Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Oh my, what a day! I started building my coop in earnest today and got quite a bit done. I build all 4 walls, got them standing and anchored them. That was quite a job because my drill bits got dull in the concrete. I went through a 1/2" bit, and it was getting dull so I started using a 3/8" bit to pilot the hole and that worked to get all but the last two. I had to borrow a 1/2" from a neighbor to do the last two holes. In all, I drilled 34 holes in concrete to anchor 2x4's using 5 1/2" anchor bolts. I inhaled so much concrete dust I can still taste it. But if this coop flies away in a tornado, I'll eat the proverbial hat. Ivy, thanks for the tips (many moons ago) that led me on the path to getting this thing anchored properly.

I also got one of the doors framed in. I plan to have two doors - one at each end, and a window on each side that doesn't have a door. That way I can have cross breezes no matter what the weather throws at me. Pics to follow. I've taken progress pics but haven't downloaded them from the camera yet.

All in all, it felt like good progress for a day but I am already paying for it. I won't be able to work on it tomorrow so at least my poor back will get a break.

I've just read several pages of posts and made mental notes about the things I was going to respond to but my brain is so fried I don't remember any of my notes.

Cherwill, so sorry you won't be able to make it. If I make it, I was really looking forward to meeting you. I'm still hoping I can get there but won't really know for sure until the day....

Karen sorry about the problems with your BR poult but glad he/she has a companion now. Wow, with the problems Trish has had with her poults and you with yours, I am so nervous about my upcoming hatch. I candled last night and saw movement in both RP eggs but am not that happy with the air cell size. I'm "dry-hatching" but even so, the air cells are pretty small. The humidity here has been so crazy lately. Anyway, hopefully they'll make it to hatch but it sounds like from everything I'm hearing, poults are pretty fragile for the first couple of weeks so just having them hatch isn't really the point where I can call it a success.

 

[averytds]

So they kind of, sort of do have Frontline for people.

Okay, now don't everyone go screaming at me w/OMG!, but next time you're at the drugstore, pick up some of the expensive head lice shampoo and mosey over to the pet stuff. Then pick up a generic bottle of doggie flea/tick shampoo and compare ingredients.

You may not see those little pinhead ones, but spent the day out clearing brush or something, you'll be showering anyways....why not have a little insurance. They have to be on you for something like 24hrs for you to get sick, so why take chances.

 

[Trish44]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one picking ticks, they're horrid this year! We have them every year, but I have to check myself every time I go outside & come back in, even just in my front yard. Now I can't put the stuff on the yard that we used to because of the chickens ranging out there. You would think they would eat them all up, but maybe there are even just too many for them to eat. I wanted to get some guineas, but that just didn't work out well for me, so maybe the turkeys & peacocks will help when I can get them out there. We just have a great environment for them here with the woodsy area & overgrown 5 acres down in front that we don't mow. I keep the 5 acres mowed around the house as much as I can mow, but right behind the house is a huge hill that is made of rock, so there is no mowing there. It's just a great environment for snakes & bugs back there. I don't walk up there any time when it's warm enough for the snakes to be out.

Oh, by the way, if anybody who is coming Weds. to Karen's wants any Ameraucana chicks or Black Sex Link chicks let me know & I can bring them with me. I have 6 of each right now. Oh & whoever was asking about why I can't tell the sexes on the sexlinks, it's because these are 2nd generation. The guy bred sexlinks to sexlinks & they don't breed true like other breeds. I think I have it figured out, but I'm not sure. These don't have spots on their heads like normally the first generation would. I think the pullets are almost all black & the roos have more white & have white wing tips on these is my guess, but I'm not totally sure.

IVY, I wish you could come, but I understand after your surgery & all that it would be hard to ride that long. I get so stiff from riding in the car that even an hour makes me so bad that I have to stand for awhile just to be able to move at all. It's almost torture for me to make the 5 hour trip to see my DH's family any more. We have that coming up over Memorial Day again, I'm not exactly looking forward to this trip this time. I have too much going on wth my critters, but if I don't go after I missed his marathon he's going to really be mad at me. I just don't want to stay 3 days & he does. He doesn't understand that this is a really bad time for me to be away with two brooders full of baby chicks & my Mini Rex rabbit just had 5 new babies today too.

