Consolidated Kansas

[tweetysvoice]

Danz, Sorry to hear about your precious birdy

I just popped on really quick to eggsclaim my eggsitement that one of the silkies hath laid her first eggs!! I found two tiny white ones in the duck house today!

Also, still no siting or luck in catching the rouge possum. We are still locking it up tight and setting out the trap every night. I"m sure that storm had it hiding the past few days, so if it's really hungry - it'll be back, i'm sure of it.

Have a great week ya'll!

 

[mommahen10]

YAY!!!!

ChicknBaron, your tractor looks AMAZING!!! It's pretty big. I love how they can get to fresh grass and can just be moved around. I need about 20 of these. Great job!!! Ya'll should sell those.

Tweety, I'm soooo happy for you. It's always so exciting when they start laying, a true milestone. Congrats on the new eggs!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

ChicknBaron, awesome tractor!!!

Tweety, Congrats!!!!! So eggciting!!

Danz, Oh my. What a conundrum over the Olandsk/Swedish. I'm so sorry to hear about your sick pullet. It's just so disheartening to not be able to keep them from getting sick when you've done every single thing you could possibly think of.

mommahen10, Looks like you are well on your way to a great setup!

Trish, I'm so sorry you're still sick. That is the pits when you have so much to do. Hope tomorrow's better.

I spent most all of today working with chickens. We cleaned the coop out and rearranged the nest boxes, ditched the old roosts and ad libbed better roosts until we rebuild permanently next spring, put in a stop board so the pine shavings will stop interfering with the opening and closing of the screen doors. Then we moved a couple of the breeder pens. Of course that's along with the usual maintenance chores. We used the second brooder light box as part of the new roost set up, so for now the smaller birds have a place to duck and roost and later, if it gets really cold, all I have to do is screw in the heat lamp bulb and I'm all set. I spent lots of time with the chicks in the brooder and the newest chicks who are starting out in the black tub like the previous batch. Then the bunnies wanted some treats and a stroll. We had a very busy day doing things I absolutely love. What a deal!

I still have to make the water heaters and we need to get the plastic windbreaks put on the pens. DH says he wants to put them on with a board screwed in over top so it won't tear out in the wind, so that's okay. I'll be patient. He has only two roofs to make for two of the breeder houses and they will be done! Yay! They are already painted inside and out. He is placing a few boards on top of the latest pen so as to keep the rain/snow from pooling on top, too.

The wild ducks have really gathered at our pond. We regularly have 9 wild mallards to our 7 domestics! Whoa! The kids keep trying to talk the mallards into joining the domestic ducks in the coop and have almost succeeded. Eeekss! I told them it may not be such a great idea because that would seriously overpopulate the coop with ducks for the winter. Those mallards have actually followed our ducks right up to the coop door and bolted after a look inside at all the chickens!

Egg laying has taken a total nose dive. I've stopped gathering eggs for incubating but have two separate hatches yet to go in the bator before I shut it down until laying improves.

The kids have a four day week this week and seem really happy about it. That's different. They usually love to be at school. I'll enjoy having them home!

Have a great week all!

 

[cherwill]

I love all the pictures of coops and tractors and chicks!

Danz, I'm sorry about your sick pullet. I hope it's nothing serious.

Tweety, congratulations!

Karen, my birds aren't laying much either. I got no eggs yesterday and just one today. There are only two birds laying right now, and they don't lay every day. My egg basket is not so colorful right now.

Trish, get better! I'm sorry you're miserable.

Yesterday I was sitting on the deck and a guy about 16-17 years old came walking through the alley. A couple of the chickens "bock bock bocked" at him softly. He slowed down for a few seconds and bocked back at them once. He was just about out of my sight when he finally noticed I was out there. He looked away quickly and kept on walking. I don't see the problem. I bock at them, too.

 

[pikeman94]

Danz- I am sorry to hear about your turkey. I can totally relate to that powerless feeling of not knowing what is going on.

Baron- that is an awesome looking ark/tractor! That is what I started out with until I built a new coop this summer.

Karen- as always, you sound busy! I hear you on the egg production. I haven't gotten an egg in a week. It is full on molting time at my place. I just make sure the girls get plenty of food and scratch. I do have a lamp in the coop for simulated light and I am thinking I will need another lamp to provide more heat once it really starts getting cold later this year. I will let you know when we are in Park City again later this year.

Time to get back to the chimenea and some relaxation.

 

[medawinks]

Josie, that butterfly costume sounds like it was a fun memory I know I could have bought a premade costume online but she is really enjoying the creativity options in creating her own, as is her big sister with some help from mom too. I hope it will be a good memory for them. Lucie looks so pitiful in that pic! I am glad she is on the mend!

Thanks Danz! I think we lucked out that hobby lobby had a sale on their feathers. We might add some of yours as well Your peacock is the reason she wanted to be a peacock she has stuck with that costume choice ever since we were out there the last time. I bet your kids had some great costumes!!! A chicken, was my youngest's second choice A Silkie! No clue how I would have done that!!

My son has trouble choosing things like this.... My oldest made him up when he thought he might want to be the blue guy from Avatar.

