Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Sorry Polish pal. Also so sorry about your Cat Trish. I should get some barn cats to eat mice around here but I am afraid that we will bring in disease with other cats. I have my 16 year old cat, a four year old rescue cat, and another 10 year old I rescued. I keep the 10 year old outside but she isn't much of a mouser at all. My 16 year old has a huge tumor on her side and some other health issues and I don't want to chance her getting exposed to anything else. Maybe after she passes away I will get a barn cat or two.
Well my day continued to go bad. We did have a light outside of the dishwasher Chickies,duckies. I thought that would work but the chicks wouldn't come out. Finally DH and myself used a fish net and a flashlight and drug them out one by one. Fortunately there was a support board under the cabinet just a little ways back that kept them from totally getting back there. They have now joined a couple hundred other chicks in the brooder.
I was getting some chicks ready for a buyer later this afternoon and realized I should have marked them. I was starting to get confused about which chicks I was selling and which ones I had purchased.
I sexed my Mandarin baby ducks I had been keeping in the house and out of the three had two males and one female. I took them out and let them join the rest of them in the duck aviary. I hope they'll be warm enough. I put elastic bands on their legs so I hope they last so I can tell who is who. I will need to sell them later.
Then in my effort to get birds moved around I had had a heat lamp on the turkey poults that got wet. DH came running and said we had a fire in the front room!!!

I ran in there and the heat lamp had fallen and burnt through the bin and onto the floor. Unfortunately this is the only room I have the new hardwood installed in!! It stayed hot a long time. I think I probably lost the finish on that spot and it darkened it but it is a dark stained floor so it doesn't show as bad as it could. I am just lucky he found it when he did. I had left the lamp on while I was waiting for the sweeter heater to warm up.
So it is almost 7:30 and DH said I need to take it easy so I can get to feeling better. Gee! I guess once I get the birds all shut up and chased back to their pens later I might do that.

Wow Danz you were lucky it wasn't worse than it was, I just have regular light bulbs in my heat lamps now because I've been paranoid about them. I had two in the house until today & then I moved all the chicks out to the garage brooders. Isn't is wonderful how these men tell you to take it easy but they don't offer to help you so you can do that? Mine told me the other day to take care of my back so it would feel better & I just looked at him like yeah.

 

[HEChicken]

Trish and Polishpal, I'm so sorry for your losses. Why is it always the special ones? I had that experience yesterday when I had my poults out running around and my cat, who I *thought* was contained, managed to get one of the poults. Did he get one of the zillion or so Royal Palms I have around here? Oh no. He had to get one of the two Bourbon Reds I was growing out in the hopes that one is a hen.

So now I am down to one and the way my luck is going with these guys, this will be a tom.

So tonight I think I have a couple of new broodies. Both are surprises. One is now my oldest hen and has never been broody in her life before, but she's been in the nest box all day and is sleeping there tonight. I didn't even dare reach in to try to touch her to see how she'd react. She is a complete "no touch". Although brooder raised, she is the wildest hen I have, wilder even than any of the broody hen raised birds I have. When we were moving here, DH and I went to the old house at 10pm when it was really dark out, to box up the birds and carry them over. Our thought was it would be easiest to grab them off the roosts while they were sleeping. That worked for 11 out of 12. The twelfth gave us a 30-minute run for our money around the yard in the pitch black when she should have been sleeping. Yup. That is this hen. So now she apparently thinks she wants to be broody and there is no way I am reaching my hand under her to have it taken off

The other hen that is squeezed into the nest box with her is one of my Reese NH pullets. She is so young so I hope she is only confused and not really broody.

You guys totally gave me the answers I didn't want to hear about my rooster dilemma. Danz, please let me know how it goes when you try the pinless peepers. Otherwise, I guess for the time being I will keep him in the hoop house where he is being a good boy. He is sharing it with a broody turkey, broody duck, broody chicken, Mama Hen and Mama Duck raising 4 ducklings. Is that diverse enough? If my NH hen isn't broody, perhaps I should separate him out to a pen with the two NH hens, and get some purebred eggs to put under Miss No-Touch Broody Hen.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh Danz, I missed that while I was replying. So sorry about the fire but glad it wasn't worse.

 

[RoosterLew]

Oops We did it again....
I have figured out the scam. They put them irresistible Chickys right in the aisle where ya gotta walk by em to get feed for the ones you already have! The feed stores are better at chicken math than we are !
2 SLW 2 BA and 2 Mallards - Yup we gots dem Quackin things now too!
I guess the empty brooder box was gettin to me?

