Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

HEchicken, sounds like you are enjoying your new chicken house and the new homestead. If your guinea is really that attached, I bet he comes back in tonight! I'm so happy we got the rain, too! What a relief-- so if we could only have a couple more rainstorms, I'd be set for a while.

Danz, sorry your pond is a mess right now. I am pond illiterate, so I am of no help.

Hope your dove made it thru the storm okay.

I took some pictures this morning of my silkies growing out. Just a couple of each color.

Here are a couple of my 6 wk old Splash: The one on the right is already getting in a crazy huge crest!

Here are a couple of my 4 week old Splash: The one on the right is non-vaulted, but should grow in a nice crest anyway.

Here are my Blues! The one in the middle is a 4 week old, and the two flanking him are 6 weeks old. These guys are pretty scruffy looking because their color hasn't fully come in.

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye- The baby birds are adorable!!!! I am glad you got the mites off them, I imagine they could die from them. I know a lot of people who provide housing for purple martins will pull the babies from the nest and treat for mites etc to increase the survival rate of new hatchlings. Your silkies are looking nice too!!

Danz- I bet your ducks would just about anything you put in that pond, a cork does sound like the best option!! You will think this is super cute, I was gone all day yesterday and I hadn't gotten the lone duck moved yet. When I got home late last night he wasn't where he usually sleeps and I looked all over and he had gotten into the next pen and was sleeping with the two young ducklings!!! It was so cute, today they are tromping around in the bantam pen together like they have been friends forever. I almost think it was better that it was his idea instead of trying to make him be friends with them. The little ducklings look up at him like "you are a big duck but we will be your friend" It is darling.

Can't remember what else I read!

Oh! Trish- Roo is doing well. He is HIGHLY chatty huh? He makes some of the funniest little noises. He is in the garage for a few days then I will move him out with the other 8 week old chicks and let him join the gang. He seems very friendly, every time I go out he comes to the front of the cage. It was good to see you too! Hope you have a good end of the week.

 

[prairie]

He,
We got 1 1/4" rain last night -- I think that is the first rain in about 3 weeks! We need about 5" of rain!!!!!
I let the little guineas out of their pen this morn too. I propped up one end so they could all be together -- ducklings and the baby guineas. They even ventured out of the chicken house for a few minutes until the adult ducks saw them and came towards them. Our ducklings and baby guineas (all about 6wks old I guess) are too bonded with each other and don't like to be apart. Can't wait to see when they are adults if they stick together!

Yesterday I let a few birds out of the coop. I've been following the conventional wisdom of keeping them locked in the coop so they know it is home. My fencing wasn't finished so that made it an easier decision too - didn't want to let them out and have them wander out of sight. So yesterday morning DS and I got the fence complete and let the silkies, ducks and four of the older chicks (about 16 weeks old) out into the run. That left the guineas and 6 younger chicks, still in the coop. The guineas are really bonded to the ducks and got very upset when they left, making a huge racket, but I *really* don't want the guineas out. I guess its better if they spend six weeks in the coop if I want them ever to come back to it to sleep at night, from what I'm reading.

Anyway, they had a great day outside. I was surprised that the first order of business was dust-bathing, rather than bug-catching. Maybe for them it is like it is for us if we go a week without a shower - it just feels good to get under the water. From the contented grunts I was hearing, a dust-bath feels just as good to them. Once the bathing was over, they started exploring. Getting them in last night was pretty easy - just opened the door and herded them in. I didn't set up a feeder outside so all they had to eat were the greens and bugs they found, so getting to the feeder was motivation enough to go inside the coop, I guess.

This morning I opened the door again, to try and let the same group out. Its not easy to keep some in and let others out, and I had one guinea that was very determined to NOT be separated from his/her ducky friends for a second day. So a guinea is out today. I really hope it sticks close to the ducks and is there to be herded in when I put them away this afternoon.

 

[prairie]

Hawkeye, Your silkies are adorable!! and.................I don't need another variety -- really I don't but hey are so cute!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, Your silkies are adorable!! and.................I don't need another variety -- really I don't but hey are so cute!

Some of these beauties will be for sale in a couple more months!!! Don't resist!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- The baby birds are adorable!!!! I am glad you got the mites off them, I imagine they could die from them. I know a lot of people who provide housing for purple martins will pull the babies from the nest and treat for mites etc to increase the survival rate of new hatchlings. Your silkies are looking nice too!!

