Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well I'm happy to say I was back out putting out water for the babies and there are at least 4 peachicks with the Hen. I'm just tickled pink. She is still sitting pretty tight with them so I don't want to bother her. But it was hot enough there were four of them sitting next to her that I counted.
Sharol I'll probably either raise or sell the other turkey poults. In fact if they hatch within a couple days I have a buyer for them. Since the hen is in a pen she won't be all that successful at raising the baby. Past experience was that the babies are escape artists and the Mom can't get out to take care of them. I would just let them both out but she wouldn't have a place for shelter that she was familiar with. I just can't take her baby though. Actually I have a couple hens trying to claim ownership but only the one was sitting.
I had a group of midget whites hatch today in the incubator. I've sold every one I had this year so far and it would be nice to raise one of two for myself.
I think I'm going to try to sell the bourbon reds. They are gorgeous and they're excellent producers but I need to downsize a lot. I am making a list of all the birds I need to sell and it keeps growing. Of course I have an over abundance of cockerels. Makes me very sad that most of them are very expensive birds but I just don't have the hens to go with them.
I'm feeling so upbeat about getting a building put in if I can just swing it. It would sure tidy things up around here not to mention save me so much time out in the elements.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Tat,

Congrats! The first of many !


e

 

[tatinatimom]

Thank you!!! .... And my dearest daughter just broke it!!!

 

[Trish44]

We have our FIRST egg!!!!!

Congrats on the egg! That's always exciting to get that first one & even if you're getting some & have a new pullet lay it's still fun.

Well I'm happy to say I was back out putting out water for the babies and there are at least 4 peachicks with the Hen. I'm just tickled pink. She is still sitting pretty tight with them so I don't want to bother her. But it was hot enough there were four of them sitting next to her that I counted.
Sharol I'll probably either raise or sell the other turkey poults. In fact if they hatch within a couple days I have a buyer for them. Since the hen is in a pen she won't be all that successful at raising the baby. Past experience was that the babies are escape artists and the Mom can't get out to take care of them. I would just let them both out but she wouldn't have a place for shelter that she was familiar with. I just can't take her baby though. Actually I have a couple hens trying to claim ownership but only the one was sitting.
I had a group of midget whites hatch today in the incubator. I've sold every one I had this year so far and it would be nice to raise one of two for myself.
I think I'm going to try to sell the bourbon reds. They are gorgeous and they're excellent producers but I need to downsize a lot. I am making a list of all the birds I need to sell and it keeps growing. Of course I have an over abundance of cockerels. Makes me very sad that most of them are very expensive birds but I just don't have the hens to go with them.
I'm feeling so upbeat about getting a building put in if I can just swing it. It would sure tidy things up around here not to mention save me so much time out in the elements.

danz congrats on the peachicks! I wish I could have kept mine, but it just didn't work out for me to have them or turkeys either here. That's OK I'll just admire yours from afar & enjoy my chickens, ducks, & geese. Speaking of geese, I went to put the ducks & geese in tonight, I was running a little late getting feeding done because we had to go to Wichita today for our yearly eye exams & shopping & got home late then I had a friend come by for eggs & we had to gab. By the time I went out to get the goats & sheep fed first & put the ducks & geese in I took a head count & was missing a goose. I had to go about feeding & when I came back around with the feed in that area Lily one of my GPs was walking up with a goose in tow. I don't know how she got separated but I worry about her because she lost an eye when she got stuck in the mud when she was little & it makes her more vulnerable. At any rate I was very glad to see her & I don't know if the dog rounded her up or if she came up at the same time, but it kind of looked like they were together, which is funny because both are all white. danz those sebbies are funny, I was watching one the other day out in the front yard & there was a kitten laying there minding it's own business when the goose game up & started nudging it. The kitten wasn't exactly sure how to react I don't think. I love watching the different animals interact, I've also seen the goats playing with the cats.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Seems like the board is moving along quite nicely these few days. I haven't done much except for going back to work. LOL. Kids are now back in school and we are slowly getting back to the routine. My daughter is having some difficulties getting back to her old routine and got a bit emotional in class according to the teacher but she will get it eventually. With her being special needs, it does take her a while to realize that it is school time again. I did prep her with "back to school" social story but it only helped a little.

Some of my hens are taking a break from laying. I hope this heat and humidity will get better so my egg production will pick back up. Have been letting them roam every where so they have plenty of food/insects to eat and green grass to much on. Plus they have been staying under the pear trees a lot because we have plenty of pears that fall off the trees for them to eat.

