Consolidated Kansas

[tntblake]

KarenS-

and welcome to the Consolidated Kansas thread! Wow! You are getting into chickens in a big way. I raised chickens when I was a kid and had them in 4-H for a short time. I guess that is part of what got me back into it as an adult. My kids really enjoyed their chickens, too. They each had their own variety and did very well at the local fair.

Trish- It looks like I'm going to have quite a few wheaten chicks, and frankly, they are my favorite. My wheaten roo is such a character. Such a talker. He is the friendliest of the ameraucanas, too. I would recommend them. My silvers haven't started laying yet, but hopefully soon! I believe they lay the bluest egg of the varieties I have. Checoucan has some of my silvers, too, and will probably be hatching some of them. You already have lavender and black for split chicks, but perhaps you would want a black hen or two. You really wouldn't need a lavender rooster (although I DO have several!) You don't want to put your black split chicks back with your black. Pure black hens would be better if you want to raise some blacks. Just my 2 cents worth!

I have one egg in the hatcher that is pipped. It is a Wheaten ameraucana. Hopefully it will be hatched in the morning.

DH was sleeping on the couch, trying to wait up for me when I got home. Someone sent me a video by email, so I opened it. In the video the woman starte screaming. Poor DH. He came straight up off the couch and ran to the back of the house. He thought it was me screaming. I had no idea that was going to happen when I opened the video. Good thing he got a stent put in last week, otherwise I think I would have given him a heart attack with that little episode.

Bahahahahaha! That made me laugh out loud! I can see this whole scenario happening at my house! Was he mad? I know my dh would be irritated to say the least!

How come you don't recommend putting the split chicks back with the black roo? I am just curious what would come out of the mix. Wouldn't the chicks come out black split to lav? or just black? Obviously, I know nothing about genetics or breeding but I would like to learn!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Karen, welcome to the Kansas thread!! Never heard of the Aloha project, so that is interesting. Okay... so forgive me here, but I'm all about picking up where others have left off and not starting something that has already been accomplished, and if there are already the birds you want being sold right here in the states-- The Swedish Flower chickens-- why didn't you just buy those instead of trying to create them from scratch? Or perhaps I just didn't understand what you're doing! LOL Entirely possible on my part. I'm just starting to dive in with genetics on silkies and learning about the base colors (silver and gold) and then how NOT to have them leak! I realized it was way over my head and bought a nice trio from a reputable breeder that had figured it all out before me. All I have to do is breed! ha! Anyway, I did check out the flower birds, and indeed, they are very beautiful!

Ivy-- wow, that scream video, well, it was kind of funny! I'm glad he is feeling much better too! Yay on your pip! Has he hatched yet? Good luck on your hatch! BTW-- what day do you candle, or do you even bother? I was thinking at day 10 to check them? Or should I wait? I have no problems about waiting. I'm not one of those people that must keep my hands on things. I just don't want eggs exploding in there. hehe

Trish, I'm not so sure that a hoop house would run the same cost as a dog run. And hey, I love my dog panels! I think they are super easy, for sure! But thinking that the hoop house still might be a lot cheaper. I don't know! I'll have to compare it. Even when I bought my panels at 20% off before xmas when they had them on sale at Orschlens, they were pretty pricey. I think I paid right around $275? And that was only for 3 sides, since I didn't need the 4th side.... yet.

Okay, so I have been wanting to test the temps down on my egg tray, because my glass is reading a bit over 100 now-- not quite the 101 it was reading yesterday. Still waiting on my humidor RH/temp in the mail... and realized I have a candy therm in the kitchen. Got it out and the therm doesn't read under 100! LOL Of course. I started racking my brain and then remembered that my little digital travel clock has a therm reading on it! So I grabbed it and stuck it in the bator down on the egg tray. So here in a bit, we shall see if I'm okay or too high. Whew. I really should have ordered my gauge a LOT earlier! Well, now I know!

 

[chicken danz]

My stupid little flu has now gone to my lungs and I feel awful. I thought I was starting to get over it. I was outside too much yesterday and knew better. I suppose now I'll have to get a prescription to clear it. I was so hoping it would just run it's course and go away. I have too much to get done to be sick.
I forgot to count with my latest batch of chicks. My bin is crowded. I need to move some more out to the brooder and do a recount. I did notice I have at least one faverolle chick in this last bunch. I may just gather a bunch of eggs in the garage where they lay and start hatching. I can always sell the ones that aren't pure to someone who just wants a bird and not particular about breed.I am ready for warmer weather again. I got too spoiled with those warmer days.
The puppies are eating like little pigs. I am thinking about trying to put up some sort kind of short barrier in the gate to the kennel so Marshmallow can get in and out and the pups can go outside if they want. Of course right now it is muddy and I'm not sure I want them outside. My favorite has started running to me when she sees me. The others are pretty shy yet. I'll try to get more pictures if it warms up some. I love watching them eat. They get the food all over their faces and feet and then lick it off of each other.

 

[chicken danz]

I am getting really disgusted. I keep subscribing to the forum and it just won't send me the updates. I've had this problem since they changed the site. Anyone else having that problem?

