Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

ok i have decided to go ahead and free range my birds. They have n=been out in the pasture during the day all week and closed in the coop at dusk. I was told by my neighbor who has about 30 chickens freee ranging onhis place that he hasnt bought feed for his chickens in over a year that free ranging provides all they need. Thoughts? my birds were hatched February 24 th

It depends on why you have them. If you want them to lay an egg a day, they won't be able to do it on what they find free-ranging. If you don't care about that and just want to look out the window and see birds happily scratching around, you might be able to get away with it. It really depends on what is available to them in the area they are ranging. They can't find what isn't there....

 

[pikeman94]

sunflower - wow! Sounds like you've had quite the adventure in the last few days! Congrats on finding your birth family!

My day just keeps getting weirder. After the storms went through, I walked out to the pasture to get the horses, just like I always do. On my way out there, I noticed that there was a piece of paper in the pocket of the "jacket" I was wearing. The jacket is actually a men's flannel shirt that I bought for my husband, but it ended up being too small for him. Anyway, when I went to investigate the paper in the pocket, I discovered what appears to be a 5 euro bill. I bought this shirt brand new from Orscheln's, so I find it odd that I found ANYTHING in the pocket that I didn't put there. Usually, you think of finding money in your pocket as a good thing. I just found this to be somewhat strange. Can anyone tell me if this is an authentic 5 euro bill?

Lizzy - I would totally go to your bank and get that exchanged! The exchange rate is in the favor of the Euro these days. The last time I checked it was about $1.30 to 1 Euro. So you actually have a bit more than $5 there! Nice find.

 

[cherwill]

Polishpal ,sorry about your kitty. That doesn't feel good.Our Pumpkin kitty thinks he is a BO
LOL! He fits right in, doesn't he?

The first batch of storms has passed us and left us with .42" of rain!!!!!!!!!!

That's WAY more rain than we've gotten at one time in at least a year. Yay for some much needed moisture!!!! We've even got a few puddles! Haven't seen those in a LONG time!

No rain here yet. It shows up in the forecast, then gets moved farther and farther into the future. Right now, there's a 40% chance of rain for Sunday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I was adopted as a toddler... the other day, by a weird series of events,53 years later, I unexpectedly found my birth mother! I have tons and tons of family... siblings, uncles, aunts, etc etc and everyone has been so kind and welcoming; this has been a blessing absolutely beyond words.

But - what I find fascinating is she lived on a chicken farm! She said they had about 25,000 layers and collected over 18,000 eggs a day!! It was a big farm production for sure... I can't even imagine feeding, caring for and collecting so many eggs every single day!!

I now spend my mornings having coffee and chatting with my birthmother on facebook - what a difference one single day can make in a person's life..

How wonderful for you! Two of my nephews are adopted. One has met up with his biological family and it's been a great experience for him. It's so nice when it works out well like this.

Lizzy... snakes scare me. I don't do snakes or anything more than 4 legs like spiders. Sorry you have to gather up your horses after you let them out. I found a snake in my pond skimmer after I lifted up the lid to check on the filter basket. Needless to say I screamed like a girl and ran like the fastest woman in the world! Thankgoodness DH was there and he took care of it for me. Snakes just give me the hibby jibbies.

Haha! I took a shower with a snake once, at Kanopolis. It came into the stall after me and I made it a deal -- you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone (it's the same deal I make with wasps when they're buzzing around me outside). We both kept up our end of the bargain. I'm not sure I could do that again, though I think I prefer snakes to spiders!


Hmmm... money in the new shirt's pocket... did you go get a powerball?

Well, I only have 1 side of the wall left to put the hardware cloth on and the duck house will be done. I also replaced that 1/2 wall of chicken wire on the original coop. I think I can get it all done this weekend. The ducklings are enjoying the Brinsea ecoglow I had in their coop. All 6 of them fit underneath there just fine. Yesterday, the bigger chicks (9 weeks old) got into the ducklings sectioned off area and ate all the food. I put more food in there and they were hungry! Changed the water pan and milk jug waterers out so they have some fresh water to play with. The pekins love to wade into the shallow water pan. The fresh water turns murky real quick!

