Consolidated Kansas

[sharol]

I don't really have a way (or the space) to separate them out in the main coop -- it is only 6x8, so space is pretty much already designated. However, when everyone is in the yard (most of most days), they are all sort of together with just wire between them.

Sharol, not sure if your setup will allow this but what I did was setting up a section with just the chicken wire in my main coop. I let the 5 to 7 weekers in the small sectioned off area and block off the entrance. The bigger birds will gawk and check them out but can't hurt the little ones. After a week or 2, I just let the little ones out the same time I let the rest of the flock out. I have done this 3 different times and seemed to work. I do leave a small entrance for the smaller chicks to run back in when the bigger birds peck at them. For the most part, they figure things out on their own. Since you have a bigger yard with a smallish flock, I think it will work for you. I don't recommend just putting them together without the slow introduction though unless you can supervise closely. Hope this helps.

 

[chicken danz]

I just got home and some of you are probably ready for bed. Long days right now.
Tweety, I haven't seen any difference in the electric bills. The one I am using right now is rated at 85 wts. But I set the humidity level and it only runs now and then. It can be hours before it kicks in or just a few minutes if it's really wet. What I like about it is the water that accumulates in the tank is totally pure. I have an RO-DI filter I used to use for my salt water fish and coral tanks but I used water from the dehumidifier because it was even purer. It is like fresh rain water with no additives at all. I've also given it to chicks because I know there is nothing harmful in it.
I have had a few of these dehumidifiers and the one I am running now is a Maytag. I have had 3 different brands before this one. I like this one best because they others had low-medium-high humidity settings and low and high fan settings. This one has a digital read out and I can set the humidity level I want to maintain. I keep it set between 45 and 50 most of the time. I am very allergic to mold and this keeps mold out of the house by removing the excess moisture.
Trish with that concrete wall I would absolutely have to have a dehumidifier. I really need to buy another one for my basement but it isn't in the budget right now. The one that was down there was at least 7 years old and finally quit. I suspect it got low on freon.
Sharol sounds like you've got a plan. At 7 weeks they should be great at being outside. I have some that are about 3 weeks that run all over the yard. Only because the broody hatched 14 babies and she can't keep up with them all!! The other chickens just leave them alone.
I hauled some more stuff home this evening. I've got to quit. I really don't have a place for this stuff. We spent a few hours going through pictures and found some awesome old ones. I sure wish I was as cute and skinny as I used to be!!! Don't we all!!! LOL

 

[sharol]

Trish, we live in a full berm house (earth sheltered on 3 sides and the roof). I have a dehumidifier that I run whenever it is humid and we aren't using the AC. When the humidity gets up around 70% it is just miserable, and much of the time, the house "wants" to sit at about 76. 76 is quite comfortable unless the humidity is high, and it is cheaper to run the de-humidifier than it is to run the AC (and I'm too old to be that uncomfortable). Mine is a GE. Just don't use the water to water plants -- it is distilled water and has no nutrients for plants. Works great in the iron, though.

Yeah, a plan is always good, and the first day is always the most stressful. We will see if I have the guts to let the teenagers out of their little pen this afternoon. It would really help to get them out of there. I'll just plan to spend some serious time supervising the initial contact and see what happens. Chickens are so social that I suspect if the initial intro goes fairly well, they will move right in with the girls.

That kitten we found on the straw bale has now found the dog door. I really would like her to wait to become an indoor/outdoor cat, but she has different ideas. Yesterday she was stalking my Welsumer (she is molting and has no sense of humor). Lizbeth turned around and gave her a monumental stink eye, and Emma (the kitten) backed off in a hurry. I'm glad to see her developing a healthy respect for the chickens while she is little.

Gotta go move the hoop coop (again -- the grass only lasts a couple of days with Marlena scratching around in the run part). I'm running out of "high ground" for it. Maybe the rain will subside for a while. The outlook is dryer anyway.

***snip***
Trish with that concrete wall I would absolutely have to have a dehumidifier. I really need to buy another one for my basement but it isn't in the budget right now. The one that was down there was at least 7 years old and finally quit. I suspect it got low on freon.

