Consolidated Kansas

[OkieQueenBee]

I've been out twice today to care for the birds. Luckily, we didn't get the ice you got Danz, just some ice pellets. It's cold but not horrible. The chickens didn't venture out much today, they are as tired of this weather as we are. Egg production was picking up, only got three today though. Yesterday I found two rubber eggs in the nest box. One was definitely pullet sized the other one was probably a pullet too. I get a turkey egg every other day. Danz congrats on your turkey egg hatching hopefully the other ones will pop out just fine. Trish what is your count on fuzzy butts now? Any Welsummers poking their heads out? We might be interested in one of the Marans cockerels later on. Where did you get the eggs from? I'm finding quite a few breeders that are running Blue and Black Marans together. I would like to stay true to the Black Copper breed. I know for egg production it doesn't matter but keeping the breed true and pure should be a priority.
I think our peacocks are so silly. They spend the day in their house and the cold snowy night outside on the roost. Each morning I peek in the house hoping to see a pea egg. But then I know nothing of peahens and egg laying. What I do know is we need more pens and this weather is not helping.
In my old house we just used a wood stove for heat. I don't remember what the name was but it was a good. It had a blower that would send the heat down the hallway to the bedrooms. It kept the house comfortable just burning Oklahoma trash wood. (That's what KKB calls the wood down there.) I love wood heat.

 

[chicken danz]

It's pretty early for peafowl eggs. I'd give it two more months I think. The India blues, by the way lay twice. They'll lay a few eggs in spring but rarely fertile. I'm talking like just 3-4 eggs. Then later in the summer when the rest of the peafowl are slowing down they start cranking them out. At least mine do. In between times the other colored peafowl are laying like crazy.
I have been checking for goose eggs though. On warmer days they act like a bunch of teenagers trying to fight over the girls. I think I had goose eggs in March last year.
I guess if anyone laid eggs today they are just going to be frozen.
I ordered some of those drinking cup water things today. I wasn't at all impressed with the little nipple waterers. I have several left but so far they just seem like too much trouble. Reading reviews it seems like the cups are a lot more dependable. I probably won't use them until it warms up but I think they might be another option for watering.
Queen Bee one of those girls must have gone on break cause I was getting an egg every day. Maybe in a week or two she'll start up again. Are you incubating yet? I've only found one that wasn't fertile in the ones I set. Of course it's too early to check the later ones.

 

[Trish44]

I've been out twice today to care for the birds. Luckily, we didn't get the ice you got Danz, just some ice pellets. It's cold but not horrible. The chickens didn't venture out much today, they are as tired of this weather as we are. Egg production was picking up, only got three today though. Yesterday I found two rubber eggs in the nest box. One was definitely pullet sized the other one was probably a pullet too. I get a turkey egg every other day. Danz congrats on your turkey egg hatching hopefully the other ones will pop out just fine. Trish what is your count on fuzzy butts now? Any Welsummers poking their heads out? We might be interested in one of the Marans cockerels later on. Where did you get the eggs from? I'm finding quite a few breeders that are running Blue and Black Marans together. I would like to stay true to the Black Copper breed. I know for egg production it doesn't matter but keeping the breed true and pure should be a priority.
I think our peacocks are so silly. They spend the day in their house and the cold snowy night outside on the roost. Each morning I peek in the house hoping to see a pea egg. But then I know nothing of peahens and egg laying. What I do know is we need more pens and this weather is not helping.
In my old house we just used a wood stove for heat. I don't remember what the name was but it was a good. It had a blower that would send the heat down the hallway to the bedrooms. It kept the house comfortable just burning Oklahoma trash wood. (That's what KKB calls the wood down there.) I love wood heat.

My chickens didn't all come out today either, there were a few diehards out there but they didn't stay out very long I don't think. All of the birds were in when I went out to shut the run door. We didn't get any ice at all thank goodness, it was snowing just a fine show earlier today but it wasn't sticking at all. I'm worried about what is supposed to be coming the first of the week. If it gets slick here the birds won't be coming out because I'm taking no chances going across that driveway if it's slick. My laying flock has picked up some on laying, why I don't know unless they're just bored to death not being able to get out & find something interesting to eat.

