Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

It's snowing some here today. Didn't even know about that forecast!
We went to Topeka yesterday and I spent WAY more than intended. I think I completed my shopping and got more than I planned. Then I got home and had like 5 packages that arrived today. So my kitchen and dining room are piled high with boxes and bags. I have a bunch more wrapping to do today. I forgot to buy birdseed (for the feeders) but other than that got everything else I think. I have one more package which hasn't arrived that was supposed to arrive yesterday. It's a big one and DH's gift from me.
TNT don't be fooled by price. I've learned if you don't buy the name brand crap like disney or theme type papers you end up with better paper for a low price. Look at the square feet on the roll and see if there is indication of how many mills thick it is. I haven't bought paper in several years now because I have so much and it has gotten pretty pricey. So did you notice that your tree always ended up with 99% of the ornaments on the bottom half of the tree when the kids decorated it??

Hawkeye what a rude way to wake up. I've done things like that too, especially when I first got my chickens. They really did get a whole lot better care back then. So WHERE is the chicken pictures in the Christmas outfit???
Trish, thanks for your sentiments. I don't feel sorry for myself much because I've always been a little sickly. I beat the odds and survived as a baby and then two more times as an adult when they called Code Blue on me in the hospital. (Nope, never had an out of body experience!) I consider it a gift from God to be alive and still be able to function. I consider myself very lucky because there are others that are so much worse. I've been blessed with a wonderful family, a few good friends, a home and food to eat.
Ivy and Renee, MERRY CHRISTMAS! All of a sudden I am just pretty positive Marshmallow is pregnant. Her sides filled out all at once and her appetite is out the roof. She is being a big needy baby and wants to be loved on and fed non stop. I figured it would be about Christmas when I could tell. Anyway, I'm not positive but I find it hard to believe that she is going on an eating binge and getting fat because she just never eats much. Yipee!
I have the people coming this afternoon to buy the baby chicks for their sons Christmas present. Yay! A few less mouths to feed.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, awww what cute little fluffy butts! Aren't little chicks the best! It's snowing here today too, mostly kind of a sleet actually. I went out to feed the pups this morning & it was sleeting, but was so small you couldn't see it unless you were out in it. The pups didn't care though, they were glad to get out. I didn't let my chickens out because we have to go to Wichita for the afternoon & I don't like leaving them out when I'm not going to be here for hours. They weren't happy with me at all, but they'll get over it. Yay on the puppies! So when would that make them due?

IVY, the Ameraucana eggs I'm getting have hard white deposits on the outside, what could be causing that? Do they need more calcium or what? The one I found this morning had more than the last ones I found.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
To cute. You know by posting photos like this you are going to be an enabler of the chick math.

Chicken math? I believe that IS the intention!

Yippie for Marshmallow!

I'm excited!

I put eggs in the incubator a couple days ago. So far everything is going well. I'm pretty happy about how that thing holds it's temp. It's and OLD GQF that I got last year. I have another one that I still need to do a little work on. I belive it just needs a new wafer, which I have but I haven't installed. I may sell one of them, maybe this summer. I think I will use it this spring, but if we go through with this move later next year or so I'm going to have to pare belongings down SEVERELY!

Hawkeye! Yuck! on crawling through the mud in the middle of the night to fetch a wayward chicken. You are going to have to have a serious talk with your chickenchild and teach her there IS a curfew!

I had a bit of a worrysome scare last night. DH came up to me at work and said he was dizzy and just couldn't seem to breath. He ended up leaving work early. He hasn't been feeling well for some time. He is older than me and has had two heart attacks. He scares me sometimes. I know he doesn't take as good of care of himself as he should and I fear he may have a touch of congestive heart failure. I don't even want to think about what life would be like for me without him.

We have a WHOLE BUNCH of new neighbors across the road. They are the BEST neighbors. They don't mind if I sit and stare at them. They never want to borrow anything or bother us. They pretty much mind their own business.
It's a bunch of black angus cows.... well, ones a bull. For me it is so peacefull to be able to watch them graze and meander through the old cornfield.

