Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

Over 100 posts for me to look at this morning. I did get through them, but figured a multi post to comment on them all would end up being ridiculously long, even for me!

Welcome to the new people!

I enjoyed the pictures of adorable children, and the child "eating" the severed hand really cracked me up because I'm sick like that.

The cape cod coop is really cute.

I hope those of you not feeling well get over it quickly, it's no fun to be sick when you want to be getting things ready for winter.

I'm sorry about the insurance problems. I have an attitude about insurance companies because you pay and pay and pay and then they look for every little reason they can find not to pay when you need them. I've been having a hassle with my medical insurance because they don't cover some of the stuff done by the doctor who's been helping me with the sciatica and pelvic sprain. Fine, I know they don't cover certain things, but they're constantly sending me paperwork to verify that this was not caused by an accident and requesting information from me -- not the doctor because she's not on their list -- and it's the same dang problem and same dang information every time. I eventually get reimbursed for the things they cover, but they spend more time and money trying to avoid it than if they'd just pay. Now they're doing the same thing with the foot doctor, requesting additional information because some combination of something he did isn't covered and they want clarification. They didn't used to be like this with the regular doc and foot doc.

I'm so thankful we don't have too many predators around. Being in town helps, but it also means I can't have a roo to help protect the girls. We have foxes in town, but I never see them in my neighborhood. I think it might be because there are so many dogs here. The lilacs keep the birds from being able to swoop in and I let the loud dog whenever I see a cat in the alley. On the other hand, we do seem to get a lot of possums in our neighborhood. The slide door to the coop is sticking open and it's a pain the you-know-what every evening. DH is trying to figure out how he can get it to slide down smoothly again. It's made out of some kind of non-vinyl siding and just slides between the wooden coop wall and the wood strips DH put up.

FIL's friend dropped by another load of chard. I love watching the hens get so excited about it. They're spoiled and I wouldn't have it any other way! Whenever I go outside, or even if they see me looking out the back door at them, they pace around in front of the gate and talk to me. And yes, I talk back. I even thank them for their eggs most days when I gather them.

 

[JosieChick]

Hey Danz, the mouse trap finally caught a couple of mice. We heard some scrambling in the walls of the barn so I set up one trap in there a couple of days ago. Then I brought back the trap I had set at our horse barn, and I put it in our barn as well, in a corner (the first one was just against a wall). I checked them this morning and the first one was still empty, after being there two nights, but the one in the corner had a mouse in it. I fed that to one of my snakes and put the trap back against the wall and this evening there was another mouse in it. That was fed to another snake and now it is back there to (hopefully) get its third victim tonight. The smell of mouse in there is now quite strong and I'm wondering if that will a) encourage other mice to enter the trap or b) smell of mouse fear so discourage others from entering. I guess I will find out in the morning.

I think I need to get some mouse traps. I was cleaning in the garage and found some little mouse poops behind one of the bins. Apparently the barn cat is getting too fat and lazy to hunt them!

Hi, to all.
Well, I made the National Rosecomb show!! My cockerel placed 5th in the first show, and 3rd in the second show.
The pullets did not place, but, I had a lot of comments on the girls. They had some very tough competion. My girls were a lot younger than a lot of the pullets there. Some were even laying. My girls have not crossed that line yet. I would say most of the pullets there were 11+ months old. Mine are only 9 months so I am not unhappy. I learned so much from the "BIG SHOW BREEDERS" They were all so nice, and we talked a lot about birds, breeding, and conditioning. I have a lot of work ahead of me but will get it done, and my birds will be better for it. I will be attending Hutchinson the 17th. They will be having sale cages there. Breeders will have birds there for sale. If you are just wanting to pick up something new for your flock, good place to look. All birds have to be tested, so they will all be pollurium clean.
I took a couple of pictures at the show, I have to get them uploaded, and then I will post them.

Congrats Rosie!! Sounds like you had a fabulous time and a wonderful experience meeting up with other Rosecomb lovers! Is the show in Hutchinson still open for entry and do they have waterfowl? I would love to enter a few of my geese and keep meaning to get organized and get them to a show but I am dragging my heels. Where do I find info about it? Do the birds have to be tested in the last 90 days for pullorum?

