Consolidated Kansas

[michelleml]

Yes we use propane to heat our home. It's dangerous to have propane water heaters in the basement so they are electric.  We pay more than $400 per year like Joe Jordan does, lucky Joe!

Michelleml,
 Most companies ( if you request) will put you on their route and will come by and fill your tank occasionally.
Be sure the propane tank doesn't get low or empty. If it empties it can be a mess &  you can get air in the lines & some companies will charge you extra to prime it.

I wasn't aware of it being dangerous of having the water heater in basement they installed a new on and it passed inspection before we bought house with no issues. $400 for the year would be awesome but I already paid more than that on a prebuy program. I'm going to talk Dh into getting a pellet stove

 

[mommahen10]

Michelle, we heat with propane and we spend about $600 per year, there are a lot of us here though. We also cook with propane, but water heater is electric. When we lived in town, the house was over 100 years old and we heated with a warm morning stove, it had central heat but we never needed it. The house was an old Victorian house and it wasn't in the best of repair but the heat from the warm morning stove, which was downstairs and a single unit, always managed to heat upstairs just fine. In fact, it was always warmer upstairs than downstairs a perfect expample of heat rises. Some of it could have been that the house really wasn't tight anywhere. I would think it would be fine, you would want to leave doors open going to upstairs and in the rooms up there. If it isn't enough you could use a fan to encourage heat to go that direction.

YAY Josie!!! That's great news!!!! I'm so happy for you.

Trish, sorry about the chaos on the farm swap. That stinks. I couldn't ever be a mod, I don't know how you do it with people getting cranky. I've heard about DE and how it's used but do you have to reapply it constantly? I thought that once it got wet or damp it just disappeared? Do you apply it to the chicken? I'm so sorry that you lost your roo.

Michelle, is your water heater propane too? I think she meant propane water heaters couldn't be in the basement. I'm guessing maybe because of the venting???? I don't know.

Well, I'm glad it didn't get too cold last night, I even forgot to close one of the windows in my room, I do love the smell of the fresh air. Last night I was dreaming about the furnace and the wiring and I got another idea that I will try but I will look it up first. I dream about wires, the shadows in my room look like chickens, I think I may be due for a break.

Have a great day all.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken - My guess about the scovy drake is, he is just full of teen age harmones. My scovies have never layed eggs during the winter, but then with animals you never know for sure what they will do. IF she does lay eggs and she is free ranging, she will probably hide her nest. They are very good at that.

Ooohh....I never even though of her hiding a nest. Great - something else to worry about LOL.

Does everyone use propane to heat your home? This will be our first I'm a little scared about that and the price of propane. I've been reading about pellet stoves and thinking maybe we can get a pellet insert for the fireplace but we have a two story home not sure if it will keep kids room upstair warm enough . Anyone have experence with pellet stoves?

We have propane but this is our first year too so I can't tell you what it will cost. After we moved in, I had the tank filled so it would be one less thing to worry about this winter. I think the bill was around $500 to fill it. I'm really hoping that lasts us a long time.

We heat (air and water) and cook with propane for only about $400 a year. Clean fuel.

Good to know. We tend to keep our house warmer than average in summer and cooler than average in winter, to keep our bills low. It would be nice if we could keep ours to $400 a year and that way the fill I did last Spring might last us quite awhile.

Danz-I do use the ivermectin/praziquantel paste. I don't know how you would use injectable ivermectin in water because ivermectin is not water soluble. So there would be a big "glob" of ivermectin floating in the water somewhere and who knows if anyone would actually get it? I will ask DH about it. I have read that you can use safeguard for goats in their drinking water and that would be way easier than dosing individually. The problem with people "coming up with ways" to deworm their birds is that they don't know the chemical bases of the drugs. I use and abuse my husbands knowledge and access to veterinary drug handbooks to determine how to best use drugs that aren't even labeled for chickens but if there is no research how would anyone know if putting ivermectin in drinking water even works to deworm birds? Just my two cents.


