Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Trish I know what you mean. I just feel awful for my birds and it is raining again this morning. the only difference in the pens and the yard is that some of the yard has grass which keeps them from being in total mud but the water is just sitting on top. The on little pullet I rescued from the mud and have in the house started sneezing last night so I guess she caught a cold. I really don't want a chicken in the house with company coming but I can't put her back out in the group being sick. I'm hoping it is a common cold and will go away with some vetRx. She had a great dinner last night of fried rice which she really really loved. She could get pretty spoiled in here.
That worries me that more birds will get colds just from the stress of being wet all the time. I guess there is nothing I can do about it though unless it stops raining. According to the forecast it is supposed to dry up after this morning for a couple of days. I sure hope so. I'm afraid the humidity is going to be a total killer though.
I'm afraid there are going to be more tragedies if this doesn't stop soon. I've already lost too many birds to the mud. I let my four older guinea chicks out of their cage yesterday and just let them run. I have no idea if they made it back to the garage where they have been staying. They just went nuts running. They weren't at all interested in the food I was putting out. They were going for the bugs. The older guineas were picking on them even though they have the whole yard to roam in. They sure aren't good team players. I have another bunch in the hatcher right now and several more in the brooder. I'm not sure what I am going to do with all of them. People don't tend to buy them late in the year. The four adults I kept are running free but go to one of three pens at night. If they don't make it to one of two before I close the doors they go in the third pen and the door is open but it's covered. I'm still finding eggs here and there.
Cleansquared I read that article. Seems like feeding your birds veggies would keep the blue color more prominent. I can't afford to feed veggies except when I have them available from the garden or leftovers. I'll just have to assume that genetics will work for blue eggs. It's only for my own use anyway that I have any blue egg layers in the first place.
I have to get feed today and finish my cleaning and mop the floors. I also need to go to town and see my Dad, deliver some eggs and pick up some prescriptions.
Plus do some cooking for tomorrow. Unfortunately everyone is going to be trapped inside due to the rain so they'll be bored insane. We have a couple movies we haven't watched but the kids watch movies all the time so I am sure they've seen them both. I've had at least one of them over a year and a half and haven't opened it yet. Shows how much time I spend watching movies.
Beautiful bird, ChickenPeep. Why don't you put him on the facebook Kansas Poultry Swap?

 

[chicken danz]

You know this discussion came up a couple years ago that so many of us chicken people were Leos. If I remember right I know Hawkeye and maybe Ivy were Leo's as well. However 22QZoo you are the first Leo who I've heard say they didn't like the sun sometimes. I guess I am not fond of it when it is 110 or the humidity is sky high but I still love the light. Even if I'm not out in it I like seeing the sun and can't stand cold, bleary, or cloudy days.

 

[Trish44]

Is it a coincidence that a lot of us are Leos, I don't know? Maybe birds of a feather, pun intended. I can't stand so many dreary days all in a row, it's dragging me down & my chickens are cutting down on laying more every day. I turned on their coop light last night & today I took it off the timer & am just leaving it on all day, I think they need the extra light because it's dark in there. Who wants to go into a dark coop & lay? I don't blame them. I do however have people wanting eggs, so I need to supplement their light so they will at least think it's lighter than it is. I don't like it when it gets to 100, actually 90 is about my limit of endurance any more & that's pretty miserable. The humidity just kills me, that's the worst part of all of this.

I went out & got the growout pen covered in straw & the poor chicks in there are starting to dry out some, at least for now. I felt so bad for them because they're just soaked & I'm hoping they can dry out & not get sick from it. They were so excited to see me bring that straw in there & not have to stand in the mud any more. They're having a blast digging around in it. I put the rest of that bale in the pens for my breeder coop, those aren't quite as bad, but still bad enough. I need to get a little more out & soak up some mud in the pen I have 4 roosters sitting in. I'm going to get rid of those guys one way or another, but in the meantime it's cruel for them to have to stand in 3 or 4 inches of mud all the time. They can get up on the roost, but they can't stay up there all the time.

It was sprinkling when I was out there, so things will get wet again. The forecast is showing 90% chance for rain today, so I'm sure we will get it. The next two days are only 20%, so I sure hope it gets to dry out for a couple of days anyway. Then on Monday we have 90% again & 50% Tues. I think we all need to start thinking of building an arc, gosh are we going to turn into a sea again here? I sure hope not! I think my idea for building the chickens tree houses may be a good one. At least they would be up out of the mud. I may have to get another pallet & put it in the growout pen just in case so they will have enough surfaces to get up on. I saw that they had been roosting on top of their water bucket & pooping in the water, uck.

