Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I'm not even 100% sure he's a he. Some seem to think he's a bantam light brahma.

He's a he.

I caught Michael Jordan crowing this morning!

Cute!

 

[HEChicken]

Here is a picture of my 8 Bettie's enjoying some sun! The weather has been great!

Anyone on here in the Oskie, Perry, Lawrence, Topeka area?

Sometimes I wish they would understand our language and vice versa. They way they cock their heads side way looking at us while we are talking to them is just hilarious. It is like "hmmm... what are you doing or talking about? I've no clue..."

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So we lost some of the 8 weekers to something at night. DH set a trap last night but didn't catch anything. The trap was triggered but nothing was inside it. We had reinfored the hardware cloth so we have no further loss but it sure will be nice to find out what had been killing my chickens!

DH thinks it is a raccoon or posum. We will be setting the trap again until we catch it. I'm seeing flames thinking about it so no telling what I'll do to it once it's caught in the trap.

That is a really cute way of putting it about the way they cock their heads when we talk to them. I'm sorry you are still losing birds to a predator and hope you get it caught soon. It sounds like you have a cunning predator out there to be able to set off the trap without getting caught.

DH had to shoot our huge turkey the other night. He was so bad he couldn't stand so it was time but it was really hard. DH was very upset after which surprised me but he was partial to the turkey too. I am always surprised at how sensitive he is.

Miss Amelia is having a rough day today. Very gassy and fussy. I finally crammed her into the moby wrap and she is sleeping now but she is a lug to carry around! She weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at her appointment with the midwife yesterday! I hate it when she is upset and doesn't feel well. I don't know what caused it because I can't think of anything different that I have eaten that might have upset her tummy. Sigh.

Ohhhh....I'm sorry about your turkey but you did the right thing. Even when I saw him he was having a hard time getting around and it didn't look like much fun to be him. Sorry Miss Amelia had a bad day and hope today is better. Some days just go like that....

All I want to do is go play in the dirt and plant some stuff. When do I get to do that???

I hear you. This is such a busy time of year. I still need to do more planting but I'm glad I got my seedlings in last weekend and we didn't get the hail that was forecast so they didn't get shredded. I have so much to do in the next few days I don't know when I'm going to plant more but I really need to get it done soon, if I'm going to have anything to harvest later in the year.

Tomorrow is going to be a super busy day too. I keep trying to decide what breeds I am going to eliminate. I hate to give any of them up.

I don't envy you that. I would have a really hard time deciding what to give up too - I like them all.

 

[lizzyGSR]

After the baby comes, I worry that I'm not going to be able to keep up with my job, taking care of all of my critters, housework, etc. So, I've decided to sell half of my ducks. That'll leave me with 4 ducks (3 ducks and a drake - I'm keeping my rouen duck, my mix drake, and 2 khaki campbells) and 3 geese. The buyer is supposed to come this afternoon to pick them up. I'm sad to see them go, but I am looking forward to the lower feed bill and less work. Hopefully, the birds I'm keeping will be enough to keep the bugs in the yard down and still provide us with a supply of eggs. Ideally, they'll provide us with just enough to keep us in supply and not have any left over to sell. I've discovered that duck eggs don't seem to sell very well in this area, even though the price I'm making on the eggs isn't enough to even pay for the food I"m feeding the birds. I guess that's another reason I'm getting rid of some. Selling them is more work than it's worth.

 

[chicken danz]

I don't know. This is my first time with chickens. He is from the assorted bantam bin at TSC. I'm not even 100% sure he's a he. Some seem to think he's a bantam light brahma.

Can you take pictures of his head so I can see his comb. He looks more silver laced at this point. A light brahma should have black stipling and the neck and on the saddle feathers and maybe one or two black feathers at the base of the wings. I can see his feathered feet in the pictures. And he could just have excessive coloring. If you could get a picture of him standing up so you can see his legs front on that would help too.
It is chilly here this morning. I thought it was supposed to be a decent day. It's really cloudy too. Hope that clears out later.
I don't know when I'll get a garden in. It seems to be getting further and further out of sight. I plant mostly warm weather crops anyway but I still have lots to do before planting.
I'm all but out of feed and my order won't be ready until 3:00 pm. I guess the chickens are going to have to scrounge for food today until later.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Well... the trap was not even touched last night. Whatever it was, it was strong because DH pointed out the bent/warped corner of the trap. He is now quite concerned.

Good news is, chicks are all doing well. No more losses and finger crossed that this continues.

I need to get a duck house built by this weekend to house the ducks. The temp has been quite nice lately and forecast said we are hitting 80s next week. I want to see if I can move the 3-4 weekers out to make room for more chicks and ducklings.

Oh guys and gals, we found an egg! It is soooo tiny ... looksie looksie... oh wait... it is not a chicken egg... it is a bird egg DH found in the grill.

The bird sure was resourceful and creative because the grill lid is closed at all times and we have a cover on it. Bad news is I think the mama bird abandoned it after we opened the grill.

I asked DH to put it in a bird nest up on the tree but I doubt it will hatch. This happens every year. We have to clear out the bird nest in the grill a few times a year just so we can grill some stuff.




Have a great day everyone!

Kuan

 

[lizzyGSR]

Oh guys and gals, we found an egg! It is soooo tiny ... looksie looksie... oh wait... it is not a chicken egg... it is a bird egg DH found in the grill.

