Consolidated Kansas

[averytds]

on the promotion Tammy. I hear you on the gas. I'm getting 13mpg on my truck. Didn't matter when we pretty well biked all over town, but with the kids in school the next town over now.......

Everything's pretty well fine now though we're a whole lot poorer in the pocket and spiritual well being than was necessary. Found out pretty much exactly what we already knew at the start. She's dyslexic, but perfectly happy and healthy otherwise. Any/all issues were with the one woman and not at home. FWIW we've been told she's left the profession and is no longer working in any way with children. If/when the right opportunity ever presents itself, we're moving out of the area and back toward Wichita. I've met some people I like, but I just can't see living out my days here, especially with gas prices. Geez, schools in another town, activities in another town, eventually (hopefully) church in another town, library in another town, shopping in another town, DH working in another town. I moved here to put a stop to all of that and now I'm right back in it plus I have to worry about neighbors and city ordinances.

Ivy- DSs still doing the Ameraucanas, though we're needing a few new roos. No idea how it happened with the ASBC other than maybe because at the time there were only 2 KS members and the other members didn't actually have any Silkies. They did at least ask first and said all I really had to do was set the state meet, attend and send back the report. If when memberships for KS really take off, I'm probably not the best person for the job. I don't show, my kids do and mainly only through the summer. All the summer shows are several days long where you leave your birds. I know most would want the one day Spring or Fall Hutch show. Always seems to conflict with other activities the kids have going.


I need tons built. May have to hire Hawkeye.

Crud it's late....On the water issue, we've gone 100% cups & nipples in all pens, cages, brooders, etc. and pop bottle founts for shows. You can buy nipples by the bagful super cheap off ebay & make just about any container into a waterer in just minutes. I'm going to buy a few of the new cup drinkers to try out this summer, but I can't ever see us going back to regular poultry waterers.

On the leg injury, we had a bird get caught/hung by it's leg or band on the fence once. I'm not the one who got her down, so don't know exactly what she had done. Her band was twisted up and her leg was sliced open and gashed in several places. We cut off the band, washed her leg w/antibacterial soap, used bacitracin???? anti bacterial ointment, gauze and vet wrap. Re done every couple of days for about 1-1/2wks. She came out of it fine. I haven't caught her recently to check for scarring, but it looked nice enough after we took the bandages off, I probably couldn't tell the difference now.

 

[chicken danz]

The peacocks I bought are called white eyed peacocks. This refers to the eyes on the feathers, not their actual eyes. You can see pictures of them and their variations if you look them up. They are about a year old so it will be 2 more years before they breed and have complete tails. One of them is blue on the front and the other is green on the front. I was told if you breed these, then breed the offspring you will have 20% pure white. Of course lets see, that would be 8 years down the road! I doubt I will be dealing in peacocks that long. They are really big birds and that means lots of space and lots of feed. I'm still hoping to get those from my ex brother in law as well. I figured DH would be upset at me for buying them but he didn't say much. Maybe he figures it won't do any good.
I haven't mentioned Chopper in a while. He is still a sweet clingy duck. I haven't had as much time for him lately. He looks really rough right now cause he is half feathers and half baby down. But he looks like he is going to be a lacy looking gray all over other than a tiny bit of white on his neck. He really is well behaved. He sits either in his kennel or in front of it if I'm not here. I get really tired of mopping the floor in here but what the heck. When he gets a little bigger and I can diaper him that will help. I bought a little dog harness at the dollar tree and I am thinking at some point I could make a harness/diaper thing for him....or maybe get Hawkeye to do it for me!
My Mom forgot how to eat yesterday. She is just getting too much activity from al the Pt and medications in the nursing home. The tireder she gets the more dementia she suffers from. It's weird, she knows everyone but can't remember how to do simple things or make her hands work. She forgets things and repeats herself but that isn't so bad. My brother drove up from Texas during the night so he could see her while she could still talk to him. This is so sad.
Hawkeye I finally had it with my creepy neighbor. I'll send you a message about it.
With all that's been going on lately I am thinking I need to really seriously stream line my birds. Once I get my breeders separated and get those layers from K-State, I might sell a bunch of my mixed layers. I don't care that much about having tons of eggs as long as I can hatch and provide eggs for my regular customers. It doesn't pay well when I have so many I am feeding them back or giving them away.
As far as waterers go I bought the really nice pressurized water cups to put in the breeder house. They are what places like McMurray uses for all their poultry houses. They were pricy. Over $25 each with the top lid but due to their cleanliness, leak proof characteristics, and continuous water supply I can't imagine any better. I bought some of those nipples but haven't made up any wateres with them yet. I was kind of afraid they would freeze this winter so I postponed it.

 

[Trish44]

Well we finally heard from my granddaughter's mother & we're getting to have her over today after all, yay! We have to take any time we can get with her since it's a chore to arrange it. I don't know when her daddy will get to come up & see her again, his new job keeps him working 80 hours a week, so that doesn't leave much time to come here. At least he has a job though, that was a big concern for awhile & I think he is finally getting caught up some now.

Today it's gray & dreary looking out, not as warm as it has been, but no rain yet. It will probably rain the day we go to pick up our new car, that would be par for the course. Well I hope you all have a great day!

 

[chicken danz]

Trish, I'm glad to see your granddaughter. I thought of you a lot yesterday. There were lots of rabbits at the Gardner sale. I fell in love with some Flemish Giants. Now if I were going to raise rabbits that would be what I want. Total monsters!

