Consolidated Kansas

[TheDownyChick]

Hi everyone,  How did you all make out with the tornadoes?  Did anyone have any near you?  My grandson lives in Moore, OK and so does my son.  They had no damage from the tornado that went through about 10 days ago but the one last night wiped out my grandsons apt. and my sons house.  My son is out of country right now so he's safe and my grandson and his girlfriend drove all over to get away from the tornados as they couldn't find a shelter.  I saw photos on facebook of my sons house and it is a mess.  Our family that's scattered over KS are all right.

Oh dear! I am so sorry, but very glad everyone is safe! That is a real blessing! Things can be replaced, people cannot. I will be praying for your son, grandson and families.

 

[TheDownyChick]

My chicks are 9 days old. Can I take them outside and let them play in the grass for a bit in the middle of the day? I have heard of folks doing so, but am unsure of the ages of the chicks. They are running and jumping and I think they would love to explore in a secure pet enclosure with supervision for a short while. But, I don't want to do anything that might harm them. What do you guys think? Should I or shouldn't I? If so, how long? I am new to this, except for when I was a kid. But folks are doing things a lot differently now than then, anyway!

 

[sharol]

Do you have them on medicated feed? They can pick up cocci outside (from wild birds) if they aren't . If it is warm enough, I would think it would be ok for a short time. Of course the smaller they are, the greater the risk picking up something.

My chicks are 9 days old. Can I take them outside and let them play in the grass for a bit in the middle of the day? I have heard of folks doing so, but am unsure of the ages of the chicks. They are running and jumping and I think they would love to explore in a secure pet enclosure with supervision for a short while. But, I don't want to do anything that might harm them. What do you guys think? Should I or shouldn't I? If so, how long? I am new to this, except for when I was a kid. But folks are doing things a lot differently now than then, anyway!

 

[chicken danz]

Chicken Danz -- I must be getting old -- I can't find how to PM Deerfield Acres as you suggested. <continuing love-hate relationship with computers>

In case I can't find anything closer (looks like you're about 2 hours from Wichita?), what do you have available to sell?

Greta

Go to the top right of this page. Where it says New Messages with a number in front of it, click there. On the left you will see Private Messages, right below that it says Compose New in a gray box. Click that box and it puts up a message form. In the top line under Compose type in Deerfield Acres. You will get a drop down box that appears and you can click on her name. You won't have to type the entire name to get the drop down box. Just choose it from the list. Title the email and tell her what you want to tell her. Easy peasy. Really! If that doesn't work I will send you a PM and give you her real name and you can send her a message on facebook.

Quote:

Here's my little silkie babies that I'm hoping like heck are girls!
Got part of the garden planted today and some flowers potted. Now, just trying to introduce the chickens.

How did that go by the way??

Trish44, I found Hawkeye's FB page and saw her rooster. I am having a color delema. I have a calico bantam cochin rooster, two buff hens and a calico hen. I have 6 hopefully frizzle bantam cochin chicks and want a silkie to breed some sizzle's but I am not sure what color's will work out with my cochins I have. The chicks I have are less than a week old and at this point are black, gray/lavender, and a lt. tan color. I am new enough I am still learning all the coloring components and honestly, it all makes my head hurt.

Part of me just wants to set some silkie eggs and see what hatches out and go from there but I want good stock to work from.

Maybe you should contact Josie Chick. I think she has some silchins and some cochins she may want to sell. She might even have a silkie but I think she sold her silkie to Hawkeye. Hers are top quality. She is also very knowledgable about color breeding. So is Checoukan if you have questions on breeding but she doesn't have those type birds to my knowledge.

As far as laying age I have a few production reds and maybe a barred rock or blue rock. I really am not sure what all I have. I may have some lemon cuckoo and some lavender pullets fairly close to the 12 week old age. I know I have some birds close to that age or slightly younger but haven't sexed them. Orpingtons are really hard to sex but I think I can do it by the feathers. Try Deerfield first or see if Trish has something you want.

Hi everyone, How did you all make out with the tornadoes? Did anyone have any near you? My grandson lives in Moore, OK and so does my son. They had no damage from the tornado that went through about 10 days ago but the one last night wiped out my grandsons apt. and my sons house. My son is out of country right now so he's safe and my grandson and his girlfriend drove all over to get away from the tornados as they couldn't find a shelter. I saw photos on facebook of my sons house and it is a mess. Our family that's scattered over KS are all right.

So sorry for their loss. I am glad they are okay.

