Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Welcome Marty1876! We're just a bunch of friendly people on here, feel free to jump in any time.

Danz, I'm glad you're feeling better, it will take awhile to get your lungs all cleared out. I know that my son has asthma too & he gets really sick usually with pneumonia when he gets any kind of respiratory illness. The Dr. told him he needs to be getting a pneumonia shot, but he hasn't been, he didn't even get the flu shot this year, which he should have. The last time he got so sick with pneumonia the Dr. told him he could die the next time so he needs to be getting those shots.

IVY, I can't believe those goats haven't had their babies in this weather.

Well I think we got more snow than any of you north of here. The weather page says 3.5-4 inches & it's a mess. I had DH go out & shovel me a path to the chicken run, the garage, & the dog runs so I could get the doors open. The pups are having just a huge play day today, they love the snow. They came out of the pen when we finally got out there to let them out & just ran & wrestled in it, they're happy as can be. My chickens on the other hand when I opened their run door most of them just stood there looking out like what the heck is that & refused to go out in it. There were about 5 or 6 hens that ran out for a short time & then the Marans rooster went out, but he didn't stay long. I think they're all back in there now. I had to feed them to give them something to do for a little while. They're all standing out there griping about it. I got an interesting Marans egg this morning that I'll have to post a picture of when I get my camera out to take one.

Hawkeye, I can't wait for your Barred Rocks to lay so I can see if yours lay as big of eggs as mine do. They're just huge & one of them lays double-yolked eggs a lot of the time. They're so big that you can't even fit them in an egg carton. I never sell those, I save them for us. I'm wondering if this will cause this hen to stop laying younger than most due to the eggs she lays. My Red Star hens lay really big eggs too. My egg customers get really extra large eggs because I usually save the biggest ones to sell. The Lakenvelders lay fairly small eggs & then I have several young hens that just started laying that still lay fairly small eggs. I'm hoping they pick up some in size soon because I have lots of small ones. I did order some Leghorns for the egg production, so by next fall I should have some nice large white eggs from them. That will compliment my large brown egg layers.

 

[chicken danz]

Pikeman and Justinwrites, good to see you back on here. It's been awhile. Have you joined the Kansas poultry swap site on FB?
And KarenS I do appreciate the concern. I tend to brush off my sickness thinking it will go away. DH is telling me I need to get back in to see the doctor. I said I'd give it one more day.
I just can't bear to go out in this snow and feed those birds. I keep hoping for it to warm up. I actually did some needlepoint this morning for the first time this year. Something about watching the birds at the bird feeder in the snow and needlepoint go together. What a waste of time though!
I am sitting here with this same little duck on my lap. It'll be a few days before any more hatch. I don't want to put him out with the other ducks outside cause it is so cold. He is bonding with me.Too bad you can't litter box train them. He is falling asleep under the edge of my sweatshirt. Awww!

 

[HEChicken]

Trish, I think you got a lot more snow than we did even though Winfield is not that far from Wichita! We only got about an inch to an inch and a half.

My BR laid only medium sized eggs, but my RSL laid an extra large quite dark brown egg every day - all of my customers loved her eggs the most. My understanding is that if they lay a lot of double yokers they will burn out a lot sooner. Basically they are born with all the eggs (yolks) they will ever lay so once they are gone, they're gone. They add the white as the egg goes through the system, and the shell goes on last of all. So if they lay double yokers, they will run out of eggs that much sooner. I still enjoy getting them, though I haven't had any for awhile. I had 3 new pullets start laying recently so perhaps they will drop a few doubles my way.

 

[Marty1876]

Hello All! Thanks for the friendly greetings.

My old chickens were not keen on the snow, but my ducks don't care, so long as its wet. Turkeys don't seem excited, but they go out in the snow eventually. The ducks like the rain coming off the edge of the roof. Ducky waterfall, or would that be waterfowl??

I've never planned goat pregnancies for February, since I always had to milk in the grainery, but not in an enclosed area, just the roofed area (when I was a teenager). I milked March thru October, and then let both of them dry up. Just not into milking with cold hands. I don't think the girls would have like it either. Do your does usually have twins? My had twins, and the nubian usually triplets, but we always lost the little one.

