Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Trish, Erin Miller told me that there were several peafowl and pheasants at that sale this past weekend. Did you see peafowl you couldn't resist. She did say prices were pretty high on most stuff and people didn't want to come down on any of it.

 

[mommahen10]

Those are awesome pics Karen.

Thanks HEChicken, I will look for a source for wheat bran and update.

Karen, all I can say is Amen.

 

[mommahen10]

ChicknBaron, yay!!!! That's great news! Congrats!

I'm so happy to hear that Lucie is getting such good care.

Danz, you are getting around. Emporia, Ottawa, Yates Center, I don't know how you do it.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, to answer your question about where I learned about the life cycle in a bucket, it was so long ago I really don't remember now. I read a blog and the guy described something similar and I thought it sounded like a neat idea, so I tried it and it worked like a charm. I've been doing it on and off ever since. If we found fresh road kill (rabbit, squirrel) while driving along, we'd stop and pick it up and set up a bucket. I used to use a coffee can for the smaller animals - it was easy to drill a bunch of holes in the bottom and I'd hang it from a tree limb by an old shoe lace. After I shot the fox, DH and I looked at each other and said "well, should we?" and the next question was "But in what? He's too big to fit in a coffee can". That's when I hit on the idea of drilling holes in the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket, and the rest is history.

Rather than increase the fly population, I think it actually decreases is marginally. I figure the flies are going to be attracted to road kill and lay their eggs in it regardless. But this way, since the chickens eat the maggots, there are that many fewer flies around because they never get a chance to morph into their adult form.

wow, it's a really neat concept, I just don't see myself doing it, though. I mean, taking the time to find a canister and drill holes-- faster to dump them in the tree line. But it sure is a neat idea. It's something I'll keep in the back of my mind for now.

Hawkeye, ha ha, if I posted a pic of our new coop everyone would surely laugh at me. We used old tin siding from another shed we are tearing down. We bought some new lumber to build the frame, but some of it is boards from an old bed frame. It has new shingles, and a recycled storm window. The door is actually an old window screen but it's plenty tall enough for a door. I will cover the door if necessary. The tin siding worked out great because this coop was built attached to the barn and it matches the siding on that side of the barn becuase that part is an addition. Talk about hillbilly, but it looks like it's supposed to be there. We did get the concrete on the floor, and it works and is quite functional. I'm happy it was done in 2 weeks. My entire family wants me to shoot but I tend to panic with guns, someone close to me was killed by a gun years ago and I think it stems from that. I start shaking when they ask me to hold it so they can do something.

Nah, I think most of us are using recycled stuff to get pens and coops together! It sounds really neat. Sorry about those puppies and what a terrible experience with the owner! It's not like you did it on purpose, why would she be yelling at you? That makes no sense. Well I can understand people driving on if they are worried about getting sued or yelled at. That's wrong.

JosieChick and Trish44, thinking about both of you this evening.

So here's some pics to take your mind off things. Here is my new turkey "Tom". He's half Bourbon Red and half Royal Palm. Isn't he just cute? Oh, another silly piece of information. Did you know that hen turkeys will sometimes grow a beard like the males? Well, mine has a very small beard and the kids and I had no clue any turkeys grew beards! LOL! We freaked! I went to the internet and calmed down. It's like a long fibered brillo pad! It's totally ridiculous. At first I thought it was some major burr stuck in her but then I noticed it appeared to be growing from her. Anyway, I'm always learning something and laughing at myself for being so ignorant.

If you want to see larger versions, just click on the pic.

Great pictures! I love the turkeys!! Your new tom looks great! Funny about him getting a reminder on the head to be a good boy. But when she's in the mood, she'll change her mind!

In Australia wheat bran is dirt cheap. At the grocery store, you by a kilogram (2.2lb) for about 46c. Here, the only place I could find it was in the organic section and it was over $4 for a tiny little bag - like maybe half a pound. I've heard that some people buy wheat bran by the 50lb bag at the feed store and its not that expensive that way, but none of the feed stores near me carry it. I actually had my parents bring me over several kilos of wheat bran on their last visit, just for the meal worms LOL. When I ran out of the wheat bran they brought me, I switched to oatmeal but any more its not that cheap. It used to be about $1.80 for the big canister at the grocery store but the last time I looked it was $3.65 for that same size canister. But no, there is no inflation. Grrrr.

