Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Phone updated this morning. Appears to be working. Not in Chrome. I'll have to try chrome. Thank you!! This in my cuckoo maran hen. I bought 2 of them. Unfortunately, the other one looks like this... Chewie Chicken Dinner is right behind Penny Pinguino.Ruby Tuesday

If you post whole body pictures of your chicks it is often easier to tell sexes. It has to do with stance and how they feather in. Combs aren't really reliable at all in telling sex of a bird until of course they are older.
I'm hoping for a nice day today. Only a slight chance of showers today so I hope I can get some work done. I don't plan to have any customers today. I thought with the holiday weekend I would be good but I have someone coming tomorrow. At least I have a good idea of what she wants but she always tends to buy more. Not a bad thing but she is one who stays forever as well. I've got to work on the brooders today and try to get the birds dipped and moved. I need to add a couple birds I want to keep to the back up rooster pen but I'm afraid they'd get beat up.
I have this cat that was feral but follows me around begging for eggs. She would never let me touch her. She is tiny herself but had three kittens. Since she is worried about her babies I bring her food and I have actually got to touch her and yesterday she finally decided she liked being petted. Yay! success. Her sister who is actually much prettier is still wild as the wind. I would love to tame her as well but I doubt that will happen. These cats are really pretty so it's been a real shame they are so spooky. Their mother is super wild. But she carried up a little kitten the other day in the storm. I'm hoping it is the only one cause her babies are all terrors and un-adoptable.
We have too many cats as it is so I really want to be able to find the new ones homes.

 

[Trish44]

Funny - one of my very first chicks ever was named Scramble. She was a Buff Orpington and it looks possible your Scramble is as well.

Danz that's interesting that an all male group of guineas is quieter. I don't care for the noise of guineas so if I ever get them again (unlikely) I'll keep that in mind.

I have all male guineas running around loose eating ticks for me. They are quiet most of the time but when it's feeding time & bedtime for some reason they do get noisy. They roost in the trees above my hoop coop where the females & breeding males are. I don't mind them so much because we had ticks horrible here before I got guineas. We couldn't even go out in the driveway without getting covered & now I just don't see many at all up by the house & pens where the guineas hang out, they keep them cleaned out.

@mama23grlz1boy I love the names of your chicks, so cute! Some breeds you can tell earlier than others but the Easter Eggers & Ameraucanas are not one of them. Due to the pea comb they take a long time to sex. I had one last year I just swore was a pullet & months later it showed it's true colors & was actually a rooster.

I decided not to raise New Hampshire Reds any more, they just didn't sell well so I added my remaining pair to the laying flock. That Welsummer guy, the main rooster just beat the tar out of the bigger NH rooster at first, but I think they finally came to an understanding. That NH rooster doesn't like to fight so he became very submissive. I noticed both the hen & rooster were in the coop last night, yay finally I don't have to go carry them in!

I have been hatching guinea keets like crazy & my last order of 15 leaves this afternoon, yay! I still will have more to sell, but at least got orders filled. I'm trying to taper down on hatching so I can be done but I just got another order for chicks this morning. It's for bantam MF cochins & they just got done hatching chicks & are taking a break so we'll have to wait for them to lay again & I'll incubate the eggs this time. Last time they just kept hatching one at a time & it took forever to get enough chicks for the order I had.

 

[mama23grlz1boy]

[COLOR=0000FF]I have all male guineas running around loose eating ticks for me. They are quiet most of the time but when it's feeding time & bedtime for some reason they do get noisy. They roost in the trees above my hoop coop where the females & breeding males are. I don't mind them so much because we had ticks horrible here before I got guineas. We couldn't even go out in the driveway without getting covered & now I just don't see many at all up by the house & pens where the guineas hang out, they keep them cleaned out.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]@mama23grlz1boy
I love the names of your chicks, so cute! Some breeds you can tell earlier than others but the Easter Eggers & Ameraucanas are not one of them. Due to the pea comb they take a long time to sex. I had one last year I just swore was a pullet & months later it showed it's true colors & was actually a rooster.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]I decided not to raise New Hampshire Reds any more, they just didn't sell well so I added my remaining pair to the laying flock. That Welsummer guy, the main rooster just beat the tar out of the bigger NH rooster at first, but I think they finally came to an understanding. That NH rooster doesn't like to fight so he became very submissive. I noticed both the hen & rooster were in the coop last night, yay finally I don't have to go carry them in![/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000FF]I have been hatching guinea keets like crazy & my last order of 15 leaves this afternoon, yay! I still will have more to sell, but at least got orders filled. I'm trying to taper down on hatching so I can be done but I just got another order for chicks this morning. It's for bantam MF cochins & they just got done hatching chicks & are taking a break so we'll have to wait for them to lay again & I'll incubate the eggs this time. Last time they just kept hatching one at a time & it took forever to get enough chicks for the order I had.[/COLOR]

This is all very interesting! I'm a city girl, but love hearing all of the farm chatter.

