Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I was busy busy today. I got my pheasant moved to a smaller pen much to their dislike. I feel guilty now. And I moved a bunch of birds from the brooder to the pen the pheasants had been in. I noticed one of the turkeys in the pen next to them had swollen sinuses on one side of her face. I sure hope it is just a lone case and I don't end up with sick birds! I think I would cry! I just put probiotics in their water today and hope the rest of them stay well. I should have pulled this turkey out but I just ran out of time.
I got busy and hung netting on the turkey pen to find out I am going to be a few feet short. That bites. It was the end of all the netting I have on hand. I really can't afford to order more right now but I guess I have to. I may be able to scrounge and piece some together to close in the pen but it's questionable. I really really want to get those turkeys moved. I am so close to being done.
Lizzy glad to hear things are shaping up. We should be seeing pictures soon, right??

Wow! How your life is going to change.

 

[cherwill]

With it locked in the sight and motionless, I pulled the trigger and....nothing happened. Yup - the safety was on.

When you hear me laughing, I'm not laughing AT you, I'm laughing WITH you.

That's exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me.

I'm sorry you didn't get it, though. It might be happy with mice for now, but it will be even happier with bigger prey like your birds.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL I laughed too. But if it were me I would have grabbed the gun, loaded it and still forgotten to take the safety off. In fact I'm sure that has happened more times than I care to say.
I've got more chicks to move around today. I'm trying to decide whether to clean out the brooder house or just add new shavings to the top. I know which would be easiest for sure. There is so much feed mixed in the shavings I hate to just put it all out for compost. But then maybe the chickens would do some weeding for me too.
HEChicken did your door open this morning?

 

[lizzyGSR]

With it locked in the sight and motionless, I pulled the trigger and....nothing happened. Yup - the safety was on.

lol. I've done that too! It was last summer, and I had a rattlesnake in the sights of my gun. The snake was only about 3 feet from where I was standing. My gun was a Super Comanche single shot pistol that shoots 410 shotgun shells. I pulled the trigger the first time and... nothing happened. I had forgotten to pull the hammer back. I fixed that and pulled the trigger again. Again....nothing happened.

I had forgotten to take the safety off.

This time, it was true what they say about the third time being the charm. The gun actually (FINALLY) went "boom" when I pulled the trigger again. The bad news? I missed the snake by about an inch (with shot shell, nonetheless - apparently the shot doesn't have time to spread when you're that close to your target) and my gun was a single shot.

By the time I had tried three times to shoot the snake, I was shaking badly enough that there was no chance of me reloading the gun. Thankfully, my DH heard the shot and cautiously but quickly came to me through the tall grass. He used his gun to shoot the snake and then went to get a shovel to bury it for me. Since then, I have gotten a different gun to take out to the pasture with me. This one is a semi-auto (no hammer to calk first) AND has a laser to make aiming easier. The amazing thing about this whole ordeal? The snake never moved away from us...

 

[HEChicken]

When you hear me laughing, I'm not laughing AT you, I'm laughing WITH you.

That's exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me.

LOL I laughed too. But if it were me I would have grabbed the gun, loaded it and still forgotten to take the safety off.
HEChicken did your door open this morning?

lol. I've done that too!

Thanks you guys - you have no idea how much better you just made me feel. I was feeling like the biggest dummie but it sounds like I'm in good company

Danz - yep - the door opened this morning. I didn't use it at all yesterday and just had the people door propped open all day. This morning I went down really early to open the people door and found that the chicken door was open. This does make me believe it is a charging issue. Yesterday it didn't have enough juice to work but after a whole day of charging with no use, it was able to open this morning. Now I just hope it has enough juice to close this evening. I've been gone all day today so didn't get a chance to get a ladder out and get up and fix the solar panel which will probably help but ultimately I think its time to order a new battery. I'm a little disappointed it only lasted 16 months but I guess since it operated flawlessly in that time that does mean it opened and closed approximately 1000 times so maybe that's all I should expect.

 

[chicken danz]

It was a long hard busy day for me and I feel most beaten up!!
I got the brooder house cleaned out. Removed the two raised brooders and washed them down. Had DH put legs on them because I was tired of propping them up on step stands and concrete blocks. I like it a lot better now. I hauled three full wheel barrows of shavings to the front garden so the chickens could spread it out for me. There should be plenty of feed left in that stuff. What I've never figured out is how to keep them from wasting feed.
I moved the "furniture" back in and switched locations. I hung another heat lamp up because the birds I had taken out of the raised brooders were still awfully little. I have all my sweeter heaters used already. I moved a bunch of chicks from inside the house to the brooder bins. And they still seem crowded in here! But at least maybe it will be a little more manageable. Then I got down on my knees and chased ducks around a low pen. I had to pull out the girls. I put them in a different pen for the night because they are going to a new home tomorrow.
Then it was time to feed and water the rest of the crew.
I keep thinking how cold I will be this winter if I don't get things set up differently. I spend so much time feeding and watering.
I had to order new netting today. I just couldn't put it off.
One more day of gathering hatching eggs then I am going to let a few of these birds free range during the day until spring. I just hope they keep laying where they are supposed to so I can sell eating eggs instead.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

