Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

We're just 20 minutes north and west of you!

Anyway, I was hoping to fill their pen with sand so they wouldn't have a muddy mess when it rains. They LOVE getting in our son's old sandbox even though there isn't much sand left in it from years of dump-a-bucket-here-and-there. Did the sand burn their feet last year? Also, how deep and how large of a space did two pickup loads fill? And did they winter well on it?

Also, the humidity today is a KILLER!!! You can feel the water in the air!! And our ladies won't take any interest in the new watering system. One even drank the water from the AC drain instead of from the chicken nipple bucket!!!! UGH!

I didn't have any issues with the sand burning any chicken feet, but then I have a tarp over the top of the run. I have a run that is about 8'X12' & I think the sand was originally about 4 or 5" deep all the way through. It worked great for awhile, I just had one of those cat litter scoops with a long handle & scooped the chicken poop out about daily & it did pretty well. One problem that came up was that I had a stack of straw bales sitting by the outside wall of the coop by the door & the chickens started to shred it & then it started getting mixed in with the sand. I tried to rake it out the best I could, but some still mixed in with the sand. When that got wet then it just kind of made it into a sort of concrete. Then like I said the chickens kept digging it out & there is more sand outside the run than in now. If you had some kind of higher base at the bottom to keep it in maybe that would help, but I don't. I don't think there were any issues with it in winter when there was sand in there.

Deerfield, It's nice to see you back, we miss your input & humor. The little SS chicks are doing fine. I have the 3 biggest ones in with my Frank's BR chicks because they were kind of picking on a newly hatched Ameraucana. I had to nip that in the bud quick because those chicks are already spoken for & they were picking at it's little bottom. I had to put blue kote on it & then they left it alone. The other two smaller ones are doing fine with the younger chicks. I now have hatched 4 beautiful little lavender Ameraucanas from the eggs I got from Bargain, that was out of 7 eggs, so I guess that wasn't too bad for shipped eggs. I have 3 little Wheaten Ameraucana chicks now in that pen with the momma & I'm watching them nervously because they're so tiny they could come out the chicken wire if they decide to. Today fortunately I was outside feeding when I came around the pen & there was one of those babies outside the pen. ACK! I ran over there & as I did it ran back under the gate. I blocked it off hurriedly with some flat rocks & hopefully it won't be able to come out again that way anyway. There are so many cats that hang out around those pens & the rabbit hutches because it's shady there & I caught one cat yesterday reaching her paws under the gate. I was watching the chicks this afternoon & there were about 3 of the baby kittens that lost their momma really checking out those chicks. I sure hope the little things listen to momma & stay inside. She is very protective of them, but does let them explore a little more than I would like. They're so darned cute I will hate it if anything happens to them. I noticed them doing something I had not seen before today too. They rolled an egg out of the nest that still has eggs in it & I guess the chick had died in the shell & they broke it open & were eating it.

 

[TheDownyChick]

" They rolled an egg out of the nest that still has eggs in it & I guess the chick had died in the shell & they broke it open & were eating it." ←Ugh! That is nasty! Perhaps it is natural, bur I sure wouldn't want to see it!

 

[RoosterLew]

Danz there are different "seasonal Grasses"

Fescue, rye, yellow top clover,Johnson grass. Etc are spring or early grasses. Bermuda likes the hear and comes on much later. Cutting too late on spring grasses will lose much of its value and early on Bermuda will lose bulk.
I am a bit late on the spring grass, but with the late/weird spring we have had its looking pretty good still. If the rain keeps up that Bermuda will come on good . I am lucky to have such a great mix of grasses, and plan on adding more into it.
This field has been let go for a few years and had horses on it. It has a few blackberry briars and some short cedars that need to go. A couple a cuttings a year will clean that up as well. Cutting hay is never a bad thing, it just keeps getting better with every cut.

And I know, we have had the Johnson grass discussion already, lol. But the fact is, around here it is every where. Some people love it, some people curse it, others have no clue about it!

 

[HEChicken]

Okay all of you, with all this talk of weeds and grasses, I'm going to give you a little project. Or should we make it a game? Or a competition???

I am hopeless when it comes to identifying all these things you're talking about. Every time you mention something with which I'm not familiar, I have to google image it to figure out if I have it here, so I'm gradually learning to identify all the things that grow here. But I have a ton of things growing that I don't know what they are. I'm experimenting with weeds I pull, to see what the sheep will eat, but get tired of explaining to DH that "they like that one that grows tall with the little seed heads on top" instead of just being able to name the plant. (I now know that is Sourdock, but only just learned that one

)

So - I'm going to go out and take a bunch of pictures of the things that I still don't know the names for, and see if anyone on here knows. Where it might get fun is if one person says its one thing while another insists it is something else. And both might be right since so many things have multiple names anyway.

 

[HEChicken]

Here we go:

This stuff is a ground cover and grows very thick, crowding out anything else.