QQB I have tried to count those little BCM fuzzy butts but they won't hold still long enough to count them, there has to be 16 or 17 in there maybe. I'm sure there will be an extra cockerel in there for you. I have one that has a crooked leg that I have a little vet wrap bandage on trying to help it, I hope it works. It's the most crooked leg I've seen on a chick before. I have used the vet wrap before to help them & usually if they're going to get better they're already better by the next day or so. We'll see what happens. I got these eggs from a gal in Alabama who has a farm called 3 Rivers Marans, she has pretty birds & these are all Black Copper, pure bred. She breeds for really speckled eggs & they're just beautiful, it looks like someone threw paint all over them. They're not the darkest ones I've seen, but really pretty nonetheless. I only got 4 Welsummers out of 8 eggs & 2 are pullets & 2 are cockerels. I don't intend to keep the cockerels, I'm wanting a BCM cockerel for a flock rooster out in my laying flock. I've read it's hard to sex the BCMs until the cockerels start getting bigger combs, which I also read they do fairly early. I have 3 breeds of chicks now in my brooder, Speckled Sussex, BCMs, & Welsummers. I have a few Blue Laced Barnevelder eggs due on the 8th & then the rest of the eggs are due Valentines Day. I now have two big brooders in my sun room & oh my DH was so thrilled about that. He asked me where I was going to put the next brooder, on top of the diningroom table? I didn't plan to have all of these chicks in the house, it's just too cold to have them anywhere else right now. When the heritage RIR chicks get feathered out enough they may be able to graduate to the garage, but now I have both big brooders in the house. I don't know if I have enough scrap wood left to build another brooder or not. It's a big problem hatching chicks in cold weather for me anyway, I don't have a dedicated brooder house. I wish my garage was insulated but it's not, it's just a metal building & while it stops the wind it's just as cold as outside. I guess we could heat it with one of those barrel stoves if I could build one, but then someone would have to take wood out there all the time. It's just not a good solution for chicks, it gets cold in the winter & steaming hot in the summer. Maybe that needs to be on my wish list some time, we'll see. My DH has told me he doesn't want to build me any more buildings, it's just not his thing.

I was going to say, I think the peafowl don't lay till much warmer weather. The lady I'm going to get my peahens from said she hatched out 60 peachicks last year, I can't even imagine having that many. The two peahens she is holding for me are last spring's hatch. I'll probably get them from her at the end of February now, breaking my leg kind of put a crimp in my plans. I'm sure my lonely peacock out there will appreciate some peafowl girls as company instead of turkey hens. Speaking of turkey hens I will be selling all 3 of my RP hens in the spring if anybody is interested. Just send me a PM. After losing my tom twice I'm just going to give up on the turkeys & give the pen to the peafowl.

We only have a few more days until our new grandson will be here, we can't wait to see him. They're doing a scheduled C-Section on the 10th. She has been sick this whole pregnancy & I just found out she has been in the hospital twice this last week for pre-eclampsia, not good. I know she will be glad to get this pregnancy over so she can feel better. At least she has family not too far away to help out.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

There was a thin layer of ice here also. It took me three time as long to get my chores done. You can not walk on ice, you just shuffle or take real short steps. It hasn't stopped my chickens from laying thou. Still averaging about 20 to 24 eggs a day out of forty five hens.

 

[22qZoo]

Wow , yesterday was sure interesting. I was able to go run errands with out any trouble . I was only home for about an hour before I had to go back out and get the kids from school, good grief , what a mess! When I got out of the van to go get DS I ended up on my rear in the parking lot. Bruised my pride and my elbow so no big deal but, man was it slick!
There were wrecks all over the place !

Josiechick - Amelia sure is precious !

We have a Buck wood stove insert that works great we just never use it any more. I wish we could use it cuz it really cranks out the heat I just don't feel safe using it with our son around . It's a shame because we probably have enough deadfall to burn most of the winter. I kind of like cutting and splitting wood ,not like we'd have the time for it tho.

 

[cherwill]

Our chickens almost never come out in snow. DH usually shovels a little oval track around their pen so they can come out and get exercise. We have about an inch of snow on the ground and they actually came out today. They were high-steppin' like they were in a parade!

 

[22qZoo]

KsKingbee- maybe you or somebody else would know,- Is there such a thing as a wood burning outdoor stove that has say,a steam boiler or something that would power it's own blower. If I understand it right, it's hard to get "clean" enough power to run electronic stuff but maybe some power that would be good enough for a fan? It seems like we have quite a few ice storms in this area and it would be nice keep the warm air moving. I'm going start researching the solar panels , any recommendations ?

