Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Hey guys! I made it home for Thanksgiving. I had a terrible time getting out of there because of a Doctor taking an attitude about releasing me without an "official" diagnosis. The test results won't be back until next week so he made a big deal and I had to wait until 2:00 for him to finally decide he would let me go. The specialist who did the test was very upbeat and thought I'd had a run in with ischemic (sp?) colitis due to the flu. The hospital doctor made a big fuss about all the horrible things it "could" be and warned me that I did not have anything near a "mild" case, blah, blah, blah. What a buzz kill he was! LOL! Anyway, I think the specialist knows better than Dr. Downer and am not worried about it. Just thankful to be home with my family. Happy, happy Thanksgiving everybody! I can't wait to get all caught up on what's going on with you guys. My eyes are still sensitive to light and it's not real comfortable to read but I'll catch up as my eyes allow.

Karen, so glad you made it home and hope for a speedy recovery!

Thanks, that's very helpful! I'm going to read that through and decide what to do about egg withdrawal. I only got 8 eggs today, so maybe it's not such a big deal. Still it bothers me to throw eggs away. Hmmm.

Karen, I bet it's great to be home. Now you can really get some rest!

My turkey needs to spend some time in the sink in an ice bath, it's not thawed enough for me. I'll put it back in the fridge before I go to bed.

I cook the eggs and feed them to the dogs during the withdraw. With five dogs and the big working dog outside they love the treat and a little ivermectin isn't going to hurt them unless you plan on eating the dog!!!

KarenS, I'm so glad to see you back, take it easy & let everybody else wait on you!
Just as I was putting my birds up for the night this evening I was in the coop giving them their BOSS & heard a chicken squawk outside & saw Jasmine chasing her. I hit the shock collar all the way up & that dog yelped & jumped clear off the ground. I can't remember if I told you all this or not, but if I did forgive me, I'm still recovering from vacation. Anyway, she slunk off away from the coop & I was able to go round up the hen she was after. It was my Buff Orpington & she is bad about hanging around outside when everyone else is already in for the night. I'm so glad I caught that dog in the act & showed her what the cost of chasing a chicken is. She is going to have that repeated until she learns to leave ALL of my birds alone.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Naughty dog!

Hang in there Danz! Cute picture
Hawkeye enjoy the parade!

Vent Post.. They brought home a deer, what timing... taking a deep breath, smile, continue on, cooking Thanksgiving dinner while butchering a deer, I'm not as young as I use to be...
I'm thankful, I'm thankful reminding myself.... I'm thankful & blessed. My main light went out in the kitchen, the type of fixture takes two people and ladders to change the bulbs, hopefully it's not the ballast... oh the timing... Laugh or cry... laughing so far... time to continue on!

Wow, you are busy! Turkey day and a deer!!! And then the light!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
We are doing things easy style. I am still cooking, but taking my time and we will eat at 5 ish.... It will just be my kids, my dad and I this year at his house so that he can be comfortable. We are thankful for each year we have with him Taking dinner to a friend whose mom is on the ICU and delivering cookies and pumpkin bread to some others. Just time to enjoy being together . Sera has been so excited about cooking and stuffing her turkey I am not going to stress over perfection. It is what it is- and it is all good My kids health is fairly good, we have good to eat and time to share. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Danz, Prairie, I am sure everyone will live all of your efforts, and if not..... Just laugh No need to cry We are all thankful for all you do here on Consolidated Kansas! Butchering a deer?? Hats of to you girl!! I squirmed pulling out giblets!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like having dinner later in the day too. We always eat at one and it is weird to me to eat that much food at lunch time.

I'm about 3 days behind on reading, I'm sure you have all been very busy too. I didn't even lay down last night until 1:00am and I had to get back up to take pies out at 1:30am and put the ham and turkey in and do a cook/hold setting because I didn't want to get back up until I had to.


