Consolidated Kansas

[rittert3]

Is anybody going to the gardner auction in a few weeks? I don't really have an excuse to go but would like to know how it turns out.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
Oh yes, we had a blast too catching tadpoles! The one that was nearly a frog with a long tail- he has almost no tail left now! They grow fast! The megaladon tadpole hasn't sprouted his arms yet, but his legs do seems a bit longer and fatter. And yes, my youngest boy fell asleep on the way home and I barely got him to wake up once we got here. I loved your coop! Didn't realize how large your deck is- the area under it is bigger than some people's run! I think your chickens will do great under there when they need to be locked in. Oh and the boys now want a "cow" chicken, but I described her to my husband as a Dalmation chicken! ha!! He gave me that "look" and told me the ones we have on order now will be plenty. I'm still thinking I might be able to sneak in another chick.... bwahahaha!!

Preschool day today- which means no work on the coop this morning. Sigh. I am going to figure out the roof tonight. (i hope!)

 

[chicken danz]

I think you can probably build that playhouse so it will stand up to the weather if you design it instead of just using their construction. Looks like you are going to have to replace a bunch of wood. Did you turn that over to insurance?

 

[chicken danz]

Ivywoods, Looks like you are getting more rain. We could sure use a bunch down here. Looking at radar it may just skip right over us. I think we are in the Bermuda triangle of no rain. I honestly don't remember it ever being this dry before. Or this hot for so long. Makes me wonder if it will be just bitter cold this winter or if we'll get all that moisture in feet of snow.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
Oh, yes. More rain today. It has been so wet and humid here it has been hard to keep up with the grass and weeds. By the time the grass dries off enough to mow it is time for me to get ready for work. Then, on my days off it rains! I finally got everything mowed, but I swear it would have been easier to swath and bale it.

I haven't been able to talk about this for a few days, I have been so upset and mad about it.

We have a german wirehaired dachshund we bought for blood tracking. This little dog is a tracking machine. He is also a chicken killing machine. He absoluely cannot be trusted around the chickens. Consequently he has to stay in a kennel when out. A few days ago he pulled and pulled at the chain link kennel until he got out. He managed to kill several chickens, including my breeder pair of bantam partridge wyandottes. He tore through the door of the chicken tractor to get to them. He also killed a number of roosters. Chooks-Rumpy was one of the ones he killed. I was at work, but my husband was home and went out and found the massacre and stopped him. DH was so mad it's a wonder he didn't kill that dog. Anyway, he reinforced the kennel with heavy welded wire panels, and I rebuilt the door on the chicken tractor yesterday. We are going to rehome this dog.

THEN... the other part of the story is one of our great pyrenees dogs has gotten into the habit of playing too rough with the chickens. They get to cackling or scrapping and she gets excited and starts playing with them... TOO ROUGH! She has killed several this way. Then the silly dog sits and guards the carcass.
Anyway, she is our best livestock guardian with the exception of this thing with the chickens, so we are going to find her a good farm home so she can do what she loves WITHOUT chickens. So if any of you know of someone that needs an excellent livestock guardian, but doesn't have free-range chickens, I know where they can get one. She still protects the chickens that are penned up. She doesn't miss a trick. We don't have any varmints venture onto our place, it's just the free range chickens that she gets to playing with.

 

[sunshinegirl620]

Just wondering if any of you turn your chickens out in your gardens come the end of the season, (that is if you garden)

and how secure do I need my garden to be? It is now mostly surrounded by picket fence. Would I need to add chicken wire to the pickets so other animals can't come in or is pickets spaced 5" apart good enough? Also do I leave all the garden plants in there or is there some that aren't safe for them to eat? I would complete my fencing to enclose the whole garden. They now are in the chicken tractor and with a newfoundland puppy around I don't want to take too many chances although he has never attempted anything, just gonna play safe!

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Oh, yes. More rain today. It has been so wet and humid here it has been hard to keep up with the grass and weeds. By the time the grass dries off enough to mow it is time for me to get ready for work. Then, on my days off it rains! I finally got everything mowed, but I swear it would have been easier to swath and bale it.

I haven't been able to talk about this for a few days, I have been so upset and mad about it.

