Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I hear you on the carrying the turkeys in, I have had to do that several times since I moved my turkeys to this hoop coop. The two older ones seem to be kind of freaked out by the pen for some reason. They were always in dog runs before, so I guess that's what they were used to, but they have more room in the hoop coop.

I'm in a place where nobody can see any decorations on the outside anyway so I don't figure it makes much sense to have those. I used to do it just for myself, but it just doesn't seem to matter any more. My DH is a bah humbug type of person about Christmas, he could care less if it got skipped completely, so it's kind of hard for me because I used to love Christmas.

 

[chicken danz]

Me too. DH could care less and leaves it all up to me. I know I feel better if I decorate but the last few years I don't get in the mood for the holidays until it is all over. It seems like late January or early February before the weather seems right for one thing. I guess I really miss having the kids at home and feeding off their excitement.
I used to spend days putting up the outside decorations. I had hooks along the roof lines and had to set up scaffolding even with an extention pole to hang the lights. Then I had the wrap-around porch railings and those were always decorated too. I have about a 30 foot long sleigh and reindeer I always put in the yard. I haven't put it up here. It is a lot of work to get set up. It's wood pieces that fit together then you have to stake it all down and add lights and stuff. I think I've mentioned before that I like to decorate a tree in a monochromatic theme or at most two colors. So I have bins full of decorations for different color schemes.
I bought shooting meteor lights last year for the tree this year. I'm not sure if I'll use them or not. I may put them on the windows though cause they are awesome
I still love it all though. When we were going through all the stuff at Mom and Dad's week before last I found tons of Christmas stuff of course I would love to have. But then I asked myself what the point was. I don't even get what I have put up. We'd be better off to sell it.
Guess I'd better quit dinking around and go let the birds out so they don't cook.

 

[ashncarson]

I don't remember. Are they all the same breed? Sometimes that makes a difference too.

The dad is a black cochin for all of them, but the moms are different. 4 are black and then the one getting picked on is a barred rock mix.

 

[chicken danz]

Cochins are usually really easy going and barred rocks tend to be more bossy. You have some weird chicks there!!

 

[ashncarson]

Ashncarson- first let me say I'm no expert but I had a couple ideas. Maybe they are having a growth spurt and could use a little protein like say, a scrambled egg or some yogurt so they don't try to canibalize the weekest one.(sounds harsh but they can be little monsters sometimes) Or maybe they need some things to keep them busy,when mine were little and stuck in the brooder tank I would put a tree branch in there for them to climb on and some scrap corn on the cob for them to pick at or an old apple cut in half(seeds taken out). Sort of like small children and puppies ,if they are hungry or bored or both they can get into mischief ; )
Just a thought .

Thanks for all the ideas! I am hoping to have them out in the coop this week! I will try the yogurt as I have some of that on hand! I bet they will enjoy that!

Chicks do tend to pick on the weakest one. I had two lavender Ameraucanas hatch today & have some chicks in the brooder waiting for someone to pick them up tomorrow that are about 5 days old & they have been picking on the two new ones today. I have had to go in several times & turn the babies back over because they get knocked on their backs & then don't know how to get up yet. They can be pretty ornery to each other, I have seen them even picking on each other too.

I bet those new chicks will be happy when the older ones are gone!

Ash, it's also how they determine their place in the flock. It can be vicious and hard to see, but it's how chickens are wired. Your flock has spotted a weakness and they're all jockeying for position or to improve their position. Mine have their little spats, but usually one gives up before anything too serious happens. Unfortunately, your guy has an injury that will trigger the others to pick on him more. When this was happening with some of my niece's ducks, the blue dye worked really well. I'm not sure what else you can do, besides keeping them separated until he's healed. I don't know this from experience, but I've heard that interfering in the flock's determination of pecking order can make things worse.

I got some of the blu-kote and will try to put them back again together once it cools off a bit outside!

 

[ashncarson]

Cochins are usually really easy going and barred rocks tend to be more bossy. You have some weird chicks there!!

There is also a chance of Araucana mom as well, the hen who raised them was a bantam!

 

[ashncarson]

Just a small update. I put some of the blu-kote on him. They had about 30 minutes of free range outside their cage (which had them seperated) and Apple Jack would do some mock fighting with the other one I think is a male and then back down running away.....but they never actually pecked at him, just chased him a bit. He seemed to be accepted much better tonight

 

[lizzyGSR]

After this evening, I feel much better about taking the horses to town by myself tomorrow. My husband was home this evening. He helped me hook the truck up to the trailer and then stood by and watched as I loaded the horses myself. I then gave the horses a small amount of grain in the trailer as a reward, and he held one of the buckets while they ate. Then, he stood and watched while I unloaded the horses and put them away. It went off without a hitch and only took about 15 minutes to load (roughly, I wasn't watching the clock).

Then, to help me feel better about things, he convinced me to take the truck and trailer for a short drive (sans horses) this evening. He rode along and made comments where he thought necessary but mostly just complimented me on my driving. I still get nervous driving with the horses in the back (maybe I've heard too many horror stories), but I feel a bit better after a short "practice run" today. When I put the horse that's nervous about the trailer in today, she was mauling me for treats... She's obviously not too terribly worried about the trailer if she's begging for food.

 

[22qZoo]

Danz & Trish44 , Are you trying to make 94 degrees not sound so bad with all this talk of Christmas ? That's funny , two days ago I started working on my family. This year I want Christmas to be about everything but the presents. I would really just like to experience it,look at it , listen to it, taste it ,cook it, I just don't want to shop for it. I thought if I start working on them now I might get some traction by Thanksgiving. I know I have to do some shopping for the two kids but the rest of us grown-ups really don't need anything and I don't enjoy shopping.

 

[cleansquared]

I might take a road trip to fl this year for xmas.. My aunt is going and i may tag along we will see i guess on how every thing is doing so far im not even sure we are closing on this house on scedual... A guy from winfeld was supposed to come up to appraise it on thurs.. He had something blow up so hes going to try again monday bank guy is out of town till monday of next week and we are supposed to close on that wed.. I have had no luck finding a roofer to give me an estimite which is also supposed to be done by closing.. Omg im so stressed out this is crazy ive had 3 roofers flake on giving an estimate so far and im running out of time and optons... I wont even know if the appraisal went through for enough till a week from monday......