Consolidated Kansas

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

The way the selling-on-zazzle thing works is: they offer a variety of products that are blank, and I can add my own graphics and text to them, then post them for sale. Anything that sells, I get a royalty on. It's not hard for me, but then again, I've been doing it for a while. I honestly couldn't say what the learning curve would be like after this long. x_x

I have over 13,000 products on Zazzle alone. It's the bulk source of my income and has been for three years now. :3

Who "handles" the items, (stock, print, ship)?

Your mug has some very pretty chickens on it. Nice work.

 

[PrairieChickens]

Zazzle handles all the production, shipping, dealing with the customers, etc. I don't even have to fuss with the website--they do that too. It's been a real godsend for me, because it would have been impossible for me to do what I do if I had to handle everything myself.

 

[HEChicken]

Even in the warmer months I'm only getting 15 tops eggs per day with about 30 older hens. I know I sold a few, but it shouldn't have dropped me this much. I only got 5 eggs today. I agree about the time of year but it wasn't so good at the good time of year either. People are asking for eggs, I got 3 new contacts in the last 2 days and I'm turning people away because I don't have them. .....Are you buying egg cartons? I was looking at them online today. I can't seem to keep enough of them around.

15 eggs from 30 hens really sounds about right. Not every hen will lay every day, especially if they are older hens. I feel your pain on only collecting 5 eggs. I've been down to 1-2 per day for weeks now and I'm feeding 50+ birds!!!! Now out of those 50, the 6 ducks and 2 turkeys I wasn't expecting to lay until spring. And then I have 22 juveniles, some of which are cockerels. And I've never expected Cyrus to lay many eggs. So out of the 50 I actually only have 14 hens of laying age but still.....1-2 per day is kind of pathetic.

I wish you lived closer and I would happily gift you some egg cartons. I literally have mountains of them! When I first started selling eggs, I was worried about running out so I set a pricing system that is 25c less if the customer brings me one carton for every carton of eggs they buy. And, my friends all started saving me their egg cartons. And, I answered a couple of ads on freecycle and got several bags of egg cartons. Now its kind of ridiculous because I'll go to see friends and they'll send me home with 3-4 more egg cartons. We have a running joke around here that goes something like "Oh, thank goodness, **** gave me a couple of egg cartons today - now we don't have to worry about running out". DH tells me I should just tell these people to STOP saving me cartons but they think they're doing me a favor so I can't bring myself to do it. I will say though that it is getting harder and harder to say "thank you" with any kind of excitement. Anyway, if you're ever down this way, please allow me to share the pain egg cartons with you

I have an attitude today. DH did the yard cleanup thing at one of our bigger houses while I stayed home and cleaned house. I'm aggravated because we should have been done with yards last week but of course things don't work right and the leaf sucker has to be worked on and ... one thing after another. We've been using the fireplace which makes our dirty house dirtier faster. I know I'm always behind during mowing/leaf season, but I couldn't stand it. Papers were strung out all over the office, which is also full of chairs so that there's no moving around without moving chairs around. I just felt like everywhere I looked there was too much stuff and I had to move and clean around it all, and it's all covered in dirt. My rational mind was nowhere in sight today!

I don't even have to work hard to picture this - any flat surface in our house is apparently nothing more than an invitation for the next person walking through the room to dump something on it. Sigh. Paperwork seems to multiply out of control. I have gone paperless on most of my bills and statements to try to cut down on it but it didn't seem to make much difference.

Okay, so I am so new to turkeys still that I'm hoping someone can explain this behavior. I mentioned a few days ago that every time Ned tries to display for me, Madge runs over and shuts him down. I mean, jumps on him and pecks him - whatever it takes to get him to stop. This morning she was on the wrong side of the fence so Ned started gobbling and displaying and I didn't open the gate to let her back in so I could just enjoy the sight. However as the minutes passed, she got more and more anxious, pacing back and forth looking for a way in, so eventually I took pity on her and let her in, expecting her to run over and shut him down again. Instead, she walked over and started displaying herself! I mean, full-on fan-tail, head-tucked-into-neck displaying. They both started vocalizing like crazy as they walked this circle around each other - really like a dance. So that went on for several minutes and I stood watching and wishing I had my camera with me. But then the fighting started. They were going at it like two tom turkeys, jumping in the air, trying to get feet onto the chest of the other, over and over. The whole time their tails were still fanned and the feathers ruffled up all over them and they continued to vocalize.

Here's my theory for what was happening and please tell me if I'm wrong or close. Madge has always been dominant over Ned. So the reason she was shutting down his displays is to assert dominance. The fighting this morning was because instead of backing down this time, Ned is trying to establish his role as tom turkey (and therefore his dominance over the female). Once the fighting ended, they went back to displaying but this time walked very slowly, side-by-side, down the yard. Ned seemed to be controlling the direction, because if Madge tried to turn away, he would nudge her gently back the way he wanted to go. Eventually they disappeared around the corner of the coop and I couldn't see them any more so I don't know how that ended. Ned is about a month younger, and when I first got them, Madge was larger. He is much bigger than she is now and I think the hormones are starting to kick in and he's realizing he should be dominant over her and start acting like a tom.What do you all think?

