Consolidated Kansas

[OzawkieBantams]

Thank You all so much for the kind comments!
All those duck except for the ring teal are all birds found through out the United States.

HEChicken,
So for those kiddy pools work great have only had one pool fail for picking up and draining. I had a fancy pond for my ducks but that was more of a pain and hell of a lot more work then a cheap kiddy pool.

Eventually I will get a pic of my not so entertaining chickens. To me a chick is well a chicken........ hope everyone drys out soon!

Daren

 

[chicken danz]

Well this thing is still up and down. I am not done with them yet. I did get the SIM card from Fed Ex and installed it and the internet dropped again. Obviously they were wrong again. I have to be gone tomorrow so Thursday they are going to get their ears full again. Plus they wanted me to send them the old Sim card back but didn't include a package to do it and expect me to go on line to print postage. What part do they not understand about having no internet!!!!!

Needless to say this whole thing is bringing out the side of me that I try very hard never to let out of it's cage!!!
Thanks Jeanniec. Those girls are really cranking out eggs now.
Hechicken only my midgets are laying now. None of the other turkeys haven't begun yet. I even got an egg from my albino midget hen yesterday. Of course it isn't fertile since she lives with the lemon cuckoos. I thought I might eat it since it is a good egg but I just feel wrong about it. I love the turkeys so much!!
I got some boards on front of their shelters today and loaded them up with straw. I was trying to encourage some nesting. I need to get some nests constructed for the midgets and the peafowl too. I just ran out of time.
I went and got my new tire installed today and stopped by a shop in town to get a couple buttons. I ended up finding some awesome stuff to finish my granddaughters princess dress that I liked better than stuff I had on hand. Maybe it's a good thing I am making it a bit large because I don't know when I'll ever get it finished. I just don't have much patience to sew any more.
Trish I have a huge bunch of the blue barred rocks and that is what I've been trying to breed for. I got mine from Eileen as well. I am starting to get eggs but they are just light brown...nothing pretty yet. I didn't realize that is what she had crossed. I wonder if mine are crossed with legbars as well. I'll have to ask her. I have a bunch of them. A few with great barring and some with more like lacing. They are pretty though and I am counting on them laying me lots of eggs. So far they are doing a good job for pullets.
Mammahen good to see you on here as well. Miss hearing from you.

 

[mommahen10]

Danz, did you say earlier that you had birds that you got at Christmas time that are already laying? I know you're going to get your internet stuff figured out soon but I feel terrible that you are having to go through so much for something that seems so simple. It just makes me cringe that you are dealing with such a big company for this. When you get the dress done I'd love to see pics.

Maidenwolf, yay for silkie babies!

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I didn't remember that you had gotten the blue Barred Rocks from Eileen. That's kind of disappointing that they're laying brown eggs, I had hoped maybe they would lay something more colorful. That's interesting that some of yours have lacing instead of barring. I really couldn't tell what some of those were going to look like that she had in that brooder. They're all pretty young still. I've got to go out in the morning & clean out the pen out in the run & put those two & another young pullet I have in there so they're safe. I would be really mad if something happened to them this time like happened to my other Barred Rock pullet I got from her. I still have the one & she is doing great, she is a nice looking bird, but she is not quite old enough to lay yet. I really don't know what her aim is with crossing the Cream Legbars & the Barred Rocks, if she is trying to get an olive egger or what. I thought you had to use a darker egg layer for one side on that & a blue egg layer for the other side to make olive eggers. I think you could use a Marans or a Welsummer & an Ameraucana to get olive eggers. I thought about trying that later on since I do have a Marans rooster. I have two Welsummer hens, so I could probably use one of those. I just don't have an extra pen to put them in right now to make that happen.

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with your internet, that's just the pits. You give it to them, they need to get this issue resolved for you.

