Consolidated Kansas

[zigzag45]

Trish and Sharol - thanks. I don't know her personally but the breeder was referred to me by another BYC member (on this thread) and she vouched for the breeder's birds. I think the two weeks sounds good. I'm sure I can pull that off. Nothing is worth jeopardizing all my other girls. 4-6 weeks was sounding a bit overwhelming.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Yeah I agree sharol, if you don't know the people you got the birds from be on the safe side by keeping them confined longer. I usually do 2 weeks, but most of the time I get birds or chicks from people I know. It's bad enough when wild birds bring in diseases without bringing them in from someone's flock that you thought was healthy.

Yes always do 2 weeks min even if it is someone you know--longer if you dont know about them, remember chickens get stressed being moved to new surroundings so just observe-if you see anything that worries you ask here on this thread, the knowledge base here can generally tell you what is the best way for any ailment and correct dosages for things

Glad you got new darlings to love!

@Danz, the solar cook didnt seem to hurt other good nutrients in the soil as the new stuff put in is producing like gangbusters. I bet if you did it for a prolonged period of time it would probably affect it tho

Tweety-will keep my fingers crossed that the dogs come home

 

[chicken danz]

ZigZag, I concur. I do 2 weeks even with the most responsible of breeders. The reason being mainly that the stress of moving birds weakens their immune system and although they might have arrived healthy they can become sick rather quickly. I totally tell anyone who buys older birds from me to put them on probiotics and to quarantine them for a couple weeks. I really worry about any bird that leaves here for fear they will get sick from the stress.
Chickens are like humans in that they have all kinds of bacteria and potential viruses in their system. If that system gets thrown off those things can develop. Then there are all the environmental things that they can catch as well.
I spent my day juggling birds. It's amazing how much time it takes. I need an employee. Too bad my chicken business is always in the red!!! I also set another tray of eggs today. I'm not getting any eating eggs at all to speak of and some of my breeders aren't laying but others are picking up.
I mixed up fermented feed again because I was using too much feed. I started feeding it today and all my birds acted like they hadn't been fed in weeks. I guess they really missed it. I wasn't going to give any to the peafowl and the turkeys but I felt sorry for them so I mixed some with some dry feed. They were equally as thrilled to get it. It adds to my work but I guess if it saves me on the feed bill and makes the birds happy I'll keep doing it. I sure have noticed the odors since I quit feeding it. It will be much nicer to have pleasant smelling coops again.

 

[cleansquared]

Well looks like we are going to try again this friday to close then im off to okc again thats cutting it close but mabye it can be done and do both. My helper is galavanting all over california so i have to take my bf to the fair with me (groan) wish me luck that these people have their crap together this time and we can actually close on this house!

 

[22qZoo]

Danz- I can attest to the FF and the pleasant poo smell. What do you use for your ferment? Do you feed the same mix to everybody ? I've been mixing 2 bags of layer crumble with 1 bag of scratch even the geese don't stink too bad when I let them out in the morn. Their kiddy pool on the other hand YUCK that gets nasty fast!
Anybody else in the Kansas thread use fermented feed?

 

[Trish44]

Danz- I can attest to the FF and the pleasant poo smell. What do you use for your ferment? Do you feed the same mix to everybody ? I've been mixing 2 bags of layer crumble with 1 bag of scratch even the geese don't stink too bad when I let them out in the morn. Their kiddy pool on the other hand YUCK that gets nasty fast!
Anybody else in the Kansas thread use fermented feed?

I've been using fermented feed for quite awhile now & I can attest to less smell & using a lot less feed. I quit for a short time making it & had to go right back to it because I went through so much feed. My chickens act like they haven't eaten in a week every day when I feed them, they jump in the middle of the trough I feed them in, try to jump in my bucket, & act like crazy nuts. I feed it to all my birds except the little chicks & they all love it, even the peafowl, guineas, & turkeys.

zigzag, I know who you got your birds from & I have bought birds from her before. I agree with the others that 2 weeks is probably a sufficient amount of time for quarantine. It does stress the birds a lot to be relocated, so they can get sick just due to that like Danz said. My DH said when I was talking about that it would be like us being blindfolded & taken somewhere strange & then not knowing where we were. That was a pretty good example coming from a man who acts like he really doesn't like chickens much. Although I really think he likes them more than he wants to admit since he's always pointing out one & asking me what breed it is because he thinks it's pretty.

 

[zigzag45]

Danz and Trish - I appreciate the comments on the stress of the move for birds and their immune systems. That makes perfect sense. I'd always thought quarantine was to give time for existing illness to show up. We've been trying to spend time with them but also not be out there too much as they adjust to a new home. I put some yogurt and keifer in their pen this morning, as well as some scratch grains in the bowl with the yogurt hoping that would interest them. So far, all they've done is thrown some wood chips in. They did the same yesterday and never ate it. My other birds would be mad at them for wasting the yogurt - they love it. Hopefully they catch on.

I'm thinking my other birds are getting ready to start laying. They've not been in their nest boxes for awhile (DE on the golf balls hasn't been disturbed). Instead, there is a very nice looking nest or two on the floor of the coop. I take this to mean they don't like or haven't found their nesting boxes. Am I on the right track? The nesting boxes are 18" off the floor of the coop, I think I need to build a 2x4 ledge half way up to help them. I know they can get up that high, their favorite roost bar is 2' off the floor and that's where they all like to roost.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz- I can attest to the FF and the pleasant poo smell. What do you use for your ferment? Do you feed the same mix to everybody ? I've been mixing 2 bags of layer crumble with 1 bag of scratch even the geese don't stink too bad when I let them out in the morn. Their kiddy pool on the other hand YUCK that gets nasty fast!
Anybody else in the Kansas thread use fermented feed?

