Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I am new to chickens and new to byc i currently live in wichita ks with my five new chicks but we close in a couple months on a place with a little more room for the girls and i to range in moline ks here we go city girl from tampa florida living in the country land of oz i know im going to need alot of help and guidence so im glad i found this site...

Welcome & feel free to jump in any time with questions or just comments. I hope you're planning for a secure place to keep your chickens at the new property. There are many predators out there & they're more than willing to have your nice chickens as their next meal. That's not to scare you, but just be prepared. The predators have been bad lately, the drought has brought out the worst in them & they're getting more bold. I just had a possum come in right under my Great Pyrenees noses on Sunday morning & kill a hen. It lost it's life doing it because the dogs got it, but not before it killed my hen. So that just shows you how bold they get. HEChicken just lost one of her lambs the other day also from a coyote attack, so they're coming after anything they can.

Well I started on getting the hoop coop tilled up inside after getting the meat chickens dispatched to the freezer the other day. I got half of it tilled up so far & I've got to get back out there & see if I can get the tiller started again & get the other half done. It was so nasty in there after those chickens spent weeks in there just sitting there eating & pooping, so I just felt like I need to do something with it before I put more chicks in there. I plan to use it for a grow-out pen for now. It will give the chicks plenty of room to run around & it's shady there where the pen they're in now isn't. I also have a few guinea keets growing out in there too, so this will be a lot better for them all. I'm so glad it's at least cooler right now while we're trying to get some projects done here. We got the metal cut for the roof for the goat shelter, but ran out of time before my DH had to get ready for work. We'll have to put it up another day. That gives me time though to work on patching the holes in the tin before we put it up.

 

[chicken danz]

Glad you got that done, Trish. I guess the one advantage to my situation is that I shouldn't have to build more pens!
Thanks to Sharol for another great respite this afternoon. Even though I haven't gotten much done at home it helped me feel so much better.

 

[sharol]

Great visit. Marlena has her eggs, and the other 6 will go in the bator as soon as I get the temperature stabilized. Thanks again.

Glad you got that done, Trish. I guess the one advantage to my situation is that I shouldn't have to build more pens!
Thanks to Sharol for another great respite this afternoon. Even though I haven't gotten much done at home it helped me feel so much better.

 

[Trish44]

Glad you got that done, Trish. I guess the one advantage to my situation is that I shouldn't have to build more pens!
Thanks to Sharol for another great respite this afternoon. Even though I haven't gotten much done at home it helped me feel so much better.

Well I went back out & finished tilling up the other half of the hoop coop & got the ground all smoothed out even again. That made me feel better about moving the chicks in there. I think i may have lost some pieces of the tiller in there that will hopefully show up at some point. There is a cover over the little motor & it fell off just when I was finishing up. I have the cover, but not what held it on. This is one of those little Mantis tillers that are really handy to have for smaller spaces. We used it in our raised garden bed. Anyway I got that done & then had to catch all of the chicks that were in the other pen & move them, that was quite a chore. They kept hiding in & behind the dog house in there so finally I got tired of dealing with it & just moved the dog house out. I ended up not putting that one back in there, I had a smaller one that fits in there better that I put in there instead. Then after I got all of the chicks moved, waterer, feeder & all I had to move that big dog house out of the way. It was too heavy for me to move by myself really but I managed to drag it across the yard & put it down where the smaller one had been between two pens. The cats sometimes use that house to have kittens in, so I wanted to replace it. Then after I got all of that done I had to get the 4 roosters that were left that had been in the hoop coop & move them to the other pen where the chicks had been. They're going to the freezer eventually anyway, they just weren't ready yet. Whew now I'm tired & I still have all my chores to do yet. I'm sitting here trying to cool off for a minute & catch my breath. I'm glad to have that all done though, it's a big relief because those chicks were too crowded in that other pen. I don't think they know what to do with all the room they have now. I just moved my 5 new Speckled Sussex chicks out there too that Karen & I got from Tony Albritton. They're pretty much feathered out so I think as warm as it is they will be fine out there. I moved two of the bigger chicks out to the main coop last night & plan to move about 3 more tonight. They're big enough they can join the big coop.

Danz, I'm glad you got a break for a little while, you needed it. We're all with you & if there is anything we can do for you we're here.

