Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Well it was a rough day. Had two finals today and I got up early to take care of the crew this morning before I left for the day. The weather was ferocious here last night and I was lazy when I put the birds up and didn't put the pullets up on the perch in the coop. (I have a good dozen 3 1/2 month old pullets) This morning when I went out one of my little rir girls was acting funny. Walking kinda stiff and hunkered up like she wasn't feeling well so I tucked her in my coat and brought her in with me when I was done with my chores and set her up with a cage and food and water. When I got home she had died.

She didn't seem that bad off this morning but was acting kind of lethargic. Poor sweet girl, she was a pitiful chick out of the pullet bin that was being picked on and missing half her feathers and had the worst pasty butt I have ever seen. I couldn't leave her there to die at the feed store and I was just admiring what a pretty shiny young lady she was growing into the other day and now she is gone. I wonder if they didn't crush her piled up in the corner last night in fear of the thunder. I will send her off to K State to check for anything wrong but she looked so good just the other day.

Roman- congrats on your final for pathophys!! That is awesome!

Ivy- Wasn't me asking about the pelt....I was wondering what you do with them? I have heard people say they hang em from fence posts to keep other coyotes out? I would think that would grow an enormous amount of flys...yuck.

Danz-Don't work too hard!! That goes for everyone else too who is overdoing it!

Hope everyone enjoyed this gorgeous weather today, I was stuck inside most of the day.

I am surprised Chooks hasn't been on here about the whole Lawrence feed store nonsense?? She is like the queen of chicken wisdom in Lawrence. Maybe her birds are holding her hostage.

 

[sapphireblu76]

Oh, it was me that had asked about the pelt Yeah, I imagine my sister wouldn't be able to do anything with it now

Sorry to hear about your pullet, Josie

rvroman-congrats on your class!

 

[Ivywoods]

Josie-so sorry about your pullet. They probably piled on top of her in fear of the storms last night.

Sapphire-Oh! I knew it was someone with a young dog. Yes, the vultures didn't waste any time in cleaning up on that coyote.

Danz-good to see you today and glad all the girls made it home okay. I thought they were a nice looking bunch of pullets. We still haven't found the little wayward quail chick that took off today. I hope we find it before it's too late.

RVRoman-congrats on your class. I'm sure that takes a weight off your shoulders to get that out of the way.

Josie-I've never done anything with the coyote pelts. I've shot a number of them, and I know their pelts are worth some money, but I guess I just never bother with them. There was a guy I worked with and he sells furs. He told me to save them for him. I told him I would if he would come skin them. I wasn't going to skin them and then give them away. So I shot a coyote, FROZE the whole thing for him to come get, and he never came and got it, so I never bothered with it again.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

So much going on here and I didn't get caught up like I hoped. I had a follow up Dr. appointment for my youngest DD in the a.m. and had to take another to our regular Dr. to be checked for strep in the afternoon. Yup. Strep. Poor kid. She'll be home again tomorrow. Spent the whole day running kids to and fro, instead of lounging around as I had hoped. Silly me, what was I thinking? I am sore and so incredibly tired. Maybe tomorrow I can catch my breath.

Well, Hawkeye, we planted and planted and planted. The kids and I planted 200+ tomato plants, 100+ pepper plants, 200 assorted zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelon & cantelope, plus tons of carrots, radishes, lettuce, beets, and parsnips. I'm doing some intensive planting so will see how it turns out. I have more planting coming up but I need to recover first! My potatoes are looking good, as are the strawberries, onions and garlic. I need to take a pic but between kids, chicks and ducks today, I was so done. My husband and I also worked on the breeder pens. We finished one well enough to house the bantams and they are happily ensconced inside the electric fenced area with the other chickens but now they are protected from the big bully birds and don't have to run and hide all the time. All the other breeder runs are in various stages of completion. I need to paint 3 of the runs still and 2 of the coops haven't been started. Again, I need to take pics!

Yesterday the lady I hatched ducks and turkeys for came and picked up her babies. I enjoyed visiting with she and her adult son. It's funny that he's working on breeding his own type of chicken, also. He's red-headed and working on a breed of white chickens with red heads! I thought that was awesome. Out of 12 turkey eggs, I only got 5 healthy birds.

