Consolidated Kansas

[ashncarson]

So all my extra chicks have now found their permanent homes. One their first night at my aunt/uncles they flew the coop, since I guess they did not have it covered, but they where able to catch them all...I need to remember that they are not mine to worry about anymore!

So now we have 9 chickens here at home and I can't wait to see what my 3 that I kept will look like when all grown up!

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I have two turkey hens that are sharing a small clutch of 4 peachicks, 1 Royal palm pullet, and one white guinea keet. The middle picture is a daytime one, and the top and bottom are night pictures. The Royal Palm hen broods them all at night, and the Narragansett takes care of them during the day; but the other hen stays close by. The Narragansett roost on the outside of the pen, next to the other hen, that is in the pen. They didn't have good hatch rates, because their nests flooded during all the wet weather, but they share the few little ones without problems. The white guinea keet goes back and forth in and out of the pen during the day. It is in the grass, and hard to see, in the middle picture. The pen isn't tight enough to keep it in.

 

[spree56]

Nice arrangement Ralph!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Our family reunion was on Saturday, anniversary on Sunday and our three oldest daughters left for Connecticut yesterday. I think I can take a breath now. What a whirlwind. This summer is just flying by so fast. It sure has been a ton of fun.

The new watering system DH set up for the garden has been a life saver. Yesterday I picked a bunch of jalapenos, some squash and my first cucumber. Everything else is doing well. First year for a decent garden and it's because we're finally able to get enough water on everything.

I had one of the younger birds killed on Monday. I have no idea what did it but I haven't let them out of the pen since then. I was hoping I would get it figured out. I'm going to let them out today because it's just too crowded but I'm worried because I have no idea what did this. Whatever it was ate it's head and belly. Any ideas? Do we actually have weasels here? I looked it up but weasels? Maybe a raccoon, or possum? But how on earth would they get through the fence and back out? That's just strange.


Here are my midget whites from Danz. They are so cute! I love these birds.



The Silver Appleyards are getting big! I don't think I can tell drakes from hens yet, other than if I pick them up and the hens are the loud ones and I haven't gotten that ambitious. They get the stripe of blue/teal on their wings after the first molt. They keep their distance from the other ducks but Chopper and the drake make forays into the Appleyards when they feel amorous. Then the Appleyards carry on like they are being murdered.

 

[chicken danz]

I have two turkey hens that are sharing a small clutch of 4 peachicks, 1 Royal palm pullet, and one white guinea keet. The middle picture is a daytime one, and the top and bottom are night pictures. The Royal Palm hen broods them all at night, and the Narragansett takes care of them during the day; but the other hen stays close by. The Narragansett roost on the outside of the pen, next to the other hen, that is in the pen. They didn't have good hatch rates, because their nests flooded during all the wet weather, but they share the few little ones without problems. The white guinea keet goes back and forth in and out of the pen during the day. It is in the grass, and hard to see, in the middle picture. The pen isn't tight enough to keep it in.

That's great Ralph. I never thought of turkeys mothering peachicks before. It would so work. Turkey Moms are the best mothers around.

Our family reunion was on Saturday, anniversary on Sunday and our three oldest daughters left for Connecticut yesterday. I think I can take a breath now. What a whirlwind. This summer is just flying by so fast. It sure has been a ton of fun.

The new watering system DH set up for the garden has been a life saver. Yesterday I picked a bunch of jalapenos, some squash and my first cucumber. Everything else is doing well. First year for a decent garden and it's because we're finally able to get enough water on everything.

I had one of the younger birds killed on Monday. I have no idea what did it but I haven't let them out of the pen since then. I was hoping I would get it figured out. I'm going to let them out today because it's just too crowded but I'm worried because I have no idea what did this. Whatever it was ate it's head and belly. Any ideas? Do we actually have weasels here? I looked it up but weasels? Maybe a raccoon, or possum? But how on earth would they get through the fence and back out? That's just strange.


Here are my midget whites from Danz. They are so cute! I love these birds.

Are any of them strutting yet? I have a few young "boys" that were puffing up the other day.

The Silver Appleyards are getting big! I don't think I can tell drakes from hens yet, other than if I pick them up and the hens are the loud ones and I haven't gotten that ambitious. They get the stripe of blue/teal on their wings after the first molt. They keep their distance from the other ducks but Chopper and the drake make forays into the Appleyards when they feel amorous. Then the Appleyards carry on like they are being murdered.