Just want to remind you of the bottle rocket launcher. if your in the country just launch a few every once and a while. Works for me. I have never lost a bird to a bird of prey. I encourage screech owls or sparrow hawks to eat my mice. I get a few hawks in the big cotton wood trees just above the pen. I use the bottle rockets then. I hear you can use old CDs on fishing line to scare hawks away. Seems like you could tie about 10 feet between 2 and toss them into a tree so they hang and swing in the wind. I have a covered pen for the day time then a big open pen for half the day not that any of them stay in the big pen.

Is a bottle rocket launcher legal? I have heard that if there are hawks in the area it is considered harassment and you can be fined....I imagine we would get a call from a neighbor if we started that.

Danz, next time I go to the store I'll have to look at the active ingredients in Prep. H. I was thinking about trying hydro-cortisone on my hands, they're so severely dry. I used a regular light bulb to light the way when I moved some older chicks that didn't really need a light. I like your idea of using Christmas lights, I'll be sure to leave them accessible after Christmas this year. I was reading something last week about some type of buff being bred to certain type of Ameraucana to get the lavender orpington. The whole thing was do vague like it was a secret and I didn't understand any of it. OMGOSH!!!! What a huge beautiful group of chicks/ducks. That looks like a lot of work. That's awesome that you got them sold so quickly. Did the sticky ones perk up? I've been reading and reading and reading trying to catch up. I was just about to offer for you to come visit me and enjoy a hot shower and the very next post I see that you got your system all fixed. YAY!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you. It's so stressful when things are out of order.
A lot of breeds of birds don't have a certain color that is in the standard. For example you couldn't go out and buy a lavender orp years ago so breeders took a orp in an available color and bred it to a different breed to get a new color split into the originial color. So they might take a buff or black orp and breed to a lavender ameraucana and then breed that orp/am split back to the am to get pure lavender then breed back to a standard color orp to improve the type. The problem with introducing a new color with another breed is that you wind up with characteristics of the breed with the color so every couple generations you have to breed back to the original breed in a color that has perfected the standard to keep it looking like the breed you are working on. In bantam cochins lavender (or self blue more properly) was introduced from d'uccles but if you breed original self blue birds to each other over and over again you wind up with lanky birds with vulture hocks. These are the d'uccle characteristics popping back up in the breed. SO many breeders breed back to black because there are fabulous exhibition quality black bantam cochins available.

The other day, I saw Daniel(our rooster) do this flapping wings standing up tall dance thing and all the hens ran to the other side of their yard. I thought, hmmm, looks like he just talked to them. Then I heard SPLAT, my 13 yo was on top of the chicken coop and dropped a pumpkin in. It was cool, the rooster knew he was there and I didn't even notice.

Josie, I don't understand the breeding stuff but she is truly beautiful. I have 2 solid black hens out in our layer coop and they are mixed breeds, I don't know why but I can't stop staring at them when I'm out there. They're just stunning in how they look and how they behave. They just started following the rooster around and the rooster seems to be ignoring the other hens now. They look just like the rooster, I guess because he's their dad. They just look so pretty together. I love my chickens. So glad to hear that Lucie is doing so well. It sounds like it's already hard to keep her down. That's amazing about the diapers Josie, and think if you take that same investment and use it for more children how much money you are saving. If we used disposable and had a late potty trainer, say maybe 3 years the cost would have been $2550. That's a lot of money when you think about it and put a pencil to it. I could think of so many ways to better spend that money.
I really like black orps and black chickens in general. I think they are beautiful. I have one hen that is a maran/orp cross and she is all black and she is just the prettiest, fluffiest girl.