Danz- I bet your ducks would just about anything you put in that pond, a cork does sound like the best option!! You will think this is super cute, I was gone all day yesterday and I hadn't gotten the lone duck moved yet. When I got home late last night he wasn't where he usually sleeps and I looked all over and he had gotten into the next pen and was sleeping with the two young ducklings!!! It was so cute, today they are tromping around in the bantam pen together like they have been friends forever. I almost think it was better that it was his idea instead of trying to make him be friends with them. The little ducklings look up at him like "you are a big duck but we will be your friend" It is darling.

Good to know! I read some neat things about other hobbiest doing the same thing! They use Sevin dust to treat the babies and the nest. So cute about your duck getting in with the little ones. I agree- probably better that it was his idea. He was lonely and ready to be friendly, which is good.

 

[chicken danz]

The dove and her nest fared just fine. I was glad to see that since we got a lot of wind. Burlington got about 3/4ths inch of rain and we got less than 1/4th inch. I think we are in some kind of rainless triangle right here. It got the chicken feed wet but that was about it. But I'm not complaining. If it would rain l/4th inch every day it would be pretty nice.Hawkeye those chicks are adorable. I really like the splash chicks.
Josie, I am sure those ducks will be buddies from now on.
Prairie, You know I had those 4 guineas that I raised with the chicks. They still all hang together and sleep together. I would bet that they will always be buddies.
I've got a couple of people coming to look at ducks today. Everyone wants them sexed so that means I get to be covered in duck poo! Oh joy!
I really need to move my pens but DH has been busy all week working on his old wheel horse lawn tractor. I have no idea where I'll move them this time. I am running out of space where I can get water and electric to.

 

[HEChicken]

Hawkeye, those baby silkies are just adorable!

Josie, glad the lonely duck has found some new friends - I hate seeing them all lonely.

Prairie, I never would have guessed that guineas and ducks would bond so tightly. I actually don't know if the ducks really care that much - they show no signs of distress if they are separated from the guineas. But the guineas seem really bonded to the ducks and make a huge racket when they are separated. The little keet that insisted on going out today is sticking close to the six ducklings, so I'm not too concerned about getting him back in at the end of the day. DD has a theory that we don't even need the six week coop period BECAUSE the keets are so bonded to the ducks. She thinks they will stick close to them even if we let them out earlier, and will always follow them back to the coop at night. I love her optimism but have to wonder if it would really work that way. As they get older, they might stop caring so much about the ducks. I guess we will see.

Danz, I know nothing about ponds but the cork idea does sound good. When we had the muscovies inside in the brooder, DD and I used to bath them everyday and the speed with which they could mess up that bath water was pretty amazing. We always used to joke that at least they wouldn't poop for awhile after we put them back in the brooder because they had to be completely "empty".

 

[chicken danz]

I know what you mean. I just sold a couple to some people. One of them pooped on this kid's shoe. What a freak out that caused. The ducks were a birthday gift for a cousin. It was a good thing. If that grossed out this kid he is not suited to ducks at all!

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, your Silkies are really cute, but I'll stick to my large fowl. The turkeys are fragile enough for me to deal with.

Danz, yeah I can just picture ducks swimming around with corks in their vents, ha. It's too bad they're so messy, I do like ducks, but when I had them we just had little plastic pools for them so we could clean them out frequently. Those & geese just poop more than any birds I've ever seen. The only good thing was when I had the geese I never had weeds in my yard, it was beautiful.

Josie, I'm glad the little roo made it home OK. Yeah I noticed when I had him in that crate that he talked a lot. I just think the way he is coloring out already that he's going to be beautiful. The other roo is coloring out nicely too, I can't wait to see them both all grown & feathered out.

I was really worried about my young chicks & turkeys out in their pens last night during that storm, but they did fine. They were predicting 60 mile an hour winds, but I don't think we got that. We finally did get RAIN though, yay! It was starting to turn into a dust bowl here. Our driveway was the perfect dust bath spot for the chickens & when they rolled around in it the dust just flew in big clouds.

I have not felt well since I got home last night, it just hit me like a ton of bricks on the way here. The farther I drove the worst I felt, I was beginning to think I wasn't going to make it home. I did only absolutely necessary chores & hauled myself into bed, where I was when my DH came home. I'm still not feeling that well today, but I finally had to get up out of bed because I have someone coming to buy all 4 of my baby chinchilla rabbits. They were supposed to be here at 3, but they're running late of course when all I want to do is hop back in bed. Well it will be worth it to stay up for awhile to sell these rabbits. That will be 4 less mouths to feed. I have 5 other little Mini Rex babies, but they won't be ready to leave momma for 3 more weeks.