Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Karen- I love your Alohas, they are sooo pretty!! Let me know if you have anymore that you don't want for your breeding pen, I would love a couple just for eye candy and eggs!

Danz- SO sorry about your polish hens. Such a bummer, seems like the crested breeds have a tougher time in the heat, my silkies were just sweltering today. I put a box fan in front of the broody pen to keep them cool.

Sapphire- Kleptos! Those GP puppies drag everything they can find off. I found a jar of compost enzyme clear across the yard the other day. Where did she even find that?!

Hawkeye- How is your mare doing? I think I will pass on the catalpa trees, I hate those nasty buggers! The house I grew up in was surrounded by them and they were a mess year round! They dropped sticky flowers in the spring, giant beans and gross black waxy stuff during the summer and branches broke under the ice in the winter! I have no fond memories of them at all! I am glad someone likes them though! Maybe if they were far away and I could look at them and not have to go near them.

The maples sound much better.

Trish- Good luck with your pea eggs!!

Well, I have done it. I have officially lost my mind. I have 8 peafowl eggs coming in the mail. What was I thinking?? DH is going to die when we have to build a pen for these!! Danz, how big is your pen for your peas?

 

[tweetysvoice]

Hey all! Sorry to hear about the lost chickens this heat is horrible already! Great ideas about the misters - I'm going to swing by home depot and grab one tomorrow! Today we let the chickens and ducks have the full run while we were at work just because I knew they would find more shade and better dirt to dig in than just inside the inner run. They did just fine.

The silkies are acclimating pretty well. The delawares pick on them a bit more than the BR and BO , but nothing more than running them off - no blood shed. Still trying to teach them where to sleep, but i'm sure that will happen here pretty soon. I'm so glad that the introductions went well and everyone is getting along. The ducks completely ignore them - but yet the silkies still keep in their own little click .
The biggest issue i'm running into is that they can't fly up to get to the water that i have seperated for the chickens, so I have to let them drink out of the same waterer that the ducks have right now until I can figure something out. The ducks make such a huge mess with their water (even though they have the pond AND another tub they can play in). I'm thinking about making a box with a small opening that only the silkies can get into and put a waterer in there.

Stay cool everyone!!!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Are some of my chickens "honking" because of the heat? I was out watching them all jockey for space on the roost and they were not peeping or clucking at rack other. I swear it sounded like they were honking!!! I have never heard this out there before. Many of the older crew clucks, but they never honked in between the peep stage and clucking. It really sounded like I had geese out there!
I am going out tomorrow to buy a mister! We changed their water several times today, added ice and put a fan in the run. It was still miserably hot....
I am so sorry about the losses this week of cats and birds.... My son does not handle death well, or worse than most. I really want to keep from losing any animals if possible. I know it is so hard to prevent. :-( None of the birds we have are exceptionally hardy...
Sera's new little Silkie, Topaz, has buddied with our tiniest silkie They both chose to sleep in a cage next to each other- 2 diff cages, so I put them together. So far so good She has already decided that it is OK for Sera to pick her up and cuddle her. She was doused by the hose.... Looks fluffier
Hope tomorrow is cooler!!!

Mine are honking too! Sounds awful for a chicken. I sure hope they all make it through the night.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Karen- I love your Alohas, they are sooo pretty!! Let me know if you have anymore that you don't want for your breeding pen, I would love a couple just for eye candy and eggs!

Danz- SO sorry about your polish hens. Such a bummer, seems like the crested breeds have a tougher time in the heat, my silkies were just sweltering today. I put a box fan in front of the broody pen to keep them cool.

Sapphire- Kleptos! Those GP puppies drag everything they can find off. I found a jar of compost enzyme clear across the yard the other day. Where did she even find that?!

Hawkeye- How is your mare doing? I think I will pass on the catalpa trees, I hate those nasty buggers! The house I grew up in was surrounded by them and they were a mess year round! They dropped sticky flowers in the spring, giant beans and gross black waxy stuff during the summer and branches broke under the ice in the winter! I have no fond memories of them at all! I am glad someone likes them though! Maybe if they were far away and I could look at them and not have to go near them.

The maples sound much better.

Trish- Good luck with your pea eggs!!

Well, I have done it. I have officially lost my mind. I have 8 peafowl eggs coming in the mail. What was I thinking?? DH is going to die when we have to build a pen for these!! Danz, how big is your pen for your peas?

