Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Wow, Josie those are stunning birds - I really don't think I've ever seen Seramas before.

 

[chicken danz]

Ouch! But, Josie I had to smile. That black with dark skin is something I was actually breeding for. I saved those birds back trying to create a total black bird with black pigment. Maybe not SQ but it was a project. I thought the pigmentation made them unique. People had tried to buy them earlier and I held them back trying to create the total black bird.
Just had a call from a lady wanting to buy my diamond doves but she wants to wait until the first. I was really wanting to get them sold and make some room in the house. I guess at least it is an interested party. If they don't sell by March I'll be taking them to Gardner and doubling my money on them. I'd rather just have the room in here now though.

 

[michelleml]

Josie love you cockerel he is gorgeous.


I got 2 eggs today in my new box

 

[JosieChick]

Ouch! But, Josie I had to smile. That black with dark skin is something I was actually breeding for. I saved those birds back trying to create a total black bird with black pigment. Maybe not SQ but it was a project. I thought the pigmentation made them unique. People had tried to buy them earlier and I held them back trying to create the total black bird.
Just had a call from a lady wanting to buy my diamond doves but she wants to wait until the first. I was really wanting to get them sold and make some room in the house. I guess at least it is an interested party. If they don't sell by March I'll be taking them to Gardner and doubling my money on them. I'd rather just have the room in here now though.

Sorry! No offense mean't. If it is a project someone is playing with that is fine. I just want to breed to APA standard as much as I can and I didn't keep that hen with the dark face because her overall type didn't pass to fit into my program. I did sell her to the nice guy up in Topeka so he probably still has her. I lost the roo with the dark pigment and one white hen before I sold any of them because it was when I was having the fowl cholera outbreak and I didn't know what was going on yet. They were still in quarantine when birds started getting sick. Sucked. I am glad we found out what it was and were able to treat before we lost too many but it took a bit for histo results to come back. I just wanted HEchicken to know if she bred them she should advertise that they are pet quality birds. I only advertise my offspring as breeding quality at best because they still have a long ways to go before they would win on the show table and I haven't shown them yet. I assume that little pullet must have been in the batch of eggs that a broody was sitting on and I thought she was one of my chicks when she hatched because she had a lot of yellow down on her belly and those out of my gang end up being exchequer in color. But she has no white on her at all now and the gold in the hackles is not anything I have seen for color in my pairings yet.

 

[JosieChick]

General broadcast:

I mean no offense to anyone or their birds. I just wish that someone had saved me the time and money when I was first getting into a couple breeds by being honest about the quality of birds I was working with before I wasted time and money thinking I had birds who could produce show potential offspring. If someone is working on a project to play with for fun or pet quality birds for fun that is fine. I just think it is also important to be honest with new folks who might buy eggs or chicks and have intentions to show. I have heard many, many parents of 4-H kids over on the cochin thread struggling because they bought "high quality" cochins from a local breeder and spent time and money raising the birds to have the kids not place at all in 4-H because their birds are hatchery or pet quality animals. There is a market for everything and not many people around here are even looking for exhibition quality birds so pets and projects are fine. I have mille fleur cochins which are not recognized and they are a project for sure! Those birds have the worse type right now and my color pattern is all over the place. Sigh.

I am equally critical of my own birds. I have a cute little serama pullet out there that has fabulous overall shape but she is too short in the leg and will be sold as a pet. I can't let that remain in my program and I don't have a cockerel who is too tall in the leg to even it out in their offspring. I wish my pullets would develop more extreme type. I need to work on that because I have too many girls with horizontal wings and I am not sure yet how I am going to remedy that. I may have to change up some pairs and see what happens. I have had issues with white earlobes. I really enjoy working towards an APA standard and like the challenge of scrutinizing my birds. I always learn something new and it also keeps me from keeping everything because I can't afford to house them all.

 

[michelleml]

We have this building in the front part of our pasture not sure what it was used for but it has electric its 11x14 with two windows and a door. I'm wanting to use it as my chicken coop will just need to replace windows and build a run for it. What do you think i currently have 6 birds total but would like to add a few more. My hope is to have enough laying hens that i can have enough eggs for us and sell the rest to help pay for feed. How many birds do you think i would need to make that happen?

