Ok they are here and so cute. 1 didnt make it and 2 or struggling. Waiting to put them in their new brooder untill I find out if pine mulch is ok to use.
Cacklin' thread for chick'n'chat
L2G the mulch used with chicks is a very thin shaving. Not the heavy stuff used in gardens. I got mine at Tractor Supply. A big bale was $5.00 I don't think the garden type pine mulch is going to work with young chicks.
MollyD
Thanks Molly, I didnt think about it when I got it, I went to atwoods its a farm and ranch supply store. I will go to my feed store in a little bit, I know they have the shavings. Heck I need to mulch up some more of the garden. It wont go to waste lol
Makes great compost later too!
MollyD
hi DrityGirl! gotta love those boots, when he outgrows them you can sell them to me, i have a 15 month old boy. and your chicks are obviously well cared for, what a nice picture!
tf
will someone please notify the chicken fairy that she is slow or late or totally forgotten about the penedesencas i requested. i am a CH, i want a white ear lobed bird that lays a brown egg, just so i can confuse everybody who stops in to get eggs... usually i explain how the shell color does no tdetermine the health of the egg. you are what you eat, the egg is what the chicken eats and drinks. then i tell of the classes of birds, countries of origin, and finally, red ear lobe =brown egg, white ear lobe = white egg...... so CF, now that DH is starting on the final {LOL that is what DH thinks} pen, or set of pens thereof, i need soem ehlp finding penedesencas....
anybody have an opinion what color? i already have brown leghorns, partridge cochins, and getting partridge welsummers.... so maybe a slightly different color is in order?
tf
A what, penedesencas? Im am lost red lobe white lobe. Boy do I have a lot to learn.
I found Valentine Hatchery, dont know where they are.
all American class birds lay brown eggs [Americaunas lay blue, but that is another story] and have red ear lobes.
all Mediterranean class birds lay white egg, have white ear lobes.
Penedesencas are a Spanish bird, nearly extinct, making a comeback. somehow htey lay dark brown eggs [maybe why they are ocming back] and have white ear lobes.
now, when i started this speel, i had no intention of having birds in other classes. i have since added cochins, which are Asiatic, Polish, what are they? Black Australorps, Old English Game, i don't even know all these classes now. my new RIR is American Class, but her Welsummer roo friend is Dutch, don't know what class that falls in.
DH will have a time building comfortable transport for these to the fair... hmmm.... better not mention THAT yet...
tf
i prefer breeders not hatcheries... had found some, maybe i posted it in that thread...
lol,got ya on the classes I think. I don't care what color the shell is, I love the eggs any color they are. On my crested what size eggs will they be. Something I read on a did you know thing, Hens lay small eggs when young and then only 1 every 3-4 days after that, someone needs to have a talk with my moms chickens, when she had 9 hens she had 9 eggs every day after they started laying.
some people say their polish lat like nuts. check out the handy dandy chart for his opinion of their egg laying abilities... think it depends on the breed of the crested....
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html#p
he says it "varies widely"
tf
cool, he lissts classes on there, my Welsummer is in the Continental Class. sounds like a flight reservation... "Mr. Welsummer, your flight crew is waiting at gate C7..."
and Polish is also Continental
Penedesenca is not recognized, but i thihnk i coudl still show them... availble in four colors, wheaten sounds best
surprised that Brahmas are asiatic...
australorp is english
interesting, aracauna and ameracauna are "All Other"
just thinmking out loud and sharing...
tf
This message was edited Jul 2, 2008 7:16 PM
This message was edited Jul 2, 2008 7:17 PM
lol your a nut.
well, that has been discussed...
good site thanks I bookmarked it.
yes yes it has
baby thought i was laughing at him! now back to my penedesenca search...
tf
TF do you sell a lot of eggs?
when i had eggs i couldn't meet the demand. i only pray when i have them again that the demand is still there, only stronger...
tf--wasn't I the one who suggested Penedesenca when you were going on and on about the Lakenvelders? I mean they are both flighty and noisy, but at least you get really dark eggs with the Penedesenca. But no--you were taken in by the stunning good looks of the Lakenvelders. So shallow. Glad you are coming to your senses....LOL.
Has anyone noticed there is no safe way to shorten the name "Penedesenca"? Woa--the fever is taking over.
i am thinking the Coffee chicken would be a good nick name. i can't say or type the name without thinking of Senca decaf coffee. maybe becasue we have an orange can we use for feed...
so, this is new, nobody has ever called me SHALLOW before, so maybe i am expanding my horizons?
i should never NEVER, did i say above, i should NOT have gone for the BLRWyandotte eggs... alas, now THAT was vanity at its highest...
on the ohter hand the Coffee Chicken was condiered at first becasue of being so endangered...
