Consolidated Kansas

[Ralph Moyer]

while I was doing my morning chores, I heard the sound of a baby chicken that seamed lost. I have free range hens that have been laying in Muscovy nest, and since the chicks hatch out two weeks before the ducklings, the chicks wander off. I kept following the sound, and finally found it coming from the top rail of a 6 foot high chain link fence. It was a mocking bird! May be that is why I could not locate the baby duckling I heard a while back.

 

[chicken danz]

That's adorable Ralph! I love mocking birds. They may be kind of a bully bird but I have been known to just sit outside and listen to them and fall asleep. It amazes me how they can mimic so many different songs.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I would like to hear one try to crow like a rooster. This one has several to imitate.

 

[JosieChick]

Awwww!!! They are so cute! I love that buckling's face! Makes me foolishly think about getting goats again which I need like a hole in my head. Then I hear your escapee story and know that I don't want to deal with that again! Our pygmy mixes used to get loose and jump on DH's car! Naughty little buggers.

We got goats! Trish44 came with me this morning to pick them up from the same lady she got hers from. It was fun to visit with her while we drove and interesting to see the place where they were bred. They were a gift for my DH (he didn't know where I was going this morning) and after dropping Trish off, I drove home thinking about what to do with them. Originally I had thought they would be with the sheep but I didn't expect them to be so small still. So I thought perhaps we should start them in the lagoon like we did with the lambs. So that is where we put them initially. Gave them a pail of water and they started grazing and were happy. I was starving so we came in and I made lunch and then I looked out to check on them after lunch and they were in with the sheep. I guess the lagoon gate couldn't hold them like it did the lambs. Sigh. So I thought as long as they're in the pasture they're fine but I had concerns they could walk through our gate. The bars are spaced close enough together the sheep can't get through but I was afraid the goats could. So I got my phone and sat out with them reading the forum while keeping an eye on them. Sure enough, after only a few minutes they were trotting towards me. Luckily I was able to grab a hind leg of each quite easily. But I couldn't let go of one to pick the other up without the one getting away. So I yelled for DH and luckily he heard me. He came out laughing because there I am holding a hind leg of each goat and they could apparently care less and are both grazing at the grass in front of them! So we made them their own little run for now. It is only about 12x12 and doesn't have much greenery in it but has lots of shade, a pail of water and I gave them a tub of minerals and a tub with a little grain in it (didn't want to overdo it) and now they are securely contained. I think it is best to keep them there for a few days until they are more acclimated to us and then we can give them more space. I have wire left over from the fencing and we can affix it across the gate so they won't be able to walk out of it again after we let them loose again.


The one with the darker colored head is a doe named Gem and the caramel colored head is a billy named Smokey. The breeder offered to wether him but I decided to leave him intact and perhaps have kid or kids next spring.

She should have been a writer! I have heard that they stink to high heavens when it is mating season too.

Hechicken you are so funny. You really should have been a writer. I don't know how many times your stories have cracked me up.
Now is the time to spoil those goats. You can treat them and get them used to you and then you can handle them when they get big. Did Trish tell you about goat cookies? They were my miracle goat tamer. With cookie in hand you can make a goat do about anything. It sure beats chasing down and trying to make them go somewhere they don't want to.
Every time I see something about someone getting goats it makes me want them again. I have to say NO NO NO to myself.
You may however regret not wethering the boy though. It might not be so bad if he stays out in that large pasture but the smell of a male goat will get in your nostrils and never leave.
I always said if I had goats again I would be sure I found a friend who owned a billy and just take the female to be serviced.

Quote:
How old are you chickens? After mine get a couple months old I just switch to water bowls. Especially in summer. They allow them to cool their feet if they get hot too. In winter I use heated dog water bowls. The drip waterers are good for warm weather but won't work after it freezes.
You don't need a portable tractor. Just put the chickens in with you. They will help you dig and they will have a blast. You people and your rain!! I am so jealous!!!
Quote:
Obviously BYC was having picture loading problems yesterday. No ones pictures showed up except Hechickens. Try again! I wanna see!!
I had a busy but laid back day yesterday. Didn't do as much as I planned.
But, last evening I had to go NPIP test birds for 4-H kids for the fair. I don't make any money doing this and only charge for the serum and needles. I only charge $.50 a bird. But I made an extra $20 in just tips from people who appreciated me taking the time. I have found that being broke makes me appreciate those things a lot more than I ever did before. I came home thrilled. I was gone a lot longer than I ever had planned. I love helping out the kids especially when I know people really appreciate my efforts.
One person had a rabbit with her entire gut ripped open. The owner had been treating her with veterycin and she seemed to be doing okay but there was no lining there to keep her insides from coming out. I took a syringe and veterycin and flushed her out really well, with much disagreement by the rabbit. She had some fingernail glue which is the same thing as super glue so I glued the openings shut and left a small hole for drainage in case she got an infection. It seemed to work. I am thinking I need to buy some fingernail glue instead of super glue cause that stuff really set up quick. Then we figured out how much antibiotic and probiotics to put her on for the next 5-7 days. I hope she does okay. I am not a rabbit person but this isn't the first one I have vetted. It seems like I do a good job on other people's animals but when it comes to my own I have to panic and get hold of JosieChick and ask for advice. Sometimes I think I worry about my animals like I used to obsess about my kids. (It drove my kids nuts, BTW!

