Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

I hardly know where to start -- you guys have been busy today!

sharol, How did your hatch go? Hoping it went really well.

danz, Congratulations on the bobcat. O My Gosh, I am green with envy. I know that's not a good thing, but I would love to be able to move a lot of dirt around! You are right about the BP == we should just average ours and we'll come out about right! Sorry to hear about more losses.

grain gypsy, What a mess! I know what you mean about your DH. When they decide it's not a problem, there is no convincing them otherwise. I think you showed some beautiful self restraint. Did you give DH any "I told you so" meaningful gazes as you told him what happened? Now that takes real restraint too! I utterly fail at refraining from statements such as "I thought that wasn't going to work." Just want to refresh his memory as to whose great advice would have saved us from this current predicament.

prairie fleur, Love your table runner - so cute! I like counted cross stitch, needlepoint, acrylic and water color paint, crocheting, making quilt blocks. Jack of all crafts and finisher of none!

trish, So well said, the irregular heartbeat is most definitely life altering. Today was better without that medication as far as the dizziness, nausea and passing out feeling goes. Hoping for a miracle that the PVC's won't start soon.

tarabellabirds, I love old lady names! Lucy, Genevieve, Henrietta, Gloria. I can't bring myself to use my own name even though I'm an old lady too, so it's up for grabs: anyone want a "Karen"? LOL! It's fit for only the fat and sassy.


So I had nothing but fun today. I have a daughter away at boarding school after following through on a particularly bad idea, so I am making her a photo/scrapbook album kit so she can have pics of us and add pics of her new friends. She asked if she could have something like that so I'm making background pages and putting together the tags, ribbons, etc. for her to decorate them with. She's coming home this weekend so I wanted to have it ready for her then. It's almost completely done. She will be so happy I got it done so quickly. I haven't said anything about it so she will be surprised.

My new chicks made it today but one of them was in bad shape and it only got worse from there. It was so sad for the little thing. I don't know if it was piled on and without oxygen for a period of time but it appeared that it began seizing. Broke my heart and it was one of the Speckleds. I didn't get pics cause I was too pitiful over the little thing. Anyway, I will get pics tomorrow. The rest are zipping around and doing just great! They are so cute!

DH says we're supposed to have cool temps and rainy days for a week! That's a bummer. I think I will go ahead and plant the rest of my tomatoes and green peppers tomorrow. What the heck. They can't stay in the pots forever.

 

[sharol]

I hardly know where to start -- you guys have been busy today!

sharol, How did your hatch go? Hoping it went really well.

Not done by any means (I hope). The pipped one finally hatched, one more hatched, but I haven't seen either of them. One more at least was pipped when I closed up the broody coop at 7. I'm hoping to wake up to fuzzy butts tomorrow morning. I checked the calendar, and hatch day is tomorrow (the 21st), so there is still time. I'm really concerned about Copper -- I got some water down her today using a syringe, but I don't think she has been off the nest since I put her in the broody coop Saturday. She is eating a little and drinking a little, but that is a long time for a little hen. The Saturday baby is going between moms.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Danz, I got some pics of my SS that I got from you and wanted to know what you thought of them. Is it too early to sex them yet or not?

 

[ashncarson]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/982510/gender-help-mixed-breeds

I posted a few photos of some chicks if anyone has time to look! Thanks!

 

[spree56]

...

As I was feeding the birds and calling out a name here and there the thought crosses my mind, "Do other crazy chicken people feel the need to give their hens old lady names?"  Gloria, Winnifred, Aunt Pitty Pat Hamilton (I have a Scarlett and a Miss Melinie too), Dottie.....

Mine are Betty, Bonny, Vi, & Vera. Pidy turned into "Rooster".

 

[chicken danz]

Danz, I got some pics of my SS that I got from you and wanted to know what you thought of them. Is it too early to sex them yet or not?

