Consolidated Kansas

[cailynne]

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while and was happy to find Kansas people.
I live right out side of wichita with my hubby and 2 kids, 3 shelties, 2 cats
and 3 silkies..2 cockerels and a hen.
I would like to get a few more hens..and maybe re home one of the boys.
If anyone has any silkie hens they would part with that are just about old enough to lay
I would love to talk to you
Lisa

 

[sharol]

Please forgive me and pass it off to my being one of those durned foreigners. I thought it was just one of those auto correct things. I assumed she had been trying to type "goat cheese" and the auto correct changed it to "govt cheese".

The cheese was bought by the government to support milk prices and keep them up high enough that people would continue to keep dairy cows back when milk didn't bring enough on the open market to keep the cows fed. I think it is still part of the system. We used to have it school in the 50's, and she wasn't kidding. Those cheese sandwiches rocked the lunchroom. It was one of the few school lunches I would actually eat. (THey always served it with tomato soup.)

 

[Trish44]

I would love to be put on your waiting list. Our barred rocks have gotten really light, the first batch at least. The second round we got, are really dark. They are about 1 week younger. I am not sure if that makes a difference. We would like to get some heritage birds but decided to start with the hatchery and see how they go. Sort of like we are starting at the bottom and working our way up. 30 birds is a lot but it seems like every project we do doesn't start small ha ha. My grandparent own 100 section cattle farm in NM so I have some experience with them, but not that much. They had them more for the eggs rather than the style I guess I would say. What kind of waterer do you have? We are wanting to do a 5 gallon bucket with those little cups I think. Right now we just have one that we bought from the store. The chickens always get the wood shavings in it so we want one that hangs I think. Anyways, we are excited to know that there are people close that also have chickens? Are you in Winfield then?

I would be glad to put you on my list or you can keep HEChicken in mind also since she is closer. If you want good layers I also will have Cinnamon Queens in the spring as well as quite a few other breeds. You can see my list on the Kansas Poultry Swap on FB. I use different types of waterers for summer & winter & I agree with Danz, I don't put water inside the coop to avoid wet shavings. Little chicks are the worst about getting stuff in their water, they get better as they get older. I use 5 gallon bucket waterers in the summer so I can keep more water out for them in the hot weather. In the winter I use a combination of things because I can't get electricity to all of my pens. In the ones I can get an extension cord to I use either heated dog bowls that I buy on sale at Orschelyn's, a heated base, or a rubber bowl that can be dumped out easily when it freezes. Actually I think several of us use the heated dog bowls & they really do work well. I've been using them for several years now & they are much cheaper than the heated bases for the waterers. I wouldn't recommend the bucket for winter, it will most likely freeze.

Now I feel badly that I haven't paid attention to this before now. I feel badly for Lucie, I feel like she is bored and wants to run and play and this is her only outlet, chasing people going by and barking at them. Sigh. And I just thought to myself the other day how wonderful she has been with the birds and ignores the chickens entirely after we had so much trouble with her as a pup and she is finally growing up.

Isn't it amazing how they change when they mature? I thought I would lose my mind getting my two through the puppy stage, but now they're just awesome dogs. I can't believe mine are 2 years old now, where does time go.

Please forgive me and pass it off to my being one of those durned foreigners. I thought it was just one of those auto correct things. I assumed she had been trying to type "goat cheese" and the auto correct changed it to "govt cheese".

LOL, you really made me laugh!

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while and was happy to find Kansas people.
I live right out side of wichita with my hubby and 2 kids, 3 shelties, 2 cats
and 3 silkies..2 cockerels and a hen.
I would like to get a few more hens..and maybe re home one of the boys.
If anyone has any silkie hens they would part with that are just about old enough to lay
I would love to talk to you
Lisa

Welcome to the Kansas thread! We're always happy to have new people here. We have quite a few people in the Wichita area & surrounding areas. I hatch a lot of different breeds of chicks & will be hatching in the spring again. I don't happen to raise Silkies though. If you're not on the Kansas Poultry Swap on Facebook you're welcome to come & join, here is the link to it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/. Just come to the page & click on join & we'll approve you. You probably will find someone on there with Silkies. We had someone locally that did, but she moved to Oklahoma recently.

