Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

My faverolles have been excellent. I started with 4 and have tons. I also have many half breeds. ( The coloring is right but they are missing the 5th toe or the muff. I just use those for layers.) They aren't every day layers but do well. Tell Candace I should have some chicks later if she is interested. Mine are LF. I wonder if she had bantams? I've noticed the bantam breeds tend to be a little harder to raise in my experience.
I think Marshmallow will have the pups in the big dog house. Especially if it stays cold. She is locked in there tight today. Fluff has been out looking for breakfast but that is about it. I have one stupid chicken: Crip, I mentioned before who is sitting out in the driveway by himself. He is so unsociable. He has always been that way but became more so after he hurt his leg. He is such a beautiful bird though that I keep him for a breeder. There's also a couple of brahmas out on the south part of the house eating feed. I went out to fill the bird feeders and couldn't believe how brutal it feels out there!
Yes I was spooked out last night. I drove 160 miles a day back and forth to work for over 20 years. I never hit a deer or had a wreck. Then in one year I slid on ice on a curve and then got T-boned by another car who slid on the same place. I was lucky I wasn't killed. I was pushed along by the other car for about 100 feet before it broke loose and hit a tree. My seat belt kept me in the seat even though my seat was torn loose. I had a compression fracture in the middle of my back, a bruise on my shoulder and chest from the seat belt, a bruised leg, and lots of glass inbedded here and there but otherwise was ok. Then 7 months later my next car hydroplaned and spun around and ended up in a ravine. So I totaled two cars in 7 months on slick roads. I had always had a heavy foot and didn't worry much about driving on icy roads before that. After that, I just freak out on bad roads. If I had been driving last night I probably would have turned around and went back to Ottawa to stay in a motel. After my accidents I would just call in and take a vacation day rather than drive on ice. I am probably a hazard on bad roads cause I drive so slow.

 

[Ivywoods]

Checoukan-You can get some chicks any time you come up to get them!

I suggest you wait a little while, though, until I get some more hatched.

Averytds-Long time no see! Welcome back.

Trish-the lakenvelders lay about a medium sized egg. My leghorns lay an extra large to jumbo egg.

The lakenvelder eggs are never quite as big, but they are a decent size egg, I think.

Danz-Wow! I would have been on pins and needles on that trip. I know you were't too excited about the prospect of going anyway. I believe I would have stayed home, given the chance. I went to work, but it didn't snow too much here and there were only small patches of ice. My DH was home of course and he made a big pot of venison chili. yum yum

When we got up this morning it was 17 degrees and a wind chill of minus 10. brrrrrrrrrrr. Then we discovered we had no water. We have to keep a heater on in the well in the winter and DH had taken it out for some reason and forgot to put it back. He remembered when we discovered the well was frozen. I'm just glad we've had a mild enough winter that we haven't needed it until now.

I'm kind of happy and excited about myself.

(Sounds weird, huh?) I was going to call right after the first of the year to get my knee fixed, but with DH sick I want to get him diagnosed and treated and feeling better before I do, so I put my surgery off. I decided the best thing I could do for myself in the meantime is loose some weight..... so..... I've lost about 10 pounds. I've just cut my portions down, eliminated all snacking except for one healthy snack at work and I watch my total calorie intake. I think I have shrunk my stomach down some because now I don't even want to eat as big of portions as I used to. So far so good. I hope I can keep it up and then maintain it for the long run. Tonight is pizza night at work. I won't totally deny myself. I will just be sure I choose smaller pieces and then go ahead and sample what I want.

 

[averytds]

I have no idea. I guess people could just go look if they want visuals. They're just in my BYC album. I copy/pasted. Everything is there if I click "edit post" Weird. We've got 3 different trials/renditions of homemade waterers/heaters we're testing/using. Two of which there are pics of. Had to stop and rest a bit today and thought maybe some here could use the info. Overall, I'm pleased, however I "fired" my Thermocube,

The indoor poultry cup/5gal bucket one did well, but I knew it would from last year. We have a new outside one (pics on last album page) black 5gal bucket/2 nipple waterers. The cookie tin heater is a mini cookie tin (Dollar Tree) with a 40W elongated bulb. It's inside another larger tin who's bottom and sides are lined with some of that shiny bubble wrap insulation, so almost all the heat gets directed up. I used one of those plug to light bulb adapters, so there's zero wiring involved. Despite being out in the bitter wind/cold there was only a slight bit of ice formed around the top of the water in the bucket. The nipples unfortunately were frozen internally, but freed right up within 30minutes of me unplugging the stupid Thermocube. I don't know if it's because I had it inside and therefore not being subjected to the winds, but it had kicked itself off. It's too cold right now not to have that continual heat with the minimal wattages I'm using.

