EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[dan26552]

Hey I was wondering if the used pine shavings from my ducks house would make good much around plants? Don't know if I want duck poo splashing up on my vegetables but wouldn't it be ok around trees or just ornamental stuff?

I don't use pine shaving I use straw or hay but I have taken it right out of the coop and mulched plants with it and had no problem. The figs actually set more fruit and ripen faster this year than last year and the blackberries have gone insane.

 

[kwhites634]

Hi all! I've been MIA few a few weeks. Just not enough time to keep up with this thread lol. I found some time tonight so I thought I'd drop in, say hi, and share some pics

The broodies are working hard, raising their littles. Ana (SPR) had hers from a day old. The Silver Welbar girl took it apon herself to start mothering some 4 week old CCL cockerels. I still have 3 more broodies sitting on air (4 if you count the broody duck and 7 if you add in the turkeys!)
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We've been raising up a few of our meaties from earlier in the year to try to breed and outcross them. We had to butcher 2 of the boys because they were just too big and clumsy to have any chance of breeding. One was almost 12 pounds dressed out and we had a thanksgiving style feast. He fed us almost a week straight! Here are the kids holding two that are still going strong. Brendon has Big Betty and Katelyn is struggling to hold Cap'n (short for Captain America. He had blue kote on him for a bit lol)

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Simon serama, hatched from @SallySunshine 's eggs, moved out to the rabbit hutch the other day with his seabright ladies. They get their own private digs since they'll get stepped on with the rest of the flock.

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Then there's Sunshine and Lollipop, the goslings. They are getting SO big!

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Not much else is new here. @kwhites634 , I just scored some nice BCM last week from supposedly great lines and very dark eggs. If all goes well, I'll be breeding them next spring

@Fire Ant Farm the luffa gourds are doing great and are officially outside now. They seem to be liking the weather so far!

Hope everyone is doing well!

When you do, I'll take some.

 

[Pensmaster]

Well, you sure were a stinker, eh?

No not me.

When you do, I'll take some.

Well out of 29 shipped eggs 16 are still going. Lockdown on Monday

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Deal, since I'm making bread.

No, honestly, I enjoy making bread. I LOVE baking. I just hate cooking lol. Plus, I could always break off a piece, smear it with butter and throw on some cinnamon and sugar and make myself a little cinnamon roll

Question on the Royal Palm turkeys. Sorry if I've already asked, are they good for thanksgiving meal. Friend has 15 poults from two broody hens he needs to sell. He thought a coyote got them until they came back in with their young ones.

They would work but wouldn't get huge. My palms seem to be a bit smaller and lighter than the other turkeys. Feed them lots of high protien and fatten them up with corn a month before and they just might make a good meal

 

[Pensmaster]

I don't use pine shaving I use straw or hay but I have taken it right out of the coop and mulched plants with it and had no problem. The figs actually set more fruit and ripen faster this year than last year and the blackberries have gone insane.

Speaking of blackberry has anyone found a good thornless one?

 

[Pensmaster]

No, honestly, I enjoy making bread. I LOVE baking. I just hate cooking lol. Plus, I could always break off a piece, smear it with butter and throw on some cinnamon and sugar and make myself a little cinnamon roll



They would work but wouldn't get huge. My palms seem to be a bit smaller and lighter than the other turkeys. Feed them lots of high protien and fatten them up with corn a month before and they just might make a good meal

Well they wouldn't need to be too big. I've had the larger ones before they were far too big. I'll give these a try if he can catch them. They've gone a little wild on him.

Warm cinnamon rolls from fresh baked bread are yummy

 

[Pensmaster]

I don't use pine shaving I use straw or hay but I have taken it right out of the coop and mulched plants with it and had no problem. The figs actually set more fruit and ripen faster this year than last year and the blackberries have gone insane.

Forgot to mention my tomatoes have been loving the composted chicken stuff as well.

 

[mlm Mike]

Wow! Scary - and glad you caught it! (Glad you came by - Sorry, I really should have tagged you when I used your picture. )



No, no thanks on the drive, but I'll catch you for one of them!



It's coming UP to 102-103 today... It's supposed to cool off next week, though. High of maybe 90 tomorrow.



I tried ice as well and they didn't care for it. But I have a "spare freezer" (a freezer I don't trust as it has failed a few times, but keep for non-spoiling stuff like ice and flour and the ice cream maker bowl), and so I try to keep some ice frozen in some bigger blocks in there for their water pans, and will probably put some gallon jugs in there, just in case. I select for heat, and when picking cockerels to keep, that's a deal breaker if they seem to suffer too much. But if it gets a lot more hot than they're used to I'd like to be prepared. I don't have the misters set up yet, but that's on the list. I might also try that frozen treat thing...



Through the 10th of July, although I have a few days I have to go back in in-between. I have all kinds of stuff that needs to be done outside - I just have to suck it up with the heat.At least it's supposed to cool off some next week.

