Consolidated Kansas

[Ralph Moyer]

Ralph, I lost my Royal Palm tom several months ago, so that's why HEChicken said my hen's eggs aren't fertile. I now have a young jake growing out as a mate, but he's too young yet. I have tried to keep this hen confined for a week at a time & she still takes off again when she gets the chance, so I guess I'm going to just have to keep her in. I just would hate to lose her to a predator if she is off in an unsafe place sitting on a useless nest. I'm in the process of building a new hoop coop for the turkeys so they will have more room.

How I found my turkey hen's nest was when I saw my male GP marking an area where she is.. He is keeping a close watch on her. I also lost my Narragansett tom in February . I now have a trio of Royal Palms. but I did hatch out 6 Narragansett in May, before I purchased the Royal Palms. She did not start laying until April, but I took a chance and put some in the incubator.

 

[cherwill]

50 posts behind. I tried not to skim too much, but I'll probably still write something stupid.

We got a little rain again last night. The problem is, it's so humid it never dries out. It's not unbearably hot, though. We're still getting 0 to 2 eggs a day. Hopefully the molting will be over soon.

I've been a canning fool the last couple of weeks. I can a lot of stuff, but I feel like very little of it is actually food. I have 4 pints of green beans. Everything else is pickled, spiced, or a relish or something; condiments of one sort or another. It's a great way to use the excess oddball produce, like fennel, but I feel like I'm not really putting up "food." Every year I toy with the idea of getting another plot at the garden just for basics to preserve. Then I scare myself by thinking, what if I don't feel like it at the time and then I have all this stuff?

Pretty!

Hello all! I have been lurking for days since I first found this thread. I am a newbie and just got a new shed that we are turning into a chicken/turkey/goose house. I am planning on using pine shavings as my litter and have heard that it is a good idea to sprinkle some food grade DE in it. I went to Orschlen's and saw a bag of DE in with their chicken stuff so I bought it. I am confused now because it does not say "food grade" or "feed grade". It is Manna Pro Pure DEfense. According to other posts on here it appears that I should not use this in my chicken house. I guess that I will have to return this and look for another brand somewhere else. I was wondering when you all get your food grade DE at? I can find it online but the shipping is horrible.

Thanks for any advice. When I get my feathered friends all settled in I plan to visit and chat often but right now they are just keeping me too busy.

Welcome. We love to look at pictures, so feel free to post some when your birds are all settled in and you have more time. I see that your questions have been answered, but I'll second what HEchicken said. We keep a fan on in the coop 24 hours when it's hot because a bird can sometimes sit in the nesting box for an hour or more when laying an egg. It's a tiny, closed-in box, so we like to keep some air moving.

When my rooster died this summer, I gathered up every egg that could possibly be fertile, borrowed an incubator, and took a shot at hatching a "lil' Butch." I ended up with only 2 chicks (partly my fault for temperature, partly the fault of weak eggs I think). One of them is looking like a cockerel.



I have renamed him Jake (Lil' Butch just doesn't work for him) and am working on calming him down. Dad was a very gentle EE and mom is a completly hysterical EE, and ChooksChick (from whom I got the original Butch) says to hold him and talk to him every day, so I'm on a mission.

How cool that we can have an offspring of the original Roo for the flock. (I'll not think about the completely Oedipus thing going with his mother)

That actually is very cool. I don't know if this helps or not, but the little cannibals have far worse traits than an Oedipal complex.

Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions about the DE. I will return what I have now and get a little of the right kind. I do get to Topeka or Wichita every so often so I will look up those feed stores that were suggested and be all set. I want it to help keep the coop dry and control flies. Anything to make it more comfortable for my friends.

I started acquiring my flock the first part of May and my husband tells me that I am done now but that is yet to be determined. LOL My current flock consits of 2 Rhode Island Red hens, 2 Barred Rock Hens, 1 white rock hen, 3 Ameraucana hens, 1 black austalorp hen, 1 white rock roo, and 1 Ameraucana roo. I also have 1 blue slate hen turkey, 1 royal palm tom turkey, 1 black spanish tom turkey, and a pair of white Embden geese. I am not so sure that the Ameraucana's are not Easter Eggers instead. I bought them as Ameraucana's but they don't look pure to me. They are really pretty though and I just wanted the different colored eggs so I really do not care.

I had an old chicken house that had not been used in over 25 years and intended on fixing it up. My loving husband decided that it might be more eye appealing to just go ahead and get a new shed for my friends. Their new home was just delivered this week and we are planning on getting it all fixed up this weekend and getting them all settled in. I am wanting to put poop boards under their roosts and also put linoleum down on the floor to help keep it nice and make clean up easier. I am thinking that the turkeys will try to roost in the loft so we will fix something for them up there. It is a learning process for me but they are being very patient with me. I have learned so much from all of the posts that I have read on here and am hoping to add a few more chicks this fall so I may be contacting some of you to purchase.

If you bought the Ameraucanas at a place like Orscheln or Tractor Supply, they're very likely EEs. Mine are, but I didn't care either. Like you, I just wanted a pretty variety of eggs in my egg basket. I don't know if Ameraucanas have the same personality traits as EEs, but I love the personalities my EEs have shown. They're very friendly, curious, and vocal. Not loudly vocal, but they talk to me more than the other birds, and they have the biggest variety of sounds.

If you do get to Topeka I, like Sharol would recommend buying the 50 lb bags at Premier Farm supply. They told me they always try to keep at least 4 bags in stock at all times.
These people are great and although it is a fairly small store they have nice competetive prices. (This is not a paid advertisement!

