Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Whew ! Welcome to summer, Danz, I don't envy you at all with all that work in this heat .I have the newer chicks out side next to the big girls and some of the EE's are sparing with the grown-ups thru the fence.I'm having doubts about getting both flocks merged together . That's making more work than I was hoping for ,can't imagine what some of you have to do with larger flocks.

Once they are all the same size, you should be able to integrate without any issues, though the younger ones will probably always be the lowest in the pecking order. I've found that age, rather than size is usually the determining factor on a hen's position in the flock. I have a little game hen who is so tiny, she is the size of a 6-week-old chick, but she is above many much larger birds, in the pecking order.

In my flock, they are so used to newcomers that there is very little pecking or bickering. I can throw a new batch of 4-week-olds out there, and the mature hens just take it right in their stride and will only peck a youngster occasionally to put it in its place, if it is being especially cheeky. But if you have a flock of older birds that is not accustomed to newcomers, it is probably best to wait until they are closer to the same size.

 

[chicken danz]

I actually prefer warmer weather but I hate humidity. This year it's been a bit stifling at times. Unless it is miserable hot I will be outside working as opposed to inside. When it does get hot I find myself out there filling water bins and such several times a day so there isn't really much relief. I have so much to do today I have to remember to check on the birds cause it is going to be pretty miserable for them.
I moved another bin of chicks out to the brooder house last night. I set a brooder box on top a platform ladder to keep floor space. It won't last for long but it will work at least for a little while I hope. I had chicks hatching and no place to put them. So the bin the first ones were in got cleaned out and filled with new chicks and put in the basement. I have to get two more bins cleaned out. I may be able to move one to the basement for now and leave the other one up here.
Well better get moving.
I don't really have integrating problems here most of the time. I tend to let my birds free range together in a larger space and then pen them up at night. Eventually they will end up mixing together in the same pen. The only problem I have really had was bringing in roosters from an outside source for breeders, or having roosters attempt to breed really young females that are new to the group.

 

[sharol]

I agree about the size. My alpha hen is a Campine half the size of the Welsumer and Delawares and she rules the roost (dang, another chicken reference I hadn't thought about). Even after a serious injury last fall, she came back into power as soon as she was mobile. Feisty little girl, my Scout.

Once they are all the same size, you should be able to integrate without any issues, though the younger ones will probably always be the lowest in the pecking order. I've found that age, rather than size is usually the determining factor on a hen's position in the flock. I have a little game hen who is so tiny, she is the size of a 6-week-old chick, but she is above many much larger birds, in the pecking order.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Well, I finally have time to post again. My project is almost done; although it is a week late going to customers and I had some rough times with it this whole week, hence not posting on the BYC board. It will be deployed to customers on early Sunday morning so I'll be working to make sure the project functions after it's been deployed. Enough of this work stuff. I need a break.

I don't have time to go back through all the posts since I just skimmed through a few pages of them. I saw a cute silkie, some talks about gardening, and eggs hatching. Well, all the eggs under the 2nd mama didn't make it at all. I'm sure the broken egg contaminated them and she broke a couple of them herself afterwards. At least I think she broke them because there was no stinky smell. I could see the quitters in them so I knew they started to develop but didn't make it. Now the 2 mamas co-parent the 2 chicks. Apparently there were 5 hatched by the 1st mama. 1 was dead in the corner after a couple of days. 1 ventured out and drowned (I have no idea how it could get into the pool where the ducks were swimming because that pool is a foot off the ground). 1 just disappeared after a week so now only 2 left. I sure hope these 2 get to live a longer live than their siblings. I told DH may be they just don't know how to me good mothers because this is the 1st time they hatched out chicks. So seeing that Trish44 has 3 chicks doing well sure has brightened my day since mine is not doing so "hot" (no punt intended) right now.

Andddd here are my ducks (Thanks Danz

). They are enjoying the pool with clean water. I have to dump and replace the water at least twice a week. The chickens also drink out of this pool even though they have two 5-gallon water buckets to drink out of.

OK. So you guys know I've Pixius internet. It is slowwwww... so slow that it is almost impossible for me to work from home since I've to upload and download gigantic files due to the line of work I'm in. I received a flyer in the mail box from AT&T that they are offering U-verse voice and internet in my area. Speed is up to 6 mbps for downstream. I need to call them guys to see if it is worth having. Does anyone have U-verse? Any feedback? I am getting desperate to have good high speed internet because of my work.

