Consolidated Kansas

[ashncarson]

Thank you for the photos. Here are two photos, taken on Jan. 4th. I will take another one tomorrow if I have time out there after work!





Today I got 3 eggs for the first time. I know for sure which 2 laid, but not the third one. My NH might be now, but not sure if it was her egg or not. I know the first eggs can be small right?

 

[Trish44]

I got 3 boxes of hatching eggs in the mail today, so tomorrow I'll be putting them in the incubator. I should have lots of chicks around here in a few weeks! I have some that are due the 27th & the 31st & then the 7th of Feb. Then I'll have these 3 batches due Valentines' Day, wow Valentine's chicks!

ash, yes the pullet eggs to start out are a lot smaller than they will be when they get to laying more. I have had some really miniature eggs lately myself from two pullets that just started laying, they were cute little things.

michelleml, I forgot about it earlier when I was reading your post, but the American Cancer Society does have some equipment they loan out. I'm not sure if there is an office near you or not, but you might look it up & call & see what is available. They could give you references too for other help. It's been 16 years since my late husband died, so it's been awhile since I had to deal with all of that. He had lung cancer that spread to his bones on top of polycystic kidney disease & he died when he was only 47 years old, way too young. We're all praying for you & your DH.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Michelleml, the VFW maybe able to provide the equipment you need. as you are close to Topeka, there should be a large VFW. . I know the local VFW close to me provides wheel chairs, walkers and such and it is a small VFW. If the VFW in Topeka wouldn't have it, they may know who would.

 

[michelleml]

Michelleml, the VFW maybe able to provide the equipment you need. as you are close to Topeka, there should be a large VFW. . I know the local VFW close to me provides wheel chairs, walkers and such and it is a small VFW. If the VFW in Topeka  wouldn't  have it, they may know who would.

I got 3 boxes of hatching eggs in the mail today, so tomorrow I'll be putting them in the incubator. I should have lots of chicks around here in a few weeks! I have some that are due the 27th & the 31st & then the 7th of Feb. Then I'll have these 3 batches due Valentines' Day, wow Valentine's chicks!

ash, yes the pullet eggs to start out are a lot smaller than they will be when they get to laying more. I have had some really miniature eggs lately myself from two pullets that just started laying, they were cute little things.

michelleml, I forgot about it earlier when I was reading your post, but the American Cancer Society does have some equipment they loan out. I'm not sure if there is an office near you or not, but you might look it up & call & see what is available. They could give you references too for other help. It's been 16 years since my late husband died, so it's been awhile since I had to deal with all of that. He had lung cancer that spread to his bones on top of polycystic kidney disease & he died when he was only 47 years old, way too young. We're all praying for you & your DH.

thanks guys I will check in with them. Stay warm

 

[chicken danz]

michelleml hope you got up this morning feeling a little less hopeless. You have my prayers and of course you can PM me and vent any time you want. I will listen!! I know contacting people for help is one more thing to do but you also might find some people who are going through exactly what you are. It helps when someone else is in your shoes and you now they truly understand.
I got hatching eggs yesterday as well. At $8 each I was pretty darned upset. None of my requests for packing were honored. I ended up with a smashed box and frozen eggs, even though I went out and got them immediately when the mailman arrived. These came from a well known breeder. You would think they could follow simple instructions.

I got my newest sweeter heater yesterday. I need to get it out into the brooder house later. Looks like it is going to warm up for a day or two and then Monday and Tuesday is going to be another blast of artic weather again. We've had enough already!!!

 

[HEChicken]

I agree Danz - enough with the cold! At least it is almost the end of January so we are that much closer to spring. Sort of.

Wow - what kind of eggs did you get for $8? Did you contact the breeder and what did he/she say?

Trish, what kinds of eggs did you get too?

Michelle, I'm glad other people have been able to offer suggestions. I was at a loss, having not dealt with that myself.

Well, I'm glad the polar freeze from yesterday has moved on. It is already about as warm as the high temperature was yesterday - we only got to 16 here. So maybe it will get above freezing today after all.

I got a big order yesterday for chicks so I'm excited to fire up the incubators and start hatching. I seem to be getting new layers coming on board almost every day at the moment so I'm seeing a lot of those little pullet eggs but I'm just glad they are finally starting up!

 

[Trish44]

I agree Danz - enough with the cold! At least it is almost the end of January so we are that much closer to spring. Sort of.

Wow - what kind of eggs did you get for $8? Did you contact the breeder and what did he/she say?

Trish, what kinds of eggs did you get too?

Michelle, I'm glad other people have been able to offer suggestions. I was at a loss, having not dealt with that myself.