That didn't upset her but it did me. Since so few hatched I told her I'd rather not take any turkeys, she told me not to worry about it because their hens were sitting on lots of eggs and they were going to have plenty. So I said that if they had a good hatch from the hens I would consider taking two of those, so she said okay. The ducks hatched out pretty well so they had almost 19 of 24 eggs. I got to keep 3 of the Cayugas and they are doing really well. I also kept the 6th little turkey who hatched with an unabsorbed yolk. It's still alive and seems to feel fine but I don't really think the little thing will make it. The little turkeys were so cute. Thanks Trish44 for the info re: the Vit E because some of the Bourbon Reds had the same problem with weakness. I hand fed them 3 times a day also, and it made a huge difference in their vitality.

Now all I have in an incubator is my Lav Orp eggs. I thought I would move the eggs to the big incubator but my little Hova-bator's temp and humidity are stable so I think I'm going to leave them in there. Since they are on the counter in my bathroom it's really hard to forget to add water for the humidity.

Medawinks, welcome! Like Danz said, I've adopted 8 times. Two from China, two from Kazakhstan and four from Guatemala -- it's quite a crew!

So, my DH is a test pilot at Hawker Beech. We're holding our breath to see how this all turns out. He's been there 35 years so should have had a reasonably good retirement but evidentally the retirement fund hasn't been funded properly. I guess we'll be lucky to have anything left, not to mention a job. There has been so much up and down with Beech over the last 15 years but that's the aircraft industry and you kind of get used to it. Having the company file bankruptcy is definitely something new and unsettling.

Well, that's it for me. I sure enjoyed reading about everyone's goings on and seeing your pictures!

 

[pikeman94]

Nest box is doing much better. Still have a small leak in one of the end boxes when we get a lot of rain. Otherwise it's staying pretty dry. I installed a piece of rubber garage door gasket over the gap where the hinges were. The gasket is held in place with aluminum carpet transition strips. Then I caulked around everything. I think I'm going to pull the strips off & caulk underneath them as well just in case that's where my leak is. Can't hurt anyway. You can never have too much caulk right? I've also decided that part of the problem is the slope of the nest box roof. Mine is only at 10 degrees, but in retrospect I should have made it at least 30 degrees or more. My thinking is that the steeper angle would deflect the water away faster. Most every picture I've seen online of external nest boxes have fairly pitched roofs. Have to remember that for when I build coop 2.



As for my little roo. Pretty sure it's one of my Australorps. I have 2 of them that are about 10 weeks old. One of them is noticebly larger than the other, has longer tail feathers, & larger comb.



I'm hoping my other Australorp (background) is a hen. The way my luck is going it's probably a roo too. Heck, they may all be roos as far as I know.
Anyway, once I know for sure which one is crowing I'll be looking to get rid of him. He'd be free to anyone on this list who would want to have him & can take him.

Will keep everyone posted. Hope everyone has a good week.

The Australorp in the foreground looks like he has saddle feathers, meaning the feathers immediately behind the wings point to the ground in stead of to the butt. That and he is really sporting the iridescent green in the feathers. Just my .02.

 

[Trish44]

rvroman, congrats on passing your class, yay!

Josie, sorry to hear about your little chick, sometimes they just don't thrive. I lost a turkey poult & a chick in the last few days. I think the little turkey poult did it's flipping thing & then the rest of the chicks trampled it. It was the last one that was having a problem. The other 4 left are doing great & are in their own brooder now with some of the smaller chicks. I have been feeding them scrambled egg in the morning & boy do they like that, they fight over it.

I have about 30 eggs in the hatcher now, but there is nothing going on yet anyway. I did set my Swedish Flower Hen eggs today, so I will be really excited to see how they do. I'm looking for some Lavender Orpington eggs & Welsummer eggs to incubate if anybody knows where I can find some. The Welsummer eggs I had shipped to me didn't do well at all.

I have just been wiped out today again. Both of us were just lethargic today, even my DH didn't go to the gym today, that's unusual for him. I hit the bed last night & after I finally found a way to get my knee comfortable I passed out & I don't even think I moved all the rest of the night. I woke up with a sore back & stiff neck.

