Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Just got back from the dentist. This is going to be lengthy and expensive. I have to go back Thursday and have the broken tooth extracted and the other one on the other side as well. Both of them are just crumbling. The other one hasn't broken but he agreed it will. So I will have to have double bridges on my front teeth. He said it will have to heal about 3 weeks before he puts in the permanent bridges so I will have a temporary to get by for a while. Even after insurance it will take about a month and over $1000 out of pocket. It's about a $5000 repair. And that is just that. Then he found another jaw tooth that is being reabsorbed. I had two of those before where the bone actually draws the calcium out of the tooth and the tooth is ruined by it. No option but to pull that one. Then I have my lower tooth that isn't properly rooted either so it has to go and a partial fixed. It will take months to get it all done and that $1000 out of pocket is only for the front teeth. Ouch! But he says I will look okay and be able to eat right again. Not that I'm missing any meals!
This my friends, is what happens when you have milk allergies. Now that I am older and have osteopenia it just makes it worse.
My chicks are supposed to be here Thursday AM as well so DH will have to go get them. I've got to have everything ready and set up for them because he won't have a clue what to do with them. Dang I will miss the initial excitement.
I guess I'd better get out and get busy. I have birds to check to see how they faired during the night.

 

[Trish44]

Its a little lambchop buckling! I am actually a little disappointed about that because he is SO pretty and different from any of my other sheep so I was kinda hoping it was a girl. Ah well….I get to play with him and watch him grow for a few months at least. Here he is:

Oh HEChicken he is so cute! It's too bad you;re not keeping that one.

I really paid for the things I did yesterday, so I'm going to have to take it easier today. I did get a lot done that I wanted to do yesterday, but it was just too much for my leg right now. HEChicken it sounds like you really got a lot accomplished yesterday, I'll bet you are sore today. I'm not looking forward to when I have to totally clean out coops myself & that is coming up soon. I noticed it's starting to smell in my main coop & that's always a sign I need to clean out the shavings. I had to open another window yesterday.

cherwill I'm glad you haven't seen the fox again, I hope it doesn't come back. Maybe it found some easy food somewhere else.

 

[HEChicken]

Yep Cherwill, that is good news you haven't seen the fox!

Danz, sorry about the dental work you need - OUCH!

Trish, yeah I bet you are hurting. I'm surprised I'm not hurting more today. I was a little stiff last night and fully expected to be stiff AND sore by this morning but its not too bad.

So far I am not liking the hay as bedding as much as the straw. By this morning the hay was still far more in flakes than the straw is after it has been in the coop that amount of time. Nevertheless, I sprinkled some BOSS over it and I'm sure they will get the flakes separated well now, in search of every last seed. I got the idea to use hay when a guy contacted me wanting to buy a few of our spare bales. He said he wanted them as bedding for his chicken coop because his chickens prefer hay to straw. But so far, I would say they preferred the straw as they really spread it around a lot more thoroughly. I will also find out next time I have to clean it out whether I like the hay or not. They get the straw broken up into such small pieces that it isn't hard to clean out but I'm afraid the hay may stay in longer pieces.

I caught 4 mice in the traps I set out overnight. Combined with the 1 the chooks killed yesterday, that is a total of 5 and based on where I saw them living, I can't imagine there are many more of them at this time. I did catch 9 down there just a few weeks ago so these are either the ones that weren't caught that time, or some that moved in since then. Either way, they are far more valuable to me as snake food than coop pets. For some reason, all 4 were dead this morning though. Last time, when I caught 9, the ones in the trap internal to the coop were all alive, while the ones caught in the trap I'd put next to an outside wall were dead and I figured it was the cold since it got pretty cold that night. But this time both traps were internal and the temp stayed around 40 overnight, so I can't imagine they died of cold, but I don't know why they are dying. The traps are baited with peanut butter and we don't even have any poison around.

I moved the first mother ewe and her 6 day old ewe lamb in with the new mother and her newborn ram lamb and the four of them are getting along great. I think I will leave the four of them together for the time being, until the third ewe starts to show signs that her delivery is imminent and then I'll have to add her to the "nursery" pen.

 

[Trish44]

Yep Cherwill, that is good news you haven't seen the fox!

Danz, sorry about the dental work you need - OUCH!

Trish, yeah I bet you are hurting. I'm surprised I'm not hurting more today. I was a little stiff last night and fully expected to be stiff AND sore by this morning but its not too bad.