That's just what I was looking for Danz, THANKS. I will keep it handy now. I don't know what BOSS is. I feed the chickens tons of scraps too. The night before last I boiled all of the sweet potato peels for them, there is almost always something I can give them. I don't have their light on yet, that's on my to do list. Are thost cookie sheets the ones that are the same size as the oven rack? I know that the holidays are a special time and all but do you ever think about why we do some of the things we do? I mean, why do we cook more food than what we could possibly eat only to be tired and cranky? Seriously, isn't a sandwich with family special too? Why do we have holidays that are hard to do anyway? Some things us people do are just as silly as the turkeys. For instance, my dd said she's going to not have decorations at her wedding reception because she's going to tell everyone that she took them down so that no one will have to work that hard to take them all back down. We put it all up, we take it all down, we cook it and throw too much away, we clean the house and answer the door with a smile. I just think it would be so much more fun for any day to be a special day, it doesn't have to be a holiday and it doesn't have to be huge to be nice either. Every year, the same thoughts, and every year I do it again.

I just spent two hours looking through adds to see if anyone had anything remarkable for sale, I had wanted to buy this new washer but the pre-Christmas adds said it would be an additional $100 off on Black Friday. That was not the case. Sure glad I didn't get up just with the intent of trying to buy at a bargain. There is no amount of money that would tempt me to go shop in those crowds today!!! I'm very happy to sit at home and semi -relax.
Yesterday went well and the weather was much nicer than I expected. My little two year old granddaughter had a great time playing outside but her most excitement was getting a couple peacock feathers of her own which she used to tickle her pesky uncle Cody with.
Her Mom took a huge handful to decorate with. I didn't think she'd take so many but I have plenty. It actually kind of thrills me because she is one of those very picky expensive tastes kind of people and just the idea that she was thrilled to get a product of the farm thrills me.
Sounds like the weather is going to be the pits. I need to get out and get some heated water bowls rigged up. I forgot to shut the windows on the brooder house last night and I was afraid I was going to lose chicks because of it. I lost one buff laced brahma chick. It hadn't been acting real healthy any way. Not sure what was wrong with it. I've had totally lousy luck with those birds from hatching to now. They just aren't healthy. The worst part is I was dumb enough to pay the money to give the breeder a second try. So I wasted about a $100 on this breeder. Live and learn.
I virtually didn't have much in the way of leftovers. My oldest son and his wife took gobs so there wasn't enough turkey left for another meal. I have dressing, pecan pie, and a couple other things left.
My brined turkey turned out really well. Very moist. I'll bet it would have been even better if I'd had a few more hours to soak it. I guess that will be a new tradition for cooking turkey.
My Dad joined us and seemed to really eat well. I was very happy about that.
I still have dishes to get washed even though it seems I washed dishes for 2 days straight. But I plan to try to relax some today and enjoy the peace and quiet. I am thankful for family but today I am more thankful for an empty house!

Sounds like a fun day! It is cold today, I was surprised, I thought it was going to be pretty nice today.

I have finally got my internet back and was 200 posts behind so I hope there wasnt anything of importance I have missed if so PLEASE someone clue me in lol.
I lost both my turkey hens on the 20th. We went out to find that the turkeys were out of their pen, and the boys were the only ones around. We searched and called and found nothing. I started seeing little piles of feathers here and there but thought nothing of it. The neighbor acrossed the creek came by asking if I was missing any turkey, I am the only person around this immediate area with turkey. I felt relieved at first and she said " well something dropped a headless white and black turkey in my drive" I sank. My dd and I were the only ones home and that was her turkey. Everyone in the family picked out and indiviualy cares for their turkey and they all are like dogs, they will follow the kids to the bus stop and when they come home they wait at the top of the drive for them. It destroyed my daughter, she decided to go to pick Storm up from the neighbors house though, she said " I have to go get my turkey" I started balling, she is so strong and brave and didnt shed a tear, just helped. When we got home I noticed a pile of black feathers and followed it to the edge of the woods iin the other neighbors yard were I found my ds's black spanish hen laying headless. I called and told him, he is 14 and he said " mom I wish you were here cause I hurt" That killed me. These birds were special and it hurts. We burried them and start looking for signs of what it was. I decided to sit up and wait for the thing and found it is a opossum. It is HUGE, it is eating well. I know it comes up and cleans up around were my feeder sits in the daytime and anywhere else that I put scratch out. I didnt think it could run off with a turkey. The hens were found about 7 acres or more apart. I am horrified.. I need tips on detering them, does anyone have any ideas?