Hey, has anyone heard from Hawkeye? I think it was yesterday they were supposed to close on their new house in OKC.

 

[pikeman94]

Hi everyone! Long time no post. I have been busy as usual. Kids keep growing chickens keep growing. We added a MaltyPoo rescue puppy to the mix in May. Overall life is good. I hope that everyone is doing well.

About two nights ago I noticed white flecks on my feed bin (50 gallon rubbermaid trashcan). After some research I learned that these are feed mites. What makes me sick is that fact that there is about 160 lbs of feed in there! Ugggghhhhh. I cleaned everything last night only to discover that they are back in force! Grrrr....So the can went outside. I am sure some of you have experienced this before. What did you do?


PS-
Karen - The Sussex girls say hi!

Verna - The Marans is my best layer these days!

 

[zigzag45]

Found a couple of birds yesterday "roosting" on the fence between my yard and my neighbors. Online alot of people seem to encourage wing clipping to deal with this, but I'd rather not. I'm seeing electrified wire, fishing line... any suggestions on the best option to discourage this. I need something effective, hopefully easy, and aesthetically workable.

Happy ending in looking for a home for my surprise rooster. Got a PM from another BYC member who took "Drama" (that was his name) and gave him a new home. Way better than a CraigsList response. I was quite happy to delete that ad.

Also, another question. I have nesting boxes that are roughly 18" off the floor of the coop. Their nesting poles are a tad higher so they've not been roosting in them, which is good I guess. But, how do I encourage them to lay eggs in the nesting boxes? I have pine chips and paper shavings in there, as well as some timothy hay and golf balls. But, I can't tell that they're spending any time in there. I've seen a feather or two, so I think they've checked them out, but the Dummies book says they like to play house before they start laying and I don't think I see signs of that much activity (another reason I need a webcam in the coop!). My three buffs are within a week or two of hitting 18 weeks so I'm hoping eggs will start soon. Since all these birds are new to this coop, they don't have any seasoned layers to watch and emulate.

Thanks for the help!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Just checking in for a quick sec. My sister and nephews are still here. Having 3 boys ranging 4 to 8 around sure is exhausting. I am officially tired of the rain. Never imagine I would say this but the mud needs to dry out, for the chickens' sake. I am not a Leo so I don't like the sun (summer is my least favorite season) so the cooler weather is awesome but my sister is a Leo (I think) and her birthday is this Sunday 8/11. She is moaning and groaning about the dreary, rainy, and cooler weather. She misses the sun dearly.

Sorry to hear those who is struggling with the mud and having sick birds. I hope my birds will stay healthy through this wet weather. I saw that the forecast is calling for more rain Monday and Tuesday night. So sick of this rain and mud. Although I do appreciate the cooler weather, especially in August.

 

[cherwill]

Found a couple of birds yesterday "roosting" on the fence between my yard and my neighbors. Online alot of people seem to encourage wing clipping to deal with this, but I'd rather not. I'm seeing electrified wire, fishing line... any suggestions on the best option to discourage this. I need something effective, hopefully easy, and aesthetically workable.

I don't know; we ended up clipping wings, only on the birds that actually flew out. The feathers grow back, but the birds rarely fly out after they do. I guess by that time they've been "trained" that they can't fly that high!

Also, another question. I have nesting boxes that are roughly 18" off the floor of the coop. Their nesting poles are a tad higher so they've not been roosting in them, which is good I guess. But, how do I encourage them to lay eggs in the nesting boxes? I have pine chips and paper shavings in there, as well as some timothy hay and golf balls. But, I can't tell that they're spending any time in there. I've seen a feather or two, so I think they've checked them out, but the Dummies book says they like to play house before they start laying and I don't think I see signs of that much activity (another reason I need a webcam in the coop!). My three buffs are within a week or two of hitting 18 weeks so I'm hoping eggs will start soon. Since all these birds are new to this coop, they don't have any seasoned layers to watch and emulate.

We didn't have to do anything, but we already had a few layers that could show the newbies where to go. The older ones just figured it out on their own, I guess. I know lots of people will put an egg, real or fake, in a nesting box to encourage the birds to lay in it.

Thanks for the help!