Chickies-duckies, how on earth did cougars end up here???? I've never heard that. Anyone else notice that the coyotes seem bigger nowadays? This evening when I did my chick checks I found 3 cats in my little chick pen. They weren't bothering them and the chickens weren't even rattled by them being there, they didn't even seem to notice. The cats were eating their feed. When we shooed them out, one just climbed right up the chicken wire. Chicken wire isn't much protection now then is it? OMGosh!!!! That's so scary about the coyotes getting so close. I'd have been terrified. Thanks for the links Chickies-duckies, I opened them so I will be sure and check them out.
The coyotes are enormous!!! I have heard from a friend down in Mulvane that there are coyote/dog hybrids running around down there and they are the size of german sheperds.
Since I don't understand the breeds and breeding, would someone like to assign me a project with some instructions? Something moderately priced please and nothing too fancy. My brooder room is coming along nicely. I've been painting in there and my dh is giving me a hard time. He keeps saying, "But it's a barn." I told him that I will be spending a bit of time out there and I want to enjoy my time out there. I've got one pen in there completely ready to go. I was going to put the linoleum down like checoukan suggested but when I went to get the scraps they were really rotten so I will stay on the look out for more. I've put several coats of paint on it so it should be relatively easy to clean with a smoother surface. Tomorrow I start painting the second pen.

Just chased off a coyote at 8a.m.! Chickens were penned up, thank goodness. I could here them squawking up a storm!
Tweety,

at the zombie baby! Lol
Lanolizing: I would melt some lanolin in warm water then soak the cover to make it waterproof. Sounds like you're lanolizing your hands, mamahen!
Rosie, congrats on the nationals!
Busy weekend here, not as busy as mamahen, though! Now I need to get off to work.

Ugh! Hate coyotes. Thanks for lanolin info. I think I am going to register for a wool wrap or two for overnights.

Sounds like you do have it pretty well hawk proofed. I've been really worried about that lately. They are so bold right now! Not scared of me! Sounds like you got a lot done! And no, I don't make covers. It was something I really never got into. I did use Fitteds now and then when I was running low, but figured that I could not make the Thirsties covers any better than they were, so why try? The whole idea of making your own diapers to make something better-- and I think my own brand did that. (in Pocket diapers) I prefer my own pockets over any other. And I'm a BIG lover of Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius and BlueBerry. But mine just worked better. I also was using materials that lasted longer. I have replaced the elastic in my Fuzzi Bunz a couple of times in the leg gussets-- they used PolyBraid. I'm thinking the new FB's actually use the Lastin like I use now. But a few years ago, they didn't. Mine held up longer.

Yeah, so funny when I learned your name wasn't actually Josie! Now I named the bird I got from you Josie. LOL Figure it reminds me where I got her. I'm with you on the quarantine for 3 weeks. I got that little cockerel about 4 weeks ago now-- he is STILL in quarantine. He's been doing great-- no sign of illness ever. I'm thinking about later this week letting him out with the other birds. Just makes me nervous. I have the room to keep him separate, so it's easy to just leave him there. But I know he'd like some company. I have 4 more birds in quarantine too-- they are only on week 2. So I'm thinking 1 or 2 more weeks and I'll put them in with the flock. SO far--- no signs of illness with them either. Not even once did I have a second thought of them. But I'm not so confident about that to put them in with my birds before their time is up in quarantine. Just figure I might as well do it right!
I know. I have a hard time putting new birds out after they are done with quarantine! It is almost like they have been babied for so long you hate to put them out and have them get picked on because they are new. Sometimes I bring one bird in and let them "make friends" so they can go out with a buddy instead of alone!


CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm so glad you had a great time and that your boys placed!!! Getting to speak with the other breeders is just priceless! I took away so much knowledge at my Nationals-- so I'm so glad that you had the opportunity to do the same and enjoy your fellow Rosecomb breeders! Sounds like your birds held their own! I agree with you-- it's not entirely fair to judge 9 month olds with nearly a year old birds-- so I think considering that, you probably did great. I'm so glad you will be at the Hutchinson Kansas Classic!! I'm going too!!! We'll be doing both Open and Juniors. I'm going to bring 11 birds, I think. I do NOT plan on buying anything there, but I am going to try to sell another of my blue boys. He will be shown, then I'll put up a "For Sale" after the second judging. Hopefully I'll come home with one less bird. It will be SO FUN to meet you in person! My son will be doing Showmanship there, too. You really improved his game by giving us all those tips early on this Spring. He got a 2nd place at Nationals.

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I don't think the bottle launcher would work here, I would probably get a quick visit from the sheriff. I have been hearing crows around though and have read they keep the hawks away, so I need to figure out how to ensure the crows stay here. What do crows eat?

I have read that crows LOVE unsalted peanuts in the shell.