Inside a tractor that's been winterized with plastic and haybales on 3 sides, we have another version. Baby cookie tin inside a larger tin with sand as the insulation. The bulb/cord is one of those used for nightlights or in a Christmas village house, so 4W. No that's not a typo, not 40W, only 4W. Another no wiring involved project. The bucket is an empty ice cream bucket approx 1gal and it has 1 poultry nipple. DS filled the bucket to the brim last night and it appeared to be a solid chunk of ice this morning. I didn't check the nipple, I broke out my deicer straight away, which is how I found out the Thermocube had shut off. After restoring power, I let the deicer run for 30 min and then checked everything. After that 30min, the nipple was 100% thawed and what I had thought was a solid 1gal chunk of ice was actually only about 3/4" thick. So not bad at all for only 4W. I'll be interested to see it tomorrow morning when it's been allowed to run the whole time.

 

[Hawkeye95]

LN2008, I've been totally blown away today, too!! Sheesh, this wind is insane! I hope your birds did okay last night in your cute little coop! I still think that is just the cutest thing ever! I love the rustic boards. Anyway, congrats on two eggs! I'm surprised! But hey, glad they are laying! Are you sure its the same bird laying two? Wouldn't it be more likely that two birds are laying? What do I know, though?? LOL! I don't have ANYone laying yet!

Danz, your night last night sounded awful! Yikes! I would have been so freaked out and probably keeping up a constant prayer the entire trip home. Glad you all got home safely and I sure hope they got the truck driver out of his rig, too. Those people should not have passed you. They probably thought the same thing when they saw you all drive by slowly. Seriously! People can be so dumb! It never fails to amaze me how fast people drive on ice and snow. Even my DH used to do that. Now he doesn't. But we were driving back from Houston, TX several years back after xmas and we got into the OKC area and hit a major storm that had come in. We went from dry roads to suddenly ice covered. We were driving our 1 ton single axel truck-- but it has 4 wheel drive (which I think really fools people into thinking those things can drive on anything-- which they can't!!) and Dh was going too fast, hit the ice -- even though I was yelling at him long before we got to it that it was ice, and not wet highway up ahead. He never slowed down and we went round and round on the highway-- hit no one, thank goodness and wound up in the ditch. Then two more people landed in there right next to us-- an SUV and a car. Well since our rear was loaded down heavy, we were able to pull right out of there, but you can bet that DH drove home VERY slowly after that. I was so mad! I saw the highway conditions in front of us, and it's just dumb to keep on trucking along like nothing is changing. Glad you're home. Very cool about the brahamas! What color egg do they lay? Not that I need any more layers.... but it's tempting!! haha!

Ivy-- congrats on your weight loss!!! That is so amazing! I have always been thin myself, and after having 3 kids, I was struggling to keep weight off myself a while back. I got up to my heaviest last year. I felt awful and wasn't fitting into any of my pants anymore. I'd had enough, and did the SAME thing you did! I simply decided I was going to eat half what I normally put on my plate and stick to it. I never go back for seconds even though I often really, really want to! So I did, and i lost 4 pounds right away. After that, then I had to be sure I wasn't eating snacks and sugars. I came down a few more pounds and am now only 2 pounds heavier than when I got married! I've been able to keep it off just using that method. So it does work!! And you will be able to keep it off easy by just keeping it mind how much you are putting in your mouth. No exercise involved. It really is all about the calories. Plain and simple-- no need to count, just be smart about it. Good luck on your marans project. What is the deal with the marans, anyway? I just don't know much about them, and around here, everyone wants them and is always hunting them down and so excited when they score one. You could probably make a fortune off of marans! LOL hmmmmmm..... okay- NO! I can only handle silkies right now! LOL

Avery, I also worked on a cookie tin heater project. ALthough yours sounds much more complicated than mine and more elaborate. I have the link to my cookie tin heater with instructions in my signature. Mine was cheap and fast. But I like the idea behind yours. And I'm not trying to keep nipples warm... I might have to take a look at what you're doing over there. I wanted to install a nipple system myself-- but figured, what the heck do you do in winter to keep them thawed? So I just went with the standard founts.

Checoukan, hope you're feeling better today and well rested. Thinking of you!

It was a preschool day today. VERY cold! Yikes, it was miserable. But I had such a wonderful morning! I dropped off the kids and then went to Meads Corner (my favorite coffee shop) and sat there and listened to my iPod and read my Kindle in peace for 2 hours. It was bliss. My chickens aren't outside either today. I guess they are a bit smarter than I thought. Don't know where Seymore trekked off to-- going to have to hunt her down and bring her in. I think it's too cold to be out there. I hope she's in the barn up in the rafters taking it easy.

 

[chicken danz]

DA-- IT! I went out to give Marshmallow her pill and found a frozen puppy on the ground. DH found another one in the pen by the chicken garage. I found Marshmallow in the chicken garage in a little box house thing that we had put there for baby ducks last winter. It has a light and was out of the wind. I think there are 7 puppies left and then the 2 dead ones. The dead ones are one male solid white and one female solid white. SAD! There was one more pup laying out in the garage that was cold but still alive. I stuck it in my coat and carried it in and put it in my hatcher for a few minutes. Then I went back out and attached it to a tit. She started licking it so I think it will be ok. I hope! I was so proud we didn't loose any last litter and here we lost two cause they were born on the coldest night/day of the year so far! I have her shut in that little pen for now until I am sure she is done having pups. Maybe I can get them moved in a couple days. I couldn't believe she was in there with all those chickens! Last litter she chased the chickens away from her babies at first.
I feel like crying. Poor little babies. I hope the rest of them make it ok.
BTW Ivy, they are all pure GPs! I think I have two or three that have brownish masks. So I guess she decided to shell out these babies a few days early. They look healthy and complete. She and ole fluff might have tied a couple times before I realized it although I was watching them fairly close.

