Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, I am truly in your debt! I love it! I could never have come up with something like this. Thank you so much! Horns would be okay with me. I'm racking my brain trying to remember if the mommies have them. I see them all the time you would think I would know. I guess I better learn a bit more about deer, since I'm Deerfield Acres! LOL!

checoukan, thanks for the input! So sorry about your truck -- what a pain. Good luck finding the deer. That little Silkie is adorable!

JosieChick, what project are you working on? Did I speed read through that part -- I'm really sorry if I did. I'm distracted today with a kid at home. I am making a batch of bar soap in spite of my lack of focus!

michelleml, that's a cat castle! Nice price too!

So, aside from making soap today, I had sprouts ready for the birds. My quart jars seem to do an amazing job of sprouting. I bought these stacking tray thingies that work but not nearly as simply as the quartz jars with a rim screwed on over cheesecloth for draining the water. They loved the the sprouts and I have tons left for our salad tonight. Yay, sprouting!

Awesome! I'm glad you like it! Okay... if girl deer have horns or antlers, I can go back and draw them on. It might make it a much more interesting picture. I just didn't think they had them, so while I was drawing the mama deer, I left it off. I'm interested in this sprouting you are doing! I'm thinking of taking on Fodder-- it's basically sprouting a bunch of grain or seeds (NO dirt) and growing them for 7 days and then feeding it to birds, horses, whatever! You can set up a large tray system and I'd love to do that. Although, not in the house, so I have to wait until Spring to attempt it.

I'll go look up mama deer and horns! LOL

BTW-- can you post a picture of how you are growing you sprouts inside???

 

[SpooncreekJenn]

Hawkeye, I am truly in your debt! I love it! I could never have come up with something like this. Thank you so much! Horns would be okay with me. I'm racking my brain trying to remember if the mommies have them. I see them all the time you would think I would know. I guess I better learn a bit more about deer, since I'm Deerfield Acres! LOL!

checoukan, thanks for the input! So sorry about your truck -- what a pain. Good luck finding the deer. That little Silkie is adorable!

JosieChick, what project are you working on? Did I speed read through that part -- I'm really sorry if I did. I'm distracted today with a kid at home. I am making a batch of bar soap in spite of my lack of focus!

michelleml, that's a cat castle! Nice price too!

So, aside from making soap today, I had sprouts ready for the birds. My quart jars seem to do an amazing job of sprouting. I bought these stacking tray thingies that work but not nearly as simply as the quartz jars with a rim screwed on over cheesecloth for draining the water. They loved the the sprouts and I have tons left for our salad tonight. Yay, sprouting!

Yes please give us more info on the sprouting pictures would be great.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Is that a splash bird that is carrying the paint gene? It sure looks splash to me....? I have to venture that it also looks a bit like a boy.

Looks like it is getting the start of streamers in it's crest but it is very young still. It sure is cute! I didn't know you bred silkies too?

I was thinking the same thing with the crest coming in and the longer possible streamers coming in off the back... but I have had ONE bird do the same and turn out to be a girl. Of course, most of them that look like this, turn out to be boys. But it's young enough, it could go either way, for sure! The paint gene can't be mixed with Splash-- well, it can, but it won't look like a Splash. Paint birds have a dominant white gene-- so the bird if it displays spots, will be a white bird. If it doesn't display spots, it will be any other color-- most people tend to get blacks out of them. (paint X paint OR paint X black--- usually winds up with paint or black birds) Black birds with paint in the background can be bred back.

Hawkeye, I think I understand what you're saying, but here's the thing, I have the two panels that I have to use for the outsides of the thing since I have them already. Then I need 3 dividers in the middle since I'm needing 4 equal sized pens. That would mean I would have to have 6 posts, not 4 & probably would have to have one in the middle of those too because a 10 ft span isn't going to hold without something to support in the middle, so that would be 9. That's a lot of posts for me to put in by myself. I'm a lot older than you & have messed up one shoulder & they both have arthritis. Getting older is the pits! I just have to look at this from all angles & somehow figure out how I can get it done. We need to have work parties at each other's places & go around & help out with whatever we all need to get done. It's so much easier when you have help & someone to talk to.

Well better go do something productive, I have gotten zero done today, it's been a rare day when I started out not feeling my best & decided to be a couch potato. But now I need to go get some things done.