Here is a close-up of the same plant:

This one grows in a tall stem, maybe 1-2' high?:

This is another of the same plants:

And here it is again, looking down on it. It has tiny little white flowers:

This one looks so familiar so I feel like I should know what it is. It looks a little like a dandelion except grows tall and doesn't produce the yellow flowers.

And then there is this one - no idea - anyone?

Here is a close-up of that same plant:

And last, this one:

 

[Polishpal]

I think my guinea meet splay leg is going to die :'( she is acting very lethargic and really douse not want to get up...I guess this is for the best, her leg has only strengthened but the splay got no better

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I think my guinea meet splay leg is going to die :'( she is acting very lethargic and really douse not want to get up...I guess this is for the best, her leg has only strengthened but the splay got no better

I'm so sorry to hear that Polishpal; it just breaks our heart when something so helpless that we try to save doesn't work.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Hope everyone is keeping cool in this warm weather! We've been really busy around here... butchered about 85 chickens yesterday... next weekend will finish all the butchering that needs to be done But I am also going to try my hand at skinning some chickens - anyone ever try that?

 

[HEChicken]

Polishpal, I'm sorry to hear about your guinea. Did you try the bandaid fix to see if it could be corrected? The younger they are when you start, the better the chance of success but it may still not be too late. I had a turkey pout that was so splayed it was like a person doing the splits - one leg straight in front, the other straight behind. DD and I applied bandaids and were able to take them off only 2-3 days later (this was when it was only hours old though - the older they are, the longer it will take to fix). From that point on, it walked around completely normally. We nicknamed that one "Bandaid", he is 6-7 weeks old, and one of our fellow BYC'ers now has "him" to raise up.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, I'm BACK!! Well, not really back, but I'm HERE!! That was an insanely long hiatus from BYC if you ask me. I'm so sorry, I did not read back or catch up on what's been going on. I will just jump in here and try to keep up now. I tried a few things for internet down here. If you all don't know, I moved into an apartment complex so I can work down here in OKC. I'm like super cheap, and didn't want to sign up for a 2 year contract with COX cable when we're house hunting and hoping to buy something in the next month or two and pay to back out of the deal in a few weeks.. So... I tried out the WiFi hotspot on my smart phone. Yeah, that didn't run my computer very fast or work all that well. (I have unlimted data on my phone, but the WiFi hotspot is extra!) So, option number two, I figured I'm in a LARGE apartment complex and I'll hunt down a WiFi that is unprotected! Scrolling thru all the options and every single one was password protected... until I got near the bottom of the list and wah-la!! I'm hoooked up to someone's NetGear! yay!! Now I hope they don't change it or decide to password protect it!

So far, the job is working out great down here and I'm liking OKC. It's taking a while to get over how extensive their highway system is down here and how they are very rude drivers! No one wants to let you in, or is very nice on the road. Kansas is much nicer in that regards. But down here in OKC, they have us all beat on trees, hills and sort of an "ozark" feel to everything! My entire complex is shaded in trees and crepe myrtle lines about everything down here from property lines, road sides, parking lots... you name it, they love their crepe myrtle! I love it too, so I'm not complaining!

In other news, as you all know I'm a Silkie addict and my girls have FINALLY (PTL!!!) started laying! Although, it's KILLING me because I really can't hatch them right now. Just shoot me now!!! I considered bringing it all down and setting up my incubator in the apartment down here. But I really need to NOT have more birds/chicks until we get moved into a home down here and can set up pens, etc again. Oh and the funny thing is that no one has gone broody on me until about 3 days ago. And guess who it was? I'll give you a hint-- it was NOT a silkie. (the broodiest of all chickens) It was one of my Reese barred rock girls!?!? She just started laying only a month ago and she's holed up in a nest box for the past few days and taking out her growly angry hormones on anyone dumb enough to stick their hands in her nest. I'm still taking her eggs though... I just can not have babies right now!! Oh how I wish the timing on this were better and I'd let her hatch all she wanted to. UGH!! I'd probably throw about 10 silkie eggs I have stashed on the counter (for eating, I promise!) under her.

Okay, so I lied that I didn't read back-- I went back exactly one page and saw that Karen had come back from her hiatus also! WELCOME BACK!!! Silly of me to say when I've been gone for nearly a month! ...or has it been a month?? Wow, I don't remember.

Okay, so today, I mowed the lawn and the mower made that horrible "chunk" sound when it hits flesh. I've been killing poor toads in my lawn left and right, so my heart was in my throat as I swung the mower around to see what I hit. But thankfully-- it was a snake. I felt bad about it for about 2 seconds and then continued on mowing thanking the fact that I didn't kill another toad! LOL!!!

Hope everyone is doing great!! If there is anything I need caught up on, let me know!!

BTW-- Lizzy, how are you feeling now?? Have you hit the phase where you're so tired you could sleep standing up??

Danz, hope you haven't fallen over your feet, a hose, a rock, or down a hole while I've been gone! Bwhahahahaha

edited to add-- HOLY HECK Sunflower... 85 birds butchered?? I just read up, geez, that's a lot of birds!