Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I have 2 of the sweeter heaters over my roosts in the coop. It is so nice to be able to provide a slightly warmer spot for the girls and Butch during cold weather. They can move away from the heaters if they are too warm, too. The big thing is that they aren't a fire hazard. I recommend them, too.

Oh yes, I meant to respond to that in Danz' post too. I'm glad you are liking the Sweeter Heater - I'll definitely consider that if/when I need to get something else in the future.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz - Bacteria from wild birds.....hmmmm....makes me wonder if what is affecting my two hens is related. I can't remember how far back you posted the symptoms, but what where they again?

They came down quickly with sneezing one day, then swollen faces matted eyes and congested beaks the next and dying quickly.
I've never seen anything even remotely like it. These birds don't free range. They were all in one house/pen...so I am guessing it was easy for them to infect each other. Thank goodness it stayed contained. I'm thinking maybe it was spread through their poo since neighboring pens weren't infected. They also quit eating. Now they are making up for lost time. I am still waiting to get an answer on what it was for sure.
Originally Posted by HEChicken

Oh yes, I meant to respond to that in Danz' post too. I'm glad you are liking the Sweeter Heater - I'll definitely consider that if/when I need to get something else in the future.

I really wish I had the funds to order at least 3 more of them right now. I am brooding so many birds. I know this weather has got to break though so I can get some of them outside. My house reeks of bird smells.

 

[pikeman94]

They came down quickly with sneezing one day, then swollen faces matted eyes and congested beaks the next and dying quickly.
I've never seen anything even remotely like it. These birds don't free range. They were all in one house/pen...so I am guessing it was easy for them to infect each other. Thank goodness it stayed contained. I'm thinking maybe it was spread through their poo since neighboring pens weren't infected. They also quit eating. Now they are making up for lost time. I am still waiting to get an answer on what it was for sure.

Well the one bird that is really sick was the one molting late. I thought the molting was done a few weeks ago. I left for a business trip last week and when I came home this hen was a mess. She could barely walk and kept falling over. Then, her hatch mate started acting lethargic so she is off to quarantine too. None of the other birds are affected?!?!?! Both "sick" hens are not sneezing and don't have stuffy or runny beaks. It is very odd as any illness I have seen before has manifested as a "cold". In those cases quick action cured the bird. I am keeping an eye on the rest of the flock though. At the first sign of another bird acting up I am going to nuke from orbit with anti-biotics!

 

[Trish44]

I agree Trish - love the hoop coops!

A few days ago my chocolate muscovy showed up missing at bedtime but was back by mid-morning. Same thing last night. It was affecting the flock dynamics as the drakes didn't want to go in the coop without her (and in all the time I've had them they've NEVER not gone in before). I had to herd them both of the past two nights. I've been quite obsessive the past two days trying to figure out her secret, and was determined tonight to follow her to find her hiding place. I figured she probably has a nest somewhere and is laying a clutch in preparation for brooding.

But I had to feed my family and by the time dinner was over and I went to check on them, she was missing again. This time there was enough daylight I started to search once again and finally found her. But oh boy, I am not keen on her choice of nesting place. The previous owners of the property had a couple of burn barrels way in back where they threw their trash and periodically fired it up. I've been wanting to get rid of the remnants but the barrels are rusted and burned through in places so moving them won't be easy. Also, there is a ton of broken glass in them. And broken glass makes the perfect nesting material, right? Well, apparently a chocolate muscovy hen thinks so. She was sitting on 4 poopy eggs in a nest of broken glass. Yikes. My muscovies are not handleable but I had her cornered so I pinned her, then picked her up and with her struggling under one arm, also gathered up the 4 icky eggs and moved them all to my hoop coop. I placed the eggs in the straw in a doghouse and put her in with them. She, of course, didn't like that idea one bit but there she will stay (as long as my resolve holds firm) until she realizes she has no other option. She will miss her freedom and her trips to the pond but I really think it has to be this way both for her safety and that of any future ducklings. Can you imagine hatching in a bed of broken glass???

Wow, that's crazy, brooding on a bed of glass! When I had ducks they usually nested in my flower beds or under a bush. I would go out to water flowers or something & find a duck sitting in there. They were quite protective of their nest too. I never had Muscovys I had roens & mallards mostly, so they were pretty camouflaged,

These barrels are standing upright! The one she was in does have a piece of rusted metal partially across the top though so it must have seemed like a secure location to her. Funny that outside seemed more secure to her than inside the coop though

. I'll have to get a picture of where she was.

This morning she seems to be agreeing with me that the hoop coop is a better place to brood. Surely it couldn't have been that easy?

I am doing both types of incubation. What I had read about muscovies is that they are good broodies and mothers so I always intended to let them raise some of their own but I've been getting so many eggs that I also filled my incubator on Friday. They take 5 weeks, not 4 like other ducks, so my incubator will be tied up for awhile. I've heard that muscovy eggs are hard to hatch but I'm going to hope my Rcom can do a decent job of it. Some of the offspring will be sold and others I'll raise for meat, as they have one of the best feed:meat ratios around.

