Consolidated Kansas

[ashncarson]

10 days ago I reported a hawk attack and that I had lost 3 chicks to the hawk. Well, there really was a hawk - I saw it with my own two eyes. Also, the birds were really agitated that day - which is what prompted me to look out the window and see the hawk in the first place - but it turns out, I didn't lose any chicks to the hawk. Sadly, I found their remains yesterday afternoon. I think what happened is that the hawk DID come in the yard and was going after the small birds, and in their panic they all ran to hide. The "missing" chicks ran to hide inside a roll of wire. In panic mode they were able to squeeze in there but once the danger had passed, they couldn't figure out how to get back out. I was so distraught yesterday to find their remains and realize they probably died of dehydration/starvation over several days, instead of a quick death by hawk, and I feel terrible that I didn't ever hear them or know to look there.

poor babies, atleast you know fors sure what happened, and now maybe you can change things to prevent it

 

[chicken danz]

HEChicken that's a shame about the chicks. Things similar have happened around here. It's sad.
I came in to cool a minute. I got one double nest box made and installed. I still have a couple more singles I need to make. It's just miserable out there. I spent an hour getting the paperwork ready to mail for the DNA testing. Do you know there is not an express mail for just a letter to Canada or other countries for that matter. It all goes the same rate as a package even if it is a letter sized envelope. I took a chance and sent my tests in priority which is also the same as a package rate but a lot cheaper. Still it cost me $20 to do so. It is supposed to be 6-10 days. Hopefully it will get there in 6 so I can get my tests back in time for the Gardner auction.
I figured out where my second broody turkey was nesting. She isn't at all in a secure place but at least she isn't far out. I wish she had just decided to nest in the duck house with the other one.
I was going to make some more pickles but I need to figure out where all my canning jars and my canner are. I think they are in the storage facility we rent but I'm not sure. I guess that shows how long it's been since I used them.

 

[HEChicken]

I was going to make some more pickles but I need to figure out where all my canning jars and my canner are. I think they are in the storage facility we rent but I'm not sure. I guess that shows how long it's been since I used them.

I am running out of canning jars. Scratch that. I have run out of canning jars. I've bought two boxes in the last couple of weeks but they are now all full. Today I needed to empty out a jar (fortunately it had already been opened) into another regular jar to put in the fridge because I needed the canning jar to complete a batch. And that means I am done canning for now, or at least I'll have to acquire more jars before I can do any more canning. It is sure nice to see the shelves filling up with stuff for us to eat over the next few months though.

I agree with you about it being miserably hot and humid out there. My wading pool needed to be emptied, cleaned and refilled but I decided to wait until mid-afternoon to do it so they'd have clean, cool water in the hottest part of the day. They didn't exactly swarm it after it refilled but a couple of the ducks discovered it right away and a turkey and chicken got a nice cool drink out of the deal.

Since the hawk attack, I've been keeping mama hens with batches of chicks in some small pens but they get very warm and I was worried about the upcoming high temperatures in the next few days. Having discovered I did not actually lose any chicks to the hawk, I took a chance today and opened the doors to let those birds out. I'm hoping the chicks will listen to Mama and stay close to her if the hawk does come back, but in the meantime at least I know they can find a place in the shade and survive the heat.

Don't you love symbiotic relationships? My sheep's water tank sits under the spigot for easy filling. The spigot is under a light that comes on automatically at night. The bugs are attracted to the light and end up falling into the water tank and drowning. I keep a little net next to the tank so I can skim off all the dead bugs first thing in the morning but haven't had to use it in quite awhile because once the birds discovered this lovely little cache, they have learned to head there first thing in the morning, and vie with each other to be the first to get the good bugs. So, the sheep get a clean tank and the birds get extra protein and I have one less animal chore to do each day. Love it!