 

[averytds]

Quote:

That explains it! I just knew there had to be something more to the story that I was missing.

 

[JosieChick]

What color are your ameraucanas? I am going to be hatching wheaten/blue wheaten chicks in a few weeks but would like to have a roo that is not related. I would love a couple if they are the right color. Let me know.

Oh, by the way, if anybody who is coming Weds. to Karen's wants any Ameraucana chicks or Black Sex Link chicks let me know & I can bring them with me. I have 6 of each right now.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Karen, those Aloha's are beautiful! I can't wait to see a picture of your turkeys! SEE?!?! Can you see why I loved mine so much? They are so friendly and happy and very personable birds. They are different from chickens. They seem more "people" to me, I guess.

Cherwill, I sure hope it's a fluke too. I just haven't been getting the amount of eggs I usually get... but maybe they just aren't laying good right now and I'm freaking out over nothing. I hope!!

Avery-- Right now, I'm good on stock and ready for next year! But I'm going to have to PM you sometime about this breeder's specifics! The shipped eggs I got in and are incubating were very highly recommended-- they have bred out most gold leakage, have good feet, better foot feathering than I have, and bigger crests! No split wing, etc, etc... I'm really excited about these! They came from California from a breeder who does nothing but breeds and shows them. She doesn't have excess stock, and I was lucky to get them. I didn't know we had anyone here in KS that was doing project colors! If they are doing Coumbian, I'm going to have restrain myself! LOL I would officially sign up for that and help with the project to make it an official color, for SURE! I'm already learning about all the breed record keeping. Yeesh. I spent like 2 hours the other day writing everything up for just the ones I have now. I don't know how they do it when they have TONS of birds! I'm now only up to 9!! I haven't bought my banding yet, either. I've been using zip ties until they get older, but they are color coded. I still think this is just so incredibly fun, I can barely contain my excitement! ha!

Roman, I have hatchery silkies in with my LF birds. However... I really would not put nice quality silkies in with LF-- they are smaller and more laid back, and their crests are so big, they really can't see. Which mean a well placed peck on the head could do them in pretty quick. My silkies all get along-- no one fights! I have been throwing in day old chicks with 2 week old chicks-- and guess what?? NO fighting, no pecking!! They are amazing birds! The two week old chicks come up to the new hatchs and gently peck their beaks and chirp at them to follow them to the feeder/water! I'm more in love with this breed than I ever was before.

Josie-- do post pics of your boys. Get a good picture of them outside in natural light so we can see if either of them have leakage. From the outside shot, we can see how they hold their tail and wings. Boys tend to drop their wings, but it shouldn't be too bad. Get a picture of their feet-- the underside so we can see if they have fused toes or the right number of toes. The right color and size of comb is important! Don't use anything with a red comb-- it is hard to breed out. Anyway, from that, it will be easier for you to decide who to keep.

That is nice you made a small arena for yourself before going riding. I don't do anything with my horses, they are all so dead broke, I just get on and go. But on the up side, I do have to cut thru my tree line, skirt the neighbors corn field for nearly an entire mile before I can hit the dirt road. So it's about 20 mintues before I even make it down to the road from my house. By that time, we've already been thru the water slew, thru the trees, spooked a couple of deer, and nearly fallen in a coyote hole. LOL Every time. All without even a snort from any of my horses.

 

[Ivywoods]

Hawkeye-Sounds like you have done a great job of educating yourself about the silkies.