I am kind of excited at the prospect of moving because there are more nurse midwives available down near Wichita so once we have a definite plan I am going to start making some phone calls. We have decided to have a natural child birth and DH was super duper supportive and even ok with a homebirth or birthing at a non hospital location as long as we were within driving distance of a hospital in case we need one. I was shocked and quite pleased that he was so supportive.

Oh no, the injectable is very water-soluble. The pour-on you can't use like this because it is too oily and I wouldn't even want to try it with the paste but the injectable mixed right in.

So excited at the prospect of having you move down here, and glad you have figured out what you want to do birth-wise. It is so neat to have a solid plan in place early on - one less thing to have to worry about later. I'm glad your DH is being so supportive too - that helps a lot.

Today has been quite a day & I'm feeling the effects of it now. This morning my DH & I got up really early for us & went to Oxford to a friend of Sunflowerparrot's house to help process chickens. They have quite a setup there & have a system going. I love the automatic chicken plucker, it's wonderful! They put two chickens in it at a time & they were both de-feathered in seconds, sure beats plucking by hand. We processed 47 birds in about 3 hours this morning from start to finish. We weren't doing any for us, we were just there to help & see the system & the plucker so we can do it in the spring next year. After leaving there I went back home, did all my chores, fixed lunch, & then went back in the afternoon to Sunflowerparrot's house to load up a truckload of cattails. I'm trying to stockpile some for winter & she also has been loading up some to take up closer to the coops. I'm just done in after this day, I'm so tired! I plan to go back tomorrow if it's not raining & get one more load, that's about all I have time right now to get. The dogs love the stuff for sleeping in, they're going to be mad at me when I put a tarp over it.

I wanted to post about my experience here so you all could learn from it. I have never had this happen before & I hope I don't again. As you know I lost my Wheaten Ameraucana rooster recently & I really didn't know why he died. Then yesterday I noticed my Salmon Favorelle rooster was not doing well at all. I started giving them vitamins in their water & him some directly. It dawned on me last night what was going on & unfortunately it was too late for my beautiful rooster. Now I am down two breeders that I need for next spring & I have to find replacements. Anyway, I have always treated my main coop with D.E. & sevin when I clean it out & at intervals, so I have never had a problem with mites at all, ever. Well as you may recall I have had moisture problems in my grow-out pen due to it flooding when it rains a lot. I have been working on the issue & cleaned all the bedding out of it that was wet & it is dry now, but it caused the birds in there to get mites from the wet bedding. It just never occurred to me that mites could be the issue I was dealing with until I saw my big rooster picking at his legs last night. Then all of the sudden it hit me like a brick & I knew what was wrong with him. I had not seen any mites crawling on him, they were evidently really hidden under his feathers. So today I went out after getting back & dusted the whole pen with D.E. & sevin & the birds too, but it was too late for my rooster, he died this afternoon. I went out & treated all the pens so far except the peacock/guinea pen & I plan to do that one tomorrow & the birds in there. Of all the things that can go wrong with chickens I just didn't even think of that one happening to me. My other birds seem to be doing well now after treating their respiratory stuff, so I'll watch that & I know to watch for that problem, but now I know to watch for mites. I also know what they look like now after this experience. I had been using straw in that pen & I don't know if that contributed to the problem or not, but I'm using the cattails in there now. I'm just sick about my big beautiful rooster & so sad that I didn't realize sooner what was going on & maybe I could have saved him.

That plucker sounds awesome - it is the processing part of the whole process that I like the least. Whether skinning or plucking, that part always takes the longest, so to have that accomplished in seconds would be amazing.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the mites and I'm so sorry you lost your rooster. I'm glad you have it in hand now though, to prevent future losses.

Yes we use propane to heat our home. It's dangerous to have propane water heaters in the basement so they are electric. We pay more than $400 per year like Joe Jordan does, lucky Joe!

Most companies ( if you request) will put you on their route and will come by and fill your tank occasionally.
Be sure the propane tank doesn't get low or empty. If it empties it can be a mess & you can get air in the lines & some companies will charge you extra to prime it.

Good tips - thanks!