Storm, RIP


Spirit, RIP

Oh so sorry! How tragic. Turkeys are so sweet, I am surprised an possum would mess with a turkey, they are pretty strong. Do you have dogs? Dogs are a good deterrent if you can leave them out to chase predators away. We ran hotwire around our pens and that has helped a lot with predators too. We have three strands, one about 6 inches off the ground, one about 18 inches and then one at the top of the fence so you would have a heck of a time climbing or jumping the fence without a good zap. Sorry to your kiddos, that is tough.


Well we had a nice day yesterday. Lots of good food and a nice walk outside after dinner. On the way down to DH's parents house the baby was kicking up a storm! I thought I had felt it before once or twice but this time it went on for several minutes so I knew for sure that is what it was! Very exciting.

We need to get the car registered today and run a bunch of errands. I think we are going to scope out washer and dryers sometime this weekend for the new house since the stackable unit here will probably have to stay. Its just as well because they are older units and probably won't run for much longer. Stay warm everyone!

 

[mommahen10]

Danz, sounds like you had a nice Thanksgiving. We don't have all that much food left over either. My dd and her dh filled some to-go plates, I'd really wanted them to take all they could eat because they're both going to school and she's working 2 jobs. I know they need it. I also told my other dd's fiance to take a to-go plate. We have enough for a couple of days still on what's cooked and then I'll be cooking again. I'm going to take today to get some things on eBay and tomorrow we are going to my parents' house.

Thanks for clarifying BOSS Josie, I would never have guessed that. It's the most exciting thing ever when baby starts moving. Now you'll start to notice patterns when baby moves, mine usually got busy after eating or as soon as I laid down at night.

Maidenwolf, I can't tell you how sad I am about your losses. Your kids are awesome, I'm so sorry they are having to deal with this too. I hope you got him last night.

I heard that the weather is supposed to get cold again, I'm asking for the supplies for the watering system for Christmas. I should be able to do the ordering in a week so we will have to wait for a good break in the weather to put everything together. I sure hope it works. Prince Toby (lavender orp roo) doesn't realize he's about to inherit his kingdom. His coop is so close to being done I'm really anxious. My dh took a shed on the property that wasn't being used, he divided it so we can still put a calf on the other side but his side has paneling over the all of the walls except for the south wall, that's just where we ran out. Next the nesting boxes will be put up, we bought some on craigslist a while back. Then a roost and we still haven't decided on what to use for the door but we will take a door off of an inside room of the barn for now. The fence posts are already done and some of the fencing is up. He spent some time with his girls again but when I see them in the corner outside I take them out. I don't think he will do that once they're in their coop, and there will be enough room for them to find another corner to go to if he's feeling bossy. He's so pretty, and he comes to see me when I go check on him. I can't wait to give him his big coop.

The turkeys are doing great, they do some serious displaying when I come out. I can't imagine them hurting anyone ever. My mil was adamant not to turn my back on them because "you never know what they'll do". The kids were in the layer coop and crowing to Daniel the big black roo and he crows back and we've played like this forever, we've had him for a few years now, she gave me a lecture I tell you. She said that it is challenging him and it'll make him aggressive. He has never behaved aggressively to anyone ever. Come to find out, she was thinking about when my dh was little and she said that he was always crowing at them and chasing them and one day the roo attacked him. It just seems different to me, our kids just stand there and crow and wait for him to crow back, it just seems like they are playing. Should I be worried?