 

[RoosterLew]

Ok ok so the Donkey is not a good guardian.
The are still way cooler than a dog.

 

[chicken danz]

I always thought I wanted a donkey or a burro. Then I saw those minis and fell in love with them. But alas I kept my hand down at the auction I was at and didn't buy one. When this gal goes to an exotic animal auction I could come home with just about anything. I guess I had better stay away from places like that now.
What a wild evening I had. I took a lot longer feeding and watering and looked at all the birds. It's easy when you are feeding cause there are several that will jump in the feed bucket. Made me very sad and I kept thinking how I should just keep of few of this and few of that. Reality check... I have to get rid of them.
Then I went to put all the birds away. I ran the stupid ducks around and around the pens. I would get a bunch in and go after the others and the first group would run out. Finally I just said Fine and told them I hoped they would run in when the owls or coyotes showed up.
Then it was time for the geese. They always just walk single file into the greenhouse at night.
Not tonight. They took off running and split into two groups, one going on one side of the green house and the other group on the other. So I gave up on them as well. This isn't a good time for them not to go to bed at night because in order to sell them they need to be confined so I don't have to go on a wild goose chase....pun intended.
Sharol I am sending my best hatching vibes your way. So these babies should be due around the 22nd or so. I'll try to remember that. Isn't it amazing though you can take a simple egg and three weeks later have a soft fluffy chick?
I did pull out the Anconas I had in the duck pen last night. I moved all of them to my PVC pen. I didn't sex them and I am sure I have an over abundance of boys in there. I just wanted to get them separated because they are the ones I want to keep.
I also have a cayuga girl in my kitchen. I found her being raped repeatedly by some much larger drakes. She was literally almost dead and couldn't hold her head up. She is way too young to be bred. I brought her in and used a dropper to force some gatoraide and water down her. She wouldn't eat or drink. Then I gave her some tuna and shrimp cat food. I stuck her beak in it but she didn't want to eat. I sat the bowl of gator and water down and she was so weak her head fell in it and she couldn't lift it out. She is doing much better now. I thought sure she was going to die. She is holding her head up and and moving a little. Her legs aren't working but she is moving around some and made it back to the water and food and started eating on her own.

 

[22qZoo]

JOSIECHICK- I hear you on the pediatrition search. It was difficult up here in the KC area where there are a ton. It seemed that way anyway until my DD could speak for herself. Otherwise they just fallow the amercan academy of pediatrics script and pat you on the head and collect the co-pay. After our son got his diagnosis we found a Ped. Who also has a daughter with a disability ,that has been great at least she knows what kind of journey we're on.

 

[chicken danz]

Just for fun I took some pictures. First and second one.. yesterday's hatch. 87 chicks and one turkey.


Next one.. the peachicks I have hatched so far this year.

 

[cleansquared]

There is a small-medium barn on the property looks like people may have had cows goats and chickens (feathers and bones in the dirt and what looks like goat poop & there is the cattle wire fencing on the property lines will i need to chicken wire that to keep them in? freee roaming? Or will they stay on this side of the wire i got a great pr puppy mix off craigs list but im not entirely sure how to train it for chickens all i can find online is training for protecting lambs..

 

[chicken danz]

You really don't need to train the Pyr depending on what it is mixed with. That can be a problem sometimes. What you need to do is expose it to the chickens. Let it be around them from day one. At first you will have to watch it very carefully to make sure it understands that they are not toys. It may try to play and pounce which is okay as long as it never puts them in it's mouth.
That is the beauty of pyrs. More people make mistakes trying to train them rather than letting them do the job the are naturally instinctive to do. I've found rather than other methods of punishment when they do mess up a firm "NO!" works best. These dogs are extremely intelligent and so much different than other dogs. They need to be treated a lot different. There are many schools of thought on this but I stand firm on my beliefs about how to handle them. Also NEVER pen them up in a small enclosure with the birds. They have to have stimulation around them and sticking them in a pen with birds or anything else for that matter is asking for trouble.
Prepare to spend a lot of time cleaning up your yard. They are pack rats. Best bet is to find them things they like to chew on and carry around and they'll be happy as clams. Deer antlers are excellent or nice big bones.