I will keep you mind for the extra Alohas. Are peafowl contagious?

Hey all! Sorry to hear about the lost chickens this heat is horrible already! Great ideas about the misters - I'm going to swing by home depot and grab one tomorrow! Today we let the chickens and ducks have the full run while we were at work just because I knew they would find more shade and better dirt to dig in than just inside the inner run. They did just fine.

The silkies are acclimating pretty well. The delawares pick on them a bit more than the BR and BO , but nothing more than running them off - no blood shed. Still trying to teach them where to sleep, but i'm sure that will happen here pretty soon. I'm so glad that the introductions went well and everyone is getting along. The ducks completely ignore them - but yet the silkies still keep in their own little click .
The biggest issue i'm running into is that they can't fly up to get to the water that i have seperated for the chickens, so I have to let them drink out of the same waterer that the ducks have right now until I can figure something out. The ducks make such a huge mess with their water (even though they have the pond AND another tub they can play in). I'm thinking about making a box with a small opening that only the silkies can get into and put a waterer in there.

Stay cool everyone!!!

Glad your silkies are integrating well. I had a major success today! I finally integrated 3 younger ducks with Chopper's crew. I penned Chopper with them and in no time they were all buddies. Tonight they are all happily sleeping together in the coop. YaY! Chopper has tried to get the one panicky leader to calm down but until it realized it had to accept Chopper, it just wasn't having it. I think it must have thought it was the king duck of his crew and didn't want to give in. Whatever it was, they are just fine now and I couldn't be happier. I know the younger ducks will be much happier at the pond with the olders.

 

[JosieChick]

Karen- Peafowl ARE contagious!!!! I didn't want peafowl until I discovered cameo peafowl!! They are amazing, all shades of brown and tan. Gorgeous.

Really hope these eggies make it.


Just candled my lavender orps and I have a few going but not as many as I hoped for. Several are very porous which is disappointing. I don't know why people send eggs like that for folks to hatch. I know I wouldn't....But, it is early on so maybe some are slow to develop. Good news is NO detached air cells!!

Every time I get shipped eggs they all have detached air cells and I asked both breeders to leave the boxes unmarked other than to hold and call for pick up at the PO as an experiment to see if they came in better shape than boxes marked fragile/hatching eggs etc and it WORKED!! Both boxes were in significantly better shape and so are the eggs. My last batch of eggs that came from a breeder in Texas and was marked as hatching eggs was all bashed in on the side and I had a couple broken even when they were wrapped, in cartons and double boxed!

 

[cherwill]

I just feel sick. I went out to spray some more cold water for the birds, and found 3 of my beautiful Bantam polish hens dead. Two of them were in the pen and the other was in the house. DH even hung the fan in there for them this morning. I sat it down on the floor to hopefully blow more air on them and put a trash can lid in their run full of water if they want to stand in it. I hooked up two of the misters but because I have so many pens only a few chickens get a chance use it. I sprayed water over most of the birds just so the mist would cool them. My big partridge cochin rooster went down and I brought him in and cooled his feet in the sink. He didn't appreciate it but he was walking when I took him back outside. I don't know if he has the sense to try to cool off or not.
To think this is going to get worse this week just worries me sick.

Oh no; I'm sorry about your hens. I hope the fan in my coop keeps my girls cool enough. I chased them around the pen with a hose this afternoon and put a big chunk of ice in their water. They're panting, but so far no one seems overly distressed.

Are some of my chickens "honking" because of the heat? I was out watching them all jockey for space on the roost and they were not peeping or clucking at rack other. I swear it sounded like they were honking!!! I have never heard this out there before. Many of the older crew clucks, but they never honked in between the peep stage and clucking. It really sounded like I had geese out there!

A couple of my EEs are honking! They've been doing it for about a week or so. Very strange sound coming from a chicken.

We have a bunch of mowing to do tomorrow, plus I have to fix the entree for Family Night tomorrow and we'll definitely need to water the gardens. It's not supposed to be any cooler here.

 

[sapphireblu76]

Long shot here, I know they are rare, but does anyone breed Penedesencas?