So, since my incubator is tied up....I ordered another one

I still can hardly believe I hit submit on that order, but I have turkey eggs under the first brody muscovy, that aren't due to hatch until a week after her ducklings so I'll need to pull them out from under her, and with the incubator full, didn't have anywhere to put them. I just like the Rcom so much better than my home builts because although they worked fine, they involved manual turning and the Rcom is so easy - just dial up the temp/humidity to whatever settings you want and it maintains them. No need to check gauges, and add water through flexible hoses during lockdown and all that. The company I ordered the first one from has a points system where you can use the points from one purchase for a discount on the next. So the points from the first one I bought got me $20 off this one. They already had the lowest price I could find, and offered free shipping so with the same deal plus $20 off.....well, y'all would have done the same thing, wouldn't you? WOULDN'T YOU???

Congrats on the new Rcom! That's what I want to get next to hatch in. I have the GQF cabinet I incubate in, but don't hatch in it since I have too many different stages of eggs in there. I have a GQF Hovabator 1588 that I hatch in & it does OK, but I have to mess with it to get the humidity the way I want it. It would be nice to have something more automatic. Where did you get yours by the way? Yes, I would have done the same thing if I had a deal like you got.

It's rainy here today, it had rained some before I got up & now it's just misting out there. We can use the moisture, but it's just so messy in the pens.

 

[HEChicken]

Where did you get yours by the way? Yes, I would have done the same thing if I had a deal like you got.

I ordered both times from www.uniqueincubator.com. Here's the weird thing - they are located in Wichita! I wish I knew where as the return address is only a PO Box. It doesn't provide their location anywhere on the website so I had no clue when I ordered, but when I got the tracking number the first time, I noticed it was sent from Wichita and when I received it, I saw the return address. Anyway, here's the other weird thing. The charges show up on my credit card as being "GQF". They aren't just a Rcom distributor but have GQF products as well, and almost everything is free shipping. I didn't price out everything on the site but I had been pricing Rcoms for quite awhile before ordering and they were quite a bit cheaper here than anywhere else. Plus, with the points system, getting another $20 off the second one makes me really glad I found them. Their customer service has been really good so far - when I email I almost always get a response within a short time, and last time I ordered, I got the tracking information within hours of placing the order.

Well, my chocolate muscovy seems content to brood in the hoop coop - I am truly stunned because she wasn't actually broody before last night. She had 4 eggs in her broken glass nest and had been sleeping there at night, but was with the rest of the ducks during the day. Only yesterday when I let them out for free range time, I watched her walk down to the pond with the others, splash around for awhile and walk back with them. So although she was clearly working up to it, by trying to lay a clutch, she wasn't what I would describe as broody. I figured she would chafe at being penned up and spend days pacing the hoop coop, perhaps deigning to lay her egg in the dog house, and then maybe go broody after some time had passed. But this morning when I went down there, she had made a nest in the doghouse and was sitting. I came up to the house to get some more eggs to put under her, went right back down and she was off the nest getting a drink of water. Thinking I was right about it being "too good to be true", I put the new eggs in the nest with the original ones anyway, and left. To my surprise when I went back later, there she was back on the nest. So I got another dozen and placed the eggs all around her. I'm hoping she'll tuck them under her and sit on them too. That makes 23 eggs including the ones she had laid in the barrel originally. We'll see. I figure if she's going to sit for 5 weeks, I may as well make it worth her while

So my duck egg production will go down again. Its funny its the two younger ducks I got from the Bird Man in Ark City who are broody and my two original ducks that are at least a month older, haven't shown any inclination yet. Hopefully they will keep laying for awhile so we can spread out the ducklings.

When we got up this morning it had been raining but since then its only been misting. Our pond level is WAAAAY down what it was this time last year so I fear if this drought doesn't end this spring - and based on the accumulated moisture we've had this year, I don't think its even close - our pond may dry up this summer.

 

[Hawkeye95]

checking in because for ONCE I finally have the time! Lately... I can't even begin to tell you how busy we are!

First of all Rooster-- that was an awesome video! I LOVED your secret and how you were whispering and finally told him that "Winning IS fair!" LOL I think your secret is out, though.

HeChicken, crazy duck! Glad you caught her, I bet she would have been eaten if something had found her. Much safer in your hoop coop! Hopefully she hatches the eggs!

Danz, so glad to hear that you are fighting a bacterial infection vs virus! Whew!!! Much better for everyone involved, and yes, then you can keep everyone. Hopefully they will continue to recover and be okay from here on out. I swear, everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong for me and it sounds like for you too.

Trish, glad you got the next hoop coop built! So far, I think that is the best breeding pen idea by far. Hope the goats are doing well.

Maidenwolf, I read your posts and I am just so sorry you have so much to deal with. I hope you find peace with it all and find something that will help or work for you.