Thanks everyone for the good wishes on the cat, she is over the hump now we hope. She is eating really well & drinking water now, so that's a big relief. Her congestion is not all completely gone yet, but it may take a bit after being so sick, she is greatly improved though. She is starting to act more like her old self again. She doesn't completely trust me yet after the bad experiences she has had to endure, but I'm working on it.

Well I had better get around & get out there while my DH is in the mood to help me put that pen roof on. We have some really cold weather coming Tues. so whatever you're planning to do outside for winterizing I recommend you get it done this weekend. I hate to see this stuff coming already, brrrr!

 

[22qZoo]

Hechicken~ that's so funny ,goat cheese.....

Sharol~ I'm impressed, I didn't remember the part about the dairy prices,makes sense I lived in No.Minnesota at the time and there were small dairy farms all over tha place.I think we got powdered milk too. that was when we figured out how to make instant hot cocoa with some Nestle quick and powdered coffee creamer and the powdered milk. (yum !)

Josiechick~ glad you figured out what was making her bark so much,not that fixing it will be easy but at least now you know the why.

 

[HEChicken]

Trish44 and I have mentioned a chicken processing class/demo, and have finally nailed down the details. So without further ado, please consider this your formal invitation

Poultry Processing Class and Hands-On Demo

When: Saturday November 16th, 11:30am
Where: Winfield, KS (Specific addr will be provided to confirmed attendees)
Cost: $10 per person
Who: Anyone who would like to learn how to process their own birds at home but doesn't know where to start. Class size limited to six. If there is enough interest, future classes may be held.
What to bring: Nothing required. If you have a bird or two that you would like to process, feel free to bring them with you.
What is provided:
*Cones of varying sizes. We can accommodate anything from a small chicken to a largish turkey.
*Knives
*Water
*Tables

Note: We will be skinning birds rather than plucking. Plucking requires a large pot of water at just the right temperature and our facility will not allow for that on this occasion.

Please PM either Trish44 or HEChicken with questions or to confirm your place in the class.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I learned how to skin a chicken by watching videos on youtube - it's really simple. The most difficult part is getting the wings skinned - I ended up just cutting them off because it wasn't worth the effort for the little bit of meat you really get.

 

[PrettyWhitty23]

I would be glad to put you on my list or you can keep HEChicken in mind also since she is closer. If you want good layers I also will have Cinnamon Queens in the spring as well as quite a few other breeds. You can see my list on the Kansas Poultry Swap on FB. I use different types of waterers for summer & winter & I agree with Danz, I don't put water inside the coop to avoid wet shavings. Little chicks are the worst about getting stuff in their water, they get better as they get older. I use 5 gallon bucket waterers in the summer so I can keep more water out for them in the hot weather. In the winter I use a combination of things because I can't get electricity to all of my pens. In the ones I can get an extension cord to I use either heated dog bowls that I buy on sale at Orschelyn's, a heated base, or a rubber bowl that can be dumped out easily when it freezes. Actually I think several of us use the heated dog bowls & they really do work well. I've been using them for several years now & they are much cheaper than the heated bases for the waterers. I wouldn't recommend the bucket for winter, it will most likely freeze.

