Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I took the hobble off of Amber's legs and she's getting around great! Would never have known she was spraddle legged. (in fact, now I can't tell her or Jade apart except when I pick one up and check for the missing toe. LOL

That's great that it worked so well. I haven't experienced a spraddle-legged chick yet but am glad for the info if/when it ever happens.

 

[rvroman]

no takers on Leroy?

 

[tweetysvoice]

HEChicken, You are so blessed that you can do that! It was always my dream to be a SAHM, but that never happened. When my daughter was young, I opened a daycare with my best friend so we could have our babies at home and still work. That's one reason that I'm going to college for medical billing and coding, so I can eventually get a job from home. I can't wait to retire. LOL

 

[cherwill]

Sapphire, how exciting to see your egg pipping. I want all the pictures you can get of the whole process. I'm not in a position to hatch eggs so I do it vicariously through the board.

Trish, great picture and I love the one chick standing up in the upper right corner.

Josie, your little mud puppy looks as happy as she could be.

HEChicken, I think you'll enjoy not working. Officially working, that is, because you'll find plenty of work to do at home! I've been lucky that my husband makes enough for us to live on and the mowing in the summer months really helps a lot, too. I was able to babysit my niece for years and we have a special relationship because of that time we spent together. I love puttering around the house and yard, taking care of my home and family. A lot of people talk about being bored if they had to stay home, but I don't find that to be a problem.

Hawkeye, I hope you had a great GNO. You certainly deserve a little time to just relax and enjoy life.

RVRoman, I can't have roos, either. Stupid city ordinances! He's a pretty bird and hopefully someone will be able to take him soon.

We did a bunch of planting yesterday and I may have undone most of what the doc did for my back that morning. We're trying to make it 3 weeks between appointments and so far, I haven't made it. This was the closest, though, going in Thursday and the 3 wk appointment was for Monday. I ended up taking a muscle relaxer for the first time since I've been going to her.

It's better today, though, and I didn't do much physical labor. Watered the gardens since I have no faith that it will actually rain HERE. It may rain all over the rest of the state, but McPherson gets skipped a lot. DH finished planting the strawberry pallet.

I'm trying to grow tomatillos since I can't buy any plants here. This is the third year I've tried to start the seeds, I think. I don't seem to be able to start anything in seed pots and have it live long enough to make it into the garden. On my second planting this year, I did manage to get two starter plants that we were able to put into the garden yesterday. Only one had a true leaf on it, though. I caved in and bought 3 of those water tents you can put around plants that need warmer weather; maybe that will work and I'll get at least 1 tomatillo plant out of it. We planted the two I was able to start and keep alive, and put seeds in the ground for the third. We also had our first harvest -- 10 radishes!

 

[Trish44]

rvroman, you might put him on the Poultry Swap & see if you have any takers there. Roosters are just hard to get rid of in my experience, you don't need that many.

cherwill, thanks, that one is an Ancona, a new breed for me this year. Shana & I both decided to try them, they're supposed to be good layers.

Well so far I have 3 little fuzzy butts in my bator that have hatched today of the blue wheaten Ameraucanas, I'm so excited to see how many end up hatching from those. I also have two more of my own Amerauacana eggs in there. There are total of 6 more eggs yet due to hatch.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, Hawkeye, one of the best ways to insure you learn is to be thrust into a leadership position. You asked about shows a while back, and I forgot to answer. They were not 4-H shows, and were a long ways away from you... Nebraska (Scribner, I believe) and another show in Iowa to the east of Omaha, can't remember the name of the town right now. I believe I read about them in the Exhibition poultry magazine. Have a great time at your GNO tonight. I haven't done that kind of thing since I moved up here, and I sure miss it.

I didn't get anything done outside today, but DH and I did manage to get my printer working again and my computer desk fixed. The slide out tray where the keyboard goes wouldn't go in or out, so we had to totally disassemble the slides to get a screw out that had worked it's way out of the wood and was stuck inside the slide. I don't use it with my laptop, but I do use it for pens, pencils, etc.

Well, I told them I would do it next year after I knew better what we are doing. I do think I have a better idea of Showmanship, but probably not as much as I should, and not as much as I need to, to give a clinic on it. Anyway, if that is the case, perhaps I can organize a Sedgwick Co poultry show for our area! That would be nice to have something close. Not that I didn't enjoy driving up to Valley Falls for our last one. Wish I would have planned on the Miami Co one, but we had something going on that week. I didn't think it would slow down that fast after those two! Glad you got your desk fixed, but it sounded like a hassle to take it apart. Hope your evening was uneventful with the tornado watch last night. Sorry about your BBQ grill, hope it really is workable after it's flight.

Wow, Hawkeye I bet you feel honored just the same. I'm so happy you're able to have a GNO. I could certainly use one of those myself! Not that I've done that in several years!