But now he thinks he should be Darth Maul or the 10th Dr from Dr Who..... I am not sure what he will be My oldest just likes to dress up and since she bought elf ears at the renaissance faire, she is going to be an elf princess.... It is our favorite holiday we don't do much with the scary stuff, but pretending to be different things and dressing up is too much fun!

Good luck with the feeder pig! Those big pigs have always scared me a bit when they are angry......

ChicknBaron, congrats on finishing your tractor! It looks great! Would you be able to section a corner of it for your EE? I have a puppy pen I have put my chicks in, in the same run as my bigger birds to help them get used to each other. Something like that would keep her safe, yet still near the others to keep from being lonely? Another thought involving chicken math would be to build another and get some/a Silkie/s to keep her company?

Danz, sorry your special chick is not well. I hope it is better soon! They are such pretty birds! If anyone can keep it going, it is you!!

That GP sounds like it seriously needs a farm to run. Someday I would love one, as would my kids, but I know that type of dog is definitely not a city dog. There are other white fluffy breeds for city life. I hope it finds a good home.

Mommahen, I love your peep place and nugget nest! Too cute!!!

Our chicks have been in my garage. I just moved the two biggest out with my little flock and they are doing well. I am currently blessed to have a very laid back little group. They have a pecking order, but they all get along, big and little. My flock leader is a buff Orpington, and used to be a Silkie

In case the week knocks me out of time to read, I hope you all have a good one!






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[chicken danz]

My little pullet died about 10:00 last night. It really breaks my heart. Now I am questioning myself about the others. I am still baffled how you could contract a cold when you are totally separated from all other birds. I can't help but wonder if DH didn't go down to water them or something after handling the sick bird we had caged in his shop. I would never suggest that he did but he just wouldn't think to wash his hands in between.
I guess I can disinfect their cage and hope for the best. Looks like I am in the market for a few more Olansk. Ouch! More money!!! It's not the cost of the bird as much as it is the cost of shipping.
Medawinks, Aubri's talent just astounds me. How long are the feathers you bought? Measure them and I will see what I have that is close to the same length or shorter. Pm me your phone number and address and I will try to let you know when DH will be in the area. If it isn't a gated community he could just leave some at your house maybe?
My pig is still just a nasty little creature. I held him and rubbed his head and scratched his belly yesterday and I had a piece of cucumber I was going to give him as treats. He just kept biting it ...not to eat it, just cause he is mean. He is still small but his attitude really stinks. to make matters worse because of the way he acts Cloud stands and barks at him. It's is driving me insane.
Chickbaron that is a great looking tractor. Congrats. Your Dad must be awesome.
The foot stomping is the mating dance mature turkeys do. This normally occurs in the spring when the girls are ready but can occur other times. It's quite similar to a adult rooster doing a dance for the ladies. That is something I have always loved about turkeys. A friend had several and they would stand in the building and stomp and it would literally shake the whole building. None of mine are stomping yet. Just putting on the show.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Danz I am so sorry to hear about your pullet.

You did your best. I really hope the others will be ok. About the showing off for the ladies, my welsummer roo has started chasing the ladies and it is nothig I have ever seen before, he puffs out his chest and drags his wings when he chases them and he looks like a turkey lol maybe it is a welsummer thing not sure, but oh boy does he look big when he does it.


Chicknbaron- That is a great looking tractor. I am in the process of building an A frame tractor also. Hope mine looks as good as yours. I hope you are able to get the little EE situated where she wont be picked on, that is a hard fact for us chicken keepers, but it is a fact of life for them. We can make it better though, maybe you can talk your pops into getting her a friend

 

[chicken danz]

Maidenwolf , I made a tractor. It isn't huge. But I split 2X4s into 2X2s so it made it a lot lighter to move. Even so, it weighs a ton. I can move it once I get it off the ground but sometimes just lifting it is more than I can handle. Just sayin if you don't want to strain when you move it it is a good idea to use the lightest weight materials you can.
Looks like I am going to bite the bullet and spend a couple hundred dollars on an awesome cage for my chipmonks. I am just totally nuts. I have no room for it but it will be the perfect habitat for them. It sure was a lot nicer when I had a really big house! So now I need to figure out where on earth I am going to put this thing when I get it here. I just did some measuring and I can't find a place even remotely big enough. I have too much stuff in here for sure!! I guess I need to make some plans and move some things. I still haven't figured out if I have a boy and a girl or two boys yet. It would be nice if it were a mated pair so I could at least raise some babies to offset some expense.
I need to make a couple calls and see if I can get some other arrangements made to pick up some eggs and deliver a rooster this evening as well to save another trip.
I fired up a second incubator last night. Since I am trying to hatch some ducks I ran out of room.

 

[checoukan]

Hey Kansas Prairie, where are you seeing wild hog? My son is the wildlife biologist for that area. He is up in Garden City!

Danz so sorry about the pullet. I lost a LF silver spangled hamburg pullet yesterday, just dead. Don't know why.

Ivy thinks for sure she will be there Friday. She said she wants to see you again.