If you post whole body pictures of your chicks it is often easier to tell sexes. It has to do with stance and how they feather in. Combs aren't really reliable at all in telling sex of a bird until of course they are older.
I'm hoping for a nice day today. Only a slight chance of showers today so I hope I can get some work done. I don't plan to have any customers today. I thought with the holiday weekend I would be good but I have someone coming tomorrow. At least I have a good idea of what she wants but she always tends to buy more. Not a bad thing but she is one who stays forever as well. I've got to work on the brooders today and try to get the birds dipped and moved. I need to add a couple birds I want to keep to the back up rooster pen but I'm afraid they'd get beat up.
I have this cat that was feral but follows me around begging for eggs. She would never let me touch her. She is tiny herself but had three kittens. Since she is worried about her babies I bring her food and I have actually got to touch her and yesterday she finally decided she liked being petted. Yay! success. Her sister who is actually much prettier is still wild as the wind. I would love to tame her as well but I doubt that will happen. These cats are really pretty so it's been a real shame they are so spooky. Their mother is super wild. But she carried up a little kitten the other day in the storm. I'm hoping it is the only one cause her babies are all terrors and un-adoptable.
We have too many cats as it is so I really want to be able to find the new ones homes.  

I'll try to get some full body shots. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Patriciaallison]

...

It is a sunny day here thank goodness.  We've had 5" of rain in the past few days and yesterday the entire property was under water, with the pond overflowing and creating rivers that didn't exist before.  The poor birds have been slogging through it as the chicken yard is at the low side of the property so it all flows that way.  At least their coop stays dry so they do have somewhere to retreat to at night.

I butchered a rooster yesterday so there is a little less testosterone out there.  A few of my hens are looking a little ragged so I figure that's a sign there are too many males.  I had three project roosters but never even used one of them as he wasn't as good for the project as the others so I decided to just cull him.  He was a nice boy and always tried to find treats for the hens so I felt bad about it but the reality is no one wants roosters and since he is a project bird, he isn't even a special breed that someone might want. 

I am still trying to downsize but have had several no-shows.  It is frustrating to me that people will make an appointment and then just never show up.

I just got stung by a wasp so I am not a happy camper.  DH was on a ladder cleaning out gutters and we have a downspout that constantly clogs so I reached into it from the bottom, to see if there were any leaves up there.  Due to the 5" of rain in the past few days and with the volume of water that has washed down there, it never occurred to me a wasp might be in there but when it stung me I sure knew about it and even an hour later my finger is still throbbing.

@sharol
I love it when people can laugh at themselves.

What are you selling?
P

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
Trish I have someone coming tomorrow I told I'd check to see if you had any mille fleur cochins. Send me a PM if you think you can hatch some more.
It was another super busy day today. I got several chickens dipped. I only got about half of the birds in the building dipped. I put together another pop door and got it installed and set up another outside run. I am out of available gate panels for now so I can't get any more temporary outside runs done now. I might continue to work on the pop doors though so I"ll be ready when I can set up more runs.
I moved some panels and got one of the grow out pens a little more grassy area. It was an awful lot of heavy work. It wasn't much so it will probably be gone in a day or so. If I wasn't concerned about setting up netting over the top it would make it a whole lot easier. I still wanted to move some more girls around today but ran out of time. Just never enough time in a day. I have a couple customers coming tomorrow so it's going to be hard to get projects done.
I've got to get some cages put together to transport some geese. I'm down to two days to get it completed. Always something!!!

