Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

My day certainly didn't go well yesterday. I got all those kennel panels down and finally got them drug across the yard. Then tried to set them up. They kept falling over or I would loose a nut or a fitting after I had them in place up in the air. I'd try to reach the part and the whole panel and the the fitting would fall. I couldn't set it up as I normally would because I was hooking onto a pen that was full of chickens and didn't want them to get out. I got them all put up as a unit only to discover that my netting that was left from what was already on the top wasn't quite long enough to go the distance. So I had to remove another panel and start over. I was really wanting to change the gate panel which also goes alongside the turkey pen for a plain panel and move the gate to the newly added part. But once I got that much done there was no time and no energy to do anything else.
I didn't get the birds moved either which was the main reason I was moving the panels. It was getting dark and I still needed to feed and water. I only got the most essential done. I was going to pick out the rest of the garden but that didn't get done either. Just plain got dark on me. I could do some more today but its so cold and windy out there. I need to move one of the dog houses up closer to the house for the dogs. The geese decided to eat all the bedding they had had so I'm not sure what I'm going to put in them for a softer place to lay. I had had a piece of carpet in one and a big stuffed dog bed in the other and the geese decided both were chew toys.
I shut the building so it would stay warmer in there and the dogs often go sleep in there. I had told DH some time ago that I really needed to buy and install a dog door in the building. The problem is finding a place to put one that isn't on the north side of the building.

 

[Trish44]

I can empathize Danz with the moving pens, that is quite a chore. I finally got mine moved & together but I had the same issue you did with setting it up in the beginning. It's not easy to keep a 12 ft long panel upright & hold the end at the same time then put brackets on by yourself. I managed to lose one of my corner bracket parts out there when I took it apart too & never did find it. It must be buried in the dirt somewhere after I had to dig that thing out of the ground. I had to use a couple of other things to fix one corner for now & when I get a chance I'll pick up some new brackets. At least it's together for now & the other 3 corners are secured. I hate getting things ready for winter, I just hate this time of year, it makes me want to move south at least for the winter. Yesterday was quite a shock with the cold temps & the darned wind, ugh I am not ready for that.

 

[chicken danz]

I hate getting things ready for winter, I just hate this time of year, it makes me want to move south at least for the winter. Yesterday was quite a shock with the cold temps & the darned wind, ugh I am not ready for that.

I'm with ya, sister! I hate getting ready and I hate winter. Plus being so far behind sure doesn't help matters much. I did the pen panel thing again yesterday. I had to remove the gate panel and replace it with another. Then move it out by unhooking another panel that I took out all together and shifted the pen a few feet so I didn't have an alley way of sorts, Then took another panel out and put the gate panel in. It would have taken a lot less jogging panels around if the pen wasn't full of chickens I didn't want to chase down. And then it got dark on me again so still no other chickens moved. I'm thinking now I need to bring in some other kind of little shelter in there cause it's going to be really crowded in there when I do move birds. All they have for a house is my camper topper which has a frame under it. If I had these roosters butchered I could take one of their shelters but that hasn't happened.
I spent a couple hours looking for my bag of pullies I had bought for the pop doors in the building. I cannot for the life of me figure out where on earth I put them.I was going to try to rig some up so I could shut the doors at night when it's so cold without having to go in each pen. Oh well eventually I guess.
While I was inside I started tearing out the door frame etc from my inner bathroom. I want to put a pocket door in there. I bought the framework etc to do this the day I got cat attacked. It's been sitting in my hallway since. I wanted to get it out of the hallway. And then just day before yesterday I discovered I bought the wrong size of kit so it won't work unless I rebuild it. I can take it back and exchange it for one the right size but that means getting this loaded on the truck and spending at least 3 hours to drive to Topeka, exchange it and drive back home. I can't lift the framework alone so that leaves me in a pickle if I do decide to do it. I'm still undecided if it would be easier to just rebuild it or not. Meanwhile I'm continuing to tear out the wall.
I even thought of using this on DH's bathroom instead but because of an outlet in that wall on both sides I can't do that. I need those outlets so there really is no option.

 

[HEChicken]

Lizzy - congrats on the chicks - how many did you end up getting and how are they doing?

Well, today is the big day for my turkey named Thanksgiving. I can't say I'm looking forward to spending several hours processing but I will be glad to have one less big mouth to feed. Not to mention, his gobbling is getting annoying. I also have a bunch of roosters I need to do before winter, but I've been procrastinating since our freezers are full. Still, I don't want to continue feeding them forever and need to reduce the amount of testosterone at the coop before spring, so the hens don't get over-mated - so I'll just have to get out there and get it done.

I've hemmed and hawed on cleaning out the coop. Sharol made a good point about the deep litter method going into winter, and my bedding layer certainly is deep at the moment. However it is so overdue to be cleaned that I really think I just need to get it done and put in a good deep layer of shavings and let them start on a new bedding layer.

We've been busy this week between company in from out of town for the holiday, and trying to get some pre-winter projects done. We are getting the barn wired so we'll have electricity there this winter, instead of having to run extension cords like we did last year. And we're hoping to get gutters on the barn as well, so we can direct water away, instead of having it run in and flood during big storms.

The water barrel at my coop is empty for the first time all year. I can't remember another year where we had rain at intervals that kept it full the entire year. Usually I have to fill it with the hose once or twice between storms, and awhile back I was worried I was going to have to drain it, in order to get it put away for winter. As it is, the timing is perfect - all I need to do now is scrub it out and then it will be ready to store until next spring.

