Consolidated Kansas

[RoosterLew]

Th

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.

They are pretty much standard. Sometimes you can get different lengths, but 16' is mostly what is carried. You do realize the panels ate just the frame work on witch you overlay either poultry netting or hardware cloth? Unless you buy the horse panels at over 3 times the cost, none of them are made to keep in chickens or protect them from small predators.

 

[Trish44]

That's true RoosterLew, you do have to put other wire over the panels to make it safe to keep birds in. But it does make a sturdy frame to work with.

 

[Polishpal]

Its 6:44 and 4 of my roo's are crowing there heads off Bl well there goes my sleeping in. Yay 2 more days until schools out XD

 

[tweetybaby2005]

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..

Awww... that was so nice of the teacher to give your DS the turkey. It always warms the heart to see a teacher being so caring.

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.

Trish - you and Danz both have chicks coming out the ears! When I used my little iddy biddy Brinsea incubator, I filled 1/2 chamber with water and then filled both full during lock down. It doesn't have a gauge for me to see what my humidity was so I just sorta wing'd it. Seemed to work for me. You are right that the humidity may not play a huge role here but I think it may if we are in a very dry area like AZ?? I'm not sure since I'm very new to incubating eggs myself.

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.

Danz - how many more hatches are coming? LOL. Every time I log in to read, I seem to see you have new chicks or ducks or poults. I love it though since I'm not hatching anything right now.

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 Rooster. Sure enough, I went back to the TSC site and they listed them as cattle, hog, combo, etc. But when I clicked on the "Check Availability" button, none to be had at the Wichita East TSC. Go figure...

The silkie babies are in the awkward phase.

Cuteness gracious! I really want a silkie but afraid they may freeze in my open air coop in the winter...

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.

Cubbysan - I dusted my flock with sevin dust. I got a can of it from Wal Mart for like $5 or something like that. I just dust it then wait 7-10 days and dust it again. That was it. I did that like 2 months ago or so.

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Went to feed the chickens and ducklings yesteray and found the same mama sitting in the nest box... again. She has been sitting in the same nest box for 3 days. DH reached his hand in to check her thinking she was hurt or sick and she got all upset. I think she may have gone broody. DH said he didn't see or feel any eggs under her so he put like 4 eggs under her because we feel bad that she is not sitting on anything. She won't even move while I was hustling and bustling cleaning the coop, moving around like a mad woman in front of her and what not. Since I'm new to chickens and never had a broody before, I hope she has gone broody and not sick. What do you think? (I've attached a pic below). I will have to keep an eye on her in case she is sick.



Sorry for the blurry pic. DH took it with his cell phone. I told him to ditch his iphone and switch to an android phone but alas, he likes his apple gadgets. It is Apple vs. Android between DH and I. It is funny to see us dissing each other's phones and tablets (he has all the Apple products and I have all the Android products).


Have a great day, everyone.


Kuan

 

[jhammett]

I think I may have thwarted a preadator attck last night. I was late feeding my goats (two kids on bottles... never again lol) My son and I went out around 9:45pm as we entered the barn we noticed the chickens all in a fuss. when i opened the door to the stall/coop all the chickens were up on the roost fussing. I stepped in to find one chicken on the floor by the door. I thought he was dead at first sight, he was laying still wings stretched out. i picked him up to take him out and he moved (scared the dickens out of me)

... on inspection he had blood on the underside of one wing and a small injury to one leg and wet feathers across his back like he had been in somethings mouth. I set him down by my son in the barn and he jumped up started walking around came to the feeder and ate and drank some water. The outside door to the run was open as it is everyday but is usualy closed a couple hours earlier than last night. I looked for signs of a preadator but didnt see a hole dug in or foot prints or anything. the chickens behavior (lying still but being able to move) lead me to think that maybe he was under attack when i came in and had just not decided to get up yet after being dropped??? I cleaned the fella up a bit and placed him up on the roosty as high as I could reach. This morning all the birds were on the top roost so he mut have jumped up there himiself during the night. OH YEAH he also had a medium size gash under his feathers on his back. Should i put an antibiotic on his wounds or just clean and let them heal alone? I have to assume what ever it was came in though the open door. No way to prevent that I think. I will be building a completely enclosed run this weekend thatg encompasses the entirety of the door maybe that will help otherwise its me a hay bail and a dhotgun for a long night in the barn... Those are my birds I hatched them and what ever tha was cnt have them dad gummit !!!