Deerfield that would most likely be a possum. They just leave the outer carcus and the ribs more or less. How on earth did it get in that electric fence?

It's supposed to be a little cooler today so I am hoping to be able to get more work done. I'm not really feeling up to it but I guess I should take advantage of it.
I bought a storm door for the building yesterday. The doors used in the building are made specifically for metal buildings so the frame isn't wide enough to attach a storm door. The door I am putting it on was binding cause it wasn't set just right so DH had to move the door to the inside. He has to reframe it and then hopefully we'll be able to get the storm door installed. I was hoping he would get that done today. It would make a huge difference this fall and winter. I can open the glass to let in some air once it's in now, but this winter it should cut out a lot of cold air as well. It's on the North side of the building so I really think it will be a help. It wasn't something I could really afford but felt it was necessary. I've been opening the door for air flow which of course is letting in more flies.
I finally got a pen taken down that I had set up for pheasant several years ago. I had that thing put together to never be taken down for sure. I need to figure out where to move it now. I haven't decided if I am going to house young turkeys or young pheasant in it yet. Both need more room until they are sold. I am working toward clearing out a section of pens so I can move in another building for peafowl and build a pen next to the others for them.
I also have a potential buyer for a huge group of birds so I have to figure out a way to sort several pens into breeds/colors so I can get a count for her. It would sure be worth the effort to make this sale.
It would be nice to get some butchering done while it's a little cooler. I just don't have the time or energy to do it right now.

 

[Trish44]

LOL I might be a little overprotective. Ya' think?

Yeah, it is going to be really hot here too. You are near Wichita? Right? I'm further north near Emporia. Even 8 degrees make a big difference, but it wouldn't surprise me if it got really hot here, too. It has that feel this morning.

We're actually an hour south of Wichita depending on where you go there. We're closer to the OK border so we get all of the storms coming up from OK, goody, goody.

Our family reunion was on Saturday, anniversary on Sunday and our three oldest daughters left for Connecticut yesterday. I think I can take a breath now. What a whirlwind. This summer is just flying by so fast. It sure has been a ton of fun.

The new watering system DH set up for the garden has been a life saver. Yesterday I picked a bunch of jalapenos, some squash and my first cucumber. Everything else is doing well. First year for a decent garden and it's because we're finally able to get enough water on everything.

I had one of the younger birds killed on Monday. I have no idea what did it but I haven't let them out of the pen since then. I was hoping I would get it figured out. I'm going to let them out today because it's just too crowded but I'm worried because I have no idea what did this. Whatever it was ate it's head and belly. Any ideas? Do we actually have weasels here? I looked it up but weasels? Maybe a raccoon, or possum? But how on earth would they get through the fence and back out? That's just strange.


Here are my midget whites from Danz. They are so cute! I love these birds.



The Silver Appleyards are getting big! I don't think I can tell drakes from hens yet, other than if I pick them up and the hens are the loud ones and I haven't gotten that ambitious. They get the stripe of blue/teal on their wings after the first molt. They keep their distance from the other ducks but Chopper and the drake make forays into the Appleyards when they feel amorous. Then the Appleyards carry on like they are being murdered.

I agree with Danz, possum. I had one or more take out a whole pen of guineas before I got my GPs to watch over things. You would be surprised what those things can get through. They went through a chain link dog run, yes through the fence. I hate those things & last night my DH came home from work & said the GPs had one in the driveway right out in front of the house. They had been playing with it, chewing on it & such so it was injured but they hadn't totally killed it yet. I went out there & poked it with a stick & it turned over & bared it's teeth at me, yuck. I looked out before I went to bed & it was still laying there & Lily was guarding it. At least they weren't letting it get away. I hope they eventually killed the thing. If there is one around there will be more, that's the problem because they have litters & the young ones are hungry critters.

I'm glad your reunion went well & you can relax for a bit. That's great your garden is doing so well. I have 3 tomato plants, at least for now unless I have to bring my goats up to graze & then they will be gone. I'm going to bring my sheep up for awhile today in the yard but they don't tend to be as destructive as the goats. Your ducks are looking great! I have 7 young ducklings that are going to their new home today. I will be glad to not have so many to feed. I'm keeping 5 from the eggs I hatched for a new bloodline & for colored eggs. The ones I have only lay white eggs so this will be a nice addition to my flock. They're presently presiding in a pen with 3 young goslings & they watch over the ducklings, it's cute.