I had my gander with the infected foot in a kennel for the past several days getting treated. I gave him his final shot and put him back out with his friends yesterday. He seems to be doing okay other than still limping a little. I guess I'll watch him for a few days and make sure the swelling doesn't come back.

That is too cute! Aren't they clever little birds!

while I was doing my morning chores, I heard the sound of a baby chicken that seamed lost. I have free range hens that have been laying in Muscovy nest, and since the chicks hatch out two weeks before the ducklings, the chicks wander off. I kept following the sound, and finally found it coming from the top rail of a 6 foot high chain link fence. It was a mocking bird! May be that is why I could not locate the baby duckling I heard a while back.

I am so far behind, I read and start a post in reply and then get called away to something! Sorry to everyone and everything I haven't replied to. It was our second wedding anniversary last night so we went to dinner in Wichita and little Miss Amelia was an angel all through dinner. We got home stuffed full of wonderful food and at 10 I told DH we should head to bed soon. Ran out to get the cat food out of the car and it stunk like a skunk! Lucie had gotten sprayed square in the face so I had to wash her head off with the hose and the darn thing was still wandering around out there but by the time DH got the gun unlocked it was gone. Something has been eating eggs that get laid in the barn and I guess I know what!

 

[chicken danz]

Hey Josie did you read my post about the golden malrin and coke? It will take care of skunks too.
Put the gander back in the pen last night. The swelling is all gone and the abcess is healing and completely open. Thank you once again.
I don't think the smell of a billy is really that bad it's just that it permeates the air and you can't get away from it. It just becomes unbearable. An in tact ram will smell even stronger. And when the billies become experinced they tend to get really pushy and over bearing. I think you need about one billy per a thousand girls cause they think they have to constantly be "working."

Seems I've met a few human billies that act a lot like that too! You almost expect those billy goats to be carrying a score card on their horns!

 

[Trish44]

Danz, the lady we got the goats from keeps her billies in with the separate herds she has & honestly you don't smell them. I have been there 3 times & never smelled a bad smell there & I was up close to the billies. I had another person comment after we went there that they didn't even smell the goats. If you want to know, my meat birds stunk much worse than the dairy farm down the road from me & that smells worse than any goats I've ever been around.

When I got back yesterday I decided it was nice enough to go out & mow so I went out & got all of that done. I had been putting it off & with the rain we've had it had grown a bunch. We don't have that much grass any more after the drought, mostly weeds, but they had really gotten tall. I was freaking out about snakes after all the talk about them lately but I didn't see any. By the time I got that done I had to go feed all the birds & animals so it was after dark by the time I got all done. I was really tired after getting up early to go with HEChicken to get the goats, but it was fun going up there.

 

[chicken danz]

I wonder if keeping them separate makes a difference? I've never had a female or whether smell bad. Just mature billies. One thing they do is stick their head under the female when she urinates and it splatters all over them. I am sure that doesn't help at all.
I'm SO GLAD I'm not a goat!!!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Grrr. I multi-quoted and responded to a number of things, then it all disappeared when I tried to submit it.

I'll see if I can remember it all:

Danz, I'm sorry about that roo but glad you were able to find him and process him so quickly.

Ashncarson, the area you plan to build in looks like a great place to do it. We have three lilacs in our chicken yard and they really appreciate the shade. I have to warn you, they will eat all the foliage they can reach, though. You could also take a few branches from the dead tree and run them through the chicken wire across a corner or two to make roosts. We have a couple of those, only a few inches off the ground, but the girls love to stand on them.

Tweetybaby, get to the chiropractor! I know from experience that the longer you put off something like that, the longer it takes to recover once you have it treated. And we get no points for suffering, so why do it?

HEchicken, good news and bad news for you yesterday. That's funny about the duck. Maybe you shouldn't go out of town any more; who knows what you might forget about next?!!