)
Instead of doing anything this morning I've been doing on line shopping for my Christmas decor. Actually I would love to create some of my own ornaments using some things I have around here. But really I don't have the time. It would sure save me a bundle though.
I am very picky about a Christmas tree and usually have a monochromatic color or at most a two color scheme. I have so many Christmas decorations. But after a year or two at most I want to change colors or themes again. So last year I got an idea of doing a peacock themed Christmas tree. I didn't even get a tree up last year. I was dealing with some major losses in family and pets and it just wasn't a time to celebrate. This year I plan to have my kids here and I want to do it right. I think I can tweek some of what I have if I just take the time. I am never organized enough to plan Christmas this far ahead. I have no idea why I am even thinking of it at this point.

I have a lot of beautiful ornaments, and quite a few that are one of a kind or homemade, but I can't bring myself to care enough to put up a tree any more. Sad, but true.

 

[HEChicken]

Cherwill I've been canning this afternoon too! My neighbor keeps giving me bushels of cucumbers and we can only eat so many. So I found a recipe for cucumber salsa and canned up a big batch of that. Not a food - exactly - but we can get some chips and dip into it and that can be a great snack or even a meal.

 

[TheDownyChick]

Thanks Danz.  After reading your post, I did a google search and it basically had the same information so you were spot on.  The only thing is, it said nail polish will not work, yet I get relief from itching for days, that starts immediately upon application so there is something in it that definitely DOES help me.  I also wonder if I'm not allergic or overly sensitive, because the article said the itching only lasts 2-3 days and the bites are healed in 2 weeks, but in my experience, the itchings lasts for weeks and you could still see my last batch of bites after a month.  I find the same thing with mosquito and flea bites too though - they seem to last much longer than most people's experience so I guess I'm allergic to insect saliva.

Same here. Skeeters and chiggers just LOVE me, too.still have a few bites on my feet from July 4.

 

[cherwill]

Cherwill I've been canning this afternoon too! My neighbor keeps giving me bushels of cucumbers and we can only eat so many. So I found a recipe for cucumber salsa and canned up a big batch of that. Not a food - exactly - but we can get some chips and dip into it and that can be a great snack or even a meal.

Oh, that sounds good. I give my aunt most of the cucumbers because the only thing I can think of to do with them is make pickles, and I make lousy pickles. She makes nice, crisp ones and gives me some.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, that sounds good. I give my aunt most of the cucumbers because the only thing I can think of to do with them is make pickles, and I make lousy pickles. She makes nice, crisp ones and gives me some.

Initially when I looked for ways to preserve them, pickles was the only idea that came up - I had to really dig to find the salsa recipe. No one in my family really cares for pickles. Well, actually DH and DS profess to love pickles, but the last jar of them I made 2 years ago is still in the fridge and actions speak louder than words, right?

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Initially when I looked for ways to preserve them, pickles was the only idea that came up - I had to really dig to find the salsa recipe.  No one in my family really cares for pickles.  Well, actually DH and DS profess to love pickles, but the last jar of them I made 2 years ago is still in the fridge and actions speak louder than words, right?

OK. I'm going to make a silly comment here so I apologize if it doesn't go over well with you like it did me. You can always use the fresh cucumbers, cut them into small discs and put them over your eyes and face. I don't eat them afterwards though. Lots of Asian people use them this way for facial treatment. Whatever is in the cucumber is supposedly good for the skin, especially in the hot summer days.

I love to eat it fresh or pickle them with hot chili peppers, rice vinegar and sugar.

I hear thunder as I type. I think we'll have rain again tonight.

 

[22qZoo]

Tweety- we love cucumbers that way! I use that Vietnamese chili garlic sauce and vinegar and sugar. We chowed down a huge bowl of that one hot afternoon after putting up hay, so refreshing .

 

[ashncarson]

Initially when I looked for ways to preserve them, pickles was the only idea that came up - I had to really dig to find the salsa recipe. No one in my family really cares for pickles. Well, actually DH and DS profess to love pickles, but the last jar of them I made 2 years ago is still in the fridge and actions speak louder than words, right?

I found a recipe for refrigerator pickles that are really good! Nice and simple and takes less than 24 hours with no canning!

 

[Trish44]

Oh, that sounds good. I give my aunt most of the cucumbers because the only thing I can think of to do with them is make pickles, and I make lousy pickles. She makes nice, crisp ones and gives me some.

I used to can a bunch when I was younger & had a bigger garden. One year I made gifts for family when we had gotten laid off, each household got 3 kinds of pickles & an assortment of jam. I thought it was a pretty nice gift, I'm not sure they thought it was though. I used to can all kinds of produce from the garden & had a cellar with big shelves I kept it all in. I just don't have the time or energy any more to do all that. I have a minimal garden this year, just tomatoes & a squash plant. It was the perfect spot for the plants because I had been dumping dirty shavings from the coop there for awhile & it has composted down as well as rabbit droppings. The rabbit droppings you don't even have to compost because it doesn't burn the plants at all. It's about the perfect fertilizer for anything. So my plants have thrived with all of that & all the rain we have had.

I had to make a trip to the Ark City Orschelyn's this evening & as I was walking through to get to the feed I passed a stock tank with guinea keets in it. I stopped & asked the sales girl how much they were. They had two colors in there. She said the pearls were $5.50 & the purples were $7.50, Wow that was sticker shock! I couldn't believe how much they wanted for those little things. I will just get mine from individuals at that price, ouch.