Consolidated Kansas

[cubbysan]

I am heartbroken for all those missing birds. Pretty sad when the predator is a human. Did they take ALL of her birds?

 

[Hawkeye95]

I feel bad for my lone duckling. She is only 10 days old but already Mama has largely left her and gone off with the drakes most of the time. She even laid an egg yesterday. I was just thinking I was back in duck egg production when the fourth duck decided last evening that its time she had a turn at sitting so I guess the Mama duck will be the only one laying for awhile now. I need to figure out where I'm going to put the new broody duck and get her set up with some eggs today.

Last night I had my kids help me move my new pen from Deerfield down into my chicken run so it will get shade this afternoon from the hedge. It is supposed to be in the 90's today! Its hard to believe only a week ago I was worried about planting seedlings in case they got frozen overnight. Now I'm worried about chicks baking sitting in the sun so I feel better to know they will be shaded today.

It was so cute last night - my little 3 week old turkey poults slept on the roost with the chickens, instead of in the nest with their Mama. They are getting more and more independent and last night Mama went off by herself for awhile and left the little guys to their own devices for 30 minutes. I'm sure after 3 weeks of sitting and 3 weeks of non-stop parenting it was nice for her to have a little "me time".

Don't know anything really about ducks.. but aren't they pretty social? Did you only have just the one hatch? Would it be happy with the turkeys? Very cute the turkeys are already roosting! Wow!

It's a shame about Jen's birds. I am sure it is someone who had been there to buy or pretend to buy birds. Not to point fingers but I've heard some things. There is a poultry swap or auction in the Garnet area once in a while. At least once a month. I've heard a person involved in that is known for answering adds and then having birds stolen shortly after. In fact I believe that is what happened to one group of my birds that were stolen. If anyone is going to that swap it would be a good place to look. I may just send Jen a message and let her know what I've heard in the past.

I came home last night and took 43 ducklings and 37 chicks out of the incubator. There are several more in there that have hatched since then. Holy cow! I need to get busy selling some birds!

Totally agree, Danz! I think this is someone she knew, or someone she dealt with, or someone who is lurking and "following" what she is doing. Either way, that is a sick, sick person to do something like that. And surely, SOMEONE knows who did it. It would be nice if that someone would say something-- even as just an anomyous tip.

 

[AmySG]

I'm sure you all know more about these things than I do, but I did find this posting for local swap meets coming up: http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Kansas_Swap.html

 

[AmySG]

Oh my, this one is coming up on the 16th in Johnson County, perfect timing for someone trying to unload a lot of chickens: http://www.gbwf.org/hoagba/spring_sale.html

 

[michelleml]

I hope everyone is having a good day.
we are trying not to turn on a/c but boy is it a hot one. Mrs broody pants layed a egg today her chicks are three wks old does this mean she will not care for them anymore?

 

[jennyjane73]

I'm thinking Saturday is when the chickens will be moving outside! Excited & nervous.

 

[Polishpal]

Thanks Jenny its just he never leaves and his brother is in a fit meowing and pacing poor little tike

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Will definitely need to keep an eye craigslist and any poultry swap to see if there sre some unusual big number of similar birds up for grab. It is just unbelievable that this happened. Sigh...

Jennyjane - will your birds be living out there for good? I can't tell if you have hardware cloth over the chainlink fence or not but if you don't, the predator will be able to grab your chickens through the fence.

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Summer is here!!!! Where is the spring weather? I don't think I'll have time to plant anything this year with the pending move so will just have to wait for nexy year.

Ive done something stupid today. The hydraulics are gone on the car's trunk so I've to lift it up to load the feeds and pine shavings. When i got home to unload them, with only 2 hands, I used my back to hold it up and pulled a bag of pine shavings out of it. Well, I wasn't fast enough to back out of it and it slammed down on my head. I lost my balance a bit and pulled my back muscle falling backward and the pine shavings ended up on top of me. Now I feel stupid. Without hydraulic, that thing is heavy! Oh yeah, the parts to replace them have been ordered since the shop doesn't have them in stock. $65 a piece. We need 2 of them.

Hope you guys and gals enjoy the heat. I'm sure it will linger around for months.

 

[jennyjane73]

Will definitely need to keep an eye craigslist and any poultry swap to see if there sre some unusual big number of similar birds up for grab. It is just unbelievable that this happened. Sigh...

Jennyjane - will your birds be living out there for good? I can't tell if you have hardware cloth over the chainlink fence or not but if you don't, the predator will be able to grab your chickens through the fence.

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Summer is here!!!! Where is the spring weather? I don't think I'll have time to plant anything this year with the pending move so will just have to wait for nexy year.

Ive done something stupid today. The hydraulics are gone on the car's trunk so I've to lift it up to load the feeds and pine shavings. When i got home to unload them, with only 2 hands, I used my back to hold it up and pulled a bag of pine shavings out of it. Well, I wasn't fast enough to back out of it and it slammed down on my head. I lost my balance a bit and pulled my back muscle falling backward and the pine shavings ended up on top of me. Now I feel stupid. Without hydraulic, that thing is heavy! Oh yeah, the parts to replace them have been ordered since the shop doesn't have them in stock. $65 a piece. We need 2 of them.

Hope you guys and gals enjoy the heat. I'm sure it will linger around for months.

I don't have hardware cloth up yet. I will be putting up some before I move them out there. I was thinking maybe chicken wire may be cheaper? Heck, I don't really know. This is my very first time with chickens. So far, it's been really fun.

 

[HEChicken]

JennyJane, chicken wire is cheaper and it is what I used on the inside of chain link, since in addition I have my dogs living out there at night to keep predators away. However be aware that chicken wire can be torn apart by almost any animal. Think of it as something that will keep chickens in - not something to keep predators out. Hardware cloth is much stronger and safer.

Tweetybaby, the hydraulics are going out on my car too so your description of how you were getting the pine shavings out sounded oh so familiar. Mine still work some, and in warm weather they do okay but on cold days they don't hold up well and I've been knocked on the head multiple times by the door coming down after I thought I had it up to stay.