or she accidentally did it. I found two dead and took one away thrat died shortly afterward. I walked into my big coop and found a dead one in there and one standing in the floor screaming with blood all over its head. I took eggs away and put them in the incubator, seven have hatched so far. I used the house I originally intended for my ducks and geese, changed our minds and decided to use it for turkeys we hatched...but right now, it is a broody hen house. I moved 8 broody hens to it...3 quit sitting on their eggs...more eggs went into incubators and I kicked those three out of the house. Those hens went back to the big coop...I had three left sitting in the big coop...but, now I have even more broody hens!
I am going to attempt to move at least three to the three empty nests in the now dubbed "Broody House"...I think other broody hens will not kill babies...I hope not anyway. I went out to feed and one of my Blue Splash Marans has a new hatchling...I took her other one away yesterday after finding dead babies in the chicken tractor with Brown Racer. I DO NOT like finding dead babies!
All of my purchased eggs hatched, the turkeys, the Cream Legbars, Lavender Orpingtons, the Salmon Favorelles...not even one Jubilee Orpington hatched! Only one Java hatched...I am guessing due to rough handling when the eggs made their way through the postal system. None of the Jubilee Orpington eggs even developed and I contacted the seller...she may bring me eggs next time she heads up this way, she has family in New Boston...it is about 35 miles away or so. I purchased some more and we shall see what happens, I need two different lines at least to breed with...possibly more. In the mean time, I have 13 turkey babies and about 40 or so new chicks so far in my brooder room. I have Juvenile chickens in my grow out pen, probably about 20 and let my older babies start running with the adults...probably about 25 of those. No, no exact count yet...but, I still have Lavender Orpingtons, some Dominiques, Easter Eggers and mixed breeds hatching in my house. I have two almost full incubators with eggs in them still. I candle the ones I bring in from the nests...a lot of them are not developed and I have a big box of those and will probably add more soon.
I wanted broody hens...I got a whole lot more than I need. But since I have not been selling very many eggs and when I advertise, people want laying hens when they call...not eggs, I will hatch chicks and sell them...or sell them when they start laying.
I have a lot of broody hens right now. Brown Racer is one of my first hens, she went broody first and it has snowballed since then. I have been really busy lately and since she went broody, I have had a bunch more get broody and start sitting on eggs. Brown Racers eggs started hatching a few days ago, I ended up taking her babies away because the other hens were killing them, or she accidentally did it. I found two dead and took one away thrat died shortly afterward. I walked into my big coop and found a dead one in there and one standing in the floor screaming with blood all over its head. I took eggs away and put them in the incubator, seven have hatched so far. I used the house I originally intended for my ducks and geese, changed our minds and decided to use it for turkeys we hatched...but right now, it is a broody hen house. I moved 8 broody hens to it...3 quit sitting on their eggs...more eggs went into incubators and I kicked those three out of the house. Those hens went back to the big coop...I had three left sitting in the big coop...but, now I have even more broody hens!
I am going to attempt to move at least three to the three empty nests in the now dubbed "Broody House"...I think other broody hens will not kill babies...I hope not anyway. I went out to feed and one of my Blue Splash Marans has a new hatchling...I took her other one away yesterday after finding dead babies in the chicken tractor with Brown Racer. I DO NOT like finding dead babies!
All of my purchased eggs hatched, the turkeys, the Cream Legbars, Lavender Orpingtons, the Salmon Favorelles...not even one Jubilee Orpington hatched! Only one Java hatched...I am guessing due to rough handling when the eggs made their way through the postal system. None of the Jubilee Orpington eggs even developed and I contacted the seller...she may bring me eggs next time she heads up this way, she has family in New Boston...it is about 35 miles away or so. I purchased some more and we shall see what happens, I need two different lines at least to breed with...possibly more. In the mean time, I have 13 turkey babies and about 40 or so new chicks so far in my brooder room. I have Juvenile chickens in my grow out pen, probably about 20 and let my older babies start running with the adults...probably about 25 of those. No, no exact count yet...but, I still have Lavender Orpingtons, some Dominiques, Easter Eggers and mixed breeds hatching in my house. I have two almost full incubators with eggs in them still. I candle the ones I bring in from the nests...a lot of them are not developed and I have a big box of those and will probably add more soon.
I wanted broody hens...I got a whole lot more than I need. But since I have not been selling very many eggs and when I advertise, people want laying hens when they call...not eggs, I will hatch chicks and sell them...or sell them when they start laying.
I Have An Addiction!
I keep seeing different breeds of chickens that I want to be part of my flock. I have also become a Hatchaholic. I now have three incubators going at the same time. But, not only that...one has turkey eggs in it, lots of turkey eggs! I have candled them, not all appear to be developing, but I will candle again next week..it is my first time trying to hatching turkeys. If a lot hatch, I will probably try and sell some. I set more eggs today, Jubilee and Lavender Orpingtons. So, I have Java, Crested Cream Legbar, Salmon Favorelle, Dorking, the Jubilee and Lavender Orpingtons basically cooking at the moment in addition to the turkey eggs. I must be out of my mind.
I want good breeding stock, so I get breeds from different sources...not all of them hatch and a lot are males. Males do not lay eggs...so I get more eggs to hatch hoping for more females. It is a vicious cycle of fluffy butts, incubator alarms, taking care of babies, cleaning up, feeding, watering, musical chairs with chicks. But, I am determined to try and make some money off of them, to help with the costs of my addictions. I hope I can. I bought a large ice chest and some refreezable ice packs, I may go sit on a corner someplace and try and sell eggs soon. The Farmers Market will open in another month or so, and I will try and sell there too. I may have to see about livestock auctions in the area to sell some chickens and hatching eggs. I am even planting things so that maybe I will be able to supplement all my poultry's feed...they love cucumbers, water melon cantaloupes...stuff like that. But I have field corn to plant too.
I have to plan a turkey house too, and finish the goose house, and possibly another chicken coop. Yes, I stay busy. I have a lot to do. I still need to finish breeding pens, but I need to build the doors...and I have not started. I have not planted my garden yet either...but rain has stuck around so tilling is not possible yet, but I did get some garlic and onions planted and some weeding done. I periodically check my fruit trees too...I can see tiny fruits on most of them and all of my pecan trees have leaves now. I still want more fruit trees and hope to get a Nectarine and Red Plum tree this year. Time will tell what all I get done.
I have a granddaughter due to be born in June and just started a project for her too, I guess it is no wonder I am tired, so much I have to do, or want to do. We have not been eating dinner until late and we got the first four seasons of the HBO series Game of Thrones...we have watched two episodes a night...and been staying up later to do it. I must get busy, it may storm tonight and I should prepare for it...put on my muck boots and try and finish wiring up the duck and goose house. I have a heavy duty tarp coming to cover it to keep them dry, but I wonder how something like that would work if we have large hail and high winds?
I want good breeding stock, so I get breeds from different sources...not all of them hatch and a lot are males. Males do not lay eggs...so I get more eggs to hatch hoping for more females. It is a vicious cycle of fluffy butts, incubator alarms, taking care of babies, cleaning up, feeding, watering, musical chairs with chicks. But, I am determined to try and make some money off of them, to help with the costs of my addictions. I hope I can. I bought a large ice chest and some refreezable ice packs, I may go sit on a corner someplace and try and sell eggs soon. The Farmers Market will open in another month or so, and I will try and sell there too. I may have to see about livestock auctions in the area to sell some chickens and hatching eggs. I am even planting things so that maybe I will be able to supplement all my poultry's feed...they love cucumbers, water melon cantaloupes...stuff like that. But I have field corn to plant too.
I have to plan a turkey house too, and finish the goose house, and possibly another chicken coop. Yes, I stay busy. I have a lot to do. I still need to finish breeding pens, but I need to build the doors...and I have not started. I have not planted my garden yet either...but rain has stuck around so tilling is not possible yet, but I did get some garlic and onions planted and some weeding done. I periodically check my fruit trees too...I can see tiny fruits on most of them and all of my pecan trees have leaves now. I still want more fruit trees and hope to get a Nectarine and Red Plum tree this year. Time will tell what all I get done.
I have a granddaughter due to be born in June and just started a project for her too, I guess it is no wonder I am tired, so much I have to do, or want to do. We have not been eating dinner until late and we got the first four seasons of the HBO series Game of Thrones...we have watched two episodes a night...and been staying up later to do it. I must get busy, it may storm tonight and I should prepare for it...put on my muck boots and try and finish wiring up the duck and goose house. I have a heavy duty tarp coming to cover it to keep them dry, but I wonder how something like that would work if we have large hail and high winds?
Friday, April 24, 2015
Eggs all Over
The thing about having so many chickens and ducks is the volume of eggs produced by them. I don't keep up with them very well sometimes either. I gather them, but I have not been counting them every day like I was. Yesterday I got 56 chicken eggs and 7 duck eggs. I do sell some, but they build up pretty fast and I find myself with mountains of eggs sitting everywhere in my kitchen. I got some plastic egg trays off of eBay to help with storage. It is easier to wash them and the plastic doesn't deteriorate like the cardboard flats. But, I fill up two flats a day...so after the original 6 I ordered, I got I think, 16 more. Now I need a carrier for them. We finally got a hold of someone at the food pantry in the nearby town and have been donating eggs to it...so far about 75 dozen. As soon as I sent everything I had...I had two customers that bought from me...one bought 8 packs of 18, the other bought 6 dozen. I had to wash and refrigerate what I had left on the counter...and for a very short while my counters were cleaned off. I am back to a full mini fridge and probably 10 dozen on my counter of chicken eggs, I probably have about 14 dozen duck eggs now too...I guess I better get the dehydrator out again.
We moved the geese outside a few weeks ago, they are beautiful little geese with all their feathers coming in nicely. We put Thor and Loki, our male geese, out of the pen and let the girls out in the pen yesterday they did a little chicken chasing but, it sure looked like they were happy to get out and stretch their wings. We are starting the process of them bounding with a mate. We caught two And put bright orange zip ties on their legs to help identify them as Loki's girls. Then we had a supervised visit with Loki.
