Consolidated Kansas

[TaraBellaBirds]

I can't keep up with this chatty group lately BAHAHA!
I get on BYC every other day or so and I have 26 posts on this thread alone!!!

Isn't Spring great!?! So busy! I've had two hatches in 3 weeks and am setting another for the Easter Hatch Along on Sat.
Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas for Easter!!!

Sorry I went pic crazy!

28 babies in all, everyone healthy and thriving thus far.


Above: Buff Brahma mixes

Full Lav Ameraucana

EE with the fluffiest cheeks!

Full Buff Brahma

This one I am keeping! It is the first offspring from my favorite hen, Rocky (A lovely Wheaten Ameraucana that survived a power loss on hatch day 17, she hatched on my 30th bday!) the father is my sweet Buff Brahma, Midas!

 

[chicken danz]

On another note, roosters amaze me. I have too many and some there is some fighting on. Went in the coop and found a mostly silkie roo at deaths door. Laying on floor, letting everyone step on his head, etc. that's never a good sign. I picked him up and put him in a sepapate little fenced area with 2 hens so he could recover. What does he do but jump up, dust himself off, and started chasing the hens! He could barely move not 2 minutes before! I have no doubt had I left in the coop he would have been dead within the hour!
I guess it must be spring!

Deerfield you have so much to offer and HEChicken does things entirely different. I honestly think the two of you could really show them how diverse it could be.
I worked hard all day but felt I accomplished very little.
I got eggs ready and set in the incubator. I had 4 full trays of chicken eggs and another specialty tray full of goose and duck eggs. I decided to throw a few duck eggs in to check fertility and see if I can hatch out a few for butchering later. I don't have many ducks left and I could use a few more hens. I can always sell duck eggs for eating.
I candled the original tray that had the goose eggs in it. It was pretty much a disappointment. I had marked an F on lots of eggs indicating I didn't know if they had frozen or gotten too cold. Well none that were marked were developing and I sure didn't have many that were. You could track each one that didn't start to develop down to those cold nights and days. I set a bunch of them today so I am hoping they will do well. Otherwise I may have maybe 10 that are developing from all the earlier ones.
I got my last bale of straw put in the geese houses in hopes they'd lay there more. Some of the older girls are laying there. The young ones haven't figure out where it is yet. I am supposed to get new straw on Monday so I can get the geese, ducks, turkey, pheasant, and peafowl all ready for laying.
The chicks I moved to the building are doing well now. They finally figured out where the sweeter heaters are, the feed, and the water bowls. I'm thinking of getting some composite plastic decking wood the next time I am in Topeka and building a stand to put the waterers on so we can keep some shavings out of them. They seem to be enjoying running around and aren't hiding in the corners anymore.
Well my Mandarin is going to a new home on Tuesday. The back up buyer said yes without batting an eye. I should have just let her buy him after my first buyer postponed the first time around. I really should sell a couple of my breeding pairs but I really love watching these birds.

 

[sharol]

How often do you guys clean out your chicken coops? What do you do with the pine shavings?

I've been reading about the deep litter method. I worry about using this over summer as most articles mention it produces more heat. Thoughts about that? Thoughts about the Deep Litter method in general?

Also, we have a small garden.

Thanks,
Nick

I do a modified deep litter method. I have ramps behind the roosts for the heavier girls, and lots of the overnight poo ends up there. I scrape that and pick up the obvious poo on the floor (shavings) each morning. The rest of the poo stays with the shavings. My coop is 6x8 with 15 chickens, and I start out with a couple of bales of shavings. I add a bale in a couple of weeks and then another one whenever it gets packed down. I only remove all the shavings in the early fall. Usually there isn't enough manure in it to put it on the garden, though. Most of that was already scraped and put in compost. The ramp is next to the wall (picture below).




I started this adventure in 2010, and it seems to be working for us. In the fall I remove the roosts, ramps, and shelves and power wash everything. I repaint as necessary and put everything back. It takes all day and wears me out, but I assembled it all with screws, so it is technically fairly easy. Of course it is only really clean for about 12 hours. LOL.

 

[Anderson Lowe]

I've checked at Bluestem, TSC and orshlens and none of them had leg bands. I order mine from Smith Poultry supply and Randall Burkey's. I prefer numbered and colored metal. But of course metal are ones that you would put on when the bird is full grown. If you really want to keep track I recommend numbered and colored. I use colors for the year and numbers for the bird....or that is the plan if I ever get them all banded.
I wouldn't worry about banding them until they at least 4 months old though.
Well I found a rogue chick that apparently escaped when I was moving chicks to the building while ago. He was hiding in my bathroom. I hadn't heard him make any sounds at all.
So I went out to check on the chicks in the building. I'm glad I didn't move the babies out there. it was pretty darned chilly . I did have one really small chick that I lost but I guess that wasn't too awful for a first night trial. I think I am going to need more shavings. I also think I will build some kind of raised platform for feed and water. It would surely keep the water cleaner that way. I may have to rig up a thermostat some way to run a remote heater until the brooding and hatching room is all done.
I am pretty disturbed. I had a customer ask in November to buy a Mandarin drake from me. In the meantime I had a couple other people asking to buy the spare drake but I turned them down saying it was sold. Well I've been getting cancelled appointments since then. It is too cold, the weather is bad, etc etc. I told them I preferred they got him before breeding season so the birds could still pair without disturbing a pair. But no, they kept putting me off. They were supposed to come last Wednesday but said it might rain. Then they were supposed to come today to get him. Last night they said they weren't going to buy him because I haven't vaccinated the Mandarins.
What??? They are kept in their own aviary and not exposed to other birds. I've never had a sick Mandarin and vaccinations are made for domestic ducks, not wild ducks for the most part. These people were dumb any way, simply because they wanted the adult so he would be in full color for the fair. I have no idea when their fair is but if they knew anything about Mandarins they would also know that they molt after laying season so in summer they probably wouldn't be in color. But I kept my mouth shut because I don't want to sound like a know it all.
I think I am done holding birds. I am so tired of getting screwed over while people wait months and then back out. I don't mind keeping birds for people I know, but I think in the future I am going to require a non-refundable deposit on special birds. And maybe require a feed payment for time over a week or two. I've lost so much money holding birds for no shows.
I hate to do that. I keep putting it off, but these people waste hours of communicating back and forth and then drop out at the last minute. I need to start doing this like a business instead of a hobby I pay a ridiculous amount to do. I'm irritated as much with myself as the other people.

