Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

The last few years I haven't been able to get excited about decorating for anything. I keep thinking to myself that I'm just going to have to put it away again and it's too much of a hassle. How's that for holiday spirit?

Unfortunately I've been about the same here for the last three years. in fact the last 2 years I didn't get a real tree up at all. Just a little novelty one and it was back down by New Years. Either I can't do it because my back won't handle it, or it is too cold, or I just can't find the time. I think the thing that made me consistently decorate for all the holidays when I lived in town was that I had a reputation. Poeple were always asking me what the next holiday would be and how much I was going to put up. One year I had had spinal surgery and wasn't able to drive or do anything. My son finally took me to the grocery store one day and the owner told me I was hurting his business. I asked why and he said because people were complaining that they drove to Council Grove to go grocery shopping just so they could see my Christmas display, and if I wasn't going to put it up they would just go elsewhere.
Needless to say I supervised and made my boys put everything up for me as soon as we got home, even though they were not at all interested in doing so. It so helps when you have people who care. One year I had my normal lights but I had a double pond and stream in my front yard. On one end of the pond I had a water wheel which I always took out in winter. But I put it back up with white chasing lights going around it and then running down the stream. It made it look like running water. It really did look awesome especially with all the colored lights on the house.
I had some neighbors who rented a house across the street. She came and knocked on my door and gave me a plate of cookies. I had never met her before. She told me they were to thank me for the Christmas lights. That she never could get her toddler to go to sleep, but after I put the lights up,she opened the curtain and her child went anxiously to bed and laid there watching the lights until she went to sleep each night. That's what it is all about. I guess I miss having people want to see what I put up and know that probably only a dozen people or so would drive by here and see my efforts and they wouldn't care.
If the weather would hold out I really would like to put up a little for Halloween ...just because I haven't in so long.

 

[mommahen10]

Back up a bit Danz, you lost me. What's GQF? LG Styros, is that like what I have from Orcheln's? Yes, I meant per month. If I count it as my grocery bill then it doesn't seem so bad. If we use 2-3 doz eggs per week and eat 3 chickens, that equals to something but not enough. I think the safe thing for me to do, financially with this would be to go with only 1 breed that is a common layer that most likely I can sell. Right? That way I can get more out of my pullets? I thought about getting more roosters and separating our breeds. We have 1 Barred Rock, 4 RIR, 3 Buff Orpingtons and I black one I have no idea what she is but would guess she's a Jersey Giant considering we got her with our rooster. We have some white chickens and I don't know what they are, I would guess pan fry because the kids brought them home a long time ago. We are only buying bagged feed but I have more space, I want to look for alternative ways to feed them. Any ideas? Our pigs are still little, but we have been thinking about keeping the girl to breed. Our neighbor will share his boy. I mean if we have the space why not? It would save a little when it's time to raise another.

 

[michelleml]

thanks mikeksfarmer and Trish for the info i am signed up with fb page and im going to look at the other site mike suggested


Danz thanks for the tip about crushing the feed. i played around with my food processor and was able to grind it down more and they ate it. just hope i don't have to do the whole bag

 

[tweetysvoice]

My stupid mouse trap that I ordered last week finally killed a mouse. Meanwhile, Danz' traps have caught how many hundreds? Ah well....the way this trap works is a little rubber ring is threaded onto a tube. The mouse is tempted into a cone to get the bait, which triggers the trap, the ring is launched and lodged around the neck, strangling the mouse in seconds. I will say it worked as they said it would once it finally worked at all. The mouse was laying a few feet from the trap. I finagled the ring off the neck and threw the mouse out into the yard, where the chase was on. If only they got as excited about catching them live as they do eating them once they're already dead....

That's crazy - I've actually never heard of a trap like that! And Btw. Congrats!!

Well I must be on a campaign to alienate friends. I thought I was being nice telling Josie about some Sebbies a friend of mine had for sale. In the meantime Josie saw her add and bought the rest after being told a friend had already spoken for the white curly girl. Yep! that was me again!!!

OMG Danz, you are cracking me up!

Again, no way of them knowing

Funny story on the "PooP on the step. We had a tom turkey, that used to fight the bumper of my truck. He would talk to it, and peck at it. Stupid bird, but funny as heck to watch.

This made me think about my grandmother's parakeet that always attacked herself in the bathroom mirror. I wonder if he saw his reflection.

The birds seemed to have done just fine today! The way they all hang out, you'd like I had two separate flocks - the newbies and the old timers. The two silkies are so docile that they are two-timing both flocks, but there was no blood and no excess amount of feathers, so i'm assuming they all did well. The old timers did try to hog the scraps I threw out this afternoon and chased all the new girls off, so after I let them have their fill - I herded them into the inner run and let the new ones eat for a bit before letting them all out together. I'll just do that for a couple more days, then they'll need to fight for their right to eat the scraps.