Okay, what if you forget about drilling for posts entirely. Just build a frame on the ground! And then build your "posts" or 2X4's off the frame (like you would with a pvc pipe system, or just building a framed up structure with no diggin??) Anyway, if you do that, zero digging. It won't be secure to the ground, BUT you could go ahead and dig a trench around the perimeter and lay the wire down under the ground a couple of inches. Put rocks on top or just leave it alone. I dug down about 2-3 inches around my coop and layed the wire down in that, and it made a nice secure apron. I went out about a foot with the wire in the trench. I just used a hoe and a shovel to dig it-- it wasn't fun, but at least I wasn't digging deep holes either. What about that??

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, I found this and everything else says female deer typically do not have antlers... This is for the typical North American deer. Caribou and reindeer females do have antlers-- but aren't found here in the US. (typically) Okay, so I can put antlers on... or not. ??


MDC Resource Scientist Emily Flinn specializes in deer biology. She says she has received five reports this year from hunters who shot antlered deer that appear, at least externally, to be female.
Flinn said this phenomenon is not as rare as you might think. As many as one in every 65 or as few as one in 4,437 female white-tailed deer may grow antlers, depending on the region within North America. It’s all a question of hormones.
“Female deer can grow antlers if they have higher-than-normal testosterone levels,” said Flinn. “In most cases, does’ testosterone levels are too low for full antler development. They usually are small and poorly formed, and they aren’t completely hardened. They typically are still in velvet when hunting season arrives.”

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye, I am truly in your debt! I love it! I could never have come up with something like this. Thank you so much! Horns would be okay with me. I'm racking my brain trying to remember if the mommies have them. I see them all the time you would think I would know. I guess I better learn a bit more about deer, since I'm Deerfield Acres! LOL!

checoukan, thanks for the input! So sorry about your truck -- what a pain. Good luck finding the deer. That little Silkie is adorable!

JosieChick, what project are you working on? Did I speed read through that part -- I'm really sorry if I did. I'm distracted today with a kid at home. I am making a batch of bar soap in spite of my lack of focus!
Probably did speed read through! We are moving to Towanda and the property has no horse or chicken accommodations so we are starting from scratch. We have had lots of offers to help but I figured instead of PM'ing everyone I would just post and if anyone wants to help they can! We will at the very least be working on chicken pens, coops, gates and horse fencing if the T posts are delivered in time. We do have the wire and the corner treated posts for the horses already. If anyone can't make it this time we will for sure have another fun work day with food, beer and I am sure some good laughs!

Josie-- actually I do plan on keeping Josie! She is kind of the leader of the pack and keeps everyone in line-- including the rooster. She fights him and keeps him backed down. Of course, I have BIG breeding plans for her this Spring, but just her behavior alone would have saved her as a top dog in the flock! LOL I would love to help-- I'll have to talk to DH!
Oh goody!

I am so glad you are going to keep her. I am going to have to get tough at some point and sell some of my starter birds after I hatch from them and cull through offspring. Have you thought about shipping your birds? You have some really nice birds and I am sure you could get a lot more for them if you were willing to ship than trying to take them to a swap or auction. Not many people around here appreciate high quality birds like yours.

This is a Splash! S/he is blue based. If you ever want to get rid of him, let me know. It looks like a girl right now... BUT-- the crest is just starting to come in and that could bring in streamers with it, meaning a boy. Very hard to tell at this age. How old is this bird, and what does the comb look like? If the comb is completely flat right now, might be a girl, but if it's starting to get a bump, could be a boy in the making. Girls tend to get their combs in late. That left foot isn't the best, but Bobbi has great stock. I have a blue cockerel of her's that I had shipped in right before winter from her. But his toe separate is perfect.

This is a Paint-- pure WHITE base, and large black spots: (if they aren't a white bird, they aren't a Paint)

Splash have the slate blue base (can be a very light silver to darker slate color--very light to dark) with little "splashes" blobs/spots/dashes all over the body. These are MY birds:

This bird BELOW is a very light based Splash-- not white, of course, but a light silver color.

