Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Cherwill, Ducks don't normally fall over unless there is some hatching problem. It is usually only a matter of drying and they are up running eating and drinking on their own. I would contact the hatchery and ask for a replacement or credit. Make sure you get him warmed up well, and that he gets some food and water. If he won't eat and drink drop some sugar water or pedialite in his beak slowly. Make sure he swallows so he doesn't drown. You might be able to pull him out of it. Ducks are much heartier than chickens and recover better. I've used a hair dryer set on low before for emergency warmings if you don't have an incubator to warm him in.

 

[Ivywoods]

AARRRGGGGHHHHH. I have to sit around for another hour with this thing on my foot. I'm going crazy. I don't like to watch much TV and there's nothing on I want to watch. Caught up reading all my threads on BYC.

I think I'm going nuts.

Maybe I should go have that glass of wine (for Danz, of course.)

 

[HEChicken]

Wow Danz, that vet visit was crazy. When you said earlier that he didn't want her to have a sedative prior to anesthesia, I thought that made sense but maybe it would have been better to give her a sedative one day, get her to the vet, let her stay there and not do the surgery until the next day? That way the sedative would have worn off and the anesthesia might have worked better.

Josie, I wanted turkeys so much this year but didn't want the broad-breasted for just the reasons you gave. Unfortunately, the only feed stores around here that sold turkeys sold the broad-breasted. I had my heart set on heritage but that didn't work out and I even considered going and getting a couple of broad-breasted but finally decided I've got enough on my plate that I can afford to hold out for the heritage birds I really want.

We had strong winds here and some pretty big hail. Fortunately I was able to get all the birds put away safely and the only casualty was a bowl I use to make them an occasional mash. It was smashed by a large hailstone, I guess.

My morning started early when one of the dogs barked at a neighbor. This woke the silkies up, who started a crow-fest. Since the neighbor was in his driveway talking to someone, I felt it prudent to grab the silkies and get them brought in in case it was bothering him. He is my nice neighbor and has been very tolerant so far but I really didn't want to push my luck since he was standing about 20 feet away from them. So before 6am, in my nightgown, I was catching silkies and putting them in a dog crate in my car, where the garage was pitch black once I turned the light off. I went back inside and decided to make a pot of coffee when what do I hear from the front window? A cock-a-doodle-doo, of course. It was my little precocious Cochin who started crowing at 9 weeks old and now at about 15 weeks, has his technique perfected. It is soft because he is so little but still....back out in the nightgown to grab him and put him in the dog crate too. Ahhhhh....peace and quiet to drink my coffee.

Once DD was awake, she and I chicken-wrangled the pullets from the "silkie pen", added them to the dog crate, and then drove out to the new house and installed them all in the new coop. They took almost no time to emerge from the dog crate and immediately happy sounds were heard as they started bug hunting. Although the coop is closed up now, there is a 1/2" under each door and bugs continue to crawl in, to their peril. The little Cochin is an especially efficient bug hunger and he doesn't even make the happy little chirping sounds when he finds one, so the others don't know to run over and try to take it from him. While we were there, he barely touched the feed, he was so busy with beetles and roly poly's and even a cricket.

I did remember to take the camera and get coop progress pics. Keep in mind this is still a work in progress. I still need to roof it and put siding on. The pics don't show it that well but the windows are covered in hardware cloth. The feeder is covered so rain won't get in if it does rain again, and I left the dog crate in the coop so they have a place to get out of the weather too, if they want to.



I had guesstimated the number of sheets of OSB I would need and came up one short. You can only just see it in this pic but we got the roof peak OSB cut and installed on the north side. The south side should be easy because we noted our measurements and will be able to snap a chalk line, get it cut and installed quite quickly, I hope.


Here is a pic of the inside. The internal wall structure is up. I have the door but didn't have the hinges to install it yesterday, so that will be a project for next time too. The internal wall divides my 4x10 storage area from the 10x10 coop area. The bottom half of the wall will be 1/4" plywood, to prevent the birds kicking bedding from their side into mine. The upper half will be chicken wire. Since it is not a load bearing wall, I spaced the studs a little further apart than the 16" OC I would have done if I were sheeting it or putting up drywall. The door frame is roughly in the center.


And, when I got home I found that my broody Sultan has finally stopped being broody (she continued to act broody even though her chicks hatched two days ago). I've barely seen the chicks since they hatched since she was keeping them under her all the time (I only hoped she wasn't trying to turn them hourly). Since I know they can go 3 days without eating, I decided to give her a little more time before I intervened and I'm glad I let nature take its course. Since I've been home, she's been up and about, eating, drinking, walking around her little broody pen and the chicks are racing around discovering their new world. One looks to be a BA, the other came out of green egg and the dad is an Ameraucana, so I guess this one is too although it doesn't have cheek muffs. It is so colorful:

 

[sharol]

That baby is adorable. I can almost hear her thoughts, "Are you sure it is ok to out now, Mom?"

