Consolidated Kansas

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

mammahen ~ I think it was you asking about using the feed bags as tarps? I have used them for tarps and they do degrade in the sun. The worst with the ones I have used is the flim of color separates from the base bag and then the little pieces blow around to be picked up. The white base lasts a lot longer with the only problem I have encountered is sometimes a bird starts working on the edge and unraveling it. But, yes it works, is somewhat temporary, they are water proof. Just know they will need to be watched for a problem and replaced when necessary. Hey, they are free!!!

 

[chicken danz]

I am behind again! Checoukan that is a great looking buck. My dogs brought home a head the other day and I cut the antlers off with a grinder. The head was kind of nasty. That was the first time i have gotten one of the dogs to play keep away with me. Fluff was grabbing the head from my hands and trying to take off with it. We had some fun out there. He came home from his morning jog with his legs covered in blood. Apparently someone has been field dressing again. I could reassemble a couple of dear skeletons with the bones laying in my yard they have brought home.
I lost two more ducks. I didn't notice the heat lamp wasn't on in the daylight. Apparently the extension cord had somehow come unplugged about 40 feet away. It makes me sick. I lost about $50 right there. I hope my buyer will still come for the ducks I have left.
No Trish I don't hatch year round. I only hatched these cause they ducks were laying and my buyer said he would take another 50 to 100 more. I should have hatched several more I guess. I normally stop in the summer when it is hot and I probably won't hatch any more until February or so. They have a period in winter where they aren't fertile.
BTW, when I went down to get those white peachicks I bought the 4th one. He only had 4 of them left. I may end up with 3 boys and 1 girl out of that bunch. They are just too young to tell for sure right now. I'm just watching to see if they start displaying or anything. I thought about putting one of my younger India blue girls in with them. But they might lay this year so I would hate to miss that. I will be selling the extra boys next spring if you are interested in one.
Mammahen when teflon reaches a certain temperature it emits several toxic gases that kill birds. Years ago I saw a demonstration where water was brought to a hard boil in a teflon skillet and then we tasted it. It was bitter and nasty and burnt my throat. I have hated using teflon ever since then.
Sunflower I would watch the eggs with the hygrometer laying on it. If it starts to pip I would just quickly reach in and take it out. If you have a spray bottle, put very warm water in it and spray the eggs while you have it open. DON'T get any water in the pips or you could drown the chicks.
I have 3 very pretty little Olandsk in my kitchen. My daughter had them sent to me for my Christmas present. I am tickled pink. I'm not sure where I am going to put them right now. I want to give them a few days to acclimate and make sure they are doing well. Then I can put them in the pen with the others. But in the meantime I am sunk. I also have eggs that come out of the incubator today. I haven't checked them yet to see if they developed. I spent so much money for them I don't want to know until I get ready to hatch.

 

[pikeman94]

Good Morning everyone!

I wanted to get some opinions on this idea I got from another local chicken raiser.

This individual uses wood fuel pellets broken down combined with DE/Clay (stall dry?) as her bedding. Any opinions on this? I know that pine shaves aren't cutting it in terms of ease of daily maintenance on the coop.

 

[lizzyGSR]

mammahen ~ I think it was you asking about using the feed bags as tarps? I have used them for tarps and they do degrade in the sun. The worst with the ones I have used is the flim of color separates from the base bag and then the little pieces blow around to be picked up. The white base lasts a lot longer with the only problem I have encountered is sometimes a bird starts working on the edge and unraveling it. But, yes it works, is somewhat temporary, they are water proof. Just know they will need to be watched for a problem and replaced when necessary. Hey, they are free!!!

Feed bags as tarps... Hmmm... that is a really good idea, and I happen to have a whole pile of feed bags just waiting to be used. Thanks for the idea!

 

[michelleml]

That sounds good.... if I remember to baste it. I have a couple late summer hatches that might be subject to going into the pan if they happen to end up being boys.
I just went out...it has gotten much colder and windier!!!
I finally took a picture of my new purple pied peacock. Isn't he pretty? I paid too much for him but he really is a gorgeous bird. He is with my oldest white hen so they should breed this summer.
Click to enlarge.

He is gorgeous

I just went out to feed and I had lost 14 baby ducks. They were all in a pile. I suspect they got cold and got suffocated. Ouch!! That really hurts. There won't be any profit on this bunch of babies. The others will just pay for the food they've eaten.

So sorry about your baby ducks

Maidenwolf.. that sounds delish!!!!

I HAVE A BABY SILKIE!!! It's adorable! Right now it's black with a grey chest. Mamma let me pick it right up! I also picked up another of the eggs and heard the baby in there chipping away at the shell! It's so exciting to see life born.

pictures please

Well, I didn't have anything to do this afternoon after I got home from the Dr. So I went out hunting. This is what I found in one of the back 40's eating wheat grass.

We are giving the meat away to some friends who don't hunt but want the meat. Our own freezers are packed!! He is not as big as the buck I shot last year, but I believe they have the same genetics.

wow congrats

HELP! Hygrometer FELL over on 2 of the eggs and I have 6 pips and cannot open the incubator to get the hygrometer off - is this ok??? It has always been attached to the side by a magnet/sticky piece - it is made of brass so has some weight to it.Suggestions? Here is photo of it:

I hope they will be okay sorry no help

 

[tweetysvoice]

Pics or didn't happen!

