Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

Drat. It's now officially not cool enough to leave the windows open at night. I really like being able to have my windows open. I guess the chickens have noticed, too, because egg production was almost non-existent yesterday and today. Those slackers better get over it quickly!

I hope everyone survived that incredible wind without any damage. All our weak tree branches broke off in ice storms some years ago, but the neighbor has a limb or two down.

Many years ago, a friend of mine lived in rattlesnake territory. Her brother, an ER doctor, told her if she was ever bitten, NOT to take the anti-venom. He told her it was often more fatal or permanently damaging than the bite. I asked DH about that recently, since he has first responder and EMT training. He said that may have been true in the past, but is not true today, especially if you know what kind of snake bit you. I hope I never have to worry about it!

 

[RoosterLew]

Didn't cool off any today and my Office AC broke......argggh

 

[HEChicken]

Drat. It's now officially not cool enough to leave the windows open at night. I really like being able to have my windows open. I guess the chickens have noticed, too, because egg production was almost non-existent yesterday and today. Those slackers better get over it quickly!

I hope everyone survived that incredible wind without any damage. All our weak tree branches broke off in ice storms some years ago, but the neighbor has a limb or two down.

Many years ago, a friend of mine lived in rattlesnake territory. Her brother, an ER doctor, told her if she was ever bitten, NOT to take the anti-venom. He told her it was often more fatal or permanently damaging than the bite. I asked DH about that recently, since he has first responder and EMT training. He said that may have been true in the past, but is not true today, especially if you know what kind of snake bit you. I hope I never have to worry about it!

Not for us.....I leave windows open at night any time it is cooler out than in. When our A/C works, we usually set it around 85, and most nights it gets below that, so the windows get opened. Our A/C is inop right now so opening the windows was a no brainer. We're starting the day with the house at 80 so its all good.

Good info on rattlesnake bites. I don't think we get them around here but did encounter a big one a couple of weeks ago while trail riding. The horse who saw it jumped straight up in the air, all 4 feet at the same time. Luckily her rider wasn't unseated by the maneuver and she came down in time for us to see it slithering off into the grass.

I got my zero turn back yesterday so spent over an hour last night taming the jungle. Its so nice to finally feel like I'm making some progress in a few areas.

More broodies. Ahh heck, who wants to hear it? My Aloha and Silkie, both of whom already hatched and raised a batch this spring, are both broody again now, in addition to all the first time broodies, 2 ducks, a turkey and another second time broody who last brooded last year. I think I gathered 4 eggs yesterday. I'm sure more were laid than that but some of these hens I don't dare reach under. Yes, I'm a wuss.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

We got babies!!! They hatched between the night before and yesterday. I came home to 3 cute little babies next to mama. Apparently mama got a real good appetite and wolf'd down almost all the feeds I put in front of her quite a while a go when she was sitting. Then she decided her next door broody wasn't doing a good job so now she is sitting on her eggs and slowly pushing her out of the nest.

I tried to reach in to touch the little chicks and mama immediately pecked at me. I think she really meant business and gave me the "don't touch my babies" look. Those little chicks love to hide under mama's wings. I didn't get any photo opportunity but will try again today.

I've a question for those who are doing FF. I put the bucket in the barn storage room. It only has a tiny little window which is open. The room temp gets to around 85ish or a tad higher. Will it cause any issues to the FF? That's the only area I can put my buckets in and if the temp is too high, I'll need to move it out in the open area under the barn roof. I don't want to find dead or sick chickens after feeding them bad feeds because the temp was too high and killed all the good bacteria in the buckets.

Trish - Glad to see you had a good selling day and have an empty brooder!!!

Rooster - Hope you office A/C gets fixed soon. It really sucks to have no A/C in almost triple digit temps.

HeChicken - Still no A/C? That's just the pits. I normally crank my A/C up and the house stays at a cool 75F all summer long. Don't open windows much since DH's allergy is really bad and his allergist recommended no open windows if possible. Your animals all seem to be in broody mode and want to hatch babies!


Looks like another hot day so I'll try to stay indoor and make friends with the A/C. There is an offsite meeting at 11:00am today but I'm tempting to just dial into the meeting instead. I'm truly a wuss when it comes to heat.

 

[HEChicken]

Tweety, congrats on the new chicks! Isn't it fun watching Mama Hens with their little ones?

I think I fixed our A/C!!! I got tired of waiting for the service tech to call me back so I went in and started looking and taking things apart and I found the pump filter was really clogged, so I cleaned it out really well and now its running without that awful electrical smell we were getting before. Keep fingers crossed that's all it was and if so I'll be really glad I saved the call out fee of the service tech.

