Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Interesting post. I wonder why they don't allow processing. It must offend someone on the city council. I see they didn't deny the right to have roosters.
I'm so glad I don't live in town any more. I love being able to do what I want.
Yeah Mike possums do eat chickens. They will go for the easiest food but if they can't get to eggs or chicks they will devour a chicken. I imagine that is probably a factor to not having disease in your flock. I never thought about the difference in having feed outdoors as opposed to indoors. I have some of both. I originally only fed indoors but it didn't give the chickens the chance to scratch for goodies as well. Mine do free range during the day so technically they probably get plenty of scratching done....at least in the summer months. There isn't a lot out there in the winter.
I saw a group of redwinged blackbirds out here this morning. They seem to be a forerunner to the starlings. I sure hope not. I hate those things.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I have been thinking about that you guys, in winter I want the chickens to still get green goodies and not get bored and pick on each other. I need to compile my list of things I need to entertain the chickens this winter.

 

[Trish44]

maidenwolf, one thing I do if I have to go away for the weekend or something & my chickens stay in the run & coop I have one of those double suet bird feeder things that I hang in the run on a chain from the top & I fill it with big chunks of cabbage & it gives them something to do for quite awhile pecking it out of there. I'm also planning to get one of those flock blocks to entertain them with too. I have not bought one before, but Orschelyn's has them on sale right now so when I go down there I'm getting one. Those are just a couple of ideas, but really if the weather isn't too bad my chickens are out even in the winter free-ranging.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

maidenwolf, one thing I do if I have to go away for the weekend or something & my chickens stay in the run & coop I have one of those double suet bird feeder things that I hang in the run on a chain from the top & I fill it with big chunks of cabbage & it gives them something to do for quite awhile pecking it out of there. I'm also planning to get one of those flock blocks to entertain them with too. I have not bought one before, but Orschelyn's has them on sale right now so when I go down there I'm getting one. Those are just a couple of ideas, but really if the weather isn't too bad my chickens are out even in the winter free-ranging.

Yes I am planning on getting a flock block. Did not know they were on sale though.. I am going for feed this weekend so I guess I will go there. Thank you for the ideas, I plan on keeping trails shoveled for myself and I have seen some people say that their chickens do go out when it snows if there is a path and they dont have to walk in deep snow, so we will see how my like it lol.

 

[chicken danz]

My chickens don't seem to mind the snow too much once they venture out. They kind of enjoy picking it like they are getting a drink, and when it melts and refreezes they love to eat scratch or something off the top. I have taken whole cabbages, put a screw eye in them and hung them for the birds to pick at. They love them. Funny if I just put cabbage out they kind of ignore it but hang it and it is great. It's also one of the cheapest things you can buy.
I also stock up on things like frozen peas when I find them on sale. I'll just put them in a colander and run warm water over them until they are thawed and give them to the birds. They love them. In fact I do that with several frozen veggies. The one veggie my chickens don't eat is onion.
Another thing I have done for entertainment is to hang metal washers on a wire. They love picking at shiny things.
I spent my afternoon cleaning out the brooder house and a hen house and putting new shavings in. I do hope the ladies and gents all appreciate the effort. I will be one hurting unit tomorrow after all the sweeping and shoveling. I put down a good heavy layer of DE before the new shavings. I don't want any moist spots to form when it gets cold and end up getting mites on the birds. I need to DE the old garage again too. I noticed one of my boys had his rear end picked some. It is hard to tell this time of year if they are molting or getting bugs. I just don't want them to get started.

 

[mommahen10]

Hi. I haven't been online all day, but I have a little bit to get caught up now. The little chick was already passed before I was even finished getting ready for bed last night. Then this afternoon, the one with the terribly curled foot passed too. The little girls buried them in the backyard, I can't believe how hard they took it.

This morning, before I even got dressed we got thrown into a whirlwind. The boys went outside to do chores and decided that they would put a huge pumpkin into the loft of the barn, and then drop it out the window into the pig pen before they let them out. That way they wouldn't have to break it and they could enjoy watching the splat. So my 13 yo was in the loft and my 15 yo was lifting the biggest pumpkin above his head, it had to be over 30 lbs. The 13 yo didn't have a good grip, and my 15 yo tried to catch it and it went down and smashed the living daylights out of his finger as it slammed it against a metal shelf. His fingernail was misplaced barely hanging, skin torn, it was so gross and I wasn't even dressed yet. GRRRR. We rushed off to the dr, they let him come right in and it is broken and considered to be an open fracture because of the fingernail being so torn so they sent us to the hospital for IV antibiotics and he has to take antibiotics for 2 weeks. He will have to see an orthopedic on Friday.

I'm going to get caught up now on reading.

 

[chicken danz]

Oh what lousy luck! So sorry! Kids will be kids!!!

 

[mommahen10]

Trish, he is beautiful!!!

I'm so sorry Mike, that's terrible.

Kansas Prairie, I will get to read the article in a bit, I opened it so I won't forget.

Trish, I bought the flock block on sale too and I'm going to save it for the bad weather when they can't get out.

WOW!!! That didn't take me too long to get through tonight. I spent the afternoon after we got home from the hospital cleaning out brooders and pens. I did all of them except for the big layer coop, I really need help with that one. My dh worked on the old bunny pen, making it better for chicks. I hate to tell him but I won't use that one until it's warmer because it's all wire and I don't want them to get that much cool wind.

Verna, today's my dad's birthday and I told him that we met on here. He said HI and that he knows you and you are sooo nice. He was so surprised to hear that we've met, and amazed too.

I'm going to go out and check on my little EEs still. I picked them all up when I cleaned their brooder and I'm so amazed at how they've grown, and they are still more social than my other chicks. My BOs, I'm still thinking that one is a roo and I don't really care, I'll keep him. The BOs tower over my hatch close in age. I debate every day on moving them to the next older pen but I'm afraid they aren't experieced enough to be there, it's a bit less protected.

Oh, during my rush out the door I was yelling orders to everyone and I told the kids to turn the eggs cooling for the next hatch. My dd picked up the carton and it had gotten damp and the eggs fell to the floor. I told her to just throw away the broken ones and we will use the rest to cook. It's a good thing, I'm going to start over and not do pullet eggs or the darker ones which I believe come from the white chickens. I think I will move those 2 chickens tomorrow to the grow out pen for just a few days while I'm gathering eggs for hatching. Also, yesterday before I took apart the incubator for cleaning I put the hygrometer in there, the humidity was over 90%, the range is 20-90% and it just said HI. This evening I put it back together and I have the channels filled and it's reading 71%. I'm curious to see how it changes when the cool front comes back through and we have the heat back on.

The furnace works, infact, it won't shut off. I had to turn it off manually, if I turn it to cool it shuts off and the AC won't work. GRRRR. We just wired something wrong and I keep studying the wiring diagram and I can see something that isn't right but there isn't another wire that color. I could be something to do with the thermostat wiring too. Anyway, I give up, a repairman is coming tomorrow evening. I'm sure I'll catch heat on that one. It all works though, we did confirm that. I still haven't checked the outlets yet but there have been no other mishaps. I still intend to do that.

I can't believe a pumpkin hurt him that bad, he says it hurts but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down much, he's more agitated about it than anything because he can't do what he wants to. Both boys are still working on something outside, my dh just went out to check on them.

G'night all.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

For crying out loud -- that's the pits mommahen10. So sorry for you and DS. Ouch!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

mommahen-- so sorry, darn the luck you have been having. I hope all smooths out soon.