The bird sure was resourceful and creative because the grill lid is closed at all times and we have a cover on it. Bad news is I think the mama bird abandoned it after we opened the grill.

I asked DH to put it in a bird nest up on the tree but I doubt it will hatch. This happens every year. We have to clear out the bird nest in the grill a few times a year just so we can grill some stuff.




Have a great day everyone!

Kuan

Looks like a robin egg to me.


I've got a bit of a problem with my embden geese. I had been getting two eggs per day from then. Then, all of the sudden, the production dropped to 1 egg every other day. I looked in all of the places they had been laying and there was nothing there. Well, today, I noticed that they were gone and went looking for them. I discovered them across the road in the neighbor's wheat field, coming from a row of trees that are about 1/4 mile from the house. How do I keep them at home? I've got them locked up now, but I really don't want to have to keep them locked up permanently.

 

[jennyjane73]

Can you take pictures of his head so I can see his comb. He looks more silver laced at this point. A light brahma should have black stipling and the neck and on the saddle feathers and maybe one or two black feathers at the base of the wings. I can see his feathered feet in the pictures. And he could just have excessive coloring. If you could get a picture of him standing up so you can see his legs front on that would help too.
It is chilly here this morning. I thought it was supposed to be a decent day. It's really cloudy too. Hope that clears out later.
I don't know when I'll get a garden in. It seems to be getting further and further out of sight. I plant mostly warm weather crops anyway but I still have lots to do before planting.
I'm all but out of feed and my order won't be ready until 3:00 pm. I guess the chickens are going to have to scrounge for food today until later.

This is the best head pic I have right now. I can probably get another when I get home from work.

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy sorry you are giving up your birds. Birds never pay for their feed in these times. It just doesn't happen. If you hatch chicks you can see some profit for a short time but that doesn't last either. We do it because we love it. I sell my duck eggs cheaper than anyone would even imagine but I only sell eating eggs when I'm not hatching ducklings.
Right now they are all hiding and trying to be broody! It's hard to find eggs.
Do you have a fenced area they can stay in? How about the electric poultry netting to make them a larger area?
jennyjane73 that looks like a Cochin comb to me. I would say from what I've seen this is a silver laced cochin. A brahma has a walnut comb. It really looks like a big meaty English walnut...other than color. Too bad I can't see him in person I could tell you for sure.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy sorry you are giving up your birds. Birds never pay for their feed in these times. It just doesn't happen. If you hatch chicks you can see some profit for a short time but that doesn't last either. We do it because we love it. I sell my duck eggs cheaper than anyone would even imagine but I only sell eating eggs when I'm not hatching ducklings.
Right now they are all hiding and trying to be broody! It's hard to find eggs.
Do you have a fenced area they can stay in? How about the electric poultry netting to make them a larger area?

I'm not selling all of my birds, and I'm not just selling them because they're not paying for their feed. I'm selling a few, mainly because they are messy and a lot of work, and with a baby on the way, I'm trying to cut back on my responsibilities. I'm keeping a few of them for weed/pest control and for the eggs.

For my geese, I have my duck run that they are currently locked up in. I'm guessing that if I were to go let them out now, that they would stay home. I might let them loose in the yard again later today when I can keep a closer eye on them and then just plan on locking them up 'till noon or so when I'm sure they've laid their eggs for the day. I do not have any area other than the duck run that I can lock them up in. For being big/heavy birds, they can fly surprisingly well and can fly over most any fence that I could easily put up, which is why I've got them in the duck run (it has 7' walls and a roof). I would feel terrible if something happened to one of them on one of their trips around the neighborhood. There isn't any grass in the duck run, but if they won't stay home, I don't have much of a choice. I'll try letting them free range during the latter half of the day, after I've collected their eggs for the day. That way I can be relatively sure they won't wander...

 

[JosieChick]

Ohhhh....I'm sorry about your turkey but you did the right thing. Even when I saw him he was having a hard time getting around and it didn't look like much fun to be him. Sorry Miss Amelia had a bad day and hope today is better. Some days just go like that....

Smart lady, smart lady. Get ready now. You are right, you won't have time. My poor DH.....

Hope your geese stay home! I don't know why they wander off so much....mine only do that when we have had some serious rain and there are more puddles to play in than they know what to do with and they just wander along playing in the water!

I'm not selling all of my birds, and I'm not just selling them because they're not paying for their feed. I'm selling a few, mainly because they are messy and a lot of work, and with a baby on the way, I'm trying to cut back on my responsibilities. I'm keeping a few of them for weed/pest control and for the eggs.

For my geese, I have my duck run that they are currently locked up in. I'm guessing that if I were to go let them out now, that they would stay home. I might let them loose in the yard again later today when I can keep a closer eye on them and then just plan on locking them up 'till noon or so when I'm sure they've laid their eggs for the day. I do not have any area other than the duck run that I can lock them up in. For being big/heavy birds, they can fly surprisingly well and can fly over most any fence that I could easily put up, which is why I've got them in the duck run (it has 7' walls and a roof). I would feel terrible if something happened to one of them on one of their trips around the neighborhood. There isn't any grass in the duck run, but if they won't stay home, I don't have much of a choice. I'll try letting them free range during the latter half of the day, after I've collected their eggs for the day. That way I can be relatively sure they won't wander...