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Post by sporko on Jun 14, 2018 17:17:23 GMT -5
Hey! I thought this thread was about bees!
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Post by chipperhiker on Jun 14, 2018 19:19:09 GMT -5
Next we're going to move on to birds. LOL. : )
Chicken stories, anyone?!?!
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Post by nana on Jun 15, 2018 5:25:17 GMT -5
Oh now, don't get me started!
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Post by karitx on Jun 15, 2018 17:48:01 GMT -5
Do chickens eat bees? I know dragonflies do!
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Post by sporko on Jun 15, 2018 18:11:12 GMT -5
Do chickens eat bees? I know dragonflies do! They will be fried if they do. There seems to be a lot of crossover between beekeeping and chicken keeping. I suspect if they eat any, they don't eat many. I've heard folks claim they let the chickens roam through the bee yard and it cuts down on hive beetles.
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Post by Chuckie on Jun 15, 2018 23:46:45 GMT -5
Do chickens eat bees? I know dragonflies do! They will be fried if they do. There seems to be a lot of crossover between beekeeping and chicken keeping. I suspect if they eat any, they don't eat many. I've heard folks claim they let the chickens roam through the bee yard and it cuts down on hive beetles. We had chickens when I was a kid, whilst living RIGHT IN downtown, no less!!! Before it was "chic" I should say (not that goats or Shetland ponies or baby pigs would EVER be considered "chic" in downtown environment, BUT we had them!!). Anyhow, my Mother grew up around a whole bunch of "old school" folks, and she was smart enough that she fed the chickens about everything BUT meat products--potato peels, carrot skins, etc. One time we had a garden infestation--grasshoppers(?)--I don't remember the insect now, but visibly TEEMING with them. Well, I went up the alley to ask Granny Rose what to do, and she said " CHILD, put GOD'S creatures to WORK, turn them chickens loose in the GARDEN!!!" By the time I got back down the hill, Mam--who had gone out to pick a few tomatoes--saw all the critters on the plants, and herded the chickens into the garden!! Thinking back, she wasn't as much a "sissy-fied city girl" as I once suspected!! And those chickens went right down the rows like a machine, cocking their heads like a robin looking, and eating the bugs off the plants!!!!! Nothin' like chicken-powered-pesticide!!!!! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by nana on Jun 16, 2018 5:35:30 GMT -5
Granny Rose sounds like she knew a thing or two!
I don't think chickens do eat bees--at least I've never seen mine eat one. I've seen dead ones in the chicken yard before, and my girls don't miss much, so they must have just not wanted it. They have individual tastes though. Some of my girls ADORE slugs, and some will pick one up then drop it and go wipe their beaks off on something. (Who could blame them?) The trouble with chickens in your garden is first they'll eat the bugs and then they'll come back through and eat all your plants and dig big holes to dustbathe in. They are quite destructive as they go about "gettin' their chicken on!"
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Post by nana on Jun 16, 2018 5:39:01 GMT -5
Hey! I thought this thread was about bees! Actually, this thread started out because we'd all been so quiet for a while. Ha! Look at us now!
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Post by karitx on Jun 16, 2018 15:53:20 GMT -5
We had chickens when I was a kid, whilst living RIGHT IN downtown, no less!!! Before it was "chic" I should say (not that goats or Shetland ponies or baby pigs would EVER be considered "chic" in downtown environment, BUT we had them!!). CHEERS! Chuckie Oh, I disagree. Shetland ponies are *always* chic!
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Post by nana on Jun 23, 2018 18:18:37 GMT -5
Speaking of chickens, next Tuesday my daughter and I have 30 meat bird chicks arriving, and last week one of my old girls went broody. I wonder if it was the presence nearby of the new group of layer chicks I got earlier in the spring. Anyway, I thought she might be able to fulfill her dreams of motherhood and ease some of our chick-rearing burden, but she could not start her family where she was, setting on a golf ball in the laying coop, so I made her a nice nest with wood shavings and golf balls in a cat carrier in a nice quiet pen of her own in a corner of the yard and told her I promised she would have babies in a few days if she would settle down and accept the new digs, but no go. She escaped once and went back to the old nest, and after I tightened up security, she spent the rest of the day standing on the carrier and clucking longingly facing the barn. I was a bit sad to think of how she must feel, but let's be honest, without an intervention she would brood until the cows come home and end up weak and starving and unfulfilled anyway. Better to break the mood and get it over with, I guess. Still, I was hoping it would work out!
