Chickens, and things related

[dooleysm]

Saturday night we were out way later than I had planned. The chickens were locked out of the coop and we didn't get home until after midnight. They were penned in an area with a 4' fence and I've never had any of them fly out of there. When I went out to check on them Saturday night they were roosted on top of the run, a good 7-8' in the air. It was a bit of a chore to get them down and into the coop in the dark of night.

The guineas keep roosting outside in the run instead of in the coop with the chickens. I've been going out and moving them inside the coop each night, but that is getting old. I think that they will soon be too big to roost outside in the run though, as they are just perching on the 2x4 frame of the run. I'm really anxious to let them out during the day, but I sure don't want them roosting in a tree or somewhere that I can't get to them to secure them for the night.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Have a friend with guineas and this is very common behavior. Seem to be good bug getters but not so good at not getting eatin.

You guys are just having way too much fun with chicks. I feed the girls just after sunset or so and they know that that is the time to come into the house. I do have a lite in their house as well so i can see. Have not had the urge to lock them up at nite. Biggest problem so far is they are digging under the fixed run and something may be helping on the other side, so guess seal that off with fencing on the floor tonite.

Girls are just getting over their molt so they have time to lay eggs again. They are getting pretty old to be laying but still put out.

Had pizza the other nite and they loved the uneaten crusts!!

 

[dooleysm]

I have not been doing a good job at keeping up with picking my cucumbers, and as such they are getting huge and turning yellow, then orange. A buddy of mine wanted some cucumbers, so I went out last week to get him a batch. I ended up with about 28 gallons of over ripe cucumbers that I broke up and threw in the chicken pen. I only had maybe 2 gallons of good cucumbers. I also had 2 rows of corn that just didn't produce good ears. I picked those ears, shucked them, and threw them in the pen too.

They liked the cucumbers, but they LOVED the corn. They had those cobs picked clean in no time.

They also completely cleaned out some watermelon rinds I threw out there. Corn and watermelon seem to be their favorites so far.

Well, except for the wife's tomatoes that is!

 

[Tororider]

I think my girls favorite snacks are bananas and cooked eggs. It is pretty fun watching them play tag or keep away with it.

I got the 5-6 week olds out today in the new tractor. It was pretty funny watching them discover grass. Pretty timid at first, then they dove in and starting having fun.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Well my girls are back to themselves again after the molt. The apples are starting to ripen up (crab and regular) so they are getting those as snacks as can get them there. At least i gives them something to do rather than pecking each others tails off. They are demanding more feed as well, which means more feed in the scoop not # of scoops. They look at me funny if there are not 4 scoops of feen which may or may not be full scoops as long as it is 4!! Gotta respect the girls!!

 

[Tororider]

Well we finished the run tonight. I still have forgotten to get pictures so I will try to do that soon. I am actually really happy with the way it turned out. And puttine the 50'x50' net over the top didn't go nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Now I need my chicks to get older so I can take them out, and I will be picking up a blue laced red wyandotte and a welssummer rooster and them some australorps mostly hens and a rooster and some welsummer hens. Should be fun.

 

[Tororider]

While perusing craigslist last night I found a lady who wanted to get rid of two roosters. When I went over there today, she gave me 6-7 "roosters". One was definitely a rooster, a big buff orpington, then another buff orp "rooster" and some production red "roosters". The reason for the quotes is that I believe them to be hens after further inspection. I think she is worried that her neighbors will hear them and when the hens started bawking she thought they were roosters and wanted them gone. Funny part is she responded to a craigslist add I put out there for chicks that I will be hatching out.

 

[Tororider]

Picked up 6 black australorp pullets that are about ready to lay along with one rooster, and then two welsummer pullets. Boy are the welsummers a pretty bird. That puts us up to 17 chickens out at the bil's and 3 bigger hens here along with 20 chicks. The chicken empire is getting there.

 

[dooleysm]

When I was at the peak of 28 birds they were going through waaaayyyy too much food for my wallet to stand. About 40 pounds/week. Now I'm down to 13 hens and 1 rooster and it takes them so long to go through a 50 pound bag of food that I lose track. All the garden scraps they're getting is probably helping too.

This past weekend I got 4 eggs on Friday and Sunday and 3 on Saturday. Monday I didn't get any eggs, for the first time in months, but then yesterday I got 5 for the first time ever! There were 2 white, 2 brown, and 1 green. Those were the first white eggs I've seen, and I've seen 2 green on one day before, so I know quite a few, if not all, the hens are laying now. They are still tiny though, so we aren't having any trouble eating all that we get, but it won't be long before we're looking to get rid of extras.

 

[dooleysm]

Forgot to mention that we're heading to the Kentucky State Fair on Friday. We went last year (and I've been many times in the past) and saw a few birds for sale. I'm taking my dog crate along just in case I find something neat that I have to have.

I've only been to the Indiana and Kentucky state fairs, and the Kentucky fair blows Indiana's out of the water. Not even close. The Kentucky fair is clean, with air conditioned livestock barns, and almost no smell, even in the cattle and hog barns. The Indiana fair (at least when I was going 15-20 years ago) was dirty, hot, and smelly in comparison.