Good Morning Allllllllllllllllllllllllll

o o o what fun you are having - deciding which hen and which eggs to hatch. very lucky one spring a year is not enough for me. i plan to hatch more chicks this spring using 'my' rooster over the road :p

looking forward to your cute pics

I still haven't got the camera out. The little hen with the 10 chicks is happy in her little area of the brooder.
I took the 10 cochin eggs out and put them under two who have been hanging tight to the nest. They hatched 5 so far. The problem with them is this. Three days after hatching the first chick, they still hadn't brought them out to eat or drink. I took those babies and brought them in to an inside brooder I had set up. The hens didn't seem to mind me taking the chicks, but they didn't want me to take those unhatched eggs. Silly old hens. lol
My daughter brought me in some Welsummer chicks yesterday. I think there are 8 little brown chipmunk chicks in the brooder with the Cochin chicks.
I have guinea keets hatching in one incubator. I peeked in through a window and spied what I think is a white one. If it is a white one, I won't be selling it. I have right at 100 guinea eggs incubating. I keep looking for more nests, but so far they have hid them well. I have all the guineas anyone could ever want, so I am planning to sell these keets through a local feed store. People are begging for guineas this year. Ticks and bugs are everywhere this year.
We are waiting on Ducks, geese and Turkey eggs from my Daughter's flocks to hatch and sell also. This hatching and selling will be eggs that would be several days old at the first of the week , so they would not be candidates for shipping out as hatching eggs.
It looks like it is gonna be a rainy day today, if by chance the rains go around us, I will try to get the camera out and pictures taken.
Y'all have a great day.
Okie

The rain missed us, but I had my 19 month old grandson and his 6 yr old sister yesterday while my daughter worked at the Feed store in town. I didn't get much done besides keep him out of stuff, but it was a profitable day none the less. Two years ago I bought guinea eggs from Arizona. They supposedly had 8 different colors of guineas possible. I got nothing but plain old grey speckled guineas. There were a couple of pied ones and one that had a darker purple color, but that was it. A guinea hen hatches off some last year and still just grey speckled and a few pieds. Well, since Mandy has been working at the feed store some, she has been telling me about all the folks who have been asking for guinea keets or guinea eggs. I talked the lady who owns the store and she said she would be happy to sell keets for me instead of ordering from the hatcheries. I found a nest of eggs a month ago and put them in an incubator. I found two other nests later and have them incubating as well as having three dozen waiting to have room in one of the three Styrofoam incubators.
Yesterday the first batch hatched. To my surprise there are several white keets and a few lavender ones along with a few other odd colored ones. There are quite a few of the little striped ones that will end up being the grey speckled, but I am just thrilled with the odd colored ones. I will keep them and sell the others.
Them my daughter calls and wants to know if I want to sell the 5 little Cochin chicks. I ended up making a deal to take the 5 new babies and the 6 or 7 older Cochin chick to the feed store today for a man who was wanting bantam chicks.
Then a neighbor calls and tells me he has two dozen Guinea eggs he wants to sell me.
So all in all it was a very profitable day yesterday.
I am just wishing I had one of the big incubators or two or three more of these little Styrofoam ones. The two Cochins left the nest with the other 5 eggs unhatched and the other three hens who had been acting broody have now stopped. I do have one hen who is trying to go broody one me. She of course wants to nest in the chicken house. I have a couple of the Milk crates, that hold four gallons of milk , screwed to the walls of the chicken house for nests. I think I have a card board box that will fit right down in one of the crates. I will get the crates lined with a cardboard box and let the hen get real cozy in the nest. Then I will go out during the dark of night and mover her box and all to a coop. If she stays on the nest, I will give her a clutch of eggs of my choosing to hatch.
I guess I better go catch up those older Cochin chicks.
Y'all have a great day and cross your fingers I can get time to take pictures today. ROFL
Okie

Terrific updates Okie! I'm here and reading, just soooooooooooooo massively swamped with a new job and homework from my college courses.

Well the two Cochin hens went back to the nest in the rabbit hutch. They now each have a dozen chicken eggs to keep them busy. I put another
3 1/2 dozen guinea eggs in one of the incubators.
I had the grandson most of the afternoon while his mama and oldest sister were building a Turkey pen. So I didn't get out the camera and I didn't get much done around here except chasing him.
I wish I had half the energy now that I had when raising my kids and I wish I would have had half the wisdom then that I have acquired over the years. LOL
I will do as I can when I can and what I don't get to will still be waiting on me. Rofl
Y'all have a great day.
Okie

Hello,
It is hot here in Okieland. I think I will end up having to use the A/C at night now. I dread the looks of the Electric bills, but being on the averaging program, I know the amount I pay won't go up any.

