Consolidated Kansas

[tntblake]

She is growing like a weed! She is beautiful! Thanks for obliging me! I love that generational photo. You will cherish that forever. Your set up looks great! The birds seem very happy to be out in their new home.

Giggle.. I had a request for a couple more pics of my grandbaby. More than happy to oblige!

Here is a 5 generation photo that was taken on Tuesday. It was great seeing my grandma from Illinois and my mom came up from Inman, KS.
(For those that don't know - I'm second from the left, in the dark blue shirt).




My daughter swares this is her first smile - I think it was gas! LOL

 

[sapphireblu76]

What great pictures of your family, Tweety! And a beautiful grandbaby, indeed. My boys are growing so fast, I almost want to cry when I see a bitty baby :')

 

[Hawkeye95]

Thanks Hawkeye, she does! I love my duckies! I used to have tons of teas, BK (before kids, read 10+ years ago) but I LoVE tea. After Kids I just chug my coffee and go! I've collected teapots for years and finally had to quit -- I have approx. 60. I used to have tons of different teas -- I think it's high time I get back into tea drinking. I've collected teapots from wherever I traveled: China, Moscow, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, and all over the states. My DH used to always bring a teapot home when he was sent out of town, one whimsical teapot came from France. I have a few antique teapots that got me started and then I branched out into Sadler, Royal Doulton, Portmeirion, Villeroy & Bosh and then I discovered Mary Engelbreit and collected almost all of hers. My fav is the "Queen of the Kitchen" teapot with cups that say "Don't Slurp". I loved drinking tea with my grandmother and one of our neighbors. Do you drink yours with or without milk? My grandmother is English and wouldn't dream of drinking her tea without milk.

I like it both ways. I still can't look at a teapot without wanting to rush to the checkout but have reigned myself in. Most of the time.

You have a much nicer collection (and bigger!) than I do! I've picked up a few teapots here and there that I thought were cute and that's pretty much it. Nothing fancy or very expensive, but I do really enjoy them. I don't drink my tea with milk, though-- or with sugar. Sugar in tea just ruins the whole thing for me. The deeper/darker the tea, the more I like it. You have done a lot of traveling! The furthest I've been is the Bahamas. ha!

Well, I feel like I could fill the entire cast of dwarfs from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".... Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Itchy, Bitchee, Burpy, and Gassy. (Maybe I got some of those names wrong.)

Mike took me out in the gator to look at my two new turkey hens. They are the same age as the one I already had, but they are smaller. I suppose they weren't fed as well or something. I did find my first turkey egg out there though. I think I'll be able to hatch some before too long. I just candled my bantam partridge wyandotte eggs, and it looks like more of them are developing than I thought. It's still early, though, so I left them all in there. I also got another 2 1/2 dozen and set those today..

I'm a tea drinker, too. I've haven't drank a cup of coffee in my life. I like the smell of coffeee but I can't stand the taste.

It's good to be home.

I love your Dwarfs, and who are we kidding-- those SHOULD have been the real names. Their names were edited for kids. hehe! That is great that your RP's are laying already! WOW! Lucky you! Are they nice and friendly? Congrats on the eggs that are developing! I must be doing something wrong-- I still have nothing growing in my eggs. I at least know they are fertile now. Sigh. I love the smell of coffee, too. I think it's an acquired taste, though. But I do enjoy coffee myself, but it took years of sipping at it when I was a kid at home to develop the taste. I guess I did it because my whole family are coffee drinkers.

Otherwise, I bet I would have taken one sip and that would have been the end of it.

KarenS, Cute ducks & pics, love the tea pots too, I'm a teapot fan too, I have quite a few myself. I never drank tea with cream in it until we went to New Zealand & we went for tea & they had it that way, now I like it. I can drink it without too.

