Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

Trish, you can "bore" me with more pictures any time. I'd love to visit a farm like that. Will you please message me with how I can find it?

 

[Trish44]

cherwill, Here is the link to their website & they have directions on there: http://www.westonredbarnfarm.com/. I found it just by searching for things to see & do around KC since we had a half a day to waste before my Dr. appt. I'm glad we went, it was a fun place to visit & the day was just beautiful weather-wise. If you just walk around when there isn't a school group there it doesn't cost anything. If you do go up there be sure to go on a few more miles & visit the town of Weston, it's a really quaint little town & I really enjoy visiting there. It's fun to just walk around & look. I think they have some kind of Octoberfest coming up.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Here he is surrounded by guineas


Here are the 3 of them looking out the front of the coop. The hens like to use that brace like a bench & sit there & look out at the chickens out in the yard.


I had to throw in a couple of the progress on the coop


The dogs approve


Two of my wet turkeys on their roost




Some of the turkeys they had


The brooder I mentioned


Old wood poultry crate


La Mancha goats, they don't have ears - there is a sign over on the fence that says "have you seen our ears?"

Trish-- I LOVE all the photos!!! I'm with everyone else-- you can post pics all you want!! LOL That was so much fun to see! Their big barn is gorgeous!! The whole place looks like it would just be so fun to walk around! That brooder is super neat!!! I love it!! I need to save a couple of those pics for ideas! Hilarious about the goats with no ears and the sign! What a fun sense of humor!! There goat house is beautiful!! I love the rusted roof and cupola on top!! I would probably re-paint the siding, but otherwise, it does give it charm. Their ramps are pretty darned fancy, aren't they?? WOW!

They are just babies of different ages. like I said they are a project a guy was working on. He is trying to breed white with a black saddle. I think he is getting close, but these where his not good enough colors, but if I get some hens for broodies, it will work. I have not even paid any attention to them other than to look at their feet and count toes.

That sounds really neat! I have never seen any silkie projects with saddles on them. I thought I was pretty aware of most project colors going on. Is it just him, or does he have a few other partners working on this color, too? A lot of people team up all over the county and work on colors and then trade off birds so they don't inbreed too much. It sounds like so much fun! SO far, I think my favorite AOV silkie color is Columbian. I think the paints are pretty, but what a pain that they don't ever breed true and to get more, you have to breed a non split black over a paint.

Okay, so triple antibiotic ointment on the chicks tummy it is, I will apply every 4 hrs during the day starting now. The little thing looks shriveled up, like a deflated balloon and it's not nearly so yellow. The chick is up and moving around as vigorously as I would expect now. I didn't help this chick, but I've helped plenty out at times. I've had them die while hatching and I get nervous if they don't make much progress in a 12 hours, 24 hours it's usually too late. When I do help them, it's when it looks like there are 2 membranes one attached to the shell and another shrink wrapped against the chick. It looks like they can't move, when I see that I watch for a while, I try for 12 hours but not more than 24 hours, then I will help them in little increments and wait again. I've never had them die when I helped them, but I have lost a few while they were hatching and it makes me so sad. It's weird but it has happened way more with our white chicks than our black ones, the white ones are always bigger. I didn't have to help this little chick though and his shell wasn't all bloody and gross, it looked a bit dry. I also think they're hatching too early. His shell is dated 8/25. The incubator has held steady at 99.5 except for when I open it of course. Sometimes we have mishaps, such as someone unplugging it accidentally or someone turning it up but that didn't happen with this hatch at all. I've tended them myself.

The t-shirts were quite a process but the designing and cutting it all out took way longer than actually putting them together. It only took me about 5 minutes to put together from the point everything was cut out. I'm going to go check out that font right now. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

Sounds like you have a handle on it. That is really neat that you have put your designs together by hand and with fabrics-- that is definitely a more unique way of approaching it and certainly will have more interest than a digital screen print like what I'm doing! No problem -- if you have any other questions, I'm happy to help!

Trish, you can "bore" me with more pictures any time. I'd love to visit a farm like that. Will you please message me with how I can find it?

X2!!!!!