OMGosh-- the price differences! We are being taken here! I am hating how everything is going up in price-- especially gas! We are wanting to buy an electric/gas car next. I think the Chevy Volt. They need to come out with something like that in a minivan! LOL I am sick of spending $75 at the pump every 6 days. The prices on food is getting so high, we've stopped buying things that we used to. My DH used to splurge on poptarts, and we don't buy those anymore. I used to buy a lot more steak and roasts at the meat market, but I can't afford to do that any longer. We just eat a lot of chicken and continue with our hormone free ground beef.

We went to the city council meeting tonite and they all seemed kinda open minded (except for one stinker, that has never liked my dad) but they graciously extended the deadline to move them... I think we have a good chance!

We'll attend the next meeting to hear what theyve come up with.

P.S. sorry for the dumb question, but what is a DH?

So glad to hear that!! Did you all give them all the facts about all the other cities being chicken friendly? They are behind the times!

Hi all,

I promise I will catch up on everyone's posts tomorrow. Just wanted to let everyone know that Lucie is at Kansas State University in their ICU and stable tonight. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow afternoon with the orthopedic surgeon and they think she will make a good recovery. I am so glad she is doing well and on lots of good pain meds. She has several vet students that will monitor her overnight for stress and pain so she is in good hands. Thank you so much to everyone for all your kind words and support. It means more than you will ever know. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful group of chicken friends!

so good to hear that, whew! Nice that she will have around the clock care with people actually there. Poor girl, I'm so glad it wasn't on a colder night. I bet the fact that it was cold out when she was hit did help in a way, though. It would slow bleeding down.

Speaking of that I spent all afternoon working once I finally got outside. I got the roosts up and the gate finished and hung. I got one more piece of welded wire up that needed to be hung inside the building to divide pens. Then I carried over the turkeys two at a time. Did you know that turkeys will hiss like the geese do? I didn't know that until today. These guys are such sweeties I had to laugh. It's just not their personality to hiss. Obviously they didn't like being bundled in my arms and carried across the yard. I kept telling them they would appreciate their new home but I guess they will just have to discover it themselves. They got fresh food and water for the second time today and a nice half bale of straw in the building to lay in, plus a real roost to sit on.
I could have finished earlier but I am a bit anal about things and just had to be sure I had everything as close to level as possible. It was kind of hard to eyeball a board 8-10 feet away and try to set up support posts for a roost to go between them and keep it level in both directions. I had C clamps everywhere and still needed 3 or 4 more hands, but I finally got it done. I ran out of time to move the peachicks out. Their pen is done. I am just trying to decide whether to keep them off the ground for a while longer or not.
I still need to have a way to separate that pen though because I have another pair of yearlings that needs to go in there. I don't want the smaller peafowl getting picked on.
Once that was done I came in, changed jeans and shoes and headed to Ottawa to get more hatching eggs. Long day.

Whew, you were busy yesterday! Nice to have a couple more pens done! Yay! What kind of hatching eggs? I'm sitting on my hands right now! LOL But I will be hatching soon, I've made this really cool deal and will be getting a super nice bird in exchange for me mailing her a batch of chicks!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Oh Trish, I meant to say I thought the picture of the guineas in the tree was pretty cute! There are a lot of birds there! Hopefully next year you will see a bit impact on the tick population. My Dh is running in the full marathon and hopes he will run his fastest, but of course, that is always the hope. He's not real thrilled with the high being 73 degrees, though, he says that will be too hot by the time he is in the late part of his run. He runs so much faster in cooler temps where he doesn't dehydrate out so darned fast. His times this last week in the cooler weather have been so much faster. Yeah, I'm sure your DH and mine could run a Half in their sleep. It seems like after 13 miles, he comes back barely tired and is ready to go about the rest of his day. The Full certainly takes it out of him. I always go and then drive after him, that way he can toss me his jacket if he gets too hot or I can throw him his inhaler if he needs it. He doesn't like to be weighed down by packs carrying all of that stuff. Once we hit that stretch on George Washing Blvd, we drive next to him, we roll down all the windows and then cheer/heckle him! LOL It's so funny. We used to be able to drive down Douglas with him, too, but they don't allow that anymore. Our church is going to set up a really cool spot at Meads Corner (my fav coffee shop) and have a hotdog BBQ, etc out there and cheer on the runners. I just hope it stays nice and cool and doesn't warm up too fast for everyone.

