Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I almost forgot! I think it would be fun to hear guesses on Baby's gender... Some people say that you can tell by where Mom carries her bump... What do ya'll think? Boy or Girl?

I'm guessing girl, you aren't carrying nearly as low as I was with my son. I hope you can really take it easy & things go well for you. Let hubby take up the slack & if people offer to help, let them. You have to take care of yourself now.

Pretty birds zigzag & congrats on the first egg!

We just got back from taking a load of trash to the dump, I'm glad to have that taken care of. There probably will be more later on because I'm still not done cleaning out the garage, but we did get some of it gone & the stuff that got wet when the utility room flooded went too.

 

[KsKingBee]

Woke up this morning with OQB yelling 'COYOTE!, COYOTE!, COYOTE!!!!'. The guineas were making a commotion, the young turkeys were out in the field with the wild ones, And here I am all blurred eyed trying to see through the scope as the coyote was surrounded by our birds.


The guineas came over to identify the body. They said, 'That's him, that's him, that's him!' King was in the pen saying, 'Let me outta here, I could take him'. Easy big boy.

 

[Trish44]

Lizzy, I'm glad it didn't turn out to be something serious enough to result in a premature birth, and that you are back home and able to do your normal stuff for a little longer. I don't know your set up, but is there any reason the horses can't stay turned out 24/7? If you grain morning and/or evening, they will learn to come in for grain without anyone having to walk out and get them.

Danz, I learned the hard way that too much nitrogen in the soil will cause tomato plants to grow big and bushy with lots of greenery but they won't set much fruit. Guess what has a lot of nitrogen in it? Yup - fresh chicken poop. I used to just empty my coop onto my garden but after a year where my plants were 7' tall and each produced only a handful of tomatoes, I learned to restrict the coop contents to one end of the garden where I am growing greens like chard, kale, collards (that I don't mind growing lots of greenery) and the other end I just mulch with hay that has NOT been in the chicken coop. That worked really well for me this year and my tomato plants are a reasonable size but not 7' tall and more importantly, they are LOADED with fruit. I can barely keep up with them.

Now, if you compost the chicken coop bedding for a year or preferably two, then it should be fine to use it where you are growing tomatoes.

Okay everyone, I'd like some input if you will. We have two medium sized dogs right now who fit really well into our family and lifestyle but they are outside dogs and just lately I've been kind of hankering for an inside pet dog. I have never had a small dog - mine have always been 40lb or bigger - so I don't know a lot about the different breeds. Ultimately if I decide to adopt, I'll probably get a mutt from a rescue like I always do but....I'd like some input into what breeds might be compatible with my lifestyle. Here's what I know I don't want:

* A dog that requires grooming. When I look at little dogs on rescue sites, it seems like most of them need to be taken to the groomers on a regular basis (not something I thought about, but just an observation). Dogs like maltese, pekinese, poodles etc., all seem to have beautiful coats that would require maintenance and that is just not my thing.

* A terrier. This is only because of the chickens. Right now I have two extremely poultry safe dogs and I love that they can be out roaming among the birds and it is not a stress factor for me worrying about what might happen when I turn my back. The last thing I want is to bring in another dog that if it tries to follow me out to see the birds - or if someone just lets it out the door to go potty - I wind up losing birds. My sense about terriers is that because they were bred as hunting dogs, most would not be good around poultry but if I am wrong about that, please let me know.

That's actually my total list of requirements, but I realize they narrow it down quite a bit I've never really cared for chihuahuas, dachshunds or pugs (well, pugs are cute but the snuffly, snuffly noises they make aren't). So far the only breed that is on my "yes" list is Corgis but I know there must be others out there that are neither fluffy nor a terrier. When I say "small", I am thinking 10-20lb but that is a flexible criteria. Too small and I would worry about hurting it if I step on it accidentally, and too big and it may as well go and live outside with the other dogs.

So - what do you have for me? Any suggestions?

That's a tough one HEChicken because you pretty much negated any breed I have now or have had. Making sure they're chicken safe is a hard one too because there are so many breeds that will go after birds or animals if given the chance. What about a mini border collie, they usually do all right with animals, they do try to herd them usually though. You're right about Terriers, I have a Yorkshire Terrier I could never trust among my birds. They were actually bred to catch rats on ships. I would just go to the AKC web site & read about breeds & see what you can come up with.

 

[Trish44]

Woke up this morning with OQB yelling 'COYOTE!, COYOTE!, COYOTE!!!!'. The guineas were making a commotion, the young turkeys were out in the field with the wild ones, And here I am all blurred eyed trying to see through the scope as the coyote was surrounded by our birds.


The guineas came over to identify the body. They said, 'That's him, that's him, that's him!' King was in the pen saying, 'Let me outta here, I could take him'. Easy big boy.