Having breakfast, then heading out to try to get a bunch of stuff done before it gets too hot. And I have some shade cloth to rig on the fronts of a couple of those new tractor coops - direct sun shines in for an hour or two for some of them, and that's too much at these temps. They can go out to other shaded areas, of course, but still. And one of the girls in Khan's group is now laying - found an egg on the ground next to the water pan. So I need to get in some nest boxes and rig an egg door.

I mulched the apple trees yesterday - and of course, Puppy came along and "helped" (sigh). I wonder if anything will be left when I go out there this AM (she was at it again bright and early). I remind myself that at least it's better than the deer were.

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I also weeded around the blackberries (extremely overgrown), and need to also mulch them. I've sort of done the benign neglect thing with them, and there were so many tall weeds in around the thorned canes. Ow! There was also a hornet nest in there near ground level. I got lucky - threw a bucket over it and kept going, never got stung. Once I was done, I kicked the bucket over and ran. (I have what's called a large local reaction allergy to them - but I have a steroid pack in the medicine cabinet for that purpose.)

Nice long vacation! Sounds like you will stay busy enough.

Shoes somehow go missing all the time. Barefoot is easier---you can't lose your feet.

Feet wash easier than shoes, too.

Speaking of thorns, Tank has a great big thorn impaled in his comb, poor boy. He didn't want me near him and it's too hot to stress him by chasing him - I'll have to get it tonight.

I hope he's ok.

You did? I didn't see it.

I actually just did this myself - I had shavings from cleaning out the brooders, and had previously piled them in a pile to compost, but Puppy (my free/lone ranger) broke the whole pile down with her little dancing feet. So I needed to move them elsewhere. Decided to put them around my apple trees - I'll also put them around the blackberries. I don't expect to get any fruit from the blackberries this year (just getting established, and I'm doing my standard "abuse the plant and force it to grow roots and take care of itself" thing, so they are alive, but not producing this year). Apples would be bagged and picked off the tree. I probably wouldn't use it in the veggie garden until broken down for a long time...

- Ant Farm

Puppy sure is a big help!

No room for ducks here. I've seen what mess they make at my friends house. His pond is obliterated from them. Not that my pond is any better due to weeds but his is completely barren. Except for all the poo.
I'm considering some Royal Palm poults from a friend that had two broody hens.

Get the palms!

Somebody want to do my cooking and baking for me today?

Nope

We used to do something similar as kids. Mom would let us walk to the library and only the library. Along the way if we happened to find a pop bottle to exchange for candy at the Five And Dime well....
Always wondered about the logic as I got older of being able to walk to the library and school many blocks away but yet while playing out front we could only go five houses down and not across the street.



Question on the Royal Palm turkeys. Sorry if I've already asked, are they good for thanksgiving meal. Friend has 15 poults from two broody hens he needs to sell. He thought a coyote got them until they came back in with their young ones.

They could work for a small gathering.

 

[mlm Mike]

Found in the doe barn yesterday:

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Good morning, everyone!!!!

I'll say you got lost. I logged in this AM to 49 notifications, all about you liking or commenting on an image.

You would have loved them. They were the sweetest things...

I haven't cleaned my coop out since last December, so I still find chunks of their feathers in the bedding sometimes. Poor things.

I'm working on the brush pile during this "vacation" and I still find Goodwin's feathers back there. It's motivating, though.

Good morning, sleepies. You're usually up by now.

Had to make breakfast!

Somebody want to do my cooking and baking for me today?

I love to cook and bake, but that's a reward for me. I have too much to do outside...l

I'd gladly go shopping instead. Why? I have to drive past the feed store to get to the grocery store... And if I happen to pull in and spend an hour debating the merits of one roll of HWC vs another, or maybe grab some new feed pans... Nobody would know.

Did you make it to the library?

Just missed you. I'll be getting out there soon as it's cooler this morning and list is long.

It's going to be a lot cooler today (~93-ish) as some rain may be coming in later in the day, but I still want to get an early start. I have coop cleaning to do before any rain comes.

I don't use pine shaving I use straw or hay but I have taken it right out of the coop and mulched plants with it and had no problem. The figs actually set more fruit and ripen faster this year than last year and the blackberries have gone insane.

That's super to know! I have coop cleaning to do today (deep litter), and I'm going to do just that on the blackberries. I looked out the window this morning - Puppy popped out of the paddock bright and early and is already "helping" redistribute the bedding/mulch around the apple trees... Little stinker.

No not me.




Well out of 29 shipped eggs 16 are still going. Lockdown on Monday

(Are these the bantam DC and some NNs? I lost track.)

No, honestly, I enjoy making bread. I LOVE baking. I just hate cooking lol. Plus, I could always break off a piece, smear it with butter and throw on some cinnamon and sugar and make myself a little cinnamon roll

They would work but wouldn't get huge. My palms seem to be a bit smaller and lighter than the other turkeys. Feed them lots of high protien and fatten them up with corn a month before and they just might make a good meal

I love cooking. I like baking just fine as well, but LOVE cooking.

But I have work to do, so I'd better do it. I think I may need to take out stock in that Cutter Backwoods Off spray - I need to go get myself a case of it.