Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

I am just getting anxious and need to walk away. This is my first hatch so I am just so excited. The EE's hatched so fast about an hour, but I cant expect the others to do the same. I have lots of work to do if I can just keep my face off the window of the incubator lol. Here are some pics of the babies and some other over due shots




He was loving the snow, you can see my other tom peeking out, he wasnt having it.


Beast is looking warm and cozy

Fury my buff brahma this isnt eh best pic of her but she is getting big




yes I need a better shot of her but I named her Fancy

 

[Hawkeye95]

Lizzy, I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw that you put on your riding boots and didn't proceed directly to the barn......sorry about the fall but glad you are not seriously injured and were still able to enjoy your ride.

We also spent the afternoon on our horses and consider a 50-degree day in the first week of January to be a gift. Our forecast for this week is mid to high 50's all week so we will be making the most of it.

We have been looking for awhile for a horse for my daughter. Long story, but the mare she has been riding for the past three years (and whom she was told to treat as her own horse) is being retired at the end of this month to a ranch down in Texas. So, knowing DD was going to lose her riding companion, we started looking. We finally found her a gelding who we hope will be a good match, and the seller delivered him to our barn on Saturday morning. So we spent most of the weekend helping him get settled in and plan to be there everyday this week after school as well. So the high temperatures are most welcome

Maidenwolf, congrats on the chicks. If you have no other pips you can open the incubator and take out those two chicks now and move them to the brooder. If I have pipped eggs I don't open the incubator but if I can see that there is nothing happening in any of the unhatched eggs, I will move the chicks after they are dry. Although they can go 3 days without food and water, in my experience they are more than happy to partake sooner than that if it is offered.

Danz, I love those exhibition orps as well - congrats on the trade.

I actually sold some eggs yesterday. I went most of December with no eggs and even broke down and bought a dozen store eggs for the first time in more than 3 years. The day I bought them, the egg-drought broke and with the days getting a little longer again, laying is slowly picking up. When a customer called and asked if I had any eggs, I was happy to be able to tell her yes!

Congrats on the new gelding! What kind is he? I hope he works out perfectly and is a well mannered laid backed boy! I wish I have felt up to riding, it would have been nice to get out there. I've been so dizzy, I'm not even sure I should be driving! Keeping that at a absolute minimum. The best I can do is get out there and feed each night and call it good. Sigh. Yay on selling some eggs! We are starting to be over run by eggs, too. My silkies have even started to lay a bit-- or at least ONE of them is. I don't know which one it is. I will need to create my breeding groups in another month. I'm excited about some of my planned pairs and trios.

 

[HEChicken]

Congrats on the new gelding! What kind is he? I hope he works out perfectly and is a well mannered laid backed boy! I wish I have felt up to riding, it would have been nice to get out there. I've been so dizzy, I'm not even sure I should be driving! Keeping that at a absolute minimum. The best I can do is get out there and feed each night and call it good. Sigh. Yay on selling some eggs! We are starting to be over run by eggs, too. My silkies have even started to lay a bit-- or at least ONE of them is. I don't know which one it is. I will need to create my breeding groups in another month. I'm excited about some of my planned pairs and trios.

He is a Quarter Horse and so far has been perfectly behaved. He leads well, and we ponied him yesterday while riding and he did great - looking around at everything with great interest but never spooked at anything. After that, DD rode him in arena for awhile, just at a walk and trot and he did everything she asked. He is very personable, and seems to really like people. So far everything has been a breeze - grooming, picking up his feet, tacking - he just takes it all in stride and is respectful and friendly. I think we're really going to like him. DD is really looking forward to trail-riding with him in a couple of months as the mare she was riding was too old to be able to handle a full day.

That's great that your silkies are starting to lay - I'm still waiting for that first silkie egg but don't think it will be far away. Isn't it exciting to be thinking about breeding season again???

Michelleml, I meant to say, I also just get seeds from local stores and don't have a particular brand that I buy - I get whatever looks/sounds good. It is important to know what growing region you are in and when you look at seed packets, look at the back and they will have a chart showing how that variety does in the different regions. Try to choose varieties that do well in your region, and then carefully read the directions for starting. Some seeds do better started early inside and then transplanted out, while others do better if planted directly in the soil. Also look at their requirements for light and water. Some like full sun, others partial, and some like more water than others. At the end of the day, there is a lot of trial and error that goes into vegetable gardening. Try anything and if it doesn't work, just don't do it again.