My youngest chicks will be a week tomorrow. The one that had the hardest time and we kept him/her separate from the others for a little bit is so darned precious! I moved them outside earlier than usual because I needed to because of Thanksgiving. Well, everytime I go out there the others run away to get away from us and this little chick just walks right up to me, every single time. It's just fearless and so sweet. It's way tinier than the others too. Last night I had to carry it around with me for a while and I brought it back into the house until we were done playing. I look at it and I think don't get attached because it's so tiny and will probably get hurt at some point, but geez, how do I not? I think this one needs a name.

 

[chicken danz]

Maidenewolf that really sounds more like an owl or maybe a raccoon than a possum. A possum will kill a bird and eat it's insides in place. A coon or an owl will both dehead a bird and carry it off. An as heavy as a turkey is it would have to be powerful.
Very sad. Many of us hope to be raising turkeys next spring so maybe someone will have some for you.
Josie that is so exciting. I love that initial flutter babies do....which turns into a downright hard kick when they grow more....especially when they are doing trampoline jumps on your bladder!!!

I realized yesterday I have to start thinking about Christmas gifts. I am not at all in the state of mind to buy gifts. Too bad my family isn't chicken people...it would be easy for me then.
So far today I've done nothing ...I haven't even gotten dressed. It feels good to relax. I know that I've got to get out and get to work but I honestly could use a vacation from chicken chores.

 

[mommahen10]

Danz, she saw the opossum and said it was big and black. I don't get it either. My neighbor just lost a duck yesterday to an owl. He said he saw it in the pen and the duck was beheaded, duck was about 8 weeks old.

 

[checoukan]

I hope everyone is resting from yesterday. We are not having Thanksgiving until in the morning. Ivy could not get here until today, so we just put dinner off. Does not matter what day it is just as long as you can get together.

So sorry about the turkey's. Does sound like a coon or a possum. Usually the possum kills and eats right there, they really are not big enough to carry a bird unless it is a small one. possums are pretty close to the ground, and I think it would be almost impossible for them to drag one. Coons are built higher of the ground, but a full size bird, it would be hard for them. Now, an owl, yeah they could do it., and with the turkey in the driveway, kinda sounds like the killer to me over the other two. Not saying it was, just looking and he size of the turkeys.

Took my baby legbars and put them in the barn out side. I think they will be just fine. Really growing nice. Have to males, and one female, want to find some more eggs to hatch, may turn my attention to them and help them get accepted into the APA. That is going to take about 5 years, and I would like to contribute to the development of the standard for them.

Has one lone silky chick hatch two days ago, they were from shipped eggs. Really hada rough ride. 4 the air cells were displaced, and two developed, but one died at lock down, and one hatched, so at least I did not get skunked. Stink pot is really raising a ruckus in there right now. Guess I better go get a ceramic chicken and put in the box with it!!

Oh, I remember those first faint flutters of the baby moving!! Oh, My sure brought back some memories. There is nothing like it, when you finally realize you have a living being inside of you!! Such special times, Cherish them all!!!!!

Quiet chillyout, and I think I may go hunting. Ivy and I older sister and our dad have been here with me, they left to go over to Ivy's. Dad wants to see her house. He is 85, and it really takes a lot out of him to travel anymore. I don't think he will ever be down here again. He has not seen Ivy in a couple of years, I imagine this trip will be the last time they ever see each other. Ivy has always had some hard feelings towards mom and dad, and she just stays away from them, well, now from dad.
Everyone have a great weekend, Just think CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!!! I am so excited, I love CHRISTMAS!!