 

[chicken danz]

Back up a bit Danz, you lost me. What's GQF? LG Styros, is that like what I have from Orcheln's? Yes, I meant per month. If I count it as my grocery bill then it doesn't seem so bad. If we use 2-3 doz eggs per week and eat 3 chickens, that equals to something but not enough. I think the safe thing for me to do, financially with this would be to go with only 1 breed that is a common layer that most likely I can sell. Right? That way I can get more out of my pullets? I thought about getting more roosters and separating our breeds. We have 1 Barred Rock, 4 RIR, 3 Buff Orpingtons and I black one I have no idea what she is but would guess she's a Jersey Giant considering we got her with our rooster. We have some white chickens and I don't know what they are, I would guess pan fry because the kids brought them home a long time ago. We are only buying bagged feed but I have more space, I want to look for alternative ways to feed them. Any ideas? Our pigs are still little, but we have been thinking about keeping the girl to breed. Our neighbor will share his boy. I mean if we have the space why not? It would save a little when it's time to raise another.

Do a google on GQF incubator and you'll see all kinds of sites with them. They are big and expensive! The LG is probably what you got. (Little Giant). All of your hens are good egg layers. I like red stars or sex links for layers just because they are smaller and more feed efficient. But they are a cross breed and won't breed true if you want to hatch for chicks. Of the breeds you listed the Buff Orpingtons are the most docile and will bring you the most money for chicks. Even a good male buff orp will bring a nice price. If you got chicks now they'd be laying this spring. Closer to the city you can get a lot more out of farm fresh brown eggs too. Even if you keep them in a pen they are still considered cage free. That simply means that they have limited access to being outside. Yes I'm a chicken enabler. I have custom feed milled for my birds. I just buy grains like cracked corn, milo, wheat, oats, or whatever is available. Then I have a poultry protein supplement added to make it 16%. You can do the same thing by buying Hog 40% and having it added to give you the right percentage. Most coops won't mix under 1000 pounds at a time. I store mine in plastic garbage barrels cause I don't have a grain bin. I don't have it bagged because that cost another $2.50 per 50 pounds. You could feed this to all your animals and or add the hog 40 yourself as you need it. A little goes a long ways. If I feed bagged feed it takes me 2 full 40 to 50 pound bags a day. Not good!!! It's a lot of money to lay out all at once but if you are paying by the month it would be less. I get 1200 pounds at a time. You wouldn't need to get that much.

Quote:

thanks mikeksfarmer and Trish for the info i am signed up with fb page and im going to look at the other site mike suggested


Danz thanks for the tip about crushing the feed. i played around with my food processor and was able to grind it down more and they ate it. just hope i don't have to do the whole bag

Mix some of the crushed with some larger crushed pieces and then work in some pellets bit by bit. They'll figure it out. I used to feed all pellets cause I saved money but that was when I fed bagged feed. If I could afford pellets I would still feed all my adult chickens them along with some scratch or something just so they could have their scratching fun. Maybe if I ever get my gang to a reasonable size again I can do things like that.

Speaking of danzsizing I am selling a bunch of polish tomorrow. I went out after dark and corralled the ones that go. I'll miss some of the special ones but it will be nice to just move some of the others. Makes me feel a lot better about all that money I've spent on eggs lately. I have a few back up roos I will still need to sell, then hopefully I'll just have a handful of breeders I want to keep.

 

[mommahen10]

Danz, just to tell you I appreciate your help a million!!!

 

[ChicknBaron]

Well, the three chicks are all in the brooder now... the australorp is ALL energy, the early hatcher - the BLRW - is the ambassador showing the newbies around, and the wellie - curl toes - is kinda drowsy... On the sugar water thing, I have one of those common little chick waters with the clearish plastic top and red plastic bottom... how much sugar should i put in there or can i just mix up a little cup and hand dip it... i think that's what i'll do... i notice one of them has been kind of pooing light green goo... kinda gross but i figure it'll return to normal once they started feeding. I wanted to take some new pics for you all but i'll wait till tomorrow maybe... kinda busy tonite plus tomorrow they'll be nice and poofy!

Still nothing from the 2 GCM's in the incubator... I'm starting to wander if it isn't just something with the breed??? It's kindof odd that it is the two of the same breed that aren't hatching... bummer... how much longer do you think i can leave them in there??? Monday was the 21st day so i'd say they probly aren't gonna hatch...

 

[Trish44]

checoukan, tell IVY Hi back from all of us & that we miss her.

I spent the afternoon today caulking around the window I put in my main coop. It's one of those with the tilt windows like I got for my new breeder coop. I got two smaller ones to put in my main coop because there is never enough air circulation in there. I only have one installed so far. Anyway, I had to take all the screws back out so I could get the caulking under there & then put them all back in, real fun, but now it hopefully won't leak. I also got a new handle in the mail today for it & got it put on & it works great. I fixed my new roost so now the lower board is level, that would make my DH happy. I got the timer put on the light in the coop so they hopefully will get some more light now & pick up on laying. They really have cut back & my egg customers aren't getting all the eggs they want right now, then I have some new people wanting eggs too, so I need these girls to get with it. I keep waiting for my young ones I got in April to start laying, they should start any time now I would think. They'll probably wait until I go on vacation & then the poor gal collecting eggs will be inundated with eggs. I'm so glad to see most all of the hens either have feathers grown back now or are in the process of getting some. There are only a couple hens left with bare backs at this point. The roosters I have now are much nicer to the hens than my Big Red was, I'm really glad I got rid of him.