Oh no Lori! That would get my heart going! I hope you chased it off with some fire power, it will be back... With this weather and time of year, it should be getting it's belly full at night with rabbits, mice, quail, pheasants etc, out at 8 am it's highly likely it's not healthy, can't catch the regular prey and looking for easy prey, those are the ones that go for baby calves as the cow is giving birth, come after chickens. Healthy coyotes don't come in your yard during the day. Did it look like it had mange?

We have several lone coyotes that I assume are males that have been evicted from a pack due to unruly behavior around here. They are BOLD and HUGE! Thus the new fire power and hopes of eliminating them. We had one last week that was sweeping the neighbors cow pasture and I thought it was someones husky loose he was so big and furry. I had to stand there for a solid minute watching before I decided it was definitely a coyote.

Howdy. I'm from SE Kansas - rural Dennis, to be specific. I have two rir's hens, two light brahma hens, and one light brahma rooster. I enjoy the rir's who were very socialized before they came to us. They are a little bossy, the alpha hen actually trying to boss around the light brahma rooster! But with us they are just friendly, and follow my special needs adult son around chattering away. They also are good layers. Definately keepers, as pets, even if they weren't great layers. But I'm in love with the light brahma's. I'm hoping to gather a larger flock of these. Hopefully the three I do have will be prolific, but I'm also interested in expanding this flock sooner rather than later. The rooster is friendly and docile with us, but is rather randy, and giving my two light brahma hens quite a work out. So far the rir's have warded him off. So an additional hen or two would be delightful. Are there any other folks here from SE Kansas? I look forward to joining the conversations here! Sara

Welcome sarajoy. I am not near you but when Trish44 is on here she can get you the info about signing up for the Facebook poultry swap if you are interested. You might be able to find some more hens there. I love brahmas. They are such sweeties. I have one hen named Big Bertha and she is a lug!

Congrats Rosie. I honestly thought you were a pro and knew all about your rosecombs. Are you showing anything else in Hutchinson or just concentrating on them? I think I"v decided to just breed for good genetics and let someone else do the showing. I neither have the time or the funds to do it. However it is interesting, and I am learning a lot from you guys. It has also made me spend a little more time studying bird genetics. I find it pretty interesting how they differ from mammals.

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I'm not a hunter. But I certainly condone people who hunt to put meat on the table. I am thinking the bucks are starting to go in the rut. There is a nice one that is running this area right now, and quite a few other deer. One doe has a set of really young twins. She must have had them rather late in the season. They are too small to have been born early. Makes me wonder if the warm winter delayed some of the breeding.
I should have some black coppers up for grabs. I am trying to get a flock of blue coppers going, but in the process you still get blacks. There are mixes of black, and blue hens and roosters both so ultimately you end up with some pure blacks in the chicks.
Let me know if you are interested in some of my culls later or some chicks next spring.
I know in the past you have expressed a dislike for huge numbers of birds. I try to use mine to pay for each other. It hasn't worked real well yet but slowly I am working toward that end. I am trying to establish my laying flock, my breeding flock, and my eating flock. Let me know what size ducks your people are looking for, what you think they can comfortably pay, and I will see what I can do. I would of course rather sell them as babies but I occasionally save some to raise to keep for breeders and need to cull the males. Or I could raise some a little larger just for meat birds as long as I can pay for the feed.

The bucks are definitely on the move. I almost hit one on 169 the other morning. He was enormous!

To create specific colors you need to know something about the genetics of the birds you are working with like what is recessive and what is dominant color genes. If you have a particular breed or color you would like to breed for let us know and I'll bet we could come up with something. Color breeding takes a few generations of birds and sometimes breeding back to the original type birds to keep the barring, penciling, lacing or whatever you are trying to achieve. I can write about it but don't have any projects that have gone far enough to produce exactly what I want that will breed true.
If you want to do a certain project, decide on what breed you want and what you want as an outcome. We can try to help. I have to refer back to genetic tables to figure out what to do myself. My brain doesn't work well enough to remember it all.
Maidenwolf how are the chicks doing? The mamma hen is taking good care of her chicks she has.
Karen, Hope you are starting to feel better.