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Post by karitx on Jun 24, 2018 19:05:04 GMT -5
Chickens are weird! Will that break her of the broodiness?
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Post by nana on Jun 25, 2018 6:52:15 GMT -5
In theory. In reality, it depends. Modern chickens have had a lot of the instinct for mothering bred out of them, because a hen who is setting and raising chicks is not laying any eggs. This is the first time I actually wanted to encourage broodiness, because the other times I've had one go broody, there have been no chicks in the offing. I put them in a separate pen, with nothing even resembling a nest or nesting material, like a dog crate for example, and a few days in SHU will make them forget about it all. This time I put her in a nice little pen with a cat carrier nest, lots of shavings, and golf balls to make her think she had a family on the way, but so far she wants nothing to do with them and is still mooning over the golf balls she left behind. I imagine it will take another day or two. Probably right around the time the chicks arrive. Maybe if she's still broody by then, I'll try to put some in with her anyway. She's never actually hatched eggs before, so what does she know about how it's supposed to go? Maybe chicks sometimes do just fall from the sky.
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Post by chipperhiker on Jul 12, 2018 0:32:04 GMT -5
I know this is a bit old, but I just saw it, and I just have to tell my broody story. I had a broody hen, too ( buff orpington). Every year she has gone broody on me. This year I put her to work, and now she has 10 babies that she is caring for that will be 5 weeks old tomorrow. I found a breeder and bought her a batch of fertile hatching eggs. She hatched 4 of them herself, but 6 of her eggs didn't hatch. A week later I tucked 6 one-week old chicks under her next to the 4 she hatched herself, and she never looked back.
I let her brood the eggs right where she was nesting at first and then moved her and her nest a few days before hatch into a safer place.
Easiest chicks I've ever raised.
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Post by mach12 on Jul 12, 2018 9:58:09 GMT -5
We had two buff hens and they were both broody. Our hens all want to lay in the same nest boxes so when the buffs would get off the nest to eat or get water the other hens would set on the nest long enough to add an egg. Next thing I knew there were so many eggs that they couldn't cover them so I had to move a couple of the unused nest boxes and then divide off where they were setting on their nests. Both of those hens got old and died and we've kicking around getting a couple more but all I do is give the pullets away so haven't gotten any more at this point.
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Post by chipperhiker on Jul 15, 2018 22:54:47 GMT -5
I had the extra egg accumulation problem, too. I ended up having to mark all the eggs I actually wanted to hatch, and then had to peek under Broody Girl every day to pull out all the extras!
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Post by nana on Jul 17, 2018 17:31:04 GMT -5
I'm glad it was so easy to get her to "adopt" even week old chicks--gives me hope for next time! I didn't want to leave her where she was in the laying coop because the nest is 3 feet off the ground and I didn't think the babies would be able to make the jump safely. I would love to have broody raise chicks for me, though. How did the other chickens do with the babies around, Chipperhiker?
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Post by chipperhiker on Jul 22, 2018 20:34:26 GMT -5
The babies are now 6 weeks old, and today is the day Mama decided to wean them!!!
I've been letting Mama and The Littles free-range for the last week, and tonight, when I went to lock everyone up safe in the baby coop, Mama wasn't there! She was back in the main coop with the rest of the flock. I figure she knows what she is doing so I left her here.
During the day the two groups have been mingling a bit and the Big Kids and the Littles have been fine together. I'll have to keep an eye on everyone now that Mama has officially gone off duty. She was a fierce protector.
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Post by nana on Jul 23, 2018 15:06:45 GMT -5
I put my little girls in with the big girls a few days ago. They were about 2 months old, and we needed the little auxiliary hutch for the boys( the meat birds). They had been getting to know each other through the fence for a few weeks, so there was a minimum of kerfuffle, but some of the big girls are just plain mean. They will leave off eating one thing to go chase the little girls away from something else. I know that this behavior is exactly what inspired the term pecking order, but still. But what I've noticed is that the three nicest big girls are the three that I was planning to keep anyway, and the rest are going to be soup chickens when the day of reckoning comes for the boys, so a big comeuppance is headed their way, even if they don't know it.
As far as the boys go, while not quite as stupid and lazy as I had been led to believe they would be, you can tell that they were bred to be meat birds. At one month, they look like, well, chicken. I mean, you can really picture them in a plastic bag in the freezer without any imagination at all. And they will have had a much better life, albeit short, than the birds you get from a CAFO. They have been out on grass for almost two weeks now, and are getting to experience the little joys of chickenhood like dustbathing and scratching for worms and bugs. They do lie down a lot more than the other ones. I guess it gets tiring hauling all that extra weight around.