Way to go, girl!
Back on the egg eating thing... What several others has said is true for me, too. My hens waste no time in eating an egg if it gets broken, which sometimes happens with birds jumping in and out of the nest and everyone wanting the same next box. They don't seem to bother the eggs that are not broken. IF you have an egg eater, it is hard to catch them unless you are right there when they lay their egg. If that is the case, generally they will do that about every day. It is hard for them to eat an egg without leaving at least a trace of evidence. Some of the white and yolk will spill out onto the hay or shavings, depending on what you have in your nest. I think it's easier to tell if there is hay in the nest. Every day go out and check the nest. Whether you see an egg in there or not, go ahead and feel the hay to see if you can feel any wetness from a broken egg. If you know about the time they lay their eggs and can go out shortly after that time, it would be best, but checking several times a day is not a bad idea. If you discover you do have an egg eater you may have to separate them to figure out just who it is unless you catch them in the act. However, if it is just once in while and not too often that it happens, they may just be eating a broken egg, which is pretty normal.

I had an egg eater a while back. With my schedule I knew it wasn't going to be easy to catch it. I tried going in there and checking, but wasn't having any luck catching anyone. It was happening more often than I liked. Sometimes I would go in and one of our stray cats that had adopted our barn as a home was in there. He wasn't bothering anything, the chickens didn't mind him, and he was a good mouser. One day I went in there and that cat was eating eggs! That cat no longer lives here and my egg eating problem stopped.

 

[Ivywoods]

So they kind of, sort of do have Frontline for people.

Okay, now don't everyone go screaming at me w/OMG!, but next time you're at the drugstore, pick up some of the expensive head lice shampoo and mosey over to the pet stuff. Then pick up a generic bottle of doggie flea/tick shampoo and compare ingredients.

You may not see those little pinhead ones, but spent the day out clearing brush or something, you'll be showering anyways....why not have a little insurance. They have to be on you for something like 24hrs for you to get sick, so why take chances.

Good suggestion about checking the ingredients. I have never compared the headlice to the animal fea and tick meds. I will have to do that. Actually, it's interesting if you look at over the counter medicine and read the active ingredients. So many of your brand name products are simply combinations of other medications. Cold medicine and analgesics are famous for this. Most often I think it is best to buy the simple ingredient and only treat the symptoms you are having, rather than buying the big combinations that often have stuff that you don't need. You have to read the generic names for the medications... just my opinion here.

Seriously, though, I'm going to have to look at those two you suggest. I'm curious. It's always been my understanding that the flea and tick medicine kills the parasite by allowing it to bite the host and then it dies. I don't think that is the case with headlice. I've never had to deal with headlice (thank goodness!)

I guess the problem with "Frontline for Folks" would be that I don't think very many people would want to offer their bodies as "bait" to the nasty little creepy crawlers in order to eliminate them.
Here ticky, ticky, ticky.... bite me!

(sick humor, I know!)

 

[averytds]

I know there are people breeding and working on Silkies here in KS, but to be honest, I only know them through the grapevine. Not personal knowledge. The lady I got him from is in OK. We've got a slew of ASBC members down there. Go to any OK open and you're bound to run into some. No idea what all she has or is working on. I know she was one of the breeders who helped get self-blue recognized. That was at the Shawnee show in 2010. Any show or swap she attends she brings plenty to

over and buy. I swear also something I haven't seen IRL before every time.


Yep Josie, pics please. Don't know I can help you any unless of course, you're looking for reasons as to why you should keep both.

On egg eaters and feeding eggs and shells. Ours too go crazy over broken ones. Sometimes they get whole eggs tossed to them on purpose. As far as I know, we've never had an egg eater of unbroken eggs, other than snakes.

 

[Ivywoods]

Avery-On your blue amerauanas, is this your first generation of them? I was just wondering if the blue color in them breeds true, or if you have to keep going back to the black? I haven't had the blue ones, but I have self-blue or lavender. They breed true, but people are still going back to black with them in order to improve feather quality and size. When I compare my lavenders to my blacks, the blacks do have better feather quality and are visibly larger. I think my lavenders have good type, and they have been some of my best layers so far. This is only the first year I have bred them though. I just wondered how the blue's were to work with. I know in other varieites of chickens blues can be difficult to get the right shade of blue and the lacing right, and then I've heard that some judges prefer a darker shade and some prefer a lighter shade. I think I would be confused!