Danz- I finally got my NPIP paperwork. I thought it would be more of a form or something but it is just a copy of a paper saying I will be selling eggs/chicks? I am glad you sent me my number because I can't even find it on the paper...


Well I need to get my butt outside but it is cold today! We got a ton done yesterday and I am pooped. We spent most of the day cleaning out nasty grain bins. The shelter logic canopy thing we bought blew away in a bad storm a few months ago and all the bins with grain got rained in and the feed was nasty in there. SO we spent the day cleaning those out and scrubbing them clean again. Now I will set them back up in the garage to store feed in again. We also unpacked boxes and threw away a lot of things we don't need to keep so we can get stuff pared down before we move again.

I need to get out and get a check mailed to put a deposit on a pyrenees pup for next summer. The breeder emailed me last night to let me know she is already starting a waiting list for her August 2013 litter so I need to hustle on that if I want a pup next summer! Molly will be ten next year so it is really time to start thinking about that. By the time the pup is working Molly will be 11 years old and who knows how much she is going to be up to then. She is still going strong and doing really well. DH kinda balked at the idea of another pup but when I reminded him how old Molly was getting he conceded that we better do it next year. It is hard because she sure doesn't act like a 9 year old giant breed dog! I can't imagine her not around but we won't think about that right now!!

 

[HEChicken]

Wow, then kangaroo meat sounds really good, too! Wonder if it would be good to cook like a pot roast-- with broth and veggies. Wow, that is a real bummer that your builder still was able to cut some corners! We had such great luck with ours. We came out to visit the house almost every night during the building process and took a lot of pictures. In the end, the only thing they did wrong was not install the flood lights where we asked (and they fixed it) and then they tried to install a smaller water heater than we requested and they were upset about having to take that out and change it to the bigger/more expensive one we had contracted in the beginning. Of course-- now we don't even have a water heater tank anymore. But at the time, it was important to get that right. They also put all wood in our closests-- NO wire shelving. There were several things I was adamant about in the finishes and we requested more electrical outlets than they had put in. We also pushed out the south side of the house 2 or 3 more feet and had to add that back in when we got started. After thinking about it, I didn't think the bedrooms would be big enough. We loved our builders-- yeah, they probably didn't love US-- we were picky, but they did everything we asked of them.

That is CRAZY they covered a vent hole!!! That is kind of lazy, they had to have known it was there! Wow!

That doesn't sound normal for your turkey to sound like that. Bummer, I hope she feels better. Oh wow, I think those babies may be a loss. Poor things!

Yikes-- feeding them to your snakes. I guess, it's better than buying them, right?

HEChicken,
I'm a complete newbie with turkeys, I did notice when my turkeys were getting their water from a nipple bucket they sneezed more, when I have water out where they can dip their beak down in it while they drink they stopped sneezing. Maybe it's my imagination, maybe it's a coincidence. We are dry here, really dry any maybe that's why it helped.

When the turkey first started doing that, I was really worried and started her on antibiotics. But as the weeks passed and she didn't sound better or worse, I worried less. It looks like a noise that she deliberately makes versus a sneeze that happens involuntarily. When Karen came out to visit, she saw her doing it and agreed it looked more like a deliberate "bark" than something to be concerned about. Then I was reading on a turkey thread where someone described a noise her Royal Palms make as a "bark" and I thought "Bingo!" So it seems like it is something that turkeys will do sometimes. I have noticed the past couple of weeks since Ned Kelly fell ill, she has hardly done the barking sound, even since he has recovered. But I've also noticed that although NK is better in most respects, he has neither gobbled nor displayed since his illness, so I dunno....

I bet the Kangaroo meat would be good done that way - I always just grilled it with lots of BBQ sauce to prevent it drying out too much.

Yep - it saves me a bit on snake food. Frozen rats and mice are surprisingly expensive at the pet store - plus, I don't really like the way they kill them, which is to just put them in the freezer and wait for them to freeze to death. The way the snake kills them seems a lot more humane to me - they suffocate and go unconscious within about 20 seconds of the snake grabbing them.