 

[HEChicken]

Oops We did it again....
I have figured out the scam. They put them irresistible Chickys right in the aisle where ya gotta walk by em to get feed for the ones you already have! The feed stores are better at chicken math than we are !
2 SLW 2 BA and 2 Mallards - Yup we gots dem Quackin things now too!
I guess the empty brooder box was gettin to me?

Rooster, ya gotta stick around. There is nothing better than turning on the computer in the morning and getting a dose of your sense of humor....

 

[lizzyGSR]

I don't know about the rest of Kansas, but here in NW KS, we had a day yesterday that was VERY welcome. We got .13" of rain the night before last and .24" yesterday. It also cooled off drastically. We barely got to 60*F here. It felt pretty chilly compared to the weather we've been having, but I welcomed it as it meant that I didn't have to worry about snakes sneaking up on me.

It was so nice to be able to walk out and get the horses and the mail yesterday (both roughly 1/2 mile, one way, from the house) without having to worry about discovering an angry rattlesnake. I actually got to enjoy the scenery! Now, if only I could convince the highs to STAY in the lower 60's and stop bouncing around like they have been doing since "spring" officially started.

My birds loved the weather yesterday too! They were having fun dashing around the yard after worms and any other bugs the rain brought out. I eventually had to lock them up 'till it stopped raining though because they were running from one puddle to the next, completely oblivious to the fact that they were outside of their usual territory. I caught my geese across the road again and had to chase them back (of course it was raining pretty good at the time too).

I actually felt bad locking them up because I could see that they were thoroughly enjoying the weather.

 

[sharol]

Yeah, funny how that works. Kinda like the candy bars at the grocery store up by the check out counter.

Very funny post. Thanks for the shot of humor this morning.

Oops We did it again....
I have figured out the scam. They put them irresistible Chickys right in the aisle where ya gotta walk by em to get feed for the ones you already have! The feed stores are better at chicken math than we are !
2 SLW 2 BA and 2 Mallards - Yup we gots dem Quackin things now too!
I guess the empty brooder box was gettin to me?

 

[chicken danz]

Well my day yesterday continued to go South even late in the evening. I had the turkey poults back under the sweeter heater and all was well. It was 11:30 at night and DH came in and told me they were all dead. The stupid little things got in their waterer again and got chilled. I spent the next 45 minutes relocating them again and drying them with a hair dryer. They are back under a heat lamp. I figured out that they were used to having their waterer sit up on a half inch board and were getting their back ends in the water and it just wicks up. I put a board under it and got them back under a heat lamp and they are okay. I lost two last night and two more that weren't doing well during the night. The rest seem okay now... I hope.
Then I went in this morning to find 6 ducks had hatched in one of the incubators. It was some I took from a broody. One of them had gotten smashed and killed by the turner. I have no place to put the darned ducks right now. I had just moved the last batch outside. Still no word from my duck buyer or my back up duck buyer. Grrr! These guys are eating me out of house and home. I may have to start butchering some myself if something doesn't happen soon.
I have to get the hatcher cleared out today and get some more eggs in there. I had a bunch that didn't hatch. I had jacked the humidity up to hatch peafowl and of course it hurt my other hatches. I don't know how on earth I can manage this humidity issue when I hatch so many different birds.
I moved a dozen lemon cuckoo orpington eggs under the two exhibition orp hens that insist on being broody. I got pecked in the process too. But maybe they will leave the other hens eggs alone now and just concentrate on hatching what is under them. It am sure it will be a staggered hatch cause they had been sitting on some of those eggs for a while but if I can catch the chicks early and remove them I think they'll go ahead and hatch what is under them.
Rooster you are a funny guy!!!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Today is one of those days every fiber in my body hurts. Perfect weather for the pain index to top out!
I have a slight problem. I had those new chicks in the kitchen eating and drinking but when I got ready to take them to the brooder some of them ran under the dishwasher. Well my kitchen isn't finished because I need to put in hardwood, so the front of the dishwasher isn't installed. Two of the chicks ran under the dishwasher. I tried to get them out and it spooked them and they ran underneath the floor of an attached cabinet. There is no access to get in there. They've been there since mid morning and haven't come out. I sure hope they get hungry and decide to resurface. I'd hate to have to tear out my kitchen cabinets to remove two dead chicks!!!!
Then I decided to shuffle some more birds. I was cleaning out bins and decided to move some two week old turkeys and some pheasant out to the brooder house. I cleaned up their bin and then decided to move the new hatched turkeys to the bin the older ones had been in. The very first thing they did was get in the water and get drenched. I had put a gallon waterer in there instead of the quart one I had been using. So I had to get a heat lamp out and try to get them warmed up and dried off. A couple of them were not doing well at all. I am trying to get the sweeter heater hot enough I can pull the light again now.
I haven't been out to take care of the birds. I've only opened pens so they can run for a while. I do wish my medications would kick in and start working.
Maidenwolf I need to cull some extra boys too. I just keep putting it off. I have one I will be glad to butcher though. He is the first rooster I have ever had that seems like he is going to be mean. He jumps at me every now and then. I hit him with a bucket a few days ago and he has left me alone since then but I'm afraid that won't last. I don't need him anyway.