I am going to move the chicks out of the barn storage room this weekend. After that, I'll clean out the brooder and organize the storage area better. Right now feeds are piled up along 1 wall while the brooder is on the other wall. I need the room back and can't really stand it being so messy right now.

Sounds like you've been very busy. I was pretty much a slacker yesterday, though I did plant some shallots and water my seeds.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Polishpal ~ sorry your cat is missing. In your search for him, don't forget that cats love to get into anything they can fit in. Look in anyplace he could possibly fit - closets, cabnets, storage areas, car trunks, ANYTHING. A friend's cat went missing and turned up a couple of week later rather thin. She thnks he got shut in a storage shed and it was that long before anyone opened the door. Hope you find him.

Lizzy~ enjoy your unexpected bonus. I bought a shirt at a thrift shop. New with tags still on it. There was a receipt for the original purchase in the pocket. At the time my DD needed a pair of running shoes, so I took the shirt and receipt to the national store and used the refund money toward her new shoes. Worked out great.

 

[jhammett]

It depends on why you have them. If you want them to lay an egg a day, they won't be able to do it on what they find free-ranging. If you don't care about that and just want to look out the window and see birds happily scratching around, you might be able to get away with it. It really depends on what is available to them in the area they are ranging. They can't find what isn't there....

would a mixe of Crim corn and milo be a good supplement to the free ranging? I had switched them to layer on the advice of my mom who does raise birds in Louisiana, but was told onhere it was too early for that. I am getting more confused everytime i read a post or ask a question seems there are a enormous amout of varying ideas on these issues. Any way i fed the layer until it ran out on Monday and instead of buyuing more turned them out. They still go look at the feeders when they go in in the evening but there just isnt anythin in them. They are eating more grass than my pony so i know they are getting some food.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy maybe the person had been on a trip and gotten home and was shopping. Found the Euro in their own pocket and didn't know what to do with it so stuck it in the shirt pocket. Maybe they did it for fun imagining the surprise of someone buying a new shirt and finding it. That is so strange.

I completely agree. Very strange indeed. Yesterday was just a really weird day for me.

Lizzy... snakes scare me. I don't do snakes or anything more than 4 legs like spiders. Sorry you have to gather up your horses after you let them out. I found a snake in my pond skimmer after I lifted up the lid to check on the filter basket. Needless to say I screamed like a girl and ran like the fastest woman in the world! Thankgoodness DH was there and he took care of it for me. Snakes just give me the hibby jibbies.

They scare me too, especially since we have rattlesnakes galore in this area (we were told AFTER we bought this house and moved in that more snakes, especially rattlers, are seen in this area of the county than any other part of the county. GRRRR.) The rattlesnakes are scary enough by themselves, but now that I'm pregnant they are even more scary. It's that time of year again where I don't dare leave the yard on foot without being armed.


Glad you had some rain. We only had a few sprinkles and that was it.
We needed it desperately. I am so glad we got some. That is more rain in one event than we've gotten in over a year.

Hmmm... money in the new shirt's pocket... did you go get a powerball?

The jackpot is huge according to the DJ on the radio station. Since you are lucky (got the rain and found the $$$ AND pg), may be go get a powerball ticket. You may just be our next powerball winner!
He he. No, I learned a long time ago that gambling is a good way to LOSE money.

Kuan

I looked it up & it appears to be a 2002 issue Euro bill. I would guess someone took a vacation & got that bill while there. Why they happened to leave it in the pocket is a mystery though.

A mystery indeed. A rather bizarre one if you ask me. Why would someone leave a Euro in a brand new shirt pocket???

Lizzy - I would totally go to your bank and get that exchanged! The exchange rate is in the favor of the Euro these days. The last time I checked it was about $1.30 to 1 Euro. So you actually have a bit more than $5 there! Nice find.

