Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Hechicken sorry to hear about Tory some dogs are just that stubborn. As far as the clothes line you mention i use Birdseye cloth old fashion cloth diapers and they are very large some are 30x30 would that give me enough room to hang at least a 12-20 diaper at once?

My neighbor came over last night to visit and her German shepherd followed and he doesn't like little things he kills cats, squirrels everything and of course he went after my chickens but they stopped him in time. My concern is that he roams our property daily and I've been lucky that he hasn't seen my chickens till yesterday. I really like these people and don't want to cause problems but i also want my chickens to free range so do i take the chance and let them free range or build a safe area for them to roam? she told me to call her and she will put the dog up in the garage but that's not fair to him either that he has to stay in the garage. I would hate for him to kill them my kids would be devastated

I'm afraid I would be having a discussion with the neighbor about keeping their dog home. It should be up to them to fence their dog in or put it in a dog run. I would just tell them that you're afraid for your chickens & see how they respond. You will probably be the one in the end that has to confine your birds, but still a dog that big usually can just go over most fences or they dig under them, so you still would need to have the discussion with the dog owner.

michelleml if you want a permanent clothes line find a welder and have him make you a couple from recycled heavy pipe. You can buy the clothesline wire (not ropes) and use turn buckles on the ends to tighten it if you need to. If I had a place to put one I would so have at least a shorter 4 line clothesline here. Those have so much more versatility for large items. I am always washing towels or blankets or something I have used for something animal related that I would love to dry outside, or rugs or something that I want to dry flat. I also like to dry blankets and quilts and such outside. We have enough wind that things dry quickly and softly. However with gravel roads it's not an ideal situation for me if it hasn't rained recently. For diapers I think the rotating lines would be great.
I thank my stars I don't have the problems many of you do with your dogs. My dogs will leave my yard if they are chasing a predator but I have no neighbors close so it isn't a problem. The only thing that concerns me is the guy that farms the property across the road hunts back there and my dogs will chase a deer if they see one. He hasn't complained though..... to me anyway.
My buyers who were supposed to be here at 1:30 didn't make it until 6:30. Needless to say I was pretty unhappy with them. It wasted my entire day. And then they were here late so my evening was gone as well. I guess the best thing was that they took every hen, pullet, and chick I would sell them. They also bought a pair of melanistic mutant pheasants from me. However I had pheasant for dinner. The female I sold them jumped up in the cage and broke her neck. I had never eaten pheasant before. It was a little on the tough side but very tasty. She was young and it breaks my heart to see a female die. That makes 3 I have lost over the last couple years when people were here buying. And of course all three were female. I think I need to warn any buyers from now on once I remove them from their pen they buy them. One guy last year, let his female get out and didn't offer to pay for it. That was the worst one because ultimately I found her body a week later. I didn't charge them but if people are going to keep pheasant they need to learn how to safely transport them first. After that, they paid me for two of them and are coming back next week to get them. They also want to buy my beautiful Lady Amhurst roo. I really need to sell him because I have a second one but hate to. He is so pretty. He was interested in buying my eastern turkey male but I don't think he wanted to pay my asking price.
They wanted to buy my albino turkey as well but I didn't ever say yes or no. I feel very protective of her. This gal says she wants to buy some of every breed I have out here. They could be good customers but they will have to do better being on time.
Now that I've sold all these girls I have got to start moving roosters. If I want them to be eaten I can sell them without a second thought. But most are pure bred breeders and I don't want good blood to be in a pot. I have no way of controlling that other than just advertising and hoping for the best. I just don't want all the girls to be bare backed and broken down. I hate this part. Some of my roosters are awesome and they are all easy going.
So Hechicken how bad was the greese on the poles for that closeline? That seemed to be the major complaint.