Wow, I'm glad you got it!

 

[sharol]

That's a tough one HEChicken because you pretty much negated any breed I have now or have had. Making sure they're chicken safe is a hard one too because there are so many breeds that will go after birds or animals if given the chance. What about a mini border collie, they usually do all right with animals, they do try to herd them usually though. You're right about Terriers, I have a Yorkshire Terrier I could never trust among my birds. They were actually bred to catch rats on ships. I would just go to the AKC web site & read about breeds & see what you can come up with.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
Great shot and good job for listening to the birds and taking out their predator. SO glad you didn't lose any birds and they had an exciting story to tell around the barnyard instead. LOL. After writing all that, I read more about Corgi's and although they aren't a hunting dog like terriers, they are a herding dog so according to Wiki, "tend to chase anything that moves" so it doesn't sound like that would be a good fit either. Thanks for letting me know your experience Sharol. My neighbor at my old house has a couple of mini-doxies and she adores that breed (she had two single ones before getting this brother/sister pair so has had the breed for a long time). We used to dog sit for her when they went out of town and the male wasn't bad with the chickens but the female would seriously go after them. I did pin her once after she had done it and the only result was that she was mad at me for the rest of her visit and wouldn't come to me when I called. It didn't slow her down so I reached the point I couldn't let them potty in the backyard and instead had to take them into the front yard. That was an issue in itself because they weren't leash trained and wouldn't always come inside when I was ready to go back in. I guess that whole experience did sour me on wanting one myself even though I know people who have them are usually pretty passionate about them. Our black dog is half border collie so I'm not inclined to get another as I know the energy level and that it would just end up living outside with the other two instead of being an inside pet. I guess I'm sorta looking for a lap dog LOL. DH will NOT be excited at the prospect as ever since we moved here we've both talked about how much we enjoy not having pets in the house (for the first time ever) so I know he'll think I'm nuts that I'm even considering this. The problem is, I keep seeing little terriers that look really cute and that I know would be great dogs - but the chickens make them a liability. Whatever we do, we'll go through a rescue organization that allows home trials and that way we can test the dog for a few days and see what its like around the birds. My other concern is that the two we have will be jealous of, or think its not fair that the new dog gets to be in the house and they don't. For those who have both indoor and outdoor dogs, how does this work for you?

 

[zigzag45]

Some feed questions.... my six oldest birds are now clear of the 18 week hurdle, so I can put them on layer rations (according to my Chickens for Dummies book).

However, my three new birds are younger, the two barred rocks are around 16 weeks, and my legbar is only 12 weeks. If I put two kinds of feed out will they naturally pick the right kind? From what I've read, I don't want the younger girls on layer rations yet. True?

I saw elsewhere that I can leave them on grower feed and put our extra sources of calcium (was that it?) for them. I've had oyster shell out for them in a separate container for the past month. Somebody is eating it as it goes down pretty consistently. Is this the best option? Does it hurt my older girls to be doing the grower feed with oyster shell?

I know it's not ideal to have different ages like this but it's what I've got and I'm trying to figure out the best way to take care of all of them. Right now, they're separate, but in a week or two I'll start the integration process. I guess worse case scenario is I don't rehome the new birds and let them keep sleeping in the shed till they all hit the 18 week age. That would be mid-November. I don't mind letting them out each morning and putting them up each evening, but I was really liking the auto-door that did all that.

As always - thanks!

 

[mrsdanamiller]

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I've been able to post on here, but it looks like everyone is as busy as ever Congrats zigzag on your first egg and Lizzy on your baby. Thankful the issue resolved. You rock, King Bee. I need to get myself a gun to take care of the hawks around here. One got two of my daily layers, and I saw it the other day sitting on the fence, vulnerable.
Sorry, I am sure I missed some newsworthy information.

Well new around here- Filled up the coop with eight more chickens...a blue copper maran(has such a sweet face!), a buff chantecler(big hen and rules the roost), three cinnamon queens, three araucanas(one of which is crazy and screeches if you touch it or get near it, and another that is a pretty young pullet and still has a cute chick-like chirp). I am really thankful and happy to finally have a full coop. It was interesting though, I saw my first chicken fight. It was epic. I already had two chickens when I introduced the new eight, and big buff chantecler (I named her Pam. lol) faced off with Ruby, my white rock. That was an experience. Ruby lost and hid in the the bushes. I guess she shouldn't have picked a fight with a bird bigger than her. Anyway, that's all for now Blessings to my chicken peeps!