And, when I got home I found that my broody Sultan has finally stopped being broody (she continued to act broody even though her chicks hatched two days ago). I've barely seen the chicks since they hatched since she was keeping them under her all the time (I only hoped she wasn't trying to turn them hourly). Since I know they can go 3 days without eating, I decided to give her a little more time before I intervened and I'm glad I let nature take its course. Since I've been home, she's been up and about, eating, drinking, walking around her little broody pen and the chicks are racing around discovering their new world. One looks to be a BA, the other came out of green egg and the dad is an Ameraucana, so I guess this one is too although it doesn't have cheek muffs. It is so colorful:

 

[Trish44]

HeChicken, great job on the coop, it's looking great! Do you want to come help me build mine when you're done? Just kidding, I'm always trying to recruit someone because my DH is so darned slow & I have to listen to the whining & griping the whole time we're working because he hates building things. The chick is really cute too, it kind of looks like one I sent to Pittsburg last week, it was an EE also & about that coloring.

Well I'm officially not very happy with the GQF company over my incubator. I had called them a week & a half ago & was told they were sending me the thermostat & the digital command center to replace mine. Well as of today no parts in sight, so I called them back & they said well weren't you supposed to be sending parts back? I replied that yes I was AFTER I received the new ones. I was put on hold & finally the woman told me they would go out by Fed Ex tomorrow & I told her I would be watching for them. I'm not at all impressed with this company's customer service. You call the number listed on their web site for the company & you get a menu that if you pick tech support you only get a recorded message. You have to pick operator to get to talk to anyone at all & then IF they see fit you might get transferred to tech support. They don't sound at all organized on the phone & they obviously didn't record my last phone call correctly as to what they were supposed to do. I'm telling you if those parts don't show up this time they're going to get a very angry call from me the next time. This incubator was only a month old when it had this issue & by gosh they need to stand behind their products. That is way too much money to mess around with people when the thing is so new especially. Grrrrr, I'm not happy! KarenS, I sure hope you don't need your incubator too soon, I'm sorry I sure thought I would have parts by now.

Well I had better get out there & start pulling nails & cutting wood for my turkey pen, it's not going to build itself, although I wish it would.

 

[HEChicken]

That is crazy about GQF. I haven't had any personal experience with them but had always heard such good things about the incubators themselves. I'm so sorry you're having this issue with yours. It may be the case that they make a quality product and only turn out the occasional one that has issues - I'm just sorry you were on the receiving end of THAT unit.

 

[prairie]

Yeah we always go through Admire when we head to Emporia -- was going their for Decoration Day but I was too worn out to make the little trek. I probably knew your in laws -- I've lived here for many a year!

 

[prairie]

Doing a happy dance here!! One guinea hen started a nest inside the run and I found it and confiscated the 2 eggs and replaced them with golf balls.

Then about 2pm I let every one out to roam and watched the guineas but nobody seemed headed for a nest so I went on to my weeding in my flower beds.Pretty soon I notice the male just standing by some ornamental grasses and it dawned on me! So when she reappeared and they moved on I checked the grasses and there was the nest -- 2 eggs. Took them and replaced again with golf balls.

Now I just need my hens to go broody -- I've got 8 guinea eggs!

 

[sharol]

They were Boyd and Pauline Romine. Boyd had the rural mail route for years.

Sharol

Yeah we always go through Admire when we head to Emporia -- was going their for Decoration Day but I was too worn out to make the little trek. I probably knew your in laws -- I've lived here for many a year!

 

[chicken danz]

Well after my morning I've been nursing a head ache all afternoon. At least I got a phone call and sold some guineas. After selling them he saw one of my brahma roosters and asked about it and before he left he also had three brahma chicks with him. I cut a little of the guinea price and explained to him how my theory is that happy customers make you more business. Sure enough he said he was going to call some people and I could probably count on several more sales. I know who this guy is and he is someone every one knows. This could be an excellent contact.
I got my eggs in the mail today. I do wish I could pass knowledge along to people so they wouldn't ruin good hatching eggs. I had one egg that was rotten. Smelled it as soon as I opened the box. It wasn't rank yet but given a couple days it would have been. Eggs were too clean. They had obviously been washed. I would rather receive eggs covered in poo than receive washed ones. Same seller had the eggs wrapped up well in bubble wrap. Great for protection, but those embryos have to have air and wrapping them tight doesn't allow them to "breath." Some of the egg shells had more porous spots in them. These eggs rarely hatch. They often let in bacteria. As nice as I try to be to explain this to people they all get ticked and upset because they don't want to hear they aren't perfect. I find it really sad that you can take an egg from a top quality blood line and due to a little lack of knowledge virtually kill the embryo. I am still hopeful of at least a few hatching but it is pretty sad.
The other seller packed perfectly. Wrapped the eggs in paper towels, enclosed them securely in an egg carton, Surrounded them with bubble wrap on the bottom of the box and packing peanuts and more paper towels to cushion the cartons. The eggs were clean but not washed. I would bet the hatching percentage will be double that of the other seller.
I don't claim to know it all but practice and knowledge goes a long ways. Getting shipped eggs is risky anyway but some people just shoot themselves in the foot when they don't know how to pack them right.
I also ordered a half dozen peacock eggs which were VERY expensive. I do hope that seller knows how to pack. I want to get some more colors in my peafowl and that was still the cheapest way to do it if they are just good eggs and arrive safely.
So Ladies and Gentlemen this is some more of my downsizing!!! Add a few more breeds and stuff to the menagerie and that is supposed to make less work. Oh geez! I am officially a poultry hoarder!

Also Prairie I can see you doing that happy dance. Aren't you glad no one can see!!!