Consolidated Kansas

[TheDownyChick]

LOL! 22Qzoo you think like I do!!!
Well I am a bit unhappy this morning. I bought a hog and my son also got one from a guy who said the hogs were small about 200 pounds but they were fat. I never saw them cause he delivered them to the locker. The locker called this AM and said they are grinders. In other words no fat and not much in the way of meat. Hams and bacon would shrink up to nothing after being smoked. I just told them to cut what they could for roasts cause I sure can't use a ton of ground pork. I also said I would just take them both. My son does smoking and barbecue and they wouldn't work for him. Luckily I had paid for his hog and he was going to just pay me back. So I'm pretty unhappy because that's a lot of money to invest for very little usable product. I can use the ground pork for some things but I really want to have some other meat as well. I guess next time I will have to be sure I see the hog before I buy. If I had known these were that small I would have just brought them home and fed them out myself. Live and learn!!! They were supposed to be 200 pound hogs but I will only get about 60 pounds out of each if I'm lucky. That sure raises the price of the meat per pound.

We had the same thing happen. Each hog yielded only 50 lbs of meat. I wonder if we bought from the same person, as I was also told they'd be 200 pounds. I won't buy from them anymore. We used to buy from friends until they got out of hogs. We found a new source that looks promising. Hubby has seen his hogs, and they look healthy and happy.

 

[TheDownyChick]

I gave up trying to catch up on reading all the posts. I am not on often enough to keep up! This is such a great group, and I always feel totally inadequate when I see what y'all have been up to! Honestly, by the time I get home from work and get supper and chores done, I am beat! I did manage to crochet a scarf for my MIL.She just needed a short one, so it didn't take long.

I used deep litter straw in my hoop coop this winter. I wanted a garden, but I haven't the energy. Does anyone know if you can store it for use later? I am thinking about using it to barter and trade for some things I need. Can it be used on a garden thi year, or does it need to "season" like cattle manure? It looks a lot like dirt with little hits of straw in it.

 

[chicken danz]

Thanks Dan are they in this group? Sorry about your peacock wonder what happened

Yep they are as Trish said. Just send either one of them a PM. KSKingBee gets on more often than she does so he might be the quickest to answer.

We had the same thing happen. Each hog yielded only 50 lbs of meat. I wonder if we bought from the same person, as I was also told they'd be 200 pounds. I won't buy from them anymore. We used to buy from friends until they got out of hogs. We found a new source that looks promising. Hubby has seen his hogs, and they look healthy and happy.

Yeah I even checked with the locker to make sure I remembered right and they said they should dress out at 2/3rds. The meat has decent flavor but because it was so small and not fattened the things like the roasts are very tough. It just takes that much more to cook them. And of course the hams were too small to cure. If you want to share you new source of hogs I might be interested. I told the guy that if I knew I wasn't going to get any more meat than that I would have spent a little more time and fed them on out myself.
If you know where you will put the garden just pile the shavings there. It doesn't have to set over a year but if it does it will just decompose. I put some in a pile and within 6 months and the help of the chickens digging through it, it was just great mellow dirt. I put my stuff directly on the garden now and till it in. I do avoid putting tomatoes and a few like things where I put the fresh stuff because it is a bit too rich and you make vines and not fruit.
I don't spend much time in my garden cause I don't have much time but it's kind of a nice change of pace to spend a little time out there now and then. Last year I discovered that if I lay cardboard down between the rows it keeps weeds out with no effort, holds moisture in, and then just decomposes enough to till it in in the fall.
I started a necropsy on the peacock last night. I have no idea what happened but he obviously got injured some how. He had a broken intestine and then internally bled to death. Once I opened the body cavity it was filled with massive amounts of blood and spillage from the intestine. I just quit at that point. It smelled awful and it was obvious that he bled to death. The only thing I can figure is somehow he injured himself and then died as a result of it. That also kind of explained why he was perfectly normal and healthy a couple hours earlier when I was out there feeding. We had a flock of wild geese in the field that flew overhead and got the birds all upset. I just wonder if he didn't freak and hit something causing his injuries. Just my luck I guess.
It's supposed to start out warm today but in the afternoon a cold front moves in with high winds and they are predicting snow tonight. I figure I'd better get as much done outside as I can today because tomorrow it's only supposed to be in the 40s for a high. I got a new storm door for my greenhouse that I need to get put on today among all the bird things. Too bad I never get to use it for a greenhouse. It has become another storage area for DH I guess. Last year it served as a shelter for baby geese.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

I had started on a reply last night and then "poof" it was gone so I went to bed.
Loved the weather yesterday, we got the three coops cleaned out and I got 2 of them disinfected. Now we can can move the breeders around, which is really just the exhibition Orps. The BLRW aren't quite old enough yet and we only have one Marans hen that is laying and she has only been laying for about a month. We lost her sister when we had that terrible sickness move thru. Danz her is a pic of the last "original Marans" hen that we got.

