Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

bbsnooks. those changes were to a coop he designed. I had nothing to do with it. I build my own hop coops and try not to get him involved. He tends to want to make things more complicated and that slows me down. I have goals in mind when I build and I just do better if I just do them myself. We don't mind helping each other when we need a second pair of hands but we really don't work together well. I think in pictures and he has to analyze everything to death and draw it out. I can't stand waiting. So we each do our own projects and once in a while consult if we come up on a question of how things should work.
Well I am just sick. I am about to give up on turkeys. I moved my group of baby turkeys to a different bin this morning where they were under a sweeter heater instead of under a light. I had a couple waterers and got a red bottom on the waterer I put in there in place of a purple bottom they had had before. I am guessing one of them got overly curious and the rest followed. I walked in 30 minutes later to find a pile and wet and drowned turkey poults. I have a few I have in the incubator trying to get warmed up but they don't seem to recover from things like this very well. with turkeys it just seems to take a minor chill and they give up. I could scream. My luck with turkeys this year has been worse than awful. I sure hope they keep laying for a long time cause I'm not having the best of luck so far. Last year it went like clock work. I could just cry.
I had moved a bunch of chicks to the brooder house a couple days ago as well. They had been under a sweeter heater and doing perfect. I had a sweeter heater in the brooder as well as a heat lamp. Well the dumb little chicks were attracted to the light and piled up and suffocated several of them. So yesterday I hung a light near the sweeter heater and the chicks ran over there. I hope between the two lights and the heater they can at least figure out they don't do well at the bottom of a pile.
The more birds I have he worse luck I have with them. I think this is making my DH even more disgusted with all my projects. He has been seeing nothing but disaster and lots of work coming from me lately.

 

[WichitaKidd]

Hello all. Yes, I'm still around. Just haven't been online in a really long time. Today is finally the first day in a couple of months where I can sit down with a cup of coffee & just relax. Not even going to try & get back thru the 1,000+ unread posts. Will try to get thru maybe the last 100 or so just to see what is currently going on. I'll take a stab at some general comments that I'm sure will apply to something discussed in the past couple of months.

• Welcome to all the newbies on the list. I'm sure you've already heard everyone say to ask lots of questions & share lots of pictures.
• Congrats on all the new hatches! Not ready to try that on my own yet. Afraid that once I start I won't be able to stop.
• Sorry to hear you've been sick/not feeling well/tired. Hope you feel better soon/now.
• Probably some discussion on worms, fermented feed, ACV, bumble foot, hoop coops, stupid/wonderful neighbors, city ordinances, etc
• OMG! Not another <insert predator type> attack! **** <copy predator type>!
• What's with this crazy weather anyway? Snow in May? Really Mother Nature...give us a break.
• Guessing that Josie has had her baby by now. Congrats!

Does that about cover everything?

As for me, I'm doing OK. Working way too many hours, but that's finally starting to slow down (at least temporarily). I can tell you from first hand experience that working at WSU during the Final 4 was, well, let's just say they don't call it March Madness for nothing. Very exciting time not only for WSU, but for Wichita as well. My new flock is doing well. They are roughly 10 weeks old at this point & growing fast. Also have a new addition to my coop built (well mostly). Here are a few pics.

New run. Measures 8'x16'. Built into panels so that I can easily disassemble & move/reconfigure it if I need to. Still have some predator proofing to do around the outside. Temporarily have half of the roof covered with a tarp & the other half in chicken wire. Still playing around with ideas on what to do.


Since my run & my coop are separated by about 6" I had to come up with a different way to do the pop door than what I had originally planned. So I came up with a pop door "module". This slides neatly into place in a hole in the one end of the run & simply butts up to the coop. Door is made out of, you guessed it, a kitchen cutting board. Door opens using a rope & pulley that stretches to the side of the coop where it can easily be reached. Works really well.



And finally, a quick snap of the new flock. Took the photo at night while they were all on the roosting ladder. Flash didn't help too much, but at least you can see them. I have 12 birds in all: 3 GB, 2 SLW, 2 DW, 1 BA, 1 BPR, 1 NHR @ 2 not a clue. Thinking they may be brown leghorns or a welsummer mix of some kind. I'll try to snap a pic of them to see if anyone has any thoughts.


