|
|
Post by aoconnor on May 2, 2017 12:28:24 GMT
What's everyone been up to?! Hope all is well for you all....
|
|
|
|
Post by shellymay on May 2, 2017 12:58:38 GMT
 We are around....LOL
I had a great selling season and sold out at around 7 weeks time frame, new chicks arrive in July and Sept, my big coop has three sections, two are cleaned (meaning all floors have been cleaned down to clean concrete, one area I kept 5 of my chickens for myself for egg layers and I just haven't taken them to home site yet, need to introduce them to the few I have at home and the LGD at home. Once I get that done and out of way I can go back and clean all the bedding up in third section and pressure wash everything down to sterilize for the new shipment ( I have some time left, lol).
I tried hatching my own eggs for the first time, NO good only had two out of 10 I think hatch and they were Black Copper Maran crossed with Golden Comets, they are about 2 months old and I think one is roo and the other hen? Tried a second hatch and I did end up with Three Black Copper Maran chicks, they were hatched first week of April, not sure what sex yet....praying for hens. I am getting plenty of eggs for us and still have plenty to share with family, still waiting for the weather here to warm up and stay that way, up and down from warm to cold and back again....So I have 8 full grown hens for eggs for us and now five young and we shall see what they turn out to be, I have two really nice Black Copper Maran roo's who haven't attacked me yet to this day and they are around 1 1/2 old, hope they stay this way 
Maybe I should of done another batch for summer sales as I still get tons of calls? but I am spending lots of time with the lambs born on the farm during the month of March and they are keeping me busy enough, 213 lambs born alive this season  weaning time is nearing and all their shots, plus the momma's and their shots and feet trimmings, now that I say all that maybe I am glad I didn't do a second batch of hens...lol They are and will be for many many years a big part of my life, I do so enjoy raising them and providing clean healthy young hens to the public.  |
|
|
|
Post by Woodpecker on May 2, 2017 13:57:38 GMT
you shellymay, are amazing! What a hard working woman you are, but you love it all! |
|
|
|
Post by Skandi on May 2, 2017 16:27:17 GMT
Mine have decided they want to be freerange, so I'll be putting a stop to that tomorrow, they've pulled half the compost heap apart, are busy unpreparing the beds in the veg garden and the cockeral is trying to chat up a pair that are in the tractor alone (one is the one the others have tried to kill twice, and the other was caught eating an egg) I really should take some cute photos of chickens and cats all rolling round on the veg garden though.
|
|
|
|
Post by farmchix on May 2, 2017 17:20:46 GMT
We just hatched another 20 and have some incubating as we speak. I think we are at Day 12. ShellyMay amazes me as well!
|
|
|
|
Post by Mari-in-IN on May 7, 2017 22:28:18 GMT
Well, not a lot going on here since I decided not to do chicks AGAIN this Spring. Since I don't send flocks off to butcher anymore it takes quite the planning and forethought IMO in regards to raising new chicks and incorporating them in existing flocks... Just didn't want the extra work this spring along with everything else - you know? And like DH likes to say... "You ain't getting any younger granny!" He's a nutjob but that is a whole 'nother story in itself...
My 8x28 coop is down to 20 chickens (4 separate areas within - total 8 roos and 13 girls) and I get 3-4 eggs from them a day. I could definitely increase the number in there and they would still be comfy...
The 8x8 coop has 12 in it (2 roos and 10 girls) and those dirty you-know-whats have started eating their eggs... If I happen to have the telly on with the cameras going - anytime I see a fresh laid egg in there I high-tail it out there before they get to it. Yeah, I'm the long-suffering softy who will let this go on until they pass on... Pathetic-huh...
The 8x12 coop has only 1 roo and 4 girls in it. They are getting up in age and I can see incorporating new blood into this coop next spring/summer. Oh, and I have been getting an egg every day or two...
The little 4x4 coop still holds my old Black Australorp roo from 2009 and "Ole One Eye" his "handicapped" friend (roo from 2011 that had an eye pecked out in a fight).
~Mari
|
|
|
|
Post by aoconnor on May 8, 2017 12:22:14 GMT
I just went through a battle with a raccoon before we finally got it trapped. It killed 2 adult Guineas, one was one of my only females left after coyotes got the ones who were sitting clutches in the tall grass. It killed several chicks that were a few weeks old, and it tore wire mesh out of one coop window. I hate raccoons, was so glad I got it in the trap! Dispatched the little bugger in a much nicer way than it had done my birds...
We still have about 10 chicks in the coop, down from 25. I also have 4 in my office that I am getting rid of today, giving them to a fellow who raises them for eggs...
|
|
|
|
Post by countrymom22 on May 11, 2017 2:18:42 GMT
In the last week I have been able to let the new pullets out to free range with the older hens and roo in the afternoons. They get so excited to be included in the afternoon plans! The roo is feeling overworked with having to keep an eye on so many ladies. But he likes them. All 8 of the new pullets roost on the top of the nest boxes, lined up on either side with the rooster. In the beginning he looked disgruntled, but now he likes them. It won't be so hard for him to keep himself warm next winter.
|
|
|
|
Post by farmchix on May 11, 2017 8:52:56 GMT
I just went through a battle with a raccoon before we finally got it trapped. It killed 2 adult Guineas, one was one of my only females left after coyotes got the ones who were sitting clutches in the tall grass. It killed several chicks that were a few weeks old, and it tore wire mesh out of one coop window. I hate raccoons, was so glad I got it in the trap! Dispatched the little bugger in a much nicer way than it had done my birds... We still have about 10 chicks in the coop, down from 25. I also have 4 in my office that I am getting rid of today, giving them to a fellow who raises them for eggs... I had to read this twice when I saw they were in your office! LOL Must have more coffee...... |
|
|
|
Post by grannyg on Nov 18, 2017 16:59:31 GMT
|
|
weaning time is nearing and all their shots, plus the momma's and their shots and feet trimmings, now that I say all that maybe I am glad I didn't do a second batch of hens...lol They are and will be for many many years a big part of my life, I do so enjoy raising them and providing clean healthy young hens to the public. 