Well my first batch of eggs are in the hatcher & guess what, I'm hearing peeping coming from in there! I thought my ears were deceiving me when I first heard it, but no I heard it again. They're due to hatch on Saturday. Oh & Danz I got my eggs in the mail today & they were packed super well & honestly they look fine to me. I candled them & they all look fertile, none were cracked & I'm letting them sit overnight & will put them in the bator tomorrow & they sent extras too. So we'll just see how it goes, I thought what the heck, I might as well give it a try. I also got some Royal Palm turkey eggs that came today. I have never dealt with turkey eggs before so does anyone have any tips for me on those? I would love it if those hatch, I have been wanting some turkeys. I'm also looking for peacock eggs if anyone hears of anyone with those. My DH has been wanting some peacocks, I'm kind of surprised, but he likes them, so I was kind of thinking of trying to hatch some of those too.

Everyone else seems to make that Brinsea work for them... except for me! It's now running at 99.5 but the even the new eggs I've put in don't look like they are developing. I wonder what else could be wrong. Sigh. I have no idea how so many people are able to hatch. I wonder if it's just SILKIES-- and maybe that is part of my problem... maybe they are harder to hatch?? Sigh. I'm so excited that yours are PEEPING in their shells!! So exciting!!!! I sure hope my little chick hatches that is under Yoda. You got RP eggs today!?!?! Well, if we stay... and my DH doesn't have a cow, perhaps I might want a Tom next year. (not this year, too many things up in the air!)

Oh I forgot, Hawkeye, they called about our furniture delivery this afternoon & they're supposed to be here between 6:30 & 8:30 a.m., yow that's early for us around here with DH's 2nd shift schedule. He offered to get up, but honestly if he's up & they come I will be up too, who is he kidding I could never sleep through that. My house is a terrible disaster, we have been moving things all around & stuff is piled all over the dining room. I have been cleaning in the living room to get ready for the furniture & then today I decided we couldn't get new furniture without painting the walls, so I spent my afternoon priming the walls & now I have to run to the store to get the paint & hurry & get it on the wall. Won't my DH be surprised when he comes home & the walls are mostly painted in there. I can't move the huge TV by myself or the huge roll-top desk, so that wall will have to wait, but I can do the others. Gotta get moving again.

Congrats on your furniture!! Take a pic of it when you get it set up!! Oh and you sound JUST like me! I will paint a room at the drop of a hat. I've repainted our living room 3 times since living here.. which probably doesn't sound like a lot until I tell you that I've painted my hall bathroom about every other year since living here. I like to switch out the theme and colors. I love color change! It's simple to do and it makes a big impact! Plus, with kids, the walls get dingy quickly and I love a fresh coat of paint to cover everything up.

 

[Hawkeye95]

My guess is that it will be within about 2 days. Normally they will pip the air space and then hatch the next 24 hours. You could have a baby hatch on Easter. Wouldn't that be special to hatch your very first chick on Easter Sunday???

I hope so!! That might be my one and only baby. Looks like I suck at incubating. My incubator now consistently reads 99.5, but nothing is growing. Sigh.

 

[Hawkeye95]

First off, Welcome home Ivy!! Glad to see you are doing well!

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I'm loving this new set-up more and more.

So, today we set up the inner kennel run (this is what the chickens/ducks will have access to during the day while we are at work), as well as the outer run. We'll let them out into the outer run when we get home and on weekends. We got hardware cloth run along the whole bottom of the outer run and will be adding wire to make the squares smaller tomorrow. Tomorrow we will also be adding the deer netting to the top of the whole outer run as well as digging up and creating the pond for the ducks. We went ahead and put the chicks and ducks outside this afternoon. They LOVED it!

oh, and I don't remember who asked, but the signs are tin signs that I bought off of Amazon.


This is the "inner run"


You can see the whole thing together here. This is before we added hardware cloth to the cattle panel.
(ignore the ladder and the rain barrel) - I'm using the rain barrel for water storage closer to the coop.


Added the hardware cloth.


Let the girls move-on-in!


The chicks immediately found a spot to dust bath in. I'm going to set up a sand dust bath area in the outer run for them as well.


Unfortunately, I didn't get the water saver set up and the ducks already made a huge mud pit.



Here at the ducks in their bed. Now, how to get them to actually sleep in it. Everytime we put them in, they come right out. It's now 11 pm and they are still playing out there - not sleeping. Maybe it's all the excitement.

LOVE this, it turned out really cute!! Good job Tweety!!! Everyone looks really happy with their new digs!