 

[chicken danz]

I'm jealous that you can have roos in town! My intolerant town outlawed them this year. Sorry about your losses; I got lucky this year and no one went broody on me.


It's amazing what a pain these fairly small critters can be, isn't it?! I hope he's back where he belongs.

We've had the same light, soaking rain all day. I don't know what it will amount to in the end, but it has to help even if it's not that much.

DH got a list of houses with property for sale in our area. Only one falls within the 5 mile radius allowed by the fire department, and it's overpriced with no basement. There really aren't all that many houses within that distance, never mind houses for sale. It's a mile just to the edge of town if you go south, even more if you're heading north. I'm feeling a little dejected because I'm now 100% convinced that we will have to stay in town for as long as DH works at the FD.

Don't give up on a house yet. Property for sale changes all the time. Might be worthwhile to ask a realtor to let you know when any rural properties come up for sale. That way you might be among the first to know. I looked for a long time before I found my place. It was listed with just one realtor and she wasn't actively pursuing trying to sell it. She didn't even have a sign up. I actually had a friend tell me about it. It was way way far from anything I would normally buy but the location was perfect for me at the time. I had looked for months.

Quote:

Hey guys - remember last week when i asked you all about that abandoned horse thing (i'll attach another pic) well last week when that storm came through it blew over and came to rest more than 30 feet from it's original location. I examined the area it previously sat and could see no indication of any (anchorage). The thing is pretty heavy but with that solid back panel and the 45+mph gusts I guess it was too much. So anyways - I will be putting it in a slightly different location but want to know #1 - For this part of Kansas, what is the proper compass orientation to provide the best cold wind shelter on average, and #2 of course if any ideas on best way to anchor it. I was thinking of pouring quick crete around some posts and attaching via the stock panels with thickish baling wire? How deep should the holes be?










Thanks all !!!

Marc these frames are aluminum which makes them fairly weak. The more metal you add to it the heavier it will be. I had considered using one of these for a game bird house. If I were doing it I would drill a hole at least 2 feet deep, fill it with concrete with one of those squiggly regular anchors set in the concrete. Then I would attach it to the frame work with steel cable attached to the anchor and the frame. I think I would put at least one on each corner. You could still get some wind damage in really high wind but it should hold pretty good. For poultry I would put the solid side to the north and the enclose the ends, or angle it with the solid side to the northwest which would keep winter winds off and block some of the summer sun.

Ok, every one,
Just now getting ready to start my new barn. Everything got put on hold this summer, It was just too hot and we were so busy, So hopfully, they will start this coming week and should be done by the time the snow flies.
The entire barn is going to be 80X80 My area for the chickens will be 30X60. Out of that, I will have a enclosed room for my incubators, sink, med cabnets, and what ever else. Above that entire area, I am going to have a loft. Up there is where all my totes, taxis, extra things I need, but not all the time will be out of the way, clean and dry. Im going to have twice the room I have now, trish has seen my barn, and its not the best, but all my birds seem to be happy in there.

In the center of my work area is where my cage training pens will be for my rosecombs. I need to be working on them now, but don't have any place to separte them out in individual coops. So amy shows I make they will have to wing it. on their beauty!!
I hope to take some pictures in the morning, and get them posted, my young pullets are just fantastic this fall.
Better go, hope everyone is well, still has not rained here yet today, don't know if it will now, but has really cooled off.

I am so envious. I want to do something similar so bad!!! Just no money in the budget for it.

Okay, so triple antibiotic ointment on the chicks tummy it is, I will apply every 4 hrs during the day starting now. The little thing looks shriveled up, like a deflated balloon and it's not nearly so yellow. The chick is up and moving around as vigorously as I would expect now. I didn't help this chick, but I've helped plenty out at times. I've had them die while hatching and I get nervous if they don't make much progress in a 12 hours, 24 hours it's usually too late. When I do help them, it's when it looks like there are 2 membranes one attached to the shell and another shrink wrapped against the chick. It looks like they can't move, when I see that I watch for a while, I try for 12 hours but not more than 24 hours, then I will help them in little increments and wait again. I've never had them die when I helped them, but I have lost a few while they were hatching and it makes me so sad. It's weird but it has happened way more with our white chicks than our black ones, the white ones are always bigger. I didn't have to help this little chick though and his shell wasn't all bloody and gross, it looked a bit dry. I also think they're hatching too early. His shell is dated 8/25. The incubator has held steady at 99.5 except for when I open it of course. Sometimes we have mishaps, such as someone unplugging it accidentally or someone turning it up but that didn't happen with this hatch at all. I've tended them myself.