 

[chicken danz]

Hawkeye could you take a picture and even maybe some measurements of Seymore's nest some time in the near future. I want to provide my girls with the best nesting area I can in a pen. I just read pages and pages of breeding turkeys but they didn't mention nesting. It was from a university in the 40's but breeding information is always good and there were a lot of tips about best breeders. It will help me choose which males to keep. I want to keep two of my midget whites but I am reading how I need to rotate them with the girls so the hen isn't distracted. Crap. That means coming up with another pen of sorts for the male I am not using at the time. But at least I can keep a couple different blood lines going with two males. I was surprised it was recommending about 20 hens to one male. That's a lot of girls for one boy to take care of. I don't have that many girls so that isn't going to happen here.
I am pretty excited about getting the monster orpingtons. The cockerel I will be getting is still young and lanky but he will be okay when he grows up. I plan to cross him with my regular buff orps to get a little better size on them as layers but I really want to head in the direction of the exhibition birds. I am expecting my white orpingtons to exhibition size as well. They sure grow slow but once they get there they are monsters.

I am really working on this fermented feed concept,and getting excited about it. The brooder chicks I have in the house in a bin are really loving it.
The only problem I've seen with it so far is they get it smashed down in the bottom of the container and then it makes it hard for them to eat. If I can come up with a way to turn or stir large quantities I think I am going to start feeding all the birds the FF.
I am thinking of buying some bourbon red hens. I would need to find a boy for them and make another pen. I think they are beautiful birds though. I would even consider selling my easterns if I could get reds.
We still have Christmas with my other sons' families this coming weekend. I am so ready for the holidays to be officially over.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Anyone interested in a Brinsea incubator ~ The prices have gone up. BUT they have a sale with a code word on facebook for 20% off. I forget when the sale is over, but around the middle of the month, so not long now.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw that you put on your riding boots and didn't proceed directly to the barn......sorry about the fall but glad you are not seriously injured and were still able to enjoy your ride.

We also spent the afternoon on our horses and consider a 50-degree day in the first week of January to be a gift. Our forecast for this week is mid to high 50's all week so we will be making the most of it.

We have been looking for awhile for a horse for my daughter. Long story, but the mare she has been riding for the past three years (and whom she was told to treat as her own horse) is being retired at the end of this month to a ranch down in Texas. So, knowing DD was going to lose her riding companion, we started looking. We finally found her a gelding who we hope will be a good match, and the seller delivered him to our barn on Saturday morning. So we spent most of the weekend helping him get settled in and plan to be there everyday this week after school as well. So the high temperatures are most welcome

Congrats on finding another horse for your daughter! I hope everything works out! My neighbors are currently trying to sell a kid-worthy horse. They're planning on taking it to the sale barn today, if they didn't get it sold by last night. Last I heard, they hadn't had much luck selling the horse, which is really sad 'cuz it sounds like this horse is a nice horse... I only hope that it goes to a good home...

OMGosh!!! That fall sounds awful! I'm so sorry! I hope there are no lasting effects other than being bruised. Poor thing! I wear my riding boots outside all the time, but they must have a lot better traction, I never slip in them. I have Justin's, they are the old style-- low heel, tall boot. (I'm definitely old fashioned with my riding boots!) I've had them forever and they are well broke in, which also helps with grip. That story just made me cringe and feel so terrible for you! I'm so glad you are okay! Of course it figures you'd do something like that in clean jeans!

I've had my riding boots for a long time also (11+ years). However, they are RIDING boots and are definitely not made for walking. Even after all of these years, they still give me blisters if I walk in them too much. However, I really like the heel because it keeps me from getting my foot caught in the stirrup.

I think I'm okay, except for the soreness and that should go away in a couple of days. My fall really could have been a lot worse. The way I fell (face first into the water bowl), I could have broken a tooth, gotten a face full of dirty bird water, etc. I didn't include the funny part about my fall in the original story so I guess I'll tell it here....

I went to lunch with a friend yesterday after church. She told me how she had visited her sister's house over Christmas break and had been carrying a bowl of water for her dog down the driveway. She slipped on some ice in the driveway, fell, and soaked herself in the water. I was teasing her at lunch yesterday and telling her that fighting with "old many gravity" was a losing proposition. Apparently, I need to take my own advice

because I fell with not just one but TWO water buckets in my hand! I fell forwards and not backwards like my friend did so I didn't manage to soak myself as thoroughly as she did, but I still found the irony to be rather humorous (even if it still hurts)...