Your bird is young, but right now, it's looking like a keeper! Are you going to be breeding splash?? I didn't know you had that color! If I had known, I'd have asked you for pictures! LOL

I was thinking the same thing with the crest coming in and the longer possible streamers coming in off the back... but I have had ONE bird do the same and turn out to be a girl. Of course, most of them that look like this, turn out to be boys. But it's young enough, it could go either way, for sure! The paint gene can't be mixed with Splash-- well, it can, but it won't look like a Splash. Paint birds have a dominant white gene-- so the bird if it displays spots, will be a white bird. If it doesn't display spots, it will be any other color-- most people tend to get blacks out of them. (paint X paint OR paint X black--- usually winds up with paint or black birds) Black birds with paint in the background can be bred back. That is interesting! I didn't know that. I knew a lot of people were selling split to paint birds for a while there when paint got really hot in the silkie market. Seemed like everything was "carrying the paint gene."

So in essence you are saying a silkie can't be splash because of the dominant white gene involved with the paint coloration? Guess this is my genetics lesson for the afternoon.



Okay, what if you forget about drilling for posts entirely. Just build a frame on the ground! And then build your "posts" or 2X4's off the frame (like you would with a pvc pipe system, or just building a framed up structure with no diggin??) Anyway, if you do that, zero digging. It won't be secure to the ground, BUT you could go ahead and dig a trench around the perimeter and lay the wire down under the ground a couple of inches. Put rocks on top or just leave it alone. I dug down about 2-3 inches around my coop and layed the wire down in that, and it made a nice secure apron. I went out about a foot with the wire in the trench. I just used a hoe and a shovel to dig it-- it wasn't fun, but at least I wasn't digging deep holes either. What about that??

Funny! Learned two new things today!

Okay, I found this and everything else says female deer typically do not have antlers... This is for the typical North American deer. Caribou and reindeer females do have antlers-- but aren't found here in the US. (typically) Okay, so I can put antlers on... or not. ??


MDC Resource Scientist Emily Flinn specializes in deer biology. She says she has received five reports this year from hunters who shot antlered deer that appear, at least externally, to be female.
Flinn said this phenomenon is not as rare as you might think. As many as one in every 65 or as few as one in 4,437 female white-tailed deer may grow antlers, depending on the region within North America. It’s all a question of hormones.
“Female deer can grow antlers if they have higher-than-normal testosterone levels,” said Flinn. “In most cases, does’ testosterone levels are too low for full antler development. They usually are small and poorly formed, and they aren’t completely hardened. They typically are still in velvet when hunting season arrives.”

Its COLD out! Yuck, my poor geese have frozen mud balls hanging from their lovely curly bellys. Poor babies. I gave them a warmish pool of water, don't know if it will help or not. Just got an email from the midwife Mommahen recommended so going to read about home births. SO excited to have this opportunity and she seems like a super nice lady. 25 years of delivering babies, isn't that amazing?

 

[checoukan]

Well, if I would have been home, I could have told you that doe deer do not have antlers. BUT, every once in awhile a doe will grow antlers, but they are what they call a, (correct me if I'm wrong) morphidite(sp) sometimes they have both sets of genitals. Its also called a free-martin in cattle, when a cow has twins, and one calf of either sex, usually the heifer, is called a free-martin, and will not breed.

Ok, the fuzzy butt silky. I hatched her/him from eggs. I do not have, any breeder silkies. Don't think I will either. Just something to fool with, as you can see, I thought I had a paint, did not know they were a white based bird. Glad to know its a splash, and I think a very pretty splashing to say the least. Yes, the toe spacing on the left foot is not good, but, better than a lot of birds I have seen shown. The comb at this time is flat as a pancake. Fuzzy is rooming with some cream leg bars, so maybe it thinks its supposed to have a funny hair do. I am hoping for a pullet, but, does not matter. I may let you take the bird and show it hawkeye, and then sell it. I can get more eggs to hatch. I just may get some more eggs to hatch.

 

[sharol]

My daughter (in Reno) has given birth using a midwife twice. She swears by the home birth experience. Her second child was 10 lbs. 4 oz. with no complications. I have to admit, I had my reservations (she is older - late 30's), but it all went wonderfully and both babies were born healthy and well. Couldn't ask for more.