 

[sapphireblu76]

Good morning all!
I didn't have time to read all the posts I missed
I am in a bit of a situation today. I ran out of Duramycin-10 powder yesterday and need it for 3 more days. I went to TSC to get some more and a replacement base for one of my waterers. Well, they are out of the Duramycin and they wouldn't sell me a base separate from the waterer...why do they have them separate on the shelf then??? So, went to Orscheln's. They're out of Duramycin, too and said they have been for awhile.

I looked all around for something else that was the same thing. I thought I found it and it was half the price of the Duramycin. Got home and realized it was a medicated MILK REPLACER. GRRRRRRRRR!!!! At least I hadn't opened it and I can take it back. I looked online to see if I could order some and I can...for $15 shipping

Can't afford that, sooooo what do I do??? The stores have the injectable, but I have 45 birds! There is no way I can treat them all with that. Any ideas? There are just a few birds sneezing and one roo that "Caw"s everytime he eats. Everyone was starting to get better, too. Now without the meds, I'm afraid it will come back with a vengeance.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Trish,
Sorry about your rooster! Thanks for reminding us to keep an eye out for mites. Sorry about the farm swap folks, seems like some people are brave when they are on a keyboard.

Wood ash bath is a natural & free way to get rid of the mites, mine have dirt bath and ash bath areas. Old timers have used ashes for hundreds of years to control mites and other pests.

 

[HEChicken]

Good morning all!
I didn't have time to read all the posts I missed
I am in a bit of a situation today. I ran out of Duramycin-10 powder yesterday and need it for 3 more days. I went to TSC to get some more and a replacement base for one of my waterers. Well, they are out of the Duramycin and they wouldn't sell me a base separate from the waterer...why do they have them separate on the shelf then??? So, went to Orscheln's. They're out of Duramycin, too and said they have been for awhile.

I looked all around for something else that was the same thing. I thought I found it and it was half the price of the Duramycin. Got home and realized it was a medicated MILK REPLACER. GRRRRRRRRR!!!! At least I hadn't opened it and I can take it back. I looked online to see if I could order some and I can...for $15 shipping

Can't afford that, sooooo what do I do??? The stores have the injectable, but I have 45 birds! There is no way I can treat them all with that. Any ideas? There are just a few birds sneezing and one roo that "Caw"s everytime he eats. Everyone was starting to get better, too. Now without the meds, I'm afraid it will come back with a vengeance.

I wish I had a suggestion for you. That is so frustrating, because at my Atwoods yesterday they had tons of the stuff. Also, like you I'm surprised they wouldn't seen the base separately, because I was looking at those the other day and they certainly do seem to be priced as separate units.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Howdy all, I am like 9 million posts behind so I read but gave up on multi posting, it would have been a mile long!

Danz-I do use the ivermectin/praziquantel paste. I don't know how you would use injectable ivermectin in water because ivermectin is not water soluble. So there would be a big "glob" of ivermectin floating in the water somewhere and who knows if anyone would actually get it? I will ask DH about it. I have read that you can use safeguard for goats in their drinking water and that would be way easier than dosing individually. The problem with people "coming up with ways" to deworm their birds is that they don't know the chemical bases of the drugs. I use and abuse my husbands knowledge and access to veterinary drug handbooks to determine how to best use drugs that aren't even labeled for chickens but if there is no research how would anyone know if putting ivermectin in drinking water even works to deworm birds? Just my two cents.
My dad has a pellet stove in Maine and he runs it most of the winter and hardly uses his furnace. It is AWESOME!!! That thing is tiny and puts out more heat than you know what to do with. When we go to visit it is like 78 degrees in there with the stove turned down to low most of the time. They do require some maintenance but he loves it and he lives in my childhood home which is an old two story colonial and even the upstairs stays warm just from the ambient heat moving up the stairwell.


Well I am just pooped right out. I worked Monday and today and spent all of yesterday running around like a nut. Did groceries, bought chicken feed, took the car to the dealer to have its resist all treatment to prevent future staining had a doctors appointment, cleaned the house for two hours and had to take a nap to recover! I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat on the doppler yesterday which was pretty awesome. Everything is looking good and I was shocked I hadn't put any weight on because half my jeans don't fit but the doctor said that was ok and the baby was strong and healthy.

