Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

It got up to 34 here but like you said, since the sun was out and the wind wasn't, it didn't feel too bad. I heard a rumor of 50 tomorrow - I sure hope that's right.

I've been lucky I haven't had any frozen eggs yet this year. I did find out that one of my barred rock pullets is laying in the dog igloo. I don't know how long she's been doing it but I'm sure the dogs have been enjoying the treat every night when I put them away for bed. Now that I know, I can check it daily and hopefully get to the egg before they do.

Danz, I've been mostly wearing the Ice Bay gloves the past week since its been cold, and here's a problem I never considered. They stick to metal when wet! I keep my feed in metal garbage cans and the gate to the goat/sheep pasture is metal and if my hands get wet while filling water bowls, well, more than once I've been stuck to a garbage can lid or gate.

 

[chicken danz]

HeChicken I've had that problem as well. I know if you pull you can pull off the little knubs. I've learned that if I kind of press in which warms the metal a little, they'll release. DH suggested spraying them with silicone spray but I haven't tried that. I just usually try to warm and release. I still like them and recommend them. I wish they had a coating on the neoprene like my muck boots do that sheds water but doesn't freeze.

 

[Trish44]

I got all the birds fed and watered and got my load of feed shoveled off into the barrels, so I am tired.
The sun did come out for awhile and although it was cold it felt good. I really needed the sun even though it didn't last long. My DIL gave me some wool socks. I can't stand wool on my skin but I pulled on a pair over my regular socks. I have to say my feet stayed toasty warm. Normally they're warm but my toes get cold.
I feel like I had a major workout. I think I needed that. I almost feel human again. Now I need some energy to get busy on projects in the house. Maybe tomorrow!
The eggs I picked up were all frozen. I guess I'll start again tomorrow and see if I can find some fresh ones.

If you get the merino wool socks that are a mixture of about 70% merino wool they aren't prickly like some wool is. I have several pairs of socks of my own that I like that are made of that & I also wear some my DH gets from work to go out & feed in. I didn't use to be able to tolerate wool on my skin either until I found the merino wool. I also got some gloves from Australia when we were there made of the merino wool & they're nice & soft too. I don't however wear those to work in. I'm glad you got your feed put away, that sounds like a huge task.

It got up to 34 here but like you said, since the sun was out and the wind wasn't, it didn't feel too bad. I heard a rumor of 50 tomorrow - I sure hope that's right.

I've been lucky I haven't had any frozen eggs yet this year. I did find out that one of my barred rock pullets is laying in the dog igloo. I don't know how long she's been doing it but I'm sure the dogs have been enjoying the treat every night when I put them away for bed. Now that I know, I can check it daily and hopefully get to the egg before they do.

Danz, I've been mostly wearing the Ice Bay gloves the past week since its been cold, and here's a problem I never considered. They stick to metal when wet! I keep my feed in metal garbage cans and the gate to the goat/sheep pasture is metal and if my hands get wet while filling water bowls, well, more than once I've been stuck to a garbage can lid or gate.

It was just still pretty cold here today, in the 30s, but not warm enough to melt the ice in the rubber bowls. I had to dump them all out this afternoon & put fresh water in. I'm hoping it is 50 tomorrow so I don't have to mess with water so much & I can get some other things done I need to do. I have found a few frozen eggs, but most of them were on top of the straw outside in the run. I have put a board up there now so it's not so cushy there for the hens to sit up there.

I just don't do well with those Ice Bay gloves, I'm glad they work for some people, but I found them to be more trouble than they were worth & weren't warm enough for me either. My hands hurt so bad when they're cold, so I really have to have a lot of insulation in my gloves.

Well I lost another one of my peafowl, a peahen this time, so I'm really disgusted about it. I took the last two I have out of the guinea pen & moved them in with the turkeys to see if they would do better. The darned guineas are just too mean & they kept chasing the peafowl out of the food troughs, both of them. The peafowl are so much bigger birds but aren't as aggressive as the guineas are. We'll see what happens.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh no, Trish, I'm so sorry to hear about the peafowl.

 

[22qZoo]

Michelleml~ praying for a better out come this time on the new treatment, every journey is different and I can't imagine what you and your family have been thru. On the other hand ,my mom is going to be starting chemo this week for breast cancer round #2, so I can empathize,hope you can manage take a few moments for yourself to re-charge once in a while (coffee with the chooks is my favorite ).

Two things I don't do well.... Dress-up and Decorate. with all the kids,dogs,cats,etc......so far it's served me well. Comfort on the other hand ,I got that covered,comfort food, comfy couch,comfy shoes,

So.when do you all take down your Christmas stuff ? I'll probably wait till the kids go back to school, where did the time go, seems like the tree just went up a week ago.

 

[chicken danz]

I actually did a lot better getting things done when I had kids added to the menagerie. First I was younger and secondly I knew they depended on me. Plus I was gone to work at least 12 hours a day 5 days a week. I honestly don't know how I kept up with all the things I took on. I don't do a great job of keeping up any more even with simple things. I still take on loads and fool myself into thinking I can be super woman and get them done.
I normally take my tree down on New Years if not before. I want to get the stuff out of the way. This year however I am enjoying my tree, since it is slimmer it isn't taking over everything. Plus I've found the lights help take the chill out of my living room which is on the north side of the house. It will still probably come down tomorrow though. I took down any other decorations the last couple days. ...which weren't a lot. I still have some falling lights on the window that need to come down as well. They look like falling snow at night.
22qzoo, I am so sorry about your mother. I hope she does well.
Trish, I love the ice bay gloves because they do keep my hands warm and dry. I have Raynaud's as well so I have to keep my hands and feet as warm as I can. It's a family thing. My Mom and my sisters have it much worse than I do. It surprises me they don't keep you warm. I do have some glove liners I have used on the coldest of cold days with them but most of the time they keep my hands toasty warm.
I didn't try the socks without other socks under them. And I threw the package away so I have no idea what kind of wool they are. I was impressed however how warm they were.
It's supposed to be 45 here today so I guess I'll be out getting the birds ready for another cold spell. I might try digging out some timers and hook some up in the houses to see if I can get some of these girls laying again. I just want to be sure I don't overload my circuits by adding lights.