 

[Trish44]

I am running out of canning jars. Scratch that. I have run out of canning jars. I've bought two boxes in the last couple of weeks but they are now all full. Today I needed to empty out a jar (fortunately it had already been opened) into another regular jar to put in the fridge because I needed the canning jar to complete a batch. And that means I am done canning for now, or at least I'll have to acquire more jars before I can do any more canning. It is sure nice to see the shelves filling up with stuff for us to eat over the next few months though.

I agree with you about it being miserably hot and humid out there. My wading pool needed to be emptied, cleaned and refilled but I decided to wait until mid-afternoon to do it so they'd have clean, cool water in the hottest part of the day. They didn't exactly swarm it after it refilled but a couple of the ducks discovered it right away and a turkey and chicken got a nice cool drink out of the deal.

Since the hawk attack, I've been keeping mama hens with batches of chicks in some small pens but they get very warm and I was worried about the upcoming high temperatures in the next few days. Having discovered I did not actually lose any chicks to the hawk, I took a chance today and opened the doors to let those birds out. I'm hoping the chicks will listen to Mama and stay close to her if the hawk does come back, but in the meantime at least I know they can find a place in the shade and survive the heat.

Don't you love symbiotic relationships? My sheep's water tank sits under the spigot for easy filling. The spigot is under a light that comes on automatically at night. The bugs are attracted to the light and end up falling into the water tank and drowning. I keep a little net next to the tank so I can skim off all the dead bugs first thing in the morning but haven't had to use it in quite awhile because once the birds discovered this lovely little cache, they have learned to head there first thing in the morning, and vie with each other to be the first to get the good bugs. So, the sheep get a clean tank and the birds get extra protein and I have one less animal chore to do each day. Love it!

It sounds like you have been really busy with your canning. I used to do a lot of that, but just don't have the energy or the storage space any more. I had a nice cellar with a lot of shelves in my house when I lived outside of Derby, but I don't have that luxury here. Storage is kind of cramped here since these people who built this house didn't seem to know what a kitchen was for. If I had been building a brand new house I sure would have built a bigger, better kitchen than they put in here, but then there are quite a few things I would have done differently.

My DH & I went out & worked on getting the support piece up for the pvc holding up the tarp on the growout pen. He drilled holes in the existing ribs & through the piece down the middle & we tied them together at the junctions with cable ties. I sure hope this works this time & it stays up. The chickens in there were very curious about what we were doing the whole time. Speaking of curious, I saw my one turkey hen do something I had not seen before. I was working on the pen & next to that is a small temporary pen I often keep birds in just for a short time. I have my 4 Red Star hens in there for quarantine & the turkey hen walked up there & was making this almost purring sound at the hens like she was talking to them. She stood there for quite awhile "talking" to the hen that was standing on top of the waterer. I made a comment to my DH that maybe she feels sorry for them having to be shut in that pen right now instead of out running around with the others. It was pretty interesting though watching her communicating with a chicken.

HEChicken, your comment about the bugs & the water reminded me that every evening after I feed all the birds their FF I have to wash out the buckets & measuring cups I use at the water hydrant out in the woods by the pens. There is always feed residue & grain left in there I can't scrape out so it gets washed out onto the ground. Every morning when I let the chickens out of their run they make a beeline for that spot because they know there will be a treat there. It took them no time at all to figure that out & they also go check out the goat's bowl to see if they left any choice tidbits behind from the night before. They are good little scavengers.

 

[cherwill]

Cheryl we didn't get any where as much rain as most of you. We only had a few days that we got heavy rain in the middle of when the rest of you got rain. Every tomato produced during that time has been rotting. I had ton of squash bugs which took out most of a lot of my plants. The eggplants are just starting to put some more fruit on. I've picked one decent one so far. I'm not sure when to pick those either. They sure aren't getting as large as what you see in the store. A rain right now would be awesome. My lima beans are loaded with pods but no limas in them yet. My green beans have lots of bloom but no beans forming. Last year I had blooms but it got so hot and dry I got nothing.