OK. I need to get back to work now.

Stay cool everyone. Really hate the humidity.

Kuan

 

[sharol]

Are those the ducks that were at our get-together? Surely not.
Quote:

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Tweetybaby- love the pic they really look like they are keeping cool.

Danz- I am sorry to hear you are no longer handling duccle or olandsk I will hatch lots from these birds and no doubt will be beautiful.

 

[HEChicken]

Sharol, I bet those are the ducks she got at the get together - ducks grow amazingly fast, which is a pity because there's nothing cuter than a duckling. With my muscovies I've hatched, for the first two weeks they stay small and cute and then around the third week they go through a growth faze and just balloon up. My DD came down to visit the other day and looked at one of our ducklings and asked where the new bird came from. I told her it was the duckling and her eyes got real big and she said "No way.....it was tiny just a few days ago"!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Sharol - Yep, those are the ones I got from Danz. They do grow up fast like HEChicken said. They sure were cute when they were little (not that they are not now, just different). They love to eat the peas out of my hands and looking for more after the handful was gone. I have a lot of minnows in the fish pond and I'm thinking of netting them out and let the ducks snack on them. They reproduce a lot so I will have plenty of supplies coming for the ducks.

Maidenwolfx - Thanks. I love them ducks! They are friendly and love to eat out of my hand. They certainly know how to cool off in the pool. It is very cute when they dunk their heads and necks in the water.

Kuan

 

[cherwill]

Well, I finally have time to post again. My project is almost done; although it is a week late going to customers and I had some rough times with it this whole week, hence not posting on the BYC board. It will be deployed to customers on early Sunday morning so I'll be working to make sure the project functions after it's been deployed. Enough of this work stuff. I need a break.

I don't have time to go back through all the posts since I just skimmed through a few pages of them. I saw a cute silkie, some talks about gardening, and eggs hatching. Well, all the eggs under the 2nd mama didn't make it at all. I'm sure the broken egg contaminated them and she broke a couple of them herself afterwards. At least I think she broke them because there was no stinky smell. I could see the quitters in them so I knew they started to develop but didn't make it. Now the 2 mamas co-parent the 2 chicks. Apparently there were 5 hatched by the 1st mama. 1 was dead in the corner after a couple of days. 1 ventured out and drowned (I have no idea how it could get into the pool where the ducks were swimming because that pool is a foot off the ground). 1 just disappeared after a week so now only 2 left. I sure hope these 2 get to live a longer live than their siblings. I told DH may be they just don't know how to me good mothers because this is the 1st time they hatched out chicks. So seeing that Trish44 has 3 chicks doing well sure has brightened my day since mine is not doing so "hot" (no punt intended) right now.

Andddd here are my ducks (Thanks Danz

). They are enjoying the pool with clean water. I have to dump and replace the water at least twice a week. The chickens also drink out of this pool even though they have two 5-gallon water buckets to drink out of.

OK. So you guys know I've Pixius internet. It is slowwwww... so slow that it is almost impossible for me to work from home since I've to upload and download gigantic files due to the line of work I'm in. I received a flyer in the mail box from AT&T that they are offering U-verse voice and internet in my area. Speed is up to 6 mbps for downstream. I need to call them guys to see if it is worth having. Does anyone have U-verse? Any feedback? I am getting desperate to have good high speed internet because of my work.

OK. I need to get back to work now.

Stay cool everyone. Really hate the humidity.

Kuan

Look at those ducks staying cool!

My niece has to have two pools. The new ducks get along fine with the older duck except when they're swimming. She says the older one tries to hold the younger ones under water. One of the young 'uns somehow got a scrape on his head and they had to dye his head blue so the others wouldn't keep pecking him. It seemed to work, and his feathers have all grown back in.

 

[bbsnooks]

Hello.. I lost one of my white guineas.. yesterday.. I'm hoping to replace

I have a friend who is going to Wichita on Monday..
so on the chance.. some one with chicks.. willing to sell a few..
I'm having so much fun.. with them.. I didnt order enough..
If there is some one that lives in wichita area or west.. ? Kingman, pratt? with some baby guineas for sale?

thanks.. PM me if you have some thing available..
Debra