Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

I'm glad your DH got the possum, but sorry you lost a bird to it. Sigh.

Yes, it's a good thing he got it, but too bad it wasn't just a bit sooner.

I like Sharol's (I think?) description of chickens as "meals on legs". I wish just about everything out there didn't enjoy chicken dinners.

Me too!

A friend shared a pic with me on my Facebook wall this morning, knowing of my interest in chickens. It is a cool coop idea that I thought I'd share here for anyone interested in replicating it. It is made from a carport and I think you can put up a double carport for about $600 which would give you the frame, roof and side walls coming ⅓ to ½ of the way down, plus the back wall. Then add in the framing and wire for the rest of the sides and the front and you've got a pretty solid structure without spending a fortune (even better if you can get a used carport or better yet, already have one that is not in use). Add in somewhere for them to roost and lay eggs and voila.

That's a really neat idea.

I also meant to say Cherwill, it sounds like you have a great solution there if you have someone interested in the fur. Foxes can be difficult to trap but with the right bait and trap, it can happen. You might google best trapping solutions for foxes and see what you can come up with.

That's a good idea. He was on call yesterday and worked today, so he hasn't had a chance to go get the trap. He should be able to do it tomorrow. I haven't seen any sign of the fox since that first time, but it was just pure luck that I even saw it that time.

My eggs are slowly picking up but not like I hoped. If the darned weather would stabilize that would help.
I caught this English Orp hen stranding up in the cage. She has been sitting a lot due to her whatever is wrong with her leg. I wanted to show you all what a huge basketball of a chicken she is. She IS standing up and not sitting in these pictures. Kind of hard to take through the cage bars so the pics aren't as good as I'd like. She's like a huge ball of fluff. The feathering in front of her in the first picture is the little brahma pullet that had a brain injury. She looks like a miniature bird next to this one.

I like that color a lot.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz, your English orp is lovely! If I show my lav orp roo, Willie, I bet he will swoon!! Let me know when you have chickies!!

Will do.
I'm waiting for it to get light so I can get out and pack the roosters up. Not really what I want to do first thing in the morning.
It's really cold out this morning too. 17 degrees right now. I forgot to blow out my water hose so I may be in a pickle today. I opened it up but didn't do all the draining. I was so exhausted trying to work out in the wind the only thing I could think about was getting back in the house. The wind got my allergies going insane last night. I don't know if I'll ever find everything. I saw it literally pick up a piece of 1/4 inch plywood and it went about 200 feet in the air until it splatted it up along the front of the guinea pen, where it promptly broke it apart along the outside edges. It was old so it was a bit brittle but I couldn't believe the wind had that much strength. A second piece went about 15 feet. We had it under one of the metal structures I moved out to the goose pen for housing, and it hadn't gotten moved. Well it's moved now! More junk to clean up!!
I haven't had time to get anything done at home the last few days. I've had to go somewhere every day this week. I'm so ready to just stay home.

 

[HEChicken]

I haven't had time to get anything done at home the last few days. I've had to go somewhere every day this week. I'm so ready to just stay home.

I sure do relate to that statement. I am such a home body and don't enjoy the weeks where I have to go somewhere everyday. This has been one of them for me too.

I hope the wind didn't cause any losses for anyone yesterday. It was really nuts. I had secured everything I could, knowing we were under a wind advisory all day, but I had to refill my feed bin yesterday morning and that of course means empty bags. Just carrying the empty bags up to the trash bin was tough as they filled with air and it was like trying to hold onto a hot air balloon taking off. I had scrunched up all of them inside the other so I only had one to hold onto and it was full of scrunched up bags but even so…..

The warm weather plus longer days has already started the increase in laying. I'm getting twice as many the past few days as I was getting this time a week ago. Now if only the eggs I want to hatch would start arriving - those are still sadly lacking. But the good news is that the new little green egg I am getting that I thought was being laid by one of the Wheatens, is actually being laid by a little mixed breed EE I have. I'm not 100% sure of her parentage but I know she came out of a green egg herself and I think the cock was a Welsummer. I was attempting to get Olive Eggers by breeding the dark egg layer to a green egg layer and the result is a very pretty little EE. She is laying eggs about the same shade as her mother's, not olive at all. Oh well. At least I still have two chances for the wheatens to lay blue eggs.

