Consolidated Kansas

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Hee-hee, HAIL!!!!!!!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Wow, nothing like that happening where we are. I know you need it though for your well, so congratulations!

Does anyone else have chickens molting already? I have one who is looking really ragged and it seems early to me. But I guess its good - she'll be done with molt and be able to lay some eggs over the winter when some of the others are molting instead. I have one BO who does a hard molt every October/November.

 

[chicken danz]

I went and got a load of feed and just finished shoveling it off. Now the front is starting to blow in. No rain but I hear really distant thunder. It's actually not even cloudy so I guess it must be a ways out. I figured I'd better get the grain shoveled while it is still hot out of it would rain on it for sure. I probably jinxed my chance for rain that way!!
Of course nothing has gone as planned today and I am way far behind. Had some friends come over to borrow some equipment and of course they stayed a while. Then It took tow hours out of my day to go get feed, bring it home and shovel it off. Some day I will either have a grain trailer or a lot less animals to feed! Hopefully it will be the later.
I was showing my friend the midget white turkeys and showed her how I could welp and make them gobble. So for the first time ever my blue slate gobbled. I can confirm now I do have two boys and two girls. I guess they just needed company to show off for. Looks like almost all of my newer midgets are boys though. That stinks. One would have been plenty.
I am going to have to either butcher or sell one of my Eastern Toms. They suddenly decided to grow up since they had their 1st birthday and one of them is really bullying the other. Sure wish I could have someone else do it for me. I would love to eat one but I hatched them and that makes them a little too close to my heart to kill. I can eat them. I just don't want to kill them. I want to butcher one of the blue slates for Thanksgiving as well. I've never had fresh turkey. It's always been frozen so I don't want to butcher them and freeze them.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

The storm did kind of come up fast. I was outside untangling the goats and it was just sprinkling, ten it was pouring and pretty soon hailing. I've got my fingers crossed for the rest of the state though!

 

[chicken danz]

Well I'm cold now. I just put on some coffee to warm me up. I got out and got all sweaty and now there's a cool wind.
My activity wore me out though and I don't know if I'm going to get anything else done today. That means tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. I feel like I need a nap before I can do much else.
I should push myself harder but heck I'm old, right?

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Well I'm cold now. I just put on some coffee to warm me up. I got out and got all sweaty and now there's a cool wind.
My activity wore me out though and I don't know if I'm going to get anything else done today. That means tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. I feel like I need a nap before I can do much else.
I should push myself harder but heck I'm old, right?

Coffee!? I will be right there!! I LOVE coffee on chilly days... I love coffee, pajamas, blankets and knitting.. ahhhh - I can't wait for winter

 

[Trish44]

Well I just got back again. I had to go to Derby to get my hair cut, it needed it badly & visited with my hairdresser some, she is going through a divorce & is getting ready to move back to Wichita. It's a little further for me to drive, but I have had her doing my hair for over 15 years & I have just gone wherever she has moved every time. She was in Wichita for several years until she & her husband bought this place where they have been outside of Derby. I hate it that she's having to leave this place because they built the house brand new, but that's life I guess. She seems resigned to it. Anyway, I just got back from there, hopped in our old truck & drove down to Arkansas City to the CO-OP & bought 200 lbs. of chicken feed, 50 pounds of soybean meal, & 40 pounds of rabbit feed, phew! Now I'm broke, well not quite, but almost. The other feed that the gal had she sold me in bulk had more milo in it & this looks like it has more corn & it's ground even finer than the other stuff. I figured the CO-OP might have more coarse ground stuff, but it isn't. What does the stuff you get look like Danz? Both feeds are reported to be 16% protein & have added vitamins. I don't know, I may have to wet this stuff down to feed it since it's so darned fine. I don't want to mix much at a time if I have to do that. I also can't figure out the deal with the weights on the two different bulk feeds. The gal in Oxford put my feed in the kitty litter buckets I took & she weighed one of them & said it was about 24 pounds & I had 4 of them, so I had supposedly 96 pounds of feed I brought home. But that only lasted a little over a week & it just barely was over the amount that would fit in my storage container. When I got this feed home I dumped a 50 pound sack into the storage bin & it filled it 3/4 full, I couldn't have gotten two bags in there, it would have overflowed. So the only thing I can think is that this feed is bulkier because of more corn. I don't know, if they were more closely alike in ingredients it would be easier to compare, but this one you can't see the other stuff much for the corn in there. There is supposed to be corn, milo, & soy in there. I just used one storage bin for the feed for the game birds & added the soybean meal to that one & I won't add it to the layer feed. The layers get sunflower seeds for treats anyway, so they don't need any more protein. I also have been throwing a few sunflower seeds to the peahens, they seem to really like them too.

