Consolidated Kansas

[tweetybaby2005]

Hey guys, my boxes are 12x12x15H. The only reason why it is 15H is because the sheet was cut wrong and DH didn't want to cut again when he built the boxes so he just left them at that height. Most of my birds favor just 1 box so I sometimes found 8 eggs in 1 box and a few scattered throughout the others.

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm glad to be back online. Had a bout of kidney infection that sent me to the hospital. For those of you who remembered me complaining about my pinched nerve not getting better, it was the swelling of my kidney that was pressing against the nerve. Obviously I didn't know that until I doubled over in pain and couldn't keep anything down. Went to the Dr. and she ran some tests. Apparently the Creatinine level was very bad and WBC level was off the chart. She also told me some other levels were way off, I just don't remember what they were. She then ordered a renal sono. With all the results, she sent me straight to the hospital to be admitted and I stayed there for a few days. Hospital wifi was bad... could never get connected to the net reliably so I gave up.

Hechicken - That snake looks huge to me... looking at the pic gives me the hebeejibees...

Sharol - I really love your Orp mama and her chicks... sooo cute...

Trish - You turkey girl sure has a mind of her own, doesn't she? I hope she comes back soon enough. May be the cooler weather gives her the idea to wonder off.

Danz - Glad to see that you have birds showing in the fair. Those birds must be gorgeous. I am thinking of getting a few Orpingtons next year. They look lovely and tend to be good mamas, so I've heard.

I haven't gone back enough yet, just browsed through some pages and saw some pics. Not ignoring anyone, I just feel drained and will need some time to build my energy up. I miss my birds so much and they all look different to me, even the ducks. I have only been gone for a few days... I was really happy to see them gathering around my feet yesterday looking up at me as if saying "where have you been?!?! We missed you!!" Gotta love those silly birds...

The weather out there is really nice but the humidity is a bit high. Stay cool everyone.

 

[checoukan]

Ok, I have an Ivy update. She landed a job at the 15th street Walmart. That is the new one that replaced the tornado damaged building. She is a grocery dept. manager, and LOVES this job. She started there around the 1st of June, and just loves this area. They had a contract on their house up at Hiawatha, and was supposted to finish with it Aug. 1st, but, the people could not land a loan, and the deal fell thru. So Ivy's DH, has been staying up there, and she has been here. Not an Ideal situation, but what do you do. Any way, she came over and helped at our show, and I go over when I can. We built some turtle traps, cause her pond is just full of those leather back turtles.

Danz, Im like you, had several birds at the fair, that I had either given to 4H's, or sold at a low cost. On the 4H side, some of my birds won, Grand champion trio, grand champion bantam, Overall grand champion bantam,
On the open side, I won grand,X2, reserve grand, x 2. When the grand drive was chosen, all the birds but one came from my flocks. I didn't own some of them. I thought that was good. We had 180 entries in the fair.
The over all best two birds in the show, the reserve was the cock bird from the 4H trio. I gave those birds to the boy, he is a special needs child. I don't know but he may take the birds to hutch.

Oh, danz, I took the Q-tip cock, and he got reserve grand.

 

[chickmama1662]

They are supposed to be "show quality" They look pretty big to me and they are only 12 weeks old. How big would you make the nests?

 

[checoukan]

He chicken, I would have given that snake a one way ride somewhere a long way from my house, if it had been in my coop. If you just took him across the street it will be back.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

HEChicken- finding that snake must have been scary. Good thing it get any babies.
I have some kind of predator lurking, I lost a chick yesterday. No sign of what went down anywhere. Guess I need to get on the look out. I am trying to set up more nests because I have 6 broody hens and only 4 nest boxes lol. I have to move some so they are not going to be happy at all. Any ideas on easy nest boxes? I have a couple milk crates I am setting up, my girls don't seem to happy with open topped boxes or maybe I haven't introduced them right. When I set something like that up they still want to cram in on top of one another.

 

[Trish44]

Tweety, so sorry to hear you've been sick!