Giggle.. I had a request for a couple more pics of my grandbaby. More than happy to oblige!

Here is a 5 generation photo that was taken on Tuesday. It was great seeing my grandma from Illinois and my mom came up from Inman, KS.
(For those that don't know - I'm second from the left, in the dark blue shirt).




My daughter swares this is her first smile - I think it was gas! LOL

That is a fantastic photo! This will become one of those treasured pictures with everyone in it! So special! Your grandbaby is beautiful! So is your daughter for that matter. I love your back yard, it looks so inviting back there.

 

[chicken danz]

I love teas. I particularly like green teas and teas infused with flavors. I like celestial seasonings the best I think. Chamomile tea is my go to for relaxing. I love one called candy cane lane that is a peppermint that is usually available in stores at Christmas but I order it off their website several boxes at a time. There's all kinds of different spicy teas I like. I don't care for the fruity ones much. I like trying the different blends and types but I am definitely enjoy the green teas the most. I would never consider putting milk or sugar in tea. I only have one tea pot which was a gfit from Seramaslovers. I normally use an electric water pot that heats the water really fast and then brew in the cup.
I'm a big fan of coffees too. I like to try out the rare and unusual. I subscribed to the limited editions that Gevalia has for years up until about 6 months ago. I always buy beans and grind fresh when I am drinking special coffees. My normal morning coffee is just coffee. Nothing special. And again I am not a fan of flavored coffees other than cinnamon flavored ones.
Tweety what did you cover the top of your inner kennel with? It looks good.
Well after DH got home last night we were discussing the chicks dying. They had been in that little brooder a couple days without problems. I realized though that I had had the windows open because it had been so warm and I shut them night before last with the cooler weather coming in. I think having air movement before had kept the fumes from bothering the chicks. I am so overcrowded right now. I've got to make some emergency provisions for birds. I have some kennels available but I don't have housing I can use. I normally just move the larger birds to the garage but with the weather cooling that won't work.
I also have to get something done for these geese at least temporarily. Even in this huge kennel it is just too much. Time to get them outside! They are adorable but my house wreaks and they are so messy!!! Even worse than ducks.
Hawkeye I think you just need to put those eggs in the incubator and let 'em cook. I rarely bother mine. Just add water for humidity and let em go, unless you are out of room.
The birds I got from Karen are great. They are all very easy going. It's obvious they have gotten plenty of attention.
My newest incubator isn't holding the temperature as steady as my older ones. Not sure what the problem is. It had only been used once and was like brand new. I sure don't want to have to replace the electronic thermostat. They are really expensive. It hasn't been ridiculous but my other GQF's are dead on all the time, especially the newest one with the electronic controls.
So I am seriously planning to downsize. I have a bunch of extra bantam polish roos I need to re-home. I normally get a nice price for these but I would just give them to any of you guys on here if you are interested. Take one or all. I will probably only keep one or two for breeding. I can't spare the females right now but will surely hatch some soon I don't kill in the brooder.
I am also planning to get rid of most of my Seramas. I am keeping a few just to continue trying to breed some particular size and colors and for a novelty, but the rest I plan to sell. I have a guy in Oklahoma interested in a few, thanks to Renee, but I have lots and lots of breeding stock.
Sure wish my life would slow down a little! I guess as long as I can sit here and drink my coffee for a while in the morning all is still under control.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I love teas. I particularly like green teas and teas infused with flavors. I like celestial seasonings the best I think. Chamomile tea is my go to for relaxing. I love one called candy cane lane that is a peppermint that is usually available in stores at Christmas but I order it off their website several boxes at a time. There's all kinds of different spicy teas I like. I don't care for the fruity ones much. I like trying the different blends and types but I am definitely enjoy the green teas the most. I would never consider putting milk or sugar in tea. I only have one tea pot which was a gfit from Seramaslovers. I normally use an electric water pot that heats the water really fast and then brew in the cup.
I'm a big fan of coffees too. I like to try out the rare and unusual. I subscribed to the limited editions that Gevalia has for years up until about 6 months ago. I always buy beans and grind fresh when I am drinking special coffees. My normal morning coffee is just coffee. Nothing special. And again I am not a fan of flavored coffees other than cinnamon flavored ones.
Tweety what did you cover the top of your inner kennel with? It looks good.
Well after DH got home last night we were discussing the chicks dying. They had been in that little brooder a couple days without problems. I realized though that I had had the windows open because it had been so warm and I shut them night before last with the cooler weather coming in. I think having air movement before had kept the fumes from bothering the chicks. I am so overcrowded right now. I've got to make some emergency provisions for birds. I have some kennels available but I don't have housing I can use. I normally just move the larger birds to the garage but with the weather cooling that won't work.
I also have to get something done for these geese at least temporarily. Even in this huge kennel it is just too much. Time to get them outside! They are adorable but my house wreaks and they are so messy!!! Even worse than ducks.
Hawkeye I think you just need to put those eggs in the incubator and let 'em cook. I rarely bother mine. Just add water for humidity and let em go, unless you are out of room.
The birds I got from Karen are great. They are all very easy going. It's obvious they have gotten plenty of attention.
My newest incubator isn't holding the temperature as steady as my older ones. Not sure what the problem is. It had only been used once and was like brand new. I sure don't want to have to replace the electronic thermostat. They are really expensive. It hasn't been ridiculous but my other GQF's are dead on all the time, especially the newest one with the electronic controls.
So I am seriously planning to downsize. I have a bunch of extra bantam polish roos I need to re-home. I normally get a nice price for these but I would just give them to any of you guys on here if you are interested. Take one or all. I will probably only keep one or two for breeding. I can't spare the females right now but will surely hatch some soon I don't kill in the brooder.
I am also planning to get rid of most of my Seramas. I am keeping a few just to continue trying to breed some particular size and colors and for a novelty, but the rest I plan to sell. I have a guy in Oklahoma interested in a few, thanks to Renee, but I have lots and lots of breeding stock.
Sure wish my life would slow down a little! I guess as long as I can sit here and drink my coffee for a while in the morning all is still under control.

