Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

The river is supposed to come up to 22 feet today by one report, so just keep an eye on it. If it comes that high it definitely will come into the fairgrounds. The flood warning is until tomorrow morning. I hope you took pics of the dressed up birds & animals, we would all love to see them. I didn't make it over there at all, my DH was out of town all weekend & I worked all day Saturday on my hoop coop then I was tired yesterday & mostly just rested other than regular chores. That's terrible that people just brought birds there & didn't care for them, it makes you wonder how much care they get at home.
I mix scratch in my FF because it seems to give it more bulk & the birds love it that way.

I just got my door hung on my hoop coop & moved the roost, feeder & waterer in there so all I have to do this afternoon is go out & cut all the long ends off the cable ties & I can move the turkeys in there this evening at feeding time. It was just nasty going in that pen to get things to move them, you sink into poopy nasty mud in that old pen. I'm sure the turkeys will be much happier in a drier bigger pen. I hope the other hen comes back long enough I can catch her & get her into the new pen. They all will be staying in for a few days to get used to it.

Thank you. I like the idea of adding bulk. They love the scratch so why not...

Maidenwolf I think you are right on all counts. The one with the lemons that has the silver on it's head could still be a lemon. If it turns white with gray when it feathers out it will be a Swedish Flower hen. I had one flower hen that was almost pure white. If it turns yellow or buff it will be a lemon. I did produce a few really light lemons which is what I was striving for. I sold one of those I was going to breed with to Trish. He is a gorgeous young cockerel. So just watch and see what it feathers out to be. The Swedish are typically smaller than the orps so size might give you a clue as well.

Quote:
Yeah one of my sons is an engineer and he would be the same way. I noticed that some of the traps aren't quite as limber as others so I squirted a little lubricant on the moving parts. Seemed to work just fine.
Quote:
I don't wait. I do test hatches. I throw in one or two at a time and wait until they show development before setting several at once. I've found it usually doesn't take many eggs before you get a fertile one. However right now heat could be a factor that might make them less fertile. If you check them after 10 days or so and there isn't any veins or anything you can toss them and keep checking.
I figure I took these birds on as a responsibility so it's my responsibility to make sure they eat.
All that talk about cucumbers worked though. I picked a load of them yesterday. I'm thinking of making some pickles. Even a few of them were a little large for my taste to make pickles so the girls will still get treats.
I make my FF using grain. And even using chick starter I added some grain. It might make the little stinkers smell better.

Funny!

Well I am feeling like an old grizzly. I am soaked head to toe with sweat. I fed and watered and it was almost too much. I feel icky all over. It's so miserable humid out there. I lost a hen too. She was broody and apparently didn't bother getting up when she got too hot. I hate to see that start again. This weather makes my normally controlled asthma act up too. The muscles don't work properly when your oxygen intake is reduced by humidity.

Thank you,, the one chick in question has white wings and one feather so far on the wing is turning black so I am leaning more towards Swedish but we will see.

 

[Trish44]

I just got in a few minutes ago from feeding & finishing up my hoop coop. I was so totally soaked you would have thought I had run the hose over myself, but I didn't. This humidity is just a killer, I just can't stand it. I got all 3 turkeys that are here right now into the new hoop coop & they're not sure about it yet at all. You would think they would be thrilled to have more room & a drier spot. That old turkey pen is just a bog right now, it's totally nasty in there. I'm so glad I got those turkeys out of there so they didn't have to stand in that muck any more. They actually have some honeysuckle vines growing on the ground in their pen that was already there when I built it. I didn't see the other turkey hen at all today, I was hoping she would come back to eat, but if she did I didn't see her. The guineas waited until the last possible moment to go in their pen tonight, silly birds. Anyway, I feel so relieved to have that hoop coop done & the birds moved. Now I can work on getting the pvc put up over the old turkey pen & try to get it fixed so it will be able to dry out some eventually. I have one EE hen who still went to that pen tonight & just freaked out because the turkeys weren't there & it was totally empty, no roost, no feeder or waterer & she knew something was up. I had to wade in the mud in there to catch her & take her up to the coop. Her buddy the Australorp has already learned to go up there to eat, I wish this EE would get it in her head.

It's thundering here getting ready to rain again, just what we need. It looks like a pretty big line of storms coming. We have rain in the forecast I think every single day. I'm just thankful it waited until I was done working out there & feeding all the critters.

