Consolidated Kansas

[tweetybaby2005]

I live with my husband, four dogs (three dumped here and we rescued them), two cats, 9 chickens and 4 roosters (surprise!), and eight Guineas on a small airstrip southeast of Udall, KS.

I work at the VA Medical Center in Wichita, KS, four days a week for 10hr each, so I can have three day weekends every week!  I hope to retire in around 4 years - depending on the economy.

It is a 45 min drive to and from work, so I listen to audiobooks and sometimes KFDI.

I was born and raised in Southern California and we moved here because it was supposed to be cheaper.  My husband was born here.  All my family is elsewhere, so I miss them all the time.  Just got back from a week visit in CA - visited my son and dau-in-law and grandson, Daniel!

Back to work on Monday.    But I generally like my job and the people I work with and love serving our Vets, so I will be glad to be back...sort of. 

Welcome! I know a few people who work at the VA hospital.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Talking about flies, my husband hates it with a passion. My son is terrified of it. My husband takes every opportunity to use the fly swatter to kill them. With the non stop traffic, doors get opened and closed all day long so flies come in all the time. I hung a vanilla car Freshener in the garage and it seems to help.

 

[ashncarson]

I live with my husband, four dogs (three dumped here and we rescued them), two cats, 9 chickens and 4 roosters (surprise!), and eight Guineas on a small airstrip southeast of Udall, KS.

I work at the VA Medical Center in Wichita, KS, four days a week for 10hr each, so I can have three day weekends every week! I hope to retire in around 4 years - depending on the economy.

It is a 45 min drive to and from work, so I listen to audiobooks and sometimes KFDI.

I was born and raised in Southern California and we moved here because it was supposed to be cheaper. My husband was born here. All my family is elsewhere, so I miss them all the time. Just got back from a week visit in CA - visited my son and dau-in-law and grandson, Daniel!

Back to work on Monday. But I generally like my job and the people I work with and love serving our Vets, so I will be glad to be back...sort of.

I wanted to say THANK YOU for your work at the VA, my grandpa goes there from Hutch

 

[chicken danz]

Frizzled thanks for remembering King's name. I should be hatching out some of his offspring soon. I don't know if I want to sell many until I see what I have Darn chicken math. I have a guy in Missouri waiting for me to hatch some. He only raises cochins and said he had to have some of his offspring. King unfortunately got an eye infection after fighting with a brahma roo and is now blind in one eye. He's been on meds but the eye is too damaged. I honestly will cry when I loose him some day. He's such an awesome easy going old boy. But he is getting old. That is why I decided I had to get some of his offspring going. He isn't very happy about being penned but he's not unhappy about having his own two ladies.
Well I tried the vinegar and water and I must be doing something wrong. The flies just keep flying. So I am still armed with a fly swatter and only have 6 million more to go.
I cleaned up the brooder bins and the girls that I have in the house got their cage cleaned and spent the day in the PVC pen. I thought maybe I could reduce anything that draws them.
I put a vanilla tree air freshener on my back door hoping the flies wouldn't come in. But we go in and out that door a 100 times a day and so do the darned flies.
I had two more peachicks hatch today. They were from some of the eggs that the hen hadn't hatched yet when she left the nest. I think there are 4 more in the incubator.

 

[Aliaslucyvp]

Aww...thank you! Glad to have him come! I work in Engineering where the guys keep the place running as smoothly and a very old facility can run. I personally pay the service and maintenance contracts and do many other things to keep us all going.

I saw two military guys on my trip home from CA and thanked them for their service, they were the first who ever thanked me for my support! It was nice!

 

[cherwill]

It has been a bad morning. A baby chick was born but not sure what happened but its skin from the neck up was torn and pulled all the way up to the top. I knew it won't be able to live and was probably suffering so I decided to cull it. This is the first time I had to cull a chick. I have no idea how to do it so I just broke its neck. But I must not have done it right and it was still alive. So I took a knife and did a clean cut. I hope I didn't make it suffer much. I'm still trembling as I type. Never thought I had the courage to cull a chick but I knew it was suffering. I thought it was best to end its suffering. Argh...I know it comes with the territory of owning chickens but it was still hard.

If there is a better and more efficient way to cull a chick, please let me know.

I'll be back later to read some posts. I need a stiff drink right now to calm my nerve!!! I just don't have any alcoholic beverages in the house so I'll just go drink some ice water.

I'm so sorry you had to do that. It really was the best thing you could do for it, but it really sucks.

Howdy everyone!!! Hope you are all well, I am so very far behind, I skimmed posts but figured I better just pop in real quick.

X2, on all of that! I've been afraid to jump in after skimming, because I always get something wrong!


Here is my little sweetie at the beach sinking her toes into the sand for the first time!

What a sweet picture.

I live with my husband, four dogs (three dumped here and we rescued them), two cats, 9 chickens and 4 roosters (surprise!), and eight Guineas on a small airstrip southeast of Udall, KS.

I work at the VA Medical Center in Wichita, KS, four days a week for 10hr each, so I can have three day weekends every week! I hope to retire in around 4 years - depending on the economy.

It is a 45 min drive to and from work, so I listen to audiobooks and sometimes KFDI.

