Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I sold four turkey eggs that were ready to hatch to a girl that was afraid she was going to loose her broody turkey. She has been sitting on non-fertile chicken eggs for months and her health was failing. As of last night she had two poults hatched. Needless to say her owners were thrilled and planned to move her and her new babies to their own private quarters today. I've never let my turkeys sit before this year and they've laid at late as November. This year I let them sit and start all the eggs. They have finally given up and no one is laying now. Kind of a relief. I'm really tired about worrying about my broodies suffocating each other. I only have a half dozen or so eggs left in the incubator and that will be the end of turkeys for the year. Kind of a good feeling.
I've got a bunch of broody hens as well and I am trying to take their eggs but I keep getting slack on it. In this heat I just don't seem to get every thing done. Then I have to let the eggs sit for 24 hours and float test them to make sure they weren't developing. I don't know why I keep creating more work for myself.
The purebreds that are broody are just sitting. I don't care right now. I've had several hatch out there so far. As soon as I sell my laying hens I'll have to start using their eggs for eating eggs though. I do have another tray to set though. When people keep asking if I have this or that and I have girls laying in those colors I hate to not hatch them. Yet I have hundreds of birds out there I need to get sold.
I kind of fell into a remodeling project for myself. Something I had planned over several months but I just wasn't finding what I wanted to recycle for it. Well yesterday while looking for some stuff for a friend I happened to have a guy ask me if I was interested in an item he had and it was exactly what I had been wanting. I'm going to run and pick it up and get a few other supplies while I'm on the road. DH is going to growl. I don't know why. He never does any of these projects but I guess he's afraid he'll have to.

Then I've got to get back and take care of my poor suffering hot birds.
I had to rush Yeti to the vet yesterday for hot spots. I've never had dogs with hot spots until this year and this is the second one. I am starting to wonder if these expensive Seresto collars are contributing to them rather than preventing the fleas and ticks. We've had more of both than any year past.

 

[Trish44]

I think it's been the weather this year that has brought out more bugs of all kinds. We have things here in KS now that we never had before too because our climate changed a few years ago to more humid. I've seen bugs in the last few years that I had never seen before.

It's just been so miserable out, ugh. We had to put up another fence yesterday in the heat behind the garage to get rid of an escape route for my sheep where they were going out to the neighbor's places. Sheep aren't as bad as goats for sure about eating things but still I don't want them out wandering around the neighborhood. I plan to let them out in the yard today so we'll see if that stops them or they find another place to escape. We were concentrating on paddock fencing first before we try to replace any other fence. All that was here when we came was barbed wire all around the perimeter. As it gets old it gets looser so it really isn't good for anything.

I agree HEChicken that if a hen is really determined to be broody there isn't much you can do but wait it out. I still have a couple at least in my main coop that are trying to sit but I'm not letting them have any eggs, I just don't want barnyard mix chicks & I already have way to many chicks here as it is.

 

[calebtk]

So I had one neighbor behind me that came to oppose me today. Planning Council voted 11-0 to not recommend me for approval of my special use permit. Now I have to meet with City Council next month. Hope that goes better but doubt it.

In the meeting I addressed all concerns from our neighbors that don't support and showed how those concerns of lowered property value and increased noise are actually not true. Council didn't even care about the facts sadly!

Is anyone here in OP that has chickens or would like to come to the meeting to voice support for this idea please let me know.

Thanks,

Caleb

 

[chicken danz]

So I had one neighbor behind me that came to oppose me today. Planning Council voted 11-0 to not recommend me for approval of my special use permit. Now I have to meet with City Council next month. Hope that goes better but doubt it.

In the meeting I addressed all concerns from our neighbors that don't support and showed how those concerns of lowered property value and increased noise are actually not true. Council didn't even care about the facts sadly!

Is anyone here in OP that has chickens or would like to come to the meeting to voice support for this idea please let me know.

Thanks,

Caleb

Very sorry it didn't go better. People can be so dense. They all have these preconceived notions in their heads of nasty smelly dirty chicken farms. It's hard to change their minds when they have a minds set. Perhaps you should collect some pictures of some adorable little coops and gardens and or finish your own pre-chickens to convince them it's not an eyesore.