My fermented feeds is great in this weather. This year I put the bucket inside my plant room instead of the barn's storage room. The temp is much better.

A question for you folks... I have a bag of feed that has some bugs in it. It is the same kind of bugs I found in my flour if I forgot to put it in the fridge or freezer. My grandma usually just sieved out the bugs and still use the flour (she was a very frugal woman who experienced the war). But some of those bugs would still end up in the flour which she used to bake or cook and we ate them, of course. Well, chicken is definitely not human. What us human eat may not be OK for birds. So the question is, is it OK to feed them to the chickens even it has bugs? DH said it is just added protein to the birds and should be OK. I just don't want to take a chance. So I turn to you knowledgeable ladies/gentlemen to give me the good advise.

I think my garden is done producing as well. Since the weeds took over much of the garden and it is definitely out of control, I think I'm calling it a year. We did harvest a few very delicious cantaloupe melons, potatoes and tomatoes. So it really wasn't all lost. I also did not plant any Fall crop even though that was my intention. Not sure if it is too late or not. I think I will start planning for next year's crop instead and get it organized better.

I was frequenting a site for Adenium lovers and one of the posters from either Michigan or Minnesota said she has to clean out her greenhouse and move her Adeniums inside it because a weatherman forecasted snow in September in her part of the world. Ooi... September snow... that's just a bit too soon even by my standard and I like it cold! Although having milder temp in September is nice ...

Keep yourself well hydrated. The 7-day forecast looks might miserable ... all in the 90s.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I love watching the sebbies. I think that is 99% of why I really like them. They are so funny and so clumsy. I am over run right now. They have decided to sleep on the back porch at night when they get tired of laying under the yard light with the ducks. You can imagine that mess. I think I counted 30 of them a couple days ago. I got my leg bands for them so at some point soon, I need to corral them and get them all marked and recorded so I know who is what. I hate to spend money on bands for ones I intend to sell but that's the only way to mark them and know they'll be sorted. I am going to have to have DH help me to get them done. It should be a real rodeo. I wish I had a fence up in a shaded area so it would be easier on them.
I got all the cattle panels trimmed on the hoop coop and cut the door for it. I need DH to bend some loops to hang the door and it should be ready to set in place and cover. I sure need it. I also need to make a much needed trip to town to pick up a prescription and deliver eggs. I just hate making the trip because it always takes so much longer than I planned.
Tweety I would definitely feed that feed to the birds. Your hubby is right. I have done the same thing. The chicken will enjoy it or ignore it... most likely enjoy it. I had some mixes in the cabinet get infected and the birds ate the bugs out and left the mix. I would feed it outside if you can though cause you don't want those bugs to inhabit the chicken house.
I'm still fighting bugs in my garden and lack of rain. Looks like we have a slight chance for rain this weekend. If the bugs would just give up I still could I di have a lot of produce out there. I have a few pumpkins that are ripe already.
I got a bunch of iris in the mail yesterday and don't have the flower beds at all ready. I had sprayed roundup just the day before to extend the flower bed to the outside fence but it hasn't had time to work. I was really wanting to get all of that redone but once again I thought I could get a lot more done that I had time for.

 

[HEChicken]

Howdy all!

I've been out of town the past 2 weeks. I got back on Wednesday around midnight, and was so exhausted yesterday I barely remember what I did. Now that I'm back and done with travel for the year (I surely hope so anyway), I can settle in and get caught up once and for all. I was only home for 6 weeks after going to Australia and before leaving for this trip and it seemed like it took me a lot of that time to get caught up from the 3 weeks gone and preparing for this trip so this year has really flown by. I anticipate it taking some catch-up time again this time but at least this time once I'm caught up, I can stay that way.

Even in the dark driving home on Wednesday, I could see that the grass was knee-high, so first thing yesterday I jumped on the mower and got some of the yard mowed. I still have more than half to do though. My mower has a flat tire so before mowing I have to fire up the compressor and pump it up, then keep an eye on it while mowing in case it loses air again. I pumped it up around 1pm yesterday, mowed a small patch, then went to get on it again at 7pm and the wheel was sitting on the rim again so the puncture must be decent sized to have let out all the air in just those few hours. Of course fixing it rather than just pumping it up each time is on the to-do list but right now my priority is to get the grass cut and once I'm caught up I'll have time to fix it. I hope.

