Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I spent my entire afternoon mowing. I hoped if I did, it would rain. It has been 6-8 weeks since I mowed and all there was tall weeds among the brown grass. This is the dirtiest and dustiest I have ever gotten mowing. So I took my second shower and put on my third outfit for the day. First one got wet feeding and watering birds. Second one I mowed in. It usually takes me about 6 hours to mow. I use one mower and pull the second. I wonder how much gas I saved not having to mow because of the heat?
Of course on the sad side of things I wonder how much money I lost on flowers and trees that just couldn't handle the heat. Gas would probably be cheaper.

 

[ChooksChick]

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X2, and

 

[sharol]

This is so funny. I just ordered a Sweeter Heater this morning. The cooler weather reminded me that it was on my winter wish-list for my girls.

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Agreed! I felt that little bit of panic as it felt like Fall yesterday. I have to get my heaters set up for the horses again and there are a couple of projects to finish (besides the coop!). I LOVE Fall, however I don't love that is precedes winter. My apples haven't gotten too big- I've been watering the trees really well this summer, but I think it's just still been too hard on them. Ah well, I'm still up for fresh apples, even if they are small.

 

[Hawkeye95]

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Oooh!! I want to see pictures of the little cuties! What all did you get? Are you wanting laying hens or...? Fun!! I can't wait till mine arrive!!

So exciting! I hope they continue to thrive and be healthy for you.

 

[redsoxs]

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13 Cornish X for processing in a few weeks. Hen chicks are: 2 EE, 2 Delawares, 2 Blk Australorps, 2 Buff Orps, 1 red star, 1 black star, and 2 anconas. Plus one mystery chick. Also picked up two wheaten marans last week from a guy in Missouri. They are a couple weeks older than the new borns.
Thanks for inquiring!!

I will have tons of hen/egg laying questions in a few months!!

 

[chicken danz]

I'm glad they all arrived in good condition.

 

[Hawkeye95]

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Ugh- Danz, that was so totally ME last week when I finally broke down and mowed. I was only knocking the tops off the weeds, the rest of the lawn had not grown. I really only had to mow around the trees I've been watering- there they had tall grass/weeds growing around them. Didn't take me long to mow since there wasn't much. I've nearly lost 3 azalea bushes to the heat.. they are hanging on, but the winter might do them in since they are so stressed and have a LOT of brown leaves. They are pitiful. I also have a weeping cherry tree that is a bit crispy- I've been watering it thru this heat wave, but the leaves have curled a bit. Still green and still hanging on... but doesn't look 'healthy' if you know what i mean.

The apple trees have faired the best thru this insane heat! My Crepe Myrtles have bloomed twice during this heat wave- crazy things. Hey- did your half drowned chick make a full recovery? I hope so! You said she was looking better and I wondered later if she came out of it.

Renee- FUNNY picture!!

Busy day, Dr's appts and School meet the teacher meetings this evening. We're back and I'm tired. All of this get ready for school stuff is draining! I wonder if they just sit around and dream up new ways to create more forms and paper work....

I think I'm going to really like all the new teachers we've got this year. The little ones will be going to preschool and my oldest is a 2nd grader. BTW, I think my turkey grew over night. Geez. She is getting big.

 

[msjfrizzle]

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I'm glad to hear that you're happy with the babies. My first three came from McMurray via the local garden center and they're great, even though one was a rooster. I met my son-in-law's family for the first time at my daughter's wedding a month ago and learned that McMurray was started by a relative of theirs. Small world!
I've been building a coop off an on all summer myself, but have been SO busy with other things that the progress has been painfully slow. When I finally had two weeks to work on it, it was too hot, as you well know! So now I'm back at school (elementary teacher), and the weather is beautiful. Figures, I guess.
Click the thumbnail for a bigger picture, I hope.
My coop backs up to my deck, with an egg door that is accessed from the deck. The coop's not very big because I'm working around re-used, leftover, craigslist, and garage/estate sale materials as much as possible. The skylight was how I solved the problem of only having 5 roofing panels when I needed 6 (a craigslist item). The enclosed part is 3' x 5', and the screen porch is 3' x 3'. The movable roost ("chicken bleachers") is in the screen porch, because that's where they all want to roost right now. The "coop deck" is to make it easier for me to reach inside and to give me a dry place to stand when I'm working with the chickens or the coop. I'm planning to fence the bottom of the coop and the area under the deck so they'll have a safe run when I don't want to let them out in the yard. I'll be using serious fencing for that, as I have raccoon trouble, too. Just this morning I found the lids off my metal feed buckets, unripe grapes littering the sidewalk, and seed packets I had forgotten about torn up and partially eaten. So... feed buckets come indoors until I get the storage box built, seed packets get put away, and I'm thinking all sorts of evil thoughts about raccoons and my grapes. I've been reading and trying to follow everyone's advice about critter-proofing the coop itself, so I hope it's secure enough. I wonder what's legal in the city limits when it comes to problem wildlife??

 

[redsoxs]

Nice looking coop, msjfrizzle! That's something I have to get busy on - I have accommodations for the birds I'll be processing but no coop for the girls. Thank goodness they're only a couple days old!
I know what you mean about the raccoons - they are thick - I live in the country and it's a never ending trap-fest.
School teacher, huh? I can relate. I'm an elementary school guidance counselor. Summer has ended as I have to report for duty tomorrow with kids starting, ready or not, next Tuesday! But I'll take the cooler weather!
Best of luck with coop building and predator-proofing!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
I'm glad to hear that you're happy with the babies. My first three came from McMurray via the local garden center and they're great, even though one was a rooster. I met my son-in-law's family for the first time at my daughter's wedding a month ago and learned that McMurray was started by a relative of theirs. Small world!
I've been building a coop off an on all summer myself, but have been SO busy with other things that the progress has been painfully slow. When I finally had two weeks to work on it, it was too hot, as you well know! So now I'm back at school (elementary teacher), and the weather is beautiful. Figures, I guess.
[URL]https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/93521_coop_aug_10.jpg[/URL] Click the thumbnail for a bigger picture, I hope.
My coop backs up to my deck, with an egg door that is accessed from the deck. The coop's not very big because I'm working around re-used, leftover, craigslist, and garage/estate sale materials as much as possible. The skylight was how I solved the problem of only having 5 roofing panels when I needed 6 (a craigslist item). The enclosed part is 3' x 5', and the screen porch is 3' x 3'. The movable roost ("chicken bleachers") is in the screen porch, because that's where they all want to roost right now. The "coop deck" is to make it easier for me to reach inside and to give me a dry place to stand when I'm working with the chickens or the coop. I'm planning to fence the bottom of the coop and the area under the deck so they'll have a safe run when I don't want to let them out in the yard. I'll be using serious fencing for that, as I have raccoon trouble, too. Just this morning I found the lids off my metal feed buckets, unripe grapes littering the sidewalk, and seed packets I had forgotten about torn up and partially eaten. So... feed buckets come indoors until I get the storage box built, seed packets get put away, and I'm thinking all sorts of evil thoughts about raccoons and my grapes. I've been reading and trying to follow everyone's advice about critter-proofing the coop itself, so I hope it's secure enough. I wonder what's legal in the city limits when it comes to problem wildlife??

Your coop is really cute! I think that was really creative to put in a 'skylight' when you were running out of material. Looks like you meant to do that! Anyway, good job! Good luck with being back to school/work! Our school starts on Monday, and we had a "meet the teachers" tonight that was pretty fun. I have another meet the teachers at the preschool tomorrow morning. I take the little ones to a preschool downtown Wichita at a church.