I am kind of excited at the prospect of moving because there are more nurse midwives available down near Wichita so once we have a definite plan I am going to start making some phone calls. We have decided to have a natural child birth and DH was super duper supportive and even ok with a homebirth or birthing at a non hospital location as long as we were within driving distance of a hospital in case we need one. I was shocked and quite pleased that he was so supportive.

I use the goat wormer and treat each bird. I feel that way I can make sure they all get the amount needed. I know some people have alot of birds and it would take alot of time doing this, I guess you could split it up into a couple days of treating or get a different med but I loved the safeguard it worked fast and no problems after.

I'm too tired to muli quote, but here is the link for the poultry swap: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/, just ask to join & one of us will approve you.

Danz, yes you can put the doves on the poultry swap site, we had a big blowout yesterday on the farm animal swap, so don't post them there. I'm having trouble with people wanting to post potbelly pigs on the farm swap & I'm not allowing them or anything pet related, it's a farm swap after all. The way I feel about it is the potbelly pigs are normally used for pets & there are just so many pet swap sites on FB that they have plenty of places to post them besides my farm swap. I had to sit down & make a darned list of animals & birds, dogs & such that ARE allowed on the site, what a PITA. Some people just have to push the limits no matter whether there are written rules or not.

Today has been quite a day & I'm feeling the effects of it now. This morning my DH & I got up really early for us & went to Oxford to a friend of Sunflowerparrot's house to help process chickens. They have quite a setup there & have a system going. I love the automatic chicken plucker, it's wonderful! They put two chickens in it at a time & they were both de-feathered in seconds, sure beats plucking by hand. We processed 47 birds in about 3 hours this morning from start to finish. We weren't doing any for us, we were just there to help & see the system & the plucker so we can do it in the spring next year. After leaving there I went back home, did all my chores, fixed lunch, & then went back in the afternoon to Sunflowerparrot's house to load up a truckload of cattails. I'm trying to stockpile some for winter & she also has been loading up some to take up closer to the coops. I'm just done in after this day, I'm so tired! I plan to go back tomorrow if it's not raining & get one more load, that's about all I have time right now to get. The dogs love the stuff for sleeping in, they're going to be mad at me when I put a tarp over it.

I wanted to post about my experience here so you all could learn from it. I have never had this happen before & I hope I don't again. As you know I lost my Wheaten Ameraucana rooster recently & I really didn't know why he died. Then yesterday I noticed my Salmon Favorelle rooster was not doing well at all. I started giving them vitamins in their water & him some directly. It dawned on me last night what was going on & unfortunately it was too late for my beautiful rooster. Now I am down two breeders that I need for next spring & I have to find replacements. Anyway, I have always treated my main coop with D.E. & sevin when I clean it out & at intervals, so I have never had a problem with mites at all, ever. Well as you may recall I have had moisture problems in my grow-out pen due to it flooding when it rains a lot. I have been working on the issue & cleaned all the bedding out of it that was wet & it is dry now, but it caused the birds in there to get mites from the wet bedding. It just never occurred to me that mites could be the issue I was dealing with until I saw my big rooster picking at his legs last night. Then all of the sudden it hit me like a brick & I knew what was wrong with him. I had not seen any mites crawling on him, they were evidently really hidden under his feathers. So today I went out after getting back & dusted the whole pen with D.E. & sevin & the birds too, but it was too late for my rooster, he died this afternoon. I went out & treated all the pens so far except the peacock/guinea pen & I plan to do that one tomorrow & the birds in there. Of all the things that can go wrong with chickens I just didn't even think of that one happening to me. My other birds seem to be doing well now after treating their respiratory stuff, so I'll watch that & I know to watch for that problem, but now I know to watch for mites. I also know what they look like now after this experience. I had been using straw in that pen & I don't know if that contributed to the problem or not, but I'm using the cattails in there now. I'm just sick about my big beautiful rooster & so sad that I didn't realize sooner what was going on & maybe I could have saved him.

