Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Lizzy we have dog food bowl games around here. Marshmallow will bark and chase the birds that get close to her bowl but they know it is a bluff. They run then come right back until she gets tired of chasing them. Fluff on the other hand will walk away and look hurt if the birds come up to eat when he is eating. Marshmallow taught him from the beginning that she ruled the food bowl and he should just stand back and let every one else eat first. I sneak him treats sometimes because he is so submissive.
Kuan I can bring you more ducks if I make it down that way again. I have some more broodies I need to break and then I can start hatching again. I still have about 200 ducklings here.
I love a pool. Nothing is better after working all day than cooling in a pool when you get home. My mistake was buying a bigger pool and taking down and getting rid of the smaller one. I started building bird pens and ran out of room where I had the pool earlier. So I have lots of money tied up in a 29 foot round pool I've never even got to set up. I'd like it to be near the house but away from the road but I have too many birds in those places. Maybe someday I'll figure out a place to put it and get it set up. I need to rent a bobcat to get the ground ready when I do, and run electrical to it. I would really like it for when my granddaughter from Colorado comes. She would love to have it available in the summer.

 

[Trish44]

I wouldn't mind having an above ground pool, but it's too much trouble for me to set up by myself & getting my DH to help me would be like pulling teeth. I really don't have a good level place for one anyway. Those of you that have been to my place know what I'm talking about because my whole yard is sloped down from the hill. I even have to put rocks under the plastic pool for the dogs because there just isn't a level place to put it.

 

[cherwill]

Danz, that's funny about your ducks coming to the door & yelling at you. It's so comical to me that my chickens come up & all group around my front door at feeding time waiting for me to come out & feed them. I have even had them peck on the screen door bottom like they were knocking if I don't come out when they think I should. I should take a picture some time of my whole flock standing on my front porch when I open the door. We all walk out to the coop together with me trying not to step on chickens as I go. They are quite a the characters.

My chickens have really good eyes, too. They see me when I'm standing inside the kitchen door looking at them, and they start running back and forth in front of the gate waiting for me to bring them goodies.

We're having a short rain right now, I don't think it's going to last long at all, but it sure did cool things off fast. We weren't predicted to have rain today, just cloudy, but this little rainstorm just came up pretty fast.

We keep showing rain the forecast, then it disappears from the forecast overnight and never does rain. We did get some good rain earlier in the month, though. My aunt said McPherson is actually above the average for this year so far.

Kuan - I do not understand pools. Seriously. I've never liked to swim, really. As a kid my mother used to take us to the local pool in summer and I enjoyed that but by the time I was teen I would rather be hot than get in water and I still feel the same way today.

We're not water people, either. We'd rather ride a motorcycle or hike or ride horses (not that we have that option these days). I don't really like having my head underwater and getting water up my nose and in my eyes, and my "swimming" is really more of a dog paddle. My dad and my niece can't get enough of swimming, though.

My granddaughter is doing all right, she doesn't seem to be as bothered by the heart problem as she was, but I think having to deal with that monitor just kept it at the forefront all the time & caused her more anxiety about it. I don't really think they have that many answers still at this point. Her mother didn't mention that they have been back to the Dr. as of yet. She pretty much acts & plays like any other kid her age. I know it was all pretty frightening to her at the time, but she really doesn't bring it up much any more.

Kids are amazingly resilient and seem to adapt to a lot things better than we adults do, I think.

I don't understand why they don't gauge it for a child's weight. I mean, how many families have young boys (like 10 or 12) whose chore it is to go out and mow the lawn? My DH and I both get so frustrated with that feature on the mower. I shouldn't complain though. The riding mower is one that the neighbors are "indefinitely loaning" to us - their words, not mine. It takes a REALLY long time to push mow our yard (about 3 acres, plus mowing around the garden and such) so we are quite happy to have their riding mower, even if it gives us fits and is frustrating. It is still way better than push mowing.

They also make most riding mowers for a man's height. I'm barely tall enough to be able to adjust the height lever on ours. My FIL's mower has a hand lever that is very hard to me to reach without coming off the seat. I'm not tall, but I'm not particularly short, either.

We got most of the rest of the garden in this weekend, including second plantings of radishes, beets, and carrots. The only thing really left is squash, and any other odds and ends we see and can't resist. K-State gave our community garden a bunch of different varieties of hybrid tomatoes and peppers, and some squash, to plant. There's a 25' x 50' plot full of them. Anyone can harvest from them as long we keep track and report on them. They want to know about taste and texture.

 

[22qZoo]

Hope everyone had a nice weekend . Danz sorry you had to find your hen that way, eew and so many snakes

. Our girls are funny that way too,they recognize when I've got a scrap bowl from the kitchen. If I come outside empty handed maybe one or two of the more social ones will come and say hi,but if there's food involved they all come running!
Lizzy, that's sure nice of your neighbors for the mower loan . I can't stand all the safety features on mowers , first thing we do whenever we've gotten a mower new or used is disable all of them. (must have been gone the day they talked about running with scissors)
About cleaning ... when I was a kid if we came home from school and mom was cleaning house we would ask "who's coming over?" wonder where I get it.