I am just getting anxious and need to walk away. This is my first hatch so I am just so excited. The EE's hatched so fast about an hour, but I cant expect the others to do the same. I have lots of work to do if I can just keep my face off the window of the incubator lol. Here are some pics of the babies and some other over due shots



He was loving the snow, you can see my other tom peeking out, he wasnt having it.

Your chicks are adorable! That is a really nice picture of your turkey! Thanks for sharing the pictures!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thanks Lizzy the turkeys love their pics taken. I am still looking for some hens and cant find any

 

[tazcat70]

Ooooh, those exhibition orps are GIANTS!  Every time I see them at the shows, I swear a little kid could ride one of them!  They are bigger than a medium sized DOG!!  It's really insane how big they are!  That would be sooooo cool to have those!  But from the looks of them, I bet they eat a TON of food!  But wow, are they spectacular!

When I had mine, I didn't notice that they ate any more than my other breeds, but as teens...I was growing out them and huge Wyandottes and they were eating sooooo much chick starter it wasn't even funny.

 

[chicken danz]

I just got a call from my banker. She was doing some reviews and said she could refinance for less than half of the interest I pay now and I don't have to have all the appraisals and stuff done again so that saves me a ton in fees. She said it would put my loan on a 15 year loan rather than a 30 and my payments would actually be a little less each month. That sounds like a deal to me. She is emailing me the numbers. I guess I could ask for more so I could do the work I want to around here but I'd rather just pay as I go. I hate borrowing money. At 15 years I might actually pay this place off before I die.
Some decent news for a change. I had been thinking about this but figured I couldn't come up with all the money to refinance.

 

[Trish44]

lizzy, I'm glad you're OK, that sounds like a bad fall & something I would do. It seems like I take a fall every few months & at my age I don't bounce so well any more.

Hawkeye, I'm glad you're feeling better, it sounds like you still need to take it kind of easy though. I also would be interested in the nest Seymour had since I have two hens that should be laying before too long. I probably need to get their nest area ready for them in the back corner of their pen. Danz, I really don't know how I could divide this pen the turkeys are in with the way I have it set up. Their roost is a big tree branch that is hooked into the chain link in the back corner of the pen & they all use it, I just don't see how it would work to try to divide it. I guess I'll just take my chances for now & see how things go with them all in there. My tom is very protective of his girls so maybe he will be OK in there, we'll see. I have no empty pens at all & I already have to get another hoop house built before my broilers come in April, so I don't think I can handle anything else at the moment.

I was trying to follow the fermented feed thread, but haven't had the time lately to keep up on it. I really would like to try it, but probably will wait until warmer weather since it sounds like it is pretty messy. I will be interested to see if it makes a difference in your bird's health Danz & anybody else trying it. On a different note my Braggs ACV came today that I had ordered. I have been wanting some for quite some time, but never remembered when we were in Wichita to look for any. I found some cheap online on sale & free shipping, so it ended up not being a bad deal. I took some of it when it got here & added it to my regular vinegar jug so I can start some in it. Then I can just continue it on with more. I give it not only to my chickens, but my rabbits as well. It's also supposed to be good for your dogs & cats. I may put some in my dogs & cats water in the house.

I'm having issue with leg mites on some of my chickens in the main coop now, I have never had this before. I had read about some people using the Adam's flea & tick spray to treat it, so I got some of that & am treating the ones that have it with that. I also sprayed all the roosts in there a couple of times. It is really smelly though, so I have to air out the coop each time I spray any in there. I changed out some of the litter in the main coop yesterday too with some fresh. I really don't want to have to change out the whole coop in cold weather, I was hoping to wait until March or so to do a complete clean out & scrub. I read that Sevin dust should get rid of all of the mites & I have treated my coop a couple times with that & the chickens too at one point after losing that one rooster to mites. It's hard right now to find the Sevin in the winter, our Walmart here doesn't have it out on the shelf right now. They're starting to get some garden stuff out though so maybe they will soon. I usually just buy the package of 3 cannisters so I have enough to use in all of my pens & coop.

Sunflowerparrrot needs all of your prayers coming her way today, she is having a very difficult time & is just beside herself. Some of you who are friends on FB already know, but her little GP pup Sam went in for a simple neuter procedure last Weds. & now has sepsis & is in critical condition. The Vet has told her he only has a 50/50 chance of making it. He was giving him a blood transfusion today to see if it would help & he is on his third antibiotic. He tore out his sutures & they had to be put back in & in the process of all of that he got this horrible infection. It's just the saddest thing ever because he is just the best little dog & the cutest thing. My heart is breaking for them both.