Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

WichitaKidd, that's interesting, I wonder if I could just use some of my pine needles from under some of my trees to add to the mix. I've been trying some different things in my coop this year. Sunflowerparrot has dried cattails from her swampy areas at her place & we have been experimenting this winter with using those. So far they have worked pretty well. They do tend to pack down, so I have to turn it a little more than with pine shavings, but it's a natural thing we can use without buying it, so why not. It is saving me quite a bit not having to buy so many bags of pine shavings. We're even using it in the nest boxes & the hens don't seem to mind at all. I have used it in all of my outdoor pens also & my two GP dogs love my pile that I keep of it, they have made it into their own personal bed back in the trees. I have added some dried leaves to the mix this year since I had so many of those in my yard & they seemed to work OK also.

KarenS, don't you just love those Swedish Flower Hens? I think they're about my favorites right now of the imported birds for sure, but I just like their personalities. They're really friendly & curious birds. I saw your rooster back there in your photo, he looks like a couple I have. I actually have two I need to sell right now because I have two too many. I have decided to keep one crested & one non-crested rooster. I have 2 non-crested hens & one really cute crested one in my grow-out pen. I just got another little pullet from Eileen also that is the Mille Fleur coloring, I didn't have one like that & wanted one. She has some really pretty hens up there, I was eyeing a couple of young pullets that are white with colored spots, they were really pretty, but she said she wanted to grow them out & see how they developed first.

Danz, I'm sorry you're not feeling well now either, hope you feel better soon.

Oh I forgot to mention that I got my essential oils & mixed up the homemade VetRX. I made about 33 oz. of it for about $20, so that is a lot cheaper than those 2 oz. bottles you buy in the store. I put mine in an empty hydrogen peroxide bottle, so it's protected since it's brown. It smells just like the stuff you buy. Danz, I looked at that site you sent but they were out of almost everything I needed for it so I ended up just buying it on eBay. It seems that the oil of Oregano is the most expensive ingredient of them all.

I was not feeling very well today either, I kind of had a headache & just felt kind of weak today. I hope I'm not coming down with something now, geez what is with everybody.

 

[HEChicken]

WichitaKidd, thanks for that link. That is interesting about the acid/base mix neutralizing the odor altogether. I don't live as close to a recycle facility as you do but there is one not far from me - I am all set for this year but next year I might consider trying that for the winter and see how we do. Getting it all chopped up for us would make it even easier to use than the way they were doing it in that video.

Are you getting excited about getting chicks again in a couple of months?

 

[HEChicken]

Karen, I meant to say, thank you for all of those photos. Beautiful birds!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I know I'm a little late into this topic, but I stumbled across a video over the holiday that's kind of along this topic line. It was interesting to me simply because I live about 6 blocks away from a tree-cycle location here in Wichita. Not completely sure about the "science" behind it, but it seems to work for her. Could be an excellent source of free winter time bedding for my coop next winter. Here is a link to the video.

Oh my gosh how brilliant but also "DUH" lol I bet it would be easy to find xmas trees now but what happens when they are gone? Back to the pine shavings maybe? Oh I loved it though thank you for that.

Trish can you send me that recipe for the vet rx mine isnt turning out very well and I cant seem to find the oregeno.

 

[cubbysan]

Hi Everybody,

Happy New Year. Sorry to hear so many of you are sick. First day back from school today, and I have a child home sick too. I swear half of my facebook friends from the east coast are reporting to be very sick, even those that got the flu shot.

Still need to take my Christmas tree down, it is looking quite pathetic, so glad that maybe I can recycle it somehow with the chickens.

Well, this week I figured out that one of my favorite and most affectionate pullets is a rooster.

My daughter was very upset, I told her we can still call him a "her" and keep her name Aurora. Out of the 8 we originally brought home in August, at least 2 are roosters and one was taken by a predator. Lets hope the other 5 are all pullets - but I have been questioning at least two others. UGH!

I don't post much, but I do read this thread often. You guys are teaching me so much, thank you! I just cannot believe that I have chickens ( and ducks!) As much as I hate going out in the morning in the cold to take care of them, I really enjoy that time of the fresh air, watching their little personalities, etc. My husband is really enjoying it too. I think deep down he always wanted chickens, so when I first mentioned it, there was no hesitation at all.

Now my 15 year old daughter, that is a whole different story! She is embarressed that we have them. If we are out in public, I am not even allowed to mention the words chicken or duck. She is so afraid of getting "germs" from them and will only eat store bought eggs! She liked them when they were a week old, but even then would only hold them with garden gloves and probably took a hot shower afterwards!