Okay, tf--you flirted with being shallow--but you didn't go over the edge.....except maybe with the BLRW--but it is important to be on the cutting edge with hatching eggs. The BC Marans seem to have better "legs" than the BLRW though--people are still bidding like lunatics on the Marans. Market research is soooooo important!
well, i don't want hatching eggs, promised DH i am done with that for this year. i want PULLETS!!!!
You could call it the pepsi chicken :0 lol
I have a question if TF doesn't mind me hijacking a moment
I got some eggs from my farmer down the road but they were really watery ? so i just threw them out. I am thinking i just had them in my fridge to long. I might have gotten them mixed in with the newere ones . ?
So i m calling all EGGSPERTS LOL :)
So what makes them watery (the whites )
thanks for any help
sue
being old in your fridge &/or not being refrigerated soon enough after they were laid [like not gathered daily]
got some cartons today a lady waas saving. she writes the date she buys the eggs [store bought!] on top of the carton...
Ok myth or truth, I have heard you can leave eggs in basket on the table for a long period of time so long as you have not washed the egg. ??????????
I can't say for 100% certain, but I wouldn't leave an eating egg out sitting on the counter. From what I understand, the faster you get them in the fridge the fresher they will be. The longer they are left to sit in heat, the faster they quality of the egg goes down. Left too long to sit in heat will make them go rotten very fast. Not washing the egg leaves the protective coating on, helping to block bacteria from entering the inside of the egg through the pores in the egg.
We gather eggs several times a day in the heat, less in the cooler weather, and again several times when it is freezing cold so the egg doesn't freeze.
For washing.....I would rather leave the protective coating on if I can, but if they are dirty and have to be washed I do it in water warmer than the egg and quickly, without rubbing the dirt into the egg. If the egg is very dirty or comes out 'stained' .......either we eat it or give it to the dogs. Those are never sold. I find that keeping the litter in the nest boxes clean cuts down on dirty eggs a great deal but on really rainy, muddy days we might get a lot of dirty eggs. The hen carries it in with her on her feet.
This is just what I have learned. I'm sure that someone will come along that knows a lot more.
Christy
good to know
I have read that a little fine sandpaper can take off dirt and poop with out destroying the protective layer.
I guess i would ask " what is a long period of time ? a week or a month ? "
here is another question
Im a newbie please forgive me of any stupid question LOL
Round eggs. I got one that was the shape of a golf ball. ? round , round . wrong ?
anyone know the cause of it ? or just a funny quirk of mother nature in chickens
sue
Hi taynors. I know in France they rarely refrigerate eggs--which is why in this country we are always being told to "bring the eggs to room temp" before making meringues, souffles or omelets. I think it is suppose to be safe as long as you are collecting eggs frequently, don't wash them and use them soon. Infertile eggs last longer than fertile and hens wait a week before sitting on a clutch. So I would personally feel pretty safe keeping them that long at room temp. I would never ever do it with store bought eggs--which can be weeks old before you buy them and come from high salmonella contamination conditons.
If you are selling eggs I think you have to refrigerate them promptly and keep them at that temp until sales.
i usually don't refirgerate the eggs i use, have ione customer that wants them unrefrigerated...
just poopoing in to say HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!
tf
Oh and the "round eggs" I know some bantam breeds tend to lay round eggs and they can be associated with either fertility or hatching problems--but I think with standard breeds it may just be a personal quirk of the individual chicken--:0)
you probably got, oh GG said the right name, it is AKA a rooster egg.... they lay them at the start and end of a moult... they shouldn't be put in with sold eggs, theya re tiny. still good.
if my house were hot, like in the summer, i do not leave them out. over 68 degrees and they will start to expire, esp if fertile. but i like to bake in the winter, that is when i leave a basket of eggs out for personal use...
the temp change suspends the thinning of the egg white.... fresh eggs of a high grade have thicker whites...
tf
Thanks that is what I thought also, I can go thru a doz or 2 in a week. I love eggs anyway they can be fixed. So I would leave the eggs I can use in a week out in the basket, and fridg the rest that I would sell.
Yummy, I had forgotten about that. I will def make some. Gotta wait tho, these little dudes and dudettes are just not cooperating right now with laying eggs. :) Hmmmm they will be 5 months in November, not hot but not real cold yet, I wonder if they will start laying or wait till spring.
oh, get ready, becasue as pullets they will not be moulting or caring about hte cold, they will lay ALL WINTER for you!