Danz, I'm sorry about the pheasant, what a shame! It's good that you're able to get so many birds sold when you're in the downsizing mood. That will make it a lot easier for you to concentrate on the breeds you want to raise & make it more manageable in the end. I will be glad when these chicks I have in the grow-out pen get grown, they're about to eat me out of house & home right now. I thought I was going to save money buying feed in bulk, but they're just sucking the stuff down. I bought quite a bit of feed when I got paid & I really don't see it lasting until I get paid again. I have been making up a mash for all of the birds for the most part, they seem to like this feed from the CO-OP better that way, otherwise it's just too fine & powdery for them to eat. It seems like they just almost grind it up into a flower, I don't know why they grind it so fine like that. The only recognizable ingredient in there in the end is the corn, the rest is just ground up. The birds all except the peahens seem to really like the mash. I'm not sure the peahens are crazy about it, they will eat it if that's all they have, but I can tell they would rather have something else. That other feed I got from the gal in Oxford had more millet in it, which the birds liked, but it's just a hassle to try to arrange a time to get it from her & I can't get enough at a time either since I have to take containers to get it in. The CO-OP has theirs bagged just like any other feed, so there are pros & cons of both.

My little birds in the crate are still pretty sick, I sure hope that Tylan starts kicking in for them & takes care of this stuff. I haven't started anything for the general flock as of yet, I thought I would watch them & wait until the Denagard gets here. They really aren't as of yet showing the signs of what the young ones have, which is a good thing, but they were exposed since I had to put them all in the main coop overnight with the pen flooding. My Ameraucanas had been sneezing, so I did start them on the Tylan yesterday. Man I hate that they're starting this already & winter isn't here yet.

Well my two GP pups go in for their surgery in the morning, wish me luck with that. I hope they do all right, I have not used this particular Vet for surgery before. He gave me a good deal for doing both of them at once, so hopefully he will do a good job. He's not the same one I take my little dogs to, he seems better for bigger dogs & I think he is a large animal vet too. The other one that I take the tiny dogs to is just too expensive to take the big dogs there for surgery.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I am considering making some changes to my flock and am interested in the following birds. I would prefer to get them all from the same place, at the same time. I will be making a trip from the Lawrence area to NW KS (I-70 most of the way) on 9/8 and could possibly pick birds up then. I've looked at some popular hatcheries, but they are out of the white chinese geese. If you have these birds for sale or will in the next month or two, please let me know!

• 1-2 white chinese geese (prefer female and prefer goslings but would be interested in any bird that has been well-handled and is tame and friendly). With these birds, I'm looking for a couple friends for the single goose I have with my duck flock now.
• 3-4 Khaki campbell (with these, I am looking for ducks that are really good egg layers and am therefore interested in females only. May consider 1 male MAX) I would also consider other varieties of ducks that are known to be very good egg layers, including runner ducks. I would consider young ducklings or adult ducks, as long as the adults are friendly. Color doesn't matter.
  

 

[chicken danz]

Okay--- so hey, I have a question about what you all think! This is about one of my 3 month old silkie chicks. I don't think you need to be a silkie expert to have an opinion on what happened to my bird. But a few days ago, I just noticed one of my chicks had a big bump on her back (like a bone???) and it's sticking out and now her hip seems sort of "out". She is throwing out her leg to the side and even her tail is stuck to the side. Do you all think this is an injury or could this just be a genetic back curvature that suddenly just showed up?? She also has poop stuck to her rear (that's new) and seems a little frantic when I pick her up.... is she hurting?? Or just doesn't like to be picked up?? I've got no clue, I'd love some input. I took a video of her this morning and posted it to Youtube. I hope you all can look at it and let me know what you think is going on with her back/legs.