LizzieGSR really good to hear from you and I love the pictures as well. I'm gonna guess boy, because that is what I had, no other reason. And now was a good tome to discover the dryer issue.
HEChicken that was scary about the fox, maybe you at least looked fierce pointing the gun at it so it won't come back.
Trish we could probably do a swap on some Maran pullets, (don't want to count our pullets before they are hatched).
Danz hopefully you got more accomplished today than you expected. It has been great weather.
Here is an update on what we have been doing.
Duck Coop

New Chicken House

This will eventually become a breeder/brooder house with dividers. But we had to do some rearranging of birds because of our new additions that we acquired yesterday.

The old chicken coop/yard is now the new Pea house/yard. Too dark for a really good picture.

Now I've got a couple buckets of apples waiting on me to do something with.
Oh yeah, and more honey to extract.

 

[sharol]

It was a long hard busy day for me and I feel most beaten up!!
I got the brooder house cleaned out. Removed the two raised brooders and washed them down. Had DH put legs on them because I was tired of propping them up on step stands and concrete blocks. I like it a lot better now. I hauled three full wheel barrows of shavings to the front garden so the chickens could spread it out for me. There should be plenty of feed left in that stuff. What I've never figured out is how to keep them from wasting feed.
I moved the "furniture" back in and switched locations. I hung another heat lamp up because the birds I had taken out of the raised brooders were still awfully little. I have all my sweeter heaters used already. I moved a bunch of chicks from inside the house to the brooder bins. And they still seem crowded in here! But at least maybe it will be a little more manageable. Then I got down on my knees and chased ducks around a low pen. I had to pull out the girls. I put them in a different pen for the night because they are going to a new home tomorrow.
Then it was time to feed and water the rest of the crew.
I keep thinking how cold I will be this winter if I don't get things set up differently. I spend so much time feeding and watering.
I had to order new netting today. I just couldn't put it off.
One more day of gathering hatching eggs then I am going to let a few of these birds free range during the day until spring. I just hope they keep laying where they are supposed to so I can sell eating eggs instead.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Good news about my goose! Tomorrow will be 3 weeks that he's been on the sulfa drug that Josie recommended. It had been several days since I checked his foot, so I decided to look at it today. The swelling has gone down quite a bit from what it was just last week! I need to probably try soaking in epsom salt again, but it is encouraging to finally see some good progress!

Also, we got the dresser put into the nursery today, and I was able to wash a bunch of diapers (the ones ya'll sent me and a few I already had). The ones that are dry are now in the dresser, and there are a few more still drying on the drying rack. We're still waiting for the dresser knobs to be done, but the rest of the dresser is looking really good! I'm so excited to have everything organized and put away! Something tells me that the storage in the dresser isn't going to go as far as I want it too. Just the diapers took up one whole drawer. WE've got plans for adding some shelving to the room. Hopefully that will help with the lack of storage we've dealt with throughout the house. And yes, Danz, I hope to post pictures soon. I need to do some more organizing/cleaning in the nursery before it is picture worthy though. Plus, the curtains still need to be hung! Keep reminding me though.

 

[chicken danz]

LizzieGSR really good to hear from you and I love the pictures as well. I'm gonna guess boy, because that is what I had, no other reason. And now was a good tome to discover the dryer issue.
HEChicken that was scary about the fox, maybe you at least looked fierce pointing the gun at it so it won't come back.
Trish we could probably do a swap on some Maran pullets, (don't want to count our pullets before they are hatched).
Danz hopefully you got more accomplished today than you expected. It has been great weather.
Here is an update on what we have been doing.
Duck Coop
Those are funny looking ducks!!!

That looks great and plenty of shelter!
New Chicken House

This will eventually become a breeder/brooder house with dividers. But we had to do some rearranging of birds because of our new additions that we acquired yesterday. Looks roomy!

The old chicken coop/yard is now the new Pea house/yard. Too dark for a really good picture. Have you considered getting one of those old time diaper stackers or making one? They are really simple. It would save you a ton of drawer space. Actually you could have two of them. One for the diapers and one for the inserts. They just hang by hangers so they could go in a closet or something.
I found an easy pattern. http://www.trishscrafts.com/diaper_stacker.html
There are some more out there but this was the first one I came up with that had a decent shape.