Sharol sounds like you've got a plan. At 7 weeks they should be great at being outside. I have some that are about 3 weeks that run all over the yard. Only because the broody hatched 14 babies and she can't keep up with them all!! The other chickens just leave them alone.
I hauled some more stuff home this evening. I've got to quit. I really don't have a place for this stuff. We spent a few hours going through pictures and found some awesome old ones. I sure wish I was as cute and skinny as I used to be!!! Don't we all!!! LOL

 

[HEChicken]

Something sort of bizarre has happened to one of my muscovy drakes. He was always jet black all over, except for a "necklace" of white around his neck which I thought was very attractive because it was a very neat, even ring of white. A couple of weeks ago I went to do evening chores and it looked like he had been scalped. His entire head and neck was bare down to the skin! I've never known how that happened and assumed that he and his brother got into it and the brother pulled all his feathers out. They've occasionally scrapped but it never lead to serious injury, and even on this occasion there was no injury - just the missing feathers, which I knew would grow back. Here's the thing though - he has been growing them in steadily since then but they are now pure white! I.e., a drake that had always had a jet black head and neck, now has a pure white head and neck with a black body. DH suggested he might be molting, when he showed up bald like that, but it seemed odd to me to molt that fast - he was fine that morning and by evening he was bald - and since it was only the head/neck and not the rest of his feathers, I didn't think it was molt. But now, in addition to regrowing the head/neck feathers as white, he has lost his primary flight feathers. So I'm not sure what's going on with him - perhaps it really is a molt, but its strange that the regrowth is a different color altogether. Interesting to keep an eye on....

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I don't really have a way (or the space) to separate them out in the main coop -- it is only 6x8, so space is pretty much already designated. However, when everyone is in the yard (most of most days), they are all sort of together with just wire between them.

Sharol, glad you have a plan for the chicks to go out. As Danz said, 7 weeks are plenty old to be out and about in the summer, especially this nice summer (not scorchingly hot).

I just got home and some of you are probably ready for bed. Long days right now.
Tweety, I haven't seen any difference in the electric bills. The one I am using right now is rated at 85 wts. But I set the humidity level and it only runs now and then. It can be hours before it kicks in or just a few minutes if it's really wet. What I like about it is the water that accumulates in the tank is totally pure. I have an RO-DI filter I used to use for my salt water fish and coral tanks but I used water from the dehumidifier because it was even purer. It is like fresh rain water with no additives at all. I've also given it to chicks because I know there is nothing harmful in it.
I have had a few of these dehumidifiers and the one I am running now is a Maytag. I have had 3 different brands before this one. I like this one best because they others had low-medium-high humidity settings and low and high fan settings. This one has a digital read out and I can set the humidity level I want to maintain. I keep it set between 45 and 50 most of the time. I am very allergic to mold and this keeps mold out of the house by removing the excess moisture.
Trish with that concrete wall I would absolutely have to have a dehumidifier. I really need to buy another one for my basement but it isn't in the budget right now. The one that was down there was at least 7 years old and finally quit. I suspect it got low on freon.
Sharol sounds like you've got a plan. At 7 weeks they should be great at being outside. I have some that are about 3 weeks that run all over the yard. Only because the broody hatched 14 babies and she can't keep up with them all!! The other chickens just leave them alone.
I hauled some more stuff home this evening. I've got to quit. I really don't have a place for this stuff. We spent a few hours going through pictures and found some awesome old ones. I sure wish I was as cute and skinny as I used to be!!! Don't we all!!! LOL

Danz... thanks for the dehumidifier info. I'm definitely going to look for a couple of them in the near future. This old house I'm in sure feels damp and I would like to think having lower humidity will help the heat pump run more efficiently. I'm glad the water is pure because we have a water softener and I loaded the 55 gallon fish tank with soft water after we moved in before I realized that it may not be good for the fish but the fish seem to be doing OK (I did have 1 died soon after but it was because the other fish pecked it to death).

Trish, we live in a full berm house (earth sheltered on 3 sides and the roof). I have a dehumidifier that I run whenever it is humid and we aren't using the AC. When the humidity gets up around 70% it is just miserable, and much of the time, the house "wants" to sit at about 76. 76 is quite comfortable unless the humidity is high, and it is cheaper to run the de-humidifier than it is to run the AC (and I'm too old to be that uncomfortable). Mine is a GE. Just don't use the water to water plants -- it is distilled water and has no nutrients for plants. Works great in the iron, though.