Thank you for the suggestion! Sadly, I called the bank, and they said that I'd get about $6.40 but would have to pay $5 in fees, so I'd only get about $1.40 back. So, now I have to decide if I want to keep it as a memento to the random things that happen to me or if I want to take it to the bank and pay the fee because $1.40 of free money is still free money.

 

[deb516]

Okay so this isnt chicken related but I was wondering your thoughts. If you were to babysit 4 boys ages 5 months, 4, 5 and 7 years old. hours from 9-4 3 days a week how much would you charge? I have been babysitting 3 of the the babyand the 4 and 5 year old. I thought i was cheap at 30 a day, today the 7 year old is out of school and brought him today and the family expects to keep paying 30 a day, and then mentioned they have a friend who babysits when i cant and only charges 20 a day for ALL of them. what are your thoughts.

 

[deb516]

last weekend my dh brought home 2 turkens, they are so cute and ugly at the same time, and he brought me home a little cochin banty. she is sooooo cute. said it was either them 3 or a rabbit. he is getting as bad as me. my little black turken wouldnt stand still long enough to take a picture.

 

[HEChicken]

would a mixe of Crim corn and milo be a good supplement to the free ranging? I had switched them to layer on the advice of my mom who does raise birds in Louisiana, but was told onhere it was too early for that. I am getting more confused everytime i read a post or ask a question seems there are a enormous amout of varying ideas on these issues. Any way i fed the layer until it ran out on Monday and instead of buyuing more turned them out. They still go look at the feeders when they go in in the evening but there just isnt anythin in them. They are eating more grass than my pony so i know they are getting some food.

The old timers often did things a little differently than we do today. They weren't necessarily wrong, but there is just so much more we know about their nutritional needs today. Plus, today's birds have been bred for different purposes than in old times. Back then there were no Cornish Cross, and no production egg layers. Almost all birds were dual purpose and the old timers threw them out to pasture without feeding them, and let them find what they could. In return they would have lost a lot to predators, wouldn't have had near as many eggs as we expect today, and the eating birds weren't plump and juicy as we expect today. So, clearly the species survived, but now that we expect more - plump, juicy eaters, and hens who lay prolifically, we also have to feed them differently than the old timers did.

Layer feed isn't good for the young birds because it can cause damage to their organs. When your mom did that back in the day, she probably only expected them to live a few months until it was time to make them Sunday dinner, so she wasn't concerned about damage to their organs. However if you are hoping for a long-lived, healthy flock, they shouldn't get layer feed until they are at least 16-18 weeks of age.

Here are the feeds:
Chick starter - hatch to ~8 weeks
Grower/finisher - 8 -16 weeks
Layer - 16 weeks and on

The time frames are variable. For example if you buy a 50lb bag of chick starter and it runs out when they are only 6 weeks old, its okay to switch to grower at that age. If you have a bag of grower feed and still have a bunch left, keep feeding it until it runs out, even if they are 18-20 weeks by the time it does. I've even fed grower to newly hatched chicks in a pinch, if I didn't have chick starter on hand. And, I've fed both chick starter and grower/finisher to adult birds when I have younger birds in the flock that are being grown out. The only thing I really do NOT recommend is feeding layer feed under 16 weeks of age.

You are right that they will eat a lot of grass and greenery. It is very good for them and I make sure my flock has access to it at all times. It makes their yolks orange and healthy and contributes to the overall wellness of the birds. However just as a diet of lettuce and carrots wouldn't sustain YOU, it won't sustain THEM. They are omnivores, with high protein needs, and at certain times of the year there just aren't enough bugs out there to satisfy those needs. What some people do is turn them out to free-range by day, and allow them to come in to a full feeder and eat their fill in the evening before bed. This encourages them to forage but also ensures their nutritional needs are being met. Keep in mind that a bird struggling to survive is going to put all of its energy into survival and will have nothing left over to produce eggs. So in a sense, a hen's ability to produce an egg is a sign that she is at optimum health.