Thanks Danz, will look them up,
Appreciate the advise on the bands.

 

[Anderson Lowe]

http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=chicken+leg+bands

I'd call around. If no one has them, Amazon does.

Amazon sounds like the plan to use.

Thank you

 

[Anderson Lowe]

X2

I never found them locally when I was looking for them. I ended up going with the wing bands but leg bands would be simpler.

I looked over Wing bands and leg bands...think i am going to take the easy route and go leg ones

 

[kssunflower]

On the news this morning - Cherokee and Crawford counties are now being closely monitored for avian flu. It got to the middle of the country fast.

 

[chicken danz]

They found H5N2 avian flu in two turkey farms in Missouri. One of those is right to the Kansas line so there is a quarantine on any poultry products including eggs coming in and out of Cherokee and Crawford counties for now. This is a huge deal. The price of turkey will go sky high and if it spreads to any chicken farms the price of chicken will follow. I wish I could foresee the future. It could either mean I would loose everything or it could mean I could make some awesome money. I have seen they've already been talking bans of poultry from the U.S.
Those who raise their own birds may be very very thankful just to be able to butcher their own birds. I am worried about how much money I will potentially spend on my building and pens if this spreads further. Pretty scary stuff.

 

[zigzag45]

They found H5N2 avian flu in two turkey farms in Missouri. One of those is right to the Kansas line so there is a quarantine on any poultry products including eggs coming in and out of Cherokee and Crawford counties for now. This is a huge deal. The price of turkey will go sky high and if it spreads to any chicken farms the price of chicken will follow. I wish I could foresee the future. It could either mean I would loose everything or it could mean I could make some awesome money. I have seen they've already been talking bans of poultry from the U.S.
Those who raise their own birds may be very very thankful just to be able to butcher their own birds. I am worried about how much money I will potentially spend on my building and pens if this spreads further. Pretty scary stuff.

Wow Danz, first time I've heard of this (in the midwest). I just did some reading and always scratch my head when it says, "Keep domesticated poultry away from wild birds." Well shoot, I'm going to cancel all the coffee mingle events my girls had scheduled with migrating geese. And, I'm putting signs up that ask starlings and sparrows to avoid my airspace. Seems kind-of impossible....

 

[Trish44]

How often do you guys clean out your chicken coops? What do you do with the pine shavings?

I've been reading about the deep litter method. I worry about using this over summer as most articles mention it produces more heat. Thoughts about that? Thoughts about the Deep Litter method in general?

Also, we have a small garden.

Thanks,
Nick

I also use the DLM method in my coops & it works well. I clean mine out every 6 months & it needs it right now. I do it spring & fall, that way it gets cleaned right after winter is over & before winter so it starts out clean. I take all the litter out & spread it on my compost area & let it break down to use for garden or whatever. I haven't had a garden for a couple of years due to having goats roaming around but this year they're finally contained in the field. I do leave windows open in the main coop all winter to help with ventilation. In my breeder coop there is ventilation at the top so I don't worry about it so much.

On the news this morning - Cherokee and Crawford counties are now being closely monitored for avian flu. It got to the middle of the country fast.

Yes, someone posted this report on the Kansas Poultry Swap so I read it this morning. It had been only in the Washington area over Northwest but now it looks like it's spreading, it is very scary. Some of us have a lot to lose if it came to our farm.

Wow Danz, first time I've heard of this (in the midwest). I just did some reading and always scratch my head when it says, "Keep domesticated poultry away from wild birds." Well shoot, I'm going to cancel all the coffee mingle events my girls had scheduled with migrating geese. And, I'm putting signs up that ask starlings and sparrows to avoid my airspace. Seems kind-of impossible....

I agree on the wild birds zigzag but I am tightening down on anyone going around my pens that comes here. It really does aggravate me when someone comes to pick something up & they let their kids out of the car & let them run all over. I had someone do that the other day. I try my best to keep my birds healthy & that is a risk I'm not willing to take with people who have chickens already trekking around my pens. I know people like to see your setup but I'm afraid here they're going to have to look at it from the driveway.

On another note, I finally got the little lamb integrated back into the flock, he spent his first night all night out there last night. I'm so thrilled to have him out of the house, I can't tell you how happy I am about that. I also started him on what is called a teat bucket today for feeding so he can eat when he wants. I just have to go out at intervals & make sure he still has milk in there & that he's eating. That will save me a lot of time & energy if it works out.

Deerfield, you would be great to teach those kids about chickens & your setup. HEChicken would also be good but she is pretty busy now with milking a cow, taking care of her sheep & goats, & birds. She hasn't been posting here for awhile. For those who don't know, she also publishes a blog on Self Sufficiency, which they try to practice at her place as much as possible. She & I also run two swaps on FB, a poultry one & a farm animal one as well as she has a pet swap for her county & I help with a pet swap in mine.