Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

We appear to have some extra rafters from out barn kit? Thought that was kind of weird. Ugh, no more snow!!!
Ponies are cute, they are looking at you like "What, we do this eating hay thing every day..."

Danz, that is why my Dh put the Sutherlands barn kit up himself-- because at the time, we didn't have the cash to have anyone build it for us! So he spent the entire summer/Fall building it. He had some friends come out on the weekends to help. When they'd come out, we'd throw big BBQ's and grill outside to feed everyone. It was fun for a while, but then it just got tiring not having it done right away. Most of the time I was out helping him hold things up, etc. We didn't end up being shortened on the kit-- so that was a nice surprise, they really did give us everything we needed to build it. We just had to buy the nails, screws, but most of that came in the kit, too. We did hire an electrician to come out and tie into the main pole in front of our house and dig a trench out to the barn. So the barn has it's own set of breaker boxes that we've put lighting and outlet boxes off of. Then we later had a plumber come out and dig a trench to put water out into the barn and out in the pasture. We didn't do it all in one year, but it's nice to have it all done now!

Josie, looks like another 10 inches of snow coming our way?? I'm not sure about your area, though. I don't know whether or not to believe it... so I went ahead and stocked up for it just in case the weatherman was right. I was really skeptical about this snow, but I think I'm more a believer now! ha!

Took some shots of the "kids" out in the snow today:
This white mare is 40 years old.

Cuties! Are you thinking the top pic is your roo? In a few weeks you will know for sure, they get combs and attitudes pretty fast on the bantam cochins! Love frizzled cochins, I really need to get a few frizzled mille fleurs sometime but will have to wait until I get the crew moved. Can't hatch anything right now!

OOOOhhhh Danz and Josie ---if i get 1 rooster and 4 hens out of my chicks I would be TICKLED PINK! --although for my luck to change that much you know what would have to freeze over....Oh wait 12 + of snow and more on the way UH -OH i upset the whole universe

LOL,


Trish, congrats on the eco50, give us a report on how you like it when you have used it

Maidenwolf, i felt sorry for my chicks that have to live in a gray box that i built them a jungle gym of empty kleenex boxes and toilet paper rolls They seem to like it, or at least they are entertaining me

my first frizzle baby

 

[JosieChick]

Frizzled pink- Is that all the same chick? I was thinking the top pic was a different one because I couldn't see the tail but now that I look at them again they look very similar?

 

[chicken danz]

Frizzled Pink that is one cute little chick! Congrats!
Hawkeye and Karen I buy the Ice Bay fisherman's gloves. They are neoprene and they are pricy but I think worth the cost. Here they are on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Glacier-Glove-ICE-BAY-Fishing/dp/B002N0IXVS
They are a little thick but easy to use your fingers with. And VERY warm even if you have your hands in water.
Hawkeye I bought a blade for my tractor last year. but DH has tried to use it the last couple days and he says it is just digging in. Is there a trick to using those things? We've had it over a year and had never tried it until now. I might have to get out and try it myself when he is working tomorrow.
Man that working in the snow is a killer. I feel like I've been beaten up. I had several places I tried to get the snow load off of. I have sun screen on a few pens and it is holding the snow. So I was out there reaching as far as I could to try to get some of the snow off. I was afraid it would break my netting. That stuff is so thick and deep it weighs a ton. l did some stuff like crawling in the little tractor that the new brahmas are in and tried to remove a lot of snow from there. At least they have more than a square foot to move in now.
It seemed like I had to dig in to open gates and doors again. I thought I had all that done yesterday. It really wasn't as bad out there today. The sun was shining some.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

@Josie, yes same chick, i had 5 hatch all from the blue/blue splash, only 1 of the 5 ended up frizzle, i have a frizzled mille cochin roo coming in a couple of weeks -he is only 6 weeks right now, and then building toward the mille fleur cochin project

 

[JosieChick]

Oh so exciting!!! I will be glad to have someone to play with this project on, where are you if you don't mind my asking? You can PM if you would rather. Maybe I will wait until you have frizzled mille fleur babies. I like to vax for mareks so I prefer hatching eggs or day olds so I can vaccinate. How old is your mille fleur/calico trio going to be? I have two mille fleur roos, 4 mille fleur hens, one of which has pretty nice type and two calico cockerels (one seems to have a back issue..) I can't wait to have a breeding pen for them. I have a black mottled girl but her type is not that great so she probably won't go into my mille project. I may put her under a really nice black roo who is split to mottled and see if I can get something nicer. If I get impatient though I may start hunting for a nice buff columbian boy. Sigh, I LOVE my cochins!

