Consolidated Kansas

We recently had the silver gene discussion on the silkie thread and in some PM's back and forth. There is an amazing silkie expert over there called Silver Silkie. ANY genetic questions and he is the guru-- he's in Belgium, and works with Silver based birds himself. He can just about sex chicks at hatch depending on what kinds of markings they have-- something like eye penciling, the kind of leakage that shows thru, etc.. So interesting to hear his feed back. But yeah, that is where I discovered that my pullet might not be so bad since all her other qualities are fine. I will definitely not be misrepresenting my birds though in a show. Just passing on what I had heard and was told to do, and asking if it was legal. I totally understand it is not.
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But where you mentioned that you don't want mistakes popping up later in your breeding-- that is exactly what I was talking about why I wasn't so sure I wanted to use my broody who has the bit of Gold leakage under her beak. I just didn't want to chance it popping up later. But I think I'll note that with their papers/bands and be sure to keep track of them so I can get rid of them the first sign of leakage.



Renee, that is just SICK that the woman was driving that fast on a dead end road with farms and animals and people around. I just don't know what people are thinking. There is nothing in life so important that you need to risk your life and everyone else's by driving that fast. I'm glad you flagged her down, perhaps she will think twice before doing that again. If everyone was held accountable for actions that endangered others, they would probably stop.

As for the vaulted skulls on silkies, it has been determined that they do not create larger crests, and instead often create "lobes" inside the crest for a sort of double tier look. There have been pictures posted in the ASBC so we can see what it looks like. Very interesting stuff. I do happen to have a parent bird with a vaulted skull and she did produce my chick with a vaulted skull as well, but her crest is very even. It's certainly not my intention to use them exclusively. I'm going to take the advice of Sonoran and only use birds that have nice even crests when they hit adulthood, regardless of their vaults (or non) and cull the ones that appear uneven or have lobes in them. But it was discussed that genetically, the vaulted skull was a gene that was most likely to pass down matrilineally, so it's a pretty good guess that when you get a chick with a vaulted skull (desirable or not), the chances of it being a pullet are greater than it being a cockerel! I just found that interesting and wanted to pass that info on to Tweety in case you gave her any that had them. But a lot of breeders are working with vaulted skulls now and do actually cull in favor for them. Personally, I believe they are misguided in thinking they are better, however, they have been able to successful pass on that trait to males as well, but so far, from what the genetic gurus are saying, it's still less likely, but possible. I'm just finding this whole thing fascinating! Unfortunately, I will probably be getting rid of my new chick in a couple of months (I want to see what it looks like) because one foot has the two inner toes partially fused together at the base, no separation. The other foot actually has good separation, but I will not be keeping it simply because it has a vaulted skull. But I absolutely appreciate any information you can pass on that will help me! You have so many more years working with chickens than I do, and I have found you to be a fount of wisdom.
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I haven't anything against the vaulted skulls, really- there are very valid arguments on both sides of the philosophy...but I know my luck, and a bird with a partially unprotected brain in my care is at a higher risk of something occurring, so I'm just being cautious. I do think I'll go count girls vs. boys with vaults, just out of curiosity, though!!
Hi Chooks
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We have a similar problem. We are on a dirt road and almost all of our traffic is farm related. Some of the younger farmers (and some of the older ones!) drive their vehicles WAY too fast..pickups, service trucks, loaded and unloaded semi trucks and their cars. We have some pretty steep hills here, and one of them crests right in front of our barn. They come flying over the top of that hill, and if one of us were in the road or were just backing out of our drive or something there would be no way they could stop, especially on this gravel.

One time a couple years ago the people who farm the ground to the east of us were working out there. The mom came over the hill and stopped just a little ways past the hill, near where they turn into their field across from our house. A few seconds later here came the young son over the hill in a pickup. He was flying and didn't think about his mom stopping up ahead. He nearly hit her but skidded into the ditch. My DH and I were right there a few yards away. The mom saw it all, we saw it all, and boy did she get out and read him the riot act. He knew we were watching and was very embarrassed and sheepish about it. He has been a little more careful since then.

I just wish some of the others would have some "close calls" without real accidents so maybe they would think a little harder about the possible consequences of their speed.