Ralph I know turkeys are really good mothers, I just hadn't thought of them hatching guinea keets but why not. I have my last hatch of eggs for the year due Sunday. They're guinea eggs that I had shipped in. People kept asking me for keets so I got more eggs because I don't have enough females to produce the volume people were wanting. I'm growing out some keets for myself right now to try to get some more females. It seems like I get an awful lot of males in those too. I just put the extra males out in the yard to take care of the ticks & boy do they do a good job of that.

 

[MrsProf]

@chicken danz We have the same worm problem with my DH's bulldog. Poor guy has lost 10 pounds and has pretty serious anemia. He's a rescue so we don't know his true age, but he's more than 8 which is getting up there for an English. Hopefully the Panacur won't be too rough on him.

The chicks are all out with the grown hens for the second day. I had one older hen act like a bit of a bully but a couple of hours in time out seemed to change her additude. The youngsters were smart enough to go in out of the rain this afternoon without any help, while the hens and rooster got soaked by over an inch in under an hour.
It should stay cool enough to keep the fields around us damp, maybe we won't have any firework fires this year!

 

[chicken danz]

Wow! We didn't get any rain today but I could feel the humidity rising as the day went on. I tried to work all day but I got very little done. I moved a fence and gate to the goose pen that no longer exists. Then DH told me he meant I should take it down entirely. I had moved it all to a different location and set it back up. I intend to build a whole new pen but I thought I would just use that existing stuff for the gate side. I've been wanting to get this done for two years but like a lot of other things it keeps getting pushed on a back burner.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Danz, Wow! That sounds like a huge project. We had a nice shower this afternoon but had already watered most of the garden. The boys were a little disgruntled about that but I can't just sit around watching the weather. I didn't mean to imply they were miffed with me, I just wish I had known so they would have had a break. I felt guilty because I was playing all day. I had my scrapbooking buddy over. She made cards and I made some cute bags for goodie bags and water bottle covers for the girls to take after the swim party Saturday. Anyway, I got them all done for 15 girls and 2 adults.

I had some strutting going on when they were still inside but I haven't seen any since they moved out. It's so cute! Of course, I've been really, really busy too! Maybe after the pool party Saturday I can put my feet up. Hope springs eternal.

Your peafowl pics were gorgeous! Just wow!

Trish, those creatures are the ugliest things on the planet. I think you guys are right about it being a possum, I just can't figure out how on earth it got in. The boys swear when they went inside the fence the electricity was on but I suspect they forgot to turn it back on after the noon check of the birds. If not, then that's one tough possum because I have a really strong current on this fence. This time of year I tend to have the highest number of birds for the season. I will grow them out until Fall and then decide which to keep over winter. If DH had his way, I would keep all the birds but it's too much work.

Ralph, that is so cool your turkeys hatched some guineas.

 

[rvroman]

Ok friends! I caught up on 18 days of awesome stuff and not so aeesome stuff going on. I had just about finished a post and it dissapeared and I just can't go back and do all that again, so I an going to attempt to remember it all, here it goes:

@danz congrats on your beautiful great grand daughter, she is precious! Your peafowl (not sure if that's how I should call them) are beautiful!

@prairie_fleur you are amazing! I wiuld love to help out some how, let me know!

Thank you all for sharing the chicken first aide info, I have been trying to find that info but frankly I sick at googling, lol.

I don't like all this talk about snakes, I do most everything in my yard barefoot, I suppose it's back to my combat boots for a bit.

@girlsnammo was it you that is the air force wife? What does your husband do? I was just medically separated in April and my husband is still active duty. I was an aircraft maintainer. Welcome to the group!

@KsKingBee when I see PBR I think pabst blue ribbon too,lol!

@Deerfield I hope everything was amazing for the reunion. You worked so hard!

To all the newcomers, welcome to BYC!

I am FINALLY back home! I have so many things to do and take care of now that I am back. On a totally different note I started training for my 4th half marathon last week! I love the rush I get when I start training for my races (even if I run slower than a heard of turtles stuck in molasses)!

Im so happy to see everybody in here and catch up!