Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well I finally got to set down. I got the call that Marshmallow was fine and she was awake. I guess that is what they were waiting for. She is after all my girl and I was so worried about her especially after last weeks fiasco. I need to go pick her up in the morning then the fun begins of trying to keep her sedate for a week or so. I sure hope they figured out why she has this dermatitis or whatever it is so she'll quit scratching all the time. The receptionist said it was probably flees and I couldn't see them because of the undercoat. I assured her I had 3 dogs and 4 cats and there isn't a flea on the place. That is something I just don't let get started around here. Any strays that show up get escorted off the property immediately. I'd hate to think how much money I spend to make sure that problem doesn't exist.
Anyway I finally got my eggs boxed up and delivered to town. Then I spent some time with my Dad and my sister. I came home.My part time neighbors who are building a metal building house were there when I went by so I took them some eggs. They showed me around the place. It will be nice but it will be a long time before it's done. I'm in no hurry to have neighbors anyway even though it is about 1/3rd mile away. There's a creek and lots of trees to separate us.
Trish I got peacock eggs yesterday and they went in the bator today. I have lavender orps, lemon cuckoo orps, and Wellsummers in there already. Tomorrow I should have some dark cornish eggs arrive. What color of peacock eggs did you get? This lot is a mixed lot that I got. I have 2 more coming later this month that are silver pied white. I also found a local person who has a huge amount of peacock and I am getting some eggs from here the week of the 4th. Surely out of all of those I will hatch a couple. I hope cause like your said they are expensive eggs. I am still waiting on my peahen to lay. I am about to give up on her this year. My yearling pair are so much more tame. I think it makes a big difference if they free range or are penned.

 

[JosieChick]

Trish- They are darling babies!! That is EXACTLY what I am talking about!!!! You just made my week!!! I am sooooo excited, its like a gold nugget hatched in your incubator!!

Try some mealworms for the turkeys, they are junkies for mealworms!

Kansaseq- Darn! Foxtrotter cross would be a perfect riding companion! Wish you rode more , have been trying to find some riding buddies around here! Here are Denver (dun mustang) and Jackson (TWH)

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And Nugget!

And the naughty stud pony who doesn't have a name yet because he has been so naughty but I am thinking about calling him either Duncan or Biscuit, it is a toss up!



I have to give Molly a fair brag! I had these people over this morning that are interested in taking over the lease I have on this walking horse mare and they had 3 little kids with them. I had no idea how she would be with them and kind of said she was the livestock dog and might not be real friendly because it was her job to protect the animals. Everytime I looked over she was standing with the little kids and the five year old boy could have pet her head the whole time they were here. She was so gentle and sweet with them and when they went to leave the little boy ran over and gave her a kiss on the head and said "Bye Molly!" It was the cutest stinkin thing ever and I was so proud of her being so kind to those kids.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- That is really cool! You can find old storm windows and doors on craigslist all the time, most of the time for free!

Just had some folks out for the last 2 hours to look at my lease mare. I think they really liked her which would be great because she needs to get to work and lose some weight. I have to get these darn trees in today, they are starting to look parched. Thank heavens it is a bit cooler today!

Are they wanting to lease your mare? I've never done anything like that or knew anyone that did that. I'm really excited about the greenhouse project. I sure hope my DH can find another job here locally after Boeing shuts down! We have the perfect piece of land. I'm going to be heart broken if we have to move.

That's a great idea; I wouldn't have thought of doors. Maybe I'll get a greenhouse one day ...

My niece had her adenoids removed yesterday so we spent some time visiting her. Didn't get much else done except harvested what will probably be the last of the chard. Today I need to cut lettuce and some of the herbs. We never got out to pull any of the beets, so that's probably part of what we'll do tomorrow, as well as what is probably the last of the peas. They're starting to go brown since it's gotten hotter and I don't think they'll last much longer.

Sounds like the gardens are starting to wind down? Except for tomatoes and peppers now... mine are just now starting to get going, along with my strawberries. A greenhouse seems more attainable with just building it out of windows and doors! I think it would look much cuter, too!

HOLY *bleep*!!!!!! That is a LOT of eggs. I mean, you talk about it... but SEEING it... that's entirely different!!!!! WHOA!!

Hawkeye, I absolutely love that greenhouse with the doors, who would have thought of that! I'll bet you could do that pretty easy with your talents. Hey, I'm going to send you a PM about your trip to Lawrence. My spider bite got worse yesterday, it's the weirdest thing.