My chicks are 9 days old. Can I take them outside and let them play in the grass for a bit in the middle of the day? I have heard of folks doing so, but am unsure of the ages of the chicks. They are running and jumping and I think they would love to explore in a secure pet enclosure with supervision for a short while. But, I don't want to do anything that might harm them. What do you guys think? Should I or shouldn't I? If so, how long? I am new to this, except for when I was a kid. But folks are doing things a lot differently now than then, anyway!

I would only do it on a day above 80 degrees if I were you. Yesterday and today would be really cool for them. Do it in the afternoon when the grass is dry.

Well I have decided it is time to danzsize some more for sure. I am at the point I am giving up!! My work load is so tremendous right now I can't begin to catch up. I have all the game birds laying so that is even more to maintain in the incubators. I have all these ducks to take care of since I am still waiting on my duck buyer. I think I am going to call my backup buyer and see if she wants them. I have got to get them out of here.
It takes me forever to just take care of them all and that is just in time to start over.
I am having problems with my back and it makes it hard to get around to do all this. I don't have the option to push it off on someone else, so I have to do it. I need to build more pens but more pens means more work later on. I am a total idiot for sure who lacks self control.
I got the rest of my plants planted in the garden yesterday. I had purchased 4 little sweet potato slips and then discovered that my left over bits of sweet potato from last year had sent up shoots. I just cut off the excess of the sweet potatoes and stuck them in the ground. I think they will root now that it is warmer...if the mice don't eat the remaining sweet potato. If they do, it was no effort on my part other than digging the holes for them. I got a decent bounty from what I started last year so maybe they will repay me again. I love sweet potatoes and so do my dogs.
I haven't planted any seeds yet. I really wanted to get some green beans but I don't have any bean seed. I want to buy in bulk. Those little packages don't have enough to even make it worthwhile to plant but I haven't been anywhere to buy seed.
The chickens joined me in hoards while I was planting. I had a great time throwing worms and watching them fight. It worked well until some of them started scratching for more and uprooting my plants. It was time to shoo them out then. I'd been trying to encourage them to do that but I guess they needed me out there with my shovel to get real interested.
I have quite a bit more to plant as far as seeds but I don't know if I'll find the time to get it done before the next rain. I was reading about putting cardboard down and covering it with mulch to keep weeds out and moisture in. I loved the idea. My only fear is that the mice might find it desirable too. They seem to like going under anything that covers the ground. And then there is the big garden I was going to plant for the birds with watermellon, pumpkin, and cucumbers. I still haven't gotten DH to set up the sprayer so I can get it sprayed with roundup. My plans are always greater than my energy level or time permits.

 

[JosieChick]

The smooth cochins could all be put in a pen together. I can't remember what you will get the first gen with the buff but they may be splits that you have to take back to dad to get calico/mille fleur markings. I am sure you already know this but calico is just a mismarking or over representation of white in a bird that was being bred in a mille fleur project. (Both color projects in the cochin world and not recognized by the APA) There is a mille fleur and calico cochin thread on BYC that are both chock full of info and very nice folks working with those colors of birds.

I am sure Hawkeye can give you better direction on the silkies but the light tan is most likely a buff unless you bought from a breeder that has a porcelain project. I am not sure what you mean on the chick that is gray/lavender? If it just the down color it will most likely be lavender or blue. If you wanted to do a blue black splash pen you might have two chicks that would work for that. The buff won't have a place in that color pen and if you were to add it you would just have mixed colors.

Not sure where you got your babies from but keep in mind if they are hatchery birds then you will only be breeding more hatchery quality birds. If you just want fun backyard pets that is fine but if you are looking to have breeding or exhibition quality birds you will have to grow them out (if they are hatchery they will never be high quality birds) and cull for type and faults before breeding. The best thing to do if you want high end birds is to buy a started pair from a reputable breeder that can offer you guidance and get you birds that don't have major faults and are a good start for a new breeder.

Hope this is helpful! You will love your cochins, they are my favorites by far. I had several silkies but sold them before I moved, just not enough time for all of them!

Trish44, I found Hawkeye's FB page and saw her rooster. I am having a color delema. I have a calico bantam cochin rooster, two buff hens and a calico hen. I have 6 hopefully frizzle bantam cochin chicks and want a silkie to breed some sizzle's but I am not sure what color's will work out with my cochins I have. The chicks I have are less than a week old and at this point are black, gray/lavender, and a lt. tan color. I am new enough I am still learning all the coloring components and honestly, it all makes my head hurt.

Part of me just wants to set some silkie eggs and see what hatches out and go from there but I want good stock to work from.