Hawkeye looks like she has a tiny bit of spraddle leg. Could have happened on wet slick ground. Get the vet wrap out and wrap her two legs together at a comfortable stance so she can still walk. Don't wait because she is mature enough it will be harder to heal. Give it 5-6 days and I'll bet she'll be fine. The butt issue is probably stress related due to the injury. A little medicam (if I spelled that right might help if you have some for your dogs to relieve swelling. I have given children's liquid sacetaminophen to chickens and it seemed to help. Just about one drop is plenty. I would also give her some probiotics now if you aren't already. The injury can weaken her.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish if you went in with a couple other people you could have the feed milled the way you want. The protein additive they probably use is the same as mine and is very fine powder. There's no way to eliminate that. But if her other grains like milo are being cracked or crimped that is going to make lots of powder. I have changed my feed several times. I had all crimped milo and it was powdery feed. Then I had all whole milo and some of the birds wouldn't eat it. So I have it done half and half. I have the corn ground which is the bigger pieces. I leave oats whole but I am considering substituting something else for them because they don't really eat them well. So many grains go bad if you store them once they are crimped or ground so you don't want to store them for a long time. Almost any of your organic feeds that cost you out the wazoo are powdery like that.
My co-op will bag feed but it costs $2.50 a 50 pound bag. If you buy it that way I guess you have to consider how important it is to you to have it bagged.
My peafowl tend to pick through their food as well. I don't think they care much for certain foods. If I fed them BOSS and veggies all the time they'd be perfectly happy.
They are spoiled babies!!!
I am running behind right now. I had to wrap and package eggs to ship to a family in Tennesee. They are donated to a guy trying to build his stock. I really don't mind donating eggs but I hate getting them ready to ship!!!

 

[HEChicken]

But Danz has a point i didn't think of the dirt road the dust covers everything so I'm not sure if the clothes thing is a good idea. I might try something and see if it cover our clothes/diapers.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about dust. We also live on a dirt road. Not only that, we live on the north side of the road and the prevailing winds are mostly from the south so a car goes by and our yard is full of dust until it settles. Yet, it doesn't seem to get on the clothes drying on the line in any noticeable way. It does help that our house is set back from the road a bit and then I put the clothesline on the north side of the house (no accident) but even so, I would have expected the clothes to get more dust on them than they do.

Well my two GP pups go in for their surgery in the morning, wish me luck with that. I hope they do all right, I have not used this particular Vet for surgery before. He gave me a good deal for doing both of them at once, so hopefully he will do a good job. He's not the same one I take my little dogs to, he seems better for bigger dogs & I think he is a large animal vet too. The other one that I take the tiny dogs to is just too expensive to take the big dogs there for surgery.

Wishing you luck! Keep us posted. I imagine it will be a nail-biting morning for you but I'm sure all will go fine.

DD needed a textbook for school and the bookstore wanted $150 for it, so I looked for used copies on eBay and found one for a little less than half. I hit "buy it now" and only then realized the feedback score was only 94.7%. I normally check that out thoroughly and will not buy from someone with less than 99%, but this time got in too big a hurry, and the "buy it now" button commits you to buying so I decided to go ahead and figured if I have to use the buyer protection, I will.

I got a personal note from him shortly afterward, thanking me for my purchase, and promising to ship it ASAP. Just now I got an update from eBay that it has been marked as shipped (would have preferred it to go out Friday since I purchased Thursday afternoon but I'm not going to make a big deal out of that) followed by another note from the seller that says:

Quote: Obviously there is no way I am leaving feedback before I even receive the book but just the fact he would ask me to has me kind of nervous. Have you all ever had a communication like this from a seller? Honestly, it makes me kind of worried that it won't arrive at all. Who wouldn't purchase a delivery confirmation on something that sold for almost $75??? The 80c it costs to get a delivery confirmation is great insurance in my book. I once had a buyer try to claim she never received something I had shipped her and it was only that I was able to prove via the delivery confirmation that it had in fact been delivered, that saved me from having to refund her money. And that was on something valued at under $30. So now I purchase the delivery confirmation unless the item is worth less than $5 - its just worth it to me. So now he wants me to leave him positive feedback for an item I haven't received yet and there isn't even any tracking information to prove it was ever shipped at all? I guess he must think I was born yesterday.

 

[lizzyGSR]

DD needed a textbook for school and the bookstore wanted $150 for it, so I looked for used copies on eBay and found one for a little less than half. I hit "buy it now" and only then realized the feedback score was only 94.7%. I normally check that out thoroughly and will not buy from someone with less than 99%, but this time got in too big a hurry, and the "buy it now" button commits you to buying so I decided to go ahead and figured if I have to use the buyer protection, I will.