I started this post almost two weeks ago, we had tradgety strike since then. One of our baby geese was killed by a predator. My husband comes home from work and we do what we call second dinner. Lol...we feed all of the poultry the fermented feed the second time for the day. He likes giving out scratch grains to the ducks and geese up by the back patio, I opened the gate from their pen and we had a stampeded out towards him, I do a bit of a head count when I go out...well, kind of...I look for specific chickens, and do a quick look at the ducks and geese. One was missing...I saw her laying by the fence. Normally all four of the baby geese would be together, no more than feet away from each other...I ran to the one next to the fence praying that she was asleep, or maybe stuck...but, she was dead...she was still warm so whatever killed her had not been gone long. I don't remember what I said but Crew came running, it was his favorite little goose. He gently pulled her head through the fence and started looking her over. We didn't see any blood on her, but discovered about a two inch slit at the base of her neck. I felt sick, just wanted to cry...we think it was a bird of prey, but the first daytime attack we have had. The dogs were in the yard only about 50 feet from where I found her. The whole area is fenced, actually there are several fences and areas within areas...so whatever it was had to fly. It must have landed in my upper vegetable garden area, she may have been sleeping by the fence when it attacked her and pulled her head through the fence. It didn't have time to eat her, her wound was not obvious and the feathers were not bloody. It just pisses me off that with all the rabbits and squirrels running around here that it had to take out one of our baby geese. I say baby goose...it is not like it was small, she probably weighed about 6 or 7 pounds and was about the same body sized as a full grown duck, just a longer set of legs and long neck. I had to go do chores, I had to try and not think about her death and do something else before I broke down in tears. I went and gathered eggs, feed and water the baby chickens.
Crew disappeared with the goose. We have talked about aviary netting, but we have a large area to cover...and it would take an awful lot to protect them from overhead. I already have scare tape on a lot of the fencing, I have a decoy owl and falcon...and those didn't stop the bird of prey...even my dogs barking apparently did not deter it. We may try running fine fishing wire overhead, but that would require taller posts...we have since let the adult male geese have access to the girls, we are hoping that Thor and Loki will protect them, their wingspan is about 5 feet now...so whatever bird of prey would have to be pretty huge to want to tackle an 18 pound mad goose.
I started this post almost two weeks ago, we had tradgety strike since then. One of our baby geese was killed by a predator. My husband comes home from work and we do what we call second dinner. Lol...we feed all of the poultry the fermented feed the second time for the day. He likes giving out scratch grains to the ducks and geese up by the back patio, I opened the gate from their pen and we had a stampeded out towards him, I do a bit of a head count when I go out...well, kind of...I look for specific chickens, and do a quick look at the ducks and geese. One was missing...I saw her laying by the fence. Normally all four of the baby geese would be together, no more than feet away from each other...I ran to the one next to the fence praying that she was asleep, or maybe stuck...but, she was dead...she was still warm so whatever killed her had not been gone long. I don't remember what I said but Crew came running, it was his favorite little goose. He gently pulled her head through the fence and started looking her over. We didn't see any blood on her, but discovered about a two inch slit at the base of her neck. I felt sick, just wanted to cry...we think it was a bird of prey, but the first daytime attack we have had. The dogs were in the yard only about 50 feet from where I found her. The whole area is fenced, actually there are several fences and areas within areas...so whatever it was had to fly. It must have landed in my upper vegetable garden area, she may have been sleeping by the fence when it attacked her and pulled her head through the fence. It didn't have time to eat her, her wound was not obvious and the feathers were not bloody. It just pisses me off that with all the rabbits and squirrels running around here that it had to take out one of our baby geese. I say baby goose...it is not like it was small, she probably weighed about 6 or 7 pounds and was about the same body sized as a full grown duck, just a longer set of legs and long neck. I had to go do chores, I had to try and not think about her death and do something else before I broke down in tears. I went and gathered eggs, feed and water the baby chickens.
Crew disappeared with the goose. We have talked about aviary netting, but we have a large area to cover...and it would take an awful lot to protect them from overhead. I already have scare tape on a lot of the fencing, I have a decoy owl and falcon...and those didn't stop the bird of prey...even my dogs barking apparently did not deter it. We may try running fine fishing wire overhead, but that would require taller posts...we have since let the adult male geese have access to the girls, we are hoping that Thor and Loki will protect them, their wingspan is about 5 feet now...so whatever bird of prey would have to be pretty huge to want to tackle an 18 pound mad goose.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Give and Take
Ms McCluckinson (one of my first chickens) did not make it, she steadily got worse and was just laying on her side. I would touch her and she would kick her legs a little and that was it. She could no longer stand or walk so we made the decision to put her down. After working on her for two weeks and seeing no improvement, I gave up. Sometimes you just don't succeed and it is hard not being able to help. I didn't do a necropsy on her, I figured I wouldn't know what I was looking for anyway. She would not eat or drink any more, several times I thought she had died, but she would kick when I touched her. I wonder if she was bitten by a spider or something, we have a lot of spiders out here. It sounds silly but one night we were outside and my surrogate son Mark turned a flashlight on a field of grass out back, and you could see tons of little glowing eyes...he said they were spiders. It has sort of creeped me out ever since.
I have been busy as usual. I have hatched several small batches of chickens, but have not had very good hatch rates, so I am continuing to try. We put our first hatches out in what I call the "Sidecar" yesterday. I had to wait almost two weeks longer than planned. I have slowly been working on breeding pens, and all the roosters that were in the "Sidecar" were transferred to a breeding pen. Then about 35 chicks were transferred to the sidecar, after I gave it a good cleaning and spread fresh straw and made a short roost for them. They spent a short while in the corner, then I got the food and water inside and they came over to eat and drink. I was afraid the hanging waterer was to high, but they were able to reach it without a problem. I checked on them several times and they really seemed to like the fresh air and sunshine. This batch of chicks had chicks I ordered from a hatchery in it too...Dominiques, Gold and Silver Laced Wyandottes and Gold Laced Polish. Some of our barnyard mixes and some Barnevelders I hatched.
Oh, and the reason I waited to move the chicks...I had an outbreak of Coccidiosis. I lost three chicks before I got it under control, people on one of the Facebook groups for chickens I am on said it happens when you get hatchery chicks sometimes. Coccidosis is a common disease...or maybe I should say parasite? It is like nematodes in the ground and can be passed on shoes, in feces, by contact. It causes bloody poop, lethargy and discomfort...and sometimes death in chickens...it messes with their intestines. A simple treatment in the water or feed treats it. I normally use the Medicated feed for my chicks because of it, but I had not this time because of the baby geese. I will not make that mistake again. I don't like my babies dying on me or looking so miserable. Normally they slowly get use to the types of Cocci type nematodes and eggs in the ground, but when you introduce chicks from somewhere else, they can bring a different kind with them...even a person who walked somewhere else can bring them, or a wild bird or other animal. I got lucky, the Chicken Health Handbook I have said it is common to loose up to 30% of your flock...so 3 out of the 60 chickens in the brooder room is pretty good. I got medicated feed and started feeding it to the rest of my chicks.
In the mean time, we expanded the chicken, ducks and geeses free range area. I pulled up the fencing to my lower garden plot that never got planted and expanded it out almost to the road up to the lake. I will have to rethink my garden areas, but with all the rain we get, the area I selected when we were having drought conditions, turned out not to be the best place to have a garden. I may have to move flowers around the patio area and some blueberry bushes, because the poultry seems to like eating them and digging up the flower beds. It is either that or fence around them. I have been inspecting all the trees I planted, or transplanted and so far all appear to be nice and healthy. I have baby apples, pears, plums and peaches coming on to all of them...and all 4 of the pecan trees I planted are starting to leaf out. Two of my grapevines died, but the rest are getting their leaves and a few have baby grapes on them too. I tilled up a section of the front yard and hope to get a bunch of flowers going in it...but, we have been seeing a lot of rabbits out in the yard...so I am not sure how that will go. All of my plant starts are looking good, some are ready to put in the ground. I need to get more started too. Now if I could make myself weed my herb garden and strawberry patch...
I have been busy as usual. I have hatched several small batches of chickens, but have not had very good hatch rates, so I am continuing to try. We put our first hatches out in what I call the "Sidecar" yesterday. I had to wait almost two weeks longer than planned. I have slowly been working on breeding pens, and all the roosters that were in the "Sidecar" were transferred to a breeding pen. Then about 35 chicks were transferred to the sidecar, after I gave it a good cleaning and spread fresh straw and made a short roost for them. They spent a short while in the corner, then I got the food and water inside and they came over to eat and drink. I was afraid the hanging waterer was to high, but they were able to reach it without a problem. I checked on them several times and they really seemed to like the fresh air and sunshine. This batch of chicks had chicks I ordered from a hatchery in it too...Dominiques, Gold and Silver Laced Wyandottes and Gold Laced Polish. Some of our barnyard mixes and some Barnevelders I hatched.
Oh, and the reason I waited to move the chicks...I had an outbreak of Coccidiosis. I lost three chicks before I got it under control, people on one of the Facebook groups for chickens I am on said it happens when you get hatchery chicks sometimes. Coccidosis is a common disease...or maybe I should say parasite? It is like nematodes in the ground and can be passed on shoes, in feces, by contact. It causes bloody poop, lethargy and discomfort...and sometimes death in chickens...it messes with their intestines. A simple treatment in the water or feed treats it. I normally use the Medicated feed for my chicks because of it, but I had not this time because of the baby geese. I will not make that mistake again. I don't like my babies dying on me or looking so miserable. Normally they slowly get use to the types of Cocci type nematodes and eggs in the ground, but when you introduce chicks from somewhere else, they can bring a different kind with them...even a person who walked somewhere else can bring them, or a wild bird or other animal. I got lucky, the Chicken Health Handbook I have said it is common to loose up to 30% of your flock...so 3 out of the 60 chickens in the brooder room is pretty good. I got medicated feed and started feeding it to the rest of my chicks.
In the mean time, we expanded the chicken, ducks and geeses free range area. I pulled up the fencing to my lower garden plot that never got planted and expanded it out almost to the road up to the lake. I will have to rethink my garden areas, but with all the rain we get, the area I selected when we were having drought conditions, turned out not to be the best place to have a garden. I may have to move flowers around the patio area and some blueberry bushes, because the poultry seems to like eating them and digging up the flower beds. It is either that or fence around them. I have been inspecting all the trees I planted, or transplanted and so far all appear to be nice and healthy. I have baby apples, pears, plums and peaches coming on to all of them...and all 4 of the pecan trees I planted are starting to leaf out. Two of my grapevines died, but the rest are getting their leaves and a few have baby grapes on them too. I tilled up a section of the front yard and hope to get a bunch of flowers going in it...but, we have been seeing a lot of rabbits out in the yard...so I am not sure how that will go. All of my plant starts are looking good, some are ready to put in the ground. I need to get more started too. Now if I could make myself weed my herb garden and strawberry patch...