 

[chicken danz]

Trish - you and Danz both have chicks coming out the ears! When I used my little iddy biddy Brinsea incubator, I filled 1/2 chamber with water and then filled both full during lock down. It doesn't have a gauge for me to see what my humidity was so I just sorta wing'd it. Seemed to work for me. You are right that the humidity may not play a huge role here but I think it may if we are in a very dry area like AZ?? I'm not sure since I'm very new to incubating eggs myself.
I think humidity does play a role but sometimes we over do it as well. I was incubating at about 40 -45 % and hatching at 60-70%. I have lowered both numbers substantially and they seem to do even better. ...except for the ducks. They need higher humidity. I am suffering some less than stellar duck hatches because I have so much else I am hatching at a lower humidity. Otherwise the others are hatching better than they were.

Danz - how many more hatches are coming? LOL. Every time I log in to read, I seem to see you have new chicks or ducks or poults. I love it though since I'm not hatching anything right now.

My incubators haven't been turned off in 3 years! I always have something hatching. I wish my sales were equally as high. It has been a lousy year for selling chicks due to the weather. If it doesn't get so disgustingly hot this summer I will sell all summer. I just don't advertise in general much any more because I don't have time to deal with people. I'm still trying to figure out how to sell chicks locally and close the farm to outsiders. I do sell lots just by people seeing some of my birds they hadn't known about or seen before. It is going to hurt those kinds of sales. I used to go to swap meets but refused to bring anything home so I cut myself short on money. It's a lot of work getting birds caged up to take and then I have a lot of money in gas going. The nearest swap is an hour away.
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Went to feed the chickens and ducklings yesterday and found the same mama sitting in the nest box... again. She has been sitting in the same nest box for 3 days. DH reached his hand in to check her thinking she was hurt or sick and she got all upset. I think she may have gone broody. DH said he didn't see or feel any eggs under her so he put like 4 eggs under her because we feel bad that she is not sitting on anything. She won't even move while I was hustling and bustling cleaning the coop, moving around like a mad woman in front of her and what not. Since I'm new to chickens and never had a broody before, I hope she has gone broody and not sick. What do you think? (I've attached a pic below). I will have to keep an eye on her in case she is sick.
Sounds like she is going broody. Does she "growl" at you when you bother her?
I have two hens that are broody in my exhibition pen and neither one of them have an egg. One of them has plucked out 50% of her feathers to make a nest. I keep thinking I need to give her some eggs to hatch but I'm on the fence about what to give her. I would love to see how she does with some turkeys. I just hate risking poults. I have a couple of broody turkey hens I'd like to break so I might borrow their eggs to see if they do okay.

Jhammet whatever it was will be back so do what you can to protect your birds. Chicken doors can let a lot more than a chicken in the house. My chicken doors are only 12 x 12 but my great Pyrenees can squeeze through them and get in the chicken houses. In ways to me that is a good thing because I know they can go in after a predator as well. But it just shows how vulnerable these guys can be. I would definitely put an antibiotic on the wounds, and if you have any penicillin a shot wouldn't hurt any.

 

[cherwill]

The silkie babies are in the awkward phase.

My favorite phase!

Awww... that was so nice of the teacher to give your DS the turkey. It always warms the heart to see a teacher being so caring.


Trish - you and Danz both have chicks coming out the ears! When I used my little iddy biddy Brinsea incubator, I filled 1/2 chamber with water and then filled both full during lock down. It doesn't have a gauge for me to see what my humidity was so I just sorta wing'd it. Seemed to work for me. You are right that the humidity may not play a huge role here but I think it may if we are in a very dry area like AZ?? I'm not sure since I'm very new to incubating eggs myself.



Went to feed the chickens and ducklings yesteray and found the same mama sitting in the nest box... again. She has been sitting in the same nest box for 3 days. DH reached his hand in to check her thinking she was hurt or sick and she got all upset. I think she may have gone broody. DH said he didn't see or feel any eggs under her so he put like 4 eggs under her because we feel bad that she is not sitting on anything. She won't even move while I was hustling and bustling cleaning the coop, moving around like a mad woman in front of her and what not. Since I'm new to chickens and never had a broody before, I hope she has gone broody and not sick. What do you think? (I've attached a pic below). I will have to keep an eye on her in case she is sick.



Sorry for the blurry pic. DH took it with his cell phone. I told him to ditch his iphone and switch to an android phone but alas, he likes his apple gadgets. It is Apple vs. Android between DH and I. It is funny to see us dissing each other's phones and tablets (he has all the Apple products and I have all the Android products).


Have a great day, everyone.


