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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 7:56am | IP Logged
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I always wash my feeders in the kitchen sink because they get cleaner than when I use the hose outside?  It never even occurred to me not to. Anyone else want to share their cleaning routines?
I couldn't get Salmon Faverolles or Speckled Sussex either! Definitely a shortage this year. I even placed my order in February and they were still out of tons of the more unusual ones. Ours are arriving on the 7th of April. I can't wait!
We have two of each (hopefully all hens):
RIR (standard, not production)
Buff
Cuckoo Marans
Golden Wyandottes
Silver Laced Wyandottes
Golden Comets
Black Australorps
Auracanas
Oh shoot...There is one more variety of two each for a total of 18 but I can't remember and the paper is buried at the moment. We decided we wanted a colorful flock! 
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Philothea
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 9:08am | IP Logged
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Maybe your chicks are not dumb like mine and refrain from pooping where they eat and drink? All I know is that even though I clean their stuff at least once a day, there's always a ton of poop in there that gets washed into the sink where I then put my dishes.
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Stephanie_Q
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 9:47am | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
I think I might tackle butchering a mean rooster from the flock of layers, but there is no way I am butchering 50 birds.  I paid to have it done.
I've also got seed catalogues on my bed stand. Burgess and Seed Savers. My chicken catalogues are Meyer and McMurray. Which ones are on your bedstand? |
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We did 50 meat chickens last spring and are going to be doing 150 this spring! The extra 100 are for family and friends, who are going to come help with the butchering.
We also ordered a dozen blue SWEDISH ducklings for foraging and see if we want to keep them for eggs and meat. We're also incubating a half dozen Mallard-Pekin-possibly Khaki Campbell mixed eggs from a neighbors farm. We'll be eating them in the fall.
Finally, we're getting fifteen black AUSTRALORPE chicks to keep for eggs. We have 6 BLACK STAR and 4 RED STAR hens (more commonly known as sex-link) from a farm supply store, but didn't want to breed them because they're already hybrids...but we got a straight run of black AUSTRALORPEs so we'd have roosters - there will be several - we'll keep the 2 best.
We ordered ours from Welp Hatchery. They were a LOT cheaper. Our local co-op is not ordering chicks this year, but it is who they ordered through and recommended to us.
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Stephaniedh 6.01
dd 6.02, dd 8.03, ds 3.05, ds 12.06 at Catholic school.
dd 12.09 at home.
Baby boy due 10.13
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 12:16pm | IP Logged
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Philothea wrote:
| Maybe your chicks are not dumb like mine and refrain from pooping where they eat and drink? All I know is that even though I clean their stuff at least once a day, there's always a ton of poop in there that gets washed into the sink where I then put my dishes. |
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Ummm...my chicks are dumb, I assure you. I wash in the kitchen sink and then I spray the kitchen sink with bleach water and rinse it out. Have I been lucky? Is this the wrong way to do it? Where's Chicken Lady????
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 12:19pm | IP Logged
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***We did 50 meat chickens last spring and are going to be doing 150 this spring! The extra 100 are for family and friends, who are going to come help with the butchering.***
You did the butchering, too??????? You are awesome!
***Finally, we're getting fifteen black AUSTRALORPE chicks to keep for eggs. We have 6 BLACK STAR and 4 RED STAR hens (more commonly known as sex-link) from a farm supply store, but didn't want to breed them because they're already hybrids...but we got a straight run of black AUSTRALORPEs so we'd have roosters - there will be several - we'll keep the 2 best.***
The Golden Comets I ordered are sex links, too. I was originally going to stick with all standard breeds, but everyone on the chicken forum raves about these being really sweet tempered, so I decided to try a few. Do you like your black and red stars?
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Stephanie_Q
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
The Golden Comets I ordered are sex links, too. I was originally going to stick with all standard breeds, but everyone on the chicken forum raves about these being really sweet tempered, so I decided to try a few. Do you like your black and red stars?
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We bought some last year but some things came up and didn't get a coop built, so we left them at our neighbors. We helped take care of them through the summer, but gave them up when school started in the fall - driving over to take care of them all winter wasn't something we wanted to do, but for the summer, they seemed like good chickens - and they were good layers (about an egg a day once they got started...). We bought new chicks a few weeks ago and have ordered Australopes.
Also, I'm not sure what the parentage is. black stars are a red rooster (Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire) x Barred Rock. Although red stars use the same roosters, it can be one of many different females. The Golden Comet is a specific kind of red sex link (New Hampshire rooster x a particular kind of White Rock). I would think that temperaments of the production "stars" would vary based on the crosses, with the reds being more variable than the blacks.
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Stephaniedh 6.01
dd 6.02, dd 8.03, ds 3.05, ds 12.06 at Catholic school.
dd 12.09 at home.
Baby boy due 10.13
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Philothea
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 7:28pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea, if you're doing bleach water faithfully, you're probably fine.
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Sarah
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 9:32pm | IP Logged
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I'm a freak about animal dishes in the sink, too. We do it all in an outside sink. I worry too about the kids not washing their hand effectively. We had a mystery diarrhea illness in one kid that I was pretty sure was chick related.
We are getting 45 chicks of 11 different breeds in May. They will be separate from the current flock and will take over their quarters when they come into lay. The current flock then goes to the freezer.
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Topic: chickens?