Checked all of my DH's little teeny tiny quail babies this morning. All are doing well and not huddled up like they were last night. They must have just been scared. So far my DH hasn't been down to check on them. I think I see where this is going......LOL! I don't mind. I just love them all, anyway!

Seriously, maybe leaving kids toys in the road will help! I'm just furious with these asshats that drive like that. It's sooooo bad. I knew a girl who had not one, but 2 major wrecks on gravel roads when we were growing up, with over 100 stitches in the face with each wreck- and it was due to speed on gravel with poor visibility. Perhaps when I hear her roaring down the road next time that lady will get a bouncy rubber ball in the vicinity, rolling down the drive.

We don't have little kids in the area, but how the heck does that really make a difference? The speed limit on residential roads out there isn't 70, that's too sure!!
 
I am an evil person I guess. When someone goes flying by here I think, "I wish you'd flip!" I don't want any one to get hurt but maybe if they total a vehicle or two it would teach them to slow down. Years ago when I was a police officer there was a certain young man that always came blasting down the street in front of my house. I had tiny little kids then. I waited and sure enough one day while I was on duty I saw his car. I just flipped on the overheads and stopped him. I didn't call it in. So I walked up to this kid and of course he was confused about why he got stopped. I explained to him in a very calm voice that I would deny we ever had the conversation. But that I had small children and so did my neighbors. I explained where I lived, and told him if he ever hit any of them I would personally come and take his life. I also explained not to be surprised if I blew his tires out while he was speeding down my street. I could have gotten fired for that, but after that he just creeped down my block at like 10 mph. It must have been a year later he came looking for me in tears. He had a 2 year old niece who had been hit by a speeding car and killed. He thanked me for ripping him and said he wished someone had had the same talk to the guy that hit his niece. It was a sad story in the end but I am sure that guy has done his own fair share of preaching to speeders.
It's a shame people just don't think about the consequences of their crazy driving. I feel sorry for the first persons that hits one of my animals speeding by here. I may not physically harm them but they will know they have been ripped by an ultra be-atch. That is one principle reason I want to get a fence put up across the front of the property. I keep spending my fence money for other stuff!!.
 
See, there's my problem. I am horribly unorganized and totally suck at paperwork. I'm about to the point I'm thrilled if I remember when I go into a room or call someone what it is I wanted to begin with.
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There's a judge we know of that prefers vaulted skulls. Most of DD's aren't, so I pretty much resigned myself to her never placing well overall if he's judging. Still like him, but not worth the hassle to breed for. Those without have had less issues at least for us.
Oooh, I've already drawn up a "pedigree" chart of sorts on my Corel Draw program. The other breeders have said they made up their own or use online forms. They told me what things they are looking for and what blanks they have. I have made mine up very similar to theirs to try to keep track of everything. I already have a sheet for the birds i have now. It lists their hatch date, color, gender, breeder they came from, whether or not they are vaulted or non, toe separation, and probably a couple other things I'm forgetting and then I have a "Comments" section at the bottom where I can list other concerns like spilt wing or anything that might crop up. I want to make a page for Shows they have been in and what they've won, but I'll get around to it. As for the vaulted skulls-- it should NOT matter in the least whether your bids have them or not. Besides, you can't tell by looking at them if they have a vault or not. You would have to part the crest and dig in there to look! I didn't even know that my Black pullet was vaulted until I gave her a bath a few weeks back! That was quite a surprise to me! Her vault when wet with all the crest slicked back with water was very apparent at that point. She has a nice even crest, so you'd never guess, and honestly, her crest is "Medium" and not nearly as large as some of the other birds I've seen the breeders post! So that there just proves that a vault does not mean you will get a larger crest by default. BTW, the SOP calls for a "Medium" crest... but the judges do seem to like them bigger than that. It isn't SOP, but obviously, it's left up to interpretation by the judge himself. There is absolutely nothing in the Standard that calls out a vault as being desired. Sorry about that, because that stinks!!! And furthermore... how would he even know without really manhandling the crest to look for it??