I didn't get much done yesterday. Between the heat and humidity and being sick all day again I just was fairly worthless. I sure hope I do better today. I've had a lot of days like that lately. I think a long break of heat and humidity would do wonders for my energy level.
We had a storm this morning and I never heard it. I haven't been out to check yet to see how much rain we got yet.

 

[Trish44]

It's been really quiet here lately.

It's just really been more of the same here, hot & wet. We're getting more rain today, so here we go again. The storm last evening went south of us & we only got a few drops of that.

 

[HEChicken]

It sure has been quiet on here lately so I'll relate a survival story. I had a broody turkey but her eggs didn't hatch so I set eggs for her in the incubator. They started to hatch last weekend. The first to pip, pipped the wrong end. 48 hours passed as I watched the other poults pip, zip and hatch and still that pip at the wrong end just sat there. I could see the beak breathing, but that was it. So, I decided it wasn't going to be able to hatch due to not being able to turn and I'd better assist - something I really hate to do as it almost never turns out well. I took the egg and started to peel back the shell. No blood. I kept going. The poult was weak and not helping at all so since there was no blood, I completely hatched it, then set the poult back in the incubator to recover.

For another 48 hours it barely moved. It lay on its side (never once trying to get up into a sitting position), with eyes closed, just breathing. I knew it wasn't going to make it, and many, many times thought I should put it out of its misery. By now all of its hatch mates had gone to live with Mama Turkey so it was alone in the incubator.

Next morning I peeked into the incubator, expecting to find it had passed during the night but to my surprise it was sitting up. However one leg was dragging behind it and both feet had curled toes so it seemed unable to walk or even balance very well. Nevertheless, by now I felt it must be running out of yolk to sustain it, so I set a small bowl of water and some crumbles in the incubator. Every few hours I'd check on it but half the time it had fallen on its side. It didn't look good at all. Then that evening, to my astonishment, when I checked it was standing up and drinking out of the water bowl!!! Anyone who has raised turkeys knows the poults are notoriously terrible at knowing how to find food and water and need to be taught. It is common to hatch chicks with turkeys so the chicks can tutor the turkeys. I hadn't done that with these guys since the plan was to give them to a mother who would teach them. Yet here was this weak little poult that I expected to die any moment - drinking from a water bowl like a pro.

It still could not walk well however and I was reluctant to give it to the mother turkey for fear it would not be able to keep up. By now its siblings had been with the mother over 24 hours and were running around eating and drinking well. So, I left it in the incubator one more day. I never saw it eat but saw it drink several times and the crumbles were scattered around so I hoped maybe it was eating as well. Finally that night I decided I couldn't wait any longer to give it to the mother turkey, as my window when she would accept it was closing. So, on Tuesday night, after dark, I walked it out there. I put it under Mama and it ran right through and out the other side. Put it back under her, it popped out again somewhere else. Finally on the third try, it found the other poults and there was some chatter before quiet. I figured it would make it to morning but then all bets were off. Mama would get up and start showing the babies the feeder and the little one would either keep up or get chilled and die.

I got done with chores yesterday morning and went to check on it. I heard the distinctive sound of a baby turkey crying - but it wasn't coming from the hoop coop. I found the poult had somehow escaped the hoop coop and wandered some distance away. The endearing thing: as soon as it saw me, it ran toward me and stopped at my feet, waiting to be picked up and "rescued". I returned it to the hoop coop where Mama appears to have accepted it and watched for awhile. Its toes had uncurled. It is walking as well as the others. It looks just like one of the others and I realized I was having a hard time picking out which one it was.

This morning the poult is doing great. It made it through two nights, a storm and a whole day. And, this morning I truly cannot tell which one it is. There are two now that look as strong as each other.

I have NEVER had a chick or poult make it from so far behind so I am on cloud nine.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I have NEVER had a chick or poult make it from so far behind so I am on cloud nine.

That's awesome, HeChicken! Isn't nature amazing?!?