I got a personal note from him shortly afterward, thanking me for my purchase, and promising to ship it ASAP. Just now I got an update from eBay that it has been marked as shipped (would have preferred it to go out Friday since I purchased Thursday afternoon but I'm not going to make a big deal out of that) followed by another note from the seller that says:

Obviously there is no way I am leaving feedback before I even receive the book but just the fact he would ask me to has me kind of nervous. Have you all ever had a communication like this from a seller? Honestly, it makes me kind of worried that it won't arrive at all. Who wouldn't purchase a delivery confirmation on something that sold for almost $75??? The 80c it costs to get a delivery confirmation is great insurance in my book. I once had a buyer try to claim she never received something I had shipped her and it was only that I was able to prove via the delivery confirmation that it had in fact been delivered, that saved me from having to refund her money. And that was on something valued at under $30. So now I purchase the delivery confirmation unless the item is worth less than $5 - its just worth it to me. So now he wants me to leave him positive feedback for an item I haven't received yet and there isn't even any tracking information to prove it was ever shipped at all? I guess he must think I was born yesterday.

I've gotten requests for positive feedback from sellers. I think some buyers just don't leave feedback so the sellers ask for positive feedback (especially if they have less than ideal ratings). I've never had a problem with a seller who has asked for positive feedback. I wouldn't worry about it unless he gives you a reason to (i.e. your book doesn't arrive in a reasonable time frame).

 

[chicken danz]

Media mail is the cheapest way to ship. But there still should be a transaction ID on paypal to back you up. It sounds like he is in a financial bind and has problems with either his bank account or credit card account. I wouldn't hold it against him unless the book doesn't come. I always send a note in my packages asking for feedback. Too many sellers just don't bother... unless they are ticked about something. It would take a while if something goes wrong but I am sure you will be protected if it does.
I just had a vendor take over 3 weeks to ship something from amazon they had in stock. I think THAT is poor business.
Oh speaking of buying I bought a couple packages of the mister hose things for your patio pretty cheap. If you do a search for them several places are putting them on sale. I got two of the 6 head sets for $27 total including shipping and sales tax.
My house is way too close to the road to suit me but then it was here when I bought the place. If I could build, it would be on the far other side of the property for sure as far from the road as I could get. I am all about peace and quiet and privacy. Nothing to hide, I just like being away from traffic and people. But dust is a problem here. My house is white and it is literally coated in that fine clay dust. It looks like crap. I can just imagine what my clothes would look like. Once in a while I do wash some throw rugs and hang them on an A frame stand and they do okay. But they are fast drying so I am sure that helps.

 

[chicken danz]

What a disappointment.

I finally made contact with the guy that had the peafowl. He had two of them drown in a stock tank so they decided to keep the other two chicks. I am waiting to see if he has some mixed color chicks and what he wants for them. I wish DH had never mentioned it now because I am so disappointed. If I can buy his other chicks I will though, just to have some companionship for my little white one. He is getting too big to be in this bin but I don't want him alone outside in a pen. He is such a sweet thing- I hate to see him grow up. It does hurt when he tastes my fingers though. His beak is much sharper than a chickens beak.
Josie if you get back on here later can you tell me how big that pen you bought for your peafowl is. It looks about right for some peachicks to grow out in. I might want to duplicate it. Does it have a wire bottom or a wood one? Aw just searched back through pictures and can see the wire bottom. But would still like to know the size. I have been so looking forward to this it just breaks my heart!!!

 

[tweetysvoice]

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I had never heard of gastroparesis before this last week and it's amazing to me how many people know someone that has it! My tummy is doing ok, eating liquids though really bites the big one! I can't tell if my stomach is full or hungry - the pain is all the same to me right now.. LOL The first meds they gave me had horrible horrible side effects (parkinson's symptoms), but they've started me on a new med today. It's not approved in the US, so i had to get it from a compounding pharmacy (again - learned a new term this week) and wow - is it expensive! $115/month! If all goes well with this med, then i'm going to actually resort to buying it from Canada where it's much cheaper!

