Consolidated Kansas

[checoukan]

Wow, what a weather change!! Goodness, glad all my birds are in the barn. The west walk out is open if they want to go out, but I bet they don't.

maidenwolf Oh, my sorry your lost even more chicks with this shipment. Even with the larger chicks, that is sad.

Not much going on around here, too cold to be out side, and since I still have this stupid cough, and the cold makes it worse, better just sit tight.

michelleml Don't get in any hurry on ordering chicks. There usually tons of rhode island reds and those breeds sold as chicks around. In fact I know of a lady who has rr hens, but I think she has a copper maran rooster of mine over them. I will have to call and ask her.

Oh, I checked with Ivy, she sold the serma's she got from danz in her preparation to move, I sent her a text asking about the lav Ameraucana's. I don't think she does. I have two lav cocks, but no lav hens, but I do have black hens, so I could have some splits, but really not into that right now, really want to breed blacks.

Im going to cross my FCBM on my silver ameraucana hens for olive eggers. I have three hens now from that cross, and they really lay a pretty egg. Have to get som pics. And the hens, oh, they are so pretty! May put the lav cocks on my K-State white layers, see if I can get some super blue egg layers. AHHH I just love crossing some breeds to see what I get, must not have enough to do.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I finally got my SD card to work in the camera. I'm disappointed in how my pictures turned out. You can't see the remarkable colors on these brahmas.
This is the blue gold brahma I mentioned. He is gorgeous but young. I guess you kind of have to imagine what he looks like. I have a younger one near him you can just see a bit of. The younger one has more red however than gold. I guess time will tell how it turns out. Also appears to be a roo. He isn't fully feathered but the feathers he has are remarkable. Hard to see but most of the new feathers coming in with the blue color have a small gold line in them.


This guy is also a Dan Powell brahma. Nice colors. I had a little pullet with perfect markings his color and huge feathered feet but she is one I lost a few weeks ago to being topsy turvy.


The other birds you can see in the pictures are part of my blue copper Maran and blue barred rock project.

WOW! very pretty, Danz! I like the blue and gold/red colors. Looks like you have a splash bird in there behind the silver laced. Maran??

Thanks, Danz!

Hawkeye, I'm hoping with you he'll find something around here.

I haven't hatched anything yet this year and the birds have just started laying again really well so I'm going to wait until the first of February to fire up the Sportsman again. The Buff with the black in the neck and tail crossed with speckled sussex results in a lighter base than the mahogany from the speckleds. Then I will have some mille fluers which would be ideal to cross with the Alohas. The Speckleds darkness has been a trick to lighten up. We've tried just plain buff but it just doesn't work the same as a Buff Columbian pattern that the Buff Sussex have. There is a guy who has proven this cross to result in mille fluer so that will put me miles ahead if I can integrate that color pattern into the whole scheme of things. Then cross them with a Swedish with no blue/Aloha and we should be able to improve size, have a more stable color pattern and begin to work in the yellow skin.

All of that aside, these buff sussex were really, really hard to find and I want to keep a small flock of them just because I've fallen in love with the sussex birds. I'll probably always have Buff and Speckled Sussex birds even if it isn't very many. They are really sweet natured birds.

Lucy was hiding out. There are too many cockerels just coming into their manhood for Lucy's taste. She stears clear of Bertram as best she can too. Anna was taking the pictures so Lucy didn't come out of hiding for her. She likes to hang out around the "duck under" places the kids and I made for the birds so they could get out in the fresh air without getting blown away this winter. The birds all have their special outside hangouts and the ducks just flop down anywhere and wait for someone to fill their pool! There's still a bit of ice on the pond and the last time we let them all go to the pond the duck with the confused chicken identity went swimming with them but then didn't seem to know to get out and lounge on the side with the others. It ended up being a real chore to get that duck out of the pond and then we had to blow him dry. It was soaked to the skin and shivering, even though it's a full sized duck by now. Silly duck.

I have a dentist appointment this a.m. across town so I've got all the necessities covered this morning and am just lounging here enjoying some green tea. It's lovely to have healthy kids once again. There goes my timer. Time to get going. Have a great day!

SO funny that the ducks just flop down and await for their court to water them. hehe I liked your hiding spots out in your pen-- those are really neat! I hope that helped for winter. Do you have pens wrapped in plastic? It looked like one of them had the thick plastic wrap around it. I did that with my pen under the deck-- wrapped it up to keep wind off everyone. Sounds like the Buff sussex could be another project all on it's own for you!

Crazy about the chicken-duck getting stuck on the pond! Wow, crazy thing!