The t-shirts were quite a process but the designing and cutting it all out took way longer than actually putting them together. It only took me about 5 minutes to put together from the point everything was cut out. I'm going to go check out that font right now. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

Sounds like the chick is doing great. Looking at the pictures I assumed it would.
I sure wasn't indicating that you had helped the chick or anything. I was just saying that people tend to help chicks too early and that sometimes happens. I help a chick if it gets shrink wrapped as well. I normally add more humidity if I find one like that. You absolutely know what you are doing. I am guilty of writing too much sometimes. My intent is to always be helpful to others but I'm sure it sounds like I'm being a know it all. Not meant that way at all. I've had some that pip too early and they usually don't fare well. Some times those natural instincts come way too early.

I loved the pictures too Trish. What an awesome place!!! I really liked that brooder. I may have to duplicate that some day. It looks like they just had normal light bulbs in it. Did you notice what they used.
I also enjoyed your peachick pictures. Maybe one of these days I'll have a buddy for my little peachick. I keep looking. If there is any at Gardner I'd probably snatch them up but I've never seen young ones there before.
I've got such a busy day ahead. I am going to have to clean all the food dishes and waterers after that storm yesterday. I think we actually got quite a bit of rain and I was so cold.
I've got to get eggs ready for town. I have to build a pen for one of the blue slate Toms I am selling tomorrow. Thank Goodness I am waiting until spring to sell the Mandarins and any pheasants I have . That would be just too much to do in one day.
My buyer wants two roosters this week so I need to pen up a couple boys for him.
I've got to wrap my granddaughters' gifts cause the boxes are too big for a gift bag. I like wrapped presents better anyway. It's more fun to watch people open them, and you can make them look so pretty.
With all I need to do I am sitting here because it's still cold out and I am not anxious to go out in it.

 

[HEChicken]

Trish, great pictures - I love that brooder. Keep us posted on the progress with your breeder coop. I think the weather this weekend is supposed to be decent so perhaps your DH can get some more of it knocked out.

Cherwill, Danz' response reminded me that I had multi-ed your post and I don't think it showed up so I didn't end up replying to it. Are you familiar with trulia? (www.trulia.com). It is a great real estate website I used when we were house-hunting because it shows up everything including the FSBO's so you don't have to go to multiple websites. You can set your search criteria (in your case, within 5 miles of the firehouse) and what you are looking for (number of beds/baths, acreage etc) and then save your search. Trulia will then email you any time a property that is close comes on the market. From within Trulia you can look at all of the same information the realtor has listed on the MLS, and it will have all of the pictures, where it is on the map etc. You can click on a link from within the listing to go to actual realtor's website, or use the address to drive by and see it for yourself. The other website we used in conjunction with Trulia was Zillow (www.zillow.com). Zillow shows market trends more. After looking at everything I could find about a property on Trulia, I would switch to Zillow, where I could pull up comps, see when the house last sold and for how much, and find out what other properties in the immediate vicinity were last assessed at. Between the two, I was able to find out a lot of information about any property before we ever got in the car to drive by and see it for ourselves.

Actually, I really enjoy doing that kind of thing so if you'd like me to help you look, PM me your criteria and I'll join in the search with you

 

[Hawkeye95]

Avery-- (or anyone else breeding silkies!)

Are you going to try to go to the ASBC Eastern National in Sedalia, Missouri on October 27th?? I am going to try REALLY hard to go to this show! I am thinking of bringing only a couple of birds... or more depending on how they look. It's an Open double show and a single Junior show. Judging starts at 8am on Saturday 27th. But you can coop in on Friday between 3pm-9pm. I think we're close enough, we could still go to work, school, and then leave a bit early (around 2 or 3pm?) and still get there before 9pm. I'm leaning towards doing Open... but I probably wouldn't do as well as if I let my oldest do the Junior show. BUT, I like the better chances on the Double show vs a single-- so that's why I'm leaning towards the Open instead of the Junior. What do you think??? Next year's Eastern National is in Florida-- there is NO way I can make that one!