 

[Trish44]

Wow this week has just been a blur since we got back Monday night, I'm still trying to get back on our time & we're both kind of confused about what day it is. I spent the afternoon at Sunflowerparrot's place yesterday afternoon, she so graciously invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner since I was alone with my DH being gone to Missouri. We had some of her fresh roasted chickens that she raised, yum they were good! I made some pumpkin bars for dessert with my big pumpkin I roasted the day before, they were really yummy too! I have bunches left over I will have to freeze some for later. I will just freeze the remaining pumpkin & keep it for later on too. My chickens had a feast on the pulp & seeds I pulled out of the pumpkin & some older apples I chopped up for them. My hens are really kicking in with the laying again since I got back so that's a good thing. Sunflowerparrot collected quite a few of my eggs while I was gone & is incubating them, just barnyard mixes since they come from my general laying flock. We candled the eggs yesterday at day 7 & all but one egg was developing out of 22 eggs. I have a Black Copper Marans rooster & a Speckled Sussex rooster in with them, so they will be various mixes from that. I have a pretty diverse bunch of laying hens of all kinds so it should be interesting to see what hatches out.

I'm sorry to hear about the predator problems, it seems like the owls have been really bad lately with them getting chickens & Sunflowerparrot has been losing guineas to them. It almost sounds more like a raccoon than a possum since they didn't eat out the insides of the bird. The possums will just gut the bird right where they kill them & leave the carcass, I have seen that with them here. The best way to keep those critters from getting your chickens is to have them shut up at night in a very secure building where they can't get in. You would be surprised about how small of an opening those critters can squeeze through. I had them go right through chain link fence. You wouldn't think they could get through that small of an opening but they can.

Checoukan, that's exciting that you want to help get the Cream Legbars recognized here as a breed. I have them, but probably won't get involved that much with them because I have other breeding projects going on here too. I really don't want to take on another one right now.

Danz, I was looking at my Swedish Flower Hens yesterday & it looks like I have some more roosters than I thought I did. I may have a couple of crested ones too besides the non-crested. I really didn't want to keep crested roos so I'll probably try to sell those. I have one non-crested rooster that will be my main one for breeding, he's just turning out gorgeous! I'm going to keep one as a backup just in case, you never know. So anyway, I don't have as many hens as I thought I did, I think I at least have one crested & two non-crested out there, so I still have enough to start out with for breeding. I hope my DH gets busy working on that breeder coop now & gets it done. I really need to move some birds, but I can't until he gets that done. I'm getting a new Salmon Faverolle roo before long & a pair of wheaten Amerauacanas from Josie, so those will replace what I lost awhile back so I'll be back on track for my breeding stock for next year. I can't wait to get them all separated into their own pens.

I went last night to Walmart for the 8:00 sale, it was nuts in there, but I did get some nice things for the girls for Christmas so I got some of that shopping done. We're doing some other shopping online, so it won't be that much more we have to do other than when my son makes up his mind about the shoes he wants. We did bring some things back from Hawaii for Christmas gifts too, so we're not in bad shape for Christmas shopping. I'm one of those people who likes to do shopping early & have it over with, not a last minute shopper except for maybe stocking stuff.

It's chilly outside here today, the wind kind of cuts right through you, if it wasn't for that it wouldn't be too bad. It didn't make me want to be outside too much today, I kind of did what I had to for my birds & came in. I have a mountain of laundry I'm still working on here from being gone, it will take me awhile to get through all of it. I don't put much in the dryer, so it takes awhile for each load to dry from just hanging them up in the laundry room. I have a rod across the room where I hang clothes to dry, so it just has to go in stages. Oh well, it will get done eventually. Everyone have a great day, hope you all are recovering from eating too much yesterday!

 

[mommahen10]

Sounds like you had a full day too Trish. I think the laundry math is greater than the chicken math. Wish it were the other way around. I'm on the laundry hard today too, it seems I got behind with all of the HOOPLAH.

Speaking of predators, in the new coop my dh has been working on. There is a few inches of space where the wall and roof meet. I thought it was kinda good for ventilation. Are there predators that could get through up high? It's not even a straight open space, the roof overhangs lower than the wall itself but I can stick my hand through if I reach from the bottom up and over so it's a angled little area. It would probably be easier to do something about that now before they move in.

 

[sharol]

I think I would figure out a way to put some hardware cloth over the opening. Predators are very persistent. You are sure right about it being easier now.