I recieved my replacement chicks. 5 of the 10 were dead. There were 13 standard males in for warmth and these guys are HUGE. I think buff orpington. I will take a pic. I really wanted some silkies and didnt get any. I think I have alot of old english which is fine. I hope some of them are japanese. They have such a large variety of colors of the old english I knew I would get alot of those. I will post some more pics soon.

Another 5 dead in this order? That is nuts. I think it's just too darned cooooold to be shipping chicks! They probably shouldn't be shipping them at all in these temps. I am going to hatch and ship chicks to a breeder friend in Florida (she sent me an adult bird and in exchange, I'm sending her a clutch). But I warned her that I could not full fill my end until it got MUCH warmer! Bantams are just too tiny to go in boxes when it's this cold! The Old English should be a lot of fun! They are really another bird that is popular with the kids! They are so cute and the boys are very fiesty! Kind of nice that you got 13 LF males!! I can smell dinner in about 10 weeks!! That would be a lot of birds to butcher! Have you done that many before? We once spent alllll day plucking birds. It was awful. I would never want to do that many all at once again. That-- or get one of those pluckers!

I went out last evening to feed all my birds & while I was standing in the run I just happened to look over & saw something strange behind the little pen the black Ameraucana rooster is in. I went closer & saw that it was my white leghorn hen hanging upside down. I had to do some work to get to her she had really gotten herself in a pickle. She was hanging by one toe & it was really caught in the chicken wire on his cage. I got her lose & got her out of there. She couldn't stand, she just drug that leg over to eat a little & then got herself over to the water & drank bunches of water. I have no idea how long she had been that way since I have been sick & obviously can't be out there as much. I'm just glad I found the poor thing & I hope she will be OK. She was starting to walk a little when I left her, so hopefully she will be all right. The poor thing had even laid an egg while upside down.

Gosh I wish I could get rid of this crud, I'm getting tired of it. I spent most of the night last night sneezing & blowing my nose, that started yesterday. This is just the strangest stuff & I agree about when you think you're going to get better you feel worse again. Today I'm not going to do anything I don't have to, it's cold out & I don't need to be out there. I wish I could, but I can't. It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow, maybe I can go back out to the coop then & get something done if I feel better.

Wow, that is a crazy story about your hen that got caught! AND she laid an egg while upside down-- WOW! I hope she makes it for you and will be okay. I hear you on not being able to get out there very many times during the day when you're sick. I dragged my bootie out there once a day when I was sick and that was it. I cleaned out waterers and refilled this morning--- BRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! I couldn't feel my fingers when I came back in. Hope you get to feeling better. If you go the route I took-- it was a good two weeks before I felt like I was among the living again. I know you want to go on that short visiting trip, but you don't want to get anyone else sick just because you feel guilty.

oh gosh, sorry you are having troubles with the chicks, i am going to candle my egg in the incubator this weekend.....holding my breath as they were shipped eggs

Good luck with the eggs! What day are you on now?

I wish it didn't cost so much to buy baby chicks i was window shopping sense I read an article about egg layers and learned that BO are not that good. I read ancona, australorp, new Hampshire, Plymouth rock, speckled susses, Rhode island reds are good so i went over and priced just a few and it was $ 61.00 i just can't bring myself to pay that much.

Just wait until spring!!! All of the farm stores have the chicks in and you can pick them out of the Pullet bin and get what you want. I'd recommend the barred rocks-- laying machines. As a chick they are all black, with a white dot in their head. I wonder if I have a picture of one of mine as a baby...
Nope! I don't have one uploaded, but I found this one online. Just look for these in the bin... Or hey, keep an eye on the Kansas FB page and see if anyone has them closer to Spring when everyone's birds are laying again and they are hatching.

 

[michelleml]

I will wait till spring and maybe I'll get lucky. I just need to build a run & roost for my new location.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Wow, what a weather change!! Goodness, glad all my birds are in the barn. The west walk out is open if they want to go out, but I bet they don't.

maidenwolf Oh, my sorry your lost even more chicks with this shipment. Even with the larger chicks, that is sad.

Not much going on around here, too cold to be out side, and since I still have this stupid cough, and the cold makes it worse, better just sit tight.

michelleml Don't get in any hurry on ordering chicks. There usually tons of rhode island reds and those breeds sold as chicks around. In fact I know of a lady who has rr hens, but I think she has a copper maran rooster of mine over them. I will have to call and ask her.

Oh, I checked with Ivy, she sold the serma's she got from danz in her preparation to move, I sent her a text asking about the lav Ameraucana's. I don't think she does. I have two lav cocks, but no lav hens, but I do have black hens, so I could have some splits, but really not into that right now, really want to breed blacks.