 

[chicken danz]

The blue barred rocks are beautiful. That is the purpose in my group. Since it is still a breeding project you have to breed back to a barred rock every now and then to keep the bars distinct. I guess I could stand corrected. I had mixed eggs and some were blues and some were normal rocks because she had added a new barred rooster in there to get more barring. My oldest girls are regular barred rocks so I guess there is a chance the blue ones haven't laid yet. Don't give up hope yet. I never even thought about egg coloring because I wasn't aware of what she used to promote the blue. Could be some colored eggs in the future. I have so many birds in there it's hard to know for sure who is laying just yet. I am just planning to breed the best girls and boys for future offspring and use the others as egg layers.
Yes Mammahen the Christmas girls are laying. They were about 7 weeks old when I got them and Olandsk start laying at about 4 months. I trashed the first couple eggs cause I am sure they were just practice. I'll start checking fertility as they lay again. I have some I hatched that will probably start in another 6 weeks or so. I like the quick turn around however they are little chickens so it's not like they are supplying eating eggs for sure.
Gotta get moving.
Have a great day!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I didn't remember that you had gotten the blue Barred Rocks from Eileen. That's kind of disappointing that they're laying brown eggs, I had hoped maybe they would lay something more colorful. That's interesting that some of yours have lacing instead of barring. I really couldn't tell what some of those were going to look like that she had in that brooder. They're all pretty young still. I've got to go out in the morning & clean out the pen out in the run & put those two & another young pullet I have in there so they're safe. I would be really mad if something happened to them this time like happened to my other Barred Rock pullet I got from her. I still have the one & she is doing great, she is a nice looking bird, but she is not quite old enough to lay yet. I really don't know what her aim is with crossing the Cream Legbars & the Barred Rocks, if she is trying to get an olive egger or what. I thought you had to use a darker egg layer for one side on that & a blue egg layer for the other side to make olive eggers. I think you could use a Marans or a Welsummer & an Ameraucana to get olive eggers. I thought about trying that later on since I do have a Marans rooster. I have two Welsummer hens, so I could probably use one of those. I just don't have an extra pen to put them in right now to make that happen.

I think the purpose of the pairing is to try to get a color different than any that exists currently - i.e. a barred rock that is blue and white barred instead of black and white. Since the blue egg gene is present, colored eggs may pop up from time to time in this or subsequent generations but I doubt if colored eggs is her intent in doing this. Just my two cents

Also, my understanding is that an olive egger is a dark egg layer over a green egg layer. Since a green egg layer carries the blue egg gene, perhaps it works just as well using a blue egg layer? I dunno.

I tried to create an olive egger, hatching eggs from my Marans hen out of Cyrus, who carried the green egg gene. I only wound up with one hen out of that pairing and she lays a dark brown egg - not as dark as her Marans mother but darker than most brown eggs. I currently have a Welsummer rooster and am considering incubating some of my green eggs fertilized by him to take another stab at getting an OE.

Here's another question for input from the genetics gurus. Last Fall somebody on here, I think Danz?, mentioned that if you put a green egg layer over a white egg layer you have a change at getting a hen that lays blue eggs. Since I do not currently have any blue egg layers in my flock, I decided to give it a go. I had Cyrus (green egg) and a Sultan who lays white eggs so I incubated the last 3 of her eggs before she quit laying for winter and wound up with one hen. She laid her first egg yesterday and.....it is green. I was so surprised to find that in the nest box - I was expecting either blue or brown, but not green. (For reference: Cyrus other offspring have laid either brown or green eggs). Any thoughts?

My turkeys spent their first night in the hoop coop last night and all seems to be well this morning. Madge was NOT happy last night. My turkeys are friendly and follow me around talking but are not handleable in the sense that they make sure to stay an arm's length distant from me at all times. So I had to wait until they were on the roost last night to pick them up and move them. I grabbed Madge first and wow is she strong. She fought me the entire way from the main coop to the hoop coop and I was glad to get there and put her down. Ned, on the other hand was completely calm. He is considerably bigger and therefore could have put up even more of a fight but when I picked him up he didn't even struggle - just allowed me to carry him over and set him down. Madge immediately started pacing the fence looking for a way out, while Ned spied the feeder and went over to stock up. Then he just stood and watched Madge pace. I'm sure he was thinking "What's the matter, Madge? The food's right over here". Men. By this morning they both seem calm and as content as they're going to be in confinement since they are not accustomed to it.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

http://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/tag/chicken-egg-color/

I did not read that so I don't know if is any good or not.