I got my other batch of peacock eggs this morning & they arrived in fine shape, I have them resting now on the counter. I think I'm going to try incubating them in the Brinsea just to see if it makes any difference since I put the others in a large egg tray in the cabinet incubator

I also had another batch of Welsummer eggs come & 3 were broken & boy was that a mess. They had packed the eggs in a big 18 hole carton in what looked like kleenex & after the 3 eggs broke the yolk just spread all over the other eggs sticking all of that tissue all over all the eggs, it was quite a mess picking it off. We'll see if any of these eggs hatch if they had that much shaking around. I emailed the person telling them how they arrived. I don't expect any replacements, but I do think they should know that their packing wasn't very good. My peacock eggs on the other hand were packed very well & arrived in great shape.

Oh, how fun! We looked a super cool old house in Lacygne!

What kind of horses do you have? Do you ride a lot? I have a TWH gelding that I just love to pieces but nobody to ride with and no horse trailer to take him places in.

Oooh!! My neighbor and I used to drive up to Kanopolis every year and meet up with other horsie friends that lived in the KC area, and we'd all spend a fun girls weekend riding horses and cooking out. They have fantastic horse facilities there-- pens for your horses, a shower close by, and hookups. I bring a tent, and rent a hook up and then I can use my fan, or heater (if it's Fall) and then have a water near by too. If you ever want to do anything like that, I'm game! I'd love to meet up and go for a trail ride.

They're all piling on top of each other, not too happy for me to have the lid open.

Cute baby pics!! Makes me want to break out my Brinsea again!! I just got it all cleaned up today. Boy was it a mess. I soaked it in vinegar for a few hours and then everything came off pretty easy. LOVE your turkeys! That is a pretty nice set up there. They are so cute!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well I finally got to set down. I got the call that Marshmallow was fine and she was awake.

Then I spent some time with my Dad and my sister. I came home.My part time neighbors who are building a metal building house were there when I went by so I took them some eggs. They showed me around the place. It will be nice but it will be a long time before it's done. I'm in no hurry to have neighbors anyway even though it is about 1/3rd mile away. There's a creek and lots of trees to separate us.

Glad Marshmallow is okay! Hopefully she will behave and lay down for you for the next several days.

Riiight? hehe! So neat that you got to spend some time with your family, sounds like a good time with your dad and sister. Neat about the new house going up! Are they doing that themselves? No way would I want to do that myself! Bleah. We hired an awesome builder and have never been happier-- they were so well organized they had their contractors here two and three at a time at the same time-- ones that could easily work around each other. They finished our house in 63 days!

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I have to give Molly a fair brag! I had these people over this morning that are interested in taking over the lease I have on this walking horse mare and they had 3 little kids with them. I had no idea how she would be with them and kind of said she was the livestock dog and might not be real friendly because it was her job to protect the animals. Everytime I looked over she was standing with the little kids and the five year old boy could have pet her head the whole time they were here. She was so gentle and sweet with them and when they went to leave the little boy ran over and gave her a kiss on the head and said "Bye Molly!" It was the cutest stinkin thing ever and I was so proud of her being so kind to those kids.

Beautiful horses!! That is great that Molly was behaving so well with the Littles!

ETA--- my horse trailer looks a lot like yours-- same color! I have a 4 horse straight stock bumper pull.

 

[Trish44]

Josie, that's great that this chick is what you need for you project, I'm so glad! I'm letting it rest in the incubator until it's stable. I let them stay in there where it's nice & warm & cozy until I'm sure they're totally stable, running around & ready to go out to the brooder. I can watch them really close that way in the house & if they have any problems I can catch them early. When they start to get ornery & pick on the newer ones it's time to go out. I think I have a couple right now that are ready to go. I'll try to get an updated pic of your rooster if I can tomorrow, it may not be easy because they can run to the other end of the pen away from me.

Danz, that's great that Marshmallow made it through the surgery OK. I hope they figure out her allergy too, that's what it sounds like to me. The first peacock eggs I got 4 of them are all supposed to be indiia blue. The other 4 I just got today the guy said his guess is that they will be india blue split opal, but he said he has india blue, dark pied out of silver pied, pied, & opal, so it could be a combination. These last eggs were a whole lot cheaper than the first ones I got on eBay, so I don't really care what color they turn out, they should be interesting anyway if they hatch. This person is on BYC & found me through my wanted ad I put on. I have read that it's a challenge to get these things to hatch, so we'll see if any even make it. These are supposed to be a surprise for my DH, we'll see if they hatch & what he thinks about the whole thing when he sees them. You will sure have a combination of breeds when your eggs hatch won't you? I don't plan to raise the lavender Orpingtons, at least not right now. I have too many other irons in the fire at present, I just wanted a couple for myself because I think they're so pretty, so we'll see what sexes these that I hatched turn out. I got 15 more Welsummer eggs in the mail today, it was supposed to be 18, but 3 were broken. Those & the last peacock eggs are sitting out on the counter until tomorrow to settle.

