Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Cherwill I have the sunset book of Canning, freezing, and preserving. It is 40 years old but I like the format because instead of lots of reading it has lots of charts to tell you what to do with very simple english directions. I bought my son and his wife the Ball complete book of home preserving. Very good book. Probably the same one HEchicken has.
Ivy I am so glad Britt is doing well. My Cloud is getting really big. She is as tall as her Mom now but not quite as long. Marshmallow never ate well but Cloud never stops. She would be really fat if I put food out in the day time. (I don't because the chickens steal it all.) She is starting to work with her parents but often stays back.
Marshmallow is doing so well after her surgery. She is gaining a little weight back already and I think the prednisone has helped stop most of her itching. I am so glad I had her spayed. She will always be a picky eater but at least now she is picking up some weight even though this time of year she usually looks awful.
Josie, That reminds me. They only gave me enough prednisone for a couple weeks. I know she will start itching again when she is off of it. What do we do then?
Oh Oh! I have at least 6 more lavender Orpingtons hatched and one lemon cuckoo Orpington so far. Now I've got to decide where I am going to brood them. I hate putting them in the brooder house cause it is so easy to loose track of them in there with all the other chicks. I want a high success rate with these babies. I really don't want any more chicks in the house than I already have. It's so hard to keep the chick dust to a minimum. And I have those back ordered turkeys coming in a week or so as well that I want to keep close to take care of.

 

[prairie]

HEChicken -----Our door came yesterday

but going to wait till Monday to put it in. so glad yours work right. I am going t make a tunnel (like your chunnel!! ) too but I hadn't even thought of them roosting on it -- I was just worried about the wind. Glad she suggested it.

Really anxious to get mine in but I have a big project I am working on with the organization and can't really stop. HOpefully will get it sufficiently finished that I can spend Monday working on the door --



.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.....................I've been trying too, to think of what to do about our winds. I will have to check out the 120-degree thing - right now it is opening about 90. I did wonder if opening it further would help. And, since that would open it more against the side of the coop, the birds would be less likely to try to roost on it too, I'm thinking. I wonder about a chunnel (chicken tunnel) that incorporates the door, allowing it to open and close but providing it with a wind break and something close enough over the top of it that the birds don't even have the option to try to roost on it. I will have to put my thinking cap on.
In exciting news though, drumroll.....it closed tonight!
I know that is what it is supposed to do but somehow I always worry that I've messed up the installation somehow so it won't work. The only thing is, I stayed down there at the coop as it got later and later and darker and darker, waiting for it to close as I wanted to see for myself that it was going to work. As time went on and it stayed open, I was certain I'd done something wrong. Then my contractor, who was working through the evening, came out to tell me he was done for the day and was leaving. We chatted for about 3 minutes and when I returned to the coop - it was closed. I waited a minute thinking maybe it was on its first close and there was still time to see it reopen and reclose but nope. It was done for the night. Can you believe my luck? So the next test will be waking up tomorrow morning and looking out the window to see if it is open. And then I need to go down and check that everyone was able to get out. I installed it high enough that doing DLM this winter won't be an issue but that means it is high enough that the ducks and silkies might have a problem with it. I put a 6" paver on the inside of the coop as a step for them and I'm hoping that's high enough they can get up and out the door but over the next few days I may have to make some adjustments.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[prairie]

I, too, am so far behind in reading -- too many projects going on and a BIG one for the organization that I volunteer with so I probably will have not much time on here for the next week.

I got my auto door so hope to take time off to put that in next week.
Someone posted about DE at Premier Farm --- Will there be a swap there next week in Topeka? and is that the Premier that has the DE really cheap.

Finally-------------- the little guineas and 2 ducklings came out of the chicken house on their own. As I am here typing this they just now came out by themselves for the first time!! Yesterday I shooed them all out several times and made them stay in the big pen but they would hurry back to the chicken house the minute I headed to the house. but they are out now!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz - yay for the lemon and lavender's hatching! Hope you get a few more before all is said and done.

HEChicken -----Our door came yesterday

but going to wait till Monday to put it in. so glad yours work right. I am going t make a tunnel (like your chunnel!! ) too but I hadn't even thought of them roosting on it -- I was just worried about the wind. Glad she suggested it.

I, too, am so far behind in reading -- too many projects going on and a BIG one for the organization that I volunteer with so I probably will have not much time on here for the next week.

I so hear you on that. This morning over coffee DH and I made a to-do list of all the things - both big and small - that have to be done around here. I like lists because it makes it easier to keep track of what needs done and checking something off the list is pretty satisfying. On the other hand, the length of our list was pretty demoralizing. DH, DS and I got out there this morning and put in a good 3 hours of work before it got too hot, so it feels good to have made a start on the list. I'm sure we will probably add stuff faster than we cross it off though so I suspect it is a never-ending list.

 

[Trish44]

IVY, I'm so glad your plans are starting to come together for the move & all. It has to be really stressful for you both, moving is anyway, let alone a job move & selling your house. Just getting ready to move is enough to do anybody in. Just don't overdo both of you trying to get your house ready. I hope it all works out well in the end.

Everyone talking about canning has me thinking about all the canning I used to do. I don't do it any more, I'm getting too old for all of that mess & work. I used to have a big garden & canned all kinds of things from it. I even gave Christmas gifts from the garden when I didn't have much money for buying gifts. One year I made all kinds of jams & each family got an assortment of those & then I made several kinds of pickles & gave each family a box of different pickles. I don't know how much my family appreciated all the work that went into that stuff. I can remember the year we raised meat chickens & we had a bunch of those in the freezer & we had our first meal of fresh chicken & canned stuff from the garden, it was so good.

