Consolidated Kansas

[Katy]

Josie, no I haven't figured out how to do that either, the photos always show up on my news feed on FB. I'll let you know if I find out any other way. Yeah, I did tell one lady who was wanting to post a huge album that I would rather she just make a FB page for her chickens & then she could show them off there & link to it. She was just wanting to show them off mainly & maybe at times sell hatching eggs. She got tiffed at me for asking her to do that & I did take down her huge album. Gosh it was going to engulf the whole page & she wasn't really selling anything.


For what it's worth "trish44" I was not just wanting to show my birds off...although I am very proud of them. It's taken me a lot of time and effort to get them where they are. My intent was actually to save space on the FB feed. My thinking was I'd post an album that went along with my breeder listing and when someone inquired about hatching eggs I could direct them to check out my album for what the parent birds looked like rather than posting and reposting pictures on the news feed. It was NOT a huge album either. Photos of some of my different breeder birds and not nearly all of them either. They would have showed up ONE stinking time on the news feed and that was it. And you have some nerve saying I wasn't really selling anything.......I don't sell as many hatching eggs as I once did and I have pretty well decided to stop shipping because of how hard the post office is on them. Thought I would sell them locally when I have extras instead. You have some nerve saying what you've said when you actually have no clue about what I am doing or intended to do.

 

[chicken danz]

I don't think this is the right venue to have a disagreement. Just saying! These messages to each other should be kept private. I do wish you luck selling your eggs, Katy. Shipping eggs has become a nightmare. Maybe you could just post what you have available when you have them for sale.
Why don't you tell us here what you have so if someone is looking for one of your breeds we could contact you. Just an idea.

 

[tazcat70]

Danz, I agree. That is why I felt I had to say something. Someone that is in a relative position of power should not be using that type of information in such a trivial manner. I was just shocked that Teresa would act in a manner that is so unbecoming.

 

[checoukan]

Oh, my, lets not get our thread shut down here, I would be lost with out it. I don't post as much as some, as I don't always have anything to say. We are all good people here, everyone take a deep breath, and lets move forward.

 

[michelleml]

Good morning all

I set my first eggs last night i hope we get something my bator only holds 7 eggs i thought it was 10. we put in 5 just to try out.


wish us luck

 

[Hawkeye95]

I finally found a photo from last fall of our Hoop Coop. I couldn't find the photo of the inside so I will take one of that sometime. It is way over-built, and not yet finished, but was far more than adequate for the chickens over the winter.

Okay-- there are SO MANY reasons I love this picture! LOL The hoop coop is amazing!! I LOVE it! What do you have over the top? The front of it is so charming. And then the boardwalk-- I love it so much, I googled how to make one! How did you make this board walk and do you have any tips about it?

Danz, I'm with you. I'm beat. Thank goodness for late start Wednesdays! DH took Jorgie for his surgery this morning and the kids and I got the chickens/ducks all set. I had a sick kid and so I made a run to the doctor's office, then to Walmart, off to the pharmacy, grabbed some lunch, got gas (for the van), back home. Then flew back out the door to loan some supplies to a couple scrapbooking buddies, back home, out to the chicken pen to check on feed, clean out the waterers the ducks made a mess of and gather eggs, a man showed up to replace our old gas meter, kids got off the bus, I flew back to school to pick up the yearbook staffer and stuco president, back home. Gas man finished up, relit everything, left. Time to start supper and DH came home. Between all of that mess today, I got a call from the vet saying that Jorgie's surgery went fine and he will be coming home tomorrow. I was so relieved but wished he could come home today. How could I be so busy and not really get anything done?

I don't know but I have it down to a fine art.

Glad Jorgie is going to be okay... WHat was he having done? Was he becoming a "gelding"? hehehe I don't know what you call boy dogs that are cut. And okay-- WHOA, you are super crazy busy! Yesterday was like that for me! I was driving and going between all of my volunteer jobs. I called my DH at one point and told him that since I know i'm going to get a job this Fall, that I was sooooo sad, I really enjoy my volunteering for the church and my elderly lady and all the other stuff in between.

Hello all this wonderful weather has us all buzzin about doesn't it. I wish I had more time to post but I have been goin goin non stop. I wanted to post a pic of one of my girls to get some feedback if you will I am still very new to chickens so tell me what ya think of her good and bad Thanks in advance you guys are a great group!