 

[chicken danz]

Cherwill you have high steppers and I have sliders. I guess I'll have high stepping sliders if we get the other snow that is predicted. They are saying 4-8 inches here before dawn on Tuesday. The temp isn't going to be warm enough to melt any of this ice so I guess I just have to take my chances and deal with it. I sure hope the snow holds off until Monday evening. I have to go have some medical tests Monday afternoon and I'm not anxious to drive on nasty roads. I got the two little turkeys out of the incubator and they aren't standing on their own. Laying on their sides. One of them seems to be gaining ground but the other hasn't yet. The third egg finally pipped. I wish I had some newly hatched chicks to act as tutors. If I remember right I have two eggs due to hatch tomorrow. I lost so many when the stupid fans quit blowing in that incubator. There was no way for the temp to get all the way down to the lower shelves since the temp measurement is mounted up near the top. The old manual kind had an advantage that way cause the temp prob was about mid range.

 

[KsKingBee]

KsKingbee- maybe you or somebody else would know,- Is there such a thing as a wood burning outdoor stove that has say,a steam boiler or something that would power it's own blower. If I understand it right, it's hard to get "clean" enough power to run electronic stuff but maybe some power that would be good enough for a fan? It seems like we have quite a few ice storms in this area and it would be nice keep the warm air moving. I'm going start researching the solar panels , any recommendations ?

Wood fired water boilers typically set outside your house and pipe the hot water into the house to an exchanger (flat plate exchanger) that transmits the heat to another water circulation system. The interior water system will take that heat to either radiant floor branches, radiant baseboard radiators, furnace radiators, towel heaters, and water tanks. Mine is a Natures Comfort 325G which is a 325 gallon 460,000 BTU that re-burns the wood gasses with a gasification system.
http://naturescomfortllc.com/products/ncb325g-outdoor-wood-boiler It uses two low amperage pumps at minimum, the pump that sends the water to the house and the pump that circulates the water inside the house, and one fan that regulates the heat in the firebox. If you need emergency electricity then look at the Generac generator. http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power/home-backup-products/ecogen-series What I like best about ours is that it is completely automatic and runs on propane. So when the grid goes down it takes over and runs the essential systems we need.

Right now our solar system only sells the excess electricity back to the grid, in the future I will have it set to bank excess electricity as well for nighttime use. Our best deal on the system came from Kings Wind and Solar from Hillsboro Ks. Nick set us up with a 24 panel 6.2KW system that we can add more panels to if we want.

 

[chicken danz]

My third turkey hatched and is doing fine. One of the others is standing but this one just can't stay on it's feet. Could be my fault, or the incubators or just because it was a pullet chick. I dip their beaks every now and then and hopefully they'll get the idea to eat and drink soon.
I've been working on my antique incubator yesterday and today. Of course I didn't take before pictures of it and finally took a few pictures today after I had cleaned and cleaned layer after layer of crap off it. Plus it is all apart. I used mineral oil and wiped the graphics on the front until I could see them. I am trying to repaint them. I'm hoping my lack of being able to paint a straight line just ends up looking like an aged graphic. It is an adorable sign so I really want to keep it there. The legs were broken off so I am trying to fill in gaps and rebuild corners with bondo. I hope to eventually get it done and use it for a coffee table.
I started out on ice when I was feeding and watering but the sun came out and although it got to a high of 25 or 26 it still melted a lot of ice today. I actually was walking in some mud before I got done. Of course it is all refreezing now but maybe it won't be a total ice rink like it was.
I'm going to try to get a load of feed in the morning. I have enough for a couple more days but I don't want to chance not being able to get out of here. We've been blocked in before with the roads drifting shut when it's snowed and drifted so I don't want to chance being out of feed.
The starlings had moved in and pooped literally every where there was food or water including in the buildings. They irritate me to no end. Every time I've had a bunch of them move in I end up with sick birds. I did find one little brahma today that wasn't feeling good and her eyes were swollen shut. I brought her in and flushed her nostrils with Saline solution, and squeezed the infection out of her eyes. I put some erythromycin in them. It was actually some I had prescribed when I injured an eye. That resulted in finding out I had developed an allergy to it.
She is doing much better and eating and drinking now. I thought I was going to loose her the way she was acting earlier. I want to save her cause she came from imported lines and I wanted to improve my light brahma stock with her and her 2 other siblings.
I thought about starting to move birds today but with the snow coming in I just wasn't sure it was a wise thing to do right now.