Howdy. I'm from SE Kansas - rural Dennis, to be specific. I have two rir's hens, two light brahma hens, and one light brahma rooster. I enjoy the rir's who were very socialized before they came to us. They are a little bossy, the alpha hen actually trying to boss around the light brahma rooster! But with us they are just friendly, and follow my special needs adult son around chattering away. They also are good layers. Definately keepers, as pets, even if they weren't great layers. But I'm in love with the light brahma's. I'm hoping to gather a larger flock of these. Hopefully the three I do have will be prolific, but I'm also interested in expanding this flock sooner rather than later. The rooster is friendly and docile with us, but is rather randy, and giving my two light brahma hens quite a work out. So far the rir's have warded him off. So an additional hen or two would be delightful. Are there any other folks here from SE Kansas? I look forward to joining the conversations here! Sara

I have read that crows LOVE unsalted peanuts in the shell.

I need to get out and get a check mailed to put a deposit on a pyrenees pup for next summer. The breeder emailed me last night to let me know she is already starting a waiting list for her August 2013 litter so I need to hustle on that if I want a pup next summer! Molly will be ten next year so it is really time to start thinking about that. By the time the pup is working Molly will be 11 years old and who knows how much she is going to be up to then. She is still going strong and doing really well. DH kinda balked at the idea of another pup but when I reminded him how old Molly was getting he conceded that we better do it next year. It is hard because she sure doesn't act like a 9 year old giant breed dog! I can't imagine her not around but we won't think about that right now!!

I've also heard that crows like peanuts - and whole corn. At our old house, there was a crippled crow that landed in the next door neighbor's yard and couldn't get out. She lived there the rest of her life - about a year and a half - and the neighbor and I both fed her. I used to throw over peanuts and corn after googling that they like those, and the neighbor actually used to go out and buy her hamburger, cook it up and feed it to her. I have to say, if an injured crow had to be stranded somewhere, she picked a good yard.

That is so exciting about the new pup - I bet next summer seems like a long way away. You will have your hands full with two new babies!!!

 

[chicken danz]

The slide door to the coop is sticking open and it's a pain the you-know-what every evening. DH is trying to figure out how he can get it to slide down smoothly again. It's made out of some kind of non-vinyl siding and just slides between the wooden coop wall and the wood strips DH put up.
Why don't you try spraying the door and the framework with some silicone spray. It comes in a can and is in the automotive or hardware departments.
FIL's friend dropped by another load of chard. I love watching the hens get so excited about it. They're spoiled and I wouldn't have it any other way! Whenever I go outside, or even if they see me looking out the back door at them, they pace around in front of the gate and talk to me. And yes, I talk back. I even thank them for their eggs most days when I gather them.

Danz- I finally got my NPIP paperwork. I thought it would be more of a form or something but it is just a copy of a paper saying I will be selling eggs/chicks? I am glad you sent me my number because I can't even find it on the paper...
Finally!!! Nothing like government to take their sweet time!


Well I need to get my butt outside but it is cold today!
I'm avoiding that as well. It even feels cold in the house.

I need to get out and get a check mailed to put a deposit on a pyrenees pup for next summer. The breeder emailed me last night to let me know she is already starting a waiting list for her August 2013 litter so I need to hustle on that if I want a pup next summer! Molly will be ten next year so it is really time to start thinking about that. By the time the pup is working Molly will be 11 years old and who knows how much she is going to be up to then. She is still going strong and doing really well. DH kinda balked at the idea of another pup but when I reminded him how old Molly was getting he conceded that we better do it next year. It is hard because she sure doesn't act like a 9 year old giant breed dog! I can't imagine her not around but we won't think about that right now!!

Envious! I really need to find a male soon. I am getting an average of one request a week for pups. I just don't want to breed Cloud for at least another year.
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Yep - it saves me a bit on snake food. Frozen rats and mice are surprisingly expensive at the pet store - plus, I don't really like the way they kill them, which is to just put them in the freezer and wait for them to freeze to death. The way the snake kills them seems a lot more humane to me - they suffocate and go unconscious within about 20 seconds of the snake grabbing them.
Heather, I would gladly keep some mice for you but I have no idea how to do that. I sure as heck don't want to keep them alive. I normally just drown mine and dump them. Even the ducks like eating them. But there are plenty.