DH and I were out last night and on the way home I was yawning and so tired and really just wanted to go to bed. I do a check on the birds EVERY night before I go to bed, to make sure they are all locked up safely but last night I was so tired I briefly considered skipping it "just this once", thinking as long as I put the dogs in there, the birds would be pretty safe. Then I had the thought that if anything got in and got them, I'd never forgive myself so I went down to take care of them and this is what I found IN the coop:



In the photo it actually does not look as big as it really is. (Keep in mind, my cat is an enormous cat who weighs about 25lb, to give you a little perspective). I have two little barred rock chicks that are about 3 weeks old and one of them was sitting about 2" from the snake's head. The other was nowhere in sight. I have no idea why the chick was on the floor as they normally sleep together on the roost. I could only figure that one had been eaten and the snake was about to pounce on the second when I walked in. The chick looked frozen, like it had been hypnotized, so without really stopping to think, I grabbed the snake by the tail and dragged it out of there. The photo is taken at the house by my DH and then I took it across the street and let it go. Hopefully that was far enough away that it won't return.

I then returned to the coop to make sure everyone was okay. The chick that had been by the snake was now up on the roost, looking lonely and I felt bad for it that its friend was gone. I started moving turkeys in (they had all gone to sleep outside the coop) and much later saw the second little barred rock chick sitting on another roost. SO glad not to have lost it - these were hatched from Reese eggs and I'm excited to raise them up. I then checked out all the other babies and came in with a full count - it doesn't appear I lost any birds. Possibly some eggs but I can't get too excited about that.

The stink in the coop was overpowering. I keep pet snakes and they do NOT smell like that. This almost smelled like a skunk had let loose in there. And the other thing was that the ducks were terrified to go in. Normally they go in the coop and sleep on the floor but last night every single one of them from the oldest to the 5 ducklings who hatched a few days ago, were on the ground outside the coop. When I tried to herd them in, it was like herding cats. I could get them close to the door but then half would break left and half right, refusing to actually enter. I did eventually get them in but it took about 45 minutes. Clearly they understood the danger posed by the snake and I'm glad the older ones kept the ducklings with them - it may have kept them alive.

Ugh, I hate snakes! People sure are seeing a lot of them this year, I wonder why that is? I'm glad it didn't get your BR chick though. I'm afraid that snake would have been dead meat if it was found in my coop. I know they're harmless to us, but I just don't want them in my coop eating my eggs or chicks. I never would have thought a snake would stink, weird. I hope it doesn't come right back again.

tweetybaby, yes that turkey hen does have a mind of her own, she was gone all night again & showed up this morning when I went out to let birds out & feed chicks so she got put back in the pen. Those kidney infections do take a lot out of you, I have had them myself & they're not fun. Give yourself some time to get your strength back.

I also have 12x12 nest boxes, a bank of 6 of them & have over 20 hens using them. There is one box in the middle bottom that they don't use for some reason, but they spread eggs out in the other 5 boxes. They do have their favorites & sometimes I hear them squawking & arguing over another hen being in their box. I have walked in & there will be hens in some of them & one standing out on the roost yelling at them like hurry up & get out of there!

checoukan, that's good news about IVY getting a job, now hopefully they can get their house sold soon. The pics of their new place are just beautiful, it looks so peaceful there.

We have more rain coming tonight or tomorrow & thus a flood watch for our area since we have had quite a lot of rain lately. The ground is pretty saturated from the last two rains already. I'm hoping that our rock walls help some to divert the water away from my pens & coops, we'll find out. At least I have given the chicks more things to get up on & they seem to be learning too that when it rains they need to seek something higher to roost on. I'm hoping that main wall will divert the water around the coop they're in & away from them this time. I about killed myself yesterday moving some hefty rocks over there to make the wall higher. There is an area where we park our old truck that is over beside my breeder coop that is just full of rocks of all kinds. The rains have uncovered some of them but I dug just under the top yesterday & found some nice flat rocks to add to my wall. You don't have to dig far around here to find rocks, in fact if you dig at all you're more than likely to run into some kind of rock or a nest of them. The farther down the hill you go away from the ridge the less rocks you encounter, but up where our house is it's mostly rock. When we were planting a tree that the city had to buy is after they cut down some I asked them not to my DH was out there digging in the backyard & dug up some huge boulder type of rocks. He had quite an adventure planting that tree.