 

[chicken danz]

Wow, cherwill. I wish K-state would come plant some experimental veggies here! Awesome.
To add to the saga on finding duck egg nests DH found a big black snake in a duck nest in the weeds that we hadn't cut yet last night. Then duck was upset trying to get back to her nest. There were about 15 eggs. I ended up taking the eggs. The snake was gone before we got back with the gun. I candled them and all had started developing but all but 4 had died. They just don't have good luck hatching them cause they get contaminated. So I put the 4 that were alive in the incubator.
I have another hen sitting on a pile in an old push lawnmower bag on top of grass clippings. I really should take a picture and then move her as well. I need to finish mowing the 7 foot jungle out there where the ducks have been laying so we can stop this. I often leave a patch of grass growing taller for the ducks but this is just tall thick weeds. I just can't afford to loose any more ducks to them.
My hatcher is full of chicks again. I need to get it emptied after while and get it cleaned again. I think I have several that needs to go in tomorrow.

 

[HEChicken]

They just don't have good luck hatching them cause they get contaminated.

I'm having the same problem with my muscovies. I don't really understand this since it seems contradictory to survival of the species - you'd think Mother Nature would have figured something out by now.

My first broody Muscovy, I only set 4 eggs. Then I put a bunch of turkey eggs under her as well. Long story short, 3 of the duck eggs and 2 of the turkey eggs were contaminated and she only ended up with the one duckling.

Broody duck number two was due last Wednesday. Since no duckling had appeared, and there was an unpleasant odor coming from the vicinity of her nest, DD and I went out after dark last night, removed a furious duck from the next and candled all the eggs. We four 6 stinkers (out of the 23 eggs she started with), 4 quitters and 2 that were clear. The others had ducklings in them, and we could see movement in several and one that was internally pipped so we put her back on them. It looks like they are going to hatch a full week late. I don't get it, but I'm getting used to it since the first duck's lone duckling was also 6 days late. In the incubator they hatched right on time.

Broody ducks 3 and 4 are each sitting on a baker's dozen, but now I'm wondering how many I'm going to have to pull from them too. It just seems like it shouldn't be this hard. In all the eggs I've incubated in incubators and under broodies, I had never encountered a contaminated egg until these darned ducks started sitting.

 

[chicken danz]

I had three ducks sitting on over 40 eggs last year. They hatched 5 out of all those eggs. I had two ducks sitting in the hen house on a huge nest. They deserted nest number one and started on nest # 2 when the first ones didn't hatch. I had a cayuga sitting that didn't hatch any and another one that has been on her nest way too long. I've had several girls hatch eggs off and on but then the babies often get lost and they don't do a good job of raising them. But incubating results in at least a 90% hatch. It's just crazy.
Unfortunately I quit hatching for about 3 weeks and sold eating eggs and then they all went broody so I have had neither one available for over a week. I just need to break them all up and let the ducks be mad for a while.
It's so gloomy looking out today. Looks like it is going to be one of those rainy days.
I got the bottom of the netting fastened down on the newest hoop coop yesterday and got the hut doors and a vent door made but not hung. I need to put in the floor and and make the exterior doors yet. I am going to haul some old barn boards up to make the floors which is going to be a lot of physical work but I won't be spending any money on them that way. I am so ready to get this done. I am just not inspired like I was with the first one. I guess it's because I know I could use so many more of them.

 

[shell55]

Went out to feed the chickens on Saturday morning and found 3 chicks had hatched from one of my broody Cochins. I have 4 Cochin hens and 3 of them went broody around the same time. The first one was sitting on 4 eggs and none of them hatched (looked like they started developing, then died not too far in). But the next one was sitting on 4 eggs and she hatched 3 of 4. I have one more that is still sitting (she has 8 or 10) eggs. I think she was only a couple days behind, so her eggs should be ready to hatch in the next couple of days. The 3 chicks seem to be doing great...momma must be taking good care of them. She is protective of them for sure. I moved them to a separate little house/pen inside the Cochin pen and they seem to be getting along just fine. They are so cute!

 

[Trish44]

That is really strange about the ducks not hatching their own eggs, but you can hatch them in the incubator. I'm getting some peafowl eggs soon & the guy I'm getting them from said they're hard to get started, so some people start them out under a broody hen & then transfer them to the incubator. I don't know whether to try that or not. He said they're really hard to hatch & gave me this big long list of instructions to follow. I hope I can get some to hatch.