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Post by evangeline on Jul 23, 2018 17:37:00 GMT -5
Nice to see everyone talking! Can’t contribute to the chicken discussion. . . I babysat chickens once, had to beat the rooster off w/a tennis racquet. I have a helluva backhand. ;-)
Depressing spring up here. Early heat sent all my roses into full flush. They lasted a week, and then we had a string of 90 degree days. These English ladies aren’t used to such goings-on. If this keeps up I’d best plant some French roses.
Construction on the kitchen then a looong heat wave ate my lunch. (Yes, I know you Comrades in Kansas and Texas are laughing at me. Hey. I’m a Yankee now. Sorry!) Will post pics of the Chambers in her new digs over on the countertop thread.
Keep on gardening! At least the coneflower loved it. (Wish I could grow a vitex!!)
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Post by chipperhiker on Jul 24, 2018 1:05:48 GMT -5
Looking forward to those pics, Evangeline!
Nana, I am always shocked at how harsh chickens can be to each other. Well, many/most animals, really. I have a chicken that has a really bad leg. She was attacked by a bald eagle and survived, but her leg doesn't work as well as it once did. She's healthy, went back to laying, and is such a sweet girl. She talks to me all the time. The other chickens beat the heck out of her (I mean they literally left her bleeding and terrified), so now she can't even mingle with the flock. It kind of sucks. I've tried putting her in with the babies, but she is even scared of them, and they are much smaller than she is.
Chickens... the original mean girls.
As an aside, Mama apparently weaned her babies two nights ago. They've been free-ranging all day for about 10 days now. The night before last I went to close them in for the night and found that Mama had flown the (baby) coop! She was back in the main coop with the flock. She was with the little ones all day again today, but left them on their own tonight. It's interesting behavior.
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Post by nana on Jul 24, 2018 5:46:20 GMT -5
Maybe it's tough love? They do have their soft side also, to be fair. I had two girls injured once by some animal, one much worse than the other. I put them together in a separate cage to keep them away from the rest of the flock to either recover or die in peace. The less injured one stayed right by the other one's side very tenderly supporting her as she tried to stand, and they were inseparable as they healed. Even after she was all better, the less injured one showed no sign of wanting to get out of the cage until her friend was OK too. They maintained their bond even after both rejoined the flock. I wonder sometimes how much of the seemingly cruel and antisocial behavior we dislike in chickens is caused by the unnatural conditions we keep them in? I wish my girls could truly free range, but my garden and my neighbors' gardens would not appreciate the onslaught.
Sometimes I just want to tell the chicken on the bottom rung of the order to just have a little gumption and stick up for herself, though!
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Post by nana on Jul 24, 2018 5:58:12 GMT -5
Nice to see everyone talking! Can’t contribute to the chicken discussion. . . I babysat chickens once, had to beat the rooster off w/a tennis racquet. I have a helluva backhand. ;-) My anti-rooster weapon of choice is a snow shovel. You get more finesse with a tennis racket though!
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Post by chipperhiker on Jul 30, 2018 14:46:41 GMT -5
Love the story about the two injured girls, Nana. I totally agree on wishing the lower-ranked girl would just stand up for herself. Poor Miss Millie just cowers when they come after her.
My girls are completely free-range, so their behavior must be at least somewhat ingrained.
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Post by Chuckie on Oct 7, 2018 21:34:15 GMT -5
September 24 was the "last post" out here?!!!! Time to bump this UP again!!
Y'all go from "Chatty Cathy" to "Mute Mike" pretty QUICKLY!!! LOL
CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by nana on Oct 8, 2018 7:35:05 GMT -5
Mea Culpa! I check here pretty regularly, but all the discussion's been going on on the other site!
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Post by pooka on Oct 8, 2018 12:45:30 GMT -5
It's that time of year when summer is winding down, the schools are back in session, & fall is nearly upon us. We're busy doing other stuff while the weather is still agreeable. Last week we had our 97th Annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. I've read it's the largest in the country by attendance. New Orleans Mardi Gra is number two. Our festival is all about food. This year they had 137 food booths. Each one razing funds for a different charity. Then there's the midway rides & games of chance set up around the Carnegie Library. Check out their Munchie Map. They got all manner of food fare to delight us. I haven't gone in years, because I don't like the crowds. I did have to give my sister a ride home from the booth she worked at, plus I had to rescue her from a flat tire. I did have her get me some bratwurst from Germania Maennerchor's booth. They have it specially made to their own recipe.
