Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

BTW-- here is the AI YouTube link showing how to do it. It's really fast and easy. I seriously might give this a try. I have eggs in the bator-- I'm going to candle them tomorrow and then if they are still clear.... watch out Zorro!! LOL!

eta--forgot to post the link!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well I got quite a bit accomplished this evening. I finally got things cleaned out enough in the garage to get my brooder set up in there, so I'm ready for chicks now, yay! Except the bulk of my chicks aren't coming until April

. I may still get a few right now just to get a head start, we'll see. I may find something at Yates Center that I can't do without tomorrow. I may be looking for a new home for these two Lakenvelder hens if they don't straighten up.

Sounds great! I bet it feels great to be ready to go and have everything all set up! Sorry about those Lakenvelders! They are some crazy girls, for sure! hehe!

Hello Consolidated Kansas from El Dorado ! I'm a chicken newbie but a lifelong animal lover and rescuer. I will be at the Yates Auction tomorrow and would love to pick anyone's brains about starting my flock. Especially concerning things to have on hand that might not be obvious (meds, instruments, etc . . .) I know this is a late post, but I'm kind of a dracula. Anway call or text me at 316-807-5625. You will find me near the birds or the Llamas. Thank You!

MarcAustin

MarcAustin-- Welcome to the Kansas thread and

You will be in excellent hands with Danz or any one else on this board there! Are you going to be bringing home a llama??! I want one of those! I mean, I'll never get one, but they are so cute. Our dairy farm people down the road has one thrown in with his milking cows. It's kind of mean, though. Okay-- actually, it's just flat out MEAN. LOL!

Welcome Marc Austin. I'll be at Yates Center along with a few of these other chicken people. Feel free to pick our brains here or there.
DH and I went to Emporia and it was late as it always is when I go somewhere with him. It was nearly midnight when we got home and finally got things ready to go to bed. The alarm went off at 6:00 am so I feel like I forgot to go to bed. When I worked full time that was a norm but I really need my sleep any more.
At any rate I stocked up on a load of quick foods my parents can pop in the microwave since they have trouble cooking. I couldn't believe other than food for them I didn't buy anything other than a couple things I had on a list. I was feeling mighty broke after buying all those higher priced convenience foods. It's better than worrying if they were able to get dinner though.
I need to go get some babies fed and get things moving so I can make it to YC at a decent time.

I need my sleep too! NO way can I handle late nights and early mornings. Ugh. Glad you got your parents set up with food, but yeah, that convenience stuff really comes at a price!! I'm kind of a hard butt when it comes to grocery shopping-- I don't buy snack foods because they are so expensive, and I don't really want to get the kids to eating it anyway. So we rarely (if ever) have chips, soda, crackers, cookies... We drink water or milk and eat mostly whole foods. But it sure is nice to pop in a microwave dinner on occassion for the ease of it! I'm kind of fond of chicken pot pies... so if I know I'm going to be really tired, I'll buy those.

Okay people.... I know you all are going to Yates--- be STRONG!!! Don't be bringing home Zebras and monkeys!!!!

 

[tweetysvoice]

Good Morning all!! I'm sure the board is going to be slow since I"m probably one of the few not at the Yates Center

Maybe next time I'll be able to go. I'll be more settled into the routine by then!

MarcAustin!! Glad to have you around! There are several people from this board in your neck of the woods!

Today my plan is to pick up construction material and build the trellises for my gardening and pick-up seeds! I've so got spring fever and can't wait to start planting! I might also work on the nesting boxes since I don't need DH's help with those. We decided to take off 3 days of work at the beginning of April so we can get the whole coop and run built. I like having that time specifically set aside so he can't complain that he needs the weekend to recoup from work. lol

 

[Hawkeye95]

Good Morning all!! I'm sure the board is going to be slow since I"m probably one of the few not at the Yates Center

Maybe next time I'll be able to go. I'll be more settled into the routine by then!

MarcAustin!! Glad to have you around! There are several people from this board in your neck of the woods!