I managed to get my original brooder modified this evening & put those turkey poults in there with some of the smaller chicks that hatched lately. They seem to be doing great now that they got past that flipping problem. Danz, I guess that vitamin E really is a miracle if it can cure what those poor things had going on. If you could have seen them you would know what I'm talking about. They were so pitiful there at first, they couldn't stand & just kept flipping onto their backs all day long with their little legs waving in the air & they couldn't get up. Sometimes you would go over & flip them & they would flip right back. I could tell as the days went on that they were doing it less & less until they stopped, other than the one that died today. I think it got flipped & then the other chicks trampled it because I originally had it in with all of my new chicks. I moved them after the lady came & got the EE chicks I had left & I got the brooder cleaned & fixed. I think they will be better off since the other chicks are growing so fast & getting bigger. It's just amazing how fast chicks grow. I plan to work on my grow out pen for the chicks tomorrow. I sat & pulled nails out of all of the 2x4s the other day & then haven't had a chance to get back to working on the pen. I will have to go get some more hardware cloth for the outside, but I want to get the frame built first. I've got to get on fixing that last rabbit hutch too so I can move more rabbits outside. I saw an awesome two level rabbit condo on the OKC craigslist tonight. They were wanting $400 for it, but I think it might not be too hard to make one if you use cages already put together for the wire part. I may have to pursue that later when I have my other projects done. I've got to get my DH on starting on that breeder coop too before it's suddenly 100 degrees out.

 

[cherwill]

Ivy, good work with the coyote. I've noticed what a great alarm system my chickens can be -- I always know when there's a cat in the alley. Your DH is hilarious!

Trish, glad you had fun at your reunion. I don't go; they fill me with horror. I'm not good socially. I hope your forgotten eggs will do well.

Medawinks, welcome! Just so you know, the last time I went with DH for "just feed," we came out with 4 chicks. He didn't take me with him when he went yesterday ... I don't know why.

Your pictures are cute and I like the look on the face of the chick in the second one.

Sapphire, funny cartoon!

Mandilynn, I like your description of how your dad wouldn't let a girl do the work, and now a girl will have fix it! You just gotta let them feel useful, right?

Josie, I'm sorry about your little RIR.

RV, your boys are adorable, and congratulations on your class! I don't know what's eating the plants in your garden. My MIL has taken those little footie socks made of pantyhose material and filled them with hair she saved whenever she cut or my FIL's hair. It's supposed to keep away rabbits, which they have every year. She thinks it's working so far. I've heard of using garlic oil or insecticidal soap for bugs. I haven't tried garlic oil. We did try the soap using Dr. Bronner's soap when we got the squash bugs last year. It didn't help. We got odd red bugs on our eggplants several times, but just picked them off and squished them. I think they may have been the larval stage of potato bugs and we must have done a good job because I never saw an actual potato bug. Right now, something is eating my lettuce and chard at home, and something is starting to eat the beans at the community garden. Last year we didn't get any beans at all because something came and basically ate them all overnight.

The back of my strawberry planter blew out, as I knew it would. I'm working very hard not say anything to DH about insisting on the tar paper instead of landscape fabric ...

I was sorta sick last night and this morning and it's got my back in really bad shape. It feels a bit better now. I hope it holds. We need to mow at least 3 of our places tomorrow (5 would be better, but we could put 2 off until Thursday if necessary), and we need to weed at the bonus garden, though that shouldn't take long. AND we need to be done by 3:30 so DH and my nephew can continue working on his car. This is a job that the shop said would take about 6 hours, so you can imagine how long it might take a couple of non-mechanics.

I'm so excited about my tomatillos. The first batch I tried to start grew really leggy, then died before they got any true leaves. I replanted. Out of 9 cells, one lived long enough to develop a true leaf and one was hanging in there with its initial 2 leaves. I bought a 3-pack of what a I call water tents, which you put around plants to increase the heat around them. They look like cones with an open top, and they're made of long, slender cells that you fill with water to keep them upright and to insulate the plant. I stuck those 2 plants in tents, and threw a seed or two in the remaining tent. The plants are actually looking good and growing like crazy, and I think I'm seeing a sprout in the 3rd tent. I might, after 2 previous years' effort, actually grow some tomatillos!

 

[tweetysvoice]

AAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAH!!!! I passed my Pathophysiology final and class!!! That was the only one I was really worried about.

Congrats!!! That's actually the class that I'm in right now!

I am surprised Chooks hasn't been on here about the whole Lawrence feed store nonsense?? She is like the queen of chicken wisdom in Lawrence. Maybe her birds are holding her hostage.

That was my thought as well. There's another article on the paper this morning about it: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/may/07/lawrence-city-commission-may-change-law-allow-busi/ Looks like they realized that they made a huge Boo Boo.