As for the snake and the chick, waste not, want not. Every creature serves its purpose and every creature has to eat, right?

Stay cool everyone!

I was going to call the chiro but after seeing what Danz said, I think I'll just use the pool instead.

ashncarson I'd suggest you start out with more. Number one if they aren't old enough to sex you are going to have to get rid of some boys in time. Number two you always have to plan on a loss here and there. If I were going to have 5 hens I would probably start out with 10-12 chicks (unsexed). Of course every one knows I am excellent at chicken math. Your other option might be to get fewer chicks with the option of picking up some pure breds you get interested in later.
Tweety I had so many back problems and surgeries I can't take naproxin or ibuprofen or or almost any prescription pain killers any more. I only take tylenol. I did find that the ibuprofen gel caps aren't quite as brutal and you still get the benefits from them. ALWAYS take everything like that with food.
Yeah I'd suggest a chiropractor maybe but not the kind that cracks your bones. Use one that uses the impact tool. I was actually told by my two neurosurgeons that back crackers can paralyze you if you already have a ruptured disk. It isn't worth the risk. I have two relatives that are chiropractors and both of them agree with this theory as well although they don't admit this to their patients. Your other option which I would recommend is to go to your regular physician and get some physical therapy ordered. If you have a local work out center or pool just walking in the water backwards then forwards for 15 to 30 minutes or so at least every other day is the best physical therapy you can get for getting your back back in order. Not just my word. It's been ordered therapy for me more than once by neurologists and neurosurgeons. It's also cheaper than paying medical bills.
Sleep with a pillow between your knees if you are a side sleeper. A pillow under your knees if you are a back sleeper. And if you are a stomach sleeper....STOP IT!
Well I had another casualty last night. My spare sussex roo whom I missed butchering didn't make it into the coop last night I guess. He is missing this morning. I'm sure glad that the birds are shut up at night. The only ones that aren't are the geese and the ducks. I lost an awful lot of ducks this year to the owls. I am just hoping I don't loose more. Speaking of which I just pulled 6 cayuga babies out of the incubator that were eggs the last hen that taken by the owl was sitting on. I am so glad they hatched. It had been over 24 hours she was off of them before I was sure she was gone.
I need to get out and feed. It is getting hot and humid out there already. That couple minutes of rain made my beans come up this morning. Yay!!!

Side sleeper here and also use a pillow between legs but I think I need a better pillow though. The pool sounds much better than going to the chiro so I think I will do that instead.

Well, we had a little surprise this today, my daughter just called to tell me that my two broody bantam cochins just hatched a baby chick this morning. I did not think these eggs were fertile. We bought these cochins over two months ago, and I placed them in a large dog crate with nesting box to isolate them for a while. They laid eggs from day one. After about a couple weeks my daughter took some eggs to incubate, to our surprise two babies hatched 3 weeks ago. Then over a month ago, one of the hens went broody so I let her keep her and her roommates eggs - there are about 12 - because she growled everytime I went near her. The past few days she has been moving around a little more, so I was getting read to try to steal the eggs to throw away, but her roommate went broody about two days ago. Both of them have been sitting on each other sharing the eggs, and no one has hatched. My daughter says it looks like they both thing it is theirs. He peeks out from under them and tries to climb on them. This chick was not there last evening when they both got up for water. Can two hens share the raising of one baby? Maybe more will be born. Also, how long can a hen lay fertile eggs after being exposed to a rooster? I thought it was only a few weeks. So the moral is, chicken math can just happen by mother nature too. My husband is going to kill me, I have too many bantam pullets and cockerals in my garage already waiting for me to get rid of a rooster in my coop before I put them down there.

Ohhhh... nothing better than having baby chicks unexpectedly.