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Mrs. McCluckinson
When I first acquired chickens, we started off with 6 "straight-run" young adults. They were named, somewhat, so we could refer to them and know who was who...Mrs. McCluckinson was one of them, my daughter-in-law named her. I have named very few of my chickens, they are more known by traits. I usually don't name them until something happens and I have to give them special attention for awhile. I have a chicken sick-bay if you will...
Mrs. McCluckinson is now in sick-bay. I am not sure what happened to her, she was hiding out in what we call the low-boy tractor, it is covered with a tarp and keeps the rain off of the few chickens in that area. It is my original chicken pen and chicken tractor area. I noticed her and Red Racer spending a lot of time on the perch in the wire dog kennel they sleep in at night...every time I went out there she was on the perch with Red Racer (Rhode Island Red hen). Then one morning she was laying on the ground with Red beside her. I went to pick her up and she was limping really badly. So, she is now in sick-bay...well she has been in sick-bay for almost a week. I inspected her and found no obvious injuries, her comb was pale and that is a cause for concern. She is eating and drinking and hobbles around in the cage I have her in...but mostly is resting. I have given her a dose of Ivermectin which should take care of any parasites she may have, I give her antibiotics in her water and started injections of Tylan 50. Her comb color is improving but, she is still limping pretty badly. Mrs. McCluckinson quit laying over the winter and has not laid an egg in at least three months. I guess she will be one of my special needs hens, hopefully whatever is wrong will improve soon. I have a soft spot for my special needs critters, they will be taken care of as long as I am able to do it. Mrs. McCluckinson is one of my hens that will go broody, she and Brown Racer have hatched out a few batches of chicks for me.
In the mean time...I have more babies that hatched this week, some Buff Polish, at least one Cream Legabar and a few from eggs that were unmarked, so I am not sure what they are. I have three brooders of chicks in the house, two brooders of chicks in the water heater shed, and the baby geese are in a kiddie pool in there too...it is surrounded by cage wire so they can't escape. I will be playing musical chickens soon. I will shift the geese to the outside duck and goose area, and put the roosters in the low-boy and move the older chicks to the pen the roosters are currently in...I think. After I get all that done and clean everything, I will put the oldest chicks in the house out in the brooders in the water heater shed. I will keep the chicks born this week in the house for another couple of weeks, and then I may have a week...then hatching will start again!
I am trying to get good breeding stock on a few breeds. I just set Dorking and Cream Legbar eggs, and I have a batch of mixed types of Marans eggs that will hatch first, I am hoping to get a Blue Splash rooster...we shall see. Last year I hatched about 12 batches of eggs over 7 months. I didn't want to hatch that long this year, so I got another incubator and hope to get it done faster this year. I sold 10 hens last weekend, I may sell some more. I am hoping to get a good hatch out of the Dorking eggs this time around, the meat on them is suppose to be good and if I get a bunch of roosters, we will end up trying it out in about 5 months. I am afraid I have a lot of roosters growing up...when they rush at you and peck your hands at two weeks old...you can just sense it.
Now I really need to figure out what I am going to do with all of them...
Mrs. McCluckinson is now in sick-bay. I am not sure what happened to her, she was hiding out in what we call the low-boy tractor, it is covered with a tarp and keeps the rain off of the few chickens in that area. It is my original chicken pen and chicken tractor area. I noticed her and Red Racer spending a lot of time on the perch in the wire dog kennel they sleep in at night...every time I went out there she was on the perch with Red Racer (Rhode Island Red hen). Then one morning she was laying on the ground with Red beside her. I went to pick her up and she was limping really badly. So, she is now in sick-bay...well she has been in sick-bay for almost a week. I inspected her and found no obvious injuries, her comb was pale and that is a cause for concern. She is eating and drinking and hobbles around in the cage I have her in...but mostly is resting. I have given her a dose of Ivermectin which should take care of any parasites she may have, I give her antibiotics in her water and started injections of Tylan 50. Her comb color is improving but, she is still limping pretty badly. Mrs. McCluckinson quit laying over the winter and has not laid an egg in at least three months. I guess she will be one of my special needs hens, hopefully whatever is wrong will improve soon. I have a soft spot for my special needs critters, they will be taken care of as long as I am able to do it. Mrs. McCluckinson is one of my hens that will go broody, she and Brown Racer have hatched out a few batches of chicks for me.
In the mean time...I have more babies that hatched this week, some Buff Polish, at least one Cream Legabar and a few from eggs that were unmarked, so I am not sure what they are. I have three brooders of chicks in the house, two brooders of chicks in the water heater shed, and the baby geese are in a kiddie pool in there too...it is surrounded by cage wire so they can't escape. I will be playing musical chickens soon. I will shift the geese to the outside duck and goose area, and put the roosters in the low-boy and move the older chicks to the pen the roosters are currently in...I think. After I get all that done and clean everything, I will put the oldest chicks in the house out in the brooders in the water heater shed. I will keep the chicks born this week in the house for another couple of weeks, and then I may have a week...then hatching will start again!
I am trying to get good breeding stock on a few breeds. I just set Dorking and Cream Legbar eggs, and I have a batch of mixed types of Marans eggs that will hatch first, I am hoping to get a Blue Splash rooster...we shall see. Last year I hatched about 12 batches of eggs over 7 months. I didn't want to hatch that long this year, so I got another incubator and hope to get it done faster this year. I sold 10 hens last weekend, I may sell some more. I am hoping to get a good hatch out of the Dorking eggs this time around, the meat on them is suppose to be good and if I get a bunch of roosters, we will end up trying it out in about 5 months. I am afraid I have a lot of roosters growing up...when they rush at you and peck your hands at two weeks old...you can just sense it.
Now I really need to figure out what I am going to do with all of them...
Special Deliveries
I Have basically been delivering baby chicks today, they were suppose to hatch yesterday. I could hear them and was afraid if I didn't they would die. We had power fluctuations and problems yesterday with all the snow everything kept going on and off clicking and such. They pipped internally and basically were shrink-wrapped. I have been working with them on and off all day. The last one finally kicked the shell off, I opened all of them and moistened the membranes and peeled off enough so they could breath earlier. Hopefully these five will make it, three of them are Double Laced Blue Barnevelders and only 3 of the 6 eggs I bought developed. They are a beautifully feathered chicken that lays a darker brown egg. I didn't know anything about them until I purchased some mixed rare breed eggs last year. They are rare in the U.S. But are originally from Holland, I think. My other eggs in the incubator are on day 10...I candled them and all but one of the Dorking eggs are developing, 7 of the 18 Speckled Sussex did not develop and it is hard to tell on the Barnevelders...but I think they are all developing. I got my replacement Polish eggs in and Put all but two of the Java eggs in the same incubator yesterday. Hopefully my correct eggs will arrive tomorrow and then after they sit 24 hours I will reload the incubator that the chicks are currently in....by correct, I mean the person whom I bought them from shipped me the wrong eggs the first time. The eggs should have been blue and green when they came in...all of them where white!
Ok, maybe I need to explain better. I am selecting breeds of chickens to raise that are endangered or rare breeds listed on the Livestock Conservancies Heritage Breed List. I have picked some that are critical, endangered and on the watch list. I have mostly Heritage Breeds, but a few breeds that are just rare...like Cream Legbars and Barnevelders. I have been looking for eggs to purchase on eBay and am trying to get breeding stock from all over so that I have different lines that are unrelated. I bid on and won an auction for Isbar, Cream Legbar and Olive Egger eggs...blue and green eggs are the color of their shells...or should be. The eggs I received were all a creamy white. I contacted the seller about them, and she made a mistake and sent me someone else's eggs. I asked what these were...and found out they are Houdan, Sultan and Bearded Silkie eggs...What I consider Fru Fru chickens. I am going to incubate them and see if any hatch, but I will probably try and sell them if they do. I am not really into Fru Fru chickens...but I reserve the right to change my mind. My husband fell in love with Polish chickens, so he very well might fall in love with these...I may too.
Something funny is our mail lady. She knows I am hatching eggs and will keep them with her and under the heater in her truck if she knows about them. The wrong eggs were marked "Fragile Glass" and she put them in the bed of her truck...I am not sure any will hatch. I talked to the mail lady today and told her about the eggs being marked like that, I am hoping that she will put the correct eggs in her truck cab since I warned her. She has been pulling half way through the yard to hand deliver packages to me if she sees me in the yard with the chickens too. We talk sometimes and she told me about some of the predators in the area. I told her about our predator problem a few weeks ago. She has had chickens before.
Ok, maybe I need to explain better. I am selecting breeds of chickens to raise that are endangered or rare breeds listed on the Livestock Conservancies Heritage Breed List. I have picked some that are critical, endangered and on the watch list. I have mostly Heritage Breeds, but a few breeds that are just rare...like Cream Legbars and Barnevelders. I have been looking for eggs to purchase on eBay and am trying to get breeding stock from all over so that I have different lines that are unrelated. I bid on and won an auction for Isbar, Cream Legbar and Olive Egger eggs...blue and green eggs are the color of their shells...or should be. The eggs I received were all a creamy white. I contacted the seller about them, and she made a mistake and sent me someone else's eggs. I asked what these were...and found out they are Houdan, Sultan and Bearded Silkie eggs...What I consider Fru Fru chickens. I am going to incubate them and see if any hatch, but I will probably try and sell them if they do. I am not really into Fru Fru chickens...but I reserve the right to change my mind. My husband fell in love with Polish chickens, so he very well might fall in love with these...I may too.
Something funny is our mail lady. She knows I am hatching eggs and will keep them with her and under the heater in her truck if she knows about them. The wrong eggs were marked "Fragile Glass" and she put them in the bed of her truck...I am not sure any will hatch. I talked to the mail lady today and told her about the eggs being marked like that, I am hoping that she will put the correct eggs in her truck cab since I warned her. She has been pulling half way through the yard to hand deliver packages to me if she sees me in the yard with the chickens too. We talk sometimes and she told me about some of the predators in the area. I told her about our predator problem a few weeks ago. She has had chickens before.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
First Snow!
It finally happened, our first snow that stuck! We actually had snow coming down for about 7 hours. We ended up with 7 inches of beautiful snow. In Texas, well in this part we don't get snow very often. It was a bit of a surprise since in the same week we got up to 78 degrees. They always say, if you don't like the weather in Texas...just wait a minute.
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| Our Shooting Range |
I took the dogs on a walk up to the range, they enjoyed getting out of the house and playing for a little while. It was snowing pretty heavily while we were outside. The bad thing about the snow was the weight of it on the tree branches. I could hear branches snapping and breaking as we walked up to the range. I would guess the range is something like 400 yards from the house...maybe 4 football fields? I am not sure. I know the pond is about 200 feet from the house. You can see our Red Barn Shed in the top picture and to the right of center you can barely make out part of the house.