I just got notification my red star and white rock chicks will be shipped the 28th. With luck these new birds will be laying by May or so. Maybe by that time I will have some breeding pens set up for the white rocks so I can produce my own layers.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thanks "MaidenWolf" from Missouri. Yes, I am new to chickens. Well, mostly. I helped my grandma with hers when I was a kid and spent summers with her. But as an adult with my own coop, yup, new. About two months new! So I'm on a learning journey for sure. But I love my chickens! What part of Missouri are you from? Sara

Wow you have the same back story as me except I got all my own birds in june of this year. I love my birds too and learn something new almost every day. People on this site are so nice and patient, especially this thread. I am in drexel which is right on the state line of kansas. I right next to miami county kansas. If you know were louisburg cider mill is I am 15 mins south of there.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Chickendanz-- The chicks are all doing great, they are growing and active and just doing great. Wing feathers are begining to come in and I inspect every night to see what colors are coming thru.. I love the mystery but I am an impatient woman.. I am trying to settle down the week old chicks they are pretty hyper and skiddish but they are coming around. The worst is the polish X looking one, I am working on that one it freaks out when my hand comes near. Everyone is adjusted and doing great. Thank you so much. I am glad the hen is taking care of the babies well, what a good momma. These guys just amaze me cause they are all so tiny, I have never had any this tiny. I will take some pics as they develope and post their progress.

 

[checoukan]

danz- I have made a few shows, but never the nationals. The learning is a process that goes on and on. It was good to see my birds compete against the master breeders. I am not a master breeder by any means. Most local type shows, my birds wipe up. So now with that said, I know where to make the improvements to be able to compete against them. Rosecombs are hard to raise, alot of people will get them and
They liked my birds, and were able to point out a couple of things, that I was not seeing. Mike Hughes "REALLY" liked my cockerel. Just loved his type, they said he was perfect. His bird won the entire show, BV,BB, Overall grand of show 1. Dr William Patterson, liked my pullets, except one. He wants me to know start bringing different cockerels to breed to my pullets. At some point he said, you have to bring in other blood. I had not done that yet, so after show season, I plan on bringing in some new blood. Those chicks will be the ones that I will work with, and show, and hopefully compete with the masters. So as being a "Pro" no,

but maybe someday, I can work on my masters.

Josie~~ entries close tonight at midnight. As far as I know waterfowl, does not have to be tested. If you have your NPIP test papers, just send a copy with your entry.
This is the Kansas Classic,
Show Secretary George Robbins, Oskaloosa, Ks.
785-863-2184
Entries for both shows is $4.00, (2$/ bird/ per show)
write your breed and variety, your class
band numbers
Sale cages are 5$ each.
I wish I had an extra entry form. I suppose you could get an entry form of the net. I would call George and leave a message, he will call you back. I think it would be great if you could bring some birds. Usually not that many large waterfowl is there. usually a lot of call ducks. They are so cute, but good heavens they are noisy!!!!!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Heather, I would gladly keep some mice for you but I have no idea how to do that. I sure as heck don't want to keep them alive. I normally just drown mine and dump them. Even the ducks like eating them. But there are plenty.

Thanks for the thought! Yeah, I did think about that when you were catching them by the hundreds but came up with the same difficulties due to distance. As long as the ducks enjoy eating them, they are not going to waste. The two that I caught with my other little trap, I threw to the chooks and they thoroughly enjoyed them.

I checked my traps this morning and....nada. I can hardly believe I only had two mice in the barn too. I only have the expensive, healthy "natural" peanut butter. Maybe I need to buy some of the cheaper, unhealthy stuff

 

[JosieChick]

danz- I have made a few shows, but never the nationals. The learning is a process that goes on and on. It was good to see my birds compete against the master breeders. I am not a master breeder by any means. Most local type shows, my birds wipe up. So now with that said, I know where to make the improvements to be able to compete against them. Rosecombs are hard to raise, alot of people will get them and
They liked my birds, and were able to point out a couple of things, that I was not seeing. Mike Hughes "REALLY" liked my cockerel. Just loved his type, they said he was perfect. His bird won the entire show, BV,BB, Overall grand of show 1. Dr William Patterson, liked my pullets, except one. He wants me to know start bringing different cockerels to breed to my pullets. At some point he said, you have to bring in other blood. I had not done that yet, so after show season, I plan on bringing in some new blood. Those chicks will be the ones that I will work with, and show, and hopefully compete with the masters. So as being a "Pro" no,

but maybe someday, I can work on my masters.