 

[ivyrash]

The smooth cochins could all be put in a pen together. I can't remember what you will get the first gen with the buff but they may be splits that you have to take back to dad to get calico/mille fleur markings. I am sure you already know this but calico is just a mismarking or over representation of white in a bird that was being bred in a mille fleur project. (Both color projects in the cochin world and not recognized by the APA) There is a mille fleur and calico cochin thread on BYC that are both chock full of info and very nice folks working with those colors of birds.

I am sure Hawkeye can give you better direction on the silkies but the light tan is most likely a buff unless you bought from a breeder that has a porcelain project. I am not sure what you mean on the chick that is gray/lavender? If it just the down color it will most likely be lavender or blue. If you wanted to do a blue black splash pen you might have two chicks that would work for that. The buff won't have a place in that color pen and if you were to add it you would just have mixed colors.

Not sure where you got your babies from but keep in mind if they are hatchery birds then you will only be breeding more hatchery quality birds. If you just want fun backyard pets that is fine but if you are looking to have breeding or exhibition quality birds you will have to grow them out (if they are hatchery they will never be high quality birds) and cull for type and faults before breeding. The best thing to do if you want high end birds is to buy a started pair from a reputable breeder that can offer you guidance and get you birds that don't have major faults and are a good start for a new breeder.

Hope this is helpful! You will love your cochins, they are my favorites by far. I had several silkies but sold them before I moved, just not enough time for all of them!

Yep, I do know that the calico is basically a mille with too much white, but he is a pretty roo!

I ordered the silkies from ebay and I am talking about the color of the down on the baby chicks. In my experience the down color is not always the feather color so I didn't want to assume they would keep the colors of the fuzz.

I do love my cochins! They are the sweetest chickens I have ever had. I got into this all the wrong way and I have really hard time getting rid of chickens

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Grrrrrr!

I spent my morning running around so I could get some things done. like getting all the bins of chicks fed watered and cared for and the ducklings. Then I had to catch three hens that I was selling to a person who called me. Got my name from someone else. Anyway they were supposed to be here at noon. So 11:54 they leave me a voicemail saying their brother in law was on their way with some chickens for them. I think they had about an hour's drive. I think they could have called me a whole lot earlier. I only sell by appointment and the reason for that is I have to scheduIe everything else around that and so I don't have two people here at once. What about time schedules do people not understand????
The worst part is these birds were in one of the stinking muddy pens and I had to run around sliding in the mud to catch the stupid birds.
I am pretty unhappy. I'm not feeling very well today and that just set me off. Normally it is all in stride.
I can't imagine having a life where you don't think about how your shortcomings effect those who do have to keep a schedule.
Thanks for letting me vent!!

Oh no! If that was the lady i gave your name to I am so sorry!!!!!

Please know i gave out your name with best intentions for all parties, I guess i had just lulled myself into all chicken folks are golden to their word since the majority are. Again i apologize for the wasted time.

 

[chicken danz]

I'm not sure FrizzledPink. It's not your fault even if it was. I just don't think people have any concept of how valuable time is to me. I just wish they had let me know earlier. I don't like caging up and stressing chickens for no reason. They've forgiven me today though so all is well.
I've been feeling so overwhelmed and over worked lately. I have to say thanks to Sharol for giving me a respit today. It was exactly what I needed. I was able to come back home and go back to work taking care of the birds without feeling dread.
I am so done with shipped eggs. I did a lot of candling today and threw away probably $200 worth of eggs that were worthless. Shipping chicks is so expensive but I sure have better luck with them. I'm going to do a major sweep here and get things under control. I moved some trays around today and maybe with luck I can shut one incubator down for awhile. I have lots in the hatcher at the moment.
I had a peachick pip on the wrong end of the egg today. I thought it was a broken egg and had died. I decided to check the hole and when I moved the broken shell it started bleeding. I sure hope I didn't kill it. I put scotch tape on it and I hope he wasn't breathing through that hole. I am becoming a master at killing these babies. That is two now I have ruined. I guess they look different than most birds when I candle. How dumb can I be??

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Trish,

Svens kids as babies and now...my hens are brown and white so i don't know where the blue /grey came from but I like it

quite the crest, pretty sure its a boy

a little girl to match


Had to share Oz's growing up picture

 

[sharol]

A huge thanks to Danz for the use of the incubator and especially for the suggestions and instructions. The break was a lifesaver today for me too. We should do that again.

Now, if only those eggs are fertile, maybe I can hatch a "Little Butch" in case "Big Butch" doesn't recover from his infection. I know some of them probably aren't fertile, but the one I had for breakfast was, so maybe there is hope for some of the stockpile.