We don't grow the huge eggplants. We have some that are long and thin, a type of Japanese eggplant, and some that are about half the size of the big oblong ones at the store. I don't know how you know when they're ready; we just pick them when they look the right size.

I wonder if I pick some of these little tomatilloes if I could make something out of them. By the pod being open do you mean the bottom of it open or does the whole pod split and open? I've not had the whole pod open. When they get to a certain point they rot. If something usable doesn't come from these I probably won't grow them again. Lots of recipes call for them but I've done without them until now.

Maybe try waiting to see if you get some that fill at least half of the husk. The ones I picked that still had green husks with no splits in them were just fine in my salsa. I suppose they're just a little more tart than the bigger, riper tomatillos? I think you could easily substitute green tomatoes and maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime for tomatilloes in a recipe. Last fall I made a lot of salsa with green tomatoes and it's very good.

Cherwill, I grew tomatillos several years ago, and we used them raw in salads and they were the most delicious part of the salad every time. I loved them. Ours did not grow nearly as large as the ones you see in the store, but they did mostly fill the husks. The only problem was some little bug got into every one of them. There was only one per tomatillo and we would have to dig it out before cutting up the fruit to put in the salad so it wasn't that big a deal. We never had enough to make salsa.

We planted 5 plants this year, I think. I just make small batches of salsa as I can and freeze it. Mine have bugs, too. Some kind of worm. At least half of my tomatilloes have a worm. Some of the tomatilloes are unusable because there's just too much damage, but with most of them, I can use at least half.

Speaking of salsa, I've been making it by the gallon the past couple of weeks. The garden is producing like crazy and keeping me busy preserving instead of being online as much as I am other times of the year. Between the tomatoes, peppers and apples our lone tree is producing, I've been trying to preserve it all so it doesn't go to waste, and that has resulted in rows of jars of salsa and applesauce on the pantry shelves - looking very pretty

.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who stands around admiring my stash. I always get a smile on my face when I'm standing in front of it.

I had to process a cockerel the other day. He had cross beak - the first one I've ever hatched and I decided a few weeks ago that I'd let him go until he couldn't eat well any more, but I wasn't going to watch him slowly starve to death. The other day I threw out some corn and I watched him try in vain to pick up a single piece of corn. He tried over and over and over....but never did get it. So I knew it was time and I grabbed him off the roost the other night, kept him in a small pen with only water until morning, and then processed him. I decided to depart from the usual soaking in the fridge for 24 hours, to see if I could tell a difference in eating him right away, so as soon as I had done removing his organs, I put him in the crockpot with some potatoes and onions and we ate him that night. I couldn't tell a difference with not soaking, so I think I might skip that step more often in the future.

10 days ago I reported a hawk attack and that I had lost 3 chicks to the hawk. Well, there really was a hawk - I saw it with my own two eyes. Also, the birds were really agitated that day - which is what prompted me to look out the window and see the hawk in the first place - but it turns out, I didn't lose any chicks to the hawk. Sadly, I found their remains yesterday afternoon. I think what happened is that the hawk DID come in the yard and was going after the small birds, and in their panic they all ran to hide. The "missing" chicks ran to hide inside a roll of wire. In panic mode they were able to squeeze in there but once the danger had passed, they couldn't figure out how to get back out. I was so distraught yesterday to find their remains and realize they probably died of dehydration/starvation over several days, instead of a quick death by hawk, and I feel terrible that I didn't ever hear them or know to look there.

That's so sad about the chicks. I would obsess for weeks over everything I should have done differently, but really, these things happen. We can't be everywhere all the time. There was no way you could know, and you can't help that you couldn't hear them.

I have about a dozen canning jars left. I can't decide whether or not to buy another box of them. If the fall planting thrives, I'll need them. If it doesn't, I'll just have all these jars to store. I'm hoping for a good crop of beets and wax beans, at least.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Ok, I've noticed that it's been pretty slow around here recently, but I've got another sick bird question, so I'm really hoping someone will be on that can answer it for me.