The back of my strawberry planter blew out, as I knew it would. I'm working very hard not say anything to DH about insisting on the tar paper instead of landscape fabric ...

awww.. I'm sorry. I know how hard you worked on that!.


Ya'll might have missed my question in this blast of activity we've had lately, so i'll post it again:

For those that have raised silkies. Do they grow slower than other chickens? Mine are 3 weeks old now and I swear they are not much bigger than when I got them. They are getting all their big girl feathers on their wings, so I know they are at least maturing, but they are still so very very tiny!. Any insite would be appreciated.

Hope everyone has a great day! It's going to be gorgeous outside - wish I were out there instead of here in the ER!

 

[HEChicken]

So, my DH is a test pilot at Hawker Beech. We're holding our breath to see how this all turns out. He's been there 35 years so should have had a reasonably good retirement but evidentally the retirement fund hasn't been funded properly. I guess we'll be lucky to have anything left, not to mention a job. There has been so much up and down with Beech over the last 15 years but that's the aircraft industry and you kind of get used to it. Having the company file bankruptcy is definitely something new and unsettling.

Awww Karen, I'm so sorry - I can't imagine how stressful all of that is for you. Hopefully since he has been with them 35 years, they'll do him right, even if the worst happens. I heard a rumor that Cessna is buying HBC but don't know how that will work out.

I have just been wiped out today again. Both of us were just lethargic today, even my DH didn't go to the gym today, that's unusual for him. I hit the bed last night & after I finally found a way to get my knee comfortable I passed out & I don't even think I moved all the rest of the night. I woke up with a sore back & stiff neck.

I've been experiencing the same thing - I don't know what's going on. The past 4-5 days I have been exhausted, lethargic and unable to find the energy to do much of anything. I NEVER sleep during the day. I hate that hungover feeling I have when I wake from a nap so I don't do it, no matter how tired I am. But the past 3 days, I've sat down and closed my eyes and gone right to sleep for awhile. I did remove an attached tick 2-3 weeks ago and I'm starting to get concerned about Lyme disease, although I've had no problems with joint pain. We did have a super busy weekend so hopefully it is just a combination of the busy-ness and the humidity that is causing mine - and the same for you!

The back of my strawberry planter blew out, as I knew it would. I'm working very hard not say anything to DH about insisting on the tar paper instead of landscape fabric ...

I'm so excited about my tomatillos. The first batch I tried to start grew really leggy, then died before they got any true leaves. I replanted. Out of 9 cells, one lived long enough to develop a true leaf and one was hanging in there with its initial 2 leaves. I bought a 3-pack of what a I call water tents, which you put around plants to increase the heat around them. They look like cones with an open top, and they're made of long, slender cells that you fill with water to keep them upright and to insulate the plant. I stuck those 2 plants in tents, and threw a seed or two in the remaining tent. The plants are actually looking good and growing like crazy, and I think I'm seeing a sprout in the 3rd tent. I might, after 2 previous years' effort, actually grow some tomatillos!

So sorry about the strawberries, but congrats on the tomatillos. I love those too - started growing them from seedlings about 3 years ago and from seeds in the years since then. We always get some little bug that tunnels into them and creates a black spot but we just cut that out and put them on our salads. Sometimes I miss them so much when we don't have any that I buy the store-bought ones and they never taste as good.

Ya'll might have missed my question in this blast of activity we've had lately, so i'll post it again:

For those that have raised silkies. Do they grow slower than other chickens? Mine are 3 weeks old now and I swear they are not much bigger than when I got them. They are getting all their big girl feathers on their wings, so I know they are at least maturing, but they are still so very very tiny!. Any insite would be appreciated.

Sorry Tweety - don't know the answer to that one. Hopefully someone else will. It might be a case that it doesn't LOOK like they're growing but if you put a day-old silkie in with them, you'd realize how much they actually have grown?

 

[Hawkeye95]

AAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAH!!!! I passed my Pathophysiology final and class!!! That was the only one I was really worried about.

CONGRATS!!!