Ivy be careful in that wind. I about blew away out feeding. The wind moved my PVC pen for the first time ever today. I had my Cayuga ducks in there and it picked it up over the water sled and moved it about 30 feet. Two of my hens are out running around the yard but they will eventually work their way back to the group.
I had a busy day as well. I went to Gardner and got my turkey eggs. Stopped and did some shopping there and then at Orchlen's in Ottawa as well. Then I came home and fed and watered everyone. I emptied out the hatcher and didn't even bother counting how many birds I had. I had a bunch. I'm thinking I am going to have to buy a new thermostat for the newest GQF I have. It is running low no matter how I set it and I lost some babies I had incubated in there. They hatched ok but didn't thrive. There were also a couple with bad legs.
Before I left this morning I had a previous customer show up. He didn't call or anything but drove down from Topeka. That made me a bit uneasy. But he ended up buying 14 Serama hens and 4 roosters from me. I was tickled to get some sold. I really do want to downsize and only keep a few to breed. It was nice to have some unexpected money. I told him I had someone from here that wanted some hens and a guy from Oklahoma that was going to take some young ones. He said when I got done selling to those other people he would probably take all the rest I had for sale. I sure hope he was serious. I also let him buy a pair of my bantam polish although I really have no females I wanted to sell. I now have about 10 roos I need to find homes for to get my numbers down where I want them. I did hatch some out yesterday though so maybe with luck I can raise a few more.
I have a guy from KC coming to buy some of my mixed young roosters this weekend. He has bought some before and he eats them. But that is all these are really good for. And hopefully the other guy will call tomorrow and come buy a load of babies from me. DH will be unhappy I am selling things so cheap but I just have to make some room around here.

My GNO was really fun last night. We switch houses every month, and they haven't been out since I started on my chicken coops. We just have a lot of girls in our group and when you go thru 10 or 12 homes-- it takes a while to get back around to your own house. Which is actually really nice, because no one gets burned out on getting their house ready. Yeah, that would make me a bit uncomfortable with someone just showing up to buy birds without calling. He had no idea you'd even be there! Or that you wouldn't be busy with company. On the up side, glad he took so many birds! Your little Polish are lovely, if they were LF, I'd be up there picking out a roo. But I don't need another project right now for sure! LOL What kind of turkey eggs did you get? Are these the Midget Whites you have been wanting?

I took the hobble off of Amber's legs and she's getting around great! Would never have known she was spraddle legged. (in fact, now I can't tell her or Jade apart except when I pick one up and check for the missing toe. LOL

That's great that she's all fixed up!!

I worked my last paid day today. Actually, last Friday was supposed to be my last day per my two-week notice, but they begged me to stay one more week as they had not yet hired someone to replace me. As it was, the new person only started today so I didn't have much time to train her on everything I do/did. I feel for her now having two days off and having to come back Monday and try to remember ANYTHING.

From here on out, my time will be largely spent either at the new house coop building (yeah!!!) or here preparing to move. Less than a month until school lets out - the time has gone pretty fast after all.

Wow, so you're going to be a SAHM again! That's great! I really enjoy being the same. I did enjoy working too, though. I really missed working for a long time after I quit and often thought I shouldn't have quit. I still toy with the idea of going back to work when the kids are all in school. Can't wait to see you get started on your coop! Good luck with your build!

 

[Hawkeye95]

no takers on Leroy?

I don't want him. I do have a couple of white silkie roosters-- from the hatchery that I want to get rid of. They were hatched in October 2011. I'm going to take them to the Mulvane swap I think and see if I can get rid of them. I don't know what people do with all of their extra roosters. Since these are silkie, I don't want to eat them. I think the black skin and bones would turn me off.

 

[rvroman]

OK, so now that Leroy figured out he can crow, its like he is addicted to it. Oh and it sounds hilarious cause its not a full grown rooster crow, its a pipsqueak rooster crow. How I wish I could keep him, he ROCKS!!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

OKay-- HELP! Ivy, Danz??? I just got in shipped silkie eggs from a breeder in CA that has beautiful birds and they all arrived perfectly-- no breaks/cracks. However, ME-- stupid me, I was unwrapping a bubble wrapped egg and I dropped it on top of another egg!!! It cracked, but not bad. Can I somehow cover up this spot????? Is there something I can do for that egg????

 

[chicken danz]

I had the chick buyer call before 8:00 AM and I just don't like talking to people before I drink my coffee. It's my time of the day.
Yeah those were the midget white eggs. I am still considering ordering some chicks but not sure I want to spend that kind of money. I figure I might introduce a couple different blood lines that way. I only have 13 eggs and some of them are about 15 days old so I have no idea what kind of hatch I will get. He says he only gets about a 50% hatch rate because they grow but don't pip. I'd really like to have enough babies to breed with and put in the freezer as well. But then you never know what kind of hatch you will get. Turkeys are particularly hard to hatch in my experience.
I always wanted to be a SAHM, but never was able. Now I'm a SAHRP (my own acronym) and I love it. I can't imagine any one ever being bored staying at home. I do remember thinking at one point when my kids were young though that I would like to have a conversation with someone over 2 years old every now and then. Now I'm perfectly fine with rarely talking to anyone.
Another busy day today. Besides bird buyers I finally got permission to work on the building some without DH. I have a few plans of my own I can do without him here too. It's almost ready to put metal on. Just a few more boards. But the fence posts aren't drilled for the fencing yet. Sure wish that was done so I could build the pens and get them ready. I have way too much to do any way. I got my order of plants yesterday and haven't even opened the box. I have all those grape vines and some blueberries to get planted. It sure would be a lot easier if I had the tractor tiller hooked up rather than trying to dig in this hard ground.
Chooks, if you happen to be lurking. How far from your pens did you plant your grape vines. I need to be sure mine will grow up the sides and also keep the birds from eating them in the interim. Could use some of your worldly advise. I've planted grapes before but not when I am dealing with birds.