Karen I went through my angry stage when Mom was in the rest home. I think it was because my Mom and Dad had to be separated for the first time in over 65 years. But then that proved to be a good thing in the long run because my Dad got kind of used to being alone. I talked to him quite a while yesterday and am going in to spend some QT with him this afternoon. Not that I really have time but I know he needs it. We talked about my Mom's flower beds yesterday. He always complained that they were a pain to mow around, although everyone in the family took turns mowing last summer. I told him I would come in and weed them for him now and then this summer. He seemed very appreciative. Heaven's I can't do my own because it is so hard on my back and my fused wrist, but I did help her out last summer. I think he is happy I said I would take care of them because it will give him some comfort that her touches are still there.
Well my Klutz is going outside of hurting myself. I was cleaning out my hatcher day before yesterday and knocked my thermometer/hygrometer into a bucket of water. I thought it was working but the humidity is reading 21% non stop. I know it is at least 65% in there. I didn't realize how often I checked that until it stopped working. Makes me feel very insecure.
Dh wanted to go to Topeka last night. I stopped and bought a male Diamond dove and a 6 week old baby from a lady up there. She has already called checking on how he is doing. She was very attached to him. She told me she would sell the mated pair but then changed her mind and kept the female. I have 4 females so I am sure it won't be long before he picks a new mate. I hope the baby is a male as well but there is no way to tell until he is mature. My girls keep laying infertile eggs.
He said he wanted to buy the rest of the lumber for the new building. He bought all this stuff and a few things for himself and then when we got to the check out stand he stood back and had me pay. He could have warned me I think. I had just forked out $700 for a hospital bill during the day and this was another $500. That really hurt. A while back when I was buying kennel panels he threw in 4 more panels and I had to pay for those as well. He said he'd get it back to me. He purchased my feed the last time so I guess I'll just let him do it again. He forgets how limited my income is these days. I was always very tight fisted and saved all kinds of money when I worked. Then when I wanted to buy something major I just paid cash for it. I don't have those funds any more. I used the biggest chunk of my savings as a down payment on this place and money is tight. I had to vent somewhere. It's one of those things that just isn't worth causing a potential disagreement over.
I sure hope my fancy birds and game birds make me some big $$ in the future. I will definitely need to pay for this building some how.
Danz, maybe you can have your sister come over too to help you pull weeds? Having two working together should go faster and be more fun for the both of you. I'm glad you are spending time with your dad, I'm sure he really appreciates that. I can see where you'd be ticked about the paying for the materials when that wasn't what you had expected. Yeah, not worth a fight, but irritating non the less. Maybe you can have him help with the feed or a couple of other things to balance it out and leave it at that. I sure hope your fancy birds and game birds make you some money, too!! I think it's exciting!! It would be great if you could build that barn you want.
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I haven't anything against the vaulted skulls, really- there are very valid arguments on both sides of the philosophy...but I know my luck, and a bird with a partially unprotected brain in my care is at a higher risk of something occurring, so I'm just being cautious. I do think I'll go count girls vs. boys with vaults, just out of curiosity, though!!

Seriously, maybe leaving kids toys in the road will help! I'm just furious with these asshats that drive like that. It's sooooo bad. I knew a girl who had not one, but 2 major wrecks on gravel roads when we were growing up, with over 100 stitches in the face with each wreck- and it was due to speed on gravel with poor visibility. Perhaps when I hear her roaring down the road next time that lady will get a bouncy rubber ball in the vicinity, rolling down the drive.

We don't have little kids in the area, but how the heck does that really make a difference? The speed limit on residential roads out there isn't 70, that's too sure!!
Yes, agreed on the points on both sides of the vault.. hehehe!!! Honestly, I think if people simply culled for the look of the crest regardless of the vault, none of this would matter anyway. You'd end up with both, but equally nice looking crests.

How about putting a card board box in the middle of the road? If they ran over it, it wouldn't hurt the car, or themselves, but it would might make them more cautious going over a blind hill. Maybe that's too terrible, though, I don't know. But soooo tempting!!
 
