Good Morning!

[Killerbunny]

Yes. Just chat about what's happening in chicken/gardening whatever world!

[lolotsung]

I have been reading about the different breeds and behaviours and find it very interesting.

Two chickens that sound interesting that I have never seen or heard of are the Buckeyes and the OE's. I remember reading that it is not possible for a chicken to survive without feed but it seems like the Buckeyes can do this.

I read that a hen killed a pullet and seriously injured 2 cockerels but the same hen does not kill adult chickens. Also it appears that chickens can tell that they are part of the same hatch even when mixed with identical chickens. This make me think that they have very good memories and may be .

We are building a new house and the foundation will be poured this week (see attached photo). Hopefully the house will be complete this year. We have hired a landscape architect to plan the area around the house and I was wondering what is the ideal surface around our house for chickens? Soil? Sand? Should I worry about our chickens eating toxic plants? I just read that chickens should be kept away from tomato plants because the leaves are poisonous and also raw beans are poisonous. We planted cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes last year and the chickens would spend more time than us in the garden. I did not notice them getting sick. Our chickens free range and go wherever they want.

We changed Pizza our cat's food last year and suddenly our 10 lb cat turned into a 13 lb cat. The vet said that we need to slowly take the 3 lbs off over the course of a year.

Otis, our yellow Labrador retriever, is hungry all day!

We will hopefully have around 8 lavender orpington chicks in 2 days

[lolotsung]

*very good memories and maybe complex personalities.

[kenya]

@lolotsung Ha! Ha! Your cat will probably lose some weight with the summer weather, mine always get fat over the winter and slim down once summer comes.
Good luck with your hatch.

[Farrier1987]

Well I havent been on for a while. Just sort of not into much lately. Had to put down too many friends over the last 6 months. Broken leg. Covid. Lots to whine and whimper about. And of course there is always family. Family of idiots I think, includes me.Then I saw Wll posts and Shirley and her nab and I got to thinking, philosophizing.

I was sad because I had no shoes. Then I saw a man with no feet. So I asked him "Hey, you got any shoes you arent using?"

And then I felt a little better.

Going to get covid shots on Tues. (Phiser) Dr apptment in a couple weeks for exrays, see if this dam leg has healed yet, Going mostly without the air cast now. Dam thing aches though, about 6 ibuprofin a day, but cutting down to four last few days. Able to do chores again if I am careful and the dam goats dont knock me over. Starting some garden (going to start a thread). Grass is getting green, buds on the trees swelling, dafodills blooming, crocuses done. Got a new cat. Turned the timer off, getting close to a dozen eggs a day.

Life in general is coming around. Havent heard from that WihinyWhimperingWolf in a long time. I think I will start picking at her soon. That always makes me feel better to be pestering somone.

[Killerbunny]

Our daffs are glorious. Complained a lot about cost of bulbs but so worth it.

[WLLady]

hi all,

i actually cut some daffodils and brought them in the house this year and didn't even notice they were missing from the garden. looks like the bulbs are finally possibly getting used to the crappy sandy dirt we have here! Put mealworms out for the bluebirds. haven't really been watching to see if they found them yet. there's someone in each of the birdhouses on the hydropoles down to the road, so hopefully the 2 pairs we saw managed to claim some. There are sparrow in the 2 closest to the house, and i think a flicker has moved into the one by the grapes. so nice to hear the tweety birds in the woods now. we have only seen and only heard 1 wild turkey tom this year. just one. we've seen 1 hen. that's it. so we're passing on turkey season this spring. we've had coyotes and those wild brush wolf/dog things like crazy this year. a guy that hunts down here with dogs removed 45 coyotes in one weekend. it was crazy the number of dogs we've seen and heard this year. there have been nights that i heard them and went to make sure my mostly blind old clydesdale is actually up at or in the barn when i hear them that close. they've gone after the horses before, ted fought them off but teds gone now, and i don't think molly would stand a chance....and i don't want her to go out that way. i want her to go out quietly in her sleep one night thank you very much.

