Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

I am new to poultry collecting this year. In the last 2 months I have gotten 8 hens, 4 roosters, and 4 ducks. The chickens were all mature so I butchered 3 of the roosters after 6 weeks and lost 2 hens (to sickness and a bird dog). After figuring out how to corral my chickens in the the coop everything has gone splendidly! Next, I am looking to purchase a couple of Toulouse Geese. With so many breeders sold out already I might just have to wait for next year.

The best part of my experience is that I have received most of my poultry for free from families who purchase hatchlings from a breeder's display at Bluestem Farm&Ranch and have quickly realized that they couldn't handle them once they grew past 4in tall.

Our 35 acre hobby farm has turned into quite the poultry hub lately! (all newcomer advice is welcome)

Welcome!

Okay-- finally took pics of the new Reese Rocks yesterday.
This is a pullet below. I got 3 of them-- this is one of the largest ones.




A pullet and cockerel (below) Look at that zebra barring!! What is amazing is that his comb is exactly how it should be-- standing straight up, and not falling over and nice defined points. Just fantastic! I'm LOVING those boys! The cockerels haven't crowed yet. I'm guessing they are still too young-- which is insane-- because they are HUGE!!



(BELOW) This one is funny-- the bird in front is my hatchery-quality barred rock. LOOK at that difference!! Isn't that insane!? She looks "messy" compared to the real deals behind her. You can also see her washed out legs compared to the yellow next to her.



Here is my hatchery-quality barred rock again on the far right with 2 rocks behind her. (there is a SLWyandotte in there, so don't be confused on the zebra stripes and the "mottled" look back there) Look at my hatchery bird-- her comb is falling over! And see her grey legs compared to the YELLOW legs on the rocks behind her?


They're very pretty, although after a while it might look like a TV test pattern! I didn't even notice the legs until you pointed it out; I just look at the pretty feathers.

Gorgeous birds Hawkeye - I'm so glad you finally have some that you are happy with! My cockerel only started crowing within the past couple of weeks. At first I can't say I was that impressed with his efforts but he has worked on it and developed a really deep voice and decent crow now.

Awww ... I like the teenager crowing phase. They sound like sick cows or something. One of my roos never did figure out how to do the entire "cock-a-doodle-do" thing; his was more of a "cock-a-dooooo-do."

 

[Hawkeye95]

Tv test pattern! LOL!! Does anyone watch "The Big Bang Theory"? Sheldon dresses up as the Doppler Effect for a Halloween party and he looks like a zebra and these birds remind me of his costume--- so funny! Now I'll be making the "sound" that goes with the visual 'noise'. haha I love the juvenile crows too! The silkies are really the most funny, poor things! I expect these boys to have "real" crows.

 

[RoosterLew]

finally some sunshine!
My Mini-flock enjoyed it !

 

[Trish44]

I am new to poultry collecting this year. In the last 2 months I have gotten 8 hens, 4 roosters, and 4 ducks. The chickens were all mature so I butchered 3 of the roosters after 6 weeks and lost 2 hens (to sickness and a bird dog). After figuring out how to corral my chickens in the the coop everything has gone splendidly! Next, I am looking to purchase a couple of Toulouse Geese. With so many breeders sold out already I might just have to wait for next year.

The best part of my experience is that I have received most of my poultry for free from families who purchase hatchlings from a breeder's display at Bluestem Farm&Ranch and have quickly realized that they couldn't handle them once they grew past 4in tall.

Our 35 acre hobby farm has turned into quite the poultry hub lately! (all newcomer advice is welcome)

Welcome & join in any time. It sounds like you have a great place for chickens. We love pictures here so feel free to post some of your chickens & coop & all.

Hawkeye, those really are some nice birds you got, you can really see the contrast with the hatchery bird in the photo, I'm glad you had her in there to compare with. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how these eggs do that I put in the incubator if I get nice ones or what comes out. I set 21 eggs out of the two cartons I got. I sure won't need that many, but I'm sure they won't all make it anyway, some probably won't be fertile, some might not develop all the way, so we'll see how many chicks I actually end up with & how they look. I'm hoping I at least get a couple of nice ones so I can compare to my others.

Man it's hot here already today, it's supposed to be 85 here today, I just knew that was what it was going to do, go from cold right into summer. Thurs. though is not going to be so warm, last I looked it was predicted to be 46, ugh. That's going to be awful to have that big of a swing in temp again. Well I got my door made for the 2nd hoop coop yesterday, I ended up pretty much making it by myself because my DH started to help & then drank too much juice after running & got sick. You would think he would know better to do that by now, but he did it. So anyway I got the door all put together & wire on & it's ready to hang today, so he's going to go out & help me get it up. I've got to put the wire over the sides after we do that & I need to get a tarp for the top of it yet.