 

[tntblake]

HeChicken- Have you taken your parents to the Indian center for Indian tacos on Wed at lunch? My out of town/state family always enjoys that! There is also the firefighter's museum or crown uptown. The salt mines are very interesting. You could make a day trip to abilene and see eisenhowers house and salina to rolling hills or the Garden of Eden in Lucas or boothill in Dodge city. There are all kind of interesting things to do in Kansas if you are up to driving a little. I love making summer trips with the kids to see all these different things. I think we will be going to see the worlds largest ball of twine and big brutus this summer.

 

[Trish44]

I went out tonight & cut a big window in the south side of the coop with the reciprocating saw & then screwed hardware cloth over it. That should let in a lot more air, but after losing the Speckled Sussex hen now I'm paranoid about closing the people door at night when it's so darned hot. I'm afraid I'll lose another hen & I sure don't want that to happen. I think I'm going to have to go out tomorrow & move a 2x4 inside the coop & then cut another big window in the other side of the coop so there is a cross-breeze. I even ran one of the hens out of the coop today because the silly girl was sitting in the corner on the floor instead of in the nice new nest boxes & she was panting her head off. It was my pretty gold laced wyandotte & I just booted her out the door & sent her out to find a cooler spot. I think I got one whole egg today, it was just too hot for them to even lay poor things. The pan that I had put in the turkey pen was all muddy, so they must have gotten in it after I left this afternoon. I dumped it out tonight & I'll put some more cool water in there tomorrow. I moved 5 of my young chickens out of the grow-out pen tonight & tried to put them in the coop to roost, but with the people door open they just kept coming back out & they wanted back in their safe pen with the rest of their friends. I took the 4 little Swedish Flower Hens out then & put them in the grow-out pen in the run. It's just getting so terribly hot in that garage for anything, today the thermometer in there read 110. I plan to integrate the ones of the young chicks that are in the general flock a few at a time, but leave the breeder chicks in there. There is no reason for them to get used to free-ranging if they're going to live in a pen. It would be nice if they all could just be out, but you can't have pure bred anything if they're all out together.

I gave up on the peacock eggs in the Brinsea tonight. I candled them & there was no growth at all, so there was no reason to leave them any longer since they were due in a week. The guy I got them from wanted me to break them open & see if anything had started developing & I did & told him they hadn't developed at all, it was a total bust. I put the other ones that have been in the cabinet incubator on lockdown today in the hatcher so keep your fingers crossed I have some hatch. Those eggs weren't cheap, so if none of those hatch it's going to be a bummer. Josie, congrats on getting the peacock eggs, I wish you luck. Tomorrow my Welsummer eggs go in to the hatcher also, so I'm hoping I get a few at least out of all of those eggs. The eggs I got were just huge, so if they lay eggs like that I want some. I think I have about 5 more Ameraucana eggs left to hatch & then I'm done with those. I just have Swedish Flower Hen eggs, the 2nd batch of Cream Legbars, which I need to look at & see if any at all are developing. The guy I got those from sent me a few more today, so I should have those in a couple of days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they arrive in better shape this time & the postal lady doesn't leave them sitting in the hot sun. At least she put the last ones I got on the front porch, I think she got in trouble for where she left them after I complained & so she should have. I have a bench right on my front porch & that is where they are to leave packages, not out in the hot sun.

Well with all of my efforts today, all the extra water to play in & the mister, my birds seem to have made it another day in the heat. I don't think it's supposed to be quite as hot tomorrow as it was today, but still over 100. I just felt sick every time I went out, but I had to go out there & see to the animals & tonight I waited until later to cut out that window. It was still hot even at almost dark. I found some little coiled mister things on eBay today & ordered 3 of them so if one goes back I'll have replacements. I don't know how well they'll work, but we'll see.

 

[HEChicken]

HeChicken- Have you taken your parents to the Indian center for Indian tacos on Wed at lunch? My out of town/state family always enjoys that! There is also the firefighter's museum or crown uptown. The salt mines are very interesting. You could make a day trip to abilene and see eisenhowers house and salina to rolling hills or the Garden of Eden in Lucas or boothill in Dodge city. There are all kind of interesting things to do in Kansas if you are up to driving a little. I love making summer trips with the kids to see all these different things. I think we will be going to see the worlds largest ball of twine and big brutus this summer.

Those are some great ideas. DH and I did a weekend trip a few years ago and saw the Garden of Eden and I really enjoyed that. Perhaps we can do a 2-3 day road trip with my parents and see some of these things.