Kuan

I'd say probably broody. Mine have gone broody and they sit tight; it doesn't seem to matter to them whether there's an egg there or not. We can get to the nesting boxes from the back, so we just lift up the hind end and collect any eggs they're sitting on. Sometimes they kind of growl, and occasionally one will halfheartedly try to peck at us. Poor girls!

I think I may have thwarted a preadator attck last night. I was late feeding my goats (two kids on bottles... never again lol) My son and I went out around 9:45pm as we entered the barn we noticed the chickens all in a fuss. when i opened the door to the stall/coop all the chickens were up on the roost fussing. I stepped in to find one chicken on the floor by the door. I thought he was dead at first sight, he was laying still wings stretched out. i picked him up to take him out and he moved (scared the dickens out of me)

... on inspection he had blood on the underside of one wing and a small injury to one leg and wet feathers across his back like he had been in somethings mouth. I set him down by my son in the barn and he jumped up started walking around came to the feeder and ate and drank some water. The outside door to the run was open as it is everyday but is usualy closed a couple hours earlier than last night. I looked for signs of a preadator but didnt see a hole dug in or foot prints or anything. the chickens behavior (lying still but being able to move) lead me to think that maybe he was under attack when i came in and had just not decided to get up yet after being dropped??? I cleaned the fella up a bit and placed him up on the roosty as high as I could reach. This morning all the birds were on the top roost so he mut have jumped up there himiself during the night. OH YEAH he also had a medium size gash under his feathers on his back. Should i put an antibiotic on his wounds or just clean and let them heal alone? I have to assume what ever it was came in though the open door. No way to prevent that I think. I will be building a completely enclosed run this weekend thatg encompasses the entirety of the door maybe that will help otherwise its me a hay bail and a dhotgun for a long night in the barn... Those are my birds I hatched them and what ever tha was cnt have them dad gummit !!!

Thank goodness you were out there when you were.

 

[cubbysan]

Thanks chickendanz and tweetybaby2005 about the sevin dust.

Can we still eat the eggs while I am using it or do we need to wait?

 

[JosieChick]

Hi everyone!!

Have been super busy and exhausted so not on here much! Baby and I both got a nasty cold so we have been struggling through that. She is much tougher than I am!!

Had a few ridiculous events with the birds. We had a big corn snake in one of the pens the other day and DH put the darn thing in the barn to eat mice! I was so annoyed that he didn't dispatch the stupid thing. Well a few days later it is back out in my bird pens (shocking, right?) This time it decided to go in with one of the brooding geese and she was off her nest for several hours and the eggs were cold so I have no idea if anything will hatch.

I was hunting for an ax to chop the darn things head off while DH pleads with me to not kill it. SO he drove it several miles down the road. Told him if it showed up again it was a DEAD snake!

I had two broody cochin hens sitting on a bunch of eggs after I had the baby too. By the time I realized they were sitting (DH was oblivious to their motives while he was care taker!) it had been a week and a half so I left them. Well they had like nine million eggs and they starting hatching a few days ago and the dumb hens kept moving to try to set on all the eggs and killed two chicks in the process so I candled all the eggs and pitched all the ones that were not developing and am taking the chicks as they hatch. Really don't have anywhere for them but oh well!!

Is anyone else had any luck selling birds? I listed a few for sale and had one person call all weekend! Lousy market for birds right now I guess...Might wind up taking some of them to auction...

 

[chicken danz]

Yes cubbysan you can eat the eggs. No problem.
Josie, I haven't had good luck selling chicks this spring. I just put an add on Craigslist but haven't gotten any response at all. I think the spring being so cool has every one messed up. I wonder how many people bought chicks during chick days and lost them to cooler temps so they are giving up rather than catching chick fever?
I'm sorry you guys have a cold. That's awful.
Any snake around here I can get to is a dead snake. I get the same thing here so I just find a hoe or a shovel and go for it. That way I don't waste time arguing about whether it is a good snake or bad.
I did that one time a couple years ago when I had black snakes eating my pheasant eggs. I got a snake cornered in the pheasant house with the shovel end but couldn't move once I got him pinned. He was thrashing around and wrapped himself around my legs. I'm not particularly scared of snakes but that gave me a really sick feeling. I finally hollered and got DH's attention and he came out and shot it so I could get loose. Creepy!
I found a big black snake in my flower bed a few days ago. I ran outside and by the time I got around the house it was gone. If they would eat these mice I could live with loosing a few eggs but they like the eggs better.
I got impatient and candled a few purchased gold laced Brahma eggs. They were shipped eggs but I was really surprised. All but two of them were developing. That is so rare. I'll have to leave this guy some great feedback.