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| Trees on the side of the shooting range and my 3 dogs Bailee, Sophie and Kensie |
You can tell how heavy the snow is on these smaller trees, many of them were bent almost to the ground. When I later went out to check on the chickens who were locked in the coop all day, I saw trees that fell back in the woods behind the coop. I am a little afraid to walk around in the woods when the wind is blowing hard or like this...when it snows, you can hear trees and large branches falling and with the dogs running through and of course myself, I don't want to take a chance on any of us getting hurt. We still have snow on the ground today, but it is suppose to be in the 70's by this weekend. It is melting, but it is also cloudy and windy today...a lot of snow is gone from the trees now.
Early Mornings
Well, after the geese and Corkie being a brat, I could not sleep. I opened the door to the kitty room and Corkie quieted down, she quit scratching the door and meowing. She has no front claws so she was not really scratching...but she paws at the door very vigorously and sometimes my husband jokes and talks about her paws bursting into flame. Corkie is a rescue cat, she was dropped off in the parking lot by an employee at a company my husband use to work for. There were a lot of 18 wheelers at that job, and she was just a tiny little kitten when he brought her home. My husband would sit outside with her, trying to coax her out of the bushes using parts of his lunch. He finally got her to come out and eat, but it took awhile. He is a softie when it comes to kitties, and this one was very young and tiny, he was afraid she would die if he didn't bring her home. She is still very skittish around strangers and will hide if we have company. We use to have them in a larger room so they could run and play...but she would rarely come out of the room. When we moved them to the kitty room as we now call it...she can lay in the doorway and watch TV or come out when she feels safe.
Today is what is known as lockdown day. On the 18th day of incubating eggs to hatch chicks, you take the eggs out of the turner and candle them, remove any that are not developed...and take the turner out of the incubator. I line the wire floor of the incubator with paper towels and then put the eggs back in to finish developing. In a day or two, possibly three...the chicks inside will start pipping (breaking through the shell) and zipping (they go around the big end of the egg and break the shell in a line around the top to escape. After day 18, you quit turning the eggs so that the chick can get oriented correctly for this process. In a few days, I will have another batch of chicks...if all goes well anyway. After these are born, I will set more eggs I got from eBay sellers. Right now, I have Speckled Sussex and Double Blue Laced Barnevelder eggs to set in the incubator, but I am also expecting Silver Grey Dorking eggs to arrive soon too. The Dorkings are an endangered breed as are the Sussex breeds of chickens. These are very old breeds of chickens, by that I mean that they have been around for a very long time. I have been trying to get heritage, endangered and rare breed chickens to help get them off of the Livestock Conservancy's list of endangeded breeds, some that I have are making a comeback...like Wyandottes, but breeds like the Dorking, Andalusian and Sussex are still endangered. I don't have any that are on the critical list, I have not found any that are adaptable to hot and humid areas from that list and money is tight...I don't want to waste my time on chickens that may not survive in this climate.
Well, I just though I would write a little this morning before I got super busy. I have a ton of eggs to dehydrate, I had to order the special inserts for my dehydrator to do it...it only came with two, and that doesn't work very well with a 5 tray model, it wastes time only doing two trays...they have to dehydrate around twelve hours. I rather have 5 trays going and get more done at once. On another note, I finally have rye grass sprouting that I scattered the seeds for almost three weeks ago. It finally warmed up enough to germinate I suppose. But now it has dipped into the 20's again! I looked at my fruit trees and I can see pink in the buds of my Fuji apple tree...I finally sprayed all my fruit trees with Dormant Oil and I am hoping that the buds don't get damaged by late freezes this year. Even all of the Chicasaw Plum trees I moved are budding out...I think I transplanted 7 trees and all lived so far. I still need to work on the breeding pens, but I have so many other projects to do...well...I will get to them, when I get to them...I try and do things by priority or importance. I may plan on doing one project but go outside and something derails my plans and snowballs sometimes.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
We Have Babies!
You may think I am crazy at this point...I love having babies in the house again! We got the chicks and geese I ordered from the hatchery. Since we had some predator losses and processed some of the roosters for the first time, I ordered a few replacements. When you order chicks through the mail you need to get a certain amount so they stay warm enough in the winter to survive the postal system. I got a new Silver Laced Wyandotte rooster to replace the one eaten by the predator, I also ordered a new Dominique rooster because the one I bought last year as a chick has leg issues and it is not a trait that I want to breed new chicks from. I also ordered Gold Laced Wyandotte females for the rooster we hatched in a mixed batch of eggs...and some Gold Laced Polish for my husband's favorite rooster Pompadour. I have 16 new chicks to replace the 11 we no longer have, but I also have quite a few more roosters to process soon. I also have eggs in the incubators...yes, that is plural.
I love laced chickens, and chicken math struck me hard. I also love all the pretty colored eggs they lay. I do plan on breeding too. I started on the breeding pens, not done...but started on them. Weather can keep me in the house at times...when it is in the twenties outside the metal screws in my feet make my bones really hurt, and it hurts to stand for long periods. I tend to try and take it a bit easier when it is that cold. We also had some rain that made everything a muddy mess for several days. But, we then had great weather, I got three garden areas tilled and the last of the brush cleaned up and burned in my upper garden area. The chickens will keep it clear of weeds and add fertilizer to it until I am ready to plant it. I went down to the neighbors and processed 6 roosters and she brought her tractor to my house afterward with the ice chest the processed chickens were in...and tilled the extension I wanted to make to my herb and fruit garden. That was nice of her...it breaks up the grass and makes it easier for me to till when I need to.
Oh, I got off track...anyways...Back to the babies...we got what is suppose to be 4 female geese for our two adult male geese. African geese are on the Livestock conservancy list of endangered breeds. After I learned about chickens, I wanted to try and keep some of the endangered breeds alive and that is one of the reasons I am getting into breeding heritage and rarer breeds. It is why I am also ordering hatching eggs on line and taking the risk of them not all hatching, because as long as I can get a few to hatch of each breed, I can breed them to get more to breed and sell. Hatcheries want an arm and a leg for the rare breeds, like Cream Legbar and Blue Double Laced Barnevelders, French Black Copper Marans and Blue Splash Marans...some breeds a lot of the time are unavailable. I have Blue Andalusians too, and several heritage breeds like Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington...I keep an inventory of them too. I keep an inventory of all of my stock, but it needs to be updated too. I have not added the chicks I purchased, none of them were expensive...and I ordered early enough that they had those breeds. I have hatching eggs coming for Dorkings and more Double Laced Blue Barnevelders, and am Bidding on some Blue Splash Maran eggs...because I have no rooster for mine.
I am reading up on genetics and have purchased a book as a guide for breeding. Knowing what the dominant and recessive traits of the breeds are important if you also want to create new breeds. Some may call they barnyard mixes, but I want to create a new recognized breed one of these days...maybe a Blue laced black chicken that has black legs and lays blue eggs! Yes, it is a dream...but after I get more familiar with the breeding, maybe I can do it...it may take 10 years...but, it will be a challenge that would be fun...because it means I get to have lots of babies!
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Busy Days Ahead
I have been thinking about starting plants for my garden a lot lately. I saved seeds from last years harvest, and I want to make sure they will sprout. I am not planting pinto beans this year, those just take way too much effort and room that I could grow other things in the same space. I will probably plant a lot more bush type green beans this year, I am going to plant some ginger and garlic this year too. I bought some seed potatoes and a few seeds already. I need to plant things to supplement my chickens feed too. I will plant pumpkins, cabbage, sunflowers and oats for them and probably field corn too....maybe some wheat. I sure wish I had a tractor to plow with, it is going to hard for me to till as much as I need to, to get the ground prepared. I have been thinking about burning off the grass and weeds before things start greening up. A lot of the grasses here have gigantic root systems that spread and it is difficult to cut through them with my hand tiller, I am thinking burning may damage the roots enough that they will die back. I need to expand my herb garden by about 30 feet and enclose my blueberries inside the fencing. I am hoping to get more of a blueberry harvest this year, along with strawberries. I also want to get asparagus planted, I pulled seeds off of the wild asparagus I found growing in the middle of my Chicasaw plum grove. I still want to dig and move more of the plum trees to a sunnier location too.
Since we cut a passage into the garden from the chicken area, they have been eating everything green there was, they have chowed down on what remained of my brocolli plants too and have been chewing on the stalks. I just hope once I plant my garden they don't decide to jump the fence and eat it all. My upper garden has grown well and is high enough on a hill that it doesn't flood when it rains, the others are in what the call the bottoms...and by the creek, it is the best dirt I have, but there is the danger of flooding down in that area. I may end up having to dig it out some and clean up the creek bed so it drains properly to avoid flooding. I am hoping we don't get 8 inches of rain in two days this year! One garden that was tilled, I never planted because of the rain...and how fast the weeds grew up in it...I had it tilled three times, then I tilled it three times with my little tiller. But, you can't plant anything in standing water and last year, it just got to be too late in the season and I gave up on that one. You get smarter and wiser to the ways of your land, one of the reasons I have four separate gardens was to see where in my yard would be best for growing things. This year I am going to plant a few things in my front and side yards and hope the rabbits don't chow down on it before I get fencing up. I still want more fruit trees too. Which reminds me, I have not sprayed the Dormant oil yet! Maybe I should do that today...if not, my harvest will be awful like the first season.
I also need to power up the incubator and get it regulated. I have Dominique eggs to hatch and I need to get the brooders ready for the geese and chicks before they get here. I still need to finish the breeding pens too. I will be able to use them for the chicks when they are old enough, and it is warm enough outside for them to stay outside full time. I have some 90% shade cloth coming for over those, I need gates for them too...so I need to get busy making them or finding some that will work. Needless to say, I have a lot on my mind...and it seems like I have more than enough to do for about 5 people! Lol, that doesn't even scratch the surface though, I still have to keep the house clean, the laundry done, the shopping for feed for all the critters and ourselves, and cooking...and I still have not finished going through the boxes from when we moved here. We still have a bunch in the office to go through...not counting all the stuff in the shed. I want to create a logo for our farm and a sign for the posts out at the driveway. I need to look into farm taxes and create a business plan, find out rules and regulations, get with our Agricultural Extension Agent, find out what certifications I need to start selling chickens...and probably my list will get longer the warmer it gets. I have a lot to do and daylight is a wasting.