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye, I have a suggestion for your DH. I take one of my inhaler plastic holders and drill a hole in it. I found a clip on a key chain that you can clip to a pocket or belt loop or even your waist band. I simply removed the key ring part and hooked it into the hole in the inhaler sleeve. You can use it over and over by just changing the inhaler canister. When my parents still lived in N. Carolina, I would clip it to my swim bottoms when we walked on the beach as well.
When my mother's lung disease developed I made her one. I couldn't find a clip like mine, but found a little thing in the toy department that had a small clip on it and made her one. Keeps your hands free and you don't have to worry about loosing your inhaler. I'll try to remember to take a picture later if you need one. She always just clipped hers to her purse so it was handy. I never
carry a purse and I doubt your DH does either!!

I got more Marans eggs,some more blue barred rock eggs, and some Legbars eggs. I really wasn't going to get Legbars but I like helping Eileen out especially since she is in school, and decided to buy a dozen of them. Dennis asked me this morning when I showed them to him if I intended to keep them in the safe.

I really didn't want to get Legbars but they are such an awesome blue. So much prettier than any Americana eggs I've seen. So maybe they won't be a bad idea in the long run.
They just got a new rooster for the blue barred rocks so I may end up with some regular barred rocks in the mix. They are trying to improve the barring and to do so they have to introduce a regular barred rock. There are just a handful of those eggs. If they end up being normal rocks I can always use them for layers or meat.
Mammahen I really hate going. I much prefer to just stay home. Everytime I go somewhere it costs me money. I have to pick up something from this store or that, and of course it usually means I am buying eggs or birds.

 

[HEChicken]

Someone asked me how my turkeys are doing with free-ranging. I haven't had enough time to let them out since I like to stay out there with them when they're out because I've been so busy & then was gone all weekend. I had thought I would have time to let them out today, but then forgot I had promised to go to my granddaughter's soccer game at 6. I had to hurry & get all my birds fed before I left to go to the game. They hear the guineas yelling about being out & seem to want to come out too, maybe I can let them out for awhile tomorrow. They don't seem to go very far when they do come out, so I've been happy about that.

I have found that my turkeys just stay right around the chickens. Since I know they *can* fly I was concerned they would take to the trees but their flights so far mainly consist of just stretching their wings and running along flapping. Occasionally they achieve lift off but only a couple of feet in the air and the whole flight only takes them 20-30 feet. Mostly they just mosey around. They've been the least trouble of any of my birds. The guineas were forever misjudging and flying out and had to be herded back in. The ducks when they're learning to fly occasionally miscalculate and fly out. They usually waddle over to the gate and wait to be let back in, although the last time one flew out, I watched her fly back in. But the turkeys have never got out. I have been surprised that they like to play with things. I had a little plastic container sitting in the yard that I had carried some treats down in, and they found it fascinating to roll it around, pick it up, drop it and just generally mess with it.

I have been surprised that they are molting though! I thought that like chickens, they wouldn't molt until next year, since they only hatched in spring of this year, but it is like a white pillow exploded down there. I can even identify some of the tail feathers, although so far their tails still look pretty full.

Last night the turkeys spent their first night in the coop. Until now they've been out with the flock during the day but head back to their pen at night. But last night Madge wanted to sleep in the coop. Ned Kelly was already on the roost in the turkey pen and although Madge called to him, he didn't respond. So she got down off the roosts in the coop and walked down to the pen. I figured she had given up and was going to go roost with him but to my surprise, after clicking and hooting to him briefly, they both walked back up to the coop, in the people door and up onto the roosts. I was fascinated by the communication, that she was able to talk him into sleeping in the coop just like that. This morning when I went down there, they were both outside, having exited through the chicken door, and Ned Kelly displayed for me like I've never seen him display before. I couldn't stop praising him!

