Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

WOW.. Don't see how she can call this art. Just read this in our local paper:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/feb/27/city-law-interpretation-spares-lives-chickens-slat/

Man that is just sick. She is protesting eating meat but would think nothing about butchering a chicken to prove her point?????????

 

[tweetysvoice]

Man that is just sick. She is protesting eating meat but would think nothing about butchering a chicken to prove her point?????????

Okay, i'm glad that I'm not the only one that feels that way. I completely understand those that raise birds for meat - although I could probably never do that, but I can't imagine people actually going out of their way to witness the slaughter of the birds.

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks MarcAustin for that link - I will have to go check out one of those sale days sometime soon.

Danz, I'm curious why you don't want the Beltsvilles? They seem to be about the same size as the MW's, and that is the size I want too, but I don't really know that much more about them. Is it a difference in personality? Or meat? Or?

 

[Hawkeye95]

I don't think you are a know-it-all, but I do think you're awesome! LOL!

Yes Tweety all licensed hatcheries are required to NPIP test their breeding stock regardless of what state they are in. As long as you don't bring in other birds from untested stock your birds will be fine. Testing is required after 4 months old however, so if you were to take them to 4H or someplace they would have to be tested again. You won't get any papers with your chicks but can get their official state testing number if you request it. If you are just going to keep them at home and not do chicken math I wouldn't bother getting the testing done.
Hawkeye,some states recognize out of state testing forms and some don't. If you received an official VS Form 9-3 signed by the official NPIP representative in the state of origin or by a health certificate that had been issued within the previous 90 days of when your chicks were shipped in addition to a "Permit to Ship Poultry or Hatching Eggs" that has been issued by the KAHD within the previous year, or a permit number that has been issued by the KAHD office within the previous 15 days you are legal for out of state birds.
That is how the official statute reads. I think maybe some 4-H people would accept an out of state form as it was without the Kansas shipping stuff. Kansas is one of the strictest states for these regulations. It's no big deal to get the testing done and worth it if you are going to use them for 4H or sell chicks from them.
Where the big problems come in is buying hatching eggs from Ebay or someplace where you have no evidence of tested birds. You could unknowingly bring in diseased birds by hatching infected eggs. I do know that Kansas has had a very very low instance of positive tests. But pullorum does exist and it's pretty scary. My uncle just died this past year from Salmonella poisoning and they don't know if it came from vegetables or eggs. They didn't get it tracked down. He lived in Houston.
Yeah my GQF's are the big electricity eating cabinet ones. I bought two used ones, the hatcher and an incubator, and two new ones. My last new one cost me over $700 but they are worth every penny if you need to hatch a lot. The two I use the most have run constantly for at least 18 months.
Today so far I hatched 13 LF chicks, and 28 bantam size chicks. I am up to 190 live chicks for the year so far.
The Kansas Department of Animal Health will give you the names of testers in your county or surrounding counties. (785) 296-2326
As I said I sure would be willing to do the testing if we had a swap as long as I had a helper.
The leg bands don't have any significance other than for tracking so you know when to test again.
Honestly I'm not trying to be a know it all. I have trouble remembering all this stuff and was lucky to pass the licensing test. They had some pretty vague questions that were easy to miss.

 

[Marty1876]

Thanks MarcAustin for that link - I will have to go check out one of those sale days sometime soon.

Danz, I'm curious why you don't want the Beltsvilles? They seem to be about the same size as the MW's, and that is the size I want too, but I don't really know that much more about them. Is it a difference in personality? Or meat? Or?

I know you didn't ask me, but I know the whites are a bit smaller, and have a fuller breast. They are also from better, purer lines than beltsvilles. Belts were almost lost, like chocolates, and very limited bloodlines. I don't know either of their personalitys though. I just like the name Beltsville!

 

[Trish44]

Has anybody who has Speckled Sussex ever had a hen go broody? I didn't think they were a breed that usually went broody that much. The reason I'm asking is that my little hen was trying to make a nest in a pile of tree limbs today that have been there a long time. I saw one of the pups looking at something under the pile of limbs so I went out there to see what she was looking at. The little Speckled Sussex hen was sitting there in a depression she had made in the leaves. Of course since this is not a safe place for her to be sitting I shooed her out of there & put a bunch of sticks in there so it wouldn't be comfortable. She did come out of there then & not go back in after that. I hope she doesn't find somewhere out there in the woods or somewhere to make another nest where I can't find her & some predator gets her. Now I'll have to watch closely every night & make sure she gets in the coop. She had not laid any eggs yet in her little nest.

 

[sharol]

I bought 4 EE chicks from Orschlen's last spring, and all of them lay various shades of green eggs. You can sort of see the various colors. The black chick lays the one between the pink and dark eggs, the nex one down (lighter) is laid by a light girl with orange on her. The one after that comes from a typical ee colored hen and the next one from a dark girl with no beard at all. All 4 were green egg layers, so I really recommend their hatchery.

I forgot. We weren't going to try to raise any more chicks because we don't have any kind of set up for it BUT ... Orscheln's is supposed to be getting Americauna chicks in later this week. I'm trying to resist, but I really want those pretty eggs. They'll look so nice with the tans and golds we get now. LOL

 

[HEChicken]

I had a SS hen awhile back and one of the breed characteristics listed for them under broodiness was "frequent". I already had two BO's, who are also supposed to brood frequently and neither of them ever went broody, so I had high hopes for my little SS pullet. Unfortunately, when she was 9 months old, I found her lying barely breathing under the roost one morning, and she passed a couple of hours later. I have no idea what it was that killed her - it wasn't a predator since she was in the locked coop and didn't have a mark on her. She was a sweet, calm, friendly little girl and I was sad her life ended so early.

 

[HEChicken]

I know you didn't ask me, but I know the whites are a bit smaller, and have a fuller breast. They are also from better, purer lines than beltsvilles. Belts were almost lost, like chocolates, and very limited bloodlines. I don't know either of their personalitys though. I just like the name Beltsville!

Thanks Marty. I do remember reading that both breeds were almost lost and are being brought back, but the MW's seem much more popular than the Beltsvilles and I wasn't sure why. I guess I'm open to getting either, unless I hear a reason not to.....

 

[Hawkeye95]

Man that is just sick. She is protesting eating meat but would think nothing about butchering a chicken to prove her point?????????

RIGHT?!?!


Quote:

Okay, i'm glad that I'm not the only one that feels that way. I completely understand those that raise birds for meat - although I could probably never do that, but I can't imagine people actually going out of their way to witness the slaughter of the birds.

OKay, so I read the article and it sounds like she is against eating meat, right?? Sooooo... what the heck is she thinking? It does say she was going to have a big chicken meal afterwards... but I don't know... Not liking this idea. Tweety--- it's not fun to slaughter you own birds, but it's doable. I've done my fair share. I could never hack them, but I can pluck. It's nothing I want to do again, I would honestly want to take them in to be done for me. The time it takes to do it is extensive. Then you have all those stinkin' pin feathers that you can't pluck. I still have the smell of chicken being singed over an open flame to burn off the pinfeathers in my memory. Sigh. But the chicken WAS good.