Since we cut a passage into the garden from the chicken area, they have been eating everything green there was, they have chowed down on what remained of my brocolli plants too and have been chewing on the stalks. I just hope once I plant my garden they don't decide to jump the fence and eat it all. My upper garden has grown well and is high enough on a hill that it doesn't flood when it rains, the others are in what the call the bottoms...and by the creek, it is the best dirt I have, but there is the danger of flooding down in that area. I may end up having to dig it out some and clean up the creek bed so it drains properly to avoid flooding. I am hoping we don't get 8 inches of rain in two days this year! One garden that was tilled, I never planted because of the rain...and how fast the weeds grew up in it...I had it tilled three times, then I tilled it three times with my little tiller. But, you can't plant anything in standing water and last year, it just got to be too late in the season and I gave up on that one. You get smarter and wiser to the ways of your land, one of the reasons I have four separate gardens was to see where in my yard would be best for growing things. This year I am going to plant a few things in my front and side yards and hope the rabbits don't chow down on it before I get fencing up. I still want more fruit trees too. Which reminds me, I have not sprayed the Dormant oil yet! Maybe I should do that today...if not, my harvest will be awful like the first season.
I also need to power up the incubator and get it regulated. I have Dominique eggs to hatch and I need to get the brooders ready for the geese and chicks before they get here. I still need to finish the breeding pens too. I will be able to use them for the chicks when they are old enough, and it is warm enough outside for them to stay outside full time. I have some 90% shade cloth coming for over those, I need gates for them too...so I need to get busy making them or finding some that will work. Needless to say, I have a lot on my mind...and it seems like I have more than enough to do for about 5 people! Lol, that doesn't even scratch the surface though, I still have to keep the house clean, the laundry done, the shopping for feed for all the critters and ourselves, and cooking...and I still have not finished going through the boxes from when we moved here. We still have a bunch in the office to go through...not counting all the stuff in the shed. I want to create a logo for our farm and a sign for the posts out at the driveway. I need to look into farm taxes and create a business plan, find out rules and regulations, get with our Agricultural Extension Agent, find out what certifications I need to start selling chickens...and probably my list will get longer the warmer it gets. I have a lot to do and daylight is a wasting.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Learning More Medical
I have never had any experience with doctoring on animals other than dogs and cats after surgery, but having over 100 chickens...that is changing quickly. I have a book on chicken care, but it doesn't cover every situation. I have a rooster with what I believe may be an eye worm. From what I have read, it can be transmitted through fecal matter of roaches...or a chicken eating a roach? We have had a good amount of rain lately and I have not seen any roaches, but you don't always see them outside.
This morning, I have to work on my rooster...and I need to check the rest of their eyes for it. It actually makes the tear duct swell and a white blob about the size of a small marble comes up, sometimes you can see the worms on the surface of the eye itself. I do not see any worms, but it has to be early stage eye worm infestation. I have to remove the lump of gunk from his eye and give him a shot of penicillin. This rooster is not very nice, he bit me twice yesterday...I have a couple of bruises on my hand from him, so I need to wear gloves and long sleeves for sure. I was told to put VetRx on the roof of his mouth and it will make the worm vacate. I hope I can do this...
I have been working on trying to get breeding pens set up. I am building on to the run too. I need to separate out all of the roosters from the hens for at least three weeks before I start trying to breed any purebred chickens. I put in an order for female geese for our two ganders, and ordered some chicks too. I need a replacement rooster, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Dominique Rooster, plus I ordered a few females for our Polish Rooster and the Gold Laced Wyandotte. I am going to hatch some eggs too, I have my Dominiques separated for over a month now, so I am going to hatch some too...I am not positive my Dominique rooster is fertile...but, it never hurts to try.
I am gathering more eggs every day, yesterday I got 35! We had several days in a row that were just gorgeous...highs in the 60's and bright sunshine filled days, today it is pouring rain.
This morning, I have to work on my rooster...and I need to check the rest of their eyes for it. It actually makes the tear duct swell and a white blob about the size of a small marble comes up, sometimes you can see the worms on the surface of the eye itself. I do not see any worms, but it has to be early stage eye worm infestation. I have to remove the lump of gunk from his eye and give him a shot of penicillin. This rooster is not very nice, he bit me twice yesterday...I have a couple of bruises on my hand from him, so I need to wear gloves and long sleeves for sure. I was told to put VetRx on the roof of his mouth and it will make the worm vacate. I hope I can do this...
I have been working on trying to get breeding pens set up. I am building on to the run too. I need to separate out all of the roosters from the hens for at least three weeks before I start trying to breed any purebred chickens. I put in an order for female geese for our two ganders, and ordered some chicks too. I need a replacement rooster, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Dominique Rooster, plus I ordered a few females for our Polish Rooster and the Gold Laced Wyandotte. I am going to hatch some eggs too, I have my Dominiques separated for over a month now, so I am going to hatch some too...I am not positive my Dominique rooster is fertile...but, it never hurts to try.
I am gathering more eggs every day, yesterday I got 35! We had several days in a row that were just gorgeous...highs in the 60's and bright sunshine filled days, today it is pouring rain.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Not Again!
I am upset. The trail camera I got to catch an image of our predator is not working. I thought it was something I might have done, but my waterproof camera has condensation in it, the screen just has snow on it, it doesn't shut down and you can't access the menu. When my husband set it up, he put fresh batteries in it that should have lasted a couple of months...they lasted four days. We have had another rooster killed too. There were files on the card, all they showed was black snow looking stuff on the screen...all of them. I had been putting up the chickens, the rooster that died was a special needs rooster...he was knock kneed and had what appeared to be a dislocated toe. Not sure how he ended up like that, but I had separated him because of his issues. I put him in a pen with my original batch of chickens, but he stayed in a chicken tractor by himself at night, so my rooster Mr. Poofy Face wouldn't pick on him. When he was in the Rooster House they pecked on him so much he had no more feathers on the back of his head. I figured him against one rooster would be better, he had more of a chance to get away from him in that pen.
My husband looked for him, walked around the pen and figured he had gone to the back of the chicken tractor. The chicken tractor had a tarp on it, so you have to squat down to see into it. It rained all day today, and it was really cold...I did not check to make sure there were no holes in the chicken tractor wire, if the predator dug under, it would be hard to tell with all the puddles. I had spread pine needles all over in the pen so the chickens would have something to walk on besides mud...didn't see any predator tracks. I found the rooster under a tarp that covers a large dog kennel that some of the chickens stay in at night...I could see his legs sticking out from under it. When I pulled him out from under the tarp and Inspected him for damage, he was missing his head, neck and part of his breast. The other chickens and duck that were killed, appeared to be killed in one location and taken to another based on piles of feathers and blood found...there was no pile of feathers for this one.
I didn't let my chickens out of most of the coops today, only the chickens in kennel got let out, I am tired of finding dead animals...the count stands at 5 chickens and 1 duck. I am having a few issues with roosters fighting because they are locked up all day. One of my Cream Legbars had one of his waddles (red hangy down thing under his beak) torn badly a few days ago, I separated him and thought about trying to glue it or stitch it up, I just kept putting it off and even though it is still torn...I put him back in with the other chickens in the big coop. The waddle section torn kind of curls down and hangs, but it scabbed over well, I may have to learn how to "dub" for future injuries like that. I hope and pray he will be Ok, I looked and chicks at the hatchery of the Cream Legbars sell for $47.00 each, they are a rare breed and they lay blue eggs, that is why I got them...I have two roosters and four hens so I can breed more...I bought hatching eggs and raised them myself, the hens have only been laying a month and I haven't built my breeding pens yet. The rooster that died last night was my Silver Laced Wyandotte, one that I purchased for breeding purposes...can't breed them now, well...not until I get a replacement. I have a Gold Laced Wyandotte rooster, but that won't give me pure color...but it will make them sex-linked so I can tell males from females at hatch.
We have been getting a lot of rain, it puts a damper on my building projects...maybe tomorrow will be a better day?
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Predator - What Are You?
We have been dealing with a predator problem for several weeks now, I really don't want to loose any more animals. It is rather distressing to think you have a secure safe place for your animals, only to go out and find one headless or just missing period. We had not had any predator problems until recently, and now we are puzzled as to what is killing our poultry. After the first killings, I try and make sure all of the chickens are put up. I finished the rooster coop with hardware cloth and made the door and hung it. I even rebuilt the duck house and skinned it with metal, put polycarbonate for a window and made a lockable door. But...roosters can be stubborn and sometimes they get up too high to reach them...like on top of the chicken coops or up over 15 feet in the tree. We have lost five of our flock, the last two were roosters that decided to roost in the tree, I tried to get them down from the coop roof...but they flew over to the tree and just climbed even higher. Those that choose to spend the night in the tree are the latest lost. Don't let anyone tell you chickens don't fly...they fly to the top of the coop 8 feet high, they fly from the top of that coop at least 30 feet through the air to the top of the other coop or a bit further to the tree.
I think our predator is striking between 5:30am and 6:30am. Today, it tripped the trap...but was not caught. My husband pulled the cameras card, but the images were black...and I found out maybe it was my fault, I have not dealt with a trail camera before so I need to read the instructions. Apparently you have to turn it off to pull the card and when you turn it on to put the card back in, it needs to be in test mode or something. I just didn't know...so we are still in the dark as to what it or they may be. My husband found talon marks among the feathers that came from the last rooster killed, so it could be a hawk or owl...but what tripped the trap? Would a bird try to get in a live trap for marshmallows and tuna fish? I have been trying a lot of different foods since the dead rooster didn't work...and neither did the canned cat food.
I have been hearing an owl at dusk when I put all the chickens, ducks and geese up for the night. We have had no losses during the daylight hours. But we have been letting the dogs out to run the land again. I worry about them getting in the street in front of the house...although we don't have a lot of traffic, the speed limit is 60 miles an hour and logging trucks do use the road. We have been taking the dogs on walks too...all the way to the back of the property so they can mark their territory. Our dog Sophie keeps getting in the chicken pen, she ignores the chickens...she just likes their food and droppings, which I think is disgusting, but at least she doesn't chase or harm the chickens and she does mark that territory too.
I need to get out and do chores, another cold front is suppose to hit and we may get ice or snow out of this one, I still have not integrated the last of my babies in with the other chickens and they are way to big to be in the brooder any more...I guess I had better get busy.
Don't look if you are squeamish...these pictures are from one of our predator attacks. I never thought I would be so mad or touch dead critters like this.