Just kidding that is a geek phrase my co-workers and I throw around a lot. Seriously though, we want pics!

LOL.. I'll post pics tonight, I promise!

Tweety, what are pinkies? And, what's a bucket trap?

Pinkies are baby hairless non-open eye'd mice.

A bucket trap is pretty easy to make. I just take a bucket, put a dab of peanut butter down on the bottom of it, put a board to ramp up to the bucket. Mice will climb the board and jump into the bucket and can't climb back out

 

[maidenwolfx80]

mammahen ~ I think it was you asking about using the feed bags as tarps? I have used them for tarps and they do degrade in the sun. The worst with the ones I have used is the flim of color separates from the base bag and then the little pieces blow around to be picked up. The white base lasts a lot longer with the only problem I have encountered is sometimes a bird starts working on the edge and unraveling it. But, yes it works, is somewhat temporary, they are water proof. Just know they will need to be watched for a problem and replaced when necessary. Hey, they are free!!!

I use the bags on the inside of my coop and line the walls with them to stop drafts. My coop is made of an old privacy fence so it has slates and air gets thru, it is great like that in summer and then I just put up the feed bags in winter.

 

[chicken danz]

Good Morning everyone!

I wanted to get some opinions on this idea I got from another local chicken raiser.

This individual uses wood fuel pellets broken down combined with DE/Clay (stall dry?) as her bedding. Any opinions on this? I know that pine shaves aren't cutting it in terms of ease of daily maintenance on the coop.

The pellets work great if your coop doesn't get rain in it or something. They break down to saw dust when they get wet. I just use the Oak pellet stove pellets cause they are cheaper than the bedding type. Just make sure what you get doesn't contain ceder. I would not use stall dry. You can use DE but the combination is a bit hazardous to the birds. Medawinks lost a bird due to stall dry in a matter of hours. I put DE down then pour the pellets on top. I only use pellets in certain coops and shavings in others. I don't like pellets for chicks cause they tend to spill more water and make a terrible sawdust mess. But they work good with older birds.
I haven't moved outside yet today. I am trying to get a few things caught up around here.
I did candle my eggs and I have 7 that developed. Not great, but not terrible from a dozen eggs. There are a couple that are questionable but I'll wait and see if they hatch. I hadn't gotten around to disinfecting the hatcher so I had to do that first. If these would all hatch,I think I will have a nice little breeding group of Olandsk from 3 different breeders.

 

[cherwill]

I almost forgot. Back when we were talking about homemade deodorants, I mentioned I couldn't use the baking soda/cornstarch mixture, even with coconut oil added. I found a recipe that is just 2 parts water to 1 part cider vinegar. I added enough lavender essential oil to not smell like salad dressing and I've been using it for 2-3 weeks. I love it; it works better than any other recipe I've tried and just as well as store-bought deodorant. Probably not as well as an actual anti-perspirant, but I'm very happy with it.

Cherwill-- dont worry I have 2 kids to buy for and I have bought nothing... I have no money todo so. It is either buy gifts or pay rent. I am broken hearted because of it, this means I have to tell my 8 year old that there is no Santa, goodness I dont wanna do that. So I am searching with no results for a way to do get somehing at least. It is devestating. Idont know how I will pull it off this year but I think my next step is asking my MIL. I hate always asking her for money, they have bills too and she always gladly gives me what she has and this year they are pretty low on funds and I fear it is because she has been helping us too much. I cant ask my family because my family and I are not speaking because they have better things to do. I want to find another way to get some xmas cash instead of having to ask her.

One of the coolest things I learned from a friend in 6th grade was how to make my own paper dolls. She found a body outline and we traced it on cardboard, cut it out, and drew in the face. Then we cut out clothes from patterned paper and some from plain paper that we decorated ourselves, making sure to cut tabs so we could attach the clothes to the dolls. We also made various hair styles this way. I don't know what your kids are into or what's age appropriate for them, but maybe you could make some little things for them. Or you could give them a gift certificate for something, like a chicken or some bigger craft project that you can do together when there's more money. There may also be a program in your nearest town like Toys for Tots or the Angel Tree or something.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, we'll wait & see if I can find the opal black shoulder peafowl chicks in the spring, if I can't I may be interested in one of the white males from you. I really fell in love with the opal black shoulder color & would love to get a some of those. They're not going to be cheap, but them peafowl aren't anyway.

I went out & got all the trays cleaned out from under the rabbit cages except the two biggest ones. I just don't seem to have the energy to lug those around today unless I can get my DH to help me with them when he gets back. I really need to find some plastic ones especially for those two cages that are so big. I have my two chinchilla rabbits in the bigger cages. I eventually may just replace all of those big cages with some a bit smaller, but one of them was free & the other didn't cost much, so they're working for now. I just wonder if you could build a hoop coop & hang rabbit cages in there since you could cover it with tarp like I did my peafowl/guinea coop? It would keep them out of the wind & then it would have a dirt floor so I could just scoop out the droppings instead of having to have them in the garage with trays underneath. It sure would be a lot less work for me & I wouldn't have to buy all of those pine shavings either. It's something to ponder on through the winter. I may run that by some other rabbit people & see what they think too about whether it would work. I still have two livestock panels left & I could get one or two more & then just would need the frame wood. I sure like the hoop coop I have out there.