Funny! Learned two new things today!
Its COLD out! Yuck, my poor geese have frozen mud balls hanging from their lovely curly bellys. Poor babies. I gave them a warmish pool of water, don't know if it will help or not. Just got an email from the midwife Mommahen recommended so going to read about home births. SO excited to have this opportunity and she seems like a super nice lady. 25 years of delivering babies, isn't that amazing?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Funny! Learned two new things today!
Its COLD out! Yuck, my poor geese have frozen mud balls hanging from their lovely curly bellys. Poor babies. I gave them a warmish pool of water, don't know if it will help or not. Just got an email from the midwife Mommahen recommended so going to read about home births. SO excited to have this opportunity and she seems like a super nice lady. 25 years of delivering babies, isn't that amazing?

Yeah, the genes that create paint are in direct contradiction with splash. The fact is that the bird is a dominant white and then the theory is that there are "holes" in the white pigment letting the black show through. They just don't know enough about the genetics at this point. It's a project I don't want to get into! You have a lot of waste of birds and if you get blacks, they are split, and so not something you'd want to breed in a black pen. I'm excited about your home birth!! I think if she's been doing this for that long, she's probably seen it all! I'm guess you will be in good hands!

Well, if I would have been home, I could have told you that doe deer do not have antlers. BUT, every once in awhile a doe will grow antlers, but they are what they call a, (correct me if I'm wrong) morphidite(sp) sometimes they have both sets of genitals. Its also called a free-martin in cattle, when a cow has twins, and one calf of either sex, usually the heifer, is called a free-martin, and will not breed.

Ok, the fuzzy butt silky. I hatched her/him from eggs. I do not have, any breeder silkies. Don't think I will either. Just something to fool with, as you can see, I thought I had a paint, did not know they were a white based bird. Glad to know its a splash, and I think a very pretty splashing to say the least. Yes, the toe spacing on the left foot is not good, but, better than a lot of birds I have seen shown. The comb at this time is flat as a pancake. Fuzzy is rooming with some cream leg bars, so maybe it thinks its supposed to have a funny hair do. I am hoping for a pullet, but, does not matter. I may let you take the bird and show it hawkeye, and then sell it. I can get more eggs to hatch. I just may get some more eggs to hatch.

Oh wow, that is so neat about the deer and the calves! I had NO idea!! Now I'm learning! Well, your little Splash there has what I'd call a pretty minor fault in the toes-- they are not completely fused and there are two distinct toes there. So totally worth breeding or showing. Its just something to keep in mind to cull later on down the road-- a bird to start with, or even bring in for various reasons-- say they have the tight wings you want, or the crest, or the type, chest, etc-- and then cull hard on toes after that. So not the greatest-- but not the worst and not a DQ. Just a fault. I hope it's a girl! You just need a couple more months of growth to see how that crest develops. If the comb is flat, it may turn out to be a girl. It looks like it might have a pretty nice chest once it's mature.

My daughter (in Reno) has given birth using a midwife twice. She swears by the home birth experience. Her second child was 10 lbs. 4 oz. with no complications. I have to admit, I had my reservations (she is older - late 30's), but it all went wonderfully and both babies were born healthy and well. Couldn't ask for more.

Very neat!! I would be worried too with a baby that large! Wow!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Just popped in real quick -- no horns or antlers on Mommy deer. Thanks again Hawkeye. You are so fast!

I will take some pics of the my sprouting endeavors and get them posted this evening.

Gotta run for now. Josie, that's so cool about the midwife!

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye & HEChicken, thanks for the ideas on the pens, now I just need to go back to the drawing board & see what I can come up with. One of those ideas has to work out for me. I need something that isn't going to take me a month to put together either. Fast & cheap is what I need.

Gosh Danz are your birds still going as nuts as mine are about this FF? You would think after awhile they would get used to it & not be so crazy, but half the time when I start out trying to put it in the feeder they knock half of it on the ground or on themselves. I'm just fighting birds to try to get the darned stuff in there so they can eat, crazy birds!

It was cold out today, I sure hope it's better tomorrow so I can get some things done. Sunflowerparrot & I still need to build our brooders & I want to finish putting up my last half wall of chicken wire in the coop so all of my walls are done. Then I just have pop doors to cut & roosts to put up, the roosts are the easy part. I would like to get some paint on the bare wood in there too just to make it easier to clean later on. We'll see what kind of days we have next week as to whether I can paint in there or not. It should be interesting with two women with power tools tomorrrow, wish us luck!