Hawkeye, I'm so sorry you're still not feeling well, I have been thinking about you also & hope you feel better soon. It can take awhile for that kind of injury to resolve, just be careful. That's the pits that guy is such a liar, Why do they believe him over you & your BIL? I would think two people with the same story would trump the one guy telling another one. I hope it all gets resolved soon for you, I know that doesn't help your recovery any

I'll try to get out & take some pics tomorrow of the breeder coop so you all can see the progress. My DH has all of the siding up now & we have to go in the next few days & get more lumber to put the supports up for the roof so we can put the roofing on. I want to get that roof on as soon as possible before the weather gets really ugly.

Josie, I'm so glad things are going well with you & the baby & am excited for you that you're going to get to move closer to Wichita. That will be so much more convenient for your DH & closer for you to family & doctors.

I am so sorry to hear of all the issues. I have not put de down yet which you reminded me of so thank you for that. I never thought of using cattails as bedding.. It sounds fluffy. I use the leaves from my corn once they are dry and leaves and dry grass. But since I was unable to collect alot of grass this year I have straw.

Good morning all!
I didn't have time to read all the posts I missed
I am in a bit of a situation today. I ran out of Duramycin-10 powder yesterday and need it for 3 more days. I went to TSC to get some more and a replacement base for one of my waterers. Well, they are out of the Duramycin and they wouldn't sell me a base separate from the waterer...why do they have them separate on the shelf then??? So, went to Orscheln's. They're out of Duramycin, too and said they have been for awhile.

I looked all around for something else that was the same thing. I thought I found it and it was half the price of the Duramycin. Got home and realized it was a medicated MILK REPLACER. GRRRRRRRRR!!!! At least I hadn't opened it and I can take it back. I looked online to see if I could order some and I can...for $15 shipping

Can't afford that, sooooo what do I do??? The stores have the injectable, but I have 45 birds! There is no way I can treat them all with that. Any ideas? There are just a few birds sneezing and one roo that "Caw"s everytime he eats. Everyone was starting to get better, too. Now without the meds, I'm afraid it will come back with a vengeance.

I use duramycin-10 also but there is one that starts with a "T" I have seen people on here talk about. Try doing a search for antibiotics for chickens and see what comes from it. I will search it too, hopefully you can find something quickly.

 

[chicken danz]

Does everyone use propane to heat your home? This will be our first I'm a little scared about that and the price of propane. I've been reading about pellet stoves and thinking maybe we can get a pellet insert for the fireplace but we have a two story home not sure if it will keep kids room upstair warm enough . Anyone have experence with pellet stoves?

I buy my propane on contract. The price was lower this year than it ever has been in the last 10 years.The mild winter last year caused people to use less and the price is based on supply and demand. I have a heat pump and back up propane. But on rural electric the heat pumps eats my lunch. So I just lock it out and use propane heat only. I love it. It is warm heat rather than cool heat that heat pumps put out. My bills are always high. My basement needs to be insulated. I was going to have it spray foamed but they said I should have the framing up fist to finish the walls. I am not sure why I would need to but it postponed progress.
JosieChick

Danz, yes you can put the doves on the poultry swap site, we had a big blowout yesterday on the farm animal swap, so don't post them there. I'm having trouble with people wanting to post potbelly pigs on the farm swap & I'm not allowing them or anything pet related, it's a farm swap after all. The way I feel about it is the potbelly pigs are normally used for pets & there are just so many pet swap sites on FB that they have plenty of places to post them besides my farm swap. I had to sit down & make a darned list of animals & birds, dogs & such that ARE allowed on the site, what a PITA. Some people just have to push the limits no matter whether there are written rules or not.
Thanks Trish. I asked because I knew it might be questionable.

I have never seen a mite on my birds but have certainly been able to tell they had gotten some now and then. I saw a roo yesterday I suspect might have some. I need to spread some DE in the old garage. I would just treat them all with Ivermectin but I could never catch them all at least in that group.


I'll try to get out & take some pics tomorrow of the breeder coop so you all can see the progress. My DH has all of the siding up now & we have to go in the next few days & get more lumber to put the supports up for the roof so we can put the roofing on. I want to get that roof on as soon as possible before the weather gets really ugly.