 

[chicken danz]

@HEChicken how do you keep your rain barrel from forming algae and the water getting stagnant? I had thought of doing something similar around here but wasn't sure how that would work. Also using a gutter system how on earth do you keep all the tree droppings and whatever lands on the roof from washing down into the gutter. I can see gutter guards but a lot of the stuff that plugs my gutters is fine stuff. Just curious. I would love to have a system for watering the geese and peacocks especially. That is if I don't get the water pump and pressure tank set up out there on that well. I finally got it pulled out of the hole that runs along side the well. Looking at that thing I think I am going to have to hire someone to come in and put cement blocks up dividing the well from the hole next to it. They had knocked out a section of well wall to allow pipes to go through and as a result the side of the well is collapsing. It is totally unsafe. And the cement cover that covers the hole is falling apart and a danger for a person or an animal to fall through. I had thought about just filling in the whole thing but I have no idea how deep this well is and it would take a huge amount of fill to fill it. I think it is at least 6 foot around. It would be nice to have use of the well but right now it's just a matter of safety. I have a cystern to get filled first and foremost anyway. I hate I've inherited someone else's problems from a century ago!!!
I'm not sure how many ducks I hatched. Maybe a dozen. I took them out to the green house late last night and never even counted. I know out of that whole batch there were only two I could definitive say were pure bred Cayuga. But they are all at least half and will make good butcher birds or layers. I hatched several chicks as well.
I did get all my birds moved a couple days ago. Yesterday I spent the entire day finishing tearing out the wall and some flooring so I could get the pocket door in. Then I had to cut all the parts to the pocket door frame work to size to fit. Of course I had to dismantle it and rebuild it but it still seemed less an effort than driving to Topeka to exchange it. I have it sitting in place right now but discovered I have to cut another half inch off the tile floor to allow the frame to sit at the subfloor. That was the worst part of this whole thing. It was made for new construction obviously so every thing had to be cut out and down to the subfloor. Had I realized how it all was going to sit eventually I would have just cut more height off the framework and set it on top of the floor. Live and learn.
I barely made it outside yesterday. It took me all day to mess with this wall. It was raining as well though so at least I didn't get a bunch of feed soaked.

 

[Trish44]

@HEChicken good luck with your processing today, I don't envy you that. I'm glad I don't have turkeys any more, I kind of liked them, but they were a hassle as well. At least you only have one more to go after this one & then you won't have any either.

@chicken danz I tried a rain barrel this year & it didn't work out well for me for just the reason you mentioned. I have way more trees here than HEChicken does & I get all of this fine junk that comes from those & falls on my breeder coop roof. Yes there is a screen filter, but mine got clogged all the time & then it just filtered the junk & the water was nasty. I don't know what I could do about it because I can't get up on the roof all the time to clean it off. The roof up there is that fiber corrugated stuff. I finally gave up on it way before it got cooler. I just don't know what to do with it. I wish I had guttering elsewhere to use it but that is the only place I have any guttering. Congrats on getting your frame rebuilt for the door & all of the work you have done. I wish I could say I had done something like that, but I can't.

I didn't get anything done yesterday due to having to go to Wichita for appts. & shopping while we were there & then came back home got back in the car & went to Walmart here to get some more things I needed. I will be playing catchup today.

 

[HEChicken]

@HEChicken how do you keep your rain barrel from forming algae and the water getting stagnant?

The rain barrel itself is opaque which keeps algae from growing. Algae only grows if it gets direct sunlight so as long as the container is opaque, none will grow in there. I didn't have any issues with it getting stagnant either, because the barrel only holds 50 gallons. I set my 5-gallon waterer under it to make it easy to fill, and with as many birds as I have, I go through that 5-gallon waterer every day, so actually the barrel only holds about 10 days worth. So I guess it never has time to get stagnant.

As for debris, we haven't had an issue. I was sorry to hear that the system didn't work for Trish but I've seen her place and yeah, the trees to build pens under is great for giving them lots of shade in summer but I can see that it would make it harder for this set up. Other than the gutter guards, I don't know what you could do about that. But, even though my coop is only a short distance in from the hedge, apparently that is far enough away that I just haven't had any issues with that. We are on a dirt road and cars going by will stir up dust that lands on everything - including the coop roof. So, some of that fine dust does get washed down into the barrel when it rains, however it is a surprisingly small amount, and it just settles to the bottom of the barrel - below the hose outlet. So, the water coming out looks clear and crisp throughout the year, but when I take it down at the end of the year, I have to clean out the sediment that settled at the bottom.

@HEChicken good luck with your processing today,

Thanks. It all went smoothly. When we stepped outside, he was actually up at the back door, cleaning up after the pigs. All the birds of course streamed behind me at the thought that it was time to be fed, so while I went to fill the feeder, DH waited for him to go in and then blocked the chicken door so he couldn't get back out. Being the most dominant birds on the place, he was always the first at the feeder so, as soon as I got done scooping food, I went into the coop and grabbed him. From there it was only a minute or so - he never struggled or even moved. I like that he was "doing his thing" right up to the very last minute of his life - no one can say he didn't have a good, happy life.

He is now plucked and has started to roast. He will cook low and slow for the next 12-18 hours, in time for dinner tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[Trish44]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

[Plinky]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good day to be a chicken instead of a turkey!

 

[chicklover56]

Hello everybody and Happy Thanksgiving! I am looking for a dog for my chickens and would love some advice on what to look for. Mostly been looking at great Pyrenees...