Consolidated Kansas

[tntblake]

Hey everyone. Tried to have a baby shower yesterday, but my heart broke for my baby girl when no-one but her grandma showed up. It's pretty crappy of everyone to RSVP and not show. She texted several people and one had to babysit, a couple had to work, one was moving, etc... I guess that's just indicitive of the 18 year old age range. Sigh... Glad my mom got to come up from Inman though and see her while she was still prego.

Took my mom to TSC to pick up the bluKote and VetRx (found some! Also grabbed come DE!), but anyways she was enamoured with the chicks in the bins. They had Minorca chicks. I hadn't ever heard of those before. Very cute! They also had some baby ducks that I had to resist. Mom kept insisting on getting me a couple chicks, but surprisingly I talked her out of it. If I didn't have them arriving in a couple day - i would not have been able to do so!

I also picked up a dimmer switch (Thank you HeChicken for the idea!) so I can control the heat lamp a bit more without moving it up and down!

It's crazy windy here today. Very beautiful outside, though!

I'm sorry for your daughter and for the work that you put in for nothing. That is terrible. I wonder if those inconsiderate "friends" realize how that made her feel.

 

[tntblake]

Hey there - I got some of those minorcas at TSC. Love love love them! They look like little penguins

I hated our black minorca. She was mean to the other hens and VERY flighty. She was worse than any leghorn I have ever seen. She was raised just like all our others that were super friendly and liked to be held and she wouldn't even let us come within 5 ft of her as an adult. I hope yours turn out better.

 

[tazcat70]

Ok, first, I am going to apologize that you may see this posting more than once.

My mother-in-law is in the hospital. She has been for a few days. She is REALLY sick. Today I found out what is all going on, and they are still doing more tests. She has blood clots in her lungs, with pnuemonia, and her heart is only outputting 14% (not sure of terminology) and they did a CT scan of her chest and found a HUGE (their words) mass in the center of her chest that is pushing on her lungs and heart. They are still running tests to find out if the mass has spread to other parts of her body, and are taking surgery. So we will be making a trip to Texas tomorrow morning as soon as I can rent the car.

What this means is that my chicken stuff is on hold. I have my parents coming over to take care of everything, and there is a lot of that stuff going on, with eggs in the bator and chicks in the brooder, but I wanted everyone to know that I plan on getting my swap eggs out on time, and meeting up to get eggs, and swap pea chicks and pick up chicks.....But if I can't do it on time, I will make it right.

My email addy for BYC goes to my cell phone and so if anyone needs to get in touch with me, please send me an email. I get the PM notifications too, so you can also PM me.

Thanks for understanding.

Tonya

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, I get our local Cooperative electric magazine and I noticed they had lots of barn ads. A lot of them had great prices. One that caught my eye said : DT Construction 918-527-0117 (www.dtcbarns.com) They have a 30X50X10 for $6,800 and THAT includes labor, 1 walk door, and a 12' sliding door. If that's too big-- I bet they have something smaller and cheaper! If you are interested, I can write the list of builders on here-- they all seemed pretty reasonable.

Tweety, that is insanely rude that kids would RSVP and then bail like that. They just have no sense of responsibility, nor worry what that will do to the host (you) and your daughter. Doesn't sound like real friends to me. Honestly, having to 'work and move'-- that is a pretty darned lame excuse when they agreed to coming. If I say I'm coming, I'm going to make arrangements to do so. The unexpected happens... but having to WORK or MOVE-- that is NOT unexpected. Puking your brains out the morning of the party-- unexpected. I would be furious with these girls.

Tonya (Taz), I'm so sorry about your MIL! That sounds very, very serious, indeed. I hope you can all can get down there and see her and spend some time with her. I'll be thinking of you as you travel down to TX-- have a safe journey.

SparkyCrows-- welcome!!! I've never heard of minorcas, I'll have to Google them to see what they look like. Where about in Kansas are you at?

