Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Hello all from leon ks..tiny town east of wichita 50 miles or so. We have started our flock of ten a few weeks ago and are enjoying them, especially our two year old! We have our little guys out in the coop already and are taking to the cool nights quite well with a lamp.

Welcome to the thread! Tell us about your birds & your setup, we always love photos too!

@Prairie Fleur those are nice photos of your birds & congrats on the new little doeling. If that is a BCM she doesn't appear to have feathered feet.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Hello all from leon ks..tiny town east of wichita 50 miles or so. We have started our flock of ten a few weeks ago and are enjoying them, especially our two year old! We have our little guys out in the coop already and are taking to the cool nights quite well with a lamp.

Welcome!!!! One of my best friends is from Leon!!! I'm so far southwest that I don't get there often tho.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

[COLOR=0000FF]Welcome to the thread! Tell us about your birds & your setup, we always love photos too![/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]@Prairie Fleur
those are nice photos of your birds & congrats on the new little doeling. If that is a BCM she doesn't appear to have feathered feet.[/COLOR]

Thanks Trish!!!
I had some OE chicks last year too so maybe that's what they are? I'm not sure what they are for sure. I got several orders of BCMs and some OEsfrom several different people and the quality on some of the BCMs was definitely lacking. Sadly none of my really nice ones survived until spring.

 

[HEChicken]

New Arrival!!!!!!! My mini Mancha doe kidded a single doeling last night we are Delighted to have a doe born here at long last - only our second in 3 years and the other one died in a freak storm accident. Needless to say she's definitely NOT going anywhere!!!!!

Congratulations on the doeling!

Lizzy, I hope you didn't feel I was being critical. The suggestions I made were from my own experience. I also have a metal coop, oriented north-south, sitting just inside a hedgerow. Mine is not a hoop design but other than that, a lot of similarities. Being inside the tree line definitely helps for shade. My coop is in full sun in the morning when the sun is in the east but as soon as it crosses to the west, the trees cast shade on it so by the time they go in to roost at night, the whole coop has been in shade for many, many hours. Nevertheless, it gets HOT in there and every summer I wish that I had followed my own advice and put a screen door in each of the north-south ends so that I could safely leave open the solid walk-through doors to allow air flow. Now that I understand you will have runs attached to each end, I agree you probably don't need the screen doors as you will be able to leave the doors open anyway.

My incubator eggs were on day 8 yesterday and last night I candled. I saw movement in all but one and that one looks like an early quitter. I can see a black blob that would have been the fetus but did not see any movement or veins. I left it in for a few more days but don't expect it to miraculously come back to life. Other than that one, they were all moving around vigorously and it was fun to see the little fetuses, surrounded by their network of spider veins. Being so early in the year I was a little worried about fertility so I'm glad to know things are working as they should.

I have a cockerel I need to butcher this morning, a hold over from fall hatching. There will be several more after him that aren't quite big enough yet to be worth the effort. There's a little too much testosterone coming into spring so I need to reduce the ones I don't need for breeding purposes. Then I need to get the tractor out and get serious about moving wood chips. I've moved about 10 lawn cart loads to areas I can't access with the tractor so now all the places I need them are accessible and it should go faster.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, I hope you didn't feel I was being critical. The suggestions I made were from my own experience. I also have a metal coop, oriented north-south, sitting just inside a hedgerow. Mine is not a hoop design but other than that, a lot of similarities. Being inside the tree line definitely helps for shade. My coop is in full sun in the morning when the sun is in the east but as soon as it crosses to the west, the trees cast shade on it so by the time they go in to roost at night, the whole coop has been in shade for many, many hours. Nevertheless, it gets HOT in there and every summer I wish that I had followed my own advice and put a screen door in each of the north-south ends so that I could safely leave open the solid walk-through doors to allow air flow. Now that I understand you will have runs attached to each end, I agree you probably don't need the screen doors as you will be able to leave the doors open anyway.

Don't worry, @HEChicken . I didn't think you were being critical. I knew you were giving your opinion based on your own experiences. My coop is between two trees East to West and is between two tree lines North to South. The South tree line is 40+ feet tall, so the coop MIGHT get a little bit of early morning sun but otherwise should be in the shade. The lower branches have been cut OFF of the tree line to the South of the coop, in an effort to prevent that pesky vine that likes to grow up trees. So, the coop can still get a south breeze. I think the coop should cool down fairly quickly when it cools off outside, especially with the North and SOuth doors open.


i have FINALLY started getting eggs from my ducks! We've gotten 9 eggs in the last few days (out of 3 ducks). My drake is looking pretty shabby, as my gander thinks that he (the gander) is a duck and therefore tries to protect the ducks from the drake. Silly, confused birds! I'm just thrilled to be getting eggs again, though. I've been craving eggs (even though I don't usually like them plain) and have been eating at least one a day, plus what we use for cooking. I'm tired of buying eggs from the store, that's for sure!