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Chooks, I don't blame you for wanting to put something in the road to slow people down. We have the same thing on our dirt road, people drive like it's the Indy 500 here & right past the next house east of us is a humongous big hill that people come flying over, it's just crazy. Our house is aways from the road & up over the hill, so we don't see it like our neighbors do, but they both tell me that it's awful the way people drive out there. I do hear them sometimes, but we're insulated because of the hill. Thank goodness there are no small children that get out in the road here. The Dr. that lives across the road from us has 6 kids, but their house is back from the road a bit too thankfully, she is an OB GYN here in town. They have plenty of acreage to play on, but just think if they wanted to ride their bikes out there. People are just certifiable, that's all there is to it. Good for you Danz, that kid deserved what he got when you lit into him!

Well the first order of chicks came today, so I was up bright & early moving things around in the garage & getting the new brooder set up. I got them home & I'll post some pics later on. They all seem very healthy & are eating, drinking, & running around in there. They sure had them packed into that box tight, boy they couldn't have moved much if they wanted to, poor little things. They had a heat pack in the box & gel to eat, so they did great. They were hungry by the time they got here though, since it took two days for them to get here & they started hitting the food as soon as I put in down for them. They're so darned cute! I can't wait for the others to get here Friday.

KarenS, I forgot to say congrats on getting your coop done, now we need some pics!
 
Hi all I am also from SE Kansas. Just getting started raising chicks in our backyard. In the city limits we can have mixed flocks of up to 15 birds. We are in the process of building the ladies and gentleman a mansion of a coop lol.

We have 1 - jersey giant roo, 2 - Ameracauna pullets, 2- barred rock pullets, 3- silver laced wyandotte pullets, 2- polish crested 1- white crested black / 1- golden, and 1 little bantam that I have no clue on type. He/she is a greyish color with furry feet and a peach colored feather coming in so maybe we will get lucky and have a porcelain. So right now we are at 11 chicks of various ages from 4weeks to 1.5 weeks. I have enjoyed reading about everyone's flocks and can't wait till our girlies start laying. : )
 
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Welcome queenbigears! You have a lovely assortment of chicks! My oldest ones are 12 weeks tomorrow and I'm excited about getting closer to laying age too! Can't wait. I have 4 EE pullets and am hoping for some blue/green eggs from those girls. I got my first chicks the early part of February, but I got lots of them. Right now I have about 140 birds. There are approx 90 of the 12 week olds and approx 50 4 week olds. It's amazing how fast they grow! It's almost like you can see their little wings coming in! Anyway, welcome, this is a great group of chicken lovers!


Hi all I am also from SE Kansas. Just getting started raising chicks in our backyard. In the city limits we can have mixed flocks of up to 15 birds. We are in the process of building the ladies and gentleman a mansion of a coop lol.

We have 1 - jersey giant roo, 2 - Ameracauna pullets, 2- barred rock pullets, 3- silver laced wyandotte pullets, 2- polish crested 1- white crested black / 1- golden, and 1 little bantam that I have no clue on type. He/she is a greyish color with furry feet and a peach colored feather coming in so maybe we will get lucky and have a porcelain. So right now we are at 11 chicks of various ages from 4weeks to 1.5 weeks. I have enjoyed reading about everyone's flocks and can't wait till our girlies start laying. : )
 
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queenbigears! We're a friendly bunch here, feel free to jump in any time. We chat about a little of everything here besides chickens. Whereabouts in KS are you? We also have a Kansas Poultry Swap site on FaceBook where we have different types of poultry & equipment for sale or trade. Here is the link for that in case you might be looking for something now or in the future or want to sell something: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/. There is a wealth of information on BYC about just about any topic on chickens or other poultry you could be looking for.
 
I am an evil person I guess. When someone goes flying by here I think, "I wish you'd flip!" I don't want any one to get hurt but maybe if they total a vehicle or two it would teach them to slow down. Years ago when I was a police officer there was a certain young man that always came blasting down the street in front of my house. I had tiny little kids then. I waited and sure enough one day while I was on duty I saw his car. I just flipped on the overheads and stopped him. I didn't call it in. So I walked up to this kid and of course he was confused about why he got stopped. I explained to him in a very calm voice that I would deny we ever had the conversation. But that I had small children and so did my neighbors. I explained where I lived, and told him if he ever hit any of them I would personally come and take his life. I also explained not to be surprised if I blew his tires out while he was speeding down my street. I could have gotten fired for that, but after that he just creeped down my block at like 10 mph. It must have been a year later he came looking for me in tears. He had a 2 year old niece who had been hit by a speeding car and killed. He thanked me for ripping him and said he wished someone had had the same talk to the guy that hit his niece. It was a sad story in the end but I am sure that guy has done his own fair share of preaching to speeders.
It's a shame people just don't think about the consequences of their crazy driving. I feel sorry for the first persons that hits one of my animals speeding by here. I may not physically harm them but they will know they have been ripped by an ultra be-atch. That is one principle reason I want to get a fence put up across the front of the property. I keep spending my fence money for other stuff!!.
Nah, you're not evil, but what an excellent illustration about speeding. It's too bad that he had his niece killed by a speeding car, but you may have saved any number of lives by having that chat with him. And yeah, I bet he passes that along.