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Have you considered adding beet pulp to your poultry feed?

http://www.livestrong.com/article/550599-beet-pulp-vs-rice-bran-for-weight-gain/

http://jcsp.org.pk/index.php/jcsp/article/viewFile/516/215

 

[HEChicken]

Have you considered adding beet pulp to your poultry feed?

http://www.livestrong.com/article/550599-beet-pulp-vs-rice-bran-for-weight-gain/

http://jcsp.org.pk/index.php/jcsp/article/viewFile/516/215

I haven't looked at those articles yet but I will when I get a chance. A friend of mine feeds it to a horse who is old and needed to put on some weight so I could probably borrow a small quantity from her to see if the poultry would be interested, before purchasing a 50-lb bag. I'll be curious to see what the articles say....

 

[HEChicken]

I decided I better read them while the links were still on the current page.....I think I'm going to beg a cup of beet pulp from my friend and try it out - they did mention poultry in the article. However other people have fed alfalfa to their flock and mine weren't interested in it either, even when I soaked the cubes in liquid to make it easier for them so....I don't want to buy 50lb only to have them turn their little beaks up at it.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

I decided I better read them while the links were still on the current page.....I think I'm going to beg a cup of beet pulp from my friend and try it out - they did mention poultry in the article. However other people have fed alfalfa to their flock and mine weren't interested in it either, even when I soaked the cubes in liquid to make it easier for them so....I don't want to buy 50lb only to have them turn their little beaks up at it.

I gave what was left over when I sold the sheep to the poultry. They did turn their beaks up at it. Then, I soaked it (it soaks up a huge amount of water) and mixed it with their feed and they ate it that way. If I get some of the FF feed going, I will add some to that since it is soaking anyway. I do the alfalfa pellets the same way. Soak and mix with their feed. It also soaks up a large amount of water. With the pasture not so green now, I need to get more alfalfa pellets and get a routine going with them.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

HEChicken,

I'm new to turkeys also. Mine hatched 3rd week of July, when the Jakes start to display our Jenny takes off the opposite direction and tries to make herself as small as possible, she keeps her head down and acts like she is eating but she mostly pecks around watching them and staying low and away. They are very entertaining. We LOVE watching them.

We thought only one was Jake for a long time, then one started displaying and acting like a guy. He acted like the other girl then poof he was the dominate Jake. My Jakes are very easy to tell apart because one has a white patch on his chest. Our jakes display, stomp and make spit sounds and they are attempting to do something with each others necks but they don't seem to have that skill mastered yet. I use it as a treat.

When they want to roost in the late afternoon they start yelling and if I don't go out they fly over the fence and come up to the house and make a lot of noise, I walk out to the barn and open the people door and they run in to roost, this happened at 4:30 yesterday. I'm not sure why they want to go to roost so early, is that common? The chickens are still out and don't go in for a while. I've got one teenager and 2 in their early 20's, the concept of begging to go to bed early is strange. Hahaha


Sprouting- someone asked and we were having Internet troubles, sorry I forgot to respond. I pour grain in a clean plastic cat litter pan that has small holes drilled in it, there is another clean cat litter pan without holes under it to catch the water. I rinse the grain well, and let it soak for a few hours, let it absorb water, then drain it off, then I rinse the grain well a couple times daily, when the grain begins to sprout I feed it to the chickens and turkey. Some people continue to do this for a week and it will grow and grow and wheat for example will grow 2 or 3 inches tall and pretty green. Usually after it sprouts some I feed it to my birds, I don't wait until it's green. Mine don't really like to eat the green most of the time, so I feed it before it gets what I call green carpet look. In the middle of winter and they are spending alot of time in the coop, I've let it grow more green and they'll eat some of the green. Dry grains are dormant, when grain gets water they swell and wake up and then sprout, they don't need soil to sprout. If they are left in water they will mold, so let the grain absorb the water they need, then drain off the rest of the water.

The local Coops sell grains by the bushel or pound. Just ask for 25lbs of wheat in a sack. If they aren't busy loading train rail cars they'll sack some. If they're busy, you can leave an order and pick up later.

I might try some fermenting next Spring....maybe if I have time. This is a hobby for me, it's my fun daily escape from customers and paper work. I like to keep things simple and easy.

 

[chicken danz]

Josie, I hope the turkeys all get along. I sure don't want them fighting. It seems the girls are the ones battling it out right now. I'll bet that changes in breeding season.
Are you going to go back to work in that place where your friends works close to the vet clinic?
I can't even imagine what pent up energy she has. I am dreading when Cloud goes into season and I have to pen her. It will not be a fun time for anyone.

I am thinking this a combination of hormones getting active and a challenge for dominance.
Where do you buy beet pulp? Is it a powder or cubes?
The alfalfa didn't work for me at all. I tried everything and the chickens wouldn't touch it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kansas Prairie

I really want to try sprouting this way. Do you have yours in a really warm spot or about what temp is it?

 

[HEChicken]

Where do you buy beet pulp? Is it a powder or cubes?
The alfalfa didn't work for me at all. I tried everything and the chickens wouldn't touch it.

That was my experience with the alfalfa too - I soaked and mixed with feed and I can't even remember what else - they just wouldn't touch it.

You can buy beet pulp at the feed store - it comes in a 50lb sack but perhaps smaller quantities as well - I dunno - 50lb is all I've ever seen. It isn't cubed but not exactly a powder either. Kind of like if you can imagine taking straw and cutting it up into tiny little pieces - 1/2" long each or so. It is dry though so I can certainly see where it would absorb the moisture.