I think our predator is striking between 5:30am and 6:30am. Today, it tripped the trap...but was not caught. My husband pulled the cameras card, but the images were black...and I found out maybe it was my fault, I have not dealt with a trail camera before so I need to read the instructions. Apparently you have to turn it off to pull the card and when you turn it on to put the card back in, it needs to be in test mode or something. I just didn't know...so we are still in the dark as to what it or they may be. My husband found talon marks among the feathers that came from the last rooster killed, so it could be a hawk or owl...but what tripped the trap? Would a bird try to get in a live trap for marshmallows and tuna fish? I have been trying a lot of different foods since the dead rooster didn't work...and neither did the canned cat food.
I have been hearing an owl at dusk when I put all the chickens, ducks and geese up for the night. We have had no losses during the daylight hours. But we have been letting the dogs out to run the land again. I worry about them getting in the street in front of the house...although we don't have a lot of traffic, the speed limit is 60 miles an hour and logging trucks do use the road. We have been taking the dogs on walks too...all the way to the back of the property so they can mark their territory. Our dog Sophie keeps getting in the chicken pen, she ignores the chickens...she just likes their food and droppings, which I think is disgusting, but at least she doesn't chase or harm the chickens and she does mark that territory too.
I need to get out and do chores, another cold front is suppose to hit and we may get ice or snow out of this one, I still have not integrated the last of my babies in with the other chickens and they are way to big to be in the brooder any more...I guess I had better get busy.
Don't look if you are squeamish...these pictures are from one of our predator attacks. I never thought I would be so mad or touch dead critters like this.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Baby It's Cold Outside
Yesterday was very cold and windy, I am not sure it ever got above freezing. I live in Texas for a reason...I dislike extremely cold weather. When it is 16 degrees and windy...I am not a happy camper...especially when I have a lot of chores outdoors. When you have over a hundred chickens, ducks and geese...you are responsible for keeping them alive through frigid temperatures. I spent the day breaking ice, hauling water, putting pine shavings out, throwing scratch grains out for them, scraping frozen poop off of roosts, gathering eggs before they froze, filling up feeders with dry food because the fermented feed froze up...I even let them have access to the compost pile by taking down the fence. I had to let them out...they tend to swarm me when they have been locked up in the coop and run and it is hard to even feed them or change out water. I had to mix up the grains I feed them and they kept jumping in the big trash can I mix it in. So, I opened the door and they flooded out...it is really funny standing back and watching them taking off running across the yard, some on the roosts fly out the door so if I don't want to get hit I have to stand back away from the entrance.
I have not started on the breeding pens, but I need to soon if I am going to start breeding chickens and selling them this year. I have a lady who I have sold eggs to that wants hatching eggs. I need to separate the hens with a fertile rooster to get pure bred chickens. I have a roofed area I need to enclose for this purpose. It is very cold again today and it may rain, so it ain't happening today...I would much rather it be at least in the forties to spend the day constructing anything. I am no "Spring Chicken" and the cold tends to make me ache a bit and when my hands are cold, it is difficult to hold on to the tools. I have already called my husband to take me to the emergency room once...I would prefer not having to do it again. He was good about me calling him when I got locked in the rooster coop too...I wonder sometimes how I got so lucky with him, he doesn't complain about it...he does tease me a bit though.
I know my husband loves me...that is why I married him. I try doing all kinds of things, he is my backup...and when I screwed up the lawn tractor, he fixes it so I can do it again! Lol, I really don't want to mess things up, just weird things happen sometimes...and in tall grass you miss things sometimes. He had changed out the blades and done a complete tuneup on the lawn tractor, so I thought I would mow more in a different area so he wouldn't have to...we had a man mow this area with his tractor so I thought it was safe to mow. Long story short...I hit a downed branch and the mower blades being sharp cut it and it got stuck in the blades and shut down the motor to them. I could not get it out and I messed up the blades. Kinda like when he got the tire fixed because it had a slow leak...and I forgot to check it and took off and the tire came off the wheel...OK, so I did it more than once, but something was wrong with the valve stem, and after he got it fixed...I thought it would last. It didn't. I bought a new tire for the lawn tractor so we could have a spare, I was good and stayed on this side of the creek when I mowed the last time...he winterized it and put it up before I could break it again.
This is all new to me you know? I was born and raised in a city. Out in the country, there are a lot of chores that are simular to city chores...but a larger scale and probably a bit more dangerous. I am just glad when I mowed by the pond I didn't fall in with the lawn tractor or loose it in the creek. Instead of trimming hedges with electric trimmers, I trim trees with saws and a machete. Instead of planting just a few flowers, I plant fruit trees and huge gardens. I planted a Granny Smith apple tree, two pecan trees and a large blueberry bush before this last cold spell. I dug up and transplanted 9 Chicasaw Plum trees a few weeks before that...and a Santa Rosa Plum. This is a good time to transplant stuff...if it wasn't so cold, I would go dig up some muscadine grapes and transplant them closer to the house too...maybe once it warms up...
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Dangerous Times
Living in the woods, we knew we may have a lot of wildlife running around. We actually saw far less than we thought we would. I am not sure if it is because the year we moved here was a really dry year in the way of precipitation and animals moved on or what. The past few months we have been seeing more rabbits and squirrels, less birds...but that may have to do with the scare tape I have on the fencing...and less deer. It is not that they aren't around, we see tracks and other signs of animals when we go for walks. We have had Canadian Geese land on our pond and spend days...our geese talk to them but can't see them when they land, as do cranes of some sort. We know we have raccoons around and that they like eating turtles. We have had packs of coyotes run through our yard in the middle of the night, and we were told that there was a fox den up on the shooting range. We also have Hawks that circle overhead at times, the geese keep a close eye on them and if they get to close, they honk loudly and put their wings out from their bodies trying to look even larger than they are.
I bring these things up as we still don't know exactly what has killed four of our chickens and one of our ducks. We had no deaths from predators up until now. The first 4 of our poultry were missing their heads and necks, one was dragged to a corner of the fence in it's pen and whatever it is...grabbed it's wing and attempted to pull it through the fence...this was a full grown rooster in a completly fenced in pen. We have set a trap and had it set for the past two weeks, we have caught nothing in the trap. We have a game camera set up and it has infrared and a pretty good range on it, and we have seen nothing in the pictures, other than ourselves and our dogs. The last rooster that was killed, I thought we had our proof...but when I pulled the card to view them, the batteries had run out two days prior...it pissed me off that the batteries only lasted 4 days! I inspected the dead rooster trying to see If I could figure it out, it was killed in the same pen as the one before it, killed in one area and there was a lot of damage to this one, there were three piles of feathers this time and a lot of the feathers had small chunks of meat still on them. I had to pull the body from the fence to see the damage, not only was it's head and neck missing this time, but a whole wing and all of the breast too. The remaining wing was hanging on by a thread of tendon. Among the feathers, I found bones striped clean and scattered through the main pile of feathers, it looked almost like they had been cut. I didn't notice any obvious tracks, but I was thinking I was looking for raccoon tracks.
I have been doing my best to get all of my chickens, ducks and geese put into their houses at night. The roosters sometimes have different ideas. They will fly to the top of the big coop...it is about 8 feet high at the back, when I try to get the rest put up sometimes the ones on the roof fly to the branches of a tree by the rooster coop and roost for the night 15 to 20 feet off the ground. I refuse to climb a tree and try to wrangle a rooster while on a ladder, I would probably end up breaking a bone. The roosters who spend the night in the tree sometimes get lucky...sometimes they die. I have kept them in the coop for the past few days to protect them. My husband went and looked at the destruction and tried to figure out what is killing them, he saw tracks I did not see...talon marks and prints. That night when I put up all of the poultry, I heard an owl for the first time since we have been out here. I am not sure if the owl is killing the chickens, because it puzzles me that two of the carcasses were partially pulled through the fence in the same exact spot. If it is an owl, does it try and carry them and maybe the 7 pound rooster is too heavy, hits the fence and then it try's to grab it through the fence? I am not sure...I hope we find out soon, my rooster population is going down fast and these that have been killed are earmarked for the freezer.
If I truely want to find out what it is, it will require the sacrifice of another rooster. I have been thinking about it, but I can't do that on purpose...I am just not wired that way. I never thought in a million years that I would become a CSI...Crime Scene Investigator...for poultry.
I bring these things up as we still don't know exactly what has killed four of our chickens and one of our ducks. We had no deaths from predators up until now. The first 4 of our poultry were missing their heads and necks, one was dragged to a corner of the fence in it's pen and whatever it is...grabbed it's wing and attempted to pull it through the fence...this was a full grown rooster in a completly fenced in pen. We have set a trap and had it set for the past two weeks, we have caught nothing in the trap. We have a game camera set up and it has infrared and a pretty good range on it, and we have seen nothing in the pictures, other than ourselves and our dogs. The last rooster that was killed, I thought we had our proof...but when I pulled the card to view them, the batteries had run out two days prior...it pissed me off that the batteries only lasted 4 days! I inspected the dead rooster trying to see If I could figure it out, it was killed in the same pen as the one before it, killed in one area and there was a lot of damage to this one, there were three piles of feathers this time and a lot of the feathers had small chunks of meat still on them. I had to pull the body from the fence to see the damage, not only was it's head and neck missing this time, but a whole wing and all of the breast too. The remaining wing was hanging on by a thread of tendon. Among the feathers, I found bones striped clean and scattered through the main pile of feathers, it looked almost like they had been cut. I didn't notice any obvious tracks, but I was thinking I was looking for raccoon tracks.
I have been doing my best to get all of my chickens, ducks and geese put into their houses at night. The roosters sometimes have different ideas. They will fly to the top of the big coop...it is about 8 feet high at the back, when I try to get the rest put up sometimes the ones on the roof fly to the branches of a tree by the rooster coop and roost for the night 15 to 20 feet off the ground. I refuse to climb a tree and try to wrangle a rooster while on a ladder, I would probably end up breaking a bone. The roosters who spend the night in the tree sometimes get lucky...sometimes they die. I have kept them in the coop for the past few days to protect them. My husband went and looked at the destruction and tried to figure out what is killing them, he saw tracks I did not see...talon marks and prints. That night when I put up all of the poultry, I heard an owl for the first time since we have been out here. I am not sure if the owl is killing the chickens, because it puzzles me that two of the carcasses were partially pulled through the fence in the same exact spot. If it is an owl, does it try and carry them and maybe the 7 pound rooster is too heavy, hits the fence and then it try's to grab it through the fence? I am not sure...I hope we find out soon, my rooster population is going down fast and these that have been killed are earmarked for the freezer.