 

[sharol]

The wind was hideous yesterday. We had a fire in NW Lyon county that had fire units from Council Grove and Cottonwood Falls there to help. It was huge, and the rumor is that it was started by some fool burning a stump yesterday. In that wind. What an idiot. I was listening to the scanner app on my phone for a couple of hours until I was sure it wasn't completely out of control (though it was 5 or 6 miles nw of us, it was moving in our direction).

It is COLD this morning. Of course the heated waterer was dry, so I had to refill it, and it is one of those that splashes all over you when you flip it over. I really hate the thing, but I use ACV in my waterer, and it was the only heated one i could find that wasn't galvanized.

 

[Trish44]

That wind was crazy yesterday for sure, but so far today it doesn't look windy, however it's not supposed to be as warm today either.

HEChicken, I saw that carport coop/pen on another person's FB page too. I agree with Danz that you would have to sink some posts in the ground with our wind around here or it may take flight. Those carports aren't that cheap though, so I'm not sure unless you could find a used one that it would be cheaper to build than another type of pen. You still have to buy all of that wood & wire in addition to the carport roof.

Well I have another physical therapy session this morning, I'm not looking forward to it. Last time the gal made me hurt so bad I suffered all the next day. I think we're going to have to back off a little or I'm not going to get anywhere. With Fibromyalgia you can't push your body like other people or you just backpedal instead of making progress. The therapists want to go gung ho & I just can't do that. I want to get healed as soon as I can, but I have to do the work at my pace, not theirs.

 

[chicken danz]

I got the roosters caught and caged and man is it cold out there. The wind is still kicking butt here. Not like yesterday but a pretty heavy wind. I went out and found a big limb on my car this morning. I was in terror. But I can't see any damage luckily.
I want to get these other roosters out of here this weekend but I sure hate the thoughts of having to drive to town again. I swear I've become a total hermit. I ran into an aquaintance yesterday at the grocery store I hadn't seen since I retired. It reminded me of how little I get out. His daughter who was a "kid" the last time we talked is now in college. I very rarely go grocery shopping and never go here in town unless I have one last minute item I have to get.
My hog is going to the butcher today so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some pork in the freezer. Yay!!! Now I have to start trying to find a half of beef. We've been out of hamburger for awhile and I hate that store bought crap. I've been grinding steaks into hamburger just to have some. Totally lean stuff for cooking but you can't fry it unless you add some oil. We tend to have a lot of casserole type meals so we use lots of burger.
Trish I hope this mornings session is easier on you.

 

[ChooksChick]

Hi, all!

I'm not even going to try to catch up, but I did want to pop in and say, "hi!" Things are starting to level out and now that I'm done moving the whole facility I can breathe. I also have a new farm partner, Pinwheel, who has just recently joined BYC. She's got a fabulous farm she's been working for 15+ years with sheep, birds, etc. She hadn't had any poultry in years, so this is great for both of us. Her farm is her real business and she has produce at farmers' markets all over and sells all products from sheep (wool, meat, etc.). It's been wonderful working with her during this move.

I'm still working with Alison on some projects, and that collaboration is good, too.

I'll be on the road a lot more than in previous years and hope to see you guys along the way- can't wait for warm weather and talk of spring!!

How is everyone?

 

[chicken danz]

Good to see you here again. So are you getting back into more birds again? I know the last time you posted you were downsizing.

 

[ChooksChick]

Good to see you here again. So are you getting back into more birds again? I know the last time you posted you were downsizing.

Yes, I did sell off several varieties, but as I was liquidating this farm I'm on popped up and I screeched to a halt. It took forever to get it all moved and rebuilt. I'm down to 12 coops/runs, but will need to split out some colors before long. I also have 3 big walk in brooder houses full of juveniles, which will need to be split out and disseminated into culls/appropriate lines.

I'm trying not to grow any more, while knowing I'll need at least 4 more coops for color separation...but that's it!!

I never got lower than 100 birds, which felt bare. How bizarre is that!?

How's your downsizing coming along?

 

[tazcat70]

Hi Renee! I popped back in a few days ago after a 6 mos absence. Glad to see you were able to stay in Chickens!