Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Ivy- I am sending you a pm!

Hawkeye- Thanks for all your silkie advice! Have you tried soaking the chick starter in water and letting it poof up? I usually grind my starter for silkies or at least soak it in warm water and then plunk them right in the middle of a tray of it and they just go bananas! I have had a few that looked like crud because they weren't eating and once I did that they got going and did great. I wish they made a bantam chick starter for small babies, some of those chunks are as big as the darn chick! I LOVE the name Orville!!! That is so sweet. I just love my turkeys, I am going to go to the swap in Topeka for some of Ivys RP poults. I have wanted some for a while but really want babies so I can coddle them!
I bought a pair of silkies from Jenn a long time ago that I ended up having to rehome because the roo crowed non stop even at night and I didn't want my neighbors calling the chicken police but they sure were pretty birds. She has gorgeous birds!

Medawinks- I am so sorry for your son. What an awful experience for a child to go through when he was in China. I have found the crested breeds (polish, silkies) to be very, very fragile. I lost a number of polish chicks to piling where the other chicks would get on top and the polish would bury underneath and get crushed. I personally think it has to do with their weird noggins but don't know for a fact. I am sorry for your son but tell him lots of us have had a hard time keeping polish and silkies alive, they are very delicate creatures and it is not his fault.



UGH, ok GP folks. WHAT is the puppy doing????? She is on some kind of mission to make my yard look like a tornado went through it. She picks up every darn loose item she can find and strews it all over the place. People must drive by and think I have gone mad throwing things out the front door!! Is this GP behavior or what? I have never had a dog do this before...I think she is bored because Molly has been working hard the last few nights and just finds a hole to go to sleep in so she has nobody to play with.

Alrighty, today I am going to get stuff done!!!!! Off to it!!

 

[Trish44]

Josie, yes that's GP puppy behavior all right. You should see my yard most of the time, it's a good thing we live where we do & nobody sees it unless they come down the drive. Our pups go to their favorite junk pile on the property next to ours & bring me home presents almost daily. I can't even mow until I go through the yard & pick up all the stuff they bring home. They even brought home a phone receiver one day & we have various boots & shoes all over the place. I have let them keep one leather boot out in the dog run & one leather loafer to chew on. Last night I was trying to work on my pen for my chicks & turned my back for no more than a couple minutes & Lily had one of my boxes of U nails I had been using & was chewing up the box. I had to run & get it away from her because it still had nails in it. I can't leave anything sit out for even a minute or two or they grab it & run off with it. I sat a plastic feeder down I was cleaning out from my Ameraucana pen one time while doing chores & they grabbed it & took off & chewed it up before I even knew what was happening. The other night I opened a package of hardware cloth & Jasmine saw the plastic just as I was getting ready to go over & pick it up. She grabbed it & ran with it all the length of my front yard & left it way out there in the yard. She is a very serious dog most of the time, but she has an ornery streak I have been seeing lately. She did the same thing to me last night with a piece of chicken wire I had cut off & she saw me heading to pick up again & looked at me & took off with it. As you have read I have been through a lot of puppy stuff with my two, but we are finally getting closer to being through the worst of it I think anyway, They are starting to act more like adult dogs every day. It sure has been a journey though with them. I guess that is one good thing about having two of them at once that they have each other to play with.

I finally got my pen done for the chicks late last night, almost midnight & moved them out there. I still need to run & get one more hook for the door, but I don't think they can open it as it is, just extra insurance. My DH came home to find me cleaning dirty shavings out of the brooder & asked me what I was doing. I got it cleaned out & moved the little turkey poults all in there. The two I had seem to be getting more comfortable with their own kind. The person I got the turkeys from told me they need a heat lamp for another month. I was kind of surprised at them needing heat for so long, but we'll see. They hadn't been in an enclosure like my brooder & at first tried to fly in there & kept bonking their heads. I think they finally figured it out now. I will take pics of my pen later today when I get time. I have a lady coming in a few minutes to pick up Ameraucana chicks so I need to get moving.

 

[chicken danz]

That is definitely GP behavior. My pup has been rumaging through the barn and every where else to find things. This morning I am missing a putty knife, the dog food scoop, a head to the shop vac and dust pan. All were in the shop or on the back step.
I've been busy out working in the brooder. Cleaned some more areas, moved some birds around and got the littles situated in a brooder box. Kind of disappointed in the mix I got. I got one lone Sultan. If I am going to have one I'd like to have more than one.
Looks like the rest are white over black, blues, some buffs, a few whites, three gold laced, maybe a couple of silver laced and or splash Polish. No Houdans or Crevecoeurs. Darn it! I guess we'll see what Survives and what turns out to be what. I would be tickled to end up with a couple of splash polish out of these since I have none of those.