Im going to cross my FCBM on my silver ameraucana hens for olive eggers. I have three hens now from that cross, and they really lay a pretty egg. Have to get som pics. And the hens, oh, they are so pretty! May put the lav cocks on my K-State white layers, see if I can get some super blue egg layers. AHHH I just love crossing some breeds to see what I get, must not have enough to do.

Yea it is just too cold. I just got too excited with the thought of a bantam assortment for .85 cents a bird.

Hawkeye- yes I have really wanted OEGB. I know I have some of the moderns too. I guess with an assortment I will have to see as they grow what they end up being. I do have a buff/white chick that is growing lavender wing and tail feathers. I think the LF are buff orpingtons. Will they be ready in just 10 weeks?

 

[chicken danz]

The splash looking bird in the picture is one of two I have, Hawkeye. I have a splash Maran rooster I will cross with a black copper Maran hen to produce more blue copper marans. But I also have a splash looking brahma from the Dan Powell birds. I think it may be a pullet with luck. I might cross her with the blue gold rooster and see what I come up with. I've been looking for more eggs for these but haven't located them yet.
I haven't been out to feed the birds yet. It's so cold out there . I ran out and let them out of their pens earlier but that is all I've done so far. Most of them have food and water that will last for a couple days so I'm not too worried.
I've been cleaning in the basement. So far only gotten the cold space under the stairs cleaned. I have a long way to go yet. I have tons of Christmas stuff in that space. I should get back down ther. I came upstairs for a mini break.
Trish I've had a few birds get caught on the fence. You were lucky you found her. It doesn't take long hanging upside down to kill a bird.
I do think Orpingtons lay fairly decent if you can keep them from going broody.
And my brahmas are very good layers. They never get aggressive when I gather eggs from under them. Some of them just stand up to let me get them and then sit back down. They even let me pet them then. Plus their eggs are huge. I love not being able to close an egg carton cause the eggs are too big.
I should see soon how well the barred rocks lay. I will be selling some chicks after they get going. Regular barred rocks and blue barred rocks. These should be SQ or at least acceptable to be shown. The blue barred rocks are a project so I doubt they would be accepted yet. Hawkeye or checoucan would know though.
The regular barred rocks will just be good layers. Mammahen has a pair of them from me so she might be hatching some later as well.
Maidenwolf take some pictures.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

@Hawkeye--only on day 7, we did a quick ship on the couple of days last week that were not so bad here, not the greatest time to try it but i so want to have babys by Feb 8th (its my 5 year anniversary of survival from a cancer diagnosis)so i wanted/needed to make it a happier day, they are bantam frizzled mille fleur cochins and multiple blue variety also --so fingers crossed!!!!!!! But for now living vicariously thru maidenwolfes baby pictures

 

[sarajoy]

Hi, its been awhile since I've written. WAY busy. We are moving to a new bit of land, from Labette County to Wilson County. So there isn't much time for computering. Just time to keep my animals tended and happy, while I'm organizing and packing.
But it will be worth it. I love the bit of land we are now living on, but it is right on a blacktop, with a lot of busy traffic. Plus, we're living in a trailer, which isn't smart here in tornado alley. We had planned to build on the back of the property, but with cost of materials going up Mike thought that it might be less expensive to buy an existing structure. He found a place that its hard not to love. House big enough for the three of us, with a full basement as well (no more scary trips out to the dark/damp storm shelter in the middle of bad weather!). It has a structure that needs some tightening that we had thought to use for a bigger coop over there, but its a ways from the house, and it is right on the fenced corral - so we're going to put the (yet to be acquired) nigerian dwarf goats back there, along with the dogs. Our Amish friends are going to build us a bigger coop we can have closer to the house. There is a wooded hill (rock mound actually) behind the house, and a gradual slope down on the property, eventually leading (a mile beneath our property) to a gorgeous river valley. Last autumn this place was achingly beautiful, with all the autumn leaves. Plenty of room for the fenced goats to romp, and the chickens will have the run of the place. Almost no traffic. Its WAY out in the boonies. The postman and maybe a local farmer checking on the cattle grazing in the field across from our property. You look out the front door and can see no other farmplaces. (We do have neighbors, but on the other side of a hill/cliff - about a mile away by driving.) It is wondrous.

Our chickens are doing great. The juveniles are growing up. Getting a few pullet eggs. One of the "pullets" (officially) may be a guy. She/he is the alpha of the juvenile crowd, and is a little larger than the others. She/he has been making attempts to crow in the morning, when the Mr. Roo (the adult light brahma rooster) crows. She/he may just be mimicking - its not a very convincing crow - but neither was Mr. Roo's when he first arrived at a year old. So this one might be a young rooster.
Or just trying to behave like she/he sees the adult alpha (Mr. Roo) behaving. I guess time will tell.