What do you think? Sorry about your peacock, that is just terrible. Always something new to worry about. I did a necropsy on the turkey, I will show you the pics at Gardner so hopefully you can help diagnosis. I just wasn't sure what I was looking for or seeing. I would love to watch you do one sometime.
Trish, you sure were busy, this weather makes you just want to go and do and just get everything done. Congrats on taking care of the goat fence, but if I know goats she will find another place for you to have to deal with. Great that you were able to move your brooder babies around. How are the Marans coming along? We have 12 little mutts in the little brooder right now.
My hens took yesterday off, too. The couple days before they were up to 12 eggs a day and yesterday only 4. KKB moved the loader so Turkey couldn't find a place to lay. We did collect 19 duck eggs! . We had to fish them out of the creek. hopefully they will figure out what is happening soon and head for dry land. I have a question, most of the hens have the rode hard look to them but a few don't have a feather out of place. Does that mean that they are past their prime and the roosters have no interest in them.
Everybody hang on to your hats today and Danz you keep that snow up there.
I know I'm forgetting a bunch of posts but I better get chores done and then off to the dentist. yay! (Not)

 

[michelleml]

Okiequeenbee I sent you pm

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I gave up trying to catch up on reading all the posts. I am not on often enough to keep up! This is such a great group, and I always feel totally inadequate when I see what y'all have been up to! Honestly, by the time I get home from work and get supper and chores done, I am beat! I did manage to crochet a scarf for my MIL.She just needed a short one, so it didn't take long.

I used deep litter straw in my hoop coop this winter. I wanted a garden, but I haven't the energy. Does anyone know if you can store it for use later? I am thinking about using it to barter and trade for some things I need. Can it be used on a garden thi year, or does it need to "season" like cattle manure? It looks a lot like dirt with little hits of straw in it.

I pile mine up at a corner every time I clean out my coop. I used to use sand but switched back to shavings for the winter due to my busy work schedule. I've cleaned mine out a couple of times and my chicken love to scratch and flatten them out once I dump them out in the corner. Danz is right that tomatoes tend not to fruit much in nitrogen rich soil. I learned it the hard way as well.

Yep they are as Trish said. Just send either one of them a PM. KSKingBee gets on more often than she does so he might be the quickest to answer.
Yeah I even checked with the locker to make sure I remembered right and they said they should dress out at 2/3rds. The meat has decent flavor but because it was so small and not fattened the things like the roasts are very tough. It just takes that much more to cook them. And of course the hams were too small to cure. If you want to share you new source of hogs I might be interested. I told the guy that if I knew I wasn't going to get any more meat than that I would have spent a little more time and fed them on out myself.
If you know where you will put the garden just pile the shavings there. It doesn't have to set over a year but if it does it will just decompose. I put some in a pile and within 6 months and the help of the chickens digging through it, it was just great mellow dirt. I put my stuff directly on the garden now and till it in. I do avoid putting tomatoes and a few like things where I put the fresh stuff because it is a bit too rich and you make vines and not fruit.
I don't spend much time in my garden cause I don't have much time but it's kind of a nice change of pace to spend a little time out there now and then. Last year I discovered that if I lay cardboard down between the rows it keeps weeds out with no effort, holds moisture in, and then just decomposes enough to till it in in the fall.
I started a necropsy on the peacock last night. I have no idea what happened but he obviously got injured some how. He had a broken intestine and then internally bled to death. Once I opened the body cavity it was filled with massive amounts of blood and spillage from the intestine. I just quit at that point. It smelled awful and it was obvious that he bled to death. The only thing I can figure is somehow he injured himself and then died as a result of it. That also kind of explained why he was perfectly normal and healthy a couple hours earlier when I was out there feeding. We had a flock of wild geese in the field that flew overhead and got the birds all upset. I just wonder if he didn't freak and hit something causing his injuries. Just my luck I guess.
It's supposed to start out warm today but in the afternoon a cold front moves in with high winds and they are predicting snow tonight. I figure I'd better get as much done outside as I can today because tomorrow it's only supposed to be in the 40s for a high. I got a new storm door for my greenhouse that I need to get put on today among all the bird things. Too bad I never get to use it for a greenhouse. It has become another storage area for DH I guess. Last year it served as a shelter for baby geese.

I didn't realize that we are getting cooler temp tonight let alone snow! Yikes! I should pay attention to the weather. Sorry about your peacock, Danz. That's strange that he had injured his intestine and bled out.