Pretty! What kind of bird is she? I wasn't sure what you meant by critique. Usually when someone says that, they want to know if the bird has decent type and if the coloring and other features are good enough to be shown. Are you interested in showing?? If so, YAY! But you'd need a full on body shot and then someone here would need to be a fair judge on what you are looking for (Standard wise) to critique her with. I do have the Standard Of Perfection book-- so if you need a detailed listing of what the breed calls for, let me know and I can look her up. Or most clubs go ahead and post the Standard for their breed on their club-sites, so you could just google the breed you are interested in showing.

It was a pleasure to meet you Jeanniac. Heavens no you didn't stay too long. I was having so much fun watching your grandson with the puppies. Five or six hours might have set me back. I wish you the best of hatch rates. Let me know how they do. If there is any problems I will make it right with you. And thank you Frizzled and Jeanniac for the vote of confidence. Some day I hope to have the construction done and have the mess cleaned up. I got my feed shoveled off and came in here and made a quick post. Then went back outside and worked on the hoop coop. So here is the progress for the day. This is what I had done this morning when Jeanniac was here: I built this frame yesterday. 20' 3 inches long by 8 foot wide.


Here is what I did on the corners. I cut the cattle panel with a grinder to fit over the frame work, so some of the end would stick out. I plan to staple it to the wooden frame which will sit on the outside. Plumbers tape used to hold the panels. I used a ratcheting come along and pulled the panels up to size. One trick I did learn on this was to fasten the hooks of the ratchet up on the second level of horizontal wire so it doesn't get in the way of the frame work.


After I got the panel cut and in place I installed the first set of corner braces.



Then I installed one panel at a time down the sides. I will go out tomorrow and put a few more pieces of plumbers tape on the panels to make sure they are really secure. And I will finish wiring the individual panels together so they stay straight. One thing I did was use a pair of vice grips to hold the panels together while I wired them. It saved me a lot of holding and stretching.
This is the final end. I have one extra section left on the panels I will cut off when I am done. I also cut the bottom wire of the panels so I could go over my center brace as well. I added the brace to the original frame to keep everything straight and to give the frame work strength.







Tomorrow I hope to move this to it's permanent place after I finish the wiring and the extra plumbers tape. Then I will put the ends on it and maybe even start building the coop part. I actually only worked on it for about 3 and a half hours today, so it went really fast.
Then I had to hurry and feed everyone and got in the house just before dark. I am having some of this homemade bread hot out of the oven this evening with dinner. Yum!

WOW-- this is looking so nice! I love these hoop coops! I'm so tempted to get started on one right now! They look so economical, too... I like cheap.

Random pics I took today while out photographing birds for sale:
Calico cochin boy and his serama girlfriends


Grey call duck washing herself, I am going to miss these silly little ducks



The sebbie gander in the front is one that I am going to be selling but what I love most about this pic is the awesome curly grey gander behind him! Look at those chest curls! Can't wait until he is old enough to breed next year, must find a good goose for him to go with!

Beautiful birds! I can't believe the color on your cochin roo! WOW! And looking at his foot feathering-- whatever you paid, I'd say it was worth it. He looks VERY nice! UGH, sorry you are still painting! I hope you can finish up quickly.

By the way, anyone who might be interested, there is going to be a 4-H benefit swap meet on Saturday April 6 at the Coffey county fairgrounds in Burlington. It will start at 9AM and end at 3PM. Sellers will be charged a $5 entry fee. The entry proceeds will go directly to the 4H club. Hopefully the kids and parents will also have a concession stand there as well.
All birds will require PT testing and must be in good health. I will be there doing PT testing at cost for those who don't have a current certificate.
Anyone who has birds they would like to sell please attend. This will be an opportunity for the kids to buy birds to show this year but also an opportunity for people to buy and sell birds for themselves.
I'd love to see this be a huge success for the kids sake but it also gives people a local swap to buy and sell.
Just a plug for this. The meeting was last night and the date just set so there will be more information in the future.

This is SO NEAT!! Our club (or county) should totally do something like this to raise money for the poultry project so I can flippin' buy show coops for our county barn! I've been thinking of ideas to raise money, and this is a fantastic idea. I love it! SO glad you are involved in this and doing the testing!