Today my plan is to pick up construction material and build the trellises for my gardening and pick-up seeds! I've so got spring fever and can't wait to start planting! I might also work on the nesting boxes since I don't need DH's help with those. We decided to take off 3 days of work at the beginning of April so we can get the whole coop and run built. I like having that time specifically set aside so he can't complain that he needs the weekend to recoup from work. lol

Yeah, I didn't go to the swap either. BUT I did already hunt down some windows on Craigslist and drove over there and bought them! Just got back. These windows are super cool!!! They have 4 square panes. This will be for my brother's coop. They need a lot of work-- like the windows I bought for my coop did. I'll need to knock out all the old putty and sand them down, and reputty and put down a new caulk layer and paint. Looks like I'll need to apply wood filler, too. But over all, these are in great shape and I'm so excited. I found 3 sashes. I'm only going to use 2 windows on his coop-- which means I get a cute window left over for my next coop for ME. I'll post a pic later after I have them washed down. They are covered in dust and there's no point in posting them right now when you can't really see them well.

Yay for you on building your trellis! We built a really cute trellis a couple years back. I put wisteria, trumpet vine, silver lace and honeysuckle on it. I wanted shade-- we have zero trees around here and I wanted fast growing and invasive vines because NOTHING wants to grow here. Even at that, my honeysuckle and wisteria is the only thing that is really growing well. The trumpet vine is barely hanging in there. The silver lace died after a few months.

I'm sure you can get a lot knocked out in 3 days! But be prepared if it takes a couple longer. At least you'll be mostly done with it! I think I work fairly fast, and I always am over estimating how quickly I can do something. Honestly-- the run will be the easiest part of your build!

 

[Ivywoods]

Well, Tweety and Hawkeye... we may be the only ones that didn't go to Yates Center today. I wish I could have. It's just too far and I have to work today and have WAY to much to do here today. Tweety, hope the building goes well today. It looks like the weather is going to be fairly decent.

Hawkeye, I was off here for a few days, but that pic of that garden coop you put on a few days back was AWESOME! My stuff always turns out more "utilitarian" looking.

I was going to move a big nest box I built yesterday, but that was when the storm blew in here, so I didn't get it done. I needed DH's help because it is big and heavy. This morning while I was doing dishes my DH came back in and said, "The nest is in the coop." He moved it all by himself. Crazy guy. He just had a coronary artery stint put in a couple weeks ago. He sholdn't be lifting like that. He wanted to surprise me. Well, I was surprised for sure.

Looks like it might be a quiet day on Kansas Consolidated with so many folks at the auction. It will be interesting to see what everyone has to say tonight or tomorrow about their trip.

 

[HEChicken]

MarcAustin!

Hawkeye, thanks for that link to the YouTube video. That really doesn't look that hard. The pipette definitely looks like the way to go. Having seen the process, I can also see how the teaspoon would work too, but the pipette really makes it easy to just suck it all up and deliver it right where you want to go. So are you thinking about trying it with Zorro and the girls?

Ivy - your DH is a sweetheart, but tell him he needs to take it EASY!

I didn't go to Yates Center either. I wouldn't have minded going but between sports practice for DS and an extra credit class DD is taking on Saturdays (normally she drives herself there but can't drive yet since her knee surgery so I had to take her), duty called and I had to stay in town. However while DD was at her class, I went to Atwoods, since the class was close to there and got my first chick sighting of the season. I surprised myself by NOT bringing any home, especially since my brooder is all set up and ready to go but....for turkeys they had BBW and BBB and I'm really hanging out for MW since the broad-breasted get just too darn big for my processing equipment. So it was easy to say no to them. They had keets but they were all identical and I was wanting some different colors. So I decided I could wait and check at the Andover Atwoods and see what they get - as the season gets on they may get other colors in. And for the chooks, they had bins labled "assorted heavies" and "assorted pullets" and that was all. An employee stopped by to ask if I had any questions and I asked if they have a list of what breeds were shipped. I guess he thought maybe I couldn't read, because he leaned down and peered at the sign and pointed out that "this tub has assorted heavies in it". Well, gee, thanks for clearning that up! I could identify a few but the the Andover Atwoods did such a phenomenal job last year, both in getting in a wide variety of different breeds rather than the usual production reds, sexlinks and barred rocks, and having the bins well-labeled so there was no guesswork, and an employee running the show who actually knew poultry, so I just decided to wait until I've been there before getting any chicks.

