Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

My turkey came out when she heard me out opening pens. I have no idea where she hid last night. I thought about shutting her up but instead I let the others out. I just need to make sure I put them to bed before it gets too late. I sure hope she hasn't decided to find a place to nest. They are still laying. They really need to take a break.
Trish I usually towel dry the birds and lay them on their sides and use the hair dryer on them while I fluff their "hair". The little downy stuff dries fairly easily but the long feathers take longer. If you keep fluffing them then you know you aren't getting them too hot and you can judge how far away to put the hair dryer.
I've lost too many birds to this stupid mud. I lost two more young ones earlier this week that were so stuck in the mud I didn't find them until they were mostly decomposed.
I need to get back out there and do some more coop cleaning but I sure don't feel like it. I would love to just take it easy all day.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I'm glad your turkey is back. My first thought was that she might have a nest somewhere so she may do the disappearing act again yet.

Trish, glad also that your duck is okay. Man, they just keep on keeping us worrying, don't they?

I had a duck buyer stop by today and buy 10 birds from me. I'm glad to have 10 fewer mouths to feed, along with some cash to buy more feed. She took 8 ducks, and she also took a cockerel who is about 4 months old and just started crowing, and she wanted a hen to go with him so I found a pullet who hatched around the same time and offered her. She is a really pretty thing - looks like a blue Sultan with the crest, feathered legs and 5 toes. Hopefully she will be happy with her purchases.

I had somehow wound up with way more birds than I realized. I'd kind of stopped thinking the number was "around 50" but as the ducklings and turkey poults grew up, I realized "wait a minute. I have 20 ducks, 20 turkeys and already had 30 chickens and then got that order from Ideal of 25 chicks in the Spring" and when I did the math, it was a real shock. So I'm glad to be trending downwards again now.

Danz, you remember my little "crested" turkey? Well, I'm having trouble figuring this one out. He was one of two turkeys raised by my Aloha hen and they are both boys. But the brother is HUGE - already about the size of his dad - and he displays and gobbles and looks every bit the part of the turkey tom. Meanwhile, the rest of my turkeys are about a month younger and were hatched by me and raised in a brooder. The crested turkey looks like a boy when you look at the wattles and snood. But - he is so much smaller than his same-age brother that he is now being surpassed in size even by the birds a month younger than he is. Plus, I've never seen him display. There is so much gobbling going on these days that its sometimes hard to know who is doing it but I've specifically watched him when there's lots of gobbling and never seen him do that either. I'm keeping him regardless, as I am very curious about him at this point. I half wonder if he isn't one of those asexual birds - has the physical characteristics of a male but doesn't have the full male package. Perhaps the "crest" is part of the puzzle. Anyway, at this point I figure him to be an "interesting scientific experiment" so I'm keeping him on. Most of the rest will probably end up as Thanksgiving dinners. I'm keeping the oldest male to replace Ned, who died a couple of weeks ago, and will be keeping one of the hens as I always wanted a trio, but now it looks like I'll be keeping a quad over the winter, when I add the crested to the mix.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

Update - Buffy is eating and drinking, walking and foraging like nothing happened although her butt is a mess.

The keets in the little day pen are still in the garage since the attack. Three keets are gone except for a mess of feathers and a small gut pile.

Here is my riddle - What would attack in late morning, clear a two foot fence, pass up a small eight week turkey with a broken leg and take three little three week old keets away?

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I noticed one of my hens has a spur... but only on one of her legs.. anyone ever hear of this? She is either a barred rock or a dominique (I can never tell them apart) and about 7 months old.

 

[ChickenPeep]

I've heard of hens having spurs but never only one.

 

[ashncarson]

We where able to get some work done today! Need to do the roof, add a side cleaning door, screen in the windows, put up the back wall, add the roosts, and then close in the run! Hoping to be done by this weeknd! Lets hope it does not rain much the next 2 days..altough we are both back to work tomorrow!

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy- Do you have Baytril? If not it is pricey and you will have to get it from a vet. If you want a non vet alternative Sulfa based drugs are nice broad spectrum antibiotics and relatively easy to find at the feed store. Here is an example http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e078e5-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&gas=sulfa and there is dosing for chickens and turkeys on there so you could probably just go with the chicken dose. It goes in their drinking water and gets changed every day. We have a gander with bumble foot that we are going to have to cut open and I will put him on this. Keep your duck on it for at least two weeks or longer. It takes a long time to clear out the infection and the problem is that people often stop antibiotics when the symptoms subside. If she isn't looking better in a couple days I would get her to a vet.

No, I do not have Baytril on hand. I also do not have a bet around here that is knowledgeable with birds. I live in the middle of nowhere, which is definitely a bad thing in the case of sick birds. Do you think the Sulfa stuff would kick the bumblefoot infectiion? Also, how do I make sure she drinks only that water? They usually free range, and they drink out of their pool as well as the dog's water bowl.

Lizzy the Baytril injectable I