Minnesota!

[lalaland]

THIS IS FOR FELLOW CREAMETTE CARETAKERS ONLY:

How are you doing on special blue eggs?

I have not had one since Thursday afternoon. At this rate I am going to go broke raising $1500 eggs.


Just curious, I have taken every suggestion and then some and am getting skunked. If you are getting some tell me what you are doing.

I am thinking of setting up a grill, where they can see it and cooking chicken legs and lobsters to show them what can happen to expensive things that do not lay eggs...

lord you make me laugh!

I haven't had an egg since last thursday too! but since my little cream legbar hen is ill I can't expect one. I forgot and can't remember (I have CRS, my apologies) whether I posted in this thread that she is getting better.

 

[duluthralphie]

Dandelioness How are you eggs doing? Any or how many babies this morning?


Minnie Do you think peanuts are too much protein as a treat/scratch? occasionally?


I have a hole in one of my turkey eggs this morning, I can see the beak moving, JJ is going to be a Daddy!

 

[lalaland]

you know what, Ralphie......an old farmer neighbor told me to crush up a tums and give it to the girls when they were slow laying. I can't think it would hurt and who knows? could just be an old farmers tale

 

[duluthralphie]

Maybe I should put a tums dispenser ( sort of like a Pez dispenser) under the KFC poster...

 

[duluthralphie]

lord you make me laugh!

I haven't had an egg since last thursday too! but since my little cream legbar hen is ill I can't expect one. I forgot and can't remember (I have CRS, my apologies) whether I posted in this thread that she is getting better.

Glad to hear she is getting better.. Bert is doing better too, he is going outside to free range today! (but I will bring him in tonight, I kind of like have him to cuddle with when I sleep....My DW thinks I have an unhealthy relationship with Bert, but what does she know.

 

[Scott16475]

If you are getting birds that came from any of the big hatcheries, you can't expect them to be consistent in color or very close to what the color standard is supposed to be either. Some hatchery SLWs are very black, others are very white.

Thank you, Minniechickmama!

 

[ejb3810]

Ralphie, I don't know about peanuts for the chickens? They have a high fat content which may be a bit over the top, and they are relatively expensive. Black Oil Sunflower seeds should work as well for less money.
I would suggest that you feed Game Bird Breeder pellets to your Cream Legbars if you have not already tried that. It may stimulate egg production?
If all of this fails, I would suggest moving on to legitimate Ameracaunas for blue (not green) egg producers. If you get to that point let me know & I can suggest some sources.
Perhaps it is time for another heart to heart talk with Ole. Have you told him that sexual violence will not be tolerated in the chicken yard, and continued transgressions may result in a family barbecue with him as guest of honor?

 

[duluthralphie]

I talk to Ole all the time. I actually enjoy his antics, They seldom get him anywhere, but he is nearly as much fun to watch as the guinea hens.

I have tried game bird feed on the Creamettes, I feed them sunflower seeds, I have given them oats, mixed wild bird seed. I have plead with them, I even offered them some of my Yukon jack and they turned it down.


I have some hens that produce nice blue eggs, so nice that I have to mark the Creamette eggs as soon as I get them so they do not get mixed up. If Ole is succeeding once in every 5-10 tries I should have some nice blue eggs from his babies. He will be getting a chance to succeed more often soon. Beings I have my Guinea hens trained to lay eggs in the coop, I am going to put turkeys and Ernie (my BA rooster) my BA hens and my BSL hens in with the guinea gulag so I can get some "more pure" chicks. I like the look of a BSL?BA Cross and hopefully I can get more BAs.

I have 18 guinea eggs in the incubators and I really do not need more than that. If I get 10 babies that will give the predators a few to kill off.



If Ole ever does become guest of honor at a BBQ, I would think you would have to come done for it, after all you made him everything he is today.

 

[Dandelioness]

Scott, I have a favorite RIR rooster who is what they call a sport. His coloring is heavy on white feathering with grey splashing on the body, but his tail, hackles, face, comb and body type scream RIR. His name is, of course, Red. He came from a conservation breeder and is really the only sport I received from him, so it can happen. I would look at body type and even facial features before deciding if your SLW is an australorp or production black vs a sport. The Wyandottes have a very distinct body type, especially the hens. I hope it's just a sport and you weren't "swindled" in any way. But I will say that both australorps and production blacks have very good qualities so don't despair too much. The SLWs are awfully pretty, though.

Jailer Joe, I am glad to hear they are at least practicing biosecurity. It sounds like they've just quarantined the eggs, not given the chickens medicine, right? I would for sure be boiling, chopping and feeding every single egg I couldn't eat so save on feed bill until the quarantine period is over. Have they made you confine your birds or anything else? Just curious to see how they're handling it. Wishing you all the best for a healthy flock.

Holm, I am so sorry to hear about your feed mill going up in flames! IDK what I would do! I do have other feed stores I could drive out to, but I really like the staff and pricing at mine. Even though I come in there asking weirdo questions, they still try to listen and help me with things.

Well, I haven't given up on my hatch yet. There is ONE egg that pipped around lunch yesterday and peeped sporadically. So of course, I told everyone to peep or cluck back every time they heard it to encourage the chick. You can only imagine how amused my husband and teen son were by these orders. By last night right before bed,there was a hole in the membrane and you could see the little beak moving around. It would chirp back and struggle at the sound of our clucking/peeping noises. This morning, still no progress, but it is chirping and struggling more. You can imagine the sounds in my house this morning. My eldest daughter has been hearing more pecking noises from other eggs (you can see the one chick's beak, and it's more than one sound). So I think maybe I hadn't gotten the temp settled in the beginning? This is Day 24, but I'm going to think of it as 20 or 21 and extend my lockdown. I know it still may be wishful thinking, but I cannot imagine this one guy wouldn't make it out. He sounds happy or curious rather than distressed, but it is my first hatch.

Getting the garden in little by little with some good helpers, and my teen son has build me a very nice outdoor brooder box for my sweeter heater. I can use the heating pad in it for smaller broods and the heater for up to 100 chicks. Working on a walk-in portable run for the brooder & bunny to share (the bunny will be supervised, of course). When all that is functional, I'll post some photos.

And peeps, too, if they make it out.

I very much enjoy the thread. Take care, MN peeps!

 

[Minniechickmama]

Minnie Do you think peanuts are too much protein as a treat/scratch? occasionally?


I have a hole in one of my turkey eggs this morning, I can see the beak moving, JJ is going to be a Daddy!

Buy that Tom a seegar!!

As for the peanuts, I would think they would be fine, but you don't want to overdo it with protein either or you are then looking at kidney overtaxing. However, that would be more of a long-term use problem. The sunflower kernels and calf manna would just be fed as sort of a treat, not complete diet. About a tablespoon of either each day would be sufficient.