Well, I'm glad the polar freeze from yesterday has moved on. It is already about as warm as the high temperature was yesterday - we only got to 16 here. So maybe it will get above freezing today after all.

I got a big order yesterday for chicks so I'm excited to fire up the incubators and start hatching. I seem to be getting new layers coming on board almost every day at the moment so I'm seeing a lot of those little pullet eggs but I'm just glad they are finally starting up!

I agree totally with both of you, winter go away!

I got BLRW & Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana eggs along with another dozen Speckled Sussex that were replacements for those lost in the mail for 7 days that suffered the consequences. I'm glad there are still some good people out there who honor their agreement & replace damaged eggs even though it's the postal service's fault. I caught the mail carrier lady on the porch this time before she sat the eggs on the freezing cold concrete. There are things I would have loved to say to her, but I doubt it would have made any difference. We have a wooden bench that sits right beside the front door on the porch & the mail could be set on that instead of the cement, but she doesn't have the presence of mind to think of that, geez.

HEChicken I also got two more orders for chicks last night, so I'm getting quite a list, I just hope I can fill it all. Get to laying girls!

 

[chicken danz]

I need to get on the stick and start advertising chicks. I have a few orders but not many. I'm just too used to selling by word of mouth and now I am going to have to try to sell some since I have more expensive birds. I ABSOLUTELY have to make some money back this year. I invested thousands in birds last year and had some substantial losses as well. Not to mention at least $10,000 in feed alone. Time to make some $$ back. My problem is I always sell too cheap.
What and idiot I am.
Speaking of birds my big blue orp just laid her 3rd egg about a second ago. I know the last bird to breed her was a partridge brahma so those will be some weird chicks if she is fertile. I need to get her leg well so she can go out and produce with the right boys. I am going to hatch these chicks anyway just to check fertility but have no idea what I'll do with them. I guess if they hatch out as cockerels they'll be some monster meat birds. These boys weigh 10 -13 pounds a piece when grown. Maybe I should bring one of the right roosters in for a little while just long enough to breed her once. I really don't want to do an AI.
It's going to be a busy day. I hope you're right HEChicken and it hurries and gets above freezing. I had frozen hoses yesterday to deal with so I could use a decent day of thawing. The wind is really howling but at least it is out of the south.
The eggs I got were newly imported splash brahmas. Just one more thing to add to my collection. I only have one splash brahma and she is a Dan Powell bird so these will be much nicer and larger sized.

 

[cherwill]

michelleml hope you got up this morning feeling a little less hopeless. You have my prayers and of course you can PM me and vent any time you want. I will listen!! I know contacting people for help is one more thing to do but you also might find some people who are going through exactly what you are. It helps when someone else is in your shoes and you now they truly understand.

I agree with all of this. Your family is in my thoughts, and I wish I had some helpful advice. Thank goodness others here do.

Thank you for the photos. Here are two photos, taken on Jan. 4th. I will take another one tomorrow if I have time out there after work!





Today I got 3 eggs for the first time. I know for sure which 2 laid, but not the third one. My NH might be now, but not sure if it was her egg or not. I know the first eggs can be small right?

Pullet eggs are small. I've also noticed that, if my hens haven't laid in a while, sometimes they'll lay a smaller egg or two before things get back to normal.

 

[lizzyGSR]

OK, So life has been absolutely crazy. I've been running hard all week and haven't gotten much of anything done, except maybe to fall farther behind.

Somewhere on here, someone asked me if my ducks/geese are laying. As far as I'm aware, they are not - not unless they're hiding their eggs in an as-of-yet-undiscovered nest, which is highly possible. We got 1/2 inch of snow a couple days ago, and the birds haven't been out of their pen since, choosing instead to hang out in the straw that isn't covered my snow (under the duck house).

Baby E is doing well and is growing like a weed. He will be 12 weeks old this Sunday. It's hard to believe it's been 12 weeks already! He has become much more aware of his surroundings and gets bored being in one spot for too long, so I have to rotate him between his bouncy chair, his swing, and his play mat while I am working. He loves to play "peek-a-boo" and have his nosed "beeped". He also loves it when someone folds laundry near him - for some reason he really likes having the fabric waved near his face. Maybe it has something to do with his love of peek-a-boo... I don't know.

Anyway, someone requested a picture. These aren't super recent, but are the best I have for now without going to take another picture of him.

This one was taken 1/8/2014 and is the first time he grabbed onto something other than my hair and his daddy's shirt.


This was taken 12/27/2013 and is the first time I got a picture of him smiling.