Thank you for the suggestion! Sadly, I called the bank, and they said that I'd get about $6.40 but would have to pay $5 in fees, so I'd only get about $1.40 back. So, now I have to decide if I want to keep it as a memento to the random things that happen to me or if I want to take it to the bank and pay the fee because $1.40 of free money is still free money.

I would just hold onto it and who knows, maybe someday you or someone you know will travel to Europe. I still have a Canadian $5 bill in a drawer somewhere, so if we ever go there again, I'll retrieve it and have a few bucks to spend as soon as I cross the border.

last weekend my dh brought home 2 turkens, they are so cute and ugly at the same time, and he brought me home a little cochin banty. she is sooooo cute. said it was either them 3 or a rabbit. he is getting as bad as me. my little black turken wouldnt stand still long enough to take a picture.

That turken is the cutest thing! Nice that your DH is getting as into it as you are, though that could spell bad things if chicken math hits both of you...

I have turkey poults hatching in my incubator, and I also gave 3 of the eggs to my broody Silchin. Well, I just went to check on her and two of them had hatched - and were lying on the ground at the opposite end of hoop coop, almost dead. How they managed to get there from her nest, I'll never know - it was a distance of about 12'. Thank goodness it is warm today - a couple of weeks ago they wouldn't have made it at all. Needless to say, she has been fired. I brought the last egg and the two hatched poults up and put one in the brooder and the worst off one in the incubator to get warmed up. The third egg is pipped and peeping loudly so it will be fine. Grrrr. When my Aloha raised poults for me, she had chicks first and then I gave her the poults and she tucked them under her with the chicks, but I guess the Silchin didn't recognize these alien babies and gave them the boot. It was an experiment and I'm just glad I found them when I did and they have a chance.

Meanwhile, I have eggs popping in all directions. When I awoke this morning multiple poults had hatched, as well as a tutor. Another was zipping and hatched only minutes later (happy birthday to me

). I checked my other incubator where the duck eggs are due today, and a couple had tiny pips but nothing else. After breakfast, I went to check on them again and was standing there staring into the turkey incubator when out the corner of my eye, I sensed movement in the other. A duck had hatched and it was an egg that wasn't even pipped before breakfast! (Or at least, not that I could tell and I had shone a flashlight on every egg just an hour before).

I now have 2 more pipped turkey eggs, a pipped tutor and the couple of pipped duck eggs to keep an eye on. None of my Bourbon Reds have pipped yet but they were a day behind the others so I don't expect them until tomorrow.

My turkey hen, Madge, the mother of all of my poults, has *finally* started sitting. I had been grabbing her off the roost every night and putting her in the hoop coop where her clutch of eggs awaited her, and not letting her out during the day until she had laid her egg for the day. When I set this up I put 12 eggs in there and she got up to 17 before she started to sit yesterday. I had the sense though that it was more out of boredom, than because she suddenly got the urge to sit, as every time I went to check on her, she came running out to see me, and towards evening, even wanted out of the hoop coop for a little grazing. But so far this morning she has stayed in her dog crate on her nest so I hope she has finally decided to buckle down. I'm worried some of those eggs are getting too old to hatch now, but I didn't want to hatch any more myself, so I was really encouraging her to do it for me.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Okay so this isnt chicken related but I was wondering your thoughts. If you were to babysit 4 boys ages 5 months, 4, 5 and 7 years old. hours from 9-4 3 days a week how much would you charge? I have been babysitting 3 of the the babyand the 4 and 5 year old. I thought i was cheap at 30 a day, today the 7 year old is out of school and brought him today and the family expects to keep paying 30 a day, and then mentioned they have a friend who babysits when i cant and only charges 20 a day for ALL of them. what are your thoughts.

I am in a completely different part of KS so rates might be way different out here, but I saw an ad for someone who was offering baby sitting for the summer. She charged $3/hour/kid. So, if you used her rates, you would have to charge $21/kid. I don't have any kids (yet, that'll change in about 6 months), so I don't know if this lady is expensive for this area or not.