That's all for me for now. Need to get out & try to mow (or bale) the yard today. All this rain has really made it take off. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Mother's Day!

 

[JosieChick]

The exhaustion will get better in the 2nd trimester. You will feel a lot better. It is wise though to scale back now than wait. My poor DH got stuck caring for birds after the baby came and its not his thing so I felt badly that he got stuck doing all that work even though he was a very good sport! Babies are exhausting at first because you have no schedule and don't know what you are doing with the first one!

I honestly think that my geese were looking for a "safe" place to lay their eggs, possibly to eventually nest. I had found them laying eggs in several places around the house, but every time I'd find them, they'd move again. I think they eventually ran out of good hiding places in the yard and moved to the next place they could think of, which just happened to be quite a ways from the house. I'll definitely be keeping a closer eye on them when are out.

So sorry about your poults! Tragic Glad to hear your goslings are having fun!

bbsnooks. those changes were to a coop he designed. I had nothing to do with it. I build my own hop coops and try not to get him involved. He tends to want to make things more complicated and that slows me down. I have goals in mind when I build and I just do better if I just do them myself. We don't mind helping each other when we need a second pair of hands but we really don't work together well. I think in pictures and he has to analyze everything to death and draw it out. I can't stand waiting. So we each do our own projects and once in a while consult if we come up on a question of how things should work.
Well I am just sick. I am about to give up on turkeys. I moved my group of baby turkeys to a different bin this morning where they were under a sweeter heater instead of under a light. I had a couple waterers and got a red bottom on the waterer I put in there in place of a purple bottom they had had before. I am guessing one of them got overly curious and the rest followed. I walked in 30 minutes later to find a pile and wet and drowned turkey poults. I have a few I have in the incubator trying to get warmed up but they don't seem to recover from things like this very well. with turkeys it just seems to take a minor chill and they give up. I could scream. My luck with turkeys this year has been worse than awful. I sure hope they keep laying for a long time cause I'm not having the best of luck so far. Last year it went like clock work. I could just cry.
I had moved a bunch of chicks to the brooder house a couple days ago as well. They had been under a sweeter heater and doing perfect. I had a sweeter heater in the brooder as well as a heat lamp. Well the dumb little chicks were attracted to the light and piled up and suffocated several of them. So yesterday I hung a light near the sweeter heater and the chicks ran over there. I hope between the two lights and the heater they can at least figure out they don't do well at the bottom of a pile.
The more birds I have he worse luck I have with them. I think this is making my DH even more disgusted with all my projects. He has been seeing nothing but disaster and lots of work coming from me lately.

 

[chicken danz]

Good to see you again Wichitakidd.
Josie those baby sebbies are so adorable. I have a total of 11. I do have one final egg in the incubator but haven't checked it to see if it is developing. I figured out some of my hatching problems recently so I think I'll do better next year. I'm thinking of getting another pair of Sebbies. A lavender saddled boy with a gray girl. I also need to decide what boys to keep and sell a couple more. I had a lot more boys than I once thought. Speaking of that I need to sex the babies. I just keep putting it off.
I went to take out drowned turkey poults. I lost 13 of them!! This is just a quart sized waterer too. It seems they just follow each other. How can they be so smart when they are older and so dumb when they are young?

 

[Trish44]

Hi Knhkluckers.. i agree.. i have meal worms.. and it is the most fun.. to throw in or hold in 1 meal worm.. and watch.. that 's good for 12 & fifteen times..
then.. to toss in 5 or 10 at a time..

like rooster lew.. I think my extra is an EE rooster.. he is now.. the first and fastest.. to get the worms.. .almost every time.
- I wonder if that means they are great foragers.. ?

..
so.. on that note... does any one keep more than one rooster with their free range flock..
I have 21 chicks. just 4 weeks now.. . and I"m sure some of my strait run's (plus the ee) will be roosters.. and i have my 2 older -Jersey Giants.. for breeding..
so.. what is your experience .. with multiple roosters.. .. I hope thereare some good stories out there.. ( i am expecting to remove some.. & still hoping i can keep 4.. to breed )

( -Salmon favorelle -- -blue lace red wyandott St.run -- EE =-- Jersey Giant -- these are the breeds.. i have.. roosters. of..
Do you have experience with their personalities? in mixed flock..?