I'm waiting on a guy to get here from my CL ad to buy some of my chicks, he's supposed to be here any time. I went out to do some chores & of course everybody needed water. By the time I got in my whole head was wet with sweat. I'm still sweating out this illness I'm sure & it's starting to get pretty hot out there too. My little turkeys let me know as soon as I get to the garage door that they're waiting on their food, they talk to me. Anyway, I hope this guy buys a bunch of chicks, all of them would be nice, we'll see.

 

[chicken danz]

I put some adds in Craigslist this morning and hope I move some birds. I have one guy that said he'd take all the chicks I have available tomorrow afternoon. I sure hope he shows up! That would be a Godsend!
I have another lady that wants a couple birds NPIP tested and wants some guineas. She didn't indicate how many.
I hope the phone keeps ringing and I can catch it. I need to move some birds.
I have to put one more add in for the silkies. Time to give them a new home!
Medawinks, I am saving the buff one for you.

 

[Trish44]

Well that was kind of disappointing, they only got 4 chicks. I don't know how far they drove for those 4, but it was over an hour I think. People want you to just give away your chicks & I'm just not going to do it, not for pure bred Ameraucanas. You can go out & get mixed chicks for cheap if that's all you want, but I don't raise them in volume. I told them I will have rare breeds next spring if they want to check back with me & they seemed interested in that, so who knows.

Well I need to get busy on my list so we can go to Wichita now for our shopping. My DH just got back a little while ago from his run, so he'll be ready to go before I am. Everyone have a good day & stay cool if you can, it's going to be hot.

 

[prairie]

I know ----------- I always keep a list but not sure that is good because it always reminds how far behind I am!

so glad your door is working well!!

Danz - yay for the lemon and lavender's hatching! Hope you get a few more before all is said and done.

I so hear you on that. This morning over coffee DH and I made a to-do list of all the things - both big and small - that have to be done around here. I like lists because it makes it easier to keep track of what needs done and checking something off the list is pretty satisfying. On the other hand, the length of our list was pretty demoralizing. DH, DS and I got out there this morning and put in a good 3 hours of work before it got too hot, so it feels good to have made a start on the list. I'm sure we will probably add stuff faster than we cross it off though so I suspect it is a never-ending list.

 

[cherwill]

HEChicken, Danz and Trish, I have that Ball Blue Book, too. It's wonderful because it covers canning, freezing and drying. I don't dry foods, but I do love to freeze them. I also have a book called Small-Batch Preserving and one called The Complete Book of Pickling. I like them because they have some recipes I'd never have thought of on my own, and because they're both good for smaller batches of foods, which is all I ever have at one time. With it being just me and DH, I don't use anything larger than a pint jar.

Trish, I know what you mean about giving jars of home-canned items as gifts. You often don't know if they're appreciated or not. I used to give a lot of home cooked or baked items, and my aunt has tried giving canned items, but most of the family doesn't seem to appreciate it. My mom only thinks to get them out when we're there to eat, and my SIL and brother find it all too odd or something.

cherwill, well my DH just doesn't get how serious strep can be, but actually it's just usually about him. The world is supposed to revolve around him & if it isn't he whines & gets angry. He learned from the very best, his dad had everyone playing games to accommodate him. When I first met the man I couldn't believe what they all put up with. Needless to say I didn't like the man & don't miss him one bit, he knew it too. Some people just never grow up, men are just little boys in a man's body.

It's too bad you can't knock some sense into him, then. He's only going to make it worse and slow down your recovery. I'll bet it's a completely different story if HE's the one who's sick! When I'm sick, often the only way I get better is to literally sleep it off. It drives my husband crazy because he thinks I need to eat three meals a day and get up and around. I really just sleep, so it's not like I need a bunch of food to sustain that.

We are still working on the new home purchase. Once it's a "done deal" I'll post some more pictures. I was super happy this morning I figured out where I'm going to put all my chicken pens and stuff. It will be SO NICE when it's done. It will be closer and easier access than what I have right now, everything will be in one place and I will have a cement floor where the birds are inside! It will be a pretty simple "fix" to finish it up for the birds.

Lizzy the havanese puppy is about 2 1/2 months old now. She is a little ball of fire. You should have seen her when she came in this morning. I had no choice but to let her go out in the rain because it wasn't going to stop and she needed to go. She was a wet mop for sure. Danz, Britt is SO GOOD with this puppy. She mothers her and takes care of her. The other day we went out with the dogs after dark. The two older GP's noticed something and came running toward Lizzy and Bella. Britt took off after the two big dogs and RAMMED Runt right in the side, bowling him over so he wouldn't accidently attack one of the little guys! Once Runt and Buddy got closer they realized who and what it was and everything was okay. I was pretty proud of Britt, though. She is turning out to be a BEAUTIFUL dog. I'll have to get a picture soon. I think she has the personality of her daddy. She likes to stay closer to the house than the other two. That will work perfect. when we move. The two older dogs can stay in the pasture with DH's goats and Britt can stay near the house and garage to look after the chickens and US!

What fun to be planning out the new place and where things go. Also, I can't wait to see a new picture of Lizzy and Britt.

 

[chicken danz]

Wow it's hot out there. I just finished with the first round of feeding and watering. Everyone was wanting more water or at least cooler water.
They are all standing in it which means it is going to get messy really fast. I put a big tub in the peacock pen because they were standing in their water dishes in both pens. Sure wish I had my other pens built for them in the new building. It is much nicer for them.
I need to get some fans set up in the chicken houses so they don't get overheated. I wonder how on earth I was ever raised in a house without air conditioning!