If I truely want to find out what it is, it will require the sacrifice of another rooster. I have been thinking about it, but I can't do that on purpose...I am just not wired that way. I never thought in a million years that I would become a CSI...Crime Scene Investigator...for poultry.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Happy New year!
Well, I thought it would start off better than it did...the New Year started off with another predator attack. We got a trap big enough for a raccoon and it is set, but we haven't caught anything. The game camera I ordered came in and we set it up and then a rooster was killed in an area that it didn't cover. We bated the trap with the dead rooster, he was missing his head and neck like the others that we found, so far nothing in the trap...we moved the camera too, still have not caught anything on it.
The only other thing we can do is electrify the fence, we think it is a raccoon doing the killing. The last rooster was carried to the fence and I guess the predator crawled over the fence and tried to pull the rooster through the fence by the wing...lots of feathers on the outside of the fence but the body was on the inside. My roosters are not all going into their coop at night, if they are low enough I pick them up and move them into it...but several of them have taken to the trees and roosting 15 to 20 feet up. I refuse to risk breaking my neck trying to get them down. I have been able to get my breeding roosters inside the coop and that is the most important to me. I am not sure I can kill a rooster to process for dinner anyway...I am not quite setup for it yet, but the roosters in the trees are the ones earmarked for dinner.
The Farmers Almanac said we would have an unusually wet winter, and so far it is proving true. We have had a lot of rain lately and the night before last some terrible thunder and lightning. We live in a metal house and the way it is insulated it is hard to hear rain at all...we heard the rain and the thunder and lightning was like major explosions. We got almost three inches of rain that night on top of something like an inch for the previous few days. Needless to say, everything is soaking wet. We have had water standing in several areas of the yard for the past week and when you have Sandy soil that doesn't happen very often...usually. I feel bad for the chickens, their run is soaking wet...water goes up over my feet walking around in there. I have been putting fresh straw down for them every day, but they mix it up and dig down to the dirt looking for bugs I suppose. I am going to have to fix it, but trying to dig trenches to devert the water has not worked very well. We need to get gutters up which will help, but finding end caps for the piece we have is proving to be a challenge. We probably will have to buy new gutters, but everything requires money...and time to do it. Right now we are just trying to not loose any more chickens. If a predator kills my breeding roosters, all my hard work the past year will be down the drain.
I really need to be able to sell chickens and chicks to make money, and hatching eggs. I got specific breeds for that purpose, but still need to build my breeding pens. The rooster coop was more for protection of my hens, I took 18 roosters out of the hen house when I finished it. I still have at least 10 roosters in the hen house, some are going to freezer camp...but some are for breeding. They talk about chicken math...well I have a problem with it, but I hope it starts paying off soon. I have some of the coveted varieties of chickens, Cream Legbars, Black Copper Marans, Easter Eggers, Silver Laced Wyandottes...well, most of you won't know what I am talking about, but these lay pretty colored eggs...so it would be like Easter every day when you look at my egg basket...all different colors of eggs...blues, greens, pinks, peaches, chocolate Browns, golds...light brown and white too. I raised almost all of my chickens from eggs...Ok, maybe not 29 of them, but 100 of my chickens I hatched and raised. I only have a few more to go out to the coop from the brooder. I am going to take a short break from hatching and caring for chicks to get breeding pens built, then I will start hatching to sell this spring.
I need to start preparing my gardens too...ah the joys of country living, I seem to always have pine shavings in my hair, poop on my shoes and plans for another project in my head.
The only other thing we can do is electrify the fence, we think it is a raccoon doing the killing. The last rooster was carried to the fence and I guess the predator crawled over the fence and tried to pull the rooster through the fence by the wing...lots of feathers on the outside of the fence but the body was on the inside. My roosters are not all going into their coop at night, if they are low enough I pick them up and move them into it...but several of them have taken to the trees and roosting 15 to 20 feet up. I refuse to risk breaking my neck trying to get them down. I have been able to get my breeding roosters inside the coop and that is the most important to me. I am not sure I can kill a rooster to process for dinner anyway...I am not quite setup for it yet, but the roosters in the trees are the ones earmarked for dinner.
The Farmers Almanac said we would have an unusually wet winter, and so far it is proving true. We have had a lot of rain lately and the night before last some terrible thunder and lightning. We live in a metal house and the way it is insulated it is hard to hear rain at all...we heard the rain and the thunder and lightning was like major explosions. We got almost three inches of rain that night on top of something like an inch for the previous few days. Needless to say, everything is soaking wet. We have had water standing in several areas of the yard for the past week and when you have Sandy soil that doesn't happen very often...usually. I feel bad for the chickens, their run is soaking wet...water goes up over my feet walking around in there. I have been putting fresh straw down for them every day, but they mix it up and dig down to the dirt looking for bugs I suppose. I am going to have to fix it, but trying to dig trenches to devert the water has not worked very well. We need to get gutters up which will help, but finding end caps for the piece we have is proving to be a challenge. We probably will have to buy new gutters, but everything requires money...and time to do it. Right now we are just trying to not loose any more chickens. If a predator kills my breeding roosters, all my hard work the past year will be down the drain.
I really need to be able to sell chickens and chicks to make money, and hatching eggs. I got specific breeds for that purpose, but still need to build my breeding pens. The rooster coop was more for protection of my hens, I took 18 roosters out of the hen house when I finished it. I still have at least 10 roosters in the hen house, some are going to freezer camp...but some are for breeding. They talk about chicken math...well I have a problem with it, but I hope it starts paying off soon. I have some of the coveted varieties of chickens, Cream Legbars, Black Copper Marans, Easter Eggers, Silver Laced Wyandottes...well, most of you won't know what I am talking about, but these lay pretty colored eggs...so it would be like Easter every day when you look at my egg basket...all different colors of eggs...blues, greens, pinks, peaches, chocolate Browns, golds...light brown and white too. I raised almost all of my chickens from eggs...Ok, maybe not 29 of them, but 100 of my chickens I hatched and raised. I only have a few more to go out to the coop from the brooder. I am going to take a short break from hatching and caring for chicks to get breeding pens built, then I will start hatching to sell this spring.
I need to start preparing my gardens too...ah the joys of country living, I seem to always have pine shavings in my hair, poop on my shoes and plans for another project in my head.
Monday, December 22, 2014
It's Christmas Time in the Country...
I love Christmas, but this year is a lean year...business has been lacking at the shop and I don't even make enough from the sale of eggs to feed my chickens...but I have faith that everything will be O.K. Christmas is for kids anyway, I loved having my grand daughter at my house over the weekend...she was fascinated with the decorations on the tree and all the different colors of the lights. I gave her a Cabbage Patch doll, she seemed to love it. I have some Duck Dynasty Knomes that she played with at Thanksgiving and am going to try and make her a soft body version, but because of our kids schedules we celebrated Christmas early with them and I have not made it yet. I look forward to more grandchildren, we will be blessed with another in June.
I have all these thoughts of things I wanted to do to prepare for Christmas, I wanted to make some pine cone wreaths and use some for crafts like decorations for the tree, I want to use pine boughs and holly for decorations too...but it will just be me and my husband on Christmas this year and with all the chores I have I may skip even attempting anything like that until I have more time. I have a hard time getting everyday chores done without adding to them right now. I am just thankful that we got to have some family here for a few days. I did get the Christmas tree up and decorated before they came and that was a feat in itself.
I made candles, goats milk soap, laundry soap and cookies and put them in gift baskets with coffee, homemade vanilla, hot sauce and jelly for the kids. I normally do more, but it is what it is and I hope they enjoy the fruits of my labor. The jellies were from the Plum trees and Dewberries we have growing wild here. I hope my son will bring my grand daughter out more in the future, she loves the ducks, geese and chickens...maybe some day she will enjoy learning to fish in our pond and maybe camping out on our land some day.
I hate talking about death, but we had something kill a couple of young chickens and a young duck this past week. Only one body was totally missing, the heads were missing off of the duck and the rooster. I had an open duck house that had been hastily put together when it was going to get down in the 20's...I totally revamped it, beefed it up clad it with metal and put a polycarbonate window...and put a lockable door on it. All of the chickens are locked up at night now as are the ducks and geese. I purchased a live trap and we set it up in the duck pen the first night, but it is just outside the perimeter fence now. We have caught nothing, so it probably isn't a raccoon or possum like some thought. I was leaning toward a large owl...we saw no tracks. The duck was almost adult size, the hen that is completely missing probably only weighed about 3 pounds...just a small pile of her feathers was left behind. The rooster that was killed, well there was a large pile of feathers in one spot, but his headless body was found in a tarp covered chicken tractor. I started letting my dogs outside the backyard fence again, I figure that their scent will keep most animals away. I have ordered a trail camera so if it comes back, we will be able to figure out what it is. I also built what is known as a pop door for the large coop, we had been using a piece of the metal siding and large magnets...but the roosters learned to pull the metal off.
I have been working with the roosters, trying to get everyone integrated and right now I have a bunch of roosters in the coop we call "the Condo", we let all of the big coop chickens out this morning and they can feel safe from getting pecked on by the big roosters. There is about a 4 month difference in their ages for the bulk of the chickens in the big coop. I do have babies in the big coop too, and 4 more will be added tonight, then I will only have 5 chicks left in the brooder...I will wait a bit longer to add them to the big coop, they need to be about 3 months old I think, I will get them out when they get too big to walk under the roost in the brooder like the other ones.
I think most people have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads this time of year...me I am chicken obsessed, I have visions of colored eggs, hatching new chicks, breeding the ones I have, building the breeding pens...and the first time processing roosters.
I have all these thoughts of things I wanted to do to prepare for Christmas, I wanted to make some pine cone wreaths and use some for crafts like decorations for the tree, I want to use pine boughs and holly for decorations too...but it will just be me and my husband on Christmas this year and with all the chores I have I may skip even attempting anything like that until I have more time. I have a hard time getting everyday chores done without adding to them right now. I am just thankful that we got to have some family here for a few days. I did get the Christmas tree up and decorated before they came and that was a feat in itself.
I made candles, goats milk soap, laundry soap and cookies and put them in gift baskets with coffee, homemade vanilla, hot sauce and jelly for the kids. I normally do more, but it is what it is and I hope they enjoy the fruits of my labor. The jellies were from the Plum trees and Dewberries we have growing wild here. I hope my son will bring my grand daughter out more in the future, she loves the ducks, geese and chickens...maybe some day she will enjoy learning to fish in our pond and maybe camping out on our land some day.