I sure wish your Polish were LF, because I'd be ALL over your roo offer! LOL I picked up 3 magazines at Barnes and Noble yesterday-- got "Chickens" (hobby farm) and "Backyard Poultry" and my favorite magazing--- "Mother Earth News". Anyway, in the "Backyard Poultry" they had a 4 page spread on incubation and candling and hatching!! Starts off talking about the optimal temperatures for ducks and geese which is apparently a bit cooler than chicken eggs. (not by much) The great thing is that they are showing a large octagon Brinsea incubator (like mine, except it's the 40+ egg (mine is a 24). It states that "It is in this five-day period that the early embryo is so fragile and any mistakes in incubation can result in an early embryonic death." Then the magazine shows lots of developing candled eggs at various stages and explains about them and then goes into exact detail about how the chick starts to hatch and how they have this involuntary muscle contractions in their neck that they call the "hatching muscle" and it lifts the head and makes them pip into the air sac! Fascinating!! It continues on another two more pages about all the oxygen levels, moisture, and gas exchanges in the body along with the heart's accelerated pumping (which can lead to late death in the shell after internal piping) -- This is so amazing! If you all are interested-- go get this magazine!!!

 

[tazcat70]

Hawkeye,

I had a horrible time hatching shipped Silkie eggs. NONE hatched last year. So I was lucky enough to have someone offer to hatch their eggs and ship the chicks to me. I don't know what it is.

 

[pikeman94]

Well poop! My Amerucana was either snatched by a hawk or she hopped the fence! Sigh.....

KarenS - looks like my chicken math isn't so bad if Sesame (my Amerucana) has flown the coop.

The bummer part is the kids and I really like those blue eggs!

I called the neighbor to see if Sesame decided to go hang out with her flock. Is it possible that a hawk would grab her and fly off?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye,

I had a horrible time hatching shipped Silkie eggs. NONE hatched last year. So I was lucky enough to have someone offer to hatch their eggs and ship the chicks to me. I don't know what it is.

Yeah, the silkie thread said silkies aren't super easy to hatch, too. Sigh. This is SO frustrating! I know my eggs are fertile now, but that's about it.