Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I am the one and only !
UN-duplicable!

No, actually you're not the only, there are a couple more guys on here, but they just don't post often.

Danz, I hope your birds start recovering soon & that your Olansk doesn't get what the others have. I know when my layer flock got sick I was terrified it would spread to my breeder coop & get all of my expensive birds, but (knock on wood) it didn't. I don't think it matters if your birds are out free-ranging or shut in a pen, they can still get sick because like you said the diseases are brought in by wild birds. It was my layer flock that is out every day ranging around my yard that got sick & 4 of them died from it. I did have one other group of birds in the breeder coop, the Speckled Sussex that got sick, but my other birds are out there walking all around their pens every day, plus there are trees all over out there where the wild birds can roost. We have a lot of wild birds here with all of the trees we have so it isn't a surprise that they could bring something in.

RoosterLew, I will take some pics tomorrow of my new chicks. Those who have had chickens for some time understand why I don't want to stress them any more than they already have been with the trip they made from Tennessee. I want them to settle in & keep them quiet for the rest of today & then I'll try to get some pics tomorrow. Going through the postal service had to not be that pleasant shut in that box & being jostled all around from truck to truck & building to building. They're kind of expensive birds too, so I want to make sure I do everything right so they make it.

 

[Trish44]

Ahhh...I tried all the feed stores but I've never been to a mill/elevator - maybe that's the ticket. The closest one to me isn't that close so its always been more convenient to go to the feed store that I pass several times a week going other places. Good tip on catching them!

I'm so sorry for your losses. I agree the fresh air will be good for them - hopefully this is the last winter blast and then they can get back outside.

I had a scare last night. I had 3 chicks hatch before I went to bed, with several others pipped. At midnight I woke to find the house unnaturally quiet...and dark. Power outage. My first thought was of the incubator and those newly hatched chicks, along with the ones trying to hatch. I covered it with a blanket, and went back to bed but lay there fretting about the situation, willing the power to come back on. I even thought about getting up and pulling them all out - eggs and chicks, to put them against my body to stay warm, but worried that wouldn't be good for the hatching chicks. Eventually I drifted off to sleep and woke several hours later because the power had come back on. I didn't even dare go and check on the incubator, as I figured if it was too late there was nothing I could do, and if it wasn't....well, I had heard the incubator fire back up so I knew it was doing its best to get back up to temp. I finally got up at 5:30 to check on them and found 3 more chicks had hatched and several more had pipped - the power outage didn't seem to slow them down at all. Ahhhh....relief.

I'm just in from doing my last check on them, which included being viciously attacked. My little Serama was, I thought, sleeping in the nest box. I went to lift her out and that's when I found out she wasn't just sleeping, and that a broody Serama is a PISTOL. She attacked me first with her wings, flapping them hard against my hands, and then pecked me mercilessly. And, to whoever it was that was wondering how they can cover so many eggs....she was so flattened out she was sitting on 8-10 full-sized eggs and seemed to be covering them easily. I pulled out my little broody coop that is perfect for a hen her size and moved her to it. If this is what she's like after dark, I don't even want to go near her during the daytime.

I'm glad your chicks made it OK that were hatching, I was worried today too after I heard about the power outages because I have had chicks hatching today too & still have more to go yet. So far we haven't had a problem, so I hope that we don't. I also have two sets of chicks out in the garage in brooders. One group is older & feathered out, but the others aren't, they're tiny still.

Yes, those broody hens can get downright mean when you try to move them or get close to their nest. That one little hen I had that sat on eggs on my front porch pecked me mercilously when I got too close.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

So here's a cool thing. I sold tons of my Aloha culls to a young lady who eventually had to sell out and moved out of state. This happened months ago. Today I met the man who bought all my culls from her. He came to buy some of my ducks. We put two and two together when he started telling me about his orange chickens with spots. Small world. I sold the birds to the young woman in Udall and she sold them to a guy who lives a couple miles from me! LOL! So funny! I sold him a few ducks and some Swedish Flower chicks. He wants me to come over and talk to him about his birds and what it was that disqualified them from my keepers. So fun!

I am sorry I've been MIA. I miss the interaction but just can't get my life to slow down. I've kept up reading everything but I've had some computer trouble also. Tomorrow I get a new one -- they were transferring my files today.

If anyone is interested in a quad of Black Ameraucanas split to lavender, I'll be advertising them soon.

 

[cherwill]

x2. That has been my motto for years. (Maybe not nicotine though? To my knowledge there is no therapeutic level of that that is good for you in moderation).

Yeah, there are several substances I wouldn't use, even in moderation.