So far I am not liking the hay as bedding as much as the straw. By this morning the hay was still far more in flakes than the straw is after it has been in the coop that amount of time. Nevertheless, I sprinkled some BOSS over it and I'm sure they will get the flakes separated well now, in search of every last seed. I got the idea to use hay when a guy contacted me wanting to buy a few of our spare bales. He said he wanted them as bedding for his chicken coop because his chickens prefer hay to straw. But so far, I would say they preferred the straw as they really spread it around a lot more thoroughly. I will also find out next time I have to clean it out whether I like the hay or not. They get the straw broken up into such small pieces that it isn't hard to clean out but I'm afraid the hay may stay in longer pieces.

I caught 4 mice in the traps I set out overnight. Combined with the 1 the chooks killed yesterday, that is a total of 5 and based on where I saw them living, I can't imagine there are many more of them at this time. I did catch 9 down there just a few weeks ago so these are either the ones that weren't caught that time, or some that moved in since then. Either way, they are far more valuable to me as snake food than coop pets. For some reason, all 4 were dead this morning though. Last time, when I caught 9, the ones in the trap internal to the coop were all alive, while the ones caught in the trap I'd put next to an outside wall were dead and I figured it was the cold since it got pretty cold that night. But this time both traps were internal and the temp stayed around 40 overnight, so I can't imagine they died of cold, but I don't know why they are dying. The traps are baited with peanut butter and we don't even have any poison around.

I moved the first mother ewe and her 6 day old ewe lamb in with the new mother and her newborn ram lamb and the four of them are getting along great. I think I will leave the four of them together for the time being, until the third ewe starts to show signs that her delivery is imminent and then I'll have to add her to the "nursery" pen.

The bad thing about hay is that when it gets wet at all it mats down where straw doesn't. It can get moldy easily too & that's never healthy for birds or people. I guess we just don't see mice here that much because I have so many outdoor cats. They pretty much keep them cleaned out I think.

I'm glad your babies are doing so well, they're just too cute! I'm hoping I can get some fence of some kind so we can get a couple of lambs.

 

[michelleml]

Does anyone know what kind of rooster this is?

 

[michelleml]

Its a little lambchop buckling! I am actually a little disappointed about that because he is SO pretty and different from any of my other sheep so I was kinda hoping it was a girl. Ah well….I get to play with him and watch him grow for a few months at least. Here he is:

Sooooooo cute DANZ sorry about tooth that sounds painful both in the mouth and pocket Hens have started to lay again

. I'm trying to decide if I want add to my flock this year. I would rather have all pullets of course but that means more money I would have to spend will see

 

[Polishpal]

It was such a nice day today c: I let out my chickens to go run around the yard, they are enjoying this nice weather. But I'm not enjoying how dirty my poor white silkies are getting :/. HeChicken that is a absolutely darling little lamb X3

 

[Trish44]

michelleml, the pic is kind of dark, I can't see him well enough to really tell for sure. Can you get a better pic of him?

My BRs are trying to figure out pecking order in the new pen, the two new pullets in there have been getting pecked & chased so they're spending quite a bit of time I think behind the dog igloo in there.

Well I figured out why my hens have cut down on laying the last 3 days, the bulb had burned out in their coop. I got a chance this afternoon to go check on it & changed out the bulb. Hopefully in a couple of days they will pick up on laying again. Some of the other pullets in breeder pens are beginning to lay now, so I should get my first Cinnamon Queens in about a month after I finish gathering eggs to incubate. I'll be interested in how they turn out.

 

[chicken danz]

I spent my afternoon cleaning out the brooder. It was really a mess and pretty damp in there from birds and I'm sure some spilled water. I got it all sprayed down with Permectrin after I washed and vacuumed it out. I want it to be as healthy as possible. Between disinfecting and using the spray I think I'll be in good shape. I came in and had a phone call and was on the phone quite awhile so I still have to scrub out feeders and waterers. I have them all soaking in a wheel barrow full of water.
Talk about feeling your labor. Shovel after shovel of stuff came out of there. I just loaded it into the the tractor bucket by the shovel full and had to dump it twice. My back and shoulders are killing me.
All the babies I moved out yesterday spent the day hiding in their shelters. None of them wanted anything to do with that wind. But it looks like they all made it through the night.
Tomorrow I'll have another pen freed up so maybe I can do some more bird moving then.
Michelleml if I were going to guess I'd say the rooster is a cross between a barred rock and maybe a white jersey giant or even possibly a light brahma. I couldn't tell if it had feathering on it's feet or not.

 

[michelleml]

I will try and get a better picture of the roo. No feather feet