I posted photo in another thread.. not sure if all 21 got in the photo.. but has my JG roo.. and dog Pete.. on the watch..
i cant post photo from this computer.. so. a link to the natural chicken keeping .. below
Photo's from last week.. my favorite is .. in the turkey tin.. all piled in.. for night night..
the video .. of the worm feeding .. is way above my computer clearance right now.. ; ) but I'll go watch for y'all.. hee hee ... meal worms.. are fun..
.. I read of a woman in colorado.. has .. a resident colony in the coop.. .. that could be .. a real good thing.. to recycle the dropped food.?

My sis in law & I will be building hoop coop next mond / tues.. ( i hope i hope)

Danz.. were the changes you & your dh decided to make.. ?? minor or major.. ( or not to the hoop coop)?

enjoy the day all. it looks like a good'n
-

I have had several roosters at a time with my laying flock & did fine. They just have to set the pecking order just like the hens. I have found usually if they grow up in the group it's better than adding an adult. Right now I only have one flock rooster out there since I lost two recently, but am growing out a Welsummer to add. I think he will be fine as long as he doesn't challenge Dexter, he is my Cream Legbar rooster that is out there with the girls. He has a crazy crooked comb so I couldn't breed him, but he does a great job with his hens. I saw him chasing off guineas yesterday. I do have Salmon Faverolles & I think they're one of the most laid back breeds there are. I took 3 little chicks I hatched from them out & put them in the pen with the adults when they were totally feathered out & even though one of them is a rooster he's totally fine with it. I have not had roosters of the other breeds, but I do know from my breeding stock that the Ameraucanas & EEs are often the most aggressive of them all. I had one rooster that just wanted to kill any other rooster around, he would have too if I hadn't penned him up because he wanted to fight to the death.

Good to see you again Wichitakidd.
Josie those baby sebbies are so adorable. I have a total of 11. I do have one final egg in the incubator but haven't checked it to see if it is developing. I figured out some of my hatching problems recently so I think I'll do better next year. I'm thinking of getting another pair of Sebbies. A lavender saddled boy with a gray girl. I also need to decide what boys to keep and sell a couple more. I had a lot more boys than I once thought. Speaking of that I need to sex the babies. I just keep putting it off.
I went to take out drowned turkey poults. I lost 13 of them!! This is just a quart sized waterer too. It seems they just follow each other. How can they be so smart when they are older and so dumb when they are young?

I'm really sorry Danz about your turkeys. I'm not having any more luck with them here than you are. I lost one of the two I had finally kept alive. The one seems to be doing good, he or she is mimicking the tutor chick & is eating & drinking well, so I think anyway that one will make it. They're so darned hard to get started, I can't imagine how Frank keeps that many going at a time. He must have some secret we don't know about, I sure would like to know what it is.

Wichitakidd, it's nice to see you back, good job on the run. I have chicks for sale if you need any more little fuzzy butts.

 

[bbsnooks]

I went to take out drowned turkey poults. I lost 13 of them!! This is just a quart sized waterer too. It seems they just follow each other. How can they be so smart when they are older and so dumb when they are young?

sorry. bout that.. danz.. I'm glad i didnt start with turkeys. I hope you get more 2 replace them..
< thx for the clarification.. on coop>

 

[chicken danz]

I wanted to work on the hoop coop again today but was finishing up another project inside. Then I went out and started mowing. Four hours later I quit. I still have a lot more to mow. The grass that is tall is so wet underneath it wasn't cutting well. Then I had to rush around and feed every one. I still need to mix my FF and put the goosies back in the greenhouse. When DH goes back on long hours in a week or so those geese are sure going to miss getting to run around. I just can't corral them to the pen alone.
Maybe tomorrow I'll have some time. I have ducks to sex and chicks to sort etc etc tomorrow so I may be short on time again.