I let the little goats out in the orchard yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours & boy did they have fun. I just chained up the little one & the older one stayed right with her, so that was nice. They were happy little goats when we put them back in last evening.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish we have snow predicted here for Friday and Saturday. Can you believe that? Snow in May????
Welcome Aigamogeek. I am fairly close to you as well.
Well I got some really bad news today. They put my Dad in the hospital yesterday. He was complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. His heart doctor happened to be in Burlington today and talked with him about what was going on and how he felt. He listened to his heart and checked all his records. He is a little confused about how his pacemaker is functioning. It is working but not always the same way between the upper and lower chambers of the heart. (He knows that from the heart monitor they have on him.) So, he wants to have it really checked by the person who does that, but he was not in town today. He said it might give him a little relief but the real truth is that Dad’s heart is just slowing down. He expects it to get worse not better. He said there is nothing that we can do to improve his heart. If he was 20 years younger he would try open heart surgery but at this point he would probably suffer a stroke or die during the surgery. He said we are not to the hospice stage yet but we are close and he could become bedfast.
I honestly don't feel I can handle this right now. It's just too much after all my losses the past year.
On other subjects the fencing guys were here bright and early. They've been out there working so my morning was kind of throw off schedule. Why do I feel so uptight when someone is around?? I need to get out and get busy building some pens and moving some birds. I am tired of the smell in the house.

 

[AmySG]

I took my mini flock out today, too. I was pleased with the way they didn't run off. One of them, Cloud, wouldn't leave my little 'pouch,' though, he was totally freaked out by the great outdoors. Gold was brave and flew off early and even found a tasty worm.

Danz, I am very sorry to hear about your father.

 

[pikeman94]

I am new to poultry collecting this year. In the last 2 months I have gotten 8 hens, 4 roosters, and 4 ducks. The chickens were all mature so I butchered 3 of the roosters after 6 weeks and lost 2 hens (to sickness and a bird dog). After figuring out how to corral my chickens in the the coop everything has gone splendidly! Next, I am looking to purchase a couple of Toulouse Geese. With so many breeders sold out already I might just have to wait for next year.

The best part of my experience is that I have received most of my poultry for free from families who purchase hatchlings from a breeder's display at Bluestem Farm&Ranch and have quickly realized that they couldn't handle them once they grew past 4in tall.

Our 35 acre hobby farm has turned into quite the poultry hub lately! (all newcomer advice is welcome)

Welcome to the club!

 

[pikeman94]

Trish we have snow predicted here for Friday and Saturday. Can you believe that? Snow in May????
Welcome Aigamogeek. I am fairly close to you as well.
Well I got some really bad news today. They put my Dad in the hospital yesterday. He was complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. His heart doctor happened to be in Burlington today and talked with him about what was going on and how he felt. He listened to his heart and checked all his records. He is a little confused about how his pacemaker is functioning. It is working but not always the same way between the upper and lower chambers of the heart. (He knows that from the heart monitor they have on him.) So, he wants to have it really checked by the person who does that, but he was not in town today. He said it might give him a little relief but the real truth is that Dad’s heart is just slowing down. He expects it to get worse not better. He said there is nothing that we can do to improve his heart. If he was 20 years younger he would try open heart surgery but at this point he would probably suffer a stroke or die during the surgery. He said we are not to the hospice stage yet but we are close and he could become bedfast.
I honestly don't feel I can handle this right now. It's just too much after all my losses the past year.
On other subjects the fencing guys were here bright and early. They've been out there working so my morning was kind of throw off schedule. Why do I feel so uptight when someone is around?? I need to get out and get busy building some pens and moving some birds. I am tired of the smell in the house.

Danz - I am sorry to hear about your father. I will keep him and you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[HEChicken]

Have any of your pullets laid yet?? I wonder how much they might bleach?

I haven't ever seen my rock pullet near the nest boxes, although I did see the cockerel mount her so I don't think its far off. I had seen one or both of the NH pullets checking out the nest boxes but this morning I for sure got an egg from one of them. I don't know if its the first or not though - its pretty small but not tiny so it may not be the very first pullet egg. Ever since I brought in, I've been chanting "I don't need to incubate this, I don't need to incubate this...." So far their legs are still bright yellow - I don't know how long the fade takes. Will keep you posted.

Well I got some really bad news today. They put my Dad in the hospital yesterday. He was complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. His heart doctor happened to be in Burlington today and talked with him about what was going on and how he felt. He listened to his heart and checked all his records. He is a little confused about how his pacemaker is functioning. It is working but not always the same way between the upper and lower chambers of the heart. (He knows that from the heart monitor they have on him.) So, he wants to have it really checked by the person who does that, but he was not in town today. He said it might give him a little relief but the real truth is that Dad’s heart is just slowing down. He expects it to get worse not better. He said there is nothing that we can do to improve his heart. If he was 20 years younger he would try open heart surgery but at this point he would probably suffer a stroke or die during the surgery. He said we are not to the hospice stage yet but we are close and he could become bedfast.

I am so sorry to hear about your dad.

The forecast for my area is 87 today, and it is supposed to get down to 33 again later this week. That is a more than 50-degree swing - it must be so hard on the plants and animals to make those adjustments. Today my birds are holding their wings out and their mouths open because they're so hot. I bought more seedlings to replace the ones that were killed in the cold snap last week, but I'm afraid to plant them out and them killed later this week too. So hard to know how to get started this year - I've never known a year like it before.

I took the opportunity to mow half of my jungle this morning. Hopefully I can get the other half done before we get more rain and its too wet to tackle it again.

 

[pikeman94]

Quote:
I hear ya there! My yard is starting to look like a jungle.

I officially have almost 2' tall tomato plants on my kitchen table that I can't put outside until these freezes stop. I wish Mother Nature would figure it out!