Been a crazy day today! We had the birthday party-- I grilled chicken and hotdogs outside for everyone. It was windy, but at least it was sunny and some what warm. I spent the whole morning cleaning and putting away. Then after the party, I crashed. Everyone went out and fed the chickens some treats and got to hold the barred rocks and silkies. (they are the ones that come up to us) Then I've now recovered from being angry with the kids-- they left the outside pen open on my nice silkie pen and Zelda (my black pullet) got away!! I nearly had a heart attack. I was thinking of all the money I spent on that crazy bird. Anyway, she had gotten out and went off about an acre away to the south side of the house. As soon as she saw me, she came running to me. I bent down, and held out my hands and she just jumped right in at a full run. I think she was starting to get worried too about being out there alone. I pet her and talked to her and put her back and she was so happy to be back with Zorro (my cockerel). They set off talking and chattering all about her brief escapade into the wilderness. Geez, she could have been hawk lunch.

Speaking of which!! I found an older wound on Seymores back!! As in-- I don't think it happened in the last couple of days, but definitely within this week, I'm sure! One of the family that was visiting was asking why she had really ruffled feathers on her back and i just said, 'oh she's fine' and brushed it off. But then while we were out there, I got to really looking and realized that it did look odd. I picked her up and parted her feathers and she had a HUGE hunk of back taken of her! She had been attacked!! How the heck did I miss THAT!?!? I'm going to have to be more careful with her. But... she's free range and I don't know where all she goes. Sigh. She just won't tolerate being penned up.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Hawkeye - I'm glad that Zelda came back! That's so cute that she ran and jumped into your arms!! She probably was scared and I'm sure she has all sorts of stories to tell Zorro now. LOL

Thanks everyone for the kind words about the shower. I AM furious with everyone. My DD is such a trooper. She was the one apologizing for her "friends" and apologizing for all the work I went through to set up the party, when I was the one that felt bad for her. I posted a message about it on my FB page - most of the girls (and one guy) are friends with me as well, so I'm just waiting for one of them to see it and respond. How horribly passive agressive is that.. LOL

Went to walmart and found this awesome plastic easter eggs. I've been on the hunt for something that looks like a real egg to use in the nests when my birds come time to lay and I found these brown football eggs that just might work!

 

[chicken danz]

Sparky Crows WELCOME
I recognize the picture of your rooster with the white tail from the poultry swap page. He is just awesome looking. Such a strange combination of colors. Congrats on your new chicks. I have some Seramas that start out marked like penguins, but they totally change before they are adult.
Hawkeye your chickens really love you. They know you care for them and they trust you. Without seeing Seymore's wound and knowing exactly where it is on her I got to wondering if the wild turkeys have come calling. She could be laying fertile eggs because it is getting close to breeding season. Have you been checking them just in case?
I had another worthless day. My Mom is still not stable. I have to call my Dad in the morning to check to see if she needs to go back to the hospital. One of my daughters is having some domestic problems and my other daughter is PMSing. Geez!
I was going to work outside but the wind just beat me to death out there.
I ran out of dog food today so I cooked a big pot of rice and pork. Holy Crap! I went to the puppies pen first and they were crawling in the pan before I could get it dished out. Then the little suckers were fighting growling and barking with each other. Typical GPs. They are very food protective. Anyway an entire dutch over full of rice mixture disappeared in less than 3 minutes. I'm down to 3 pups now. I'm starting to question my sanity about keeping one. I just worry that something will happen to my dogs and then what would protect my birds?
Thanks Hawkeye. I got the Kansas living magazine from my cooperative yesterday. I hadn't even looked at it. I am still waiting for an estimate from this last company. That's crap that they can't spit out a price like every one else does.
I have to take a physical tomorrow from another insurance company. Maybe this one won't reject me. I doubt it though. I have to fast and they aren't coming until 2:00 PM. DH wants to go to Topeka to pick up the tiller I am buying tomorrow. Sounds like another full day when I won't accomplish anything. I did take him out to the trailer and show him where I have marked off runs and how they would set so he has some idea of what I am thinking. I'm sure he'll come up with some idea he wants to change. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to build the pop doors though the walls.
I also bought an old travel trailer last summer. It was an old 50's model thing. I really would have liked to restore it. A big aluminum shell. But I think I am going to unbolt it from the frame and
set it on some skids or something and use it for another poultry building. He can have the trailer frame to build something else with. Not sure when I'll get that done. I was hoping DH would offer to unhook it from the frame for me but that didn't happen. It should be a very simple conversion if I can figure out how to move it off the frame and onto the new skids.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Tweety, I think the "eggs" will be fine. I've heard of people using them and filling them with sand for a bit of weight. Honestly, I didn't expect my bird to come running for me! Now, Seymore is really bonded to me, and that's a typical thing for her to do. But I think she was partly scared when she realized she was all by herself.