We've had overnight storms the last two nights in a row. I'm getting kinda tired of overnight storms (or just plain tired), but the rain has been nice. We've gotten just shy of 1.30" in the last two nights. It's come down pretty hard, so I fear that a lot of it has washed away, but we'll take what we can get now! My coop did get wet two nights ago, so I need to go clean out some wet straw, but otherwise things have been going well here. I'm expecting my chickens to start laying any day now as they are now over 4 months old. I have a few roosters that have been awfully noisy recently (crowing ALL. DAY. LONG) . I am looking forward to when theyr'e old enough to butcher, though I don't look forward to doing the deed myself. I'm still trying to find someone that can help me process them and teach me the ropes. The lady I had lined up was "taken" by a mad mama cow a couple months ago, and she isn't sure if she'll be physically up to helping me process birds. I'm not sure what she's gonna do about her own birds though 'cuz she's got 100+, probably half of which are roosters that will need processed.

Cute toddler story for ya'll, just 'cuz:
My little guy was helping me clean the bathroom sink recently. He was helping me scrub, when he got a little distracted. He grabbed the pull thing between the knobs (the thing that closes the drain) and pulled it up. As he did so he was saying he was going to "check the oil".

He is SUCH a daddy's boy!

 

[HEChicken]

Cute!!!

I have rarely had a hen start to lay under 6 months of age so you probably still have a few weeks to go before first egg Lizzy. It sure is nice once they get started though and once one starts, the others will follow suit very quickly.

As for processing....I understand just how you feel. I didn't have anyone to teach me so I watched a ton of YouTube videos in preparation. However the most valuable thing I learned didn't come from any of the videos I watched, but from trial and error. And that is, in order to find the vein/artery, follow the jaw bone up with your finger and cut right above it. Before I found that little trick, I had several times cut a bird but did not hit the artery and felt terrible for causing them additional pain and suffering by having to make multiple cuts. Since I discovered "where" to hit it, I haven't missed once - and that is doing 50+ birds per year. The only other tip I can give is to not be afraid to use force when making that cut. I want to cut deep and clean so I only have to do it once - ultimately that causes less suffering than making multiple ineffective cuts. So, I put quite a bit of muscle into that one cut, to ensure I only ever have to make one.

 

[chicken danz]

We had to go to Emporia last night so DH could pick up some things. I decided to ride along since I always make him go alone. I wasn't really interested in shopping. Feeling broke so that cuts my urges to spend.
I had a customer yesterday earlier and sold another goose. I'm done selling geese for now. I have one more of this years ganders but he's a beautiful super curly white boy and since I saved a female I guess I can keep another male. I gave these three little girls three ducklings as well. Not real happy since I offered them for free, but had to catch them in the mud and get down in it, and then recatch some because the grandmother was insisting on having 2 females. I kind of feel that if I offer something free they shouldn't be so darned picky. I was really wanting to keep some girls for layers cause some of mine are getting older and the owls seem to pick off some each year. I guess I have plenty thanks to the broody ducks leaving unhatched eggs. I guess it's just the principle. I was trying to make the kids happy ...not the grandmother.
I went and looked at stuff for a custom counter top for my bathroom vanity I am making out of a re-purposed dresser. I'm getting really excited about this whole thing. I have a lot of woodwork to do and a new floor to install to get it all done.

 

[HEChicken]

I agree Danz, that is really cheeky. I think I would have said "straight run are free but if you want to be picky about gender, I'll have to charge $x for them". I did that once to a Vietnamese lady that came here. Earlier, I had given her my pricing on pullets and ducks that I had for sale but while she was here, she saw a cockerel she wanted and asked if I would sell him. He was mixed, so I said "Sure - you can have him for $5". When it came time to pay and I added up her bill, she tried to get away with only giving me $5 each for the pullets as well, even though I'd told her at the beginning how much they were. I just told her "This is how much I get for pullets. If you don't want them, I'll be happy to put them back with the flock" and moved to start unloading them from the crate. She coughed up the money pretty quick when she realized I wasn't going to cave.