Wishing you all peace this Christmas!

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
I have no idea what could be causing that. My lavenders are not laying yet, so I don't know if it is something unique to that line or if it is diet related or what. My wheatens were laying for a while, but stopped when I moved them into the barn. My blacks have been laying regularly, and I have some of those in the incubator. Neither of those varieties have had this. The eggs all seem to be pretty uniform in size, shape and color. No spots or calcium deposits.

Are you giving extra calcium? Are they getting enough grit? They especially need grit if you are feeding a grain mix of any kind. I just really have no idea what might cause that.

Maybe someone else on here has an idea.

 

[Trish44]

IVY, I haven't given the chickens any grit or oyster shell lately. I had read that they don't need grit if they free-range & since mine do I don't worry too much about that. We have a lot of rocks & sand, so I figure they get enough picking around. These are the first eggs for these hens too, so maybe they will get smoothed out the more they lay. I'll just watch & see what happens. I may put some oyster shell out for them, I still have some of that, but it doesn't seem like the shells are soft, just rough.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish it could be a breed trait or if they are young something they haven't gotten worked out yet. I used to get lots of eggs with applied calcium looking spots on them. Not sure who was laying them, but most of it cleared in time. I wouldn't be overly concerned if all else appears well. If they are getting all their needs met, no harm no foul.
Ivy, I hope your DH is ok. Maybe he should go get an EKG and stuff just to be sure.

 

[chicken danz]

OK here's chicken math. I misjudged how many eggs I put in the hatcher. I counted 43 chicks hatched. Two more eggs pipped and alive but not out yet, and three eggs where nothing has happened yet. That's a bunch of chicks for one day. I had 2 silkies hatch, one cochin, and the rest were Seramas. I have more eggs to put in on the 23rd and 25th as well.

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
What he SHOULD do, and what he WILL do are two different things.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz-- I can't hardly stand all the cuteness!!! Oh MY!! What a great picture!!! I never got the pictures taken last night! It ended up being a crazy night with the kids and they were wild and it's no wonder I forgot to put the pop door back down on the coop.

Ivy, it does sound like congestive heart failure-- difficulty in breathing is because of excessive fluid around the heart, and meds can help take it off. He really should go see the Dr and get it taken care of. And yes, my chickens do need to learn there is a curfew and learn to walk back up that ramp!

Good luck on your hatch, are you going to candle them at some point?

Well, ran lots of errands today. It'll be our last for a while now. It'll be nice to be home for a few days. I know my DH is coming home early and I'm not sure what we'll do, but I'm going to make white chocolate covered pretzels at some point-- either today or tomorrow. Depends on how crazy it is around here. The kids are running in and out of the house and I'm threatening to lock them out. The open door is letting in a LOT of cold air and I'm getting tired of it. They go out.. come back in for something and then run back out... ARGH! My feet are cold now.

In the summer, I've been known to lock them out for 30 mins at a time so there's not the in/out, in/out that drives me NUTS. They are running around crazy out there and Seymore is chasing them. Anyone who decides to run is fair game for Seymore-- she'll go after you. But if you stop, then she stops and looks at you like... wha???? I think she loves the chase, but has no bad intentions past that.

After today, when the little ones were in Preschool- I finished up my last minute shopping and I'm DONE!! WooHOO! Got some stocking stuffers for my DH and a drill bit set that will fit my impact driver --or rather, my DH's drill. The gift is FOR him.. but I know I'm going to use it!

We have a set that fits the corded drill, but that's a royal PITA to drag it out when I like this other drill so much better.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay-- here we go! I must say that Zorro was VERY uncooperative! He did NOT like his santa hat.

Boooo. So here is a picture of him without his hat. And a picture of him where I just gave up and held the hat above him. LOL!

Okay-- going to re load these pics-- they are TOO big! Sheesh! I used our SLR camera and the files are just a lot bigger. Darn... Okay, uploads coming soon!


Okay--- a few minutes later and resizing the pictures down so they are not giant! Here we go!