@Josie, yes same chick, i had 5 hatch all from the blue/blue splash, only 1 of the 5 ended up frizzle, i have a frizzled mille cochin roo coming in a couple of weeks -he is only 6 weeks right now, who will come with a hysterical black mottled smooth pullet, and then a smooth mille roo and hopefully at least 2 mille (or calico) girls coming in May, so once you get everything squared away this summer we need to have a pow wow on this project

Here are some of my babies:

Calico cockerel, I posted a pic of him the other day


Mille fleur pullet this summer, they have filled in a lot






My original pair of mille fleur from Wingshadows Hacienda, the hen has molted very white this year






Columbian based mille hen, I really like this girl but she does not like my camera! I need to get her set up this summer so I can hatch from her, I think she is three this year!

 

[msjfrizzle]

I haven't been around here much- life is just too demanding, but I do read posts when I can. However, with time off from teaching, and no place to go, I decided to take a little time out to play. Here's the result: snow chickens, of course. I conscripted the help of a real hen to show the size of the snowbirds. She does NOT like this white stuff!!




I hope everyone gets well. I keep catching stuff from my darling students. Why is it that the snotty-nosed kids are always the ones that want to give me a hug?
I'm stocking up on essentials today, bracing for the next round of snow. I always seem to forget that I should be careful what I pray for. . . .

 

[chicken danz]

How adorable Msjfrizzle! I was thinking as I was cleaning up piles of snow yesterday how perfect that snow was for building snowmen. I never thought about snow chickens!! Been thinking about you. My catalpas died before I got them last summer. K got sick and couldn't care for them. I tried starting some seeds I found but the cat knocked the tray off and they dried up before sprouting. Grrr!

I am so fed up with my internet. It has been down nearly constantly the last few days. I finally got hold of someone while ago and they have decided I have a defective device. So they are sending me a new one to see if it works any better. If that doesn't help they are sending me a different brand. Meantime however I just have to jump in here and try to get stuff looked at and sent when I can get a signal. It is not convenient when I have things I need to take care of.
I've got to be sure everyone gets a good load of feed and water today. I'm kind of worried about my feed supply. I have maybe 2 days worth including today and I'll be out. With the storm coming in I don't know when I will make it to the coop to get more. I wish they were open on Sunday. I'd get feed today. I'm afraid I'll be out by Tuesday or be forced to use all my FF and then have to start over with it. That would just totally stink.
I sure wish enough snow had cleared I could get back out and work on my hoop coop. It is still sitting very deep in snow. I can't see the bottom of it at all. I guess it wouldn't be good on the tools to have them drug out in the wet snow anyway.
I sure hope they are wrong about this storm and it doesn't drop the snow predicted. They are talking ice again and freezing rain first for our area, then 8- 12 inches after that. I hope that isn't the case. I would be in a real world of hurt with ice. I'd never get my feed here.
The birds are eating more than usual cause they aren't getting out and able to dig in the dirt.
I've got to try to finish dumping snow off my pens today. I may try to take the shade cloth down completely but as heavy as it is I could make matters worse. It's been up a couple years and we hadn't had enough snow for it to be a problem before.

 

[Trish44]

How adorable Msjfrizzle! I was thinking as I was cleaning up piles of snow yesterday how perfect that snow was for building snowmen. I never thought about snow chickens!! Been thinking about you. My catalpas died before I got them last summer. K got sick and couldn't care for them. I tried starting some seeds I found but the cat knocked the tray off and they dried up before sprouting. Grrr!