 

[HEChicken]

Well I am just sick. I am about to give up on turkeys. I moved my group of baby turkeys to a different bin this morning where they were under a sweeter heater instead of under a light. I had a couple waterers and got a red bottom on the waterer I put in there in place of a purple bottom they had had before. I am guessing one of them got overly curious and the rest followed. I walked in 30 minutes later to find a pile and wet and drowned turkey poults. I have a few I have in the incubator trying to get warmed up but they don't seem to recover from things like this very well. with turkeys it just seems to take a minor chill and they give up. I could scream. My luck with turkeys this year has been worse than awful. I sure hope they keep laying for a long time cause I'm not having the best of luck so far. Last year it went like clock work. I could just cry.
I had moved a bunch of chicks to the brooder house a couple days ago as well. They had been under a sweeter heater and doing perfect. I had a sweeter heater in the brooder as well as a heat lamp. Well the dumb little chicks were attracted to the light and piled up and suffocated several of them. So yesterday I hung a light near the sweeter heater and the chicks ran over there. I hope between the two lights and the heater they can at least figure out they don't do well at the bottom of a pile.

So sorry about your turkeys and chicks.

New run. Measures 8'x16'. Built into panels so that I can easily disassemble & move/reconfigure it if I need to. Still have some predator proofing to do around the outside. Temporarily have half of the roof covered with a tarp & the other half in chicken wire. Still playing around with ideas on what to do.


Since my run & my coop are separated by about 6" I had to come up with a different way to do the pop door than what I had originally planned. So I came up with a pop door "module". This slides neatly into place in a hole in the one end of the run & simply butts up to the coop. Door is made out of, you guessed it, a kitchen cutting board. Door opens using a rope & pulley that stretches to the side of the coop where it can easily be reached. Works really well.

Looking really good!

The exhaustion will get better in the 2nd trimester. You will feel a lot better. It is wise though to scale back now than wait.

I would hazard a guess that Lizzy's baby will be a girl! With my sons, I felt completely normal throughout the pregnancy, but with my daughter I was exhausted in a way that I could only describe as being like trying to do everything while wading through honey. A friend of mine had 4 kids - 3 sons and a daughter. The only time she experienced that exhaustion in the first trimester was with her daughter. She and I were pregnant at the same time, she with her daughter and me with my son, and I went to visit and stay with her out of state for a week. She was still in that exhausted phase and I was raring to go....

I've been going all day but finally got a chance to stop and get caught up on the computer, for the first time all day. I got my mowing all done so it will be nice to see the yard tomorrow, and then it will start to grow again....

I've had a very strange turkey hatch. I had 7 eggs all set and due at the same time. One hatched Monday afternoon, 2 on Tuesday, and one at 10:30pm Wednesday night. Nothing on Thursday, then two more hatched within a short time of each other on Friday. The 7th egg pipped the same time they did but had not hatched by the time I woke this morning. Nor had it hatched when I returned home from being out all morning. Nor had it hatched when I came in from 4 hours of mowing. I finally took it out and started it zipping just in case it was stuck. It was moving vigorously so I put it back as I prefer they do it on their own. By the time I showered the cut grass out of my hair, it was mostly out. That was around 8pm. So from first hatched to last was more than a 5 day span from eggs set at the same time and incubated under the same conditions. And, this last one to hatch was set Apr 7th, so was in there almost 5 weeks. I would say the temp was too low except the first one hatched more or less on time. So strange. All so far seem to be strong and healthy though, and are eating and drinking well. The only one that seems a little weak is this last one but it is still in the incubator and will stay there at least until morning.

 

[Polishpal]

I'm sort of bummed about a chicken of mine she is a tiny little cross breed and she is around 4 months and is very tiny, I'm worried that she wont live long because something of her size is bound to have problems later in life.

 

[cherwill]

Danz, sorry you're having so much trouble with the turkeys and chicks.

WichitaKidd, the coop and run are looking fantastic.

PolishPal, you never know. My tiniest chick grew up to be a big ol' rooster.

We did manage to plant the tomatoes and tomatillos today, so at least I feel like I got something done in the garden. It was too windy, and the soil still too wet, to fork up the dirt and plant anything from seeds. More rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so it doesn't look like it will dry out too soon. The graduation went well and then we went to my SIL's and visited for a while. We haven't been able to do that for too long. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow and having no social obligations!