Well I had better get out there & start doing chores. Last night I was working on that turkey pen so late that I didn't get my chores all finished, that can't happen tonight. I'd better go get busy.

 

[JosieChick]

Trish- PM me a total for the chick and the roo when you get a minute. I will probably be down to Wichita next week sometime so let me know what days are good for you and maybe I could meet you somewhere? I know Winfield is down past Wellington right?

Hawkeye- That would be a blast!!!! I don't have my own trailer, the one in the pics belongs to the people I bought Jackson from. I always have to bum a ride off someone and now I don't know anyone up here but I would love to do that, it would be soooo much fun!

Danz- SO glad Marshmallow is doing well and I am sure you will be glad to get her home.

So folks, I have a small country dilemma. The neighbors up the road have a beagle that keeps getting loose or they let out? It has been here 3 times this week nosing around and so far hasn't done anything to the birds that are free ranging but I don't want it here. I have chased it away a few times and now it is scared of me but apparently not enough to keep it from coming back around. Molly is usually passed out during the day so unless there is a real commotion she doesn't get up so she doesn't even hear the little bugger come by. Should I go talk to these people and ask them to keep the dog at home? Am I being ridiculous? I don't want it to get to a point where the dog does injure or kill one of my bird because I can and will shoot it and I don't want to get to that very much at all. Advice country folks?

 

[cherwill]

I'm starting to get worried. Marshmallow went in for surgery at 10:00. They said they'd call when she was out of surgery. No call yet and it is nearing 1:00 PM. Makes me a nervous wreck. They were going to do a check on her skin and see if they can find what causes her allergies and scratching, and give her her rabies booster too. I am hoping to get her on some medication for her itching. Things went pretty smoothly with her being medicated this morning. The trip was not bad at all this time.
I've been washing eggs to take to town. I must have broke 2 dozen while I was at it. I have no idea what I've going to do with all the extras I have. I only have orders for 16 dozen. I took a picture of what I just washed. You can see my unfinished back splash behind the counter. See why I need to move some excess chickens?

Oh. My. Dog. That is an incredible amount of eggs! I'm really glad to hear Marshmallow's surgery went well.

Coop v2.0 update: I was able to run outside during my lunch break and get all the trim up around the last people door. When I put it in there the **** opening or door looks lopsided! there is a gap at the top right. WTH?!?! I hate trying to hang doors. I will see what I can do with it after work. Sigh.....

Hope you got it fixed the way you want. DH hates hanging doors, too, because no matter how square they look as you're setting up, they're somehow not square once they're up.

Trish- PM me a total for the chick and the roo when you get a minute. I will probably be down to Wichita next week sometime so let me know what days are good for you and maybe I could meet you somewhere? I know Winfield is down past Wellington right?

Hawkeye- That would be a blast!!!! I don't have my own trailer, the one in the pics belongs to the people I bought Jackson from. I always have to bum a ride off someone and now I don't know anyone up here but I would love to do that, it would be soooo much fun!

Danz- SO glad Marshmallow is doing well and I am sure you will be glad to get her home.

So folks, I have a small country dilemma. The neighbors up the road have a beagle that keeps getting loose or they let out? It has been here 3 times this week nosing around and so far hasn't done anything to the birds that are free ranging but I don't want it here. I have chased it away a few times and now it is scared of me but apparently not enough to keep it from coming back around. Molly is usually passed out during the day so unless there is a real commotion she doesn't get up so she doesn't even hear the little bugger come by. Should I go talk to these people and ask them to keep the dog at home? Am I being ridiculous? I don't want it to get to a point where the dog does injure or kill one of my bird because I can and will shoot it and I don't want to get to that very much at all. Advice country folks?

Do you know these people at all? That might make it easier, but either way, I guess I'd talk to them. Let them know you have birds and the dog is coming around and you wouldn't like to see anything happen to the birds or the dog. A beagle is a bit of a hunter, so he will probably keep coming around.