 

[HEChicken]

...even the chick feed is on the large size for these birds. As long as he's living, I think I'll just keep giving him egg several times a day and hope that he grows big enough to eat the feed on his own.

When my Coturnix hatched, they were too small to eat chick crumbles, so I used to use my coffee grinder to grind some of the chick starter up into practically a powder. That worked great and by the time they were a week or two old I didn't have to do it any more. Oh - and their "food bowls" were jar lids. They were too small to reach into any of the regular feeders so I just set the powder in a jar lid and that way they could access it. (And walk around in it and poop in it and all that but so it goes).

That is definitely GP behavior. My pup has been rumaging through the barn and every where else to find things. This morning I am missing a putty knife, the dog food scoop, a head to the shop vac and dust pan. All were in the shop or on the back step.

 

[chicken danz]

Pikeman, can't wait to see your finished project. Looking good.
DH woke up so I took him to the brooder. He didn't say a word but was looking at the chicks saying, "Oh that is a pretty one...." Of course he was looking at my hatches too saying the same things. He doesn't pay much attention to what I have or don't have. He likes the polish so he didn't act like he was disgusted with me or anything. If I am able to sell some more this week he should be really happy with me. I sure hope I don't end up with all males at any rate.
I need to get back out and finish feeding and watering. I'm still feeling a bit tired and lousy but not as bad as yesterday.
As many birds as I have I still love them all.

 

[Trish44]

I just had 6 Ameraucana chicks leave & the lady may be back for more next week. I don't think she's used to having small chicks because she was thinking they wouldn't need heat, but I told her they may be OK during the day but it's still getting cool at night & I still use the light at night for my little ones that aren't feathered out yet. It gets pretty hot in our garage, so I just see what the temp is in there & act accordingly. My chicks that I moved out to the new pen seem happy in there today, chirping & running around. They probably don't know what to do with so much space. They were terrified when I first put them in there last night, but it looks like they got over it quickly.

My DH just left for the gym to do his running for the day. I knew we were going to have words over him wanting me to be gone for so long this weekend & sure enough he was angry with me last night for having all of these birds & rabbits so that I can't go away without worrying about them. He has no interest at all for the most part in them or what I'm doing, so it's nothing to him to leave them. I told him I think it's unreasonable for him to expect me to walk away from all of my birds & animals & just let them die. We were at an impasse last night, but finally this morning after I told him that I guess I'll just stay here if he can't see why I need to get back sooner he decided he would go along with what I'm wanting to do. He said he didn't want to go without me & I told him that if we're going to leave on Friday that I need to be back on Sunday to feed & water all of my animals at the regular time in the evening. It's going to be hard enough to leave enough water out for them when it's hot like it's going to be this weekend. I think they could do without food for a day if they had to, but not without water. I think I can put the water bottles on the cages that I have enough for & maybe scrounge up some extra water bowls for the rest. I may have to run to Ark City today & get one more gallon waterer for my brooder, we'll see. I just need to figure out how many chicks I will have left after delivering the ones I'm taking with me & then go from there. I have automatic feeders in my chicken coop for the big chickens. They will miss their treats & free-ranging for a couple days, but at least they have big waterers in the run & will have food. I know that it's hard for me to get away right now, but I told him that I'm not planning to hatch in the fall & by then my chicks I'm keeping will be grown & it will be easier then. I need to find out if my neighbor next door with 6 kids that are only there part of the time thinks any of them would be interested in caring for my animals when we need to leave town. I know some of them are there on the weekends & that is almost always when we go to see my DH's family. They haven't lived there too awfully long, but I know the guy well enough to ask him at least. We just don't have anybody around here any more to help us when we have to leave with my son in OKC now. The neighbor on the other side of us has a husband fighting cancer right now & I wouldn't even ask her to take on anything else. We used to have a girl that would come & take care of our animals for us, but she has started her own business now & doesn't have the time. I know that these birds & animals do tie you down, but I enjoy them so very much & they give me happiness & joy every day. Sorry to unload all of that on you all, but I just needed to vent or I was going to blow.

 

[chicken danz]

I have the same problem. No one around here to take care of my animals or who would even care to for that matter. I used to pay high school kids to do it but since I live out in the country now that isn't feasible. So I just stay home.
I'm really feeling wiped out today and not wanting to do anything. I have a load of feed to shovel and I hate doing that in the wind. I also need to get crackin' or making provisions for the Seramas that I am keeping.
I have some guineas hatching today and maybe some ducks if they go ahead and pip.
I'm thinking if it is warm I might take some babies to the swap on Saturday. I'd like to move my excess Bantam Polish roos too. I just have no hens to offer.