 

[ppimf]

hey got a few more questions, i did get an brinsea eco 20, should be here tomarrow, but i read lot of them say it wasn't the best to hatch in so i got and hova bator 1620N, it is a still air, should i buy the fan u can add to it just for hatching or does that matter really. i'm so egg-cited. for my first hatch to start.

 

[chicken danz]

Around here there are programs to pickup Christmas trees and they put them in the lake for the fish to spawn in. So there aren't any around to recycle.
I've been looking for pine needles myself but most of the pines are dead around here. They all got that brown needle disease. There are a few but I hate to go knock on a stranger's door and ask to gather their pine needles. Of course snow is covering everything right now.
Just about the time I thought the olandsk were getting well they are sneezing their heads off again. This is getting ridiculous. I was almost to the point that I had done antibiotics for enough days. I wonder if I should change drugs again. I hate doing injections. I am still using oxine as well and vetRX.
Yeah Trish I figure I saved hundreds of dollars using my homemade vetRX. I initially spent more but in the long run it sure paid off.
When I ordered from that place everything was in stock. Maybe it is a busy time of year with people using essential oils to cure their own colds and such.
I am tempted to rub some vetRX on my own nose. I am so sick of blowing and sneezing.
I've been trying to pay bills and my internet has been crawling. It took me nearly 2 hours to pay two bills and move some money so I had enough in my account to pay them. I wonder sometimes if a slow phone line internet would be better than this. It's driving me nuts.
I've got to get feed today and need to take care of some erands in town. I am going to ask DH to do it but he doesn't seem thrilled about it.
I also need to figure out what I am going to do about a car.

 

[cubbysan]

The funny thing is here Lee's Summit, we are the only ones we know that have a real tree. My kids have brought home some of their friends so they can touch and smell a real tree. Most of them have never seen a real Christmas tree. Not sure if it is a suburb thing, I thought it was a midwestern thing since we are from New England. The first year we were here, we had a very hard time finding one.

 

[chicken danz]

ppmif I think a fan makes a huge difference if you are hatching or incubating. MPO.
Maidenwolf congrats on your incubator. You will love having one that is more dependable.

 

[Trish44]

hey got a few more questions, i did get an brinsea eco 20, should be here tomarrow, but i read lot of them say it wasn't the best to hatch in so i got and hova bator 1620N, it is a still air, should i buy the fan u can add to it just for hatching or does that matter really. i'm so egg-cited. for my first hatch to start.

That's the only downside to the Brinsea Eco 20, the lack of room once the chicks start hatching. That's why I bought the Hovabator 1588 to use for a hatcher & it works great for that. Sunflowerparrot found out quickly when she hatched the first time in the Brinsea that there wasn't enough room if you had your incubator full of eggs. The fan is important because it helps distribute the heat, otherwise you just have cold spots.

Oh my gosh how brilliant but also "DUH" lol I bet it would be easy to find xmas trees now but what happens when they are gone? Back to the pine shavings maybe? Oh I loved it though thank you for that.

Trish can you send me that recipe for the vet rx mine isnt turning out very well and I cant seem to find the oregeno.

I sent you a PM maidenwolf, I found all of my oils on eBay because the other place was out of stock on 3 out of the 4 things I wanted to order. Some of them are on sale right now, I'm tempted to buy some more so I can make another bottle. If you want the link to the seller I used, I can send it to you.

I went out this morning thinking it was going to be really bad out but with the sun shining it really wasn't bad at all. I had to fill my feeder in the main coop today because they had emptied it, they sure are eating a lot more when they don't go outside. I hope my feed holds out a couple weeks till I get paid again. That little Swedish Flower Hen pullet I got from Eileen is finally starting to learn to fit in. She was right in there this morning pushing her way in to get some food, I was so glad to see that.

My big Black Copper Marans rooster is still honking. It seems to me like that breed just isn't the most hardy of them all. They seem to be really prone to respiratory problems.

I put my two Salmon Faverolle hens in with the rooster I got awhile back last night. He was so glad to have some company & they all took to each other right off. The poor hens were getting beat up in the grow-out pen with so many roosters in there, so I thought this way they would only have to deal with one & he wouldn't be lonely any more.

If anybody is interested in a Swedish Flower Hen rooster or two I have two of them I need to sell, one is crested & one isn't.