Sharol

Speaking of predators, in the new coop my dh has been working on. There is a few inches of space where the wall and roof meet. I thought it was kinda good for ventilation. Are there predators that could get through up high? It's not even a straight open space, the roof overhangs lower than the wall itself but I can stick my hand through if I reach from the bottom up and over so it's a angled little area. It would probably be easier to do something about that now before they move in.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Maidenwolf, I can't tell you how sad I am about your losses. Your kids are awesome, I'm so sorry they are having to deal with this too. I hope you got him last night.


The turkeys are doing great, they do some serious displaying when I come out. I can't imagine them hurting anyone ever. My mil was adamant not to turn my back on them because "you never know what they'll do". The kids were in the layer coop and crowing to Daniel the big black roo and he crows back and we've played like this forever, we've had him for a few years now, she gave me a lecture I tell you. She said that it is challenging him and it'll make him aggressive. He has never behaved aggressively to anyone ever. Come to find out, she was thinking about when my dh was little and she said that he was always crowing at them and chasing them and one day the roo attacked him. It just seems different to me, our kids just stand there and crow and wait for him to crow back, it just seems like they are playing. Should I be worried?

No luck last night. I am not giving up though.
You have nothing to worry about with the roosters or with the turkey. They will not hurt you. The reason your dh was attacked as a child is because he was chasing them. They will only take so much until they will finally let you know they are thru being teased. With your kids just crowing at them you have no worries. A crow is not only for dominance but also for a "hey I am over here".


With the turkey issue,,, the turkey shelter was not finished so the door was a heavy piece or a deck bottom propped up by a 2x4 and the bottom part was pushed open that morning. That is how whatever it was got my girls. That sounded raccoon to me too. I dont think an owl could push it open. There were tufts of feathers scattered about here and there in all kinds of places. There were some of the hens feathers off near the one found by the woods too. I know the opossum is the one coming up and cleaning up spilt feed and any scratch not recovered by the chickens, but you all are right I did not see him take my hens so I can not say. But thinking on it I dont think the opossum could have opened that pen either. Just weird how far apart they were and the fact that feathers were found by her that belonged to the white one found in the neighbors driveway. She said she thought it was coons because she has been fighting coons off for years and they come up on her back deck all the time. At the neighbors house when I pulled up it looked like it had just snowed, Storms feathers were everywhere, from the street all the way back to her garage door was an explosion of feathers.It looked like it just mysteriously came from the road and beat her all the heck all the way to the garage door which is about 5 feet from her back deck. I still dont get it. I am thinking raccoon now. But how far apart they were found and the evidence with Storm, do you think there may have been multiple predators happening here? I still dont like the opossum that close to my coop even if he hasnt done anything. All the other birds have sound buildings that they are always shut up in everynight and I have moved my turkeys back to the main coop until I finish the turkey pen.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Nope HEChicken, I wouldn't expect too many eggs from Cyrus either. I'd love to have your overflow of egg cartons, it sounds like you got an efficient system going though. Those are good ideas. How did you hold up with your cooking? That's so funny about Madge and Ned, I'm still trying to figure out the turkeys too. They are so fun to watch. I don't know what it all means but I think it means something. Hopefully they had some type of a break through and they will live happily ever after. Casper and Colt were displaying like crazy for me today, it's so cool to watch them. That hangy down thing turns all dark red but then after a while it turns blue, I don't know what it means. Then Casper does this stomp and hiss/spit sound and I have no clue what he's doing but he's so serious. He's just walks like he's trying to get attention and that's exactly what he gets.

I am so glad you are enjoying those boys, arent they great? The hangy down thing you refer to is their snood the color changes with their moods and lets the others know if he is angry or if he is just showing off. When they stomp towards you all puffed up and spit following that will be a drum you can hear it and feel it when they do it if they are close to you. This is showing off and letting you know how big they are. This is away for them to get girls or defend territory. Kind of like a " Look I am this big and tough"