Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I added some new members to the bird clan here today. Here they are:


They just came out of the crate & acted like they have always lived here. They tried out the pool & approved.

Here are the muscovies I got from HEChicken, they're really getting big now:


You can see all the ducks just standing together, they started walking around as a group right after the 3 new ones came home.

 

[HEChicken]

Congratulations on the Anconas Trish - they are really pretty!

 

[chicken danz]

Wow I can't believe the forecast. So cool and rainy. Looks like finally we may get some rain in the next several days. It actually feels chilly outside. I may have to wear jeans today.
I hatched another large batch of guinea keets yesterday. I only have one more tray of them in the incubator. I think they will hatch about the 2nd. I think I'll pick out just a few to keep for myself for breeding next year. I don't want to feed them over winter although I certainly make good money on them in the spring. It is so hard to control my number of birds when I enjoy them so much and know the potential for selling them later is good. But I can only afford to feed so many.
The turkey eggs are really slowing down now. I think I had 5 turkey poults hatch yesterday. It's getting late for birds to grow large enough to eat by the holidays but hens would still lay next summer. This cooler weather may spark off some extra laying in the birds this week.
I still have a couple dozen lemon cuckoo and lavender chicks to move. They are starting to get big.
I have one lavender orp whom I believe is broody in the coop. I haven't been collecting eggs since I don't want to hatch. I guess if she hatches any it's a bonus that I didn't have to. I could eat the eggs but I've just ignored them so far.
I took all the eggs from the exhibition orpingtons yesterday. I have 4 broody hens in there that have been sitting forever. There wasn't a viable egg in the bunch. I was hoping they'd hatch a chick or two so they'd get over being broody. Now they are all sitting on air. Dumb birds. I think I'll go in and change out all the straw and stuff so they have a fresh place. Maybe they won't like it if I do that.
I need to get some more metal gone through today. I haven't gotten DH to help at all and he isn't really wanting to cooperate. He thinks he can hold onto everything.
I have some aluminum canopies that were over the windows here when I bought this place. I hate those things. They look so outdated. The only one we left up was a cover for the back door. They would bring some decent money but I got an idea to use them on the chicken coops to give some more shade. If I can't make trees appear where I want I might as well use them for my benefit.
They also keep out the rain to some degree. The two I took down are pretty big.

 

[Polishpal]

Getting ready for the Johnson county fair,I'm super exited! Anyone else going?

 

[Trish44]

It really rained hard here again last night, it's just a muddy mess here. I have to be careful not to slide around on these hills when I go out to feed. We had a little more rain today too & we have rain forecasted for pretty much every day this week here. We could use a little break inbetween at least. We can use the rain but I wish it could be spread out a little more. The ducks are happy about it anyway, it's nice something is happy. The goats were on the front porch when it rained today trying to get out of it, they hate being wet. At least I think we have stopped the water from running into the hoop coops so bad now with the wall we put up. I didn't find any wet or drowned chicks this morning, so that was a good thing.

I cleaned out the brooder yesterday & when I moved the lavender Orps Danz I noticed they're really starting to get some bulk to them. They are pretty big birds & seem to grow fairly fast. The rooster out in the growout pen is really looking nice. I can't wait to get them all separated into their own pens, but I have to get this hoop coop done first. If it will only stop raining long enough.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

Hi All, I'm a transplanted Okie living on the edge of the Flint Hills. DH and I got into the chicken thing when we bought out a beekeeper that had chickens she needed to get rid of as she was moving out of state. Besides the bees we brought home 3 older hens, 7 chicks ( couldn't catch their mom ), 1 duck and 2 geese. Now, 5 weeks later, we have added 2 BO pullets, 2 Ameracana roos, 4 turkeys, and 18 plus 21 guineas. On top of that we have 36 guinea eggs and 7 black copper Maran eggs in the incubator. We didn't have a coop at first so used a stock trailer but we now have a decent coop and we're trying to get the yard finished, this rain is making things a little difficult. All of our fowl are housed together and everyone seems to get along. I do plan to build the duck and geese a separate pen when the rain lets up. My goal is to get a breeder trio of Pilgrim geese, had them back in the 80's, loved them and want to do it all over again.