I promise I will catch up on everyone's posts tomorrow. Just wanted to let everyone know that Lucie is at Kansas State University in their ICU and stable tonight. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow afternoon with the orthopedic surgeon and they think she will make a good recovery. I am so glad she is doing well and on lots of good pain meds. She has several vet students that will monitor her overnight for stress and pain so she is in good hands. Thank you so much to everyone for all your kind words and support. It means more than you will ever know. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful group of chicken friends!

Thanks for the update - so glad to hear she is stable and on pain meds. I'll be thinking of you both this afternoon and hoping the surgery goes well. Please let us know as soon as you know anything more.

Thanks! I just love the little guy. DS told me this evening Tom and Tookie were snuggling together when Tom began to get romantic ideas. Tookie calmly turned to look at him and then beaked him on the head! Tom got the clue. So funny!

Oh, that's funny. How old is he? So far Ned Kelly hasn't shown any romantic interest in Madge, but he is still young yet.

wow, it's a really neat concept, I just don't see myself doing it, though. I mean, taking the time to find a canister and drill holes-- faster to dump them in the tree line. But it sure is a neat idea. It's something I'll keep in the back of my mind for now.

I probably made it sound more time-consuming than it is. I actually just reused the same coffee can over and over, so once I had it set up, it was really quicker to drop the road kill in the can than to have to walk anywhere to dump it. Same with the 5-gallon bucket. Now that its set up and hanging, I can add to it quite easily. Even drilling the holes took only minutes.

 

[mommahen10]

Good morning everyone. I will take pics of my old looking new coop when I get out this afternoon. The kids will do the morning chores, I go check after everything is started.

I was curious about the city ordinances thing so I checked one local town that my husband works in. They don't allow chickens, it makes me mad and it doesn't even affect me. I was going to encourage a friend to get a few chickens because she has a lot of kids and they're fun, I know her kids would enjoy gathering eggs and enjoy them. I know another friend who has 2 ducks, I know it's just a matter of time before they figured it out and tell her no. We've kept her ducks a few times when she's been gone so I'm sure she would just ask us to take them but still, that's just bad. I can't fight the city ordinance, I'm not even considered to be from that town, although that's the one we frequent.

 

[mommahen10]

Lizzy, did you get Danz's lbs. converted to percenetages? That sounds like a great math assignment

We are totally going to set up the life cycle in a bucket thing.

Danz, I don't like going either. Well, I say that, it's just that I feel like it wastes so much time, in addition to costing so much in gas and eating out. It's like missing a day, I don't like being behind of keeping up with my chores becuase I don't like playing 'make up' and having to make up all the work I missed. I've got the kids clothes all over the place still, it always takes me two weeks to get through their clothes and get the next season out and then make sure the off season clothes are put away and sorted. Then the get rid of pile, deciding what's trash, garage sale, or eBay. It takes forever.

Josie, any updates on Lucie?

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, ChicknBaron, I forgot to say congrats on getting a reprieve from the city council. When is the next meeting? I hope by then they have come up with a permanent answer for you.

I mentioned that I had installed gutters on my coop this weekend. My plan was to set up the rain barrel but when I went to do that yesterday, on reading the directions, the first one was about winterizing. How you should empty it out and store it upside down yada yada. So there hardly seemed any point setting it up now, only to have to empty it back out again in a month. I have put it in the barn to store it out of the weather over the winter, and will get it out again in the spring. I was a little disappointed since I had been looking forward to seeing how the auto waterer would work hooked up to the barrel (even if I had to fill it for now with the hose) but oh well, spring will be here before we know it, and I'll be all set then.

For now, here is a picture of the coop with the storm windows installed and the gutters. I was surprised what a finished look it gave the coop, to add the storm windows. On the gutters, I wanted to make sure I sloped it enough to be sure all the water flowed down to the rain barrel. Do you think I succeeded LOL???? The barrel that is sitting under the spout now is an old barrel I found in the hedgerow. It has holes in it so isn't good for much and I thought if I could put the rain barrel on top of that, it would prevent birds trying to fly up to the rain barrel and end up pooping on the screen. Over the winter I plan to build a platform for it all to sit on using pavers and cinder blocks, so that it won't just all sink into the ground when it is muddy.