Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

It's raining some here today, we can use every drop we can get.

 

[chicken danz]

We could use more ... but we got none yesterday.

 

[Trish44]

It's so dry here that even if it does rain some it just soaks in & looks like we got nothing, it's bad.

 

[chicken danz]

Same here. It's rained around us but not here. We got one rain in the last 2 months I think. Other than a little that was too minute to count. Still the humidity is so high you can't breath!
I finally got my first two tomatoes yesterday and dug some potatoes. Not a great crop on the potatoes but it's the first time I've grown them in years. The tomatoes were really nice sized. I had started plants in the basement but hadn't gotten them out early because we had such late frosts, plus waiting for DH to get my tiller running. It's still not!
I'm going to try to make some big brooders today. I've been cleaning out and disinfecting all of my pens in the building. That's a job that takes days. I want to seal the brooder room floor in the building as well. But the dogs go in there to sleep in the day because it's cool. I may have to boot them out.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

A Royal Palm hen has hatched a clutch of guinea keets. I thought she had re-set on turkey eggs, as she had a nest earlier in the spring, that a blacksnake got her eggs. I checked the nest site, and it still had 4 unhatched guinea eggs in it. I caught her and 17 various color keets, and they are now in a tight 6' X 6' X 6' pen, made of 8 storm door frames, with hardware cloth.

 

[Trish44]

What a good mama! That's a cute photo @Ralph Moyer!

 

[chicken danz]

Good to see you back Ralph! I had a turkey hen hatch out chicks once and she raised them until the were full grown. Even as full grown cockerels, she put them to bed about 5pm and "tried" to spread her wings around them at night.
Two days ago a broody duck came off the nest and was out running around with the other ducks with her one and only newly hatched baby. The baby however was a baby chicken chick. I didn't see it yesterday so I assume it probably drowned in some water container. She was trying very hard to get it to get in one. There was no way I was catching that bird though cause it was fast and she was very protective.
We got rain last night. Praise the Lord! Not sure how much but at any rate the ground is wet. I really need to get some planting done while it's wet but I have a Dr. appt today in Topeka so I won't have time.

 

[chicken danz]

I thin the forum is slower than it has ever been. Summer is often slow but we haven't had many new people this year either. Kind of sad. It's been a really busy year for me too and I haven't had time to do a lot of reading and writing. I'm trying to get caught up now on a million projects I just couldn't handle in the extreme heat this year. Looks like we have a few more days of heat anyway.
I have a ton of butchering to do when it cools some and isn't raining. Not at all looking forward to that.

 

[Trish44]

Yeah I have never seen this thread so slow, ever.

 

[chicken danz]

I need to change focus for a day or two and get some pens ready for my dogs. I have two Great Pyrenees having puppies soon and this is the first time I will have two litters at once. Not really something I want to do but the girls decided to sink together. Starry the one that is due first is huge. I was thinking they might be really little litters, because when they were in season the heat was near the century mark for days. I guess it didn't effect them too much.
I'm hoping for some cooler weather soon without it being rainy so I can get some butchering done. My freezers are going to be stuffed.
I did candle some eggs last night and the Shamo eggs I had set are fertile. I'll have to wait a week or two on the Malay cause they laid later and I didn't have my Malay rooster in with the girls.