I am so fed up with my internet. It has been down nearly constantly the last few days. I finally got hold of someone while ago and they have decided I have a defective device. So they are sending me a new one to see if it works any better. If that doesn't help they are sending me a different brand. Meantime however I just have to jump in here and try to get stuff looked at and sent when I can get a signal. It is not convenient when I have things I need to take care of.
I've got to be sure everyone gets a good load of feed and water today. I'm kind of worried about my feed supply. I have maybe 2 days worth including today and I'll be out. With the storm coming in I don't know when I will make it to the coop to get more. I wish they were open on Sunday. I'd get feed today. I'm afraid I'll be out by Tuesday or be forced to use all my FF and then have to start over with it. That would just totally stink.
I sure wish enough snow had cleared I could get back out and work on my hoop coop. It is still sitting very deep in snow. I can't see the bottom of it at all. I guess it wouldn't be good on the tools to have them drug out in the wet snow anyway.
I sure hope they are wrong about this storm and it doesn't drop the snow predicted. They are talking ice again and freezing rain first for our area, then 8- 12 inches after that. I hope that isn't the case. I would be in a real world of hurt with ice. I'd never get my feed here.
The birds are eating more than usual cause they aren't getting out and able to dig in the dirt.
I've got to try to finish dumping snow off my pens today. I may try to take the shade cloth down completely but as heavy as it is I could make matters worse. It's been up a couple years and we hadn't had enough snow for it to be a problem before.

Danz, I'm sorry about your internet, that's the pits. I hope they can get it fixed for you soon. I hate it when ours goes down, I rely on my computer for so many things, especially weather info. The weather people are so uncertain about what is going to happen with the snow tonight, they keep changing their minds & saying they just aren't sure of how much we're getting. They say the system could move north or south in which case we would get more than they told us. I just hate this, we just got our side of the driveway by the house shoveled some yesterday & my DH shoveled me a path to the garage, now it will all be covered again. I never dug paths to my pens the last time, I just waded out there. I did get my plastic put over the windows in the new coop yesterday afternoon & then got my Salmon Faverolles moved in there. I haven't let them out because their pen is full of snow. I know I will be glad I got them moved when this stuff comes again. I had to just go ahead & put a pallet inside & put their water & food in there because there is no way to get the gate open to the pen for the snow & they wouldn't want to go out there to eat or drink anyway, especially after more snow. I know they will be happier in there since they have more room & a roost to sleep on where they didn't have that where they were. I need to get the hens a nest box put in today. They had stopped laying when the weather changed again. I have 3 little babies from the eggs I got before, they're really cute with their little feathered legs.

I know the feeling on the heavy snow on the tops of pens, I'm really worried about my turkey pen that the top is going to fall in on them. I tried to push some off yesterday, but it's frozen solid. I'm hoping if it gets a little warmer this afternoon that I can get it loose enough to push some off. I'm afraid it's going to break my netting & the poles holding it up too with all the weight. That's always a problem with using tarps, but what else can you do for shelter in open pens. I wish I had the money to just buy livestock panels & make hoops on top, but I don't.

msjfrizzle, I love the snow chickens, you should send those into the newspaper or something!

My DH is a real grouch today, I think he's worried about the weather coming & if he's going to be able to get to work or not. I sure hope we don't get what they're saying for all of our sakes. Everybody stay warm & safe.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Danz, or anyone that wants them ~ I have a catalpa tree that still has pods on it that have not opened yet. I can grab some off when I get close enough to it. Out of the pod, a lot of them would mail for basic postage, whatever that is now after the rate hike.

I have wondered if they were just scattered on the ground if they would root and grow? There are very few seedlings come up here,so maybe not.

 

[chicken danz]

So my internet is back down again and I am just writing ahead of time so I can copy and paste. Of course I'll miss any posts in between. It's still pretty cold here this morning so I'm not running outside to get things done. I got the puppies fed and let them out of their pen. They love this snow.
I just cooked about 3 dozen duck eggs that weren't super fresh so when they cool I'll take them out to them. They usually lay at night and they are freezing by morning so that is the best use I have for them right now.
I need to start hatching but until it warms up a little I'm not going to tie up my incubators. I did look at them and most looked fertile.
My turkeys haven't laid since the day I butchered. I guess the activity upset them.
My geese stopped with the cold but they are still acting crazy so I assume they will resume. I hope!
Trish the netting I use works great and lets the snow pass through. My problem is of course that I put this shade cloth on top and it is holding the snow. I'ts still too cold to go out there and work.
We can all hope this storm moves far north and we never see it. That would make me happy.
I'd love to have the seeds chickies-duckies. Maybe if you want a few ducks this year I could trade you a duckling for postage.