 

[Trish44]

Trish I have someone coming tomorrow I told I'd check to see if you had any mille fleur cochins. Send me a PM if you think you can hatch some more.
It was another super busy day today. I got several chickens dipped. I only got about half of the birds in the building dipped. I put together another pop door and got it installed and set up another outside run. I am out of available gate panels for now so I can't get any more temporary outside runs done now. I might continue to work on the pop doors though so I"ll be ready when I can set up more runs.
I moved some panels and got one of the grow out pens a little more grassy area. It was an awful lot of heavy work. It wasn't much so it will probably be gone in a day or so. If I wasn't concerned about setting up netting over the top it would make it a whole lot easier. I still wanted to move some more girls around today but ran out of time. Just never enough time in a day. I have a couple customers coming tomorrow so it's going to be hard to get projects done.
I've got to get some cages put together to transport some geese. I'm down to two days to get it completed. Always something!!!

@chicken danz I have 7 Mottled bantam Cochin chicks available right now, they will look like the one at the front on the photo on the Kansas Poultry Swap site. One of those 7 is a bit older & is the cutest little rooster you have ever seen, he's adorable. I have orders for 18 more of those I have to fill first & they aren't laying at the moment after being broody for so long. Hopefully they will start up again soon.

 

[chicken danz]

The gal that wanted the mille fleurs already has your number. I'm not sure if she has called you or not. You sold some chicks to a friend of hers and that is why she decided she wanted them. Well my second customer just left and I didn't sell nearly as much to her as she had mentioned to begin with. I still need to do more watering and feeding. I misplaced my stupid remote again. I've already lost one of them and I keep loosing the second one. I remember setting it down but have no idea where on earth it was. I was so hot I just had to come in and rest for a minute before finishing chores.

 

[Trish44]

Yesterday was a really busy day for me, besides regular chores I fixed a pen & had 3 people come for chickens, chicks, & hatching eggs. Today we had to go to Wichita so I just got back from that & have chores to do. I'm already tired before I even start.

 

[HEChicken]

I'm already tired before I even start.

I sure do know that feeling.

My computer went down last week. Of course, just close enough to a holiday weekend that it delayed the repair and getting it back, so I've been virtually offline for awhile as I don't care for doing a lot of things on my phone like most people seem to do these days. I was pleased to get a call early this morning as I was really expecting the holiday to delay the repair until later this week.

I sold a few birds this weekend and did quite a bit of work in my veggie garden. We were fortunate to have 3 dry days but this morning got another 6/10ths. At least the forecast now is for it to dry out.

My Royal Palm turkey desperately wanted out of the hoop coop last week when her poults were only 12 days old. I figured she wanted to browse for some greenery but no, the little hussy wanted a booty call. She ran right over to the tom and squatted in front of him. That same day she laid an egg and has laid one every day since. She is now out free-ranging by day with her poults, who get really upset when she hops the fence to lay her egg in the old hay wall under the horse shelter. Now she is acting "pre-broody" and tried to sleep on the nest last night. I had to pull her off and remind her that she is still a mother and her poults still need her. However I have a feeling she'll be going full-on broody before too long so those poults will be on their own at that point anyway.

I have two more ewes who are due and though I don't have concrete dates for them, I'm guessing it will be within the next couple of weeks. The little lamb that was born 11 days ago is at a really cute stage, running around, trying to play with his older brothers and sisters and even practicing mounting his sister. Yesterday when someone was here to get hens, we went out into the pasture and the lamb came running up to meet my guest, sniffed him all over and then followed us to the gate when he was leaving. He was very taken with the little guy. This lamb is the son of my most friendly ewe and apparently inherited her love of people.

A couple of days ago I was in my chicken coop and looked up to see a huge nest built in the rafters. Wild birds I guess figured they could get in under the eaves and built a nest of hay and sticks on the chicken wire that is stapled to the rafters to prevent my chickens trying to roost up there. I can't believe I never noticed it before because it is really quite large. Plus, it must have been there several weeks because last night I opened the door to collect eggs, to hear frantic peeping. My first thought was "OMG, what hatched in here when I wasn't expecting it to?" followed by "Oh of course, its the wild birds". Wow can they make a lot of noise! I don't even know what kind they are as I've never seen the parents but I guess in the following weeks I'll be seeing quite a bit of activity as the parents try to find enough to feed their babies.

 

[Patriciaallison]

Ok people I am new to Miami county KS but not new to coyote barking! I heard a very strange scream the other night behind my property in a wooded area. It did not sound like any animal I have ever heard! I researched the known animals in this area and can't place this sound. Anyone have any idea what would make a loud screaming sound? Sorry about the sound description but it really sounded like a scream but way to loud to be human. My daughter and I both heard it and ran inside. Lol scared the heck out of me.
P