Consolidated Kansas

[lizzyGSR]

Hello everyone! Gosh, there's so much chatter recently that I'm having a hard time keeping up!

I have one quick question for you all. A month or so ago, I started mixing my bird's feed. I use 50% of the (16% all purpose poultry food that I get at Orscheln's), 25% rolled corn, and 25% rolled milo. Yesterday, I noticed my geese picking at some dog poop in the yard and saw my ducks doing the same thing earlier today. This tells me that they've got some sort of deficiency, but what could it be? I do allow them to free range, but with the drought and now the cold/snow, there isn't a whole lot in the yard for them. Opinions and suggestions on this would be very much appreciated.

NOTE: I have 9 ducks and 3 geese. I do NOT have any chickens. The yard is about 3 acres, but they don't spend much, if any time, in front of the house, and don't usually go into the horse pen, which is at the one edge of the 3 acres.

 

[JosieChick]

I forgot about foxes. They do make some wild noises. Hey, are your geese laying yet? Mine haven't started (thank heavens!) but the ganders have begun getting possessive over the geese. There have been a lot of bent necks and hissing going on. I really want to get them moved before they start laying so I can separate them out. Of course the ganders who are in charge are not going to be in specific breeding pens! It is the low men on the totem pole that I want to pass on their genes this spring.

Mammahen the scream sounds like a fox. Are you sure it was a Bobcat you heard. The female foxes scream the most terrifying scream you have ever heard when they are ready to breed. You could have dual predators out there too. I used to have a resident fox when I lived in Council Grove that always came to town and had her kits on my hill behind the house. I always knew when she was going to have babies because she would serenade me ! I left for work about 4:45 am and it seemed like that was her time to let out one of those blood curdling screams. This was a wild fox but she became quite tame and I fed her table scraps from the refrigerator. People don't believe it but she used to wrestle and play with my cats just like another cat and never showed any intent to harm them. The only time she showed any aggression was if they got too close to her food. I didn't have birds then so I welcomed her presence. We never had a mouse or a squirrel around when she was there. The only problem I had with her was she had fleas so I really had to vamp up flea prevention on my cats during the time she was having babies.
Bobcats are getting more and more plentiful around here. There is one that hangs around about a mile from me and I sure hope that the dogs keep it from getting closer. Those boys pee non stop. I've never seen an animal that marks territory more often than a bobcat.
I've got to get in gear and go get a load of feed. I really wish I had two days in every one. I might have time to relax and get some work done. So I am sitting here instead of getting the truck ready and like I should be.
I am going to start a really big barrel of Fermented Feed after I get this load, I think I may be able to stir it with the hoe. The main thing I have noticed so far is this: Even though the shavings in the brooder have gotten wet with all the birds in there there is zero odor. No ammonia smell or anything. Mold would normally be a problem if they got wet but you can't even smell that. I shoveled it out yesterday because it was getting too wet but I was amazed. My birds are growing well and I am suffering less loss in the chicks.
So if I can get it going I think I will start feeding all the birds FF. It does take a little time and effort and it is messy but I think it is worth it in the long run. It's har dso far to tell if I am saving feed because I'm not feeding it to all of them yet. I do need to come up with some different feeders though for some of them because I have several galvanized feeders for the big pens

Hello everyone! Gosh, there's so much chatter recently that I'm having a hard time keeping up!

I have one quick question for you all. A month or so ago, I started mixing my bird's feed. I use 50% of the (16% all purpose poultry food that I get at Orscheln's), 25% rolled corn, and 25% rolled milo. Yesterday, I noticed my geese picking at some dog poop in the yard and saw my ducks doing the same thing earlier today. This tells me that they've got some sort of deficiency, but what could it be? I do allow them to free range, but with the drought and now the cold/snow, there isn't a whole lot in the yard for them. Opinions and suggestions on this would be very much appreciated.

NOTE: I have 9 ducks and 3 geese. I do NOT have any chickens. The yard is about 3 acres, but they don't spend much, if any time, in front of the house, and don't usually go into the horse pen, which is at the one edge of the 3 acres.

Will someone come and pack the garage tools, kitchen gadgets and dress clothes for me and get this pod hauled away? I am not in the mood. Our garage looks like a bomb went off in it. There are just tools everywhere. DH's organizational method for tools resembles a tool chest that has vomited all over the building. He just leaves things everywhere. We have like 10 of everything because he can never find it and goes out and buys another one. We have 6 caulk guns, who needs 6?!!? I am afraid to close a box up and put it in the pod because I fear I may find another one and I would like to keep similar items together, fancy that! He always complains that I put stuff in ziploc bags and label them and then he can't find stuff. Well at least if you can find the bag labeled drill bits you have found all of them!

 

[cubbysan]

Hello Consolidated Kansas! Have been on BYC off and on the last couple years, but just found this thread (actually just spent the last several hours reading the posts on here) and wanted to say Hi! I must admit I mostly use BYC as an outlet for window shopping the coop pictures... lots of really awesome coop designs and ideas out there!! I'm an "under the radar" Overland Park backyard hen owner that lucked out in the got great neighbors that don't mind department!

So, again hello fellow kansas chicken lovers.

Hi PrairieBlue,

Welcome, I am in Lees Summit!