My garden is producing wonderfully. The tomatoes are all ripening and yesterday I picked about 50lb of tomatoes. As soon as I get done with this update, I'm going to start making a batch of pasta sauce. We eat a lot of pasta in the winter and I had been hoping to get enough to make sauce but last year only really got enough to meet our needs of eating fresh and make a few jars of salsa. I'm thrilled to have enough to make sauce this year. I also have peppers growing like crazy and lots of greens. I harvested some onions and carrots yesterday. I lost my first set of zucchini plants to squash bugs so I replanted them before I left. Its amazing how fast they grow! By the time I returned, I see that they have zukes on them already that will be ready to pick in a few days time. And no squash bugs now. I had read that if you have problems with squash bugs, you can pull the plants and start over and the bugs aren't as bad on the second planting because they don't move in this time of year. Or something like that. Anyway, so far, so good. And, as fast as they grow, even if I have a problem with them again, there is still time to do a third planting, so I'm not giving up on them.

The potatoes are ready to dig so I'll probably do that this weekend. Fingers crossed for a good harvest.

The sheep and goats didn't notice I was gone I don't think. All except for Smoky my boer billy. He was pleased to see me yesterday and came over for lots of scratching and attention.

I lost my crested turkey while I was gone. She was broody in a corner of the chicken yard and while I knew it was a risk to have her sitting outside, I was hoping since she was within the confines of the chicken yard and the dogs sleep there at night, that they'd keep her safe. Well, DD was taking care of the birds for me and she got lax about putting the dogs in the chicken yard at night and my turkey paid for it with her life. I'm pretty upset about it.

Other than that they all seem to be doing well. Some of the juveniles grew so much just in the two weeks I was gone, I couldn't believe it. I had a juvenile turkey who is Royal Palm/Bourbon Red mixed. They hatch out looking pretty drab and feather out quite drab too so I was pleased it was so plain looking, because it makes it easier to butcher when the time comes. Yesterday when I was doing a head count, I noted that all my Black Spanish juveniles were present and accounted for - though much larger than when I left - but couldn't see the mixed bird. That's because overnight that darn bird turned from being drab and plain to being stunningly feathered. I cannot believe this is the same bird I left only a couple of weeks ago. It grew a tremendous amount and apparently traded out its juvenile feathering for its adult feathering and it is really quite beautiful. Darn it. Hopefully its a tom - that will make it easier on me.

Most of my broody chickens gave up while I was gone - yeah!!! I had left the incubator running and a couple of chicks hatched this morning so I'll be able to give them to the last couple of broody hens. However I think another bird went broody just yesterday. She seemed to be out foraging yesterday morning but spent the afternoon on the nest and acted very broody when I checked under for eggs last night. She is still on the nest today so I guess just like that - ! - she went broody. Oh well, I can set some eggs now for her to raise when they hatch if that's the case.

I'll check in here and there over the next few weeks but anticipate being pretty busy while the garden is producing as my goal was always to grow enough to put it up to carry us over the cooler months.

 

[chicken danz]

Just a quick note. HE glad to see you are back. So sorry about your crested turkey. She was so unique.
I went out to start chores and came back in to get the camera. I officially have 5 peachicks that Patty, the mama peahen hatched. Here are a couple pictures I took before she decided I didn't need to be looking at them.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Eeeee!!! Cuteness over load!!! Danz those peachicks are Adorable!!!!! I spent this afternoon swimming with some friends and now I need to get around for the family deal this evening. One of my cousins is getting married this weekend so therell be lots of stuff going on.
I'm waiting for my pullets to start thinking about laying. I keep hoping that it's not too far off but nothing yet. Oh well. I found a ND doe in the Wichita area so I'll be picking her up in September when I go for my LGD and angora. I'm very excited; she's outstanding bloodlines and should make a good milk goat!

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken welcome back! I'm sorry about your turkey, that's a shame because she was so different. I'm glad everything else did well while you were gone though.

tweety, it sounds like you're keeping busy as usual.

danz those peachicks are really cute, love the pics!

Prairie Fleur Congrats on finding a goat doe & am so glad you're getting your LGD next month.

I just got back from therapy awhile ago & have been trying to get my printer re-installed but for some reason it doesn't like me. Somehow I lost the driver for it in my computer & it wasn't recognizing it after months of working right. Now when I need to scan receipts into my computer to get reimbursed by insurance it wants to act up & not work right, arrrrgghhhhhh! Computers & components like printers are great when they work right but not so much when they don't.