I hate talking about death, but we had something kill a couple of young chickens and a young duck this past week. Only one body was totally missing, the heads were missing off of the duck and the rooster. I had an open duck house that had been hastily put together when it was going to get down in the 20's...I totally revamped it, beefed it up clad it with metal and put a polycarbonate window...and put a lockable door on it. All of the chickens are locked up at night now as are the ducks and geese. I purchased a live trap and we set it up in the duck pen the first night, but it is just outside the perimeter fence now. We have caught nothing, so it probably isn't a raccoon or possum like some thought. I was leaning toward a large owl...we saw no tracks. The duck was almost adult size, the hen that is completely missing probably only weighed about 3 pounds...just a small pile of her feathers was left behind. The rooster that was killed, well there was a large pile of feathers in one spot, but his headless body was found in a tarp covered chicken tractor. I started letting my dogs outside the backyard fence again, I figure that their scent will keep most animals away. I have ordered a trail camera so if it comes back, we will be able to figure out what it is. I also built what is known as a pop door for the large coop, we had been using a piece of the metal siding and large magnets...but the roosters learned to pull the metal off.
I have been working with the roosters, trying to get everyone integrated and right now I have a bunch of roosters in the coop we call "the Condo", we let all of the big coop chickens out this morning and they can feel safe from getting pecked on by the big roosters. There is about a 4 month difference in their ages for the bulk of the chickens in the big coop. I do have babies in the big coop too, and 4 more will be added tonight, then I will only have 5 chicks left in the brooder...I will wait a bit longer to add them to the big coop, they need to be about 3 months old I think, I will get them out when they get too big to walk under the roost in the brooder like the other ones.
I think most people have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads this time of year...me I am chicken obsessed, I have visions of colored eggs, hatching new chicks, breeding the ones I have, building the breeding pens...and the first time processing roosters.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Finally ALL Out of The House
After 7 months of hatching eggs and then growing babies, I don't have any chicks or ducks in the house! Call me crazy...but I keep looking at hatching eggs on eBay, but I will wait until at least after Christmas to hatch any more.
Why you ask? Why would I want to hatch more cute little fluffy babies? Well, to sell and rotate my stock. A hen lays the best the first two years of her life, they can slow down after that two years. A lot of people around here raise chickens so they can have eggs, and they don't want all the trouble a rooster can cause either, so they have no protection for their flock. Even when you have a rooster they will die protecting their girls, roosters are very protective and if a raccoon or fox, or even a hawk tries to grab one of the girls, he will do his best to fight it off and will sacrifice himself so the hens will live. I have around 30 roosters at the moment. It is the luck of the draw when you hatch eggs, a lot of the time you get about half roosters.
I ordered restraining cones yesterday, it is a device to keep a bird still when you decide it is time to process them. The majority of my Roosters are adult size now, I have a lot of different breeds and will keep at least one Rooster of each. Roosters can get rather aggressive though, they fight for dominance and injuries to other birds can occur, even deaths. I lost two young Roosters that would not back down to the dominant male in the Coop Run...it is set up like a coop now, it has a roof, roosting bars and nest boxes too. It is best to introduce new younger chickens slowly because of the pecking order thing that goes on with chickens, I took a chance and put the largest youngsters out in the Run without much of an introduction. I was working outside on cleaning and building so I kept an eye on them for the day, everything was going pretty well and about a week later I guess the little Roosters decided to take on the bigger Rooster. My husband found a lot of blood one morning when he was feeding, he told me all of the chickens looked OK though, but I might want to check them out. Later when I went out, I found the two dead...so I guess maybe he might have interrupted the fight with feeding and they resumed it afterward. There was no blood on them, but after inspecting some of the other baby Roosters I noticed some cuts and abrasions on their feet and legs.
No, I did not cry. Upset that it happened, yes...and I feel bad about it. I have learned that death is part of raising chickens though, and that is why I don't really name them. My husband does name some of them. I try to keep them all healthy and nurse them when anything happens. I named this one I nursed Diamond the other day, she is a small Dominique hen...one of the favorites of my Easter Egger Rooster my husband calls Mr. Poofy Face. Chickens can be kind of stupid sometimes, when it got cold a few weeks ago, Diamond and her flock stood out in the rain and cold...got soaking wet too. Normally a chickens feathers keeps them plenty warm, she was molting and what made it worse, she was missing feathers in her saddle area. I went out to feed and check on all of them and I could hear her breath from 15 feet away. She was standing in one spot and making raspy gurgling noises. I picked her up and felt so sorry for her...she was still wet, her few feathers were matted to her little body and I could feel the rattling in her chest. I brought her into the house, I have large totes that I use as brooders when I hatch chicks and I had one ready to put her into. I had moved babies to the brooder that I had moved into the storage room with the water heater so I had room. I still had one batch of babies in the bathroom and did not want them sick, so she was kept in the office.
I got the tools of the trade out...VetRx and Electrolytes with Vitamins and Probiotics, got her all set up and warm. Put the VetRx on her and the Vitamins in the water. VetRx works something like Vicks Vaporub on people, it is all natural ingredients and usually helps with any congestion or breathing issues. So she gots some on her head, a drop on her beak, under both wings and some on her chest. She was really sounding bad a half hour later, so I got my Eucalyptus oil, Pepermint oil and Oregano oil out...I put a few drops of Oregano oil into her beak, and a few drops of Pepermint and Eucalyptus on the puppy pad in her tote. I gave her some fermented feed with a couple of drops of Oregano oil in it too. I did this for a few days, when she seem unchanged I added antibiotics to her water and still did the rest...after a week she laid an egg. Diamond still had that sound and gurgling noise in her chest, she never had any discharge from her eyes or nose...but she still sounded bad. I got Duramyacin and started giving her a shot a day...still did the other too. She started walking around more, she even started laying an egg every other day, but still sounded bad. I finally got some Tylan, Tractor Supply had it in the small bottle finally! I gave her a shot of Tylan, then waited another day...discontinued the other stuff so I could tell if it was working, gave her another shot and moved her to a kennel on the back porch for some fresh air. She seemed much better faster after the Tylan injections. I kept her out in the kennel for another week after being in the house for almost a month! Tell me I don't take good care of my chickens...I may just slap you. Lol...anyway, I do the best I can...like I said before, at this time in my life they are like my children. Wouldn't you do everything you could to take care of them?
Why you ask? Why would I want to hatch more cute little fluffy babies? Well, to sell and rotate my stock. A hen lays the best the first two years of her life, they can slow down after that two years. A lot of people around here raise chickens so they can have eggs, and they don't want all the trouble a rooster can cause either, so they have no protection for their flock. Even when you have a rooster they will die protecting their girls, roosters are very protective and if a raccoon or fox, or even a hawk tries to grab one of the girls, he will do his best to fight it off and will sacrifice himself so the hens will live. I have around 30 roosters at the moment. It is the luck of the draw when you hatch eggs, a lot of the time you get about half roosters.
I ordered restraining cones yesterday, it is a device to keep a bird still when you decide it is time to process them. The majority of my Roosters are adult size now, I have a lot of different breeds and will keep at least one Rooster of each. Roosters can get rather aggressive though, they fight for dominance and injuries to other birds can occur, even deaths. I lost two young Roosters that would not back down to the dominant male in the Coop Run...it is set up like a coop now, it has a roof, roosting bars and nest boxes too. It is best to introduce new younger chickens slowly because of the pecking order thing that goes on with chickens, I took a chance and put the largest youngsters out in the Run without much of an introduction. I was working outside on cleaning and building so I kept an eye on them for the day, everything was going pretty well and about a week later I guess the little Roosters decided to take on the bigger Rooster. My husband found a lot of blood one morning when he was feeding, he told me all of the chickens looked OK though, but I might want to check them out. Later when I went out, I found the two dead...so I guess maybe he might have interrupted the fight with feeding and they resumed it afterward. There was no blood on them, but after inspecting some of the other baby Roosters I noticed some cuts and abrasions on their feet and legs.
No, I did not cry. Upset that it happened, yes...and I feel bad about it. I have learned that death is part of raising chickens though, and that is why I don't really name them. My husband does name some of them. I try to keep them all healthy and nurse them when anything happens. I named this one I nursed Diamond the other day, she is a small Dominique hen...one of the favorites of my Easter Egger Rooster my husband calls Mr. Poofy Face. Chickens can be kind of stupid sometimes, when it got cold a few weeks ago, Diamond and her flock stood out in the rain and cold...got soaking wet too. Normally a chickens feathers keeps them plenty warm, she was molting and what made it worse, she was missing feathers in her saddle area. I went out to feed and check on all of them and I could hear her breath from 15 feet away. She was standing in one spot and making raspy gurgling noises. I picked her up and felt so sorry for her...she was still wet, her few feathers were matted to her little body and I could feel the rattling in her chest. I brought her into the house, I have large totes that I use as brooders when I hatch chicks and I had one ready to put her into. I had moved babies to the brooder that I had moved into the storage room with the water heater so I had room. I still had one batch of babies in the bathroom and did not want them sick, so she was kept in the office.
I got the tools of the trade out...VetRx and Electrolytes with Vitamins and Probiotics, got her all set up and warm. Put the VetRx on her and the Vitamins in the water. VetRx works something like Vicks Vaporub on people, it is all natural ingredients and usually helps with any congestion or breathing issues. So she gots some on her head, a drop on her beak, under both wings and some on her chest. She was really sounding bad a half hour later, so I got my Eucalyptus oil, Pepermint oil and Oregano oil out...I put a few drops of Oregano oil into her beak, and a few drops of Pepermint and Eucalyptus on the puppy pad in her tote. I gave her some fermented feed with a couple of drops of Oregano oil in it too. I did this for a few days, when she seem unchanged I added antibiotics to her water and still did the rest...after a week she laid an egg. Diamond still had that sound and gurgling noise in her chest, she never had any discharge from her eyes or nose...but she still sounded bad. I got Duramyacin and started giving her a shot a day...still did the other too. She started walking around more, she even started laying an egg every other day, but still sounded bad. I finally got some Tylan, Tractor Supply had it in the small bottle finally! I gave her a shot of Tylan, then waited another day...discontinued the other stuff so I could tell if it was working, gave her another shot and moved her to a kennel on the back porch for some fresh air. She seemed much better faster after the Tylan injections. I kept her out in the kennel for another week after being in the house for almost a month! Tell me I don't take good care of my chickens...I may just slap you. Lol...anyway, I do the best I can...like I said before, at this time in my life they are like my children. Wouldn't you do everything you could to take care of them?
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