Ahhh...I tried all the feed stores but I've never been to a mill/elevator - maybe that's the ticket. The closest one to me isn't that close so its always been more convenient to go to the feed store that I pass several times a week going other places. Good tip on catching them!

I'm so sorry for your losses. I agree the fresh air will be good for them - hopefully this is the last winter blast and then they can get back outside.

I had a scare last night. I had 3 chicks hatch before I went to bed, with several others pipped. At midnight I woke to find the house unnaturally quiet...and dark. Power outage. My first thought was of the incubator and those newly hatched chicks, along with the ones trying to hatch. I covered it with a blanket, and went back to bed but lay there fretting about the situation, willing the power to come back on. I even thought about getting up and pulling them all out - eggs and chicks, to put them against my body to stay warm, but worried that wouldn't be good for the hatching chicks. Eventually I drifted off to sleep and woke several hours later because the power had come back on. I didn't even dare go and check on the incubator, as I figured if it was too late there was nothing I could do, and if it wasn't....well, I had heard the incubator fire back up so I knew it was doing its best to get back up to temp. I finally got up at 5:30 to check on them and found 3 more chicks had hatched and several more had pipped - the power outage didn't seem to slow them down at all. Ahhhh....relief.

I'm glad there were no bad effects from the power outage. I'd have been up half the night, too, worrying about them.

We went to Orscheln today to get dog food and of course I HAD to go look at the chicks. Chicken math sucks today; I have nowhere I could put more chickens so all I could do was look. Sigh.

 

[Trish44]

So here's a cool thing. I sold tons of my Aloha culls to a young lady who eventually had to sell out and moved out of state. This happened months ago. Today I met the man who bought all my culls from her. He came to buy some of my ducks. We put two and two together when he started telling me about his orange chickens with spots. Small world. I sold the birds to the young woman in Udall and she sold them to a guy who lives a couple miles from me! LOL! So funny! I sold him a few ducks and some Swedish Flower chicks. He wants me to come over and talk to him about his birds and what it was that disqualified them from my keepers. So fun!

I am sorry I've been MIA. I miss the interaction but just can't get my life to slow down. I've kept up reading everything but I've had some computer trouble also. Tomorrow I get a new one -- they were transferring my files today.

If anyone is interested in a quad of Black Ameraucanas split to lavender, I'll be advertising them soon.

What a coincidence about the guy who bought your Alohas, if he is the one I'm thinking of he bought a SFH rooster from me. I steered him your way for the ducks from the KS Poultry Swap.

I don't want to be a downer, but I don't think your life will slow down until your kids are grown & gone from home. Congrats on the new computer!

The Ameraucanas are from my birds that were hatched last year for my lavender Ameraucana program. They come from the Jean Ribbick line if anybody wants to know that.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

We went to Orscheln today to get dog food and of course I HAD to go look at the chicks. Chicken math sucks today; I have nowhere I could put more chickens so all I could do was look. Sigh.

I went to Orschelns yesterday too - unfortunately, I came home with 4 little Polish Crested chicks - so so so cute!! I'm just having way too much fun with my little chickens I'm getting cute little keets on Monday - and for FREE... how awesome is that

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I'm amazed at how fast word spreads when you have eggs for sale! I'm having a hard time keeping up and finding myself making sure I have set aside some eating eggs for me! I'm selling as many hatching eggs as I am selling eating eggs... not to mention my chicks that I keep hatching out too. I'm making enough money each month to cover my feed plus some extra - how great that my hobby pays for itself!

Anyone have Polish Crested? I'm just curious if there is anything special I need to know about them as far as their needs - I have 4 cute little ones I picked up yesterday.

 

[123casper]

What were you selling in Afton Ralph? Im taking some bucklings to the McCune sale

 

[123casper]

I make good money selling eggs here in parsons. I alos promote myself well though. There is no reason why this hobby shouldn't be profitable

 

[chicken danz]

Karen, that's amazing that things come full circle like that.
Trish I understand how you need to get your chicks settled. I always use chick saver on shipped birds for a couple days regardless of their age. It really seems to help. Or diluted pedialite if I happen to run out of chick saver. DH found these little one serving bottles of pedialite that save opening a large bottle and having lots go to waste. I do like the chick saver though cause I can use a partial packet and it isn't going to go bad.
Of course out in the boonies there isn't such a thing as overnight shipping and they only get a truck in early in the morning. So even if they are in the sorting center they won't get here until the next day. It's over 2 hours drive up there one way and they wouldn't let you in anyway so you just have to wait for the truck.