 

[Trish44]

@lizzyGSR I hope you know none of us was trying to be critical, just trying to share our experiences with you. Having chickens is a learning experience for sure that never ends, you just keep learning all the time. Congrats on the ducks laying, mine started a couple of weeks ago & are laying like crazy now. I'm getting eggs from the new ones I got last year, so I'm thrilled about that. I still have one extra drake that needs to go yet when I'm up to butchering him. I almost hate to do that because he is a nice looking guy, but I don't need 3.

All of my breeds are laying except the BCMs, I wish they would get with it! I took the one tarp off so they would get more light hoping that would help but it hasn't so far. I've been reluctant to take off all of my winterizing plastic yet just in case we get a late storm. I'm hoping we don't, but you never know this time of year. It seems like every year we get a late freeze & it kills off my pears. It would be nice one year to get pears to eat off my trees.

 

[lizzyGSR]

@lizzyGSR I hope you know none of us was trying to be critical, just trying to share our experiences with you. Having chickens is a learning experience for sure that never ends, you just keep learning all the time. Congrats on the ducks laying, mine started a couple of weeks ago & are laying like crazy now. I'm getting eggs from the new ones I got last year, so I'm thrilled about that. I still have one extra drake that needs to go yet when I'm up to butchering him. I almost hate to do that because he is a nice looking guy, but I don't need 3.

Yes, I know. Experience is a valuable thing, whether it is yours or someone else's. Better to let someone else learn the hard way, right?

I am hoping to get some ducklings in my surprise box so I can replace my ducks. They are getting fairly old at about 6 or 7 years old. I hate to butcher the older ones, but I guess that's the way it works. Gonna have to find some good duck recipes come fall.

 

[chicken danz]

Hello all from leon ks..tiny town east of wichita 50 miles or so. We have started our flock of ten a few weeks ago and are enjoying them, especially our two year old! We have our little guys out in the coop already and are taking to the cool nights quite well with a lamp.

Welcome to the forum. I've heard of Leon. I might know someone from there but not sure who. That's one of the pitfalls of getting old. i just can't remember jack. Feel welcome to join in the conversations and ask anything you want to know. You will get plenty of honest opinions and years of experience from our group.
Quote:

Quote: @Prairie Fleur , if you mean Old English by OE that is definitely not one of those. I'd just guess it was a poor quality Marans, maybe mixed with something else.

@lizzyGSR I hope you know none of us was trying to be critical, just trying to share our experiences with you. Having chickens is a learning experience for sure that never ends, you just keep learning all the time. Congrats on the ducks laying, mine started a couple of weeks ago & are laying like crazy now. I'm getting eggs from the new ones I got last year, so I'm thrilled about that. I still have one extra drake that needs to go yet when I'm up to butchering him. I almost hate to do that because he is a nice looking guy, but I don't need 3.

All of my breeds are laying except the BCMs, I wish they would get with it! I took the one tarp off so they would get more light hoping that would help but it hasn't so far. I've been reluctant to take off all of my winterizing plastic yet just in case we get a late storm. I'm hoping we don't, but you never know this time of year. It seems like every year we get a late freeze & it kills off my pears. It would be nice one year to get pears to eat off my trees.

Trish you are lucky I still have several breeds/colors that aren't laying or very rarely laying. I really need to find someone who can help me get my runs built so I can get the birds access to the outdoors. I think regardless of how many supplements I give them they still need that outside sunshine and air and some minerals from dirt itself. I haven't figured out how to pay anyone yet though!
I have been so busy I am feeling stressed to the max. I just really miss having a little down time to read and answer messages and stuff.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Welcome to the forum. I've heard of Leon. I might know someone from there but not sure who. That's one of the pitfalls of getting old. i just can't remember jack. Feel welcome to join in the conversations and ask anything you want to know. You will get plenty of honest opinions and years of experience from our group.
Quote:
@Prairie Fleur
, if you mean Old English by OE that is definitely not one of those. I'd just guess it was a poor quality Marans, maybe mixed with something else.

Trish you are lucky I still have several breeds/colors that aren't laying or very rarely laying. I really need to find someone who can help me get my runs built so I can get the birds access to the outdoors. I think regardless of how many supplements I give them they still need that outside sunshine and air and some minerals from dirt itself. I haven't figured out how to pay anyone yet though!
I have been so busy I am feeling stressed to the max. I just really miss having a little down time to read and answer messages and stuff.

Sorry, Danz, I meant Olive Egger. I'm really wondering if maybe that's what they are but not sure. I haven't been getting any olive or dark eggs.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
Olive eggers could be a mix of any blue egg laying bird and a brown egg laying bird. In that case I would guess that is what she is supposed to be. Sometimes people don't realize that in crossing birds who are already crossed to create a certain color egg that they dominant color might prevail and give you brown eggs or blue eggs. It all depends on the breed and if the color they originally laid was a dominant or recessive trait.
I wore myself out today. I decided to dip all the breeders in the building since it was warm. All that chicken wrangling and bending did me in. I like to make sure they start off the season with no chance of any mites or lice or anything that will take a toll on them or reduce their laying or fertility. I used to spray them but discovered that dipping them is faster and does a better job. I had to come in and shower after all that though. I shouldn't have any bugs growing on me for sure.