Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

It has been awhile but I am popping on to say hi. I hope everyone is well and the storms did not damage too much. My internet has been off and now (for now) I have a dial up service so I can pop on. It is slow but hey its something. My sons science class hatched eggs and they did a couple turkey and they gave us one. This little Narragansett would sit and stare at my son in class and the teacher asked the person who provided the eggs if she could give her to us. She said after our turkey passed she noticed how it effected my son and it broke her heart so she was in aw at how this poult reacted to him and would snuggle into his arms and go to sleep. Here at home "Aries" will "peep peep peep" until you come and get her and she will snuggle up and go to sleep. She just loves to be held. And especially loves my son. I am thankful and blessed to have such caring teachers..

That's really nice of that teacher to give you the little turkey, I'm glad for you. It's nice to see you back too.

I had a chickie surprise this morning. I went downstairs & went to the incubator to get eggs out that needed to go into the hatcher. When I got near I heard chicks peeping & saw them peeking out of the window on the incubator. Imagine my surprise to find almost a whole hatch of chicks down there peeping away! I guess there was one hatch I forgot to write in my hatch log & they hatched sometime during the night. I'm surprised they didn't get crushed in the turner, but all except one chick were down at the bottom, there was one sitting in the egg tray at the top of the incubator. That tray of eggs was all the way at the top. I had to get on the floor to get down there & dig them all out because they all ran all the way to the back of course. All but 7 of the eggs had already hatched, so I put the last ones that were unhatched in the hatcher with the other eggs I was getting out. That's the first time that has happened to me. Gosh you know we all worry so much about humidity & these all hatched with no change in humidity at all. It makes you wonder how important that really is. I know that Frank told us that he doesn't even worry about humidity at all, just temperature.

 

[chicken danz]

I did the same thing today. I went to check the incubator and found a bunch of chicks hatched already. But it actually happens to me quite a bit, not usually a big batch but one or two. It's often because I forget what dates they are to come out. I mark the eggs but don't keep a calender on hatching.
I hatched several guineas this morning. The first whole batch I put in weren't fertile but these sure were. I got several whites which I've been trying to breed for the last couple years. I just wasn't expecting them to be good so I have no place to brood them yet. Just the way it goes around here!
This is one of those days I break everything I touch. ...including myself. Makes me want to just crawl back to bed. I had to shovel off a load of feed while ago and that just wore me out.

 

[RoosterLew]

I was looking at all the hoop coops you guys have posted since I am really interested in building a couple of them and now I've a question. Is the hog panel the same as feedlot panel? I was on the TSC website trying to see how much it costs. They don't list them as hog panel. They have feedlot panel instead. The one I was looking at was 16ft. L x 5 ft H. Is this the same thing?

if you look at TSC's descriptions they will say something like, "Feedlot Panel, Hog"
A quick rundown -
Hog Panels - 34" tall - with smaller, graduated size holes. - lowest priced, around $20
cattle panels - 50" tall - with larger openings - lowest priced around $20
*note* - "hog" & "cattle" panels have the same amount of wire in them, with the hog panels being more "compact" and thus stiffer than the cattle panels. -
Horse Panels - 5 ft tall, with 2"x4" squares to keep horses to keep from getting feet stuck - highest priced & heaviest, around $65
combo panels come in 50" and 52" heights - higher than hog or cattle but less than horse panels - around $45

For use in a hoop coop,where netting, chicken wire or hardware cloth are to be over layed, the combo and horse panels are nothing more than just expensive. Hog panels add un-needed ridgitiy and more "cost per square" than cattle panels.

Depending on the types of predators you are trying to keep out, you could use horse panels and not overlay any kind of mesh, but they are still about twice the price as overlayed cattle panels.

 

[cubbysan]

Just checking in.

Hope everybody made it through the storms.

Michelleml - prayers going to you and your family. I not good with these type of things. Glad he feels well enough to travel and make memories.

I went to the feed store Sunday for food and came home with two Cochin pullets who are already. A new favorite breed along with the silkies! Cochins are adorable! Later that night we noticed one of them had a mite or lice on them. They are currently in a dog crate. How do I take care of this problem? I am heading to the farm store tonight. I imagine I need to treat everybody that is being housed in the garage, even though they have had no contact.

 

[jennyjane73]

The silkie babies are in the awkward phase.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

if you look at TSC's descriptions they will say something like, "Feedlot Panel, Hog"
A quick rundown -
Hog Panels - 34" tall - with smaller, graduated size holes. - lowest priced, around $20
cattle panels - 50" tall - with larger openings - lowest priced around $20
*note* - "hog" & "cattle" panels have the same amount of wire in them, with the hog panels being more "compact" and thus stiffer than the cattle panels. -
Horse Panels - 5 ft tall, with 2"x4" squares to keep horses to keep from getting feet stuck - highest priced & heaviest, around $65
combo panels come in 50" and 52" heights - higher than hog or cattle but less than horse panels - around $45

For use in a hoop coop,where netting, chicken wire or hardware cloth are to be over layed, the combo and horse panels are nothing more than just expensive. Hog panels add un-needed ridgitiy and more "cost per square" than cattle panels.