Our going on six months old pyr puppy is HUGE now, and such a dear soul, and so so smart. He has mastered the art of being a chicken guardian. And has a "for now" companion - a stray who seems to be mostly Australian shepherd, but who has some "issues". She is middle aged and was apparently living as a stray for some time. Had puppies at some point in not too distant past, but none of them were with her when she arrived here, though she still had milk. We've had her spayed. She is a sweetie, and she and Danny get along well. I think she was raised in a chicken pen. She sits right on the edge of the run when the chickens are in after dusk, her nose pressed up against the wire, eyes wide and just staring at every moment. She's not stalking them, and shows no aggressor behavior towards them. Its more like longing, like she identifies with them and wants to be in their midst. I can't let her stay in there - its not big enough for them to have the room they need, and things get knocked over. But its a bit sad.... The chickens love both dogs, crawling all over them, in and out of the dog house, pecking at their food - while they are eating no less - and the dogs just wag. In a way its a good combo. Danny is a "stay with the flock" guardian. When something is going on he warns Mr. Roo who gathers the chickens into a safe spot, and Danny guards the perimeter of their spot. Livie (the shepherd) runs after the predator, chases it, and barks madly. Danny will only bark when he knows I am needed, or if an actual threat is approaching the chickens. Livie will bark whenever she smells or senses an intruder anywhere close by. It gets a little tiresome at night - as Danny's presence keeps the coyotes off our property, but Livie can hear/sense/smell them when they go by the boundary of our land, and sets up abarking. Last few nights I've closed up the dog house before we go to bed, put a couple bales of hay in front of it with 5 gallon pails of feed in front of that to hold them in place (without that its child's play for Danny to push them out). I take them for a bit of a bathroom romp first and then tuck them in along with a treat. Danny didn't like it at first, but the chickens really are safe at night once closed in, and it does at least let Danny (and us) sleep rather than constant reawakenings from fierce barking. I trust that if something did come dangerously close both dogs would still smell/sense/hear it and make a fuss. It does seem to settle Livie down, so not a bad thing I think. Plus it keeps them warmer. Danny doesn't need the extra warmth probably, but I'm sure Livie, with her shorter coat, is more comfortable with the house closed in.

Anyways, that is what is up with us here at Dennis KS, soon to be from Fredonia. Sara

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, it's not me that wants to make the trip it's my DH & I'm not going anywhere until I feel better. If he wants to go that's fine he can go, but not me. I still feel like crap, I slept very little last night with all the sneezing & blowing my running nose. I just came to try to thaw out from feeding my birds & am going back to bed shortly. I will have to get up & go back out when my DH gets home so we can go pick up his car from the shop for the 2nd time this month. I hate to have to go out in that cold again, but his car has been gone for over a week again & I know he is tired of buying gas for the gas hog old truck.

That's too bad about the chicks, yeah it's just too cold to ship now, Ideal was wanting to ship chicks to me right now & I said no. I don't want any until April.

Well the white leghorn hen is doing fine, she had a very slight limp, but if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't have even noticed today, she is a lucky girl. I did lose my little EE pullet that I had just put in the main coop a few days ago, she got killed today. She wasn't a very hardy chicken from the beginning & always got picked on.

Danz, you will love the Barred Rocks for laying when they get started, they're just egg laying machines. Mine have laid through that horrible summer heat, winter, molting, you name it. They lay huge eggs, most of the time that don't even fit in an egg carton. They're awesome birds. I can't wait to see the blue barred rocks, I didn't see any when I was at Eileen's.

Well back to bed for me to try to rest a bit before my DH comes home & makes me go out in the cold again, ugh.

 

[ppimf]

will a little giant tuner fit in my hova bator? my brinsea shot to crap already 2 nd time in 2 weeks. i have sent it back for repairs and now have eggs in my hova but i need a turner and orshlyen only sells little giant will that fit ? thanks again all

 

[maidenwolfx80]

@Hawkeye--only on day 7, we did a quick ship on the couple of days last week that were not so bad here, not the greatest time to try it but i so want to have babys by Feb 8th (its my 5 year anniversary of survival from a cancer diagnosis)so i wanted/needed to make it a happier day, they are bantam frizzled mille fleur cochins and multiple blue variety also --so fingers crossed!!!!!!! But for now living vicariously thru maidenwolfes baby pictures

Congrats on beating cancer. I cant wait to see pics of your babies. I am going to post my new babies tomorrow.