You can check out some pics at their Facebook page. They've got two pics twelve hour apart from Saturday night in full swing, to Sunday morning with everything packed up, moved out & the whole area broom clean.
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Post by Chuckie on Oct 8, 2018 20:15:04 GMT -5
It's that time of year when summer is winding down, the schools are back in session, & fall is nearly upon us. We're busy doing other stuff while the weather is still agreeable. Last week we had our 97th Annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. I've read it's the largest in the country by attendance. New Orleans Mardi Gra is number two. Our festival is all about food. This year they had 137 food booths. Each one razing funds for a different charity. Then there's the midway rides & games of chance set up around the Carnegie Library. Check out their Munchie Map. They got all manner of food fare to delight us. I haven't gone in years, because I don't like the crowds. I did have to give my sister a ride home from the booth she worked at, plus I had to rescue her from a flat tire. I did have her get me some bratwurst from Germania Maennerchor's booth. They have it specially made to their own recipe.
You can check out some pics at their Facebook page. They've got two pics twelve hour apart from Saturday night in full swing, to Sunday morning with everything packed up, moved out & the whole area broom clean.
W-O-W, pooka!! They REALLY clean up the town when it's over!!! I'm gonna look into it further than my first (brief) peek!!! Thanks for sharing--- MOST interesting!!! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by pooka on Oct 9, 2018 1:20:56 GMT -5
West Franklin Street where the fall festival is held use to be called Lamasco. It was actually another small town west of Pigeon Creek from our downtown. At one end is the West Side Library branch. It's one of two Carnegie Library's we have here. The other is in Bayard Park. In the area between downtown & Lamasco where lots of factories & industry along Pigeon Creek. The railroad cuts through there too crossing the creek nearly at it's mouth at the Ohio River. It then vers off to the south into Howell Yard before it crosses the dogtown bridge into Henderson, Kentucky.
Before they standardized the railroad gauges nation wide, all trains going south or coming north had to swap out their wheels, because the southern railroad was a different gauge. Another two blocks west of St. Joseph Avenue the roads start getting winding, & the terrain starts getting hilly. Near Howell Yard is Reitz High School atop what we now call Reitz hill. It used to be called Coal Mine Hill, because that's what's under it. Anyway, on the side of the hill is Reitz Bowl, a high school football stadium built into the side of the hill. In the 50s for about six years there was a college bowl game played there called The Refrigerator Bowl. Our town produced more refrigerators than anywhere else on earth between Servel, Whirlpool & International Harvester. I think there was another too that slips my mind right now. We've always been a big industrial town, but not on a scale like Detroit or Pittsburgh. We just made lots of different things. During WWII we made everything from bullets to airplane to LSTs, & loads between. I've read that 96% of all 45 caliber ammunition was made here. The Chrysler plant made three & a quarter Billion round of ammo along with refurbishing Sherman tanks & a few other things. We still have some industry, but nothing to compare to the past. I could rattle on, but I better leave it there. Here's a link & a few videos about local stuff like the Reitz Bowl, Chrysler & Two Winters to Remember - 1977 & 1978. My dad died right as the blizzard hit in February of 78. The day of the funeral, travel was impossible, so there was no funeral. The town was pretty much shut down for a week or so. Reitz Bowl The History of Chrysler Auto in EvansvilleTwo Winters to Remember - 1977 & 1978
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Post by nana on Oct 9, 2018 20:16:24 GMT -5
It's good to see civic pride alive and well. I have to ask, though--Pig newtons? Brain sliders? Coyote Crispies? What the hell are you all eating out there in middle America??
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Post by pooka on Oct 9, 2018 22:02:46 GMT -5
I'm kinda at a loss on those. The Brain sliders may be simply mini brain sandwiches. That's a local specialty at a few old taverns. I've never had one myself. I just did a search for brain sandwich & the Wikipedia page for Fried brain sandwich shows a picture taken at The Hilltop Inn restaurant here. The west siders are fiercely loyal & independent. The Westside Nut Club does a lot of public civic work. In the video at the link to Reitz Bowl above, they mention several time about the Nut Club paying for lights, a scoreboard or a sound system for the football stadium.
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