Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I'm bored this morning while I'm drinking my coffee so decided to post. I'm just not ready to start working yet. I have a lot to do today getting ready for company. I got more food in the freezer yesterday. It takes so much time to get things ready. I had a huge bunch of grapes and took all those off the stems and put them in bags. They are seedless so I can either eat them or make jelly from them later. I knew they would spoil before I got something done so it was easiest to just freeze them for now.
We are actually getting some sprinkles or light rain this morning. We can really use it for sure. It'd be a perfect day to get out and get work done today but I've got to get stuff done for company tomorrow. At least it's supposed to be somewhat cooler.
I've got to get a load of feed today so I think this time I am going to get 2 tons instead of just one. It will save making a trip in a couple weeks. I might even make it almost a month without getting feed. It just means shelling out a lot more money at once.
It would be a great day to move some chickens to new pens. Maybe I'll get that worked in later if it stops raining.

 

[Trish44]

Here is a pic of the two best ears of my glass gem corn. I'm really happy with how they turned out. One thing I did learn is that if you leave it on the plant until the husks are dry and brown, the color will be better than if picked when the silks are brown but the husks are still green.

It turns out that goats LOVE corn silks. I carried the husks and silks out to them and they ate some of the husks but really dove into the silks.

That's almost too pretty to eat! I have not seen corn like that before. I honestly think goats would eat most anything edible, mine even have eaten yucca stalks & bamboo. I had problems with those darned blister beetles on my tomatoes, they ate the bottom half of the leaves off before I could do anything about it. I think the chickens were eating them as they came out of the garden area because I saw them hanging around the outside.

It rained early this morning I guess & we're getting a little sprinkle now. I didn't know there was any rain in the forecast for today. It's gotten really dry though since it's been so hot so we can use anything we can get.

 

[HEChicken]

The glass gem corn isn't an eating corn per se. It can be ground into flour or popped - or just dried out and kept as an ornamental. Nevertheless, I'm curious to see how it tastes. The Black Aztec that I grew is also a flour corn but we ate a couple of cobs of it and thought it was tasty.

I would not think it is blister beetles on your tomatoes - or if it is, I doubt the chickens are eating them. We had blister beetles on our potatoes a couple of years ago and I offered them to the chickens but they weren't interested. Not that I blamed them - they get their name because of the blisters they cause on contact - they've been responsible for many the death of horses and cows who ate parts of them mashed up in their hay and it caused debilitating blisters in their digestive tract. I wouldn't think chickens are immune to that toxin so its probably just as well they don't want to eat them.

I woke at 5am to a huge thunder clap which literally had me out of bed in an instant, screaming "OMG, its thundering on our hay". Yup - our hay was cut yesterday. Fingers crossed it is not ruined and is able to dry out. I am just miserable today, thinking about the possibility our whole crop is worthless now. That storm wasn't on the forecast when the hay cutter arrived - and even when we went to bed, there was a minimal chance of rain what possibility there was, was mentioned in 100ths of an inch - instead we got almost a whole inch.

The storm almost had another casualty. I went out to find a 3-week-old, almost-fully-feathered-out poult, not doing well. My guess is, it was under Mama and was sheltered from the rain until it got light this morning and then she stood up and it got wet and chilled. I picked it up and held it against my body for awhile but it still wasn't looking good, so finally I brought it up to the house and put it under an EcoGlow. When I checked after 30 minutes it was still huddled and shivering but an hour later I heard it calling and when I went out, it was dry and running around its horse tank, looking for a way out. Of course, it is wild as can be, as it has always been a mama-raised bird so by then catching it wasn't easy. I returned it to Mama and I think it will be okay now. But, as long as my fingers are crossed about the hay, I guess I'll keep them crossed for that little poult as well. I was really surprised a poult that old and with the feathering it has, was able to go down so fast.

 

[Trish44]

Well this is what they look like HEChicken, so maybe the chickens didn't eat them, I don't know but when I went back out I didn't see any more.

Fingers crossed for your hay!

 

[HEChicken]

That looks like a blister beetle alright. Nasty things they are. They are the one thing I will not hand pick - instead of knock them off the plant and into my collecting jar (filled with soapy water so they drown right away).