Hey, I meant to ask if anyone has found any good deals on hardware cloth lately? I need to get some for the other hoop coop I'm getting ready to build.

 

[JosieChick]

Danz- Your DNA sexing company is a LOT cheaper than the ones I found. The one I looked at was $25 a bird. I will definitely be using the one you listed.

Tweety-Glad you are on the mend. Kidney infections are nasty, take it easy and feel better soon!

He chicken, I would have given that snake a one way ride somewhere a long way from my house, if it had been in my coop. If you just took him across the street it will be back.

I have to second that. DH took one about two miles down the road and a day and a half later it was back, eating eggs, again. They really stink when they get scared or threatened, don't know what it is but it does smell kinda like a skunk!

It just rained here for a bit, I am loving this summer. My kind of Kansas!

My mom and sister are coming this weekend for a visit. So excited to have them. It will be the first time my youngest sister has met Amelia and I am so glad she is able to come out. This is her first time on a plane!

 

[chicken danz]

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm glad to be back online. Had a bout of kidney infection that sent me to the hospital. For those of you who remembered me complaining about my pinched nerve not getting better, it was the swelling of my kidney that was pressing against the nerve. Obviously I didn't know that until I doubled over in pain and couldn't keep anything down. Went to the Dr. and she ran some tests. Apparently the Creatinine level was very bad and WBC level was off the chart. She also told me some other levels were way off, I just don't remember what they were. She then ordered a renal sono. With all the results, she sent me straight to the hospital to be admitted and I stayed there for a few days. Hospital wifi was bad... could never get connected to the net reliably so I gave up.

Ok, I have an Ivy update. She landed a job at the 15th street Walmart. That is the new one that replaced the tornado damaged building. She is a grocery dept. manager, and LOVES this job. She started there around the 1st of June, and just loves this area. They had a contract on their house up at Hiawatha, and was supposted to finish with it Aug. 1st, but, the people could not land a loan, and the deal fell thru. So Ivy's DH, has been staying up there, and she has been here. Not an Ideal situation, but what do you do. Any way, she came over and helped at our show, and I go over when I can. We built some turtle traps, cause her pond is just full of those leather back turtles.

Danz, Im like you, had several birds at the fair, that I had either given to 4H's, or sold at a low cost. On the 4H side, some of my birds won, Grand champion trio, grand champion bantam, Overall grand champion bantam,
On the open side, I won grand,X2, reserve grand, x 2. When the grand drive was chosen, all the birds but one came from my flocks. I didn't own some of them. I thought that was good. We had 180 entries in the fair.
The over all best two birds in the show, the reserve was the cock bird from the 4H trio. I gave those birds to the boy, he is a special needs child. I don't know but he may take the birds to hutch.

Oh, danz, I took the Q-tip cock, and he got reserve grand.

Great news about Ivy. Sad news about their house. I do hope it sells for them soon. Glad the Q tip did well. Have you raised many chicks since he finally learned what to do?

Ugh, I hate snakes! People sure are seeing a lot of them this year, I wonder why that is? I'm glad it didn't get your BR chick though. I'm afraid that snake would have been dead meat if it was found in my coop. I know they're harmless to us, but I just don't want them in my coop eating my eggs or chicks. I never would have thought a snake would stink, weird. I hope it doesn't come right back again.
Yeah black snakes release a musk from their tail. It does stink. I am with Checoukan and Trish. There is plenty for them to eat without going to my coops.
I did actually let one go the other day because it had a mouse in it's mouth. It was upsetting my peafowl though so I chased it out of the pen.

checoukan, that's good news about IVY getting a job, now hopefully they can get their house sold soon. The pics of their new place are just beautiful, it looks so peaceful there.