@Farrier1987 i hope that that leg is healing up well! bone does seem to hurt a lot when it's growing somehow.

have a little bit of time off work this week. I think i'll spend it in the greenhouse-at least today-and get the rest of the seed started. the lettuce, spinach, thyme, oregano, cabbage, zinnias and a few of the other perennial flower seed has already sprouted. waiting on the tomatoes....they usually go fast, but not this year. oh well. sounds like an oriole outside my door right now. that would be nice. nest building has begun in a huge way! no shed horse hair lays untouched for long. It still amazes me how much hair comes out of a horse in the spring.

my mom got her first shot yesterday. very very happy about that. and my dad and his wife are fully vaccinated in the USA. they're so far ahead of us....i wish it would speed up here. people are tired. i thank my lucky stars that so far so good...and i haven't had to be tested yet. but i drive by one of the testing centers on my way to and from work and it's lined up out around the parking lot on most days....sigh.

waiting with bated breath for my black muscovy. she's sat and sat and sat and i forgot to write down when she started sitting. she had 8 or 9 eggs under her still....and they have got to be almost to hatching! i brought home 11 little fuzzy chicks yesterday. my sister has cancer and is going through chemo, and her kids were really wanting to come and help on the farm this year (they're tweens) and of course with covid and her chemo we are not mixing and mingling. So i loaned them a hovabator and said "you do my hatching this year". gave them instructions and a couple dozen eggs. i had no clue how old or if they'd been frozen etc and they hatched out 11 chicks for me on saturday. so we picked them up yesterday (all socially distanced of course) and then gave them another 2 dozen hatching eggs. LOL. mom is doing great....as great as one can with chemo....and she said it was a nice distraction from the rest of the crap going on in life. and the kids really really enjoyed it. named them all "plum sauce" "mustard" "sweet and sour sauce" "pumpkin" "wings" "bbq" and a few other names i don't remember lol. love those kids. So in another 3 weeks hopefully they'll complete my hatching for the year.

and sorry @Bayvistafarm the guineas are going to a new home on wednesday. They just would NEVER shut up. And we were having to apologize during zoom teaching of classes and meetings because they would literally drown out what we were saying. Even with the windows closed we could hear them and they never stopped. there was one that would go all night too. even in the dark...and if 1 stayed outside the other 13 wouldn't shut up until it was in. i was wearing earplugs in the barn. so. new home for them this week. i found 5 guinea eggs, and i think they'll just be used for breakfast. i don't think i'm even going to hatch them out. i would love to have a mixed colour flock, but they cannot be that noisy, my goodness. I'd been telling my hubby there's a 20g in the gun cabinet but for whatever reason he hasn't....i don't know if a pair would be any quieter, but i'm not even sure that i will try that. i think i'm done with guineas. They also started ranging all the way to the river and down to the road-that's about 1/2 km away....they just always came back (sigh). so they're locked up in the barn and it's a little quieter...at least they aren't driving the horse into the far corner of the paddock anymore. (she doesn't like them, even though she's mostly blind). well off to the greenhouse with my box of seeds and caffeine in hand!

[labradors]

The chickens have ruined their fenced-in area. It's all mud, with nary a blade of grass growing, so we have been putting them in the chicken tractor so that they can feast on the grass. They love it, and wait by the door to be allowed into it every day, then I get to move it around every couple of hours, being sure to pick up all the where they have been, so that the dogs don't eat it!

Today was the first day that we were rewarded with eggs with lovely dark yolks - delicious!

Linda

[Ontario Chick]

Our daffodils are finally blooming outside, also cut some in for the house , traded them for the ones forced inside which never bloomed, but even a bit of greenery helps :)
Had a bit of a sprinkle of rain not enough to water the meschlun and lettuce I planted, so still had to water, bit odd for mid April, but I will take it :)

[WLLady]

morning all! grey cold and rainy and all of 4C here today. Turned up for my surgeon's appointment to find out it had been rescheduled to april 30. go figure. no call, no letter, no communication at all that it was moved. That admin has messed up EVERY single appointment over 5 years. i finally gave up and lodged a formal complaint. so we drove 2 hours today for nothing. awesome. now i'm in a decidedly bad mood....think i'll go and tear out some more of the pens in the loft of the barn. I have to get some photos of the fuzzybutts my nieces hatched for me too. because everyone needs fuzzybutt photos! the cherry trees just started blooming. and it is so nice and peacefully quite now with the guineas gone to a new home!!!!!! loving the quiet.
Duck is still sitting.....no clue when she'll be done. and apparently DH saw a rat in the barn last night. oh yay. but i did manage to relocate the mouse from the greenhouse and all my seed is still planted this morning!
ducks and chickens don't seem to mind the drizzle....need to rebrush the wooly mammoth horse....amazing how much horse hair is turning up in the new birdhouses down the driveway LOL.