Yeah, a plan is always good, and the first day is always the most stressful. We will see if I have the guts to let the teenagers out of their little pen this afternoon. It would really help to get them out of there. I'll just plan to spend some serious time supervising the initial contact and see what happens. Chickens are so social that I suspect if the initial intro goes fairly well, they will move right in with the girls.

That kitten we found on the straw bale has now found the dog door. I really would like her to wait to become an indoor/outdoor cat, but she has different ideas. Yesterday she was stalking my Welsumer (she is molting and has no sense of humor). Lizbeth turned around and gave her a monumental stink eye, and Emma (the kitten) backed off in a hurry. I'm glad to see her developing a healthy respect for the chickens while she is little.

Gotta go move the hoop coop (again -- the grass only lasts a couple of days with Marlena scratching around in the run part). I'm running out of "high ground" for it. Maybe the rain will subside for a while. The outlook is dryer anyway.

Sharol - glad you are also having good luck with the dehumidifier. I think I'll be using the water from it to top off the fish tank instead of watering the plants but that's great advise. If you didn't mention about not using the water to water the plants, I may have done it myself!

Something sort of bizarre has happened to one of my muscovy drakes. He was always jet black all over, except for a "necklace" of white around his neck which I thought was very attractive because it was a very neat, even ring of white. A couple of weeks ago I went to do evening chores and it looked like he had been scalped. His entire head and neck was bare down to the skin! I've never known how that happened and assumed that he and his brother got into it and the brother pulled all his feathers out. They've occasionally scrapped but it never lead to serious injury, and even on this occasion there was no injury - just the missing feathers, which I knew would grow back. Here's the thing though - he has been growing them in steadily since then but they are now pure white! I.e., a drake that had always had a jet black head and neck, now has a pure white head and neck with a black body. DH suggested he might be molting, when he showed up bald like that, but it seemed odd to me to molt that fast - he was fine that morning and by evening he was bald - and since it was only the head/neck and not the rest of his feathers, I didn't think it was molt. But now, in addition to regrowing the head/neck feathers as white, he has lost his primary flight feathers. So I'm not sure what's going on with him - perhaps it really is a molt, but its strange that the regrowth is a different color altogether. Interesting to keep an eye on....

Hechicken - Oooohhh... that's an interesting change! I like the ring of pearl from your description but the all black body and white head sounds very interesting now. Do you happen to have a before and after picture?

************************************************************************************
First day back to work today and lots of catching up to do. I didn't read any company emails for 2 weeks so I'm trying to skim through the ones I think are important. I heard the coyotes howling around 1:30am this morning so I was afraid the birds were gone. But DH checked and all was well.

We are trying to get the old house all painted and wrap up any last minute clean up so it can be rented out. DH said someone was asking about the house already so it makes it that much more urgent to have it all be ready. The problem is, we have a pond in the backyard. Lots of people, especially people with kids probably don't like having a pond or pool in the backyard. So I worried that it will be hard to rent it out. I told DH we should just fill it in since he killed all the fish a month ago (he was topping off the pond but forgot to turn off the water). He is reluctant to do it. Guess we will see if the potential renter(s) is willing to deal with a pond of not.

 

[chicken danz]

Actually HeChicken the drake situation is not abnormal. It is very common for colored ducks to loose color as they age. Cayugas for instance usually start out pure black or with a small amount of white on the front of their neck. As they age they get more and more white. I have a friend who has one that is probably about 5-6 years old that is pure white with a few scattered black feathers. It started out pure black. I didn't think it was possible but some of my older cayuga hens were getting really white starting at the head and then working more and more down through the body. Unfortunately I lost all the the old girsl to the owl this spring. So now I'm back to young black ones. I don't know about the head becoming bare fast but I would guess he is molting as well.
My guess is that molting feathers must itch because you see them picking at their feathers a lot when they are molting. Perhaps his head itched and he found some place to rub it to relieve the itching and knocked off the feathers.
I'm not an expert on ducks by any means but I love just sitting and watching them and I see these kinds of behaviors.
Sharol you'll have to let us know how the 7 week olds do. If it doesn't go well. Don't give up. The chickens may have to establish a pecking order. As long as no one is getting beat up though they should be fine.
Sounds like kitty has made herself well at home. I have to laugh at my cats. They take a wide birth around the chickens. A good peck on the head just once seems to work well.
Tweety I would leave your pond functioning. It's a great attraction for some people. I think I would add a few gold fish though to make it look nicer. If people worry about small children they could always put up a little fence around it. In my opinion children young enough to fall in shouldn't be outside unsupervised in the first place. Of course that is just me talking.
I don't envy you going back to work. The worst thing about vacations was all the catching up I had to do when I got back.