 

[aart]

Anyone here from near Russell, Kansas help this person out?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-would-like-to-purchase-pullets#post_17376137
TIA!

 

[chicken danz]

@aart I'm not near Russel but I did send that person a message about the Consolidated Kansas forum. Just for future info anyone is welcome to come on the forum and ask questions and we are glad to answer if we can, Of course we are always glad to have new people join in discussions, but we are here to help as well.

We had a bit of disaster today. DH was going to back the grain cart up on the ramp and he didn't have the ball hooked. Just had the tongue over it. The coop had loaded the bin all toward the back end so it was very back heavy. When he tried to back it up the ramp the entire bin came undone and fell over backwards. So we spent the bulk of the afternoon rigging it up so we could set it upright. Step by step. I couldn't get the Bobcat under neath it and lift it cause it would tear up the sheet metal on the bin and the bobcat was too wide to go in between the sides of the ramp. So we had to rig up straps and I lifted the load inch by inch while DH out 4 X 4s under neath it and jacks to lift the front end which was buried in the driveway. Finally with him on the tractor lifting the front end and pulling forward and me on the Bobcat with a 4 X 4 rigged up to straps I got it up enough it went forward and luckily moved nice and slow so it didn't go crashing down. There are some dents on the back end from it falling and a broken tail light. and the jack stand that hold the front tongue up is ruined. But at least that can be replaced.
It sure messed up all my plans for the day.
It was pretty tense cause it was a really unstable load and it could have pulled the Bobcat over if things moved too fast. But alas we were successful.
So much for getting the house and the yard cleaned up.

 

[Trish44]

@aart I'm not near Russel but I did send that person a message about the Consolidated Kansas forum. Just for future info anyone is welcome to come on the forum and ask questions and we are glad to answer if we can, Of course we are always glad to have new people join in discussions, but we are here to help as well.

We had a bit of disaster today. DH was going to back the grain cart up on the ramp and he didn't have the ball hooked. Just had the tongue over it. The coop had loaded the bin all toward the back end so it was very back heavy. When he tried to back it up the ramp the entire bin came undone and fell over backwards. So we spent the bulk of the afternoon rigging it up so we could set it upright. Step by step. I couldn't get the Bobcat under neath it and lift it cause it would tear up the sheet metal on the bin and the bobcat was too wide to go in between the sides of the ramp. So we had to rig up straps and I lifted the load inch by inch while DH out 4 X 4s under neath it and jacks to lift the front end which was buried in the driveway. Finally with him on the tractor lifting the front end and pulling forward and me on the Bobcat with a 4 X 4 rigged up to straps I got it up enough it went forward and luckily moved nice and slow so it didn't go crashing down. There are some dents on the back end from it falling and a broken tail light. and the jack stand that hold the front tongue up is ruined. But at least that can be replaced.
It sure messed up all my plans for the day.
It was pretty tense cause it was a really unstable load and it could have pulled the Bobcat over if things moved too fast. But alas we were successful.
So much for getting the house and the yard cleaned up.

Geez Danz I'm glad it turned out OK overall, that could have been a real mess! I'm glad nobody got hurt either.

We got rain a couple of times last night, we needed it at this point.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh no Danz - that does not sound like a fun day at all.

Well, I am kind of miserable over this rain. I suspect our hay is ruined. While milking this morning it started thundering again and it rained a slow, steady rain for several hours after that. Ordinarily I'd be pleased to have the moisture, but not while our hay is laying out on the ground. More than once I've wished it were feasible to own our own hay-cutting equipment and be able to cut and bale when we want to - relying on someone else to do it is stressful as we have to work to their schedule and they have dozens of people they cut hay for. But for smaller acreages, it just isn't affordable to buy swather, rake and baler so we are at their mercy.

 

[rlh1]

LOL yes Salmon faverolle. I have four, three roosters and a hen. The one I'm holding is the sweetest thing! He comes running over to say hi when I go out there. And will jump up on my lap and hang out. So will the hen, sometime. She's still a little shy. The other two roosters are not interested, unless I have treats.