Tweety, I am so sorry your stomach is giving you so much trouble! I have a friend who struggles with the same illness. I have collected many recipes for blended meals with kid appeal and solid nutrition if you would be interested. A family has recently brought in some ensure to donate to a student that is a clear liquid in blackberry pomegranate. It actually tastes good. Yes, I tasted some to see if it would be worth the expense for my DD when she has her bone grafts in her jaws. The smell is different, but it really did taste good! I was very surprised!

Well, I'm afraid I've had it with Tory and she is going to have to be rehomed. Josie, if that other family that wanted a dog might be interested in her, please PM me....

I'm so sorry to hear that Tory is putting you through this. My friend is still looking for a dog, but she wants it to be trained and does free range all of her birds on her 100 acres, so It might not be best to mention Tory to her.

I am considering making some changes to my flock and am interested in the following birds. I would prefer to get them all from the same place, at the same time. I will be making a trip from the Lawrence area to NW KS (I-70 most of the way) on 9/8 and could possibly pick birds up then. I've looked at some popular hatcheries, but they are out of the white chinese geese. If you have these birds for sale or will in the next month or two, please let me know!

• 1-2 white chinese geese (prefer female and prefer goslings but would be interested in any bird that has been well-handled and is tame and friendly). With these birds, I'm looking for a couple friends for the single goose I have with my duck flock now.
• 3-4 Khaki campbell (with these, I am looking for ducks that are really good egg layers and am therefore interested in females only. May consider 1 male MAX) I would also consider other varieties of ducks that are known to be very good egg layers, including runner ducks. I would consider young ducklings or adult ducks, as long as the adults are friendly. Color doesn't matter.
  

Too bad you aren't looking for eggs. I have cayuga/pekin mixed eggs galore! My Pekin has been laying one egg a day faithfully since she started a month ago! The mallard is about one every three days.

I've gotten requests for positive feedback from sellers. I think some buyers just don't leave feedback so the sellers ask for positive feedback (especially if they have less than ideal ratings). I've never had a problem with a seller who has asked for positive feedback. I wouldn't worry about it unless he gives you a reason to (i.e. your book doesn't arrive in a reasonable time frame).

Hechicken: I agree! Everything I've purchased from Amazon or Ebay i've already received an email asking for feedback. I don't give it until I've received the product and I don't think they expect you to. They just send out the email right away since they don't know exactly when it will get to your front door. I always buy my textbooks from Amazon, even if it's a third party seller. and to me, anything over a 95% positive feedback is excellent, so I wouldn't worry about the 94.? ish one. My text books always run $150ish from the school, but I can get them for sometimes as low as $15 from amazon. They rule! I in fact just ordered two more for my next class starting Sept 4th.

Which reminds me, I gotta take a final exam tonight. blah. My instructor was awesome at letting me be late on a couple assignments since I was in the hospital. I got those done today. I took off today from work as one more day to rest up, but I think i'm going to try to go back tomorrow. My energy isn't what it normally is, but I made it through the past two days not needing a nap, so I think that is improving. Chat at ya'll laterz.

 

[cherwill]

I've never had a request to leave feedback before receiving the item. I've had people ask me right away to leave positive feedback when the item arrives, but no one has asked me to actually leave the feedback before the transaction is completed. You may have an inexperienced seller, or one who didn't really think that through. I actually don't worry too much about an overall feedback rating if it's in the mid to high 90s. If it's at the low end of that, I will often look to see how many feedbacks the person has overall and how many of the negative feedbacks have been recent (say, in the last 6 months). I've never heard that sellers won't receive their money until they get feedback; that sounds hinky to me. I will say I've never had a bad experience with an eBay purchase, though I know a seller who has had a couple of bad experiences. I'll try to remember to ask her if that's true about the money.

I ship a lot of books by media mail because of a book swap I belong to. A big ol' cookbook is less than $4; I can't see even a textbook being more than $10 to ship. Unfortunately, media mail can be slow, reeeeeaaaalllly slow. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get your book quickly.