 

[HEChicken]

For awhile now every time I walked into my feed room, the smell of mice was overpowering. This past weekend, I narrowed it down to a bag I have in there that is full of folded up feed bags. I like to keep some around because they are useful for a lot of things. So I shook the bag and out popped a mouse and ran to hide elsewhere in the feed room. I shook it again and saw two more little heads in there. So I took the whole bag outside and started taking out the folded up feed bags one at a time. Every so often, another mouse would jump out and run off. The birds got at least one of them but I don't know how many they ultimately got. Several I saw make a beeline back to the feed room where I had forgotten to close the door behind me. Grrr.

So yesterday I set up the two traps I got from you Danz. I'd had a problem with them gaping open so the mice could go in, eat the peanut butter and then leave again, but I found a way to get that gap closed up so set them down carefully and hoped for the best. This morning there were 3 mice in each trap!!! That is the best success I've ever had with them, so I guess my fix worked. Two of them were dead. I can only think they froze to death in that little metal box with no way to get out. I don't love they died that way but am still glad not to have them eating my feed any more. The other 4 were still alive and well. I hesitated to release them back out to the birds in case some got away from them, so I brought the traps in and found a really tall box to put them in. Then, one by one I added a snake to the box and once each snake had got a mouse, I lifted it back out and got the next snake. The fourth snake is in the box right now, waiting for the fourth mouse to come out of its hidey hole. I can't tell you the satisfaction that I have 6 fewer mice eating my feed PLUS I fed my snakes, who were due to eat anyway, and it saves me having to go out and buy feed for them. Win-win!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Whoa! It turns out there were actually 8 mice in the traps! I went to get the fourth snake out and it had a mouse constricted but then I noticed another live mouse still running around, so I got a snake out who had already eaten and put her in there, then went to pull the trap out and realized there was yet another live mouse in the trap. I was able to grab it by the tail and drag it out of his hidey hole and feed it to another snake as a second meal. Very convenient - 8 mice, 4 snakes, 2 apiece

. Plus one thrilled chicken owner whose feed may go just that little bit further now that they are gone.

 

[chicken danz]

I wish I could donate a few thousand mice for your snakes! We are so over run by them and nothing seems to end their siege. I got tired of emptying and baiting the traps. I think the mice get smart to them after a while. I should gather them up, clean them and set them again I guess. I have tried every thing imaginable to get rid of all these mice short of getting rid of the birds and the feed for them.
I think the drought is what brought them in ultimately and now they just keep proliferating.
I'm irritated this morning. I have been waiting for weeks to hear from a Kansas government program that is supposed to pay for some medical screening. They finally called this morning and I found out I'm not qualified because I am on medicare. Medicare only pays for some services in July and my doctor failed to schedule them. So now I have to fork out a chunk of money from my own pocket to get them done. It's another one of those government programs that is only there to help the illegal immigrants and free loaders who otherwise live off our tax dollars. We wonder why we are so over loaded with illegals and the government is broke. If we quit serving these people spoon to mouth, imagine how much smaller the national debt would be. Sorry! I just had to vent.
I think it's sad that the government doesn't care for it's own citizens, now requiring them to purchase health insurance many can't afford, but they will give a free ride to those who are in this country illegally.
Not to start a war here. I just needed to vent. I have to put off my own medical care when I could get it done for free if I was here illegally.

 

[cherwill]

Well I lost another one of my peafowl, a peahen this time, so I'm really disgusted about it.

I'm sorry about the peahen, Trish.

Two things I don't do well.... Dress-up and Decorate. with all the kids,dogs,cats,etc......so far it's served me well. Comfort on the other hand ,I got that covered,comfort food, comfy couch,comfy shoes,

So.when do you all take down your Christmas stuff ? I'll probably wait till the kids go back to school, where did the time go, seems like the tree just went up a week ago.

LOL, dressing up for me means a nice sweater with clean jeans.

I take my Christmas stuff down whenever I clean house after Christmas. That means it's usually after New Year's. I find that I put up less and less all the time because I don't want to mess with putting away later.

Whoa! It turns out there were actually 8 mice in the traps! I went to get the fourth snake out and it had a mouse constricted but then I noticed another live mouse still running around, so I got a snake out who had already eaten and put her in there, then went to pull the trap out and realized there was yet another live mouse in the trap. I was able to grab it by the tail and drag it out of his hidey hole and feed it to another snake as a second meal. Very convenient - 8 mice, 4 snakes, 2 apiece

. Plus one thrilled chicken owner whose feed may go just that little bit further now that they are gone.

Holy cow! Nice day for the snakes, though.

We spent the day chopping and moving wood. A friend of my FIL's lets us keep wood at his place and he has a dead tree he wants removed. It's about half done now. We were going to work more on it today, but there's a toilet issue that is more important! Our downstairs toilet backs up somewhere down the line and there's no fixing it without having to pull the toilet and snake the line.