I don't have many babies right now, but I've got several in the oven baking. More quail (always, it seems) and some Chocolate Turkeys from an e-bay lady. I don't like the risk, but they are kinda hard to find, and I need the new bloodlines, so....

P.S. I graduated from Waverly.....

 

[chicken danz]

Really? Small world. Do all your ducks run together or do you have them separate? I have Cayugas and Anconas. Would love to trade for some pekins if you have babies later if you are interested.
I am fairly new to turkeys. Got my first last year. But I really really like them. This year I'm expanding to slate blues and midget whites, so maybe next year I'll have babies to sell.
I had goats for a few years. They got to be too much to handle with my lousy back. DH was sick of them anyway. You never know what I will bring home next!

 

[Marty1876]

Yes, I know what you mean about bringing anything home. I bring home anything I think he won't kill me for! I'm thinking about getting some pygmy goats. They only milk out about 3-4 C. a day, but I figure if I get two and timed it right, I'd always be in milk (I also make cheese) and it wouldnt take too long.... (Of course, It does get rather old!)

Do you live in or near Waverly? I lived several miles outside of town, and really don't go there now. Hope all is well there.

I would be interested in trading some ducks this fall, maybe. I think I'd rather trade a few Pekings for a couple of hens. (NO roosters, we are under the radar here in town, so we keep a low profile)

ducks run togather when I'm just eating or selling eggs (although the Pegins have BIG white eggs, and the Khakis have normal chicken sized greenish ones). If I want pure fertile eggs, I snag out the young breedrs in trios, and put them in little pens togather for 3 full weeks before the eggs are true to type. If the lights getting low, like in the fall, I supliment with overhead lights to keep the eggs coming until I have enough for my hatching or hatch egg selling purposes.

 

[Marty1876]

Chicken Danz, just noticed you have silkies! I would be delighted to trade you some young pekings for your new flock in return for some silkies. I especially want them for their great brooderhen skills!! I used to have them, but since I keep only hens, I was never able to make more.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, forgot to mention how cute your duck is with the cat. Sounds like your duck is a sweetie! We used to have a couple diff kinds growing up and they were always the more personable bird. Always happy.

Ivy? I haven't seen a post from her today, right? Maybe her girls did kid today??

Pikeman-- haven't seen you in a while. Are you sure you are dealing with worms? The "yawning" is also indicative of upper respiratory problems as well. If you have any VetRX on hand, I'd put that in her water. My Atwoods here is selling it on their shelves. GOOD stuff to keep on hand.

Trish, it will be exciting to see what my barred rocks do! I also have the Wyandottes- and they lay a brown egg too... so I hope i can tell them apart. I'm thinking the barred rocks should have a larger egg than the Wyandottes. We shall see! I'm also pretty sure we DID get more snow down here than Wichita. I drove up there today and it thinned out the further north I drove. The roads were NOT fun this morning down here. When I got into Wichita, they were a lot better. I was getting worried driving up there. Two cars went off the road in front of me-- didn't seem like there was any apparent reason. I think they were just going too fast. The first one just swirved a bit and then I'm thinking he over corrected-- or it was just too late, because he went right into the ditch. I thought about stopping for him, but he had a soft landing and he did land in yard of a rural home. I looked back and a car was pulling into the driveway next to him. The other car was a red camero and he was just going too fast on 235 and hit the guard rail and took out his front. Made a mess of his car. I drove S L O W L Y and tried to avoid all the idiots going too fast.

Well, no one wanted to be outside. I had to forcibly pick Seymore up and put her out in the snow and she high tailed it back to the garage before I could get it shut. So I just stuck her back in her kennel since I didn't want her roosting on my car or pooping on the floor in there. I did clean out their cages and I was going to give Zorro his bath, but looked at the time and didn't think I had enough time to bathe him and blow dry him out before I needed to get to the bus. I have no idea how long that would take. I might have had plenty of time.

 

[Marty1876]

Hi Hawkeye,

I'm new here, so I wanted to send you a greeting! I havn't read all the threads, and even if I did I wouldnt remember since there are volumes of info here, so I don't know much about you.

Glad you were safe driving. We only had a couple of inches here, but still a bit slippery.

 

[tazcat70]

Hey fellow Kansans!

Have you ever joined one of the hatch-a-longs? They are a lot of fun and there are great prizes!!!!

If you are interested join the one in my signature and say I sent you!