 

[rvroman]

Well, still in Dallas with my family, just checking in, there were 100+ messages, couldn't possible read through them all. I hope to catch up with everybody once I get back next week!

Holy crow...I'm finally caught up!
Unfortunately, nothing exciting on my end. LOL
Well, I did get 200 ft of electrified poultry netting with double spiked rods and a solar charger from Premier yesterday. It wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow, so I'm happy about that. Now hopefully DH and I can get out and get it put up tomorrow morning. I guess that's kind of exciting I know the birds will be happy to have more room, since they've grown so much this past month. If we like this fence, we will get more. Fortunately, I have nothing going on tomorrow, so I can pretty much just sit and watch the dog and the birds all day to make sure they learn the fence bites and stay off of it. Keep your fingers crossed for me

I could certainly use a solution that comes off without a hitch for a change.

RVroman-are you sure the little EE roo I got from you is an EE? I just wonder because his legs are yellow and he doesn't have muffs like my EE's do. I love him anyway, but was just curious if he could be anything else.

Leroy is second in command of the pen now. Only under my Big Guy, a BR that's just a bit sassier than him. Helen/Herman is quite taken with his girlfriend, Daphne. I thought it was cute that he just seemed to like her from the get go. I never made him stay with her or anything...chicken love at first sight, perhaps, lol.

Sarge is getting big. He has those big ol' long teenager legs now and his puppy fur is slowly being replace by big dog fur. He has a bunch of mulberry stains on him, I guess the chickens are tired of the mulberries now.

Ummm...I guess that's it on my end. Danz, hope you feel better soon. Pikeman, hope your build goes well. Everyone with new babies, WOOHOO. Sorry about those that didn't make it. HEchicken, I hope your dog is found soon. Anyone else, sorry if I missed you!

I got the EE from Trish44, she could probably tell you what kinda mix he is, but he has the pea comb to definitely be an EE. I am glad that they are all fitting in really well, Herman needed a gf I guess, because he was pretty nasty to my little ones when they came out of the brooder.

 

[HEChicken]

Just wanted to pop in real quick and say we got the call! After almost 3 days at large, finally someone found her and called our number. We are headed to go and pick her up right now! I really had started to think I would never see her again so I am teary and unbelievably happy right now. Thanks for all your well wishes.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I told him I think it's unreasonable for him to expect me to walk away from all of my birds & animals & just let them die. We were at an impasse last night, but finally this morning after I told him that I guess I'll just stay here if he can't see why I need to get back sooner he decided he would go along with what I'm wanting to do. He said he didn't want to go without me & I told him that if we're going to leave on Friday that I need to be back on Sunday to feed & water all of my animals at the regular time in the evening. It's going to be hard enough to leave enough water out for them when it's hot like it's going to be this weekend. I think they could do without food for a day if they had to, but not without water.

I know that these birds & animals do tie you down, but I enjoy them so very much & they give me happiness & joy every day. Sorry to unload all of that on you all, but I just needed to vent or I was going to blow.

So sorry about the argument. My DH isn't in love with my animals either, but he's usually pretty tolerant. I'm glad that you were able to compromise on coming back early. I think it's going to be hot, so yeah, I'd want to be sure they had enough water, too. Too bad you don't have a neighbor that can help. My neighbor and I always trade off. I feed her horses while they are gone, and she does mine. They are gone a LOT. I always tell them they don't have to pay me, but they insist on giving me a few pounds of beef each time. (they butcher a cow and then have plenty to freeze) I do love that beef-- the store bought kind has NOTHING on this stuff! Yeah, our animals tie us down, but it's a life style, and honestly, I'd rather be at home for the most part.

I have the same problem. No one around here to take care of my animals or who would even care to for that matter. I used to pay high school kids to do it but since I live out in the country now that isn't feasible. So I just stay home.
I'm really feeling wiped out today and not wanting to do anything. I have a load of feed to shovel and I hate doing that in the wind. I also need to get crackin' or making provisions for the Seramas that I am keeping.
I have some guineas hatching today and maybe some ducks if they go ahead and pip.
I'm thinking if it is warm I might take some babies to the swap on Saturday. I'd like to move my excess Bantam Polish roos too. I just have no hens to offer.

Well, still in Dallas with my family, just checking in, there were 100+ messages, couldn't possible read through them all. I hope to catch up with everybody once I get back next week!

Hope you are enjoying your vacation!

Just wanted to pop in real quick and say we got the call! After almost 3 days at large, finally someone found her and called our number. We are headed to go and pick her up right now! I really had started to think I would never see her again so I am teary and unbelievably happy right now. Thanks for all your well wishes.

YIPEE!!!!!!

I'm soooo happy for you!!! Hug your doggie!