Consolidated Kansas - Page 1025

Chooks, I'm going to guess they are both boys. Simply because they should have laid before now. Boys have higher voices and girls sound more gruff if that helps at all, not that you have anything to compare it to.

Oh Tweety-- if I lived two blocks away from there-- I'd be in trouble!  LOL!!  

Okay, I have another round of funny pictures from today's bird washing!  Honestly, I think a wet bird is the most hilarious thing!!!  

Just have to say-- Look at how perfectly dark and small her comb is!!  So cute!!!  She kind of looks like an alien in this picture, though!  LOL  I also discovered she has a vaulted head!  I didn't realize that.  

Yeah the only thing comparable to a wet chicken is a wet cat.They both look hilarious!

It sure makes them look a lot skinnier doesn't it?

Hawkeye, that is so funny, she really does look like some kind of alien, LOL! I can't imagine having to give a chicken a bath & blow dry it. I think I'll let you deal with that & I'll stick with other breeds. Good luck on your show & have fun!

Chooks, I found this info about the chinese brown geese: http://www.ehow.com/how_6134315_tell-male-female-chinese-geese.html. I had them years ago, but about all I remember about them was they were loud & more aggressive than the other geese.

I sure hope it is done raining for awhile, it would be nice for things to dry out & spread out the rain for a little later when we really need it. My pens are such a terrible mess & there is nothing to be done for it until it stops raining. I have felt sorry for my poor pups who have been soaked for days & their pen is just a mud hole. The Ameraucana's pen is in the same shape. The chicken run is also wet & the hens haven't wanted to even use their nest out on the straw bales because they got wet there. Hopefully we all will see some sunshine tomorrow, that would be great!

I'm so excited about my eggs in the incubator I can't hardly wait for them to start hatching! It's been a lot of years since I hatched out any chicks so this will be fun. I never did it before for anything other than just fun, I never sold any of the ones that hatched, I didn't have that many so I just kept them.

I am hoping to get my garden started this weekend. Any recommendations what I should plant right now, this is my first ever vegetable garden!  I don't really know what I am doing. I had a schedule and calendar and all this stuff planned, then I got really sick and now that I have been feeling better, its been raining nonstop Any recommendations would be amazing!! 

Well, I have the car packed and am eating a bit before we head out.  I'll post pics when we get back!!  :)  My DH is going to have fun staying here with the Littles..  hehehee!

Is your garden spot all tilled and ready to go?  If it isn't, you'll have to wait for it to dry out.  If it is, you can gently poke the seeds into the ground and hope for the best.  Working wet ground isn't a good idea because it will harden into brick-like chunks and you'll have to fight it all summer.

I didn't get my early stuff in a week ago, then I came to Reno to visit my daughter/granddaughter/son-in-law and it started raining.  I tilled and top-dressed my garden area with compost last fall, and I should have spring tilled a week ago when I could get into the garden to do it.  Now I have to wait for it to dry out.  The weather looks promising though, so maybe in another week or so I can plant peas, onions, and potatoes.  They should go in first along with radishes and spinach and other greens.  then when the soil warms up more, beans and tomatoes and the melons and cucumbers.  The last group is really sensitive to frost, so planting them before the first of May is dicey.

We moved out to our berm home 6 years ago, and I've been feeding the garden every since.  We are on the edge of the Flint Hills, and the ground (while fertile for grass) needs supplementation to support row crops.  As much as I like corn, I don't plant it because it attracts raccoons and they will tear everything up to get to it.  The first spring, I had a guy deep til for me (my tiller is a small Troy-built, and it needed to be deeper) and then in the fall I had him add a load of composted manure.  It really helped, and every year since, I've put on my own compost (recently year old chicken manure), and the garden does quite well for me.  I used burlap to shade the tomatoes during the excessive heat last summer, and I had tomatoes clear into October (a few).  We also had lots of cucumbers, but most of the plants didn't fare too well in the heat.  My beans looked great, but they didn't set on a single bean.  Oh well, I tilled them in for fertilizer.

Good luck.  It is amazing to grow your own veggies.  they taste so much better than the store bought ones that are shipped in.  Like eggs, though, you don't really save any money if you figure all the expenses in.  At least not for the first few years.

sharol

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvroman 

I am hoping to get my garden started this weekend. Any recommendations what I should plant right now, this is my first ever vegetable garden!  I don't really know what I am doing. I had a schedule and calendar and all this stuff planned, then I got really sick and now that I have been feeling better, its been raining nonstop Any recommendations would be amazing!! 

Chooks - My guess about the geese, without seeing them in action, is they are both girls, because:

Their posture is almost identical. A gander will stretch up like he is trying to touch a cloud and sometimes seem to almost fall over backwards.

                                                A gander will stretch his neck across in front of the goose in a protective way when there is a threat of danger. (the person taking the pics is a threat) I don't see that in any of the pics and neither is "always" in front of the other in the various pics.

 A ganders knob is larger, but with these two there is not that much difference yet.

A gander is usually larger, there is very little difference in the size of these two.  A goose will tend to "slump" down (holding her head more toward her body) when walking, but not always.

Not seen in the pics - their voices:  A gander is shrill and loud, especially when upset.  if separated from his companion, if there is danger, etc.

                                                    A goose has a lower voice, and make short, choppy sounds.  I named one goose Yup Yup, because that was sort of the sound she would make.

The geese should start laying their yearling spring.  But things can influence that.  They are experts at hiding their eggs.  They will sneak their nest if they free range at all, and cover their eggs totally.  So, depending on how they are housed, they could be laying, or did so at their old home.  And, they will not tell the world that they have laid an egg like chickens do.

They are very pretty, whatever sex they are.

I just got my tiller and haven't gotten it hooked to the tractor. Then here is all this rain. I am making a totally new garden spot so it should have been tilled last fall. I wasn't able to do it then.

If it dries up I plan to put in some cool weather crops like radishes, lettuce, broccoli, peas, and potatoes. I know it is a little late for the peas and potatoes but I've planted them late before with good results. When it warms then I'll plant the major part of the garden, beans, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, watermelons, etc. This is a poultry garden as well as a human garden so I'll be planting crops for the birds and myself. Well at least that is the plan. I really am wanting to construct some chicken tunnels and let them do the work. I can't physically get out there and hoe weeds all the time so it seems like the perfect answer.

RVROMAN, For a newbie to gardening, carrots, radishes, green beans and tomatoes are all very easy to grow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvroman 

I am hoping to get my garden started this weekend. Any recommendations what I should plant right now, this is my first ever vegetable garden!  I don't really know what I am doing. I had a schedule and calendar and all this stuff planned, then I got really sick and now that I have been feeling better, its been raining nonstop Any recommendations would be amazing!! 

I don't remember - Have you already set up your squarefoot gardens with the Mels Mix (Pearlite,compost and peat moss)?  If so, then you don't have to worry about it hardening at all. Mine is so crumbly soft that I'm more concerned about the soil holding up tall plants. If you have the mix set up right, you can plant them at anytime! it's great for draining out the water. Right now is the perfect time to plant peas, lettuces, spinach, strawberries, carrots, radishes, and onions. I've got a HUGE assortment of lettuces planted (Kale, Romaine, Spicy Mixes, Salad Mixes, etc.. so I can have lots for the birds). I'm going to wait another month to plant tomatoes, peppers, beans and melons. It needs to be a bit warmer for those.