 

[JosieChick]

Cherwill- Thanks, yeah we kinda know them. I have met the husband and he is really nice. The wife is a bit on the odd side... Someone actually dumped this beagle out here a few months ago and they stopped by wondering if it was OUR dog!! I guess they decided to keep it but I don't want it around my birds. It doesn't seem to be causing any trouble but I don't want it on our property anyway. I am not a fan of loose wandering dogs. I think it is an invitation for trouble. I wish Molly would wake up when it was here!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Cherwill- Thanks, yeah we kinda know them. I have met the husband and he is really nice. The wife is a bit on the odd side... Someone actually dumped this beagle out here a few months ago and they stopped by wondering if it was OUR dog!! I guess they decided to keep it but I don't want it around my birds. It doesn't seem to be causing any trouble but I don't want it on our property anyway. I am not a fan of loose wandering dogs. I think it is an invitation for trouble. I wish Molly would wake up when it was here!!

Oh, we had a beagle once when I was a kid. It kept running off! We would tie in the yard and try to keep it around and the second you got lax about it thinking it would finally stick around, it was gone! They are hunters, for sure. But they are super docile and easy going dogs. That is, when they're not "on the trail" sniffing out things. It's probably a super sweet dog, but I'm not sure that it will stop coming around unless it has a really good reason not to. I'd hate to shoot it, since they are usually pretty laid back. I'd talk to the people and just be real nice about it and say you're worried about your birds and chicks and that the dog is sniffing around and it's scaring you. Tell them you just can't have it on your property. I'd just put it like that so they don't feel attacked if you want to keep a nice relationship with them. And if all else fails after you've talked to them, you can always haul the dog off to the humane society and say it was a stray that came by. Don't have to say WHEN it was a stray... or that it was taken in by neighbors. I'd leave that part out.

I imagine your neighbors will be okay-- especially if you bring over a dozen eggs, too? Anyway, I had this same conversation with my crazy neighbor with the killer dogs. I called him up and told him his dog had come over and growled at my child and tried to lunge at us on our property. He came over to my house to talk about it. He basically took NO responsibility and said that I had his permission to shoot his dog! Sigh. So you never know. LOL!! But I'd say most people aren't that insane to suggest you go ahead and shoot their dog.

 

[HEChicken]

Ivy, before I forget - happy birthday! What a great gift to have your son born the day before your birthday.

Trish, your turkey pen is awesome - you keep saying you're not a builder but that looks great to me.

Danz, that is a LOT of eggs. Honestly, I hope I never have to deal with that many eggs at a time. When I start to get the dozens stacking up, I hard-boil a bunch and pickle them and then give a dozen to all my friends and family and that usually takes care of the problem. I just boiled a dozen tonight - I can sit and eat them like candy. I'm preparing for a slow down though as the girls will be moved soon, and I expect they will stop laying for awhile until they grow used to their new home.

To the equine folks....I have yet to ride at Kanopolis. I am part of a group that trail rides on Wednesday from Spring through Fall but every time they do a Kanopolis ride, I have something else on and can't make it. I'm hoping to get there this Fall. I actually haven't made it to a single ride yet this year as I've been so busy. I'm looking forward to life slowing down a tad.

Hawkeye - I love those greenhouses made of glass doors. What a great idea! I think I need to look into that more too, as I've been lusting after a greenhouse but with so much going on this year, decided to wait until next year. That gives me time to research and plan and browse Craigslist to find doors and so on.

Josie - I'm with you. Country, city - it doesn't matter. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to roam freely, period. Be it danger to the local fauna, danger to neighboring properties livestock/pets/kids, or even just the danger to the dog itself, of being hit by a car barreling down a gravel road too fast - it is just totally irresponsible to let the dog run loose like that. The kind and honest thing to do is to try to talk to them. I am not confrontational at all and always worry about how that is going to be perceived but on the other hand, I would rather someone came and talked to me about an issue they had, than to report me without talking to me first so I still think that is the best course of action. If they refuse to take responsibility then it might be time to file a report. It is only a matter of time until that dog is on your property when you don't see him arrive and Molly is sleeping, and he wreaks havoc with your birds.

DS and I got some more fencing done today. We worked until we ran out of fencing. I need to buy a couple more rolls and then we'll be done - yay! It has been fun working with him. He's 14 and we've always been close but he's at that age when sometimes "parents just don't understand". It has been fun the past couple of days working one-on-one with him and he's been chatty and fun to be with again, telling me all kinds of anecdotes and funny/ironic things he's heard or read about.