Trish44- Can you tell me how to post an album to the facebook poultry or farm swap without it posting to my timeline/news feed for FB? Is that even possible? I have tried to change the settings but that doesn't seem to make a difference....One of these days I am just going to create a facebook page for the farm and chickens so they aren't all in one place. Thanks!

I made a page just for my chickens (silkies) and it's worked out well. I was getting a lot of flack about all of the chicken pics on my personal FB page. So I separated it out, and it works out great. Then you can just link to your album.

Even the turkeys know it is spring. I heard some strange sounds and went outside in time to see their courtship dance. Madge was displaying as well as Ned, and the two of them were dancing a tight circle around one another. At one point Ned even had one wing over her back like they were lovers going for a little stroll. It went on so long I ran up to the house to grab my camera. Trish do you remember when we got Ned and he was quite a bit smaller than Madge?











And then, just because he came out to see me while I was taking those pics, here is our big bear of a cat. He weighed about 25lb before he got sick but was never fat. During the time of his confinement, he had nothing much to do but eat, so he gained a LOT of weight. I'm hoping he will drop some of it off again now that he is back outside and getting a little more exercise. The only sign left of his illness is that he now holds his head cocked to the side - other than that he seems to be back to full coordination and is very happy again. He is more like a dog than a cat, often choosing to hang out with our dogs. Yesterday I commented to DH that our "three" dogs are all out enjoying the sun and when he looked out the window, there they all were, laid out in a pile soaking up the sun. (2 dogs, 1 large cat).

These are amazing pictures!!! I love Royal Palms! My Seymore used to display like that too! She'd do it just to get my attention and when I'd come up and pet her, she'd start squawking and get all happy she was being pet. She loved to jump on me when I sat down and settle herself into my lap and softly talk. They are just neat birds! That white cat is HUGE-- and beautiful! I'm glad he's doing better. What a pretty boy.

For those of you that don't know yet, I acquired two baby boer goatlings yesterday. I don't have them here yet because I told my friend who picked them up for me that I didn't have a place for them yet & she said she would keep them for awhile till I could get a pen & shelter made. These are one to one & a half week old doelings that are bottle babies. Yes, I may be crazy. I had told my friend that I was looking for some & I had no inkling she would call me the very next day & say she found some & was going to get them. I hadn't planned on getting any for at least a month. But this deal was just too good to pass up, the guy was selling out his whole herd & the price was just better than I could have imagined. My DH doesn't know yet & won't until they come home.

Congrats on the goats! I want pics!!

Hechicken great pictures. Those are some really pretty turkeys. If I had my way I would have a lot more breeds of turkey. I love them.
I had to move my poor blind albino hen today. She had been in with the lavender orpingtons but all of a sudden the roosters started picking on her. I moved her to the lemon cuckoo pen cause I only have one rooster in there. If he picks on her I guess I'll put her out with the other turkeys. She is such a sweet girl. I wish I could make her a pair of turkey sunglasses so she could see better.
I have about a half dozen midget white turkey eggs so far. I'm going to put about three of them in the bator tomorrow. None of the other turkeys are laying and I think I only have one midget laying so far.
It was another busy day. I got the panels on the hoop house wired together some more so they should hold in place pretty well. And got the wood supports built on one end of the hoop coop. The at was a little more complicated than I thought it would be but I got it done. I cut the cross boards at different angles so I could brace them against the panels and also serve as a support for my back wall of the coop. I'm almost nervous about doing the door end.
Then I got DH to hook up the tiller to the back of the tractor!!!! Yay!!!

And I tilled the area where I wanted to set the coop so I could level it out. I am so happy about the tiller cause I can take one side of my garden fence down now and till the garden up. I might actually get potatoes and onions in on schedule.
Anyway of course he had to go back over it again when I got done but that's okay. Then he pulled the hoop coop over with the tractor and got it setting down on the ground. I can finish my building in place now. I was afraid if I continued to build where I was I'd never get it moved. Of course as the day went on it got colder. Tomorrow and the next day are going to be miserable.
I am liking this hoop coop so much that I am beginning to have second thoughts on what I want to put in there. It's going to be too nice for guineas.