 

[chicken danz]

Maidenwolf I am sure you are on pins and needles. I'm excited for you. Can't wait for you to post pictures. I love looking at baby chicks and determining breed.
Quote:

I forgot about foxes. They do make some wild noises. Hey, are your geese laying yet? Mine haven't started (thank heavens!) but the ganders have begun getting possessive over the geese. There have been a lot of bent necks and hissing going on. I really want to get them moved before they start laying so I can separate them out. Of course the ganders who are in charge are not going to be in specific breeding pens! It is the low men on the totem pole that I want to pass on their genes this spring.
No my geese haven't done anything. I have the two that lead the pack which I assume are the boys but I haven't noticed any breeding type behavior or anything. I know they are bored to death right now. They yell anytime I step out the back door. I've noticed they have figured out if they go to the side of their pen where the turkeys are and start yelling, the turkeys start gobbling. So when they get tired of dragging stuff into their water they go yell at the turkeys. The little girl I got from Trudi is a bit of a leader as well. She is always right behind the boys. They are eating a lot more feed than they were, but they aren't happy with it. Most of the treats I have given to them get treated like aliens. If I had a truck load of watermelons they'd be happy. It's not like you find them dirt cheap this time of year!
ll someone come and pack the garage tools, kitchen gadgets and dress clothes for me and get this pod hauled away? I am not in the mood. Our garage looks like a bomb went off in it. There are just tools everywhere. DH's organizational method for tools resembles a tool chest that has vomited all over the building. He just leaves things everywhere. We have like 10 of everything because he can never find it and goes out and buys another one. We have 6 caulk guns, who needs 6?!!? I am afraid to close a box up and put it in the pod because I fear I may find another one and I would like to keep similar items together, fancy that! He always complains that I put stuff in ziploc bags and label them and then he can't find stuff. Well at least if you can find the bag labeled drill bits you have found all of them!
That is all too familiar. If all the tools around here were gathered up together with likes we could open a hardware store!!

Well I took my mini break. I've got to go shovel feed!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Josie-- FUNNY about all the stuff you are wading thru. I mean, I know that can't be fun and to do all of this in winter when it's really cold out. Once you get to your new place and unpack, you could make a CraigsList pile of stuff to get rid of. Mostly, I just take everything to Goodwill because I don't have the patience.

Checoukan-- question for you! I want to pick your brain! I am going to have two "classes" (or workshops, whatever) at the Sedgwick County Extension Office downtown Wichita. The topic is "Exhibition and Showmanship" and I'm going to spend 30 mins going over the exhibition part and another 30 mins going over the Showmanship part. I'll just touch on things and I'd like to have papers to hand out so that what ever I didn't get to, they can check over. We had ZERO kids sign up for Showmanship at our last county fair and I think it's because no one was taught how to do it and they were all scared. If I can get the kids to come to BOTH of the classes (both dates are in February-- 7th and 26th) I'm hoping I can encourage kids/parents to be more excited about it. I want to talk about your technique of flash cards and bring ours to show them. I also want to find a judge's blank form where they fill in the points for kids to earn on each section. That will be the easy part of the night.

The hard part will be explaining to the kids/parents on how to pick out birds and NOT to buy hatchery birds. How do you get that point across to your families without seeming like a chicken-nazi?? I'm not really sure how to go about it. And if I do, I will probably need some breeders around this area to make a list of people that will sell decent poultry-- better than hatchery. Doesn't have to be show quality-- just better than what I saw last year! LOL I am going to talk about feather loss, bare backs, bright eyes and signs and symptoms of disease and mites and control. But the "where to find good birds"--- what do you do????? I need ideas!!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Danz I am sure I will need your guys' help determining breed on these guys. There are so many different breeds that they offer

 

[Hawkeye95]

That reminds me--- if anyone would like to be on my 4-H list for kids to buy good decent ACCEPTED birds in the Standard-- no AOV, please!!! Let me know! I think it's much better for the kids to start out with breeds that are not projects, but have been recognized and can be easily judged. The closer you are to Wichita, the better, but I'll take anyone, really. I'm sure parents that are really involved will travel. Also if you can think of anyone else that isn't here on BYC, let me know so I can contact them! Just PM me if you'd like to be involved in selling birds to 4-H'ers.

 

[prairieblue]

Thanks for all the welcomes! Seems like a great community you all have created here, glad to be a part of it. As to my current flock, I have one australorp, an EE, a speckled sussex, and a blue splash marans that never splashed- she's all white. The EE and australorp are laying very well right now, the other two haven't started. But considering its winter, I'm not rushing them. They are currently living on my back porch in a temporary pen. Had a LARGE limb fall from the walnut tree over the outside coop that kinda smooshed it. I'm rebuilding, but it's slow going in the cold weather. I wanted to make it a little bigger anyway, guess that was nature's way of nudging me along. I'll see if I can put a pic up of the coop pre-limb damage. Don't have any of the smooshed coop, as my digital camera is dead and haven't gotten a new one yet.

mostly finished, haven't attached run yet

here's with run attached. Sadly the coop looks very broken now, but onward and upward- decided to make the run taller while I'm at it so I can get in to clean easier.

 

[chicken danz]

Prairie, that is an adorable coop! So cute. Gives me ideas! If I could take it times 100 it would be great.
Hawkeye, I don't know that I'll have any birds old enough for this year for kids to show. But keep me in mind for future lists. How old do the birds need to be preferably for show?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Prairie, that is an adorable coop! So cute. Gives me ideas! If I could take it times 100 it would be great.
Hawkeye, I don't know that I'll have any birds old enough for this year for kids to show. But keep me in mind for future lists. How old do the birds need to be preferably for show?

They should "look" mature (filled out like an adult--or close to). So if they look mature at 4 months... or 6 months... that's all I ask! LOL I don't care what breeds. Ducks, geese, chickens, guineas, etc... ALL are welcome!!