I had a surprise when I went to turning eggs in the incubators this morning. I had turned eggs in two and opened the lid on the third which has eggs that aren't due for another week or more. There sat a pretty little duck looking at me. ROFL
I had forgotten about the duck eggs my daughter had brought in. The nest was in last years hay that the man was pulling out of the barn so he could start putting this years hay in. He had given last years to my daughter and he was gonna chunk the eggs. She saved them and I candled them. Three showed they were close to hatch size, so that is where the duck came from, but it was still a surprise to see the little black and yellow fellow looking up at me when I opened the incubator. lol
It looks like the rains are over for a while here and the heat is on. I need to move chicks from a brooder to an open coop for air circulation. I guess I will go get that taken care of before the heat cooks them all.
Hope all of y'all have a great day.
Okie

Okie, where you located? I have been looking for some guineas myself. If not too far from the Ft. Smith area, I would love to possibly come get some from you?

I am about 30 miles South of McAlester on Highway 69. Probably 150 miles from Ft. Smith. My Daughter some times does bartering with a couple of gals over in the Heavener area. Maybe next time she goes, You could meet her around there. That would save half the trip for you.

Okie

Sounds like a plan! I am in McAlester 3 days a week for work.

wooooooooooooooooo boy you have been very busy over there haven't yah lol hatching heaven lol

Dustin Biery wrote:Okie, where you located? I have been looking for some guineas myself. If not too far from the Ft. Smith area, I would love to possibly come get some from you?

Hey Dustin, that is cool. I could meet you in McAlester with keets. You will have to wait till next week at least though. All this last hatch are sold. More are due on Tuesday I think. I would have to look at the calendar and make sure.

Okie

Good Morning. It is gonna be a hot day here. One weather place says 99* and another says 102* is expected for the high today and tomorrow. Which ever it is, it is too danged hot. LOL
I mean really! How often have any of you had to worry about putting baby chicks outside because it was too hot for them? I put my Wellsummer chicks out yesterday and had to check on them several times because I was worried about the heat. They are in a raised coop, but in the shade, so maybe they will be okay.
I have chicks hatching out now and keets are due Monday or Tuesday. I guess I better get more outside brooders lined out. LOL
Y'all have a great day.
Okie

something i found in my hotmail from a member in flylady.com
hope this is useful to you?

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1/2 Cup Baking Soda
10 drops Tea Tree essential oil
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bathtub and/or shower.
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today is a wet dank day after a deep fog right up to midday altho one or two c's warmer

chooks are ok except for two - one has swollen eyes - another has a really dirty bottom (i suspect bread because that's the first thing she goes for when eating).

am ok - been playing farmtown mixing with neighbours from BYP (aussie chicken people) and anna

Good Morning,

It is getting hot here. We haven't had any rain in some time either. Actually, it hasn't been all that long ago I was whining because of too much rain, but clay soils don't hold moisture and the sun cooks it to concrete hardness in no time. I had to put a sprinkler on one of the gardens yesterday evening. My tomatoes and peppers were getting so droopy. Maybe now they will perk up and shoot some grow juice to the little peppers and tomatoes. lol
I picked the first beans yesterday. It was just a small handful, but it is a beginning. The beans were eaten raw by my daughter and grand kids. They like them raw as well as they do cooked.
As I said, my ground is hard as a rock. I put down a hose and watered between my onions and potatoes yesterday evening. The onions aren't very big, but the tops have turned yellow and fallen over on most. I will get out there and get them pulled here in an hour or so. I think I will dig the potatoes to. Their vines have all died down and I don't think there will be more than a good mess of new potatoes, but they will taste wonderful with the next picking of beans. If I can keep the beans away from the kids long enough to cook them, that is. lol
I have an area that is about 15 ft wide and 25 feet long that has not been gardened in about three years. I tilled it a week or so ago, but it was so hard that I didn't get more than two inches deep. I think I will water it good and try to till deeper so I can plant another crop of corn, okra and some herbs. This area is on the West side of my property and the ditch outside the fence is full of shrubs and trees to block off the hottest of the evening sun. It is also in an area that I can use the pool water to irrigate when I vacuum out the bottom.
I got a big batch of collards picked and put up and I need to pick and put up poke salad and lambs quarter again.
It's a good thing my family likes greens. lol
I have a bunch to do today and I won't get it done sitting here. I will yack at y'all another time.
Take Care,
Okie

Okie one time i had two plots of vegetable garden started in the front lawn. I told Tom to dump a line of grass clippings at the top of sloping grassed (hard dry well-packed clay) lawn then a week later i pushed aside those clippings and dug in vegetables scrapes left overs etc along there and covered it over again with those clippings.

i did one line every week thru the winter down the hill. if i had known i would have used newspapers too. to kill the grass there under the clumps of grassclipping. Thick layer of newspapers laid down attracts worms and they do the work for you. I never used rotor hoeing thingy.

i grew lots of corn tomatoes lettuce cucumber and parsley etc in those plots. I used buckets of water - no hose those days. i know i am talking of 32 years ago :p

when you are determined you can do it - its always possible.

sigh - another wet rainy day today - sun has been trying to come out but... i can see more rain is coming... storm last night lightenings and thunders - my poor dog Sam sat shivering for hours. still i am happy to know we've got plenty of water in our tanks