We have a german wirehaired dachshund we bought for blood tracking. This little dog is a tracking machine. He is also a chicken killing machine. He absoluely cannot be trusted around the chickens. Consequently he has to stay in a kennel when out. A few days ago he pulled and pulled at the chain link kennel until he got out. He managed to kill several chickens, including my breeder pair of bantam partridge wyandottes. He tore through the door of the chicken tractor to get to them. He also killed a number of roosters. Chooks-Rumpy was one of the ones he killed. I was at work, but my husband was home and went out and found the massacre and stopped him. DH was so mad it's a wonder he didn't kill that dog. Anyway, he reinforced the kennel with heavy welded wire panels, and I rebuilt the door on the chicken tractor yesterday. We are going to rehome this dog.

THEN... the other part of the story is one of our great pyrenees dogs has gotten into the habit of playing too rough with the chickens. They get to cackling or scrapping and she gets excited and starts playing with them... TOO ROUGH! She has killed several this way. Then the silly dog sits and guards the carcass.
Anyway, she is our best livestock guardian with the exception of this thing with the chickens, so we are going to find her a good farm home so she can do what she loves WITHOUT chickens. So if any of you know of someone that needs an excellent livestock guardian, but doesn't have free-range chickens, I know where they can get one. She still protects the chickens that are penned up. She doesn't miss a trick. We don't have any varmints venture onto our place, it's just the free range chickens that she gets to playing with.

Oh, I'm soooo sorry!! What a horrible situation. I'd be livid and sad at the same time. I hope you find some good homes fast and have no reservations about the new homes. What a rough time you've had of it! I hope it was quick for Rumpy- but in Chicken Heaven, the roads are paved in sweet corn and grapes, so he's happy now. At least that's what I tell myself when I lose a beloved bird.

 

[Ivywoods]

Chooks-Yes, I was pretty upset, and my DH was fuming mad! I was sure sorry about Rumpy. He was kind of a "pet". He was free ranging with the other chickens, but he always stayed pretty close to the coop. I was actually thinking of using him for a "test" breeding. I've got some lovely little girls out of Becky's rooster. Kind of shot those plans out of the water. I'm not sure what I'm going to mate them to now because the only roosters I have are brothers to the pullets, and I don't really care to do brother-sister mating. Maybe I could borrow Becky's roo again. Going back that way wouldn't be as bad, I suppose, and I sure got some pretty ones that way. There's only one that came out rather splotchy with his black, but he is not going to stay around.

 

[LN2008]

So this random and totally off topic (well kinda). My girls are finally outside and close to the back fence. My neighbors have a german shepherd who is constantly outside and barks incessantly. We had problems with "Charlie" before, but I've noticed that close to where my coop is, the fence is lower and he could easily hop it. Today I had a confrontation with him while I was back cleaning my run out. I'm definitely not afraid of him, but he seems to be mildly aggressive, and I'm scared of what he'll do to my girls. Should I say something to my neighbors? He has attempted to attack my golden retriever a few times and they let him sit outside and bark until all hours of the night. I really really hate this dog. Help!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
I looked at plans for playhouses, but I think what I'll do is the same thing I did for the coop-- eyeball them, and then build it myself with my own 'plans' and make it super sturdy. When I talked to the insurance adjuster on the phone, he told me that many times these redwood sets will blow over and they can be just up righted and maybe fix a couple of pieces. I had to laugh. Our set has never blown over before-- and I just told him, oh wait till you see THIS. Anyway, he comes out tomorrow, so I'll show him that, our shed and various other things that were damaged on the house.

LN2008- I would be worried that the owners would be confrontational or it could be a dangerous situation. Do you know them? Can you talk to animal control or whoever it is instead?? Unfortunately we live out of city limits so when I called about our dog/neighbor problems, they told me they couldn't do anything. I have talked to my neighbor about his dogs, but he was very defensive and his solution was for ME to shoot them. He said if they come over and cause a problem, I can shoot them, but I knew if I did, we'd have a federal case here, because he's kind of a hot head. I wouldn't be quick to say this dog could not hurt YOU too. If he decides he wants a chicken, I have no doubt he'd go thru you to do it. Just speaking of my issues with my neighbors dog and this dog has cornered me on my own property. My only joy is that when I ride my horse down the road, I try to run him over. heheheeeee. Here's what I would probably do- because this worked on my own dog back when I had a german shepherd.. I would string up hot electric wire along the top of your fence. If he jumps up, he gets zapped. He won't be so willing to go near it. I have a big electric charger- it's for cattle, so it packs a LOT more punch than some of the smaller ones you'll see at the store. Much more effective.