 

[chicken danz]

Well I'm pretty excited. I had a silver award chalice given to me because it said Awarded by the Missouri State Poultry Association engraved on it. It was in Mom and Dad's stuff. Yesterday we found a very old picture of my great great grandparents. There was a secretary much like the one I have from the 1880's in the picture and this particular piece was in the cabinet. I looked up the Hallmark and serial number. It turns out it is nickel that is plated in silver and was produced between 1891 and 1897. I feel so proud to own something that old that came from my family. My Dad had told me that the old family had had buff orpingtons and they were huge chickens. Obviously my great great grandparents must have shown them in the fair.
There is another piece in there I didn't get the Hallmark off of. I need to get that and research it as well.
Just one more interesting chicken fact. Do you think I am an incarnation of one of my ancestors?

I love the same birds and the same furniture era.

 

[Trish44]

Well I'm pretty excited. I had a silver award chalice given to me because it said Awarded by the Missouri State Poultry Association engraved on it. It was in Mom and Dad's stuff. Yesterday we found a very old picture of my great great grandparents. There was a secretary much like the one I have from the 1880's in the picture and this particular piece was in the cabinet. I looked up the Hallmark and serial number. It turns out it is nickel that is plated in silver and was produced between 1891 and 1897. I feel so proud to own something that old that came from my family. My Dad had told me that the old family had had buff orpingtons and they were huge chickens. Obviously my great great grandparents must have shown them in the fair.
There is another piece in there I didn't get the Hallmark off of. I need to get that and research it as well.
Just one more interesting chicken fact. Do you think I am an incarnation of one of my ancestors?

I love the same birds and the same furniture era.

That's pretty cool Danz, yes maybe you are one of your ancestors reincarnated. I actually like a lot of the old furniture better than the new stuff. I love antiques & have a few pieces in my house. I probably would have more if I could.

I just got back from the dentist a few minutes ago & still have somewhat of a numb mouth. It's starting to wake up though now after over 4 hours. I don't know why they have to give you so much anesthetic that lasts so long. I hate walking around with a numb mouth & tongue. I ended up eating a concrete at Freddy's Frozen Custard because I wasn't supposed to chew & I couldn't feel half my tongue at that time. My DH said it was kind of a weird lunch & yes it was, but it was better than none at all.

 

[pikeman94]

Well I'm pretty excited. I had a silver award chalice given to me because it said Awarded by the Missouri State Poultry Association engraved on it. It was in Mom and Dad's stuff. Yesterday we found a very old picture of my great great grandparents. There was a secretary much like the one I have from the 1880's in the picture and this particular piece was in the cabinet. I looked up the Hallmark and serial number. It turns out it is nickel that is plated in silver and was produced between 1891 and 1897. I feel so proud to own something that old that came from my family. My Dad had told me that the old family had had buff orpingtons and they were huge chickens. Obviously my great great grandparents must have shown them in the fair.
There is another piece in there I didn't get the Hallmark off of. I need to get that and research it as well.
Just one more interesting chicken fact. Do you think I am an incarnation of one of my ancestors?

I love the same birds and the same furniture era.

Genetics are funny like that. My grandfather and I don't speak much, but I am told by several family members that our mannerisms and ways of speaking are identical. In fact there was a photo of him taken when he was 21. So I left it out on the mantle when we had various gatherings and people thought I had gone and gotten one of those old time photos taken.

End game - I can totally see the connection for you on a deeper level.

 

[ashncarson]

I will sit down and read the rest of the messesage from today later tonight, but just had a chance of plans and will be leaving to pick up our chicks in a little bit :/ It sounds like they will be staying in the house for a bit until the coop/run is done! The owners are ready to pass them on to us!!

Wish me luck as they is super last minute!