I had used fermented feed for nearly a year before I stopped. Reason being that the ornamental birds and game birds were loosing their feathers. I also noticed that the mice were becoming bald that I saw. The chickens seemed fine but I know it certainly makes feathers release easily when you butcher them. It's only been a few weeks but I doubled the feed I was using feeding dry. I just can't afford that. I figure I will feed the dry to the ornamental birds but maybe let them have some FF once or twice a week. Beautiful feathers sell them so I have to be sure they have the best. DH won't be happy cause when it gets cold that 55 gallon barrel goes in his shop. That means I will have to do a major clean out for him or there won't be room for the barrel. (That will take days). And it will last about one day.

Quote:

Danz and Trish - I appreciate the comments on the stress of the move for birds and their immune systems. That makes perfect sense. I'd always thought quarantine was to give time for existing illness to show up. We've been trying to spend time with them but also not be out there too much as they adjust to a new home. I put some yogurt and keifer in their pen this morning, as well as some scratch grains in the bowl with the yogurt hoping that would interest them. So far, all they've done is thrown some wood chips in. They did the same yesterday and never ate it. My other birds would be mad at them for wasting the yogurt - they love it. Hopefully they catch on.

I'm thinking my other birds are getting ready to start laying. They've not been in their nest boxes for awhile (DE on the golf balls hasn't been disturbed). Instead, there is a very nice looking nest or two on the floor of the coop. I take this to mean they don't like or haven't found their nesting boxes. Am I on the right track? The nesting boxes are 18" off the floor of the coop, I think I need to build a 2x4 ledge half way up to help them. I know they can get up that high, their favorite roost bar is 2' off the floor and that's where they all like to roost.

Yeah sounds like you are getting ready for eggs. If they lay on the floor nothing is broken. I think the roost will help. I have one bank of nest boxes with a roost in front of them but that seems to encourage them to sleep in the nest box. I think you are on the right track.
Cleansquared, hope your closing happens this time. It will be worth it all in the end.

 

[lizzyGSR]

LIZZY- you crack me up, the way your posts run . Since I don't really know you personally my imagination goes to work and I am picturing you as a modern day Laura Ingalls out there on prairie, battling snakes and hawks and training horses and everything else PLUS being pregnant! You go ! Way to have a full life. ( just humor us and be careful) ; )

Ha ha! I don't think I've ever been compared to Laura Ingalls before, but I will definitely take that as a compliment! I will do my best to be careful. It's not always easy on a farm, but getting hurt is no fun, so I will do my best to avoid it. However, I'm a natural born klutz, so it may be hoping against hope... My DH says that it is a full time job (and then some) to protect me from myself.

There's been lots more excitement out on the "prairie" here at my farm... Two evenings ago, we discovered mold in the nearly new hay bale we were feeding our horses. We're pretty sure that the mold was caused by the ~4" of rain we got a week or two ago, but I had never imagined that the hay would mold that fast! So, yesterday, my husband backed the stock trailer up to the hay area and forked out the whole bale of moldy hay. In the process of hooking the stock trailer up to the pickup, my husband walked around the trailer to remove the wheel blocks. Upon doing so, he discovered that the tread was coming off of one of the trailer tires.

SCARY!!!! Apparently, the tire had just gotten old and was falling apart. I was the last one who drove the truck/trailer, and I was by myself at the time, so I am SO GLAD it waited to happen until the trailer was safely parked in the driveway. I can't imagine dealing with that with both horses in the trailer on a hot day and me being pregnant.

Plus, my husband broke one of the joints on our ratchet trying to get the lug nut off. Apparently, he was trying to take the easy route and use the ratchet instead of the cross bars, and it turned out to be not as easy as he thought to get the tire off... Good thing I hadn't had to change that. I would've never gotten the old tire off the trailer!

So, after the moldy bale was loaded onto the trailer and the tire that was falling apart had been replaced with the spare tire, we put a fresh bale in the hay area. When we moved the bale, there was a big centipede (or is it a milliped??e) that was about 4 inches long hiding underneath the bale. Gosh, I don't like those things! Much better to find them out than in, but still no fun either way. I also discovered a bunch of grubs hiding out under there, so I grabbed a bucket and rounded a few of the grubs up for my birds. Sadly, they never go clear to where we keep the bales, despite the bales being at the edge of the yard, so they missed out on a LOT more grubs. However, you should've heard the excited chatter when they found the grubs I left for them! Silly, silly birds!

Then, when I got up this morning, I discovered that the horses were enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet of hay. My one horse apparently figured out how the gate works and had opened the gate (which was a stock panel tightly tethered on one end, as a hinge, and was tied shut on the other end with just a single wire). He figured out how to untie the wire (or force it open) and push the gate out of the way, allowing both horses to have access to the brand new bale. I guess it is time that we re-think our gates and latches!

 

[zigzag45]

I'm wanting to put my birds on a non GMO layer ration. I'm not finding many options for that in the Kansas City area. I was referred to Thayer feeds, but I'd have drive to Lawrence on a particular day of the month to pickup from them. Anyone else doing nonGMO feed? Is there a source around KC? I'm betting I go through a 50 pound bag a month, something like that so my needs are minimal.