Josie, I'm so glad things are going well with you & the baby & am excited for you that you're going to get to move closer to Wichita. That will be so much more convenient for your DH & closer for you to family & doctors.

Can't wait to see you new pictures Trish.

I wasn't aware of it being dangerous of having the water heater in basement they installed a new on and it passed inspection before we bought house with no issues. $400 for the year would be awesome but I already paid more than that on a prebuy program. I'm going to talk Dh into getting a pellet stove

I was going to put a propane heater in the basement. I was going to get one of the instant heat ones but there was no way to vent it. If you have a flu in place you can vent into that might work but my water and heat are on opposite sides of the house and my heaters vent out the side, and the water heater needs to vent through a chimney. In my old house I just used the same chimney for both.

Well, I'm glad it didn't get too cold last night, I even forgot to close one of the windows in my room, I do love the smell of the fresh air. Last night I was dreaming about the furnace and the wiring and I got another idea that I will try but I will look it up first. I dream about wires, the shadows in my room look like chickens, I think I may be due for a break.

Have a great day all.

I can't believe that heater guy never showed up. I hate that people do things like that. He could of at least called.
Quote:

Good morning all!
I didn't have time to read all the posts I missed
I am in a bit of a situation today. I ran out of Duramycin-10 powder yesterday and need it for 3 more days. I went to TSC to get some more and a replacement base for one of my waterers. Well, they are out of the Duramycin and they wouldn't sell me a base separate from the waterer...why do they have them separate on the shelf then??? So, went to Orscheln's. They're out of Duramycin, too and said they have been for awhile.

I looked all around for something else that was the same thing. I thought I found it and it was half the price of the Duramycin. Got home and realized it was a medicated MILK REPLACER. GRRRRRRRRR!!!! At least I hadn't opened it and I can take it back. I looked online to see if I could order some and I can...for $15 shipping

Can't afford that, sooooo what do I do??? The stores have the injectable, but I have 45 birds! There is no way I can treat them all with that. Any ideas? There are just a few birds sneezing and one roo that "Caw"s everytime he eats. Everyone was starting to get better, too. Now without the meds, I'm afraid it will come back with a vengeance.

Is there a local vet? You might call them and ask if they have some available. Or even check with some of the local coops. One local one around here carries some basic meds.

It is drizzly out this morning and the wind is coming from the west. It's also considerably cooler than they said it would be this time of day. So I guess the cool front is moving in early. My plans were to enjoy my coffee then feed and water before the front moved in. So much for that idea. I guess I'll just enjoy the coffee and bundle up later.
The cool front is definitely on its way. I am a hurting unit today. Sure makes the arthritis act up when the weather changes.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

It is drizzly out this morning and the wind is coming from the west. It's also considerably cooler than they said it would be this time of day. So I guess the cool front is moving in early. My plans were to enjoy my coffee then feed and water before the front moved in. So much for that idea. I guess I'll just enjoy the coffee and bundle up later.
The cool front is definitely on its way. I am a hurting unit today. Sure makes the arthritis act up when the weather changes.

Oh man I know what you mean I am aching all over. Rolled out of bed aching like this I knew it was going to be one of those days. All the birds came out of the coop for 30 mins and went right back in lol guess they gave up on free ranging already.

Sapphire-- What about tylan 50, tetracylin, cephalexin or penicilin?

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

michelleml - unless you already have, do your research on the pellet stove. I don't have one but a friend has used one for years and overall they do like it. Some of the things she has complained about: The cost of the pellets keep going up in price. Know what you will have to pay and if they are available where you are. Storage of the pellets. They buy the pellets by the pallet and don't have great storage and have had some be ruined by the weather. And the pellet stoves require electricity to run the auger and fan. No electricity, no heat. They keep a regular wood burner to use if the electric is out. There are now pellets that are made from things other than wood that some people are promoting like grass. Cheaper to grow and process. Might need a special stove or be able to clean it more often. Again, research if you are interested.