************************************************************************************************

Work is getting busy due to the 3/15 deadline. But I find time to post here because I love to see how everyone is doing. I have started the seeds for my veggie garden so hopefully by the time they are ready to go out that the weather will be much nicer.

I cleaned and stored 2 dog bowls away yesterday. I took the 5 gallon bucket with cup drinkers out for the birds. A few of them quickly moved in and pecked on the drinker as I fill the bucket up. It was just hillarious seeing them do that. They acted like they haven't had water for weeks! Silly birds. These birds just crack me up sometimes. But I needed the laugh though.

I was staring at the duck swiming pool yesterday while filling up the bucket. Maybe I'll fill it up this weekend for the ducks. I will need to inspect it closely because I thought I saw a small crack near the top so hopefully I can still use it this year and not have to buy a new one.

One of my dogs is missing. Been missing for days. Don't know where she went. The others are fine. They have gone off before but always came back. I was kinda upset about losing a dog and not know if she was dognapped, ran off to a better home or what. DH said we can't locked them up day in and day out to make sure they stay put. Plus they have been living with us on the property for months and never had any issues before. I just hope that she will come back unharmed. Or if someone took her that they treat her well.

Enjoy the nice day and hold on to your hat! The wind was crazy when I was out early this morning.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I am really enjoying this weather. My insane chickens, who were laying 1-2 eggs a day in the cold, decided not to lay any today. Too nice? How picky are they!?!

It was weird that your post didn't show up in my multi! My birds have been laying consistently now but every now and then, they decide to take a break. I was suprised to see that they laid well during the last cold blast! Silly birds.

 

[chicken danz]

I had started on a reply last night and then "poof" it was gone so I went to bed.
Loved the weather yesterday, we got the three coops cleaned out and I got 2 of them disinfected. Now we can can move the breeders around, which is really just the exhibition Orps. The BLRW aren't quite old enough yet and we only have one Marans hen that is laying and she has only been laying for about a month. We lost her sister when we had that terrible sickness move thru. Danz her is a pic of the last "original Marans" hen that we got.

What do you think? Sorry about your peacock, that is just terrible. Always something new to worry about. I did a necropsy on the turkey, I will show you the pics at Gardner so hopefully you can help diagnosis. I just wasn't sure what I was looking for or seeing. I would love to watch you do one sometime.
Trish, you sure were busy, this weather makes you just want to go and do and just get everything done. Congrats on taking care of the goat fence, but if I know goats she will find another place for you to have to deal with.

Great that you were able to move your brooder babies around. How are the Marans coming along? We have 12 little mutts in the little brooder right now.
My hens took yesterday off, too. The couple days before they were up to 12 eggs a day and yesterday only 4. KKB moved the loader so Turkey couldn't find a place to lay. We did collect 19 duck eggs!

. We had to fish them out of the creek.

hopefully they will figure out what is happening soon and head for dry land. I have a question, most of the hens have the rode hard look to them but a few don't have a feather out of place. Does that mean that they are past their prime and the roosters have no interest in them.
Everybody hang on to your hats today and Danz you keep that snow up there.

I know I'm forgetting a bunch of posts but I better get chores done and then off to the dentist. yay! (Not)

We'll talk about that Marans at Gardner. Is this the one that didn't lay? Hope you got some good close up pictures of the necropsy. I hope I can solve the mystery for you. I have two turkeys with a cold and neither one of them have been exposed to other sick birds. They are in separate pens and not with other turkeys. I have one on sulfa drugs and the other I am not treating. I'm pretty sure the starlings brought in some sickness. I also have another sick pheasant. One more of them and I'll be out of the pheasant business for good. Whatever this is seems to effect the turkey and pheasant but not the chickens. Just weird.
OKIEQB I fished a goose egg out of a big water puddle this week as well. Why the heck do they do that. Are they so busy playing in the water they don't take time to lay on land? I have a bunch of duck eggs right now and I'm trying to decide whether to incubate them. My buyer said that ducks aren't selling well this year for some reason. Of course she sells them to eat not as pets.
My birds are doing a variale thing on laying too. I think the weather just really confuses them. I candled a bunch of eggs today. You could sure tell when we had the cold weather. I threw about 45 eggs out this morning that didn't develop. Regardless of breed they all came from the same days......making me think they got too cold. I wasn't wanting a big hatch on most of them anyway because they were due the same day as Gardner.

 

[Trish44]

I had started on a reply last night and then "poof" it was gone so I went to bed.
Loved the weather yesterday, we got the three coops cleaned out and I got 2 of them disinfected. Now we can can move the breeders around, which is really just the exhibition Orps. The BLRW aren't quite old enough yet and we only have one Marans hen that is laying and she has only been laying for about a month. We lost her sister when we had that terrible sickness move thru. Danz her is a pic of the last "original Marans" hen that we got.