Wow. There's so much difference in their development. My silver sussex are like that too. I have two very large ones, one tiny one and one in between one. I had another tiny one and she died last week for no apparent reason. I honestly can't tell by looking at the pictures. I tend to sex by feather shape. The sussex can grow such big combs early as well it's hard to tell by that. The older speckles I had were easier to tell because the boys didn't develop as many spots but with my newer breeding the boys have excellent spotting as well. I have several juveniles here and I need to hold back some girls for myself. I need to take some time to do some of my own sexing. Also want to hold a couple girls for ZigZag. It's just one more thing on my never ending list of things to do.
Yesterday was a hatch day but it was a really staggered hatch. I still have about 18 eggs that haven't pipped yet. Totally weird. My first three peafowl eggs were also due and it looks like they all died recently. Very sad. I have some more due in a few days that seem totally viable. Maybe those will do better.
I've got a very busy day ahead. I'm trying to get psyched up so I can actually get my normal work done early.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Wow. There's so much difference in their development. My silver sussex are like that too. I have two very large ones, one tiny one and one in between one. I had another tiny one and she died last week for no apparent reason. I honestly can't tell by looking at the pictures. I tend to sex by feather shape. The sussex can grow such big combs early as well it's hard to tell by that. The older speckles I had were easier to tell because the boys didn't develop as many spots but with my newer breeding the boys have excellent spotting as well. I have several juveniles here and I need to hold back some girls for myself. I need to take some time to do some of my own sexing. Also want to hold a couple girls for ZigZag. It's just one more thing on my never ending list of things to do.
Yesterday was a hatch day but it was a really staggered hatch. I still have about 18 eggs that haven't pipped yet. Totally weird. My first three peafowl eggs were also due and it looks like they all died recently. Very sad. I have some more due in a few days that seem totally viable. Maybe those will do better.
I've got a very busy day ahead. I'm trying to get psyched up so I can actually get my normal work done early.

The older trio was from your older rooster I think and the little one from the new one. He/she is quite a bit younger than the older three but he's doing great so far. that it stays that way!!! It's pretty exciting to see how much more quickly some other breeds and even lines of birds mature!! My BLRWs took Forever to start laying and my new SLW pullet from last fall looks like she should start laying in a couple weeks! The SS color in so fast and pretty too! You should post pics of your Silver Sussex sometime! I've never seen that color.

 

[Trish44]

Prairie Fleur you have some roosters in there but the pics aren't clear enough of the combs to tell you which ones for sure. The SS I got from Danz for someone else that I have been growing out were really easy to tell sexes on by 11 weeks for sure. The pullets at that age have very little comb & the roosters are starting to get a bigger comb already.

I sure am not ready for more rain & it needs to warm up a bit. I'm worried about some of the chicks I had put out in the growout pen. I just hope the older ones let the little ones cuddle up at night.

Deerfield I'm sorry about your SS chick, shipping is really hard on them.

 

[chicken danz]

The older trio was from your older rooster I think and the little one from the new one. He/she is quite a bit younger than the older three but he's doing great so far.

that it stays that way!!! It's pretty exciting to see how much more quickly some other breeds and even lines of birds mature!! My BLRWs took Forever to start laying and my new SLW pullet from last fall looks like she should start laying in a couple weeks! The SS color in so fast and pretty too! You should post pics of your Silver Sussex sometime! I've never seen that color.

They are all the same lines but the younger rooster is one more step down the line to breeding for perfection. He has better perfect sussex markings. I forgot you had two ages there. The chicks I've produced from the young rooster are much heartier and do much better than the previous ones.
I really haven't checked my silvers recently. I thought I had two boys and two girls but I am totally unsure. I just haven't taken the time to examine them closely. They all had prominent combs now none of them do. I feed and water them every day but haven't taken the time to pick them up and check feathers. I guess if they all end up being roosters they will be expensive meat. If they end up being hens I'll be looking for a rooster some where. I'm not even sure I plan to keep them.
Trish I do have some sussex that are definitely girls that have super pronounced combs at an early age. The same thing happened with the silvers. I did look at the babies I took out of the incubator this morning and have about a half and half mix of sexes using your eye makeup method. I really should mark those now some way so I can see how they pan out.

 

[zigzag45]

@chicken danz - I looked at @Prairie Fleur 's pics and had the same thought @Trish44 did - the combs are a give-away. Then, you killed that theory. A couple of the shots had a bird on the left that had a very defined comb... I would have instantly said boy.

Prairie - I was interested to see your pics as I had two really sweet SS that turned out to be boys. They are the nicest birds... so sad I can't keep them.

This broody breaking is interesting. I had two birds in the cage for a day or so, then needed to clean out under it. Figured I'd let them out and see what happened. The white orp was back in her fav nesting box within 10 minutes. It took the cinnamon queen a bit longer. So, they are both in time-out for a good week. Do I just wait 5-7 days then try again, do I wait for them to lay an egg?

My broody black australorp, that we are actually letting sit on eggs, is doing great. She doesn't like us being around, but she at least lets us get our hands close to her. No pecking or attempted blood drawing. Last time, with a buff orp, she was so, so mean.

BTW-Since I'm posting... Does anyone in the KC area know how to skin out a bird? I had a lady tell me she could do it in <5 minutes, and she never even had to gut the thing. I indirectly asked her how I could learn that hoping she would invite me back... but that didn't happy. The YouTube videos aren't really helpful.