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Welcome KarenS to BYC & the Consolidated Kansas thread! I lived in Derby for 23 years before I moved where I am now & I miss living there even still. I do go there quite a bit though for this & that. I'm curious about what the Aloha Chicken project is also, please fill us in. It sounds like you will have your hands full with all of those chicks coming for awhile. I see that you're getting quite a few Sussex, are they the Speckled Sussex or which variety? I have some Speckled Sussex & really like them, so I have ordered a few more for the spring. Just to let you know, we also have a Kansas Poultry Swap on Facebook, so if you want to come join us on there we would love to have you there also. People will be listing chicks & other poultry for sale as they have some available, so we're excited that we now have this avenue to swap poultry & find what we're looking for. We only just started this site recently & are just over 200 now. The link for that site is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/, hope to see you there.

Thanks, Trish! We have a Derby address but are in Rose Hill schools since we are actually closer to Rose Hill.

I did forgot to mention the Sussex are the Speckled variety. They work really well for the Aloha project but I really like that they have a mellow personality, generally speaking, similar to the Swedish Flower Hens.

Thanks for the link to the poultry swap! You will see me there once the chicks have grown a bit.

Can't wait for those chicks to arrive!

 

[HEChicken]

what day do you candle, or do you even bother? I was thinking at day 10 to check them? Or should I wait? I have no problems about waiting. I'm not one of those people that must keep my hands on things. I just don't want eggs exploding in there. hehe

FWIW, I don't candle until day 10. I have this fear of dropping an egg while I'm handling it and I would feel so awful to see that little fetus expire in front of me on the floor, so I handle as little as possible while incubating. So I wait until day 10 (I never found the waiting that hard either). At that point it is easy to see the clear eggs from those that have a dark mass in them, and sometimes you can even see the dark mass moving! After that I don't really handle them again. I do sometimes candle at lockdown but don't trust myself to say for sure that a fetus has died earlier in development so I anything that is not clear, I give it a chance and put it in lockdown.

 

[HEChicken]

I am getting really disgusted. I keep subscribing to the forum and it just won't send me the updates. I've had this problem since they changed the site. Anyone else having that problem?

If I follow a user, I get an email when they are active, but if I subscribe to a topic I don't. For the most part I've just adapted to working around it. For example, I go to threads I've posted in and then click on the little arrow thing to the left of the thread, to go to the first unread post, and that's how I stay on top of what is happening in this thread. If its a thread I'm interested in but haven't posted to, I just go to my subscriptions and manually check in on it. It is kind of a pain but the last I heard they were aware it is a problem and working on it so I guess we'll just have to patient.

 

[HEChicken]

Can't wait for those chicks to arrive!

The waiting is the worst! It will be so worth it when they get here though. Did you say you are expecting them the 8th? Hmm....weather calls for that to be one of the coldest days we've had in awhile, so hopefully they will be okay. Have you called your post office and told them you are expecting a shipment of chicks? You can request that they call you to pick them up as soon as they arrive, rather than send them out in the mail truck, which might delay their arrival by a few hours. I did it that way with my first shipment, and got the call pretty early in the morning, so zipped right on down there and picked them up. The next shipment I didn't do that but my mailman was so nice and made a special trip to deliver them before he even started his rounds (although he did mutter something about how noisy the box was so maybe he was motivated by self-interest

)

 

[checoukan]

OMGosh!!! I want, I want!!! But I can't , I can't!! But I want!! LOL!!! They are soooooo adorable!!! Are you going to be selling them, I take it? What amazing color-- does that roo on the right have Blue (grey) in him? Am I seeing a little blue hen, too? The rooster on the left is amazing!

Okay, really, I can't have more, but wow, these guys are soooo pretty! I think I'm in love with OE's too! hehe!! These would also be great 4-H projects... I bet you could sell them to a 4-H'r in a heart beat! That reminds me, I need to call our 4-H leader and get our birds tested for our first show. I keep forgetting!!!

Yes, Hawkeye, they are going to be for sale, but you realize they are oe/rosecomb crosses? And yes, they would be cheap for a 4H kid since they can show mutts. I never candle my eggs until they go into the hatcher. They are on auto-turn, so I just don't handle at all. What is 8 more days anyway.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Okay... so forgive me here, but I'm all about picking up where others have left off and not starting something that has already been accomplished, and if there are already the birds you want being sold right here in the states-- The Swedish Flower chickens-- why didn't you just buy those instead of trying to create them from scratch? Or perhaps I just didn't understand what you're doing! LOL Entirely possible on my part.

LOL! Nope, you understand perfectly what I'm doing. It's just that I've never owned chickens before and the Swedish Flower Hens are very rare and expensive. For the size of flock I want, I wasn't comfortable spending $19 per chick. I purchased 109 birds for less than it would have taken for a 20 bird flock. I won't mind spending it later, after building a bit of confidence. The Swedish Flower Hens are very hardy but I didn't want my learning curve to happen on very rare birds. We have lots of predators here and I think I know how to deal with them but want to be sure. Not that I'll be happy if anything happens to any of my birds. Also, I love a challenge and I pretty much take a great deal of satisfaction out of reinventing the wheel, if I'm really interested in something. I think I can truly contribute to the Aloha Chicken Project while contributing to my experience. I learn lots of extraneous (read unnecessary) stuff doing things that way. I'm one of those people who is "big picture" oriented but delights in details, as well. Thanks for asking!