Writing (typing) stuff down to figure out a time line.
I also want to *try* to keep track of feed costs for the meat birds. As of right now 20% chick starter mash from the local mill is about 16$ per 50lb bag. I prefer to feed this even to my adult birds as they all seem to enjoy it. Meat bird...
I ordered seeds before Christmas, the first two were freebies!
Also saved seeds from last summer so I’ve got beans, scalloped summer squash, and cucumbers that I quite liked. I tried saving the candy roaster seeds as well but all the blooms I hand pollinated aborted as a lot of fruit had...
I've found black currants growing wild near a creek, right by the road off a bridge actually. They ripen in summer which is right around the time I go bridge hopping while fishing. They make a nice quick snack but I'd like to pick enough to make something with them.
You should never have to live in fear of your roosters. Sounds like your neighbor got rid of his problem by making it your problem.
I don’t bother keeping a rooster who acts even a little aggressive towards people, it is hard to break them of it and even then you can’t trust them. I try not to...
Sold 4 pullets, down to 45 chickens. Someone else has 8 other pullets called for, working on a day that works for us both. 2 more pullets are on the list to go but if I can’t sell them I’ll keep them for now as I do like them both.
It got down to -22F over the weekend and the cold has been...
Typically any eggs left after the first big hatching event won’t be hatching on their own. Yes there may be one or two who manage but IME they usually need help or are already gone. Often times they are slow to hatch for a reason too, such as a deformity or bad positioning so be prepared for...
Down to 43 (plus 2 bantams). I'm making headway in selling my extra layers! All it took was a listing on Craigslist and one on Facebook in a chicken group for my area. I was able to sell 4 pullets (leghorn, 2 bantam daughters, black brahma X) to a fella and I'm working on getting 8 more sold to...
A fresh, healthy bird should not have a rancid smell to the carcass. Was it her first time processing? Did she perhaps cut into the guts and get some goo on the flesh? If she only smelled the stank when skinning but not after all was said and done then maybe it wasn’t the fat that was smelly but...
Looks normal to me. The embryo and yolk will float to the top whichever way you are holding the egg. The egg white (albumen) will naturally be at the bottom. As the chick grows they will absorb the yolk and albumen while filling out the egg. From what I’ve noticed they fill out the tip of the...
Looks like an egg within an egg! The thin membrane there looks to be a poorly developed shell with just a little bit of the white. Nothing to worry about IMO.
Monday I had 16 chicken and 1 duck eggs. 4 eggs were frozen (including the duck’s) and then I fumbled 2 good eggs while I was putting them in the carton. Needless to say I had scrambled eggs for dinner. Yesterday got 14 eggs, none of which froze.
Today I’m up to 1 (frozen) duck egg and 5...
Not sure what you mean. Being cold won’t make the eggs go bad, so long as they don’t freeze enough to split open they should be fine. Even if they do split open you can still eat them if they are clean, have to do it sooner rather than later. I ate 2 cracked frozen eggs last night, thawed and...
I'm not terribly worried about the extra week of incubation. This particular hen sat for at least 1, possibly 2 weeks before I was able to collect the eggs I wanted her to sit on last time. If the hen abandons the eggs early I have an incubator just in case.
Now that my kahki duck has finally laid her first egg, which looked to be fertile when I fried it up, I'm playing with the idea of letting a broody hen hatch some duck eggs for me. I'd much rather let a hen brood ducklings as once was enough for me. They are 10x more messy than chicks!
I have...
16 yesterday, one being a first time pullet who I caught in the act.
8 so far, finally got my first duck egg (top right)! 3 greens are yet to be determined for who laid them.
17 yesterday, new record for the year! 3 on the right below the gap are unknown layers but I have a couple guesses. 4 on the left are ones who skipped yesterday but laid early today. It appears I need more blues, too bad my 2 blue layers are still on break, though I suspect my friendly EE has a...
Looking to reduce numbers before hatching more eggs. I have 14 layers available with all but a few actively laying. One cream legbar, a diamond duchess, white leghorn, sapphire sky and an EE (only one who is over 1yr old). The remaining 9 were hatched from my own flock last spring/summer. I...
I wouldn't say colored layers are any more flighty than the usual brown layers. My friendliest girls are an EE and a legbar based OE, both of which I can pretty easily pick up without much fuss and they follow at my heels more often than not! But I will also say my least friendly girl is a mutt...
I would say it is likely canker then. Pigeon pox is also a possibility but from what I can find canker tends to be yellow, cheesy lumps.
I suggest you do some reading up on both canker and pigeon pox. I’m not well versed in it myself so don’t have much to offer. Sounds like canker is more of a...
Can you look inside their mouths? I’ve been watched some videos of a fella with racing pigeons and he often runs into canker issues with his chicks during a certain time of the year.