It is easier to cull those nasty boys. I just cant do that to the ones I raised as pets. I get attached and then just find them homes.
DO you have any advice on guinea?

Well my day yesterday continued to go South even late in the evening. I had the turkey poults back under the sweeter heater and all was well. It was 11:30 at night and DH came in and told me they were all dead. The stupid little things got in their waterer again and got chilled. I spent the next 45 minutes relocating them again and drying them with a hair dryer. They are back under a heat lamp. I figured out that they were used to having their waterer sit up on a half inch board and were getting their back ends in the water and it just wicks up. I put a board under it and got them back under a heat lamp and they are okay. I lost two last night and two more that weren't doing well during the night. The rest seem okay now... I hope.
Then I went in this morning to find 6 ducks had hatched in one of the incubators. It was some I took from a broody. One of them had gotten smashed and killed by the turner. I have no place to put the darned ducks right now. I had just moved the last batch outside. Still no word from my duck buyer or my back up duck buyer. Grrr! These guys are eating me out of house and home. I may have to start butchering some myself if something doesn't happen soon.
I have to get the hatcher cleared out today and get some more eggs in there. I had a bunch that didn't hatch. I had jacked the humidity up to hatch peafowl and of course it hurt my other hatches. I don't know how on earth I can manage this humidity issue when I hatch so many different birds.
I moved a dozen lemon cuckoo orpington eggs under the two exhibition orp hens that insist on being broody. I got pecked in the process too. But maybe they will leave the other hens eggs alone now and just concentrate on hatching what is under them. It am sure it will be a staggered hatch cause they had been sitting on some of those eggs for a while but if I can catch the chicks early and remove them I think they'll go ahead and hatch what is under them.
Rooster you are a funny guy!!!

Sorry you are having such a time. Lots of stuff going on for you and it sounds like maybe you need a break or even some help.

Trish and Polishpal I am sorry for your loses. It is hard to lose ones you love.

 

[cherwill]

Trish and Polishpal, I'm so sorry for your losses. Why is it always the special ones? I had that experience yesterday when I had my poults out running around and my cat, who I *thought* was contained, managed to get one of the poults. Did he get one of the zillion or so Royal Palms I have around here? Oh no. He had to get one of the two Bourbon Reds I was growing out in the hopes that one is a hen.

So now I am down to one and the way my luck is going with these guys, this will be a tom.

That's too bad. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the remaining bird is a girl.

Oops We did it again....
I have figured out the scam. They put them irresistible Chickys right in the aisle where ya gotta walk by em to get feed for the ones you already have! The feed stores are better at chicken math than we are !
2 SLW 2 BA and 2 Mallards - Yup we gots dem Quackin things now too!
I guess the empty brooder box was gettin to me?

I think you must be right, because it's worked more than once with me, too!

Well my day yesterday continued to go South even late in the evening. I had the turkey poults back under the sweeter heater and all was well. It was 11:30 at night and DH came in and told me they were all dead. The stupid little things got in their waterer again and got chilled. I spent the next 45 minutes relocating them again and drying them with a hair dryer. They are back under a heat lamp. I figured out that they were used to having their waterer sit up on a half inch board and were getting their back ends in the water and it just wicks up. I put a board under it and got them back under a heat lamp and they are okay. I lost two last night and two more that weren't doing well during the night. The rest seem okay now... I hope.

Between that, the fire, and everything else, let's hope things turn around now.