We have more rain coming tonight or tomorrow & thus a flood watch for our area since we have had quite a lot of rain lately. The ground is pretty saturated from the last two rains already. I'm hoping that our rock walls help some to divert the water away from my pens & coops, we'll find out. At least I have given the chicks more things to get up on & they seem to be learning too that when it rains they need to seek something higher to roost on. I'm hoping that main wall will divert the water around the coop they're in & away from them this time. I about killed myself yesterday moving some hefty rocks over there to make the wall higher. There is an area where we park our old truck that is over beside my breeder coop that is just full of rocks of all kinds. The rains have uncovered some of them but I dug just under the top yesterday & found some nice flat rocks to add to my wall. You don't have to dig far around here to find rocks, in fact if you dig at all you're more than likely to run into some kind of rock or a nest of them. The farther down the hill you go away from the ridge the less rocks you encounter, but up where our house is it's mostly rock. When we were planting a tree that the city had to buy is after they cut down some I asked them not to my DH was out there digging in the backyard & dug up some huge boulder type of rocks. He had quite an adventure planting that tree.
Please send rain my direction!!!!!
Hey, I meant to ask if anyone has found any good deals on hardware cloth lately? I need to get some for the other hoop coop I'm getting ready to build.

Well I only have a minute and have to get off of here. I am VERY unhappy. I was out feeding and watering and found that a predator had made it to my pen of my most expensive half grown chicks. And of course it got my favorite chick of all. A beautiful fluffy English orpington that was all white with a lavender head spot. I believe it was a possum because the head was gone and the insides were eaten leaving the rib cage. I don't know where my stupid dogs were when this was going on. Those chicks kept sleeping outside and I would put them in the shelter and they would come back out. So instead of getting my stuff I planned done I spent the afternoon putting up a row of chicken wire on the pen. It is chain link and 10X 20 feet. I am surprised the predator got the bird out but all the feathers were at one corner where two panels joined together. I hope the chicken wire works and the dogs work too!! They've been so busy lately I suppose they were off after something else at the time.

 

[cherwill]

My niece has been hosting a Northern Irish teen from The Ulster Project http://www.ulsterproject.org/index.html and they had their variety show tonight. It was a lot of fun and those kids are pretty talented. The teen staying with my niece's family is such a sweet girl. My niece is going to be lost when the girl goes home, which is Monday.

Tweety, so sorry to hear you've been sick!

DH and I were out last night and on the way home I was yawning and so tired and really just wanted to go to bed. I do a check on the birds EVERY night before I go to bed, to make sure they are all locked up safely but last night I was so tired I briefly considered skipping it "just this once", thinking as long as I put the dogs in there, the birds would be pretty safe. Then I had the thought that if anything got in and got them, I'd never forgive myself so I went down to take care of them and this is what I found IN the coop:

Maybe it's the angle, but I don't see a chick-sized lump. Maybe your little chick just hid itself somewhere reeeeeeaaaaal good. I hope so!

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm glad to be back online. Had a bout of kidney infection that sent me to the hospital. For those of you who remembered me complaining about my pinched nerve not getting better, it was the swelling of my kidney that was pressing against the nerve. Obviously I didn't know that until I doubled over in pain and couldn't keep anything down. Went to the Dr. and she ran some tests. Apparently the Creatinine level was very bad and WBC level was off the chart. She also told me some other levels were way off, I just don't remember what they were. She then ordered a renal sono. With all the results, she sent me straight to the hospital to be admitted and I stayed there for a few days. Hospital wifi was bad... could never get connected to the net reliably so I gave up.

Kidney infections are no fun. I'm glad you're home from the hospital and feeling better.

Ok, I have an Ivy update. She landed a job at the 15th street Walmart. That is the new one that replaced the tornado damaged building. She is a grocery dept. manager, and LOVES this job. She started there around the 1st of June, and just loves this area. They had a contract on their house up at Hiawatha, and was supposted to finish with it Aug. 1st, but, the people could not land a loan, and the deal fell thru. So Ivy's DH, has been staying up there, and she has been here. Not an Ideal situation, but what do you do. Any way, she came over and helped at our show, and I go over when I can. We built some turtle traps, cause her pond is just full of those leather back turtles.

Good news about the job. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the house sells soon; too bad about the contract.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Is anyone in S.W. Kansas, Dodge City area?