I haven't been over to look at the river today, I was too busy here, but I'm sure it's pretty high at this point & the additional rain north of us isn't going to help either.

 

[cleansquared]

Well my big wolf dog just ate one of my baby ee pullets i tried to get it from him so i could tie it like things suggest to him but he literely swallowed it whole omg i have no idea how he got it one of the hooks was off on the gate but there is 4 and hes to big to get through idk if the great preanese puppy went in there and got it for him or what ..does any one have any ideas on discouraging eating tasty easter egers? i know hes part wolf so ill never break him but i would at least like to make it less wonderfull for him....and since idk what part the puppy played in all this it has me worried

 

[chicken danz]

Cleansquared I think the best thing that works for me is scolding. But that might not work here. I can ask my daughter what she recommends but I'm afraid she'll say there is no hope. (She trains dogs for a living.) Is there any chance your EE got out through the wires? I'm afraid a part wolf might be a lost cause. I had a neighbor once that had a half wolf and it even swallowed a box turtle once when I was watching it. Not to be a downer.
Maidenwolf I think you must have another Swedish then. Their colors do change as they feather in too. It'd be great if you ended up with a trio to breed with.
Trish you built that hoop coop in a real time warp. Amazing. If I get the rest of this metal moved out I am going to try to start building my new turkey pen. It won't be a hoop coop this time because I want to use maximum space available for them. I'm not sure I can get wood posts in the ground where I want to put it so I'm not sure what I am going to do. I also have to build them a house of some kind.
I really hate to disrupt them. They are so good for me. Last night I went out and called "Turkeys" one time and they all came running and raced me to their pen. I really love those guys. I hate to have to pen them up for a while when I get their new pen built. I usually have one hen that has to be brought in by herself but she even came this time.
We got another storm last night. Okay, so now I am starting to grumble about it. I tend to grumble more about the humidity than the rain but this is getting a little excessive. I figured out all the rain is driving the mice inside. I caught 3 in here yesterday and during the night one of my cats caught one. Of course kitty decided she wanted to share so she jumped on the bed and promptly dropped the mouse in the middle of the bed. No it wasn't dead!
I jumped up and turned on the light and immediately got a growl from DH. I told him she had just dropped a mouse in bed. He looked confused and said "Dead?" I replied,"No,it's alive and there it is!" just as it came out from under the quilt. Needless to say he woke up rather quickly then.

To make a long story short he grabbed it in the covers and held it until I could grab a rag to carry it out with. I just imagine that mouse was not set free. Of course the cat spent the rest of the night checking every bump in the covers trying to find her lost treasure.
I had a lady bring me a wet chick yesterday with a bloody navel and a pile of filthy eggs. It was from the group of faverolles I sold her. One of the hens hatched two babies and then deserted the other eggs. The first baby died in the mud. The second was the one she brought me. She wanted me to hatch the other eggs but I don't know if they will. The hen and the eggs were both down in the mud. I taped the naval on the baby so the bleeding would stop and set it in an incubator. It was just fine this morning. I put the other eggs in the incubator to finish hatching. I need to candle them later to see if they are viable or not.
She left her basket and quilt here I discovered this morning and it got drenched. I don't know if I can recover it or not. I intend to return it with whatever chicks that hatch cause I sure don't intend to raise them.
I am finally getting eggs from the two araucanas hens that I am crossing with the legbar roo. If and when I have offspring, I think I am going to call them Araubars. I may have to cross the offspring again to get 100% barring although I am sure it doesn't matter since I just want blue eggs. These girls are lavender so I think the possibility of a light creamy crele color could result in at least part of the chicks. I am just doing this for fun because they are here. I gave a couple of legbar eggs to my sister in a batch of eggs a while back from the cream legbars. She said she hated to eat them. So for my family I think it would be nice to throw in some nice colors. We all have grandkids that would love to eat blue eggs.
Cherwill I envy your gardening skills by the way. I meant to ask you in your community garden are those raised plots or are they just natural earth that is divided into plots? I found a recipe for dill pickles that uses the old fermentation way. I think I may try to make some. What else do I have to do with all my time?

 

[lizzyGSR]

All this talk about rain... Gah! We can't seem to get more than a few dribbles at a time!