 

[cherwill]

cherwill, Here is the link to their website & they have directions on there: http://www.westonredbarnfarm.com/. I found it just by searching for things to see & do around KC since we had a half a day to waste before my Dr. appt. I'm glad we went, it was a fun place to visit & the day was just beautiful weather-wise. If you just walk around when there isn't a school group there it doesn't cost anything. If you do go up there be sure to go on a few more miles & visit the town of Weston, it's a really quaint little town & I really enjoy visiting there. It's fun to just walk around & look. I think they have some kind of Octoberfest coming up.

Thanks! I've bookmarked it so I won't have lost it by the time we decide to go somewhere.

Don't give up on a house yet. Property for sale changes all the time. Might be worthwhile to ask a realtor to let you know when any rural properties come up for sale. That way you might be among the first to know. I looked for a long time before I found my place. It was listed with just one realtor and she wasn't actively pursuing trying to sell it. She didn't even have a sign up. I actually had a friend tell me about it. It was way way far from anything I would normally buy but the location was perfect for me at the time. I had looked for months.

Cherwill, Danz' response reminded me that I had multi-ed your post and I don't think it showed up so I didn't end up replying to it. Are you familiar with trulia? (www.trulia.com). It is a great real estate website I used when we were house-hunting because it shows up everything including the FSBO's so you don't have to go to multiple websites. You can set your search criteria (in your case, within 5 miles of the firehouse) and what you are looking for (number of beds/baths, acreage etc) and then save your search. Trulia will then email you any time a property that is close comes on the market. From within Trulia you can look at all of the same information the realtor has listed on the MLS, and it will have all of the pictures, where it is on the map etc. You can click on a link from within the listing to go to actual realtor's website, or use the address to drive by and see it for yourself. The other website we used in conjunction with Trulia was Zillow (www.zillow.com). Zillow shows market trends more. After looking at everything I could find about a property on Trulia, I would switch to Zillow, where I could pull up comps, see when the house last sold and for how much, and find out what other properties in the immediate vicinity were last assessed at. Between the two, I was able to find out a lot of information about any property before we ever got in the car to drive by and see it for ourselves.

Actually, I really enjoy doing that kind of thing so if you'd like me to help you look, PM me your criteria and I'll join in the search with you

Thanks for the links; I haven't heard of them. It's been many years since we even thought of looking for houses! I think DH and I need to sit down and really clarify how much we can spend and that kind of thing. All I know for sure is that it must be within 5 miles of the fire department and we'd like enough land for chickens, a huge garden and a bit of an orchard. I'm not sure how much land that is, at a minimum. We tend to just go out and look at a place and see if it looks like enough land. A lot of places have less than an acre, like .7 or .8, and it seems like it would be difficult (but not necessarily impossible) to do everything we want on that amount of land. I think we'd really like at least 2 acres, but then we need an old enough house that we can afford it. We enjoy fixing up old places, so that's not a disadvantage at all. I'll PM you when DH and I have figured a few things out. Thanks!

 

[KSRose]

OK, followed the thread, Consolidated KS, not sure if I'm doing this right - there's SO many buttons. I live about 10 miles south of kcks. If you live in this part of the country you know that nothing grew here this summer in the awful heat. Chickens are birds, birds were still here.
I guess my first questions are:: did the chickens do all right this summer in the terrific heat?
which chicken do best in this area,
where do you go to buy them?

 

[lizzyGSR]

I have a question about my ducks/goose. Before butcher day a couple weeks ago, I noticed that a couple of my birds had what looked like a runny nose. I figured they'd just been playing in their water and decided to check them a while later. When I checked them several hours later, the same two still looked like they had a runny nose. So, I picked one of them up and held it for a while. Their beak dried off and there was no more sign of a runny nose, so I figured I was just being paranoid. I noticed the same "runny nose" again yesterday in the same ducks and now my goose, and I want your opinion - am I being paranoid?