We got goats! Trish44 came with me this morning to pick them up from the same lady she got hers from. It was fun to visit with her while we drove and interesting to see the place where they were bred. They were a gift for my DH (he didn't know where I was going this morning) and after dropping Trish off, I drove home thinking about what to do with them. Originally I had thought they would be with the sheep but I didn't expect them to be so small still. So I thought perhaps we should start them in the lagoon like we did with the lambs. So that is where we put them initially. Gave them a pail of water and they started grazing and were happy. I was starving so we came in and I made lunch and then I looked out to check on them after lunch and they were in with the sheep. I guess the lagoon gate couldn't hold them like it did the lambs. Sigh. So I thought as long as they're in the pasture they're fine but I had concerns they could walk through our gate. The bars are spaced close enough together the sheep can't get through but I was afraid the goats could. So I got my phone and sat out with them reading the forum while keeping an eye on them. Sure enough, after only a few minutes they were trotting towards me. Luckily I was able to grab a hind leg of each quite easily. But I couldn't let go of one to pick the other up without the one getting away. So I yelled for DH and luckily he heard me. He came out laughing because there I am holding a hind leg of each goat and they could apparently care less and are both grazing at the grass in front of them! So we made them their own little run for now. It is only about 12x12 and doesn't have much greenery in it but has lots of shade, a pail of water and I gave them a tub of minerals and a tub with a little grain in it (didn't want to overdo it) and now they are securely contained. I think it is best to keep them there for a few days until they are more acclimated to us and then we can give them more space. I have wire left over from the fencing and we can affix it across the gate so they won't be able to walk out of it again after we let them loose again.


The one with the darker colored head is a doe named Gem and the caramel colored head is a billy named Smokey. The breeder offered to wether him but I decided to leave him intact and perhaps have kid or kids next spring.

Goats are always near and dear to my heart. I was actually thinking of getting a pair next year. I'll have to pm you and Trish so I know where to get a pair of cuties like yours and Trish's.

Well this is the coop my bf and i made out of scrap wood that was in the garage we made it to fit what wood we coild find its 2x6 and 2x4 with a and panneling and plywood with chicken wire we still are going to add a nest box to the end right now there is a shelf there.. I bought the chicken wire i had some old door hinges and we used thoes to make the giant door on one side for acess i still need to put a long 2x12 over the roofbeve vent to rain doesnt come in but i will have to buy that so right now the entire contraption takes up most of my back porch.. To add to the irony and hard work we put into building it it now sits empty the chickens now all live together in the garage... If i had known it would be that easy to make tjem happy in there i wouldnt have biilt a coop in the first place....Go figure

Chickens do have their own mind ... and they reserve the right to change their mind at any given time... hmmm... sounds like how people describe women... hmmm..

But I'm glad they are happy in your garage.

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I've to attend a gathering that my daughter's camp group puts together this evening. Now whether she will allow us to stay or not, that's a whole other story. She always wants to go home and wind down in the evening time so if she throws to big of a hissy fit, we will just have to leave. But we will give it our best shot. They are planning to have a homecoming parade, silent auction, dinner, and dance.

I will be taking some time off to put tiles down in the house. The existing tiles need to be replaced so I'll be spending some of my vacation time doing that. Then I'll also fix up some loose fence on the property so the chickens don't roam out to areas they are not supposed to. I want to make sure my dogs can't get to them. My dogs are not LGDs, the one I adopted 2 years ago (Geordi) has killed 1 chicken already and almost killed another the other day because my husband wasn't paying attention when he let them out. When the first bird was killed, my DH was there immediately after Geordi got a hold of it. We did go ahead and process it right away and thanked the bird for a good dinner. The other bird got quite a few of her neck feathers pulled out. My other dog Forrest can care less about the birds so that's good. I now make sure I leash them when they are out of the house, which is a bit silly since we have several acres and theoretically, I should not have to leash them while they are out and about but for the safety of my birds, I'll do that until the fence is reinforced and all loose boards are fixed.

Gotta get back to work. Stay cool everyone.

Argh... apparently I forgot to click Submit and by the time I did, there were a few more posts above my reply. Guess I'll come back to read more later this afternoon.

 

[ashncarson]

I am hoping to get some ideas on coops from you guys, since you know KS weather. I am stressing over ventilation in our hot summers and cold winters.

On what side of the coop is the ventilation good on, north and south, east and west....or on all of them? I understand some basics on it but am hoping to more information for those who have experienced the temperature changes! On average, what size of opening is good, or is a solid window better for lighting along with screened in areas?

I never thought it would be this hard just to figure out how to build it!

 

[zigzag45]

I also stressed on mine, all the talk about moving air, protection...

One thing I did on mine that was unique, I picked up that bubble wrap/foil type insulation/radiant barrier stuff from Lowes, built a 2" air baffle above my plywood roof, installed that, and then put the wavy fiberglass/plastic panels over the radiant barrier. My goal was to attempt to reflect heat off the top of the coop. My coop also gets alot of shade, but so far, it's always been 2-5 degrees cooler in the coop than outside. I was afraid it would end up like an oven and just bake all summer.

I did one of the automatic foundation vents low and in the back, and made a higher vent/door (6" x 2') at the top of the front. Also, my roof is set 1-2" off the back and front walls to allow some air movement. That's been it so far.

I'm still monitoring temp but things have done well so far.