Danz, I'm so sorry about your mom! I sure hope she gets to doing better quickly. I'll have to take a picture of Seymore's wound, I don't think it's from another turkey.... ? But I was thinking she might have been attacked by a raptor of some kind. I don't know.. I'll get a pic and see what you think of it. I haven't paid any attention to her eggs lately-- I just figured they HAVE to be infertile. I just scramble them up or throw them in when I'm baking. Yeah, I don't understand why a barn company can't give you an estimate right away-- I mean, they should have a template or an idea for about every size you can dream up. Not sure what to say about the pop doors-- but I'm sure you'll come up with a creative idea to make it work.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Yikes. Edited my post cuz I called Hawkeye, Danz. LOL. My bad. I get to reading so fast that my fingers type faster than my head moves sometimes. hehe Sorry Hawkeye!
I can't wait to train my chicks to run and jump at me! Cool that Seymore does it as well!

 

[tntblake]

Danz- I hope your mom shows some great improvement tomorrow. I will pray that she gets better quickly.

Taz- I'm sorry about your MIL. I will keep her in my prayers and be sure to be careful on the way down there.

 

[Trish44]

Gosh, I leave for one afternoon & all heck breaks loose here.

Welcome, SparkyCrows! We like to hear from new people, feel free to jump in any time. I have not seen the Minorcas before, but a lot of the Mediterranean birds are more flighty it seems like. You will have to let us know after they mature how they are.

tweety, Oh I would be livid if that happened to me or my child. Those kids just don't seem to have any sense of responsibility. How would they feel if they were treated that way, not good I'll bet. I see that even with the older ones as well. I agree with Hawkeye, if I say I'm going to be there I will be unless I have a darned good reason like I'm sick as a dog in bed or something.

Hawkeye, I'm so glad you got your little hen back & she was OK, that's cute that she came running to you. Mine come running up to me any time I go out the front door, but it's because they think I'm going to feed them something.

Taz, I'm sorry to hear about your MIL, have a safe trip & I will keep you all in my thoughts & prayers.

Danz, I'm sorry to hear your mom still isn't doing well, hope she gets better soon. Yeah those GPs are very food protective for sure, my pups still growl over their food bowls on opposite sides of the dog run. They go through this ritual every night after I put them in the pen & feed them where after eating one of them gets inside the dog house & the other is outside of it & the bark continuously at each other for 10 minutes or so until they finally work out the argument or get tired of it one of the two & then they both go in & go to bed. If you were hearing it all from somewhere you would swear they were killing each other the way it sounds. I'm sure my neighbors down the hill from us probably wonder what the heck goes on every night. Good luck with your physical for the life insurance, I hope it goes well & they approve you.

Well we had to make a run to Wichita today to Sam's Club, our usual Sunday errands there & Petco & this time to Lowe's. DH finally decided that our garage door opener had to be replaced, that he was tired of trying to fix it. It was just worn out & I've been trying for at least a year to get him to buy a new one. I think my little hen finally did it in this time by flying around up there & getting caught in the wiring. I didn't want to tell him it was her for sure, but I think he probably guessed it. At any rate it has needed to be replaced for quite awhile anyway. Yay for the little hen! I guess something good came out of her escaping at any rate. DH is out there now starting to take down the old opener so he can put up the new one. We have an 8 ft by 16 ft metal garage door, so it's not something you want to have to open by hand. By the way, I peeked in on the little hen when I got home & she really seems to be getting better. Maybe a couple more days in the crate & I can put her in a more open pen out in the run so she can see the other chickens. She listens very intently during the day when the outside roosters crow & she has even tried to cluck at them in her strange chicken language. I think she is anxious to be out with other chickens.