 

[ashncarson]

Hi All, I'm a transplanted Okie living on the edge of the Flint Hills. DH and I got into the chicken thing when we bought out a beekeeper that had chickens she needed to get rid of as she was moving out of state. Besides the bees we brought home 3 older hens, 7 chicks ( couldn't catch their mom ), 1 duck and 2 geese. Now, 5 weeks later, we have added 2 BO pullets, 2 Ameracana roos, 4 turkeys, and 18 plus 21 guineas. On top of that we have 36 guinea eggs and 7 black copper Maran eggs in the incubator. We didn't have a coop at first so used a stock trailer but we now have a decent coop and we're trying to get the yard finished, this rain is making things a little difficult. All of our fowl are housed together and everyone seems to get along. I do plan to build the duck and geese a separate pen when the rain lets up. My goal is to get a breeder trio of Pilgrim geese, had them back in the 80's, loved them and want to do it all over again.

welcome! I am pretty new here at well, just now building a coop and run for 5 hens, getting them in a few weeks, they are about 2 weeks old right now! I am in Reno County!

Sounds like you have a great plan with what to do with your animals!

 

[chicken danz]

Welcome OkieQueenBee. I came from Kansas originally but spend several years in OKC. My sons were all born there. Of course they are all grown and gone. I always considered Oklahoma my home even though I've spent many more years in Kansas.
Sounds like you have quite a little managerie there. You aren't really far from me. I'm the other direction from Emporia.
I can't complain about the rain. We haven't been getting the rain so many others have. Today it has sprinkled off and on all day. A perfect rain for the garden.
I've been out working in it. Trying to get all the scrap metal gathered up. I even hauled some stuff out from the basement. Of course I had to take it all apart and salvage some parts off things. Nothing much goes out of here with a cord or switches I can use elsewhere. If I'd been working out in the barn I am sure I could have loaded up at least another ton of stuff. But I guess it will have to wait until another time. I love purging some of this stuff.
I've been burning some scraps as well trying little by little to get some of this major mess cleaned up. What is sad is a great deal of it is stuff that was here when we moved here. I feel I've salvaged about all the usable pieces from it so it's time to get a little money from it.
My chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys are all free ranging today. I see no need to put out food while it is raining cause it will just get ruined. So only the babies have been fed so far today. I've been burning some scraps as well trying little by little to get some of this major mess cleaned up.
Trish there are some nice hefty lavenders in my group and some that aren't as large as I would like. Once I get the newer ones from hinksjc grown up I might sell the smaller sized hens and just keep the bigger ones. I really want exhibition line birds with excellent temperaments. Not everyone wants big birds but I figure I want something that people are going to see and say Wow!
I also can't wait for my English birds to get grown. They can really add a whole new dimension to 'Big.'

 

[lizzyGSR]

All this talk of rain has me a bit jealous! It's been so long since we've gotten enough rain to actually create MUD that I have a hard time remembering how messy/frustrating it can be! It has cooled off considerably here today, though. Just couple days ago, the high was in the 90's. Today, we barely got about 60 degrees, easily smashing the record for the coolest high temperature. It has been cloudy here, and we've gotten drizzle off and on, but it isn't anywhere near enough.

I've got a question for those of you who have experience with bumblefoot. About a month or 6 weeks ago, I had a duck that was in the kiddie pool with the dog. This was incredibly strange behavior for my birds, so I investigated and discovered that this bird had a large bumblefoot infection on the bottom of her foot. I think she was hot enough (with a fever) that she was in the pool trying to keep herself cool. The pool wasn't even enough, so she was pulling feathers out trying to stay cool. Not seeing any better option, my husband and I performed bumblefoot surgery on her that evening, though we didn't have quite the correct tools (no scalpel, so we used a Cutco brand hunting knife and Cutco brand pairing knife). I sprayed her foot with Vetericyn and wrapped it with vet wrap for a week or so after that. It started to look better, so I stopped wrapping it. Yesterday, I decided to look at all my birds' feet again and discovered that this particular bird still has a large swollen spot on her foot and still has a scab from the surgery. I personally was surprised that it wasn't completely healed and that the swollen area didn't appear any smaller. I wrapped both feet (the other foot had a couple of minor bumblefoot spots that needed attention) yesterday and again today. Is there anything else I should be doing for her? I don't know if it pertains to this or not, but I've also noticed that this bird has a bare area around her eyes. I don't know if it is related, but none of the other birds have that.

 

[ashncarson]

So I know its not chickens or birds, butI have 6 black swallowtail chrysalis in my house and just had a butterfly emerge about a hour ago! What rainy weather for that to happen in!

One of the caterpillars escaped the tank and attached himself to the side of our couch! oops!