First, a little background. My goose, Lucy (a gander), is a special bird. He (sorry if I call him a she. I called him a she for a year before he started displaying signs of being male). Anyway, I got him from my husband's grandmother along with a duckling and some adult ducks. Lucy had severe niacin deficiency and was a lot of work to keep alive. In fact, there was a time I didn't think he would live.

Yesterday, I caught Lucy b/c I hadn't caught him for a while. After my bumblefoot incident iwth my duck, I decided to check his feet while I was at it. He had what looked like a black spot on the bottom of his foot, right at the joint where the toe join to one and join the leg. This morning, I let the birds out of the duck house, and Lucy has a very pronounced limp and is using her wings for balance, almost as if she's in that much pain b/c of her foot. I picked her up again and took her to my DH to hold. I looked her foot/leg over, and it looks like the possible bumblefoot spot MAY be swollen and definitely has a black scab. Her middle toe is also swollen. I sprayed it with vetericyn this morning and wrapped it. That doesn't seem like much for something that's causing a goose to limp. I don't have much on hand in the way of antibiotics and such, but I am open to suggestions as to what you think I should do. This is a special bird, and I really don't want to loose him. Also, I will be going out of town, leaving Monday, and my husband will be in charge of taking care of the animals. He isn't as good about noticing problems, so I would really prefer to get this nipped in the bud ASAP. HELP PLEASE!

 

[lizzyGSR]

I should probably also add that Lucy is two years old this year.

 

[lizzyGSR]

The only antibiotic I have on hand is Duramycin-10 (Tetracycline Hydrochloride). It is labeled for chickens and turkeys. Is it safe for water fowl as well? I got it from Orscheln's. The lady in charge of poultry there said that it was, but I thought I'd check here (I last gave it to my ducks when they were very young).

 

[HEChicken]

I have about a dozen canning jars left. I can't decide whether or not to buy another box of them. If the fall planting thrives, I'll need them. If it doesn't, I'll just have all these jars to store. I'm hoping for a good crop of beets and wax beans, at least.

I had a lovely surprise yesterday! After writing that about scrounging for canning jars to do the latest batch, I went out to the garage and found a whole box of brand new jars. I bought them a couple of weeks ago, unloaded them from the car to the garage and never got them any further. When I went looking for jars yesterday, I totally forgot about the new box in the garage! So now I know I have some for next time....

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy, If your ducks did okay with the duramycin I would think the goose would. However it doesn't cover a lot of illnesses, it would be better than nothing. I would at least soak Lucy's foot in warm Epsom salts water for a minimum of ten minutes. Maybe that will help soften it up and draw some of the fluid out. Too bad you don't have more Baytril. It works so well for these cases.
Sure wish Josiechick would pop on here. She really knows best. I do hope he recovers quickly.
Great news HEChicken. I really need to take the time to go to the storage facility and dig through boxes and see if I can find my pressure canner and the rest of my jars. I had just had surgery when we had an auction at my old house so I live in fear that some of my things got sold I didn't intend to. Well I know some did but things like that worry me. We had friends load things up to take to the sale. I had two pressure canners and I am sure one of them got sold.
It's supposed to reach over 100 here today. I have to go to town so I sure hope the birds will be okay this afternoon. It really worries me they'll stay cool enough. Maybe I'll think to bring the key to the storage building and do some searching...or not. It all depends. With the heat I'll probably opt to wait. Hopefully after today it will start cooling down. I hope I have a ton to do.
I did manage to get another double nest box made yesterday. I have at least two more to make but ran out of time. It seems I work a lot slower in the heat. We got the Breda Fowl house and pen moved yesterday so they are happy with new grass.
I won't have time to start any projects today. But hope I can start building a turkey house tomorrow for the new area. I've been scavenging what I have on hand and I think I can do it with buying just a few more pieces of treated lumber.