My two peacocks out in the pen are now displaying & calling. They're just a year old now so they don't have their big tail feathers yet, so it's kind of funny to see them display with their short little tails & I had not heard them do the mating call until about two days ago. It kind of surprised me because I didn't think they did that until they were two years old & at first I didn't know what that noise was out there. It kind of freaked my dogs out too because they had not heard that before. I have found a yearling female to go with them, so I'm hoping to get her this weekend if it works out. I had lost my female last year.

I'm having problems now with getting my guineas back into the pen at night, so I probably will keep losing them. I used to be able to lure them in with food, but it's getting harder & harder to get them back in there. Last night there were four out that I just couldn't get to go in so I had to just let them stay out. I have lost a few lately. They're just such wild birds, no matter how long you have them & raise them from babies they never tame down.

shell55, you were posting when I was writing. I love the little light colored chick, is it lavender?

It's really cloudy here today too & the humidity is awful. I had just gotten my DH talked into turning on the AC the other day & then he said it wasn't working right & turned it back off. I told him he had better get the air conditioner guys to come back out & check it because it's been awful in here. They were just here the other day & checked things & changed the filter. My DH had installed this new thermostat that is computerized, we can use our smart phones to control it, which is nice if you're away from home & need to adjust it before coming back. But now he doesn't know if he wired something wrong or what. The heat worked fine this winter, but we have a heat pump & I don't know if it's more tricky to hook up for AC or not. I guess we'll find out tomorrow since the guys are coming back in the morning to look at it. I wanted him to be here when they came so he can tell them about the thermostat since it's not the one they installed with our new heating & cooling system we had installed last year.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Danz - that will be awesome if you have ducks when you happen to come by this part of town.

Lizzy - glad you guys have less rattlers this year. As for the lawn mowers, yep... they seem to gauge it with a man's weight, not a child nor a woman's. The riding lawn mower just cut off once it bounces a time or 2. Very annoying.

Cherwill - How do I get K-state to give me a bunch of different veggies to plant?

I sure could use some. I did break down and buy some tomato plants but still haven't planted them out yet. I hope it is not too late... Sigh...

HeChicken - Sounds like you are also hatching along nicely... along with Danz and Trish that is.

Shell55 - nice picture of your mama and chicks. Those fuzzy butts sure are cute! Sometimes I wish they will stay at that age but alas, they have to grow up and grow up fast!

Trish - oh no, you are losing your guineas? What happened to them? I was hoping your LGD would help protect them even though they were out and about at night. But I guess it is hard to do so with that much land, right? I agree that the humidity is awful. I can cut it with a knife...

I have had the A/C on over a week ago when I was complaining how hot and muggy it was. I still haven't turned on the A/C in the farm house. That house has 2 heat pumps. DH had the heating and cooling guy came out to check and make sure they are working. Cost us $175 just to check and refill the freon (DH said it wasn't even low to begin with). I think I'll turn it on to start cooling things down before the move.

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No rain here and partly cloudy. Humidity is as awful as can be. I miss Spring, Fall, and Winter! The ducklings were having a grand 'ol time outside of their coop yesterday. Took me a little while to herd them back in. I hope DH remembered to let them out this morning. I find it interesting that duck eggs are so hard to hatch outside the incubator. I'm glad we have incubators to help along!

So the 2nd broody took a long break, like 2+ hours, from sitting so DH thought she wasn't broody after all and took the eggs away. Well, she was back sitting on an empty nest again so I put the eggs back under her. As soon as I put a couple in, she "rolled" them under her using her head/neck then proceeded to peck on my hand... hard! Guess she was upset that I touched her eggs! Still haven't found out where the Hamburgs lay their eggs. We eat white eggs because most customers prefer brown. At this point, we may resort to eating brown eggs until we find where the white eggs are. It is really aggravating and frustrating to say the least.

We have a major project to do in the next few weeks. We know that the ground around the house is not sloping away from it much so we need to back fill it with dirt so water can flow away from the house. But we didn't know it was this bad. DH found a wall 'weeping' and declared it a top priority project. He took the tractor and got one of the concrete slab away (and found a snake as well). He then tried to do the same with a much bigger slab. No go. The whole tractor was tilted half way up and I was frantically waving my hand to tell him to stop!! I told him he needed to chip/break the big slab into smaller pieces and haul them away. He said he knew it but wanted to see/test if the tractor can handle it.

He got a quote to take that big slab away and just poured 2 smaller slabs for the heat pumps to sit on. The rest he will be putting natural stones and gator sand to make a big stone patio with a fire pit. It will cost us $1400 (just to take the big slab away, pour 2 areas for the heat pumps, back fill with dirt to create slope)! Yikes! He said he can do it by himself and much cheaper. I think it will take him 2x or 3x longer to do so.

After the slab is gone, he will back fill it with lots of dirt to create the slope, then put a french drain down to channel extra water toward the main mud pond. It is a big project, I hope he has time to do it.

Alright. My lunch break is over. Need to head back to work now. Hope everyone stays cool. I don't like this heat and humidity at all.

Kuan