However I did get myself a Carhartt jacket. I've been lusting after one for awhile now but couldn't justify it since I didn't really need a new jacket. However they had a clearance rack to get rid of their winter stuff and it was only $25!!! I can't believe how warm and comfortable it is. Actually, I tried it on in-store and had to take it off after a couple of minutes so I didn't overheat. This winter there weren't many days I would have needed it but assuming we get a real winter again at some point in the future, I will really like throwing this on to go out and do outside chores.

 

[shotah]

MarkAustin!

I didn't go to Yates either. I'll have my hands plenty full with the ones I'm getting in a couple of weeks. That, and DH would probably kill me. HEChicken--one of the best investments I've ever made was to get DH a full coverall set of Carhartts. They're WAY worth it!!

 

[HEChicken]

I actually saw a Carhartt full coverall set at a thrift store here a couple of weeks back! You almost never see that kind of stuff in a thrift store. They were asking $25 and knowing what they are worth, I was really excited. I tried them on but unfortunately, there was just no way I could make them work. They were made for someone a lot taller and overall larger than I am. I adjusted the shoulder straps as short as they could go but they were still too loose, and the pants were about 8" too long

It was with real reluctance I put them back on the rack. With those and the jacket, I could have stayed outside all day in sub-freezing temps and never got cold, I think!

 

[shotah]

argh, bummer!

The set I got my hubby has sleeves and a collar (not like the overall type). I bit my tongue and paid over $100 for it, but we've both gotten way more use out of it than I would have thought. It's a good thing he and I are close to the same size!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, Tweety and Hawkeye... we may be the only ones that didn't go to Yates Center today. I wish I could have. It's just too far and I have to work today and have WAY to much to do here today. Tweety, hope the building goes well today. It looks like the weather is going to be fairly decent.

Hawkeye, I was off here for a few days, but that pic of that garden coop you put on a few days back was AWESOME! My stuff always turns out more "utilitarian" looking.

I was going to move a big nest box I built yesterday, but that was when the storm blew in here, so I didn't get it done. I needed DH's help because it is big and heavy. This morning while I was doing dishes my DH came back in and said, "The nest is in the coop." He moved it all by himself. Crazy guy. He just had a coronary artery stint put in a couple weeks ago. He sholdn't be lifting like that. He wanted to surprise me. Well, I was surprised for sure.

Looks like it might be a quiet day on Kansas Consolidated with so many folks at the auction. It will be interesting to see what everyone has to say tonight or tomorrow about their trip.

That is so nice of your DH to move the nest boxes for you! But yeah... he should be more careful! I love that garden coop, too! I keep lusting after it-- someday maybe I will build something like that for maybe just a few birds that I want to keep separate. I'm going to have all these coops strung out everywhere! LOL

MarcAustin!

Hawkeye, thanks for that link to the YouTube video. That really doesn't look that hard. The pipette definitely looks like the way to go. Having seen the process, I can also see how the teaspoon would work too, but the pipette really makes it easy to just suck it all up and deliver it right where you want to go. So are you thinking about trying it with Zorro and the girls?

I could identify a few but the the Andover Atwoods did such a phenomenal job last year, both in getting in a wide variety of different breeds rather than the usual production reds, sexlinks and barred rocks, and having the bins well-labeled so there was no guesswork, and an employee running the show who actually knew poultry, so I just decided to wait until I've been there before getting any chicks.

However I did get myself a Carhartt jacket.

I'm REALLY considering doing the AI! I'll give these eggs a few more days to incubate and if they are clear... Yup, I'm going to be giving it a shot! That is awesome that Atwoods Andover does such a great job with labeling. I would like that MUCH better! I hate guess work and it would be nice if someone who knew poultry was running the show. That's funny that he told you they were heavies... uh yeah, what KIND?!? sheesh!

So today I got more work done on my coop. Got the floor in, the back door put on and started on the nest box. I got really tired and hungry and I'm taking a break. I'll see if I can get a picture or two to load of my current progress.