Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

Ok great info guys. Low and slow just like roasting them huh lol.

I have plenty of homemade stock from other chickens so I will give some of that, they are going on 4 weeks so I still have plenty of time. I want to make sure I dont strip the flavor from them for sure. I have time and a seperate pen for them so I will load them with juiciness and go slow

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Karen my eggs are going into lockdown on sat. I still have some up for grabs if you are interested

Do you raise Buff orps for butcher? How long did it take for yours, any non cornish meat bird, to reach butcher size? I am doing ff on them.

Unfortunately, I have my quota of new birds ordered for the year. I just love chicks but my silly birds aren't laying consistently enough yet to really get started hatching. I've only had a handful of Buff Orps but they were all hens. I raised 25 EE's that were free with my Speckled Sussex order. They were the most delicious bird I've had so far. I started processing them at 16 - 17 weeks. It seems like I said 12 weeks earlier? I'm totally dumb with this little bit of head congestion so I'm likely to say anything. That wind just messed up my sinuses. Anyway, I know I did the EE's at 16 - 17 weeks and they were really good. The rest of them (Speckled Sussex cockerels, Buff Rock, etc.) were around that time frame. The cornish were well before that age. I've heard that if you raise cornish on FF feed and put them out with the normal chickens to range, they will grow a bit slower and be a bit leaner also and they won't stink. They have an ungodly smell to them, from my small experience with them. I haven't decided whether I want to try any of them that way or not. I have plenty going on this year, as it is.

Maidenwolf, when you grow a chicken out fast like a meaty you sacrifice flavor and tenderness. But to get the best for the least amount of time you need to provide plenty of fat and protein. If you are still feeding FF that will help a ton. Also if you have any broth or fat from cooking you can always poor some of that on top. The protein is what builds the muscle though for sure. The fat just adds tenderness and flavor.
Karen I'll bet ole Chopper was just making sure you weren't bringing out some special food morsel he had to have or maybe another duck hen for him to hook up with. He always was such a social little guy. He'd start yelling as soon as I started moving in the morning.
Well it has started snowing and I haven't gone out yet. This guy was supposed to call me back and I am getting tired of waiting on him. He'll probably change his mind now that the snow has begun. I'm not going to carry two phones with me while I try to feed and water. He has both numbers so who knows which one he will call.
I planned to make some cinnamon rolls today but don't know if I'll have time. It always seems the bad weather always means unexpected work and more time outside.
There was no indication of how much oxine to add to the water for colds and stuff. I figure it is worth a glug or so out of the bottle. I think I am going to try it just the same. It makes sense. If they can treat public water systems with it it should work safely.
Well I am done waiting. I think I've got to get out and brave the cold.

Yup, that Choppers is a treat hound for sure!

He was probably thinking I was pretty nervey for not bringing treats on such a miserable day!

You know, a glug sounds good to me. I put the whole gallon in the pond periodically during our last summer and the birds did fabulously. There were lots of ponds becoming contaminated from lack of rain and animal use. Ours was still fine. I wouldn't have even thought of putting it in their water myself.

Yep - I've read that from start to finish - it is a great learning thread.

I'm so glad to hear that! It is a good design and I think I'll probably get rid of my dog pens once I get the hoop coops completed.

I butchered my Buff Orp boys when they started crowing which was between 16-17 weeks. I left one until he was 25 weeks and he was huge by then and still just as tender.

Karen that is so funny, I just didn't notice the direction of the snow until you said, but I did have to close the east side window on my coop this morning because a little snow was blowing in and I didn't want the straw getting wet. I don't close it no matter how cold it gets at night as I think they need the ventilation having it open provides so it is kind of funny to have to close it today.

Well, I did it! I ordered an Rcom incubator. I've been looking for awhile and finally found one at a decent price with free shipping.

Isn't it just ridiculous? It's still coming right out of the east and that's just strange and rude.

Happy New Bator to you! That's awesome.

Ok great info guys. Low and slow just like roasting them huh lol.

I have plenty of homemade stock from other chickens so I will give some of that, they are going on 4 weeks so I still have plenty of time. I want to make sure I dont strip the flavor from them for sure. I have time and a seperate pen for them so I will load them with juiciness and go slow

Sounds like a good plan, maidenwolf. It's so nice we can share information. I don't know how they did it "back in the day".

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Thank you for the info. It really is nice to be able to share and help each other. Plus this is the only thread of people,, save a few instances,,, that people dont judge you but instead help you. We are all learning every day no matter how long we have been doing ANYTHING.