Depending on the types of predators you are trying to keep out, you could use horse panels and not overlay any kind of mesh, but they are still about twice the price as overlayed cattle panels.

Thanks for that information. I have been totally confused by the terms and differences. Is all of that info just TSC"s? Do other stores call them by different names and even have different "panels"? I have an old one here that belongs to a neighbor. The holes are around 6" square and it is about 4' high. He only has cattle. Just about any thing I have or would want to keep out can walk right through those holes.

 

[Polishpal]

Jenny that is the most fun because there funny looking and try to fly

 

[ivyrash]

That's really nice of that teacher to give you the little turkey, I'm glad for you. It's nice to see you back too.

I had a chickie surprise this morning. I went downstairs & went to the incubator to get eggs out that needed to go into the hatcher. When I got near I heard chicks peeping & saw them peeking out of the window on the incubator. Imagine my surprise to find almost a whole hatch of chicks down there peeping away! I guess there was one hatch I forgot to write in my hatch log & they hatched sometime during the night. I'm surprised they didn't get crushed in the turner, but all except one chick were down at the bottom, there was one sitting in the egg tray at the top of the incubator. That tray of eggs was all the way at the top. I had to get on the floor to get down there & dig them all out because they all ran all the way to the back of course. All but 7 of the eggs had already hatched, so I put the last ones that were unhatched in the hatcher with the other eggs I was getting out. That's the first time that has happened to me. Gosh you know we all worry so much about humidity & these all hatched with no change in humidity at all. It makes you wonder how important that really is. I know that Frank told us that he doesn't even worry about humidity at all, just temperature.

Mama chicken doesn't change the humidity and she does pretty good with them so it really does make you wonder.

I am a newbie, been lurking for a while, Havensville, KS for me.

 

[Trish44]

I did the same thing today. I went to check the incubator and found a bunch of chicks hatched already. But it actually happens to me quite a bit, not usually a big batch but one or two. It's often because I forget what dates they are to come out. I mark the eggs but don't keep a calender on hatching.
I hatched several guineas this morning. The first whole batch I put in weren't fertile but these sure were. I got several whites which I've been trying to breed for the last couple years. I just wasn't expecting them to be good so I have no place to brood them yet. Just the way it goes around here!
This is one of those days I break everything I touch. ...including myself. Makes me want to just crawl back to bed. I had to shovel off a load of feed while ago and that just wore me out.

I had two white guineas, but when they got left out the other day one of the whites was what didn't come back. I found the carcass today, I think the dogs found it & brought it home. I think they're all back except that one now. My next door neighbor said he saw two of them crossing his yard headed back to my place & asked if they were mine. I told him yes they were & what had happened when they got left out the other night & freaked out in the storm. I like having all different colors & actually would love to have some of the more rare colors if I could find them without driving hours.

tweetybaby2005, I used just the livestock panels that have a few smaller squares at the bottom on my first hoop coop. These are cattle panels we had gotten when we were planning to get calves & then it never happened, so I had them here to use. The ones I used on the 2nd hoop coop were used ones I bought from a friend who ended up not wanting them after buying them. These have the same size of squares all the way down I think. Either one work fine & I had no problems using both. It seems like HEChicken has used some hog panels for hers & also did fine with them, but she also found hers used. I know that TSC has them on sale right now, I saw it in their flier we got in the mail. I do know someone who has a bunch of used ones he will sell if you want to PM me. It depends on whether you want to drive down to get them or not. You have to figure gas into the equation on that as to whether it would save you enough to get them used.

Well I'm down to 3 bunnies of the 9 I had to sell, so if anyone knows of anybody who wants a cute Mini Rex bunny for a pet send them my way. I have one more litter after this one that won't be ready for about 4 more weeks. I also have 3 Chinchilla bunnies needing homes too. Then I'm done with baby bunnies till next spring.

 

[chicken danz]

cubbysan, you can dust your chicks and the premises with sevin dust. It won't hurt them. You can get it about anywhere in the garden dept including Walmart.
I use pour on Ivermectin most of the time but in your case I'd go with the sevin.
Welcome Ivyrash. I think a lot depends on what you hatch. You do make a point though; without meaning to.
We open our incubators to look or to add water or to remove chicks or whatever. That Mama hen sits pretty darned tight when the chicks are hatching. I think that is why a lot of hatching goes bad. Because WE change the humidity and temperature with our attempts to keep things right.
I have so many things hatch at the same time I really have to excercise control not to open the hatcher and remove chicks when I have others hatching. Sometimes it is unavoidable. I used to set eggs every day and that became a nightmare when they hatched. So now I only set a couple times a week...unless they are shipped eggs and time sensitive.
Trish I have two white adults but had never had a white chick from them. But I had pied lavenders and lavenders produce these white babies. I am thrilled. I've been waiting to hatch guineas and I'm really glad I finally have some.
I guess it just took them all a while to get started. Their noise gets insane sometimes but they sell so well.