Josie--- OMGosh.... you are like due ANY TIME!! Okay, yeah, a couple more weeks, but your time has nearly run out! I would be working hard too to get things together and in order. Once baby is here, it will be easier to have it done than to try to do work after baby is here. Glad the room is nearly done! I ran across some more inserts. I don't know how many, but not a lot. If you want them, I could mail them to you. ??? (actually, I think some of them were Doublers-- great for naps and nighttime)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So in other news, I had a job interview in OKC and I did receve an offer. I accepted and we'll see how the process plays out. So no more info than that right now as far as timing or start dates, etc. But we will be moving for certain now. Just need to finish the house and get it listed on the market. We have soooo much to do. I need to get the barn cleaned out too-- the horse stalls are a mess and need to get dug out. Ugh. I need to hunt down child care for the kids BEFORE we move. I'll be really sad about that. I used to play with the kids during the summer months and take them to the park, the zoo, etc.... Sigh. I'm hoping I can find a nanny to come to the house, and if not, some kind of program that does fun stuff.

OH!! And I had one of my baby Reese birds die! I made a stupid mistake and bought non-medicated chick starter. I've never done that before. But there are only 4 of them and I bought a huge 50lb bag and still have not quite got thru it. They all were pooping bright red blood and fluffed. It went fast. I gave them Corrid and the other 3 are doing great-- the Corrid pulled them out of it really quickly. So amazing how fast that stuff works!! The 4th one died very quickly. So stupid!!! It's just because we've been soooo busy and I've not been here at the house a lot that I missed them being sick.

 

[COOP Group]

Hello Kansas and welcome to the rain!

Arthena Easterwood is going to propose the idea of a Chicken Ordinance to the Overland Park City Council Monday morning (April 22nd). We are looking for anyone who is in support of urban chickens to write in. Arthena's email is www.arthenaeasterwood.com. It will be most helpful if you are from Overland Park and could include any reasons why you believe keeping chickens would benifit our community. If you are not in Overland Park, maybe it could still help us if you write in where you live and any positive thoughts or impacts chickens have brought you and your community. I am sure it will be a very long drawn out process but this is the first step and we are taking it!!

Thank you so much for your time!!

Natalie Nitz
COOP Group
[email protected]

 

[cubbysan]

Hello Kansas and welcome to the rain!

Arthena Easterwood is going to propose the idea of a Chicken Ordinance to the Overland Park City Council Monday morning (April 22nd). We are looking for anyone who is in support of urban chickens to write in. Arthena's email is www.arthenaeasterwood.com. It will be most helpful if you are from Overland Park and could include any reasons why you believe keeping chickens would benifit our community. If you are not in Overland Park, maybe it could still help us if you write in where you live and any positive thoughts or impacts chickens have brought you and your community. I am sure it will be a very long drawn out process but this is the first step and we are taking it!!

Thank you so much for your time!!

Natalie Nitz
COOP Group
[email protected]

So glad you are getting a second chance. I'll try to see if I can write something up.

 

[chicken danz]

So its one of those days I am just not moving at all. Coopgroup I'm not from your area but I'd be happy to write in with a common sense plea. Several of us have done that sort of thing in the past. And of course you are welcome to join our little group.
Hawkeye Congrats on the job although I hate the thought of seeing you move.
I don't know if I'd recognize cocci if I saw it. There's been a couple times I've seen red poop and freaked but the birds were fine. ...so I figured that wasn't the case. In fact yesterday was one of those days. But the babies were all acting and looking healthy. I gave them a dose of corid anyway just to be sure. I am feeding mine regular fermented feed now so they aren't getting any meds in their feed. I figured they were old enough they could go off of it. I guess I'd better check them better today to be sure. I can't afford any more sickness.
I'm going through bags of medicated chick starter as it is with all these babies in here. I really need to get busy selling birds.
I've just been holding off until everything is totally back to normal.
You just can't be too careful.
So my dear friend, I'm afraid you'll be so busy with your new job and lifestyle you'll have even less time to chat with us. I hope not. You really have a head start on some of this moving and packing and cleaning that so many of us would have to do. Like I always say...things happen for a reason even if they seem like a disaster at the time.

 

[pikeman94]

Hello Kansas and welcome to the rain!

Arthena Easterwood is going to propose the idea of a Chicken Ordinance to the Overland Park City Council Monday morning (April 22nd). We are looking for anyone who is in support of urban chickens to write in. Arthena's email is www.arthenaeasterwood.com. It will be most helpful if you are from Overland Park and could include any reasons why you believe keeping chickens would benifit our community. If you are not in Overland Park, maybe it could still help us if you write in where you live and any positive thoughts or impacts chickens have brought you and your community. I am sure it will be a very long drawn out process but this is the first step and we are taking it!!

Thank you so much for your time!!

Natalie Nitz
COOP Group
[email protected]

CoopGroup - Do you know of any such movements in Olathe?