 

[chicken danz]

Ok, definitely the bladder! I notice that I get short of breath easier than usual if I try to do too much, but that usually only happens when I'm doing more than I should! The bladder is definitely the bigger problem! However, you should know that most people who see me say that they think I"m having a boy. Those who go by other old wives tales (like baby's heart rate) say 'girl'. Baby's heart rate has been bouncing between 130 and 150 recently. They say anything over 140 is a girl... At the baby shower that my home church held for me, they had a list of old wives tales and they asked guests to fill in the blanks as to whether the given wives tale suggested that Baby would be a boy or girl. then, they looked at me and asked me which was it was going for me. EVERY SINGLE one of the old wives tales that I could answer said "girl". However, EVERYONE who goes just off of sight says "boy", just like you just did, Danz.

We are still in the clenches of a bad drought out here. We don't feel comfortable leaving the horses out to pasture 24/7 because we are afraid that there won't be any pasture left for them by the time January comes if we let them have all they want now. And, the grain thing doesn't work because they would much rather have their fill of grass than get some grain and then be locked up for a while. We've been giving them grain every evening for almost a year now, and they still don't come down to the house for it unless it is in the middle of winter.

Just because you said bladder I would stick with the guess of a boy. I still think I'd do better in person. I had a doctor tell me once that due to heart rate I was having a boy. It was my second daughter. That was before ultrasounds. Either way I am sure it will be a wonderful sweet baby and I can't wait to see pictures. Speaking of pictures. Where are the final nursery ones??
Originally Posted by HEChicken

When can I switch from a waterer that sits on the ground to a homemade one that has the nipples and stays off the ground and STAYS CLEAN!!!!!

They are 13 days old and growing fast!!!!

X2 Anytime.

Woke up this morning with OQB yelling 'COYOTE!, COYOTE!, COYOTE!!!!'. The guineas were making a commotion, the young turkeys were out in the field with the wild ones, And here I am all blurred eyed trying to see through the scope as the coyote was surrounded by our birds.


The guineas came over to identify the body. They said, 'That's him, that's him, that's him!' King was in the pen saying, 'Let me outta here, I could take him'. Easy big boy.

Yay!!! Glad you got him. I hope he doesn't have brothers and sisters out there close!!

Some feed questions.... my six oldest birds are now clear of the 18 week hurdle, so I can put them on layer rations (according to my Chickens for Dummies book).

However, my three new birds are younger, the two barred rocks are around 16 weeks, and my legbar is only 12 weeks. If I put two kinds of feed out will they naturally pick the right kind? From what I've read, I don't want the younger girls on layer rations yet. True?

I saw elsewhere that I can leave them on grower feed and put our extra sources of calcium (was that it?) for them. I've had oyster shell out for them in a separate container for the past month. Somebody is eating it as it goes down pretty consistently. Is this the best option? Does it hurt my older girls to be doing the grower feed with oyster shell?

I know it's not ideal to have different ages like this but it's what I've got and I'm trying to figure out the best way to take care of all of them. Right now, they're separate, but in a week or two I'll start the integration process. I guess worse case scenario is I don't rehome the new birds and let them keep sleeping in the shed till they all hit the 18 week age. That would be mid-November. I don't mind letting them out each morning and putting them up each evening, but I was really liking the auto-door that did all that.

As always - thanks!

I'd opt for keeping them on grower and giving them calcium until the youngest reach 16 weeks or so. The won't pick the right kind. That would be way too simple. Sometimes you just have to integrate your flocks. If I had all mine separated by ages I'd have 200 pens!

I had a busy afternoon. Had a doctor appointment then went to visit my Dad. I have to laugh and tell. He went to the bathroom after waking up from a nap. After 30 minutes or so I had to go in to check on him. He had fallen asleep on the "thrown." He seemed in really good spirits today for a change. He was talking about women. He hasn't done that for a long time. I figure if he is doing that, by God's miracle he may live a while longer. We never expected him to be here this long. I feel so happy.
Then I got home and my Chinese customer came to get eggs and chicken poo. I sold him a duck and told him how to butcher it. He says if he can cook it good he will want more. I told him how I did mine and he said he was going to try it.
Since he came here though I didn't get any more Vietnamese Luffa.
I guess next time I will have to be sure to take his stuff to town. He is offering to pay me as much as I want for more eggs. He hates the grocery store eggs. I think he feels since there are so many chickens here I should have a lot more eggs. I just can't make them lay on command!!!

 

[ashncarson]

The brahmas have continued liking to sit on the chain link fence around the yard. I hate to think of having to clip one of their wings, but I think I'm going to have to try. I really don't like the idea of having to keep them confined to a 10x10 run either - that seems worse. I'll read up on how to do it. But, for the birds and their health, are there any drawbacks? Outside of frustrating them when they try to get airborne, does it do anything to them? I feel like I'm marring or maiming them.

Perfect timing for your question! I just was searching BYC for info on this tonight! I let my chicks out to free range for the firts time tonight for about 30 minutes and I was scared of my fence line!