I noticed the runny nose on my goose and two of my ducks yesterday. I held one of the ducks last night, and wiped her bill dry. She was being very uncooperative as my birds don't like being held. However, her runny nose came back while I was holding her. Is it possible that she's losing water from her nose for a while after getting a drink? I put them in the duck house last night with an ice cream bucket with ~3 inches of water in the bottom. When I let them out this morning, I checked my goose, and she didn't appear to have a runny nose. The other birds were being uncoooperative and ran for the food/water as soon as I let them out. Also, with my goose, she shakes her head alot and water (or snot???) flies. She seems to drip water from her beak (not her nose) a lot as well. I had asked about this with my goose before and was told it was related to the bird being nervous. I admit that I have been making changes to things recently (necessary changes after adding more birds to the flock). Are these "symptoms' something I need to worry about? The first time I saw a "runny nose" in any of my birds was 2 weeks ago. A couple days later, I butchered 2 drakes and a duck. The following week, I went on a business trip. When I came back, I added 5 khaki campbell ducks (females). The KCs don't eat much, compared to the other birds (they're also considerably smaller, even though they're all full grown). I noticed last night and this morning that the birds hadn't eaten all the food I'd given them. Usually, my goose will go around and clean up anything that's left. Is this a sign of sickness or am I just being paranoid and it's actually a sign that I'm feeding them more than I need to? Thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Thanks! I've bookmarked it so I won't have lost it by the time we decide to go somewhere.


Thanks for the links; I haven't heard of them. It's been many years since we even thought of looking for houses! I think DH and I need to sit down and really clarify how much we can spend and that kind of thing. All I know for sure is that it must be within 5 miles of the fire department and we'd like enough land for chickens, a huge garden and a bit of an orchard. I'm not sure how much land that is, at a minimum. We tend to just go out and look at a place and see if it looks like enough land. A lot of places have less than an acre, like .7 or .8, and it seems like it would be difficult (but not necessarily impossible) to do everything we want on that amount of land. I think we'd really like at least 2 acres, but then we need an old enough house that we can afford it. We enjoy fixing up old places, so that's not a disadvantage at all. I'll PM you when DH and I have figured a few things out. Thanks!

I think that would be a great idea! Don't give up!! I think 2 acres or even a bit under like an acre + would give you plenty of room to do what you wanted-- so long as it was arranged well. Sometimes you can have quite a bit of land and if things aren't placed well, it's a waste of space. I am really only using 2 acres on my 10 acres. I mow 3 acres of it. I think we should fence in that 3rd acre for the horses so I don't have to mow it anymore. I only need the 2 acres right around the house. I have fit a mini orchard, garden, chicken coops.. etc on that.

OK, followed the thread, Consolidated KS, not sure if I'm doing this right - there's SO many buttons. I live about 10 miles south of kcks. If you live in this part of the country you know that nothing grew here this summer in the awful heat. Chickens are birds, birds were still here.
I guess my first questions are:: did the chickens do all right this summer in the terrific heat?
which chicken do best in this area,
where do you go to buy them?

First off---

We have quite a few people up in the Kansas City area! I'm down in the Wichita area. But we had similar temps across the state and suffered from the same drought. Yes, chickens are birds... but they are domestic and they do not migrate or move from place to place to find food or better foraging grounds. Chickens are stuck in your yard and are at the risk of all kinds of predators and climate conditions. This summer-- much like last summer-- was an exceptionally hot summer. There are more hardy breeds for sure, I think my Barred Rocks did much better than any other bird I own. BUT even at that, I did not let them suffer in the heat and I provided plenty of cold water, shade (I did have to build shade for them) and then I set up water misters over their pens so that they could remain cool with a light water mist going over them to keep them comfortable. There were a lot of deaths in direct relation to the temperature. If you don't take precautions to keep your flock cool or offer them shade, then you'll likely have birds succumb to the heat as well. I raise silkies, and they are very prone to being overcome by heat. I think your larger egg layers are probably a bit more hardy, but regardless of the breed, if it gets hot enough, it won't matter what breed of bird you have-- they will all get sick if you don't take precautions.

And WELCOME to the group!!! I hope you stick around and join in on the fun discussions! Everyone is always very helpful here!