I was born and raised in Southern California and we moved here because it was supposed to be cheaper. My husband was born here. All my family is elsewhere, so I miss them all the time. Just got back from a week visit in CA - visited my son and dau-in-law and grandson, Daniel!

Back to work on Monday. But I generally like my job and the people I work with and love serving our Vets, so I will be glad to be back...sort of.

Where in So Cal? I was born and half raised there; we moved to Kansas when I was in my early teens. I was born in Long Beach, but mostly lived in Fountain Valley. I know what you mean about the 30 mile drive taking an hour and a half! One of the things I love about Kansas is that you can use miles and minutes interchangeably.

Talking about flies, my husband hates it with a passion. My son is terrified of it. My husband takes every opportunity to use the fly swatter to kill them. With the non stop traffic, doors get opened and closed all day long so flies come in all the time. I hung a vanilla car Freshener in the garage and it seems to help.

We get flies and mosquitoes in the house all the time. There's always one or two buzzing around. We're going in and out all the time, and letting dogs in and out all the time. My mom freaks out over every fly in her house and hunts it down relentlessly until she gets it. My house would drive her crazy! We do have lot, and I mean a LOT, of flies in the yard, though. We don't want to spray anything for them because of the dogs.

 

[ashncarson]

So I posted my 2 cockerals on a local Facebook page for animals to give,sale or trade. The guy who wants them I bet will be wanting to feed them to his snakes.....thats no different than someone using them for meat right?? Somehow it makes me sad......but I do like snakes as well and understand that they need to eat as well.

 

[chicken danz]

Well poo! I lost my post. I was just rattling anyway. Ash, I think anyway you can use one animal to feed another whether it is human or something else is pretty darned humane. I know it's hard to let the chicks go after getting attached to them.
I had the worst time sexing chicks yesterday. Some of these birds just don't feather in as quickly as I'd like. I sure don't like selling someone a bird and state it is one sex when it could ultimately go either way. I think I'm pretty good at sexing birds but some breeds just keep you guessing. And then I had a couple birds which I am not sure about their breed. I was marking all the chicks but it's been so long I forgot what one color meant as opposed to another.
Duh!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, one thing I've noticed on the feathering is that the Reece BR's feather in REALLY slowly. I have one hatch that consists of both NH and BR's, that all hatched on the same day. They are now a little over a week old and the NH has well developed wing feathers while the BR's have not begun to develop feathers at all yet - they still just have the baby fluff they hatched in.

I just learned I am to "rescue" approximately 7 laying hens this evening. DD works for some people who are going through some hard times right now and she just texted me to say they are out of chicken feed and will I come and get their hens. I decided rather than move them in the heat of the day, if they can hold on for a few more hours, I'd rather transport them in the cool of the evening. I feel bad for them so I will take them some food to eat on their way home, if they aren't too stressed by then to eat. I have no idea what breeds or how old - I don't need any more chickens so I am really just doing this to help out these people.

This, just as I was congratulating myself on reducing my feed bill slightly last night. I sold a pair of turkeys and feel really good about the home they went to. Originally the woman just wanted a tom to go with her two Bourbon Red hens but when she saw mine, she kept exclaiming about how healthy they look and in the end she decided to take a hen as well, because she thought it would help the tom's transition to his new home, to have a companion he knows. I had originally hatched the turkeys to grace our table but at the end of the day, I'd rather see them in a good home.

If anyone is looking for some Royal Palms, send me a PM. I hatched a bunch this year, and while I do plan to keep some as my breeders for next year, any I don't rehome, will have to be dinner since I can't keep this number over the winter. They hatched in Spring so are about 5 months old now and very easy to distinguish the hens from the jakes/toms. The jakes are all displaying and gobbling, and all of them are getting close to their adult size. They are REALLY healthy as in addition to feeding them a quality feed, they free-range most of the day and eat a ton of greens and every grasshopper they find (which is a lot). The result of the natural, high protein diet is beautiful, healthy birds with wonderful feather quality. They are also really friendly as I raised them in the brooder. They come running when I call them, and flock around my feet - very easy to pick up and handle. I need to go out and get some pictures of them. When they display, they are really beautiful as their snoods and flaps turn a very bright shade of red, while their heads turn a bright shade of blue, and those colors against the white/black of their feathers is really stunning.

The woman who bought the pair last night talked me into keeping two toms over the winter. I had originally planned to only keep one as I didn't want to deal with the fighting but she pointed out they probably won't fight until spring, and if I only keep one and something happens to him, I have no way to breed next year. That makes sense. So I've decided to keep two toms, 2 hens and one that I believe to be asexual. If, in the spring, both toms are still healthy, I will probably rehome or eat one of the toms, in order to keep the peace around here.

 

[Aliaslucyvp]

Hi, I was born in LA, lived my grade school years in Redondo Beach, and a couple of years in Manitou Springs, CO. Then we moved to Santa Ana near Edinger and Euclid, by Fountain Valley and Mile Square Park.

I lived all over OC when I was an adult, and for a few years in Visalia, on the road to Sequoia Park.

Finally, in '99, when all my kids had moved and I was by myself, I started moving to see where I'd like to live. I found my husband in Seattle (we had gone to High School together in Westminster, CA - La Quinta, if you know it.) He was born in Wellington, KS and we came here to retire. I'm not there yet, though!