 

[tntblake]

Yay for puppies!! I am sorry you lost 2. That is sad. Too bad she didn't have them in the doghouse. Now you have to go through the trouble of moving them all. Don't forget to post some pics when it warms up!

 

[Hawkeye95]

DA-- IT! I went out to give Marshmallow her pill and found a frozen puppy on the ground. DH found another one in the pen by the chicken garage. I found Marshmallow in the chicken garage in a little box house thing that we had put there for baby ducks last winter. It has a light and was out of the wind. I think there are 7 puppies left and then the 2 dead ones. The dead ones are one male solid white and one female solid white. SAD! There was one more pup laying out in the garage that was cold but still alive. I stuck it in my coat and carried it in and put it in my hatcher for a few minutes. Then I went back out and attached it to a tit. She started licking it so I think it will be ok. I hope! I was so proud we didn't loose any last litter and here we lost two cause they were born on the coldest night/day of the year so far! I have her shut in that little pen for now until I am sure she is done having pups. Maybe I can get them moved in a couple days. I couldn't believe she was in there with all those chickens! Last litter she chased the chickens away from her babies at first.
I feel like crying. Poor little babies. I hope the rest of them make it ok.
BTW Ivy, they are all pure GPs! I think I have two or three that have brownish masks. So I guess she decided to shell out these babies a few days early. They look healthy and complete. She and ole fluff might have tied a couple times before I realized it although I was watching them fairly close.

OH no! Poor little babies, that is so terribly sad. I'm so sorry for you. She had them and then just left them out on the ground? It's just so, so sad. What a day to have them when it is insanely cold. I hope the others will be okay. I'm glad you have her locked in so she can go leaving these babies. Glad they are all pure. Take some pics later when you feel better-- might be a funny pic of her in with the chickens! I sure hope the others will do just fine.

 

[Ivywoods]

Danz- I just KNEW she would have them close to this storm. It seems like that is always the way. Our goats seem to always do that. Also, when I worked as an anesthetist I did quite a few epidurals for labor, delivery and c-sections. If there was a storm or a full moon you always knew you were going to be busy. I'm surprised she didn't stay in that little house with the quilt you gave her. They always have a mind of their own though, and I'm so sorry about the two she lost, but from what you have said before it sure sounds like she is a good momma. Congrats on the new arrivals. I'm so excited for you.

We will all be waiting patiently but eager for pictures. I know how hard it is to get pictures of brand new white pups with a white momma. I'm always careful about that stuff. I never want to disturb them very much until after the momma is ready to leave them for a while to go eat or something.I guesses she would have 8. I underestimated Marshmallow!

DA-- IT! I went out to give Marshmallow her pill and found a frozen puppy on the ground. DH found another one in the pen by the chicken garage. I found Marshmallow in the chicken garage in a little box house thing that we had put there for baby ducks last winter. It has a light and was out of the wind. I think there are 7 puppies left and then the 2 dead ones. The dead ones are one male solid white and one female solid white. SAD! There was one more pup laying out in the garage that was cold but still alive. I stuck it in my coat and carried it in and put it in my hatcher for a few minutes. Then I went back out and attached it to a tit. She started licking it so I think it will be ok. I hope! I was so proud we didn't loose any last litter and here we lost two cause they were born on the coldest night/day of the year so far! I have her shut in that little pen for now until I am sure she is done having pups. Maybe I can get them moved in a couple days. I couldn't believe she was in there with all those chickens! Last litter she chased the chickens away from her babies at first.
I feel like crying. Poor little babies. I hope the rest of them make it ok.
BTW Ivy, they are all pure GPs! I think I have two or three that have brownish masks. So I guess she decided to shell out these babies a few days early. They look healthy and complete. She and ole fluff might have tied a couple times before I realized it although I was watching them fairly close.

 

[Ivywoods]

Okay Danz-Did I speak first for a puppy? We are serious about getting one. My DH would like to come get one TODAY!

I'll PM you about what we would like.

 

[chicken danz]

My internet is so slow today the stupid pages won't load. Yes Ivy you did speak first. I wish you could come right now and get this one poor puppy. I don't think it is going to make it. I even brought it in and put it on a heat pad and attempted to give it some replacement milk. I wish I had some colostrum on hand to get it going.
I've put it on a tit twice but it doesn't seem to want to suck. It breaks my heart. It is pure white and a male. I think all the other pups have masks of some kind. Marshmallow has tried to stimulate it with licks but it just doesn't want to respond. I've raised a lot of pups without loosing any and this breaks my heart.
Sometimes, Hawkeye if the pups come too close together the mother may not get one cleaned up before she has another and then she forgets about them. I've always been there to help with whelping but this time it snuck up on me. I lost a few goats born in cold weather because there were triplets and the Mom was overwhelmed.
I don't like seeing anything die.