 

[HEChicken]

Yay - glad you get to see your granddaughter. Is her daddy the same son that needs to move stuff out of your shed?

I guess if he is working 80 hours a week, that's a pretty good excuse for not coming to get it. It would be nice if he could come up to see her while you have her today.

Tweety - love the idea of those cube panels. I'm filing that idea away in case I need it in the future....

I'm starting to pack in preparation for our move, and that means going through stuff and getting rid of things we no longer need. Yesterday I went through my office and found that I have a lot of old CD-ROMs I no longer need. LOL - some of these are from 1998 when I got my first computer and I'm sure the software on them wouldn't even be compatible with today's systems. In any case, they are far superseded by newer software that is much better. So I made a big pile of CD's, intending to throw them out, when it occurred to me I've heard of them used to deter hawks, so I thought maybe I should hold onto them. Has anyone on here tried using them for that purpose? Or do you have another favorite use for old CD's?

 

[tweetysvoice]

Danz - I'm sorry that your mom is slipping. It's so hard to watch, but I can tell that you guys are there for as much as you can be. She will know that she was very loved and that's the most important thing when it comes down to life. Material possessions are nothing compared to love from family. I'm glad your brother got to come up. I'm sure that meant so much for her to see him! *hugs!*

Wow - 8 years! That's a long time to breed what you are looking for! You'll have to post pictures. Peacocks are something that I've never thought about having. We used to have a peacock farm just down the road when i grew up as a child. Funny story - When we first moved there, my mom didn't know about the farm and heard the peacock calls one night and thought it was a child screaming for "help!" (it does kinda sound like that if you've never heard a peacock before) - and she called the cops to come investigate. Imagine her embarrisment when they explained to her what it was! We still laugh about that!

Trish - Yay for seeing your granddaughter! I haven't been able to visit with mine since Thursday. I came down with an upper respiratory infection (yes - again! I've never been sick this close together before), and I don't want to risk getting her sick, so i'm having to make due with photos at the moment.

HEChicken - We used CD's in our garden a few years ago and they worked great! I hung them just off a shed, which is where the trellises were for corn and peas and it kept the birds away really well. My DH also used to have a room in the house that had one wall covered with CD's (exposing the shiny side) and it was really cool. Felt like a mirrored wall, but wasn't actually. Of course, this was his recording studio room - so it went with the decor.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Avery, that is so neat that you are our state rep! It doesn't sound too bad a job. Sounds like all the driving is a bit crazy! But it's sort of similar to what I do-- but everything here is fairly close. Sorry to hear about your DD. I was talking to my friend on Fri and she was telling me that her DD is having a lot of troubles with reading. For some reason, she is getting things mixed up, or just going backwards. They've had a tutor for the past year and no improvement. She's decided she needs to get her DD testing and get with a better program. My friend is afraid her daughter will be held back this year. I felt so sorry for her, but I know she's going to hunt down a better solution. She was just really hoping this after school tutoring was going to help and they kept telling her to give it time.

Tweety-- love those cubes! I can see a lot of uses for those!

Danz, grrrrrr on your crazy neighbor! Can't wait to see what your peacocks turn out looking like. I had no idea it took them that long to mature!!! WOW!! I hunted for several hours for diaper patterns for ducks- or even chickens, but no one has posted them. I saw a few people that made them. I guess you'd have to buy one, tear it apart and then use the pattern-- that is, if it were one you liked.

Trish, yay on seeing your granddaughter!!! Hope you guys have lots of fun today.

HEChicken-- cleaning out and sorting your house is a BIG chore. Good luck with that-- work small, and just do one room at a time. I'm not sure about the CD's being used for Hawks. I know I've seen other people hang them in their yards... but no idea if it REALLY works or not.


OKay-- did a bit of work today before I got really hungry and tired and ready for a break! LOL Yeah... I'm not working too hard here. Basically I just got the door/ramp finished and then started framing in the space for the window. It's a lot bigger than I remembered! I need to work on the back and the nest box area next... after I eat.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Haweye - That coop is looking amazing!!! Great job~

Danz - I did some searching for diaper patters and here is one for chickens on this board that I found: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/69806/giving-a-free-chicken-diaper-pattern-w-pix
Here is another blog that has pictures as well. I'm assuming these could work for a duck too: http://thechickenchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-chicken-diaper-for-donna-w.html Maybe not, but thought I might try to help Like Haweye said, lots of people out there asking, not much help for those except for "Here's where you can buy it"

 

[Ivywoods]

Hawkeye- Love your coop you are building. You always make things look so nice! I do have one comment, however. Experience tells me that if you hinge your door at the bottom and then flip it down for a ramp, poop, shavings, mud or whatever getst trapped between the door (ramp) and the floor or bottom face board by the hinge and tends to make it hard to open and close. You may want to consider opening it up sideways or something and then leaving a permanent ramp below. It's just a thought.....

I just candled my bantam partridge wyandottes. I have 11 out of 18 developing. Some of them I'm not totally sure of as far as hatchability, but they definitely are started. Some I could tell for sure were viable because I could see the little chickies moving around in there.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, what kind of rabbits did you see in Gardner? It was just too far for me & I didn't have any money yet. I'm glad you got peacocks, I'll bet they'll be pretty no matter what color they turn out to be. I would like to have some, but I don't have anywhere to keep them.
We'te having a good day so far.