Josie~~ entries close tonight at midnight. As far as I know waterfowl, does not have to be tested. If you have your NPIP test papers, just send a copy with your entry.
This is the Kansas Classic,
Show Secretary George Robbins, Oskaloosa, Ks.
785-863-2184
Entries for both shows is $4.00, (2$/ bird/ per show)
write your breed and variety, your class
band numbers
Sale cages are 5$ each.
I wish I had an extra entry form. I suppose you could get an entry form of the net. I would call George and leave a message, he will call you back. I think it would be great if you could bring some birds. Usually not that many large waterfowl is there. usually a lot of call ducks. They are so cute, but good heavens they are noisy!!!!!!!

Well shoot. I don't know if I can get organized that quickly. I would have to butter up to DH and it might be short notice for him to warm to the idea! Do you guys coop in the night before or morning of? I might get it together and call DH and see what he thinks...

I actually toyed with bringing a couple calls too but they are kind of young still! They are super, duper noisy!

 

[mommahen10]

Michelle, I thought starter/grower was chick feed. That's what mine eat. I got some pics for you. My chicks that age are not staying under their light completely, they have it if they want it. I got some pics of them too.

OMGosh Lori, that's crazy. I don't like coyotes at all, they're scary. I hear them every night and they're so close. I keep hoping my huge barking mutt will keep them away. Right now I'm so mad at that dog. I was hanging out laundry yesterday and he cocked his leg on my clean basket of clothes!!!! He's so lucky he's big and scary looking and serving a purpose, even if I know he's nothing but a fluff ball puppy. My hands have been the worse ever this year, I don't want to shake hands with anyone, don't even want to touch the kids. The wind outside seems to make them worse. They're still dry, but they seem to be healing. I'll keep at it for a few more days. My lanolin is years old, it doesn't even stink so I'm going for it.

Hawkeye, I don't know what kind of breeding would be right for me. I feel like I'm doing fine using all of the birds I'm hatching, they've either been sold for layers or pets or been dinner for us. I just feel like if I'm going to do this maybe I should just be hatching whatever kind of chick I have, they're all mixed and they're still fun. If I'm going to go through the work and the space and the feed if I picked something maybe I could benefit more from them. I just don't know about breeds to know which way to go. I guess maybe something really basic and versatile. I really like the lavender orps, it's the color I think is just so stunning, they make my heart stop but I've never seen them in real life. I love the personality of my EE's, they don't fight me when I try to pick them up. I wonder how they'll be when they're older. I got some buff orpingtons and they're really sweet too, they come up to me and are quite social. Maybe I don't want to breed according to a standard other than usefulness. Eggs are important, and meat is important. Pretty is fun, character is entertaining. I do have lots more room to grow and I've never seen my dh be so productive in building things for me so that's good too.

Hi Sarajoy, I don't know where Dennis is but I'm also in SE Kansas, Humboldt.

Chickies-duckies, my ds just told me he knew there were cougars and my dh said that years ago they killed his bird dogs. That's so scary. I didn't even know about the alligator but it seems my ds knew that too. I'm so out of the loop.

That sounds like a good idea Danz. I don't even know what those breeds are. I'm going to talk to my husband about that. Are these pricey birds? Hyper, meaning????? just hyper? Are they easily spooked? Will they be social and fun? I remember doing punnet squares in school but I don't actually remember it if that makes sense. I'm sure I could learn it again because it's interesting. Now that we talk about it, I think I'd rather start at the beginning rather than taking over what someone else already started. I like learning, and I could really use it as a tool with the kids. I have time too. I just don't have a goal and I don't know what is desired. Where'd you order your chicks from? I don't want to show birds, that wouldn't be me.

Hi Cherwill!!!

Josie, it sounds like you know how to do this breeding stuff too. I have to admit I had a hard time following it. I should go take pics of my black hens, they're so big too. I can't help but think that these two may have our barred rock as a mom, their shape looks like her but their coloring doesn't. It's not like I know who came from whom, they're all in the same pen.

I'm going to go look through my pics now but I will post this before I lose it.