Yesterday, the forecast was calling for a 50-60% chance of rain, with mention of localized heavy rain. I ended up having to take an unplanned break from work yesterday because a small storm popped up and started producing landspouts (a land spout is a tornado without the supercell and without the rotation in the storm itself). They issued a tornado warning on it, which prompted me to rush outside, glance at the clouds, put the truck in the shed, and put the birds in their house. I then ran back inside and took the dogs to the basement with me. The storm and its associated land spouts went around us, but just barely. Our pasture is about 1/2 mile long, and the horses are usually at the far end of the pasture. They came back to the house last night looking like they'd been drenched. However, here at the house, we only got 0.05". A neighbor who lives only about 2-3 miles away got a heavy downpour and some small hail. They're calling for a good chance of rain again tonight and the probability of rain tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll get a nice shower out of it somewhere in there. I hear reports of flooding and such farther East, but we're still suffering from a pretty serious drought. Some places farther East have gotten more rain in one night than we've gotten all year. Very frustrating. Wouldn't it be nice if we could take some of their excess and use it out here?

 

[checoukan]

Lizzy, I would gladly send you some!!! we got 1 1/2 inch last night. We are really wet, but, while we were at Garden City this weekend, I had to help my sister clean her basement, she had close to 2 inches in there. Not a nice job, and she "HAD" carpet down, well not any more!!

 

[chicken danz]

I haven't even been to my basement the last couple days. It does tend to leak some when we get a lot of rain after it being very dry. I don't think I want to check. When I bought this house the basement was bare but had previously been finished. They had torn everything out and supposedly paid a company to water proof it. The work they did actually cause weak spots where the water runs in. So I've never been able to finish my remodeling project down there.
Good to see you Checoukan! You really need to stop in more often. It's been very quiet here lately. Most people seem to be busy with kids and vacations so we haven't had the normal posts.
Lizzy I can so empathize with you. The past two summers were like that here. The rain would go around us every time. I was starting to feel that way this summer but the last few days we have gotten more than our share. With this awful clay though it doesn't penetrate. It seems to sit on top and make it as slick as ice. I am trying very hard not to complain because if it doesn't drown them out I know I need it for the crops.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy I can so empathize with you. The past two summers were like that here. The rain would go around us every time. I was starting to feel that way this summer but the last few days we have gotten more than our share. With this awful clay though it doesn't penetrate. It seems to sit on top and make it as slick as ice. I am trying very hard not to complain because if it doesn't drown them out I know I need it for the crops.

Two summers ago, we didn't have any land or anything to worry about the rain. We had a small garden but were easily able to water it with the hose. This year, we've got a decent garden, which is currently being overrun by pumpkin plants. We've also got an established tree line (50 year old cedar trees) and pasture land that desperately needs water. We've also got horses that depend on that pasture land. We also planted several fruit trees this year and last. Last year, we were able to water the trees a lot more regularly, and they are doing well. This year, with me being pregnant, it has been a lot more of a struggle to get out early in the morning to water trees. We've lost one tree and two bushes. Thankfully, they are from Gurneys, so we get free replacements, but it is still frustrating to have to wait an extra year to get fruit from them. Plus, we'll have a newborn/infant by the time spring comes, and I was really hoping not to have to deal with keeping up with watering first-year trees. Oh well, I guess that's just how it's going to have to be.

Ironically enough, we moved here from Cheyenne, WY, which is often thought of as being very dry. It rained more there than it does here. Go figure, huh?

 

[checoukan]

We have a lot of clay here too, so it get slick and sticky. makes walking tough. Lost one of my original black rosecomb hens this weekend. She must have been 10 or so. Fred told me to turn them loose, and let them run. I just could not do it. They were never allowed to run, unless they made the great escape, and it took me a while to catch them. When they did get out they just did not know what to do, and were so scared, I felt bad for them. Well, I guess I better go play in the mud for awhile, and get some things done. Supposed to get more rain tonight. Crazy for august. Wonder what winter is going to do to us?.........

 

[maidenwolfx80]

We have a lot of clay here too, so it get slick and sticky. makes walking tough. Lost one of my original black rosecomb hens this weekend. She must have been 10 or so. Fred told me to turn them loose, and let them run. I just could not do it. They were never allowed to run, unless they made the great escape, and it took me a while to catch them. When they did get out they just did not know what to do, and were so scared, I felt bad for them. Well, I guess I better go play in the mud for awhile, and get some things done. Supposed to get more rain tonight. Crazy for august. Wonder what winter is going to do to us?.........

Nice to see you on here

This has been crazy weather for august.. This whole year has been crazy really..