Oh well that's perfect than because we already have heated dog bowls for our German Shepherds. They stopped drinking the water from them and decided it was fun to break the water off of their tub. I am glad you gave me that idea because I never would have thought about that.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish and HeChicken, Since this is so soon I don't think I can swing a trip down there. However if you do decide to try a spring class I can demonstrate the fast way to pluck a duck and maybe also demonstrate plucking chickens. Might as well give some options on dressing birds. Besides it would be an excuse to come see you guys.
I spent my afternoon putting in a water system in my peafowl pen. I still have to brace the pieces on the ends and cut a small hole in the outside wall for the pipe to sit. I also want to install one more faucet on the outside of the pen to fill the geese's water with. Hopefully this will save me a lot of pulling the hose from place to place in the cold weather. Since I have outlets in each run I can plug in my heated water bowls and fill them all at the same time. I have a pipe angled so it will drain and all I have to do is hook up the hose to the pipe to have individual faucets for each pen. If it works as planned it will be awesome. DH said he would rig up some short hoses for each faucet. It won't be perfect for sure but it's the next best thing to having regular running water out there. Maybe some day I can get some underground plumbing in for that.
Of course like everything else it took me a lot longer than I intended. I had to figure out how to hang and support the pipe. I just need a couple more plumbing parts and it will be done.
We were going to go to Topeka but DH had to get some more sleep so it got too late. It gave me time to get my plumbing done.
Welcome cailynne.
Join in and tell us some more about yourself. It seems like more and more people around the Wichita area come on this forum. You have lots of other BYC people near you.
22qZoo I remember a time when we had to have powdered milk but I don't remember why. I never drink milk but I remember my mother trying to cook with it and it ruined lots of food. It just didn't turn out the same.
I went out with my camera. It's malfunctioning cause it takes pictures on a 2 second delay and won't program out of that. So my chickens were moving while I was taking pictures. I wanted to share a few of my really nice birds. So here is some picture overload for you. Click to enlarge the pics to enjoy the feathering.
First one of my young exhibition orp roosters. I plan to switch roosters soon and he will then be the new breeder. This is a young bird and still will grow some more but I think he is looking really nice. He came from Zimmerman lines.


Next one of my BBS English orp pullets and one of my blue/gold partridge brahma pullets.


Next another one of my blue/gold partridge brahmas and my black English Orpington cockerel behind her.


A couple of partridge Brahma boys with some bbs English orp girls behind them.


Next the back end of one of the gold partridge brahma girls. This one is just gold partridge not gold/blue.


And last,


just the front view of one of the English girls and a blue/gold partridge brahma.
I have tried not to brag too much about these birds but they are what I am breeding for. All of the birds I took pictures of other than the rooster aren't breeding age yet and they are huge.

 

[cherwill]

. EVERYBODY would be better off if this guy was replaced by a rooster.

That made me laugh. I know of several people this could apply to!

More bad news. The lone peachick died as well. I tried vetrx and steam veporizer with oxine but guess it was too late. I'm absolutely devastated. My other chicks are doing just fine so I don't know what I did wrong.

I'll be doing major cleaning and disinfecting tomorrow. I'm also moving the 6 to 8 weekers out to the main coop. After disinfecting the storage room brooder, I'll leave it empty for at least a week before moving this last batch of chicks out there.

I've put the tarp up on the south wall and will be putting the watering cups bucket and nipple drinker bucket away. Then I'll put the heated dog bowls out. Forecast says next week's temp will drop drastically so I need to finish prepping for winter.

I better head to bed soon. I've a long day ahead of me tomorrow plus I've to work the midnight shift tomorrow night.

I'm sorry about your peachick. I wouldn't assume you did anything wrong. I don't know about peas, but it seems like chicks in general can be pretty fragile.

We've pretty much winterized the coop. DH put in a new heat lamp and built a new platform for the water so they can't get too many shavings in it when it's inside. We cleaned up the garden plots at the community garden because we had a deadline. We need to do yard cleanup here at the house, but things are still growing. We don't want to yank stuff out while it still looks nice, but we don't want to wait too long and be emptying pots and all that when it's freezing.

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while and was happy to find Kansas people.
I live right out side of wichita with my hubby and 2 kids, 3 shelties, 2 cats
and 3 silkies..2 cockerels and a hen.
I would like to get a few more hens..and maybe re home one of the boys.
If anyone has any silkie hens they would part with that are just about old enough to lay
I would love to talk to you
Lisa

Thanks everyone for the good wishes on the cat, she is over the hump now we hope. She is eating really well & drinking water now, so that's a big relief. Her congestion is not all completely gone yet, but it may take a bit after being so sick, she is greatly improved though. She is starting to act more like her old self again.

That's great news!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Please forgive me and pass it off to my being one of those durned foreigners.  I thought it was just one of those auto correct things.  I assumed she had been trying to type "goat cheese" and the auto correct changed it to "govt cheese".

I shouldn't laugh because I was thinking the same. Us foreigners sometimes need a lesson or two...