What do you think? Sorry about your peacock, that is just terrible. Always something new to worry about. I did a necropsy on the turkey, I will show you the pics at Gardner so hopefully you can help diagnosis. I just wasn't sure what I was looking for or seeing. I would love to watch you do one sometime.
Trish, you sure were busy, this weather makes you just want to go and do and just get everything done. Congrats on taking care of the goat fence, but if I know goats she will find another place for you to have to deal with.

Great that you were able to move your brooder babies around. How are the Marans coming along? We have 12 little mutts in the little brooder right now.
My hens took yesterday off, too. The couple days before they were up to 12 eggs a day and yesterday only 4. KKB moved the loader so Turkey couldn't find a place to lay. We did collect 19 duck eggs!

. We had to fish them out of the creek.

hopefully they will figure out what is happening soon and head for dry land. I have a question, most of the hens have the rode hard look to them but a few don't have a feather out of place. Does that mean that they are past their prime and the roosters have no interest in them.
Everybody hang on to your hats today and Danz you keep that snow up there.

I know I'm forgetting a bunch of posts but I better get chores done and then off to the dentist. yay! (Not)

OQB the BCM chicks are out in the growout pen now & I'm pretty sure I know which ones are cockerels & which are pullets now, finally. They were getting too rowdy to be in the brooder any more, they were trying to jump & fly around in there & bumping the top, besides just the mess they were making. I do have a heat lamp out there for at night. Yeah I sure paid for doing all of that yesterday, but I have to get my strength back up because I have coops to clean out soon.

I pile mine up at a corner every time I clean out my coop. I used to use sand but switched back to shavings for the winter due to my busy work schedule. I've cleaned mine out a couple of times and my chicken love to scratch and flatten them out once I dump them out in the corner. Danz is right that tomatoes tend not to fruit much in nitrogen rich soil. I learned it the hard way as well.


I didn't realize that we are getting cooler temp tonight let alone snow! Yikes! I should pay attention to the weather. Sorry about your peacock, Danz. That's strange that he had injured his intestine and bled out.

************************************************************************************************

Work is getting busy due to the 3/15 deadline. But I find time to post here because I love to see how everyone is doing. I have started the seeds for my veggie garden so hopefully by the time they are ready to go out that the weather will be much nicer.

I cleaned and stored 2 dog bowls away yesterday. I took the 5 gallon bucket with cup drinkers out for the birds. A few of them quickly moved in and pecked on the drinker as I fill the bucket up. It was just hillarious seeing them do that. They acted like they haven't had water for weeks! Silly birds. These birds just crack me up sometimes. But I needed the laugh though.

I was staring at the duck swiming pool yesterday while filling up the bucket. Maybe I'll fill it up this weekend for the ducks. I will need to inspect it closely because I thought I saw a small crack near the top so hopefully I can still use it this year and not have to buy a new one.

One of my dogs is missing. Been missing for days. Don't know where she went. The others are fine. They have gone off before but always came back. I was kinda upset about losing a dog and not know if she was dognapped, ran off to a better home or what. DH said we can't locked them up day in and day out to make sure they stay put. Plus they have been living with us on the property for months and never had any issues before. I just hope that she will come back unharmed. Or if someone took her that they treat her well.

Enjoy the nice day and hold on to your hat! The wind was crazy when I was out early this morning.

tweety I hope you're not overdoing it after surgery. Hopefully your GP will come back, it seems like if it just wandered off it would have returned, I hope nobody took it. Yeah it's going to be windy most of the rest of the week I think. It's supposed to be a high of 53 here tomorrow, after 70s that will feel cool.

We had a bad night for sleep here last night. My cat that I adopted has been in heat for the last 2 weeks & she yowls at night. I have been waiting for her to get through it to take her to get spayed. The Vets don't really like to do the surgery when they're in heat, I read they can have a lot more bleeding & it's just more complicated. It probably would cost more as well. Then after she finally settled down some the GPs outside just went beserk barking like they do when there is something serious out there. My DH finally got up & looked out the front window & they had caught a raccoon & he said they were tossing it in the air & then going back at it again. Hopefully that raccoon is a dead one now & I hope they caught it before it did any damage.

Well I'm getting a very late start today after all of that, so I had better get off here & get busy. Hold onto your hats everyone!

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I have used the spray-on leak seal "as seen on TV". I recently repaired a crack in my duck pond. I have used it in the past on metal water containers with good success. You can buy it at Walgreen's or Dollar General, but Wal*Mart has something similar in their paint section for a lower price of $9.99 and some Dollar Generals do, too.. It comes in clear or black. Years ago I used auto undercoat spray to make these repairs. As the saying goes, "poor people have poor ways".