 

[ivyrash]

I am running out of room for chicks and I don't really have time to build anything right now so I am curious what people use for all the chicks they hatch. I currently have 10 month old chicks that we put in a little 4x4 pen outside in the afternoon and then bring into the screened porch at night in another pen and then I have 19 two week old chicks (5 of which are frizzled bantam cochins) that are in a big box we used as a brooder on the screened in porch, I think they will start going out to another pen like the first one today. Hauling them in and out is getting to be a pain fast especially because since I work all day I have to rely on my teenage daughter to make sure they are safe and not too hot and not too cold and have food and water and it is all very tiring. Can any body give me any ideas of ways to minimize all the moving around short of building a whole new coop? I am trying to sell the month old chicks since I have decided to go a different direction with my flock. They are Welsummer pullets and Speckled Sussex straight run.

Thanks for any ideas you have.

 

[chicken danz]

Ivyrash those birds are old enough to be out full time. Can you integrate them to your coop?
Congrats Tweety on your new babies. That's awesome.
Trish congrats on selling all your chicks. I have a ton I need to move and many more to find a place to house, plus some of Franks to grow out for whatever they become.
I am about done with the hoop coop. I have one side finished and the Reese Barred Rocks move in. The other side will be done shortly.
I also have a huge problem. I went from over 30 adult laying ducks to a total of 8 now. I must have an owl sneaking them at night. I also discovered that two of the BR pullets I bought from Frank are missing. Heaven knows what else is gone that I haven't discovered yet. I've been shutting up the pens since the weather got warmer but obviously not soon enough. I hate that. I don't have netting on top of one of my baby ducks kennels and it looks to me like I have fewer of them.. That will be remedied today. I went through this last year with the owls and I refuse to feed them any more. I've never had to pen my ducks up at night before cause they were never bothered but it looks like I may have to start.

 

[ivyrash]

The two week old ones too? They chirp like crazy if they don't have a heat lamp at night still, it is just a 75 wt. bulb so it's not much. I need to get rid of some of my adult birds and then there will be some room I think. I have been leery of putting the younger ones out too much since I have had such a fox problem.

 

[HEChicken]

ivyrash, I'm with Danz - mine are all integrated with the flock by that age. I have a large coop and a really large chicken yard (half acre maybe?) and I've found that with enough space, the little ones don't get picked on by the older hens and roosters. I have a couple of 5x5 pens in the yard, along with a hoop coop that is 12x10. The hoop coop is a broody pen and houses broodies and new mothers until the babies are old enough to go out with the flock (usually within a few days after hatch). The two 5x5 pens are where some of my younger ones sleep at night. One currently houses some two month olds that are old enough now to start sleeping in the big coop but haven't figured that out (last night I carried a few to the coop and locked them in to try to give them the idea). The second pen houses some 3 and 5-week-old turkey poults and their tutors, but again, only at night. First thing in the morning (usually around 6:30) I open up the doors of those pens and they spend their day in the chicken yard with all the big birds. Then at night they go back into their pen and I close the door again. Easy peasy. I don't have to worry about heat because there are SO many places they can find shade in the yard so I just let them pick their own spots as the day goes on and the sun moves, changing the shady spots. I have a watering station at the main coop and next to each of the smaller pens, so that they don't have to go far to get water. That is the most work, refilling all those waterers throughout the day, but I'd rather that than have one watering station and have the big birds try to protect it and keep the little ones from getting enough to drink. Also, the more water stations there are, if I have to leave for the day, I know that by filling them all up at the beginning of the day, they will have enough water to see them through.

I do know what you mean about it being a lot of work carrying them in and out each day. I usually start them on outside time in their second to third week, depending on weather, and for a week or two, do that carrying back and forth thing, and it gets old really quickly. I always have them outside full time by the time they are four weeks old as I've heard that the earlier they are out, the hardier they will end up being. So far it seems to be paying off as I have very hardy birds and have never lost any either to winter cold or to summer heat.

 

[RoosterLew]

I am trying to sell the month old chicks since I have decided to go a different direction with my flock. They are Welsummer pullets and Speckled Sussex straight run.

Thanks for any ideas you have.

How many Welsummer pullets do you have? I might be interested in them. Also the Speckled Sussex if any are pullets.

The 10 month old birds you are moving around are the ones that could be out and integrated.
The 2 week and month olds are too young to be integrated, however the month olds could start spending some time outside.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I would think the direction you need to go with your flock is simply smaller. It is easy to add more birds once you have a set-up for them than it is to add set-up once you already have birds!
Sounds like Chicken Math has you , lol!