I just got all of the 300 pounds of feed unloaded out of the truck & had to sit down for a few & rest & then I have to go feed everybody. Oh & Danz, I got the wood yesterday to make my peacock pen. I decided to make it 8x12, I think that will be big enough for them to grow in & then they can free-range & I can use that pen for the turkeys. My DH knows nothing yet about me even building a peacock pen, but he will next time he goes out to work on the new coop because he will see the wood.

I've got to get on the cleaning tonight, I decided since I got back early enough from my hair appt. to go ahead & make the trip for the feed & then I don't have to do it tomorrow. My DH is taking me to Wichita tomorrow to buy me a new cell phone for my birthday, do some shopping, & get the oil changed in the car, so we won't be back until he has to go to work. My time is running out to get this place cleaned, so that's what I'll be doing tonight & tomorrow evening. Thank goodness my son isn't getting here until about 10 p.m. so that will give me a few more hours to try to get my livingroom put back together since I have been painting the walls. It's been totally worth it though, it looks so much better in there. We hadn't painted that room in the 14 years we have lived here & it needed it badly.

I'm sorry about the well, I hope you get some rain soon & get it filled back up, that is the pits.

HEChicken, I have been seeing quite a few feathers I have noticed around in the coop & places, so I may have some starting to molt too. I have several hens that did start laying in the fall, so they for sure will molt soon. I hope since I do have some different ages of hens that they all won't molt at once so I still get some eggs. I have had my egg numbers really reduced a lot through the heat, so I don't want them to cut down any more or we won't have enough to sell. I for sure don't want to have to buy eggs to eat, yuck, I hate to think of having to go back to that. Oh, did you get the rest of your pen put up? I know you said you figured out the frame, but you didn't say if you got the fence put on.

 

[medawinks]

Hmm..Danz, I will have to wait a few weeks to bring you our little Feather, our
Mille fleur D'Uccle. Time for you to recuperate from company and time for your new babies to settle in so I can see them
I bought Feather with the little roo you have. She has essentially been a loner since. It's kind of sad. We will wait till she lays that first egg though it should be any day! She is a character! I love how she will fly up to sit in a ledge close to my head and just chatter away at me. Truly, I think she might thinks she is a parrot. I will hope she brings you lots of little D'Uccles

Hawkeye, wow! Kindergarten and preschool! You do have a busy house It sounds like you may have some quiet soon though. Big milestones!

I am sorry to read that Lucie got such a special chicken. I know that has to be a tough decision Josie, but she may actually be happier also, not having the chickens around to get in trouble over. It could be a win win for both of you and you could get a pup from where Sunflower parrot got hers? That Fern is a great little dog!

I hope it rains enough to provide much needed relief for many folks and animals and crops..... I grew up next to the RioGrande and can remember a few droughts my self. Yes... They are good memories now too, but a horrible thing at the time!

I can't remember who wrote about 100 dollar chickens. Wow.... I would be so scared to have them outside. Mine are at the most 5 dollar chicks. Well.... Maybe not after all the feed and treats, but that is my limit. I am happy to have my colorful variety and will be so much happier to have a colorful egg basket someday soon .

Nothing but a sweet little pink egg again today.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I think my Millie Fleur Booted Bantam will hatch chicks any day now. She hatched some this April and was a great mama. She is smarter than everyone else and has somewhere in the darkest corners of our barn that she hides her nest and I haven't found it yet. I haven't seen her today, so I'm hoping she either hatched or is just about to. I'm so excited (she let's me cuddle her babies)!!!!!

 

[Trish44]

Oh I forgot to say that I went out again last night & my one Lakenvelder hen was MIA again, so I wonder if she is sitting on a nest somewhere & I just can't find her. If she is back in the trees, she is pretty much a sitting duck. We'll see if she reappears again, those are some strange hens, very flighty.