Tomorrow I'm going to take the tarp & chicken wire all off of my grow-out pen & put some stiffer fence on top of there so the tarp won't sag so much. I want to get that done before cold weather & also want to start getting the other tarps on the sides & backs of the pens. I think I'm just going to get clear plastic for the lower part of the peacock/guinea pen so they will still get light in there. The peacocks I noticed really like sitting in the sun at the far end of the hoop coop in the afternoon, so I don't want to close that off. Danz, it seems like those little guineas I got from you have grown already, they're doing really well. I would like to get them out in the hoop coop as soon as I can with the rest of the guineas.

KarenS, are you going to the swap over by Joplin this weekend? I have heard it's a big one. We'll be over that way this weekend, but won't have time to stop at the swap. My DH's mother has Alzheimer's & has been in the apartment section of the nursing home until a few days ago when they had to take her to the ER. It seems now she is going into a later stage of the disease. She had stayed pretty level for so long on the medication, for years, but now is going downhill, so they had to move her to the regular nursing home part now. She is 90 years old, so I think they have been really lucky to have her do so well with the disease for so many years. It will be hard for all of them to have her progress with this disease, but the doctors are telling them that is what is happening now.

KarenS, you asked for pics of my roosts, so here goes. Just ignore the messy one on the left, it's the old one & it's dirty. I put up the new one on the right & decided they needed a step to help them get up there & get down easier so as not to hurt their feet & they do use the step. I went in to close the door tonight because it didn't close & the young chickens were all on the new roost. It's so funny, they're segregated, older ones on the left side & younger ones on the right. I even noticed the new little lavender orp roo was up there tonight, he is already getting in good with the young girls!





I'm having problems with the little welsummer pullets & orp roo that I took over to the main coop a couple of days ago, they don't seem to understand they don't belong in the grow-out pen now. When it comes time for them to go in to roost they pace back & forth outside the pen instead of going to the coop. I was able to again pick up the orp roo really easily & carry him in & caught one of the welsummers, but the older one just gave me a run for my money again tonight, I had to trap her & carry her over again. Then after taking one young one over I found her outside the pen again after I thought I had everybody in, so I just let her back into the grow-out pen for tonight because I had to run over to my granddaughter's house to take money for candy bars she is selling for a school fund raiser & I didn't have time to mess with chasing the silly chicken around. I'll try again tomorrow to see if she will go where she belongs. You would think they would be happy now that they can free-range, but so far they're not.

Danz, what are we going to do with you? You just keep getting more & more eggs! I think all but one of my lavender orps turned out to be roos that I hatched out. I may have one pullet in the bunch I'm hoping anyway & then I think I have two pullets in the lavender orp/porcelain isabels I got from Chooks. That one lavender orp roo I just took into the main coop is going to be huge & I think he will be really pretty when he's grown. He will be my 2nd roo in the main coop after I take Speckie the speckled sussex into the breeder coop. I hope I have some hens left to put in with him when the time comes. I haven't done too well with SS this year. I lost one of my prettiest, most speckled ones just recently, she was the one I found on the hill dead. It made me really sad because I was going to use her for a breeder.

 

[mommahen10]

ChicknBaron, I'd just mix a tiny bit of sugar water in a bowl and dip the chicks beak. I help them lift their head to swallow if they don't do it on their own. I leave my eggs in the incubator for 3 days past, then I peek inside very carefully just incase before I throw out the eggs. I haven't had one alive at that point, both good and bad I suppose.

Trish, your coop and roosts look amazing. I'm loving all of the windows and light it there, you should have some HAPPY chickens!!!

 

[medawinks]

I am so behind reading posts.....

ChicNbaron, I hope your chicks are doing well this morning! You have quite a variety there! It is amazing how much a bit of TLC will accomplish sometimes.

All the talk of hatching sounds so intriguing, then I look at my daily schedule and to do list and know if I added that .... I truly would be certifiable! As it is my wobbly Marans chick went to work with me Friday and Monday so that I could feed and water it every hour or so.... BUT that did pay off!!! She is shaky still, but walking and able to hang with the two littl chicks. I moved the bigger ones into a section of the coop so they would stop pecking at her/ him. Probably, with my luck, it will be a him.... They are so lost there though ..... But are sticking together and everyone is getting used to them and not bothering them much. I don't want them too close- would hate for them to also get pecked! That is probably what happened to the one who just stopped walking so abruptly. The vitamin E has really helped!

I love the pics of the fluffy Silkie and Tweety's new birds! The stories about geese wanting in and turkeys attacking trucks made me smile

I too have tired on decorating.... I used to decorate the inside of the house seasonally. Now I struggle just keeping up with kids clutter..... But oddly enough, unaware of this thread, my little one was pulling out Halloween decorations and asking if she could put some up just yesterday So... We have a gargoyle to greet people and lots of grinning pumpkins with a few strings of lights I need to go assist

Must start to attack today's list..... Hope everyone has a good day!