It is my understanding that BLUE is the pure color and GREEN is a mix of blue and brown. I may be wrong on that. (should read the article). Other colors are mixes in different proportions of WHITE, BLUE, and/or BROWN. So, if that is correct, blue and dark brown should get the olive green which is a darker version of the lighter green usually found.

I do not know if it makes a difference which chicken carries which color - the hen or the rooster. I had a rooster that carried the blue egg gene and the white egg hens he was with created pullets that layed blue eggs. That is all I know.

I had a BC marans (obviously not pure) that layed a beautiful mauve egg.

 

[chris0110]

All this talk of different breeds and egg colors has me wondering. if you could choose only one breed to raise in Kansas with colorful eggs, which would it be?

Also wondering if anyone knows if Wichita allows free range? I've searched the city code, but I can't find anything.

 

[HEChicken]

http://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/tag/chicken-egg-color/

I did not read that so I don't know if is any good or not.

It is my understanding that BLUE is the pure color and GREEN is a mix of blue and brown. I may be wrong on that. (should read the article). Other colors are mixes in different proportions of WHITE, BLUE, and/or BROWN. So, if that is correct, blue and dark brown should get the olive green which is a darker version of the lighter green usually found.

I do not know if it makes a difference which chicken carries which color - the hen or the rooster. I had a rooster that carried the blue egg gene and the white egg hens he was with created pullets that layed blue eggs. That is all I know.

I had a BC marans (obviously not pure) that layed a beautiful mauve egg.

Thanks Chickies! Yes, now that you mention it, I think it was you that had the blue egg over white hens and got blue eggs. Ah well, I'm happy with a little green egg layer out of the mix too.

All this talk of different breeds and egg colors has me wondering. if you could choose only one breed to raise in Kansas with colorful eggs, which would it be?

Also wondering if anyone knows if Wichita allows free range? I've searched the city code, but I can't find anything.

Haha - I can't choose one breed - that's my problem.

When I was doing the research in Wichita prior to getting my flock, I believe the code said something like "must be contained". I chose to interpret that as contained within my yard. Since I had privacy fence on 3 sides and rod iron in the front, I fortified the rod iron fence with chicken wire along the front, so there was no chance of a bird escaping between the bars, and considered my yard to "contain" the birds. I then installed a chicken coop with no run and they had free-range of the backyard. I had two different animal control officers in my backyard after that, and neither of them complained that I didn't have an actual run for them.

 

[Trish44]

chickies, that was an interesting article & nice pics, thanks for sharing that. I do have a Black Copper Marans rooster & several colors of Ameraucana hens, so I think I could produce some olive eggers. That might be a fun project for later on this summer, just to see what I could get. I guess it wouldn't matter what color of Ameraucana you chose, but I'm thinking maybe one that lays a more greenish cast egg might net more of a better olive color, I don't know. Anybody else want to weigh in on that?

I put my three little pullets in the small pen in the run today just to make sure they stay safe. I would hate to lose those two little blue Barred Rocks before they have a chance to grow out. I had that one lone little pullet that Michelle had hatched out & she was the only one left that age, so I just put her in the pen too so she would have some company. She got trampled on yesterday when the chickens were all pushing up against the door like they do when they want out & I think she will be safer in the pen. She is a pretty little thing, she is part gold laced wyandotte & she has pretty markings.

Well I'm going to pick up my little doeling today & then the other one will be coming when I get back, so pics will be coming tomorrow since it will be too late today by the time I get them here & get them all settled in. I can't wait to get them both here & see what they think of each other. Penny has been so lonely by herself with no other baby goats where she has been, so I'm hoping she will be happier with a friend.

I sure hope the sun comes out soon & it warms up, it's darned chilly out there right now. It looks like it's supposed to be 57 today, but right now it's still 37, brrrr. Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 though, yay! Have a good day everyone!