Speaking of which I have one guinea in with the d'uccles. I had gathered eggs and marked these as d'uccle. But when I was putting them in the hatching tray I noticed the difference in shape. Of all the guineas I have the one young hen that has no rooster has laid 4 eggs so far. None of my others have laid. How crazy is that.
I got the gate hung in the d'uccle and Swedish Flower hen house up and divided the breeds today too! And the cornish cockerel I had in there is on his way to Hawkeye via Josie. I need to sell some extra d'uccle roosters, and figure out how I am going to divide porcelains and mille fleur. I hate to put them in cages.
Trish I hope you take some pictures of your goats. I am so excited for you!!!

Glad you got your spot leveled out with the tiller! Sounds like you are on your way to having more room/coops! YAY! That went fast! You sure get a lot done when you're on a roll like that! I hope your turkey hatch for you! Very cool they are laying already! So far, everyone has quit on me... and guess who is laying now?? The Wyandottes!! Of course!

I don't think this is the right venue to have a disagreement. Just saying! These messages to each other should be kept private. I do wish you luck selling your eggs, Katy. Shipping eggs has become a nightmare. Maybe you could just post what you have available when you have them for sale.
Why don't you tell us here what you have so if someone is looking for one of your breeds we could contact you. Just an idea.

X2 I'm going LaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa... fingers in ears, eyes closed.... Not hearing this!!! Please, PLEASE use that PM button!!!

No one wants to feel like they are being purposely drawn into a fight! I'm going to go with Michael Jackson and say "I'm a lover, not a fighter!"

Hey Danz-- here in a few I'm running over to Josie's to go get my new Cornish!!

I am NUTS, I know. But I do have the room and I am going to put him in with my layers. They have been missing a roo since last summer when I got rid of the two that were in there with them. I'm hoping he might be nice enough to show, and if we take him to a show or two, maybe sell him to someone who also has Cornish who would appreciate him. And if not.... then I might be tempted to keep him and buy him a nice girlfriend and set up a date??

weeeee!!! Talk about my DH killing me!!

I just think they are the coolest little birds!!

 

[HEChicken]

Good morning all

I set my first eggs last night i hope we get something my bator only holds 7 eggs i thought it was 10. we put in 5 just to try out.


wish us luck

Good luck Michelle! For what its worth, I would put in as many as it will hold at this point, because if some don't develop and some develop but don't hatch, the fewer you set at the start, the higher the risk you will end up with only one chick. You may be okay this time of year and if that happens, it will be chick days and you will be able to get a lonely chick a companion that way. Is this your first time incubating?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Good luck Michelle! For what its worth, I would put in as many as it will hold at this point, because if some don't develop and some develop but don't hatch, the fewer you set at the start, the higher the risk you will end up with only one chick. You may be okay this time of year and if that happens, it will be chick days and you will be able to get a lonely chick a companion that way. Is this your first time incubating?

oops! I missed Michelle's post! I agree with HeChicken! and oh right!! Chick Days are almost upon us!! YAY!!! I'm wanting a couple more barred rocks. Machines, they are!!! There is no messing around with those ladies!

 

[HEChicken]

For those of you that don't know yet, I acquired two baby boer goatlings yesterday. I don't have them here yet because I told my friend who picked them up for me that I didn't have a place for them yet & she said she would keep them for awhile till I could get a pen & shelter made. These are one to one & a half week old doelings that are bottle babies. Yes, I may be crazy. I had told my friend that I was looking for some & I had no inkling she would call me the very next day & say she found some & was going to get them. I hadn't planned on getting any for at least a month. But this deal was just too good to pass up, the guy was selling out his whole herd & the price was just better than I could have imagined. My DH doesn't know yet & won't until they come home.

Congratulations on the doelings - I have to say you are very brave to take on bottle babies! You will have to take some pics as soon as they arrive - there is nothing cuter than a kid.

Hello all this wonderful weather has us all buzzin about doesn't it. I wish I had more time to post but I have been goin goin non stop. I wanted to post a pic of one of my girls to get some feedback if you will I am still very new to chickens so tell me what ya think of her good and bad Thanks in advance you guys are a great group!

I'm so sorry I missed this until Hawkeye commented - I had to go back a few pages to find it. I agree with Hawkeye that you would need a full body shot in order to get good feedback. There are several pictures you can take. First, while the bird is standing, look down and directly over, and take a photo from a bird's eye view. Then, with the bird at a 90 degree angle to you and looking straight ahead, take the photo so that you can see the whole body. Last, stand behind the bird and at the same level, and as she walks away from you, take a picture that shows the butt/tail. The other important information is breed. Different breeds should have different "type", so what is good on one breed, would be a fault on another. This has more to do with the shape of the bird - some should be "gravy bowl" shaped, others round like a basketball, etc. Oh - but the other thing to tell you is that that bird looks very young and you really can't get a good critique until she has matured, as they often take some time to fill out and take the shape they should. I've seen some pics of 4 month olds that I thought looked like a horrible representation of their breed and then you see them again at a year old and they've filled out in all the right places and turned out to be very true to type. So I wouldn't worry too much at this age anyway.

Glad Jorgie is going to be okay... WHat was he having done? Was he becoming a "gelding"? hehehe I don't know what you call boy dogs that are cut. And okay-- WHOA, you are super crazy busy! Yesterday was like that for me! I was driving and going between all of my volunteer jobs. I called my DH at one point and told him that since I know i'm going to get a job this Fall, that I was sooooo sad, I really enjoy my volunteering for the church and my elderly lady and all the other stuff in between.

WOW-- this is looking so nice! I love these hoop coops! I'm so tempted to get started on one right now! They look so economical, too... I like cheap.

Hey Danz-- here in a few I'm running over to Josie's to go get my new Cornish!!

I am NUTS, I know. But I do have the room and I am going to put him in with my layers. They have been missing a roo since last summer when I got rid of the two that were in there with them. I'm hoping he might be nice enough to show, and if we take him to a show or two, maybe sell him to someone who also has Cornish who would appreciate him. And if not.... then I might be tempted to keep him and buy him a nice girlfriend and set up a date??

weeeee!!! Talk about my DH killing me!!

I just think they are the coolest little birds!!

Yes, Danz, I don't remember if I commented on your hoop coop but it is looking really good, and you've made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. Glad you were able to get the site cleared for it and get it moved. Hawkeye, they really are pretty economical. Think $20 for each panel, and then there is the lumber and tarp and those are the main expenses. A few screws/nails, some wire or zip ties to tie the panels together, and some hardware for the gate. If you already have some of those things, you can build it pretty darn cheap. I took WichitaKidd's advice to heart about lumber and went and got all I would need for two hoop coops before the prices go up. I had a crazy experience at Lowe's when I went to get the last of the lumber. Their treated 2x4's were cheaper than the non-treated - can you believe that? Only 3c cheaper (2.87 for treated vs. 2.90 for untreated) but still, it made it an easy choice on which one to get.

I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your Cornish roo - I've always liked the look of them too. I wonder if the Cornish over the Barred Rocks would create a good meat bird....

oops! I missed Michelle's post! I agree with HeChicken! and oh right!! Chick Days are almost upon us!! YAY!!! I'm wanting a couple more barred rocks. Machines, they are!!! There is no messing around with those ladies!

I'm glad you said this - you and I were posting at the same time and I would have never gone up to see your post if you hadn't said this!!!

 

[Trish44]

oops! I missed Michelle's post! I agree with HeChicken! and oh right!! Chick Days are almost upon us!! YAY!!! I'm wanting a couple more barred rocks. Machines, they are!!! There is no messing around with those ladies!

I agree with you Hawkeye you just can't beat those Barred Rocks for laying. I have one new pullet I got from Eileen left that is doing really well, I hope nothing happens to her because I figure as many eggs & double yolkers that the two I have had have laid that they will burn out early. I'm planning to get a couple blue barred hens from her when I go back up her way next month.

My DH had a dozen red roses delivered to me yesterday afternoon, they're just beautiful, & then he came home with not only candy, but a really pretty card too. He's not that good about getting me cards, so I was impressed. It made up for him not telling me he was going to the gym after work & supper was kind of dry by then.

I will get pics of the baby doelings when I get a chance to get down there, they're down in Parkerville at my friend's house, which is just east of Arkansas City. Well I've got a lot to get done today, so I had better finish my coffee & get to it.