Hi all I am also from SE Kansas. Just getting started raising chicks in our backyard. In the city limits we can have mixed flocks of up to 15 birds. We are in the process of building the ladies and gentleman a mansion of a coop lol.

We have 1 - jersey giant roo, 2 - Ameracauna pullets, 2- barred rock pullets, 3- silver laced wyandotte pullets, 2- polish crested 1- white crested black / 1- golden, and 1 little bantam that I have no clue on type. He/she is a greyish color with furry feet and a peach colored feather coming in so maybe we will get lucky and have a porcelain. So right now we are at 11 chicks of various ages from 4weeks to 1.5 weeks. I have enjoyed reading about everyone's flocks and can't wait till our girlies start laying. : )
WELCOME to the Kansas thread and
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!! So glad you've joined us! Your first egg will be really exciting! :)


So i've been outside and have worked on the lawn a bit and have sanded and started painting the window for my brother's coop. I just haven't worked on it at all lately! Sheesh, what a procrastinator I am! That thing should have taken me two weeks to build, IF that. Took a break, the Littles were hungry and got everyone fed. Need to get back out there and finish the window. Hope everyone is having a great afternoon, it's getting pretty hot, though! Shows 92 degrees???
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Grrr... nothing I hate worse than a salesman coming up to my house when I'm home with the kids. Fortunately, all my neighbors are out mowing their lawns and I had just been over to talk to them, and they were watching. BUT... a white SUV full of people drive up to my house a minute ago. A young girl about 20 jumps out to talk to me and there in the truck looks to be like 2 or 3 scary looking men in there with her. She says she is a Kirby rep and hands me a candle and a slip of paper. I then tell her I have no need for any of her services. She keeps persisting and I finally tell her I have hardwood floors and leather furniture (which is true). So then she asks if I have rugs, and I'm pretty tired of her by then, so instead I turn the tables and tell her about how bad it is to have carpet in your house, and what carpet can hold and how dangerous it is and how you shouldn't even have area rugs and you should never wear your shoes in the house and on and on and I was telling it to her like SHE should not be doing those things and she grabbed the candle out of my hands and jumped back into the SUV and they headed over to my neighbors house. I was doing my mean-lecture thing (a lot of it bunk-- I don't care if you have carpet) to her because SERIOUSLY, you think I'm going to let these gangster looking men into my house-- even if I did have carpet!?! I'm so upset about people just thinking they can just drive up into my drive and do that. ARGH. I was out hooking up my garden hose to my mister for the chickens and no where near my house and the kids are playing right next to me.
 
I thought I'd share a funny duck story.

So, my two Pekin ducklings turned 6 weeks old this past Monday. I started letting them outside during the day last week. I had given them water in one of the 1+ gallon ice cream containers. They'd been outside for a while and went to go get a drink. The lead duck walked around to the opposite side of the dish as the "follower" duck. The follower duck moved closer to the lead duck, and the lead duck moved a little farther away. This continued until they were running around the water bowl at full speed!




Another story:
Wal-Mart FINALLY decided to stock kiddie pools, so I was finally able to bring a kiddie pool home for my ducks. The first day they were in it, they got out of it when I was trying to catch them but hadn't gotten out of it otherwise, despite the fact that I had a couple bricks in there to assist. The one duck decided s/he was hungry and so reached over the side for some grass. However, his/her neck just wasn't QUITE long enough. :) Needless to say, when I saw this, I went out and helped them out. However, I thought it was funny and worthy of being shared:


And, finally, a cute picture just because:
 

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