Nest box is doing much better. Still have a small leak in one of the end boxes when we get a lot of rain. Otherwise it's staying pretty dry. I installed a piece of rubber garage door gasket over the gap where the hinges were. The gasket is held in place with aluminum carpet transition strips. Then I caulked around everything. I think I'm going to pull the strips off & caulk underneath them as well just in case that's where my leak is. Can't hurt anyway. You can never have too much caulk right? I've also decided that part of the problem is the slope of the nest box roof. Mine is only at 10 degrees, but in retrospect I should have made it at least 30 degrees or more. My thinking is that the steeper angle would deflect the water away faster. Most every picture I've seen online of external nest boxes have fairly pitched roofs. Have to remember that for when I build coop 2.

Looks like you did a very nice job securing the leak! It's beautiful!

Hawkeye, well I finally had time to candle the eggs I put in the hatcher & I actually did see movement in quite a few of them, I was really shocked, so I will leave them for a couple of days & see what happens.

Well it was a rough day. Had two finals today and I got up early to take care of the crew this morning before I left for the day. The weather was ferocious here last night and I was lazy when I put the birds up and didn't put the pullets up on the perch in the coop. (I have a good dozen 3 1/2 month old pullets) This morning when I went out one of my little rir girls was acting funny. Walking kinda stiff and hunkered up like she wasn't feeling well so I tucked her in my coat and brought her in with me when I was done with my chores and set her up with a cage and food and water. When I got home she had died.

I am surprised Chooks hasn't been on here about the whole Lawrence feed store nonsense?? She is like the queen of chicken wisdom in Lawrence. Maybe her birds are holding her hostage.

So sorry about your chick!!

It must have gotten crushed, poor thing. I now have this mental image of Renee being held hostage by her chickens!!

Well, Hawkeye, we planted and planted and planted. The kids and I planted 200+ tomato plants, 100+ pepper plants, 200 assorted zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelon & cantelope, plus tons of carrots, radishes, lettuce, beets, and parsnips. I'm doing some intensive planting so will see how it turns out. I have more planting coming up but I need to recover first! My potatoes are looking good, as are the strawberries, onions and garlic. I need to take a pic but between kids, chicks and ducks today, I was so done. My husband and I also worked on the breeder pens. We finished one well enough to house the bantams and they are happily ensconced inside the electric fenced area with the other chickens but now they are protected from the big bully birds and don't have to run and hide all the time. All the other breeder runs are in various stages of completion. I need to paint 3 of the runs still and 2 of the coops haven't been started. Again, I need to take pics!

Yesterday the lady I hatched ducks and turkeys for came and picked up her babies. I enjoyed visiting with she and her adult son. It's funny that he's working on breeding his own type of chicken, also. He's red-headed and working on a breed of white chickens with red heads! I thought that was awesome. Out of 12 turkey eggs, I only got 5 healthy birds.

That didn't upset her but it did me. Since so few hatched I told her I'd rather not take any turkeys, she told me not to worry about it because their hens were sitting on lots of eggs and they were going to have plenty. So I said that if they had a good hatch from the hens I would consider taking two of those, so she said okay. The ducks hatched out pretty well so they had almost 19 of 24 eggs. I got to keep 3 of the Cayugas and they are doing really well. I also kept the 6th little turkey who hatched with an unabsorbed yolk. It's still alive and seems to feel fine but I don't really think the little thing will make it. The little turkeys were so cute. Thanks Trish44 for the info re: the Vit E because some of the Bourbon Reds had the same problem with weakness. I hand fed them 3 times a day also, and it made a huge difference in their vitality.


So, my DH is a test pilot at Hawker Beech. We're holding our breath to see how this all turns out. He's been there 35 years so should have had a reasonably good retirement but evidentally the retirement fund hasn't been funded properly. I guess we'll be lucky to have anything left, not to mention a job. There has been so much up and down with Beech over the last 15 years but that's the aircraft industry and you kind of get used to it. Having the company file bankruptcy is definitely something new and unsettling.

Well, that's it for me. I sure enjoyed reading about everyone's goings on and seeing your pictures!

Whoa-- that is a lot of plants!! What are you going to do with all of the produce?? I have 4 tomato plants and trust me, that's plenty for us! I heard about Beech a while back and it never occured to me that it would mess up retirement plans and 401K's!! I was just thinking... wow, I hope they can pay everyone. Not good!! I hope he's okay and can keep his job. It totally sucks doesn't it? The not knowing and the stress of worrying about what you'll do. Sigh. I sure hope we can find a job here, we still don't know what we'll do when Boeing shuts down. My Dh is now under contract to work out to the end, so he's hoping he can line up a job that won't need him until the COB with Boeing. We'll see.