 

[checoukan]

Just got in. DH got called out on a water leak. I hate the 24/7, and truly dis like it this time of the year, with these temps. Talk about COLD, and if they get soaked while working.
Anyway took some pictures this morning, will get them up.

Hard to tell anything at first, but he barn looks alot different now than when they started this morning.
This is the south side of the barn. This will be 32 x 60 with a 20ft over hang on the east for me to put stuff like feed trailer, dog kennel, and parking if I want too.

DH just for kicks and grins. Getting ready to start setting trusses.

Looking down center of barn


North side of barn looking southwest. This photo above.

this photo above, is the first truss going up on the west end of the barn.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Ideal Poultry is having a bantam sale. .85 cents for the bantam special on their jan 23rd hatch. My mother ordered 25 chicks that are to be sent here.... I have ALOT of work to do.. Glad she is coming this weekend to help build a bigger brooder.

 

[Trish44]

We have this building in the front part of our pasture not sure what it was used for but it has electric its 11x14 with two windows and a door. I'm wanting to use it as my chicken coop will just need to replace windows and build a run for it. What do you think i currently have 6 birds total but would like to add a few more. My hope is to have enough laying hens that i can have enough eggs for us and sell the rest to help pay for feed. How many birds do you think i would need to make that happen?

I guess that would depend on how many eggs you use for your family & how good the layers are besides how many you hope to sell extra. I can tell you though you don't make much money on eggs, at least I don't. The people around my area will only pay $2 a dozen & some people practically give them away at $1.50, which I refuse to do. I have about 30 hens now in my general laying flock, not all of those are laying yet. Out of the ones that are old enough I'm getting about 10-12 eggs a day. You always have some molting & some just not laying for one reason or another, so you will want to have a few more than you think you really need. I have decided I want to get a few new ones each year so that I have some to take up the slack for the ones getting older & cutting back or those in molt. It worked out pretty good this year to do that because some of my new ones I got in the spring started laying about when my older ones went into molt. I have bought a few lately at point of lay & that was nice, they are starting to lay for me now & then I have a few that aren't quite old enough & I just got two 3 month old barred rocks too so they will lay in about 2-3 more months. Some breeds lay better in the summer & some lay better in the winter too. My Ameraucana hens went through molt & have decided to take the winter off I guess, I hope they start laying soon again because I will need those eggs to hatch since I have people waiting for chicks.

Well I mixed up my fermented feed this evening, so we'll see how that goes in a couple days. Danz, I just had one bucket right now, so I'm going to try your method & see how it goes. The hardest part of it in the first place was getting it stirred up after I added water to it. The layer feed clumped up & didn't want to stir very well. Hopefully after it sets awhile it will get soaked up & be easier to deal with. I'm glad it's going so well for you, I hope it helps my birds as much as everyone is saying. It certainly is worth a try.

My DH went & got wood today & I had to send him back on his way to work tonight to exchange the plywood. I guess they saw sucker printed on his forehead or something & they sold him the most expensive plywood they had. I looked at that receipt & about croaked. They had given him $28 a sheet plywood & it was only 1/4 inch thick. I looked up how much it was at Lowe's & it was half that, so I had him call them back & see if he could bring it back & get the cheaper stuff. Geez, he told them he was using it in a chicken coop too. He must have not looked like he knew what he was doing & they just took advantage of him. I will go with him next time & make sure that doesn't happen again. All I need it for is to put across the 2x4s for the half wall I'm having built in there, it doesn't have to be fancy or anything that thick, just something to divide the rooms. I plan to use chicken wire from the top of the wall up to the ceiling so they can't fly over.

Checoukan, that barn is looking good, I know you're really excited!

 

[mstng67]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_choke

Does anyone grow Jerusalem  Artichokes?  They are great for people and animals.  I found out that geese LOVE them.  I just got my replacement start to plant when the weather warms up some.  The fence to protect them is waiting to be put up.

I highly recommend them for a variety of reasons.  Just be sure to plant them where they can grow and spread over the years.

I wanted to start them this year. It has been years since I had them and have thought about planting them.