My area of Kansas has been declared a no drought zone! I'm so sorry for those of you still struggling; looks like it's a good 1/3 to 1/4 of the state still having serious problems. We saw today where farmers in Georgia have had so much rain they're having to till their crops under. They're full of rot and disease from so much rain. DH was afraid that's what is happening in our garden. He went by today when he was out and said ours is one of very few plots that is not flooded. I guess all the stuff we've worked in has made the soil properly porous, or whatever. He brought back our first red tomato. It's tiny, and split, so the rain has had an impact. He said the green beans are insane again and I don't even know when we'll be able to get out there to pick them. Maybe my aunt and can get out there Sunday. We have company coming tomorrow; friends from out of town.

My birds seem to be handling the rain pretty well. They're in and out of the coop much more often, but they don't seem bothered by being rained on.

 

[pikeman94]

Found a couple of birds yesterday "roosting" on the fence between my yard and my neighbors. Online alot of people seem to encourage wing clipping to deal with this, but I'd rather not. I'm seeing electrified wire, fishing line... any suggestions on the best option to discourage this. I need something effective, hopefully easy, and aesthetically workable.

Happy ending in looking for a home for my surprise rooster. Got a PM from another BYC member who took "Drama" (that was his name) and gave him a new home. Way better than a CraigsList response. I was quite happy to delete that ad.

Also, another question. I have nesting boxes that are roughly 18" off the floor of the coop. Their nesting poles are a tad higher so they've not been roosting in them, which is good I guess. But, how do I encourage them to lay eggs in the nesting boxes? I have pine chips and paper shavings in there, as well as some timothy hay and golf balls. But, I can't tell that they're spending any time in there. I've seen a feather or two, so I think they've checked them out, but the Dummies book says they like to play house before they start laying and I don't think I see signs of that much activity (another reason I need a webcam in the coop!). My three buffs are within a week or two of hitting 18 weeks so I'm hoping eggs will start soon. Since all these birds are new to this coop, they don't have any seasoned layers to watch and emulate.

Thanks for the help!

Zigzag,

Don't worry they will eventually figure out where to lay eggs. Mine did and it is just a matter of time. Also, I noted that it took most of my young hens until about 20 weeks before I saw the first egg from them.

I agree with the webcam! I need to get one in my coop as well.

 

[cherwill]

Just checking in for a quick sec. My sister and nephews are still here. Having 3 boys ranging 4 to 8 around sure is exhausting. I am officially tired of the rain. Never imagine I would say this but the mud needs to dry out, for the chickens' sake. I am not a Leo so I don't like the sun (summer is my least favorite season) so the cooler weather is awesome but my sister is a Leo (I think) and her birthday is this Sunday 8/11. She is moaning and groaning about the dreary, rainy, and cooler weather. She misses the sun dearly.

Sorry to hear those who is struggling with the mud and having sick birds. I hope my birds will stay healthy through this wet weather. I saw that the forecast is calling for more rain Monday and Tuesday night. So sick of this rain and mud. Although I do appreciate the cooler weather, especially in August.

You posted as I was writing my post! It's too bad the weather isn't drier so the kids could get outside and work off their energy.

I'm a Libra, and most definitely a night person. You'd think the lack of sunlight wouldn't be such a problem for me! I don't love summer, but I love the gardening I can do in summer. Fall is my most favorite season. I like when it's cool enough to wear a sweater, but not cold enough to need a coat. I like getting the last bits of the harvest in and preserving what I can and eating what I can't. I like how the dogs and the chickens get a little more frisky as it cools off, and seem to play a little more. I like the colors -- the deeper greens and oranges and browns.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Hi everyone! Long time no post. I have been busy as usual. Kids keep growing chickens keep growing. We added a MaltyPoo rescue puppy to the mix in May. Overall life is good. I hope that everyone is doing well.

About two nights ago I noticed white flecks on my feed bin (50 gallon rubbermaid trashcan). After some research I learned that these are feed mites. What makes me sick is that fact that there is about 160 lbs of feed in there! Ugggghhhhh. I cleaned everything last night only to discover that they are back in force! Grrrr....So the can went outside. I am sure some of you have experienced this before. What did you do?


PS-
Karen - The Sussex girls say hi!

Verna - The Marans is my best layer these days!

If I had this problem I would try DE. I mix it in with my feed . It is used by food processors for insect control and to absorb moisture. As I've stated before, I use DE for many things and it usually works. It's inert, so it can't hurt.