 

[chicken danz]

Maidenwolf you are a joy! Keep that in mind.
I just came in to warm my fingers and toes. Just sold a pup but the guy took the tour and then stood around for a long time talking. He is also asking about buying some more birds. He sells birds and has a lot of people asking for different breeds. His is strictly a buy, raise and sell operation. Might be a decent contact to have in the long run. He has people asking for breeds he doesn't have like the orpingtons and such and said he'd pass the word
Speaking of which does anyone know what I should sell lavender orpingtons and lemon orpington chicks for. They all come from good lines...most from previous greenfire stock. Some from other importers. I want to sell but I don't want to give them away. Know what I mean? I know when it comes to the other exhibition lines I won't sell cheap but lemons and lavenders are kind of getting less rare.
I got a new heater in a sled for the geese so they now have water. I treated the d'uccles water with vetRX and oxine. I just let a little oxine - a tablespoon or two drop in the water. I guess we'll see how it does.
I don't want to start antibiotics if I don't have to.
I guess I had better get back out there and finish feeding. Most of the birds are staying inside anyway.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Maidenwolf you are a joy! Keep that in mind.
I just came in to warm my fingers and toes. Just sold a pup but the guy took the tour and then stood around for a long time talking. He is also asking about buying some more birds. He sells birds and has a lot of people asking for different breeds. His is strictly a buy, raise and sell operation. Might be a decent contact to have in the long run. He has people asking for breeds he doesn't have like the orpingtons and such and said he'd pass the word
Speaking of which does anyone know what I should sell lavender orpingtons and lemon orpington chicks for. They all come from good lines...most from previous greenfire stock. Some from other importers. I want to sell but I don't want to give them away. Know what I mean? I know when it comes to the other exhibition lines I won't sell cheap but lemons and lavenders are kind of getting less rare.
I got a new heater in a sled for the geese so they now have water. I treated the d'uccles water with vetRX and oxine. I just let a little oxine - a tablespoon or two drop in the water. I guess we'll see how it does.
I don't want to start antibiotics if I don't have to.
I guess I had better get back out there and finish feeding. Most of the birds are staying inside anyway.

Thank you. You are a wonderful woman

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, congrats on the new 'bator, I know you will love it. I wish I could afford to get one of those myself just as a backup for my cabinet.

I went out & fed & watered all my birds & animals & came in sweating from all the clothes I had on, so now my hair is wet & my clothes are slowly drying. My feet still got really cold in the wool socks because I had my rubber snow boots on. The keep my feet dry, but not very warm.

Danz, that's great about selling the pup, I hope you can sell the rest soon. I wish I could have gotten a male from you, but my DH just wasn't on board with it. He probably was seeing dollar signs in the back of his head for the extra dog food. We probably don't need another one anyway, the two I have are doing a good job at night, they keep busy out there. BTW, I never had any more chicken losses to anything after those 4 at once, so maybe you all were right & I just had a very sneaky predator that got past my dogs & I feel bad now that I punished them when they were probably just bringing the dead birds back to me. I didn't know what was going on though, it was strange.

 

[michelleml]

Today is day 6 with eggs in incubator. Do you have to candle them? I've never done this so I'm a bit nervous plus I don't have a candler I would just use a flashlight

 

[chicken danz]

I am done outside until I go back out to gather up puppies and close gates. Most of the chickens are in their coops anyway. They don't like the weather much better than I do.Too bad I couldn't have warmed all their food. I'll bet they would have appreciated it today. The FF creates a little heat on it's own but it doesn't last.
Now with the ice coming in tonight I am worried about loosing power. I'd sure hate to loose birds due to chilling. And I do have several in the incubator that are always a concern. We are close to a substation so we usually don't have major issues. I wish this area would get with the times and start putting in buried power lines. Even 30 some years ago in Oklahoma City we had buried utilities. It is so much smarter. They'd probably save the overtime expense they incur if they used the money to bury them.
It's a lot colder than the forecast said so maybe we won't get as much freezing rain when the other front moves in. I could deal with a foot of snow a lot easier than a half inch of ice.
I plan to put in buried lines here if I ever get my buildings set up like I want.
Another goose egg today. I must just have one girl laying so far. I also must have disturbed the turkeys when I butchered cause it has been 2 days since I got an egg from them. I desperately need to get about 10 more bales of straw for nesting soon. Those birds make it disappear I swear.

 

[JosieChick]

Yeah!!!

Josie & deerfield sounds great as long as weather is good you can count us is. The kids will love having someone to play with

My mom came to visit this past summer and we went to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. http://www.nps.gov/tapr/index.htm I really wanted them to see the prairie because I think it is a special part of Kansas. The bus tour I believe was free and very interesting. Plus you can wander around and look at the historical buildings and we even got to see the introduced buffalo herd in one of the areas we drove through!
Then we went to Council Grove for lunch at the Hays House restaurant, good food and very awesome old restaurant. Plus Council Grove is just a really neat place to walk around and window shop.

My FIL has asked my DW to plan a family reunion in Kansas this summer. As almost everyone lives west of the Rockies except for a sister in Chicago and a brother in Tennessee. So she has charged me with asking all of you for ideas of places that would be fun to visit or activities. You would think we would have plenty after living here for nearly 20 years, but I figured getting other people's ideas might help.

Thanks in advance.

Great, we have a t post driver as well, it is homemade and heavy as you know what but it works. We also have the bucket on the kubota. Chechouakan said she and her DH use the bucket to drive posts in and it goes super quick. I call the tractor!

Josie-- I'll bring the kids' LeapPads and a couple of coloring books. But honestly, they are easy to entertain, and if Karen's kids are there, they will be soooooo excited about that. They have already met (and LOVED) Karen's kids! You don't need to buy extra tools to put the hangers on with-- I just use pliers and they actually work great! They don't have to be twisted around, they just have to be bent down enough to grab onto the bumps on the T-post. We'll bring our T-post driver. Oh-- did I mention we have one of those?? It's easier if more than one person is doing that-- you can leap frog around each other with two people driving posts.


Originally Posted by chicken danz

I will send you a PM about picking up all your goodies! Thanks! Maybe you can give me a quick lesson the the wire tie tool. We have one and every once in a while I get it just by sheer luck but I still haven't figured out the trick to it. When it does work it is slick but I can't seem to commit the process to memory!
Oh yes, I also have a t-post pounder so you can borrow that too - makes short work of driving in the posts. The t-post wire tie tool really works great. It takes a moment to get the knack of it but once you do, you can put a wire around the t-post, and then with the tool, bend it to loop around in a couple of seconds. I'll put my name on it for you!

I didn't get anything done on my hoop house today. I had a friend come over for lunch and with preparing food for her and then visiting with her, it just seemed to take up the whole day. DD had a lesson I had to take her to, and we followed my friend down the driveway as she was leaving, and didn't get home until dark so it felt like the whole day got away from me with no progress. And the next couple of days are supposed to be too wintry to do a lot of work outside. I am so ready for it to be spring already.

Can't blame you. Kansas weather is ridiculous because they have no idea what is really going to happen. I grew up in Maine and we would get a foot of snow at a time, sometimes two or three storms in one week and I still freak out over the weather here just because of the uncertainty. I think they will be fine, most likely they will just stay in for the day. If they don't come out the next day after the storm you can shovel a short path and throw some scratch down and usually once they venture out they realize snow doesn't eat chickens.

Please don't laugh at me too much but I'm really freaking out about how much snow they are calling for. I'm from central texas and the most snow I've seen is maybe 2 inches. Should I put plastic on chicken run? to keep snow out of the run?

I would imagine for the orps at least $6-8 a chick. They aren't that common and most people who have them don't sell them for cheap so you don't have to worry about someone selling really low competing with you. Most people who ship chicks are right around those prices so you could start there and see what you get for sales.

Maidenwolf you are a joy! Keep that in mind.
I just came in to warm my fingers and toes. Just sold a pup but the guy took the tour and then stood around for a long time talking. He is also asking about buying some more birds. He sells birds and has a lot of people asking for different breeds. His is strictly a buy, raise and sell operation. Might be a decent contact to have in the long run. He has people asking for breeds he doesn't have like the orpingtons and such and said he'd pass the word
Speaking of which does anyone know what I should sell lavender orpingtons and lemon orpington chicks for. They all come from good lines...most from previous greenfire stock. Some from other importers. I want to sell but I don't want to give them away. Know what I mean? I know when it comes to the other exhibition lines I won't sell cheap but lemons and lavenders are kind of getting less rare.
I got a new heater in a sled for the geese so they now have water. I treated the d'uccles water with vetRX and oxine. I just let a little oxine - a tablespoon or two drop in the water. I guess we'll see how it does.
I don't want to start antibiotics if I don't have to.
I guess I had better get back out there and finish feeding. Most of the birds are staying inside anyway.

It is so cold out. I need to get out there and get everyone situated. I think I am going to bring the call ducks inside the garage. They sleep outside in their pen and I am afraid if it snows too much they might get stuck with their short little legs.

Sounds like it is going to be pretty chilly on Saturday so I will see if DH's parents want to check on a burn permit and maybe we can get a fire going to burn some brush so we can warm up! I really need the cold weather to quit because my coveralls barely zip over my belly as it is and its only getting bigger!

Ok, I really need to get a move on and make sure everyone is set for the evening. I barely slept last night due to a snoring DH so now I am just falling apart.

 

[chicken danz]

Josie in addition to your post on the tallgrass prairie thing; You know I lived in council Grove for over 20 years. The Hays house had a fire last summer and closed down. I think they reopened under new management. If I were going to recommend a place to eat I would recommend the Trail Days Cafe. It is an old historical building and a tour in the past all by itself. The food is amazing and all cooked on an antique stove. It is all hand made and fresh made including the dressing which is an old Indian recipe for greens. Hand made breads etc. It is an amazing place. Not huge but big enough. They have a separate dining facility in the basement for more space. The food is to die for.
I can't believe how fast this day went. Seems to be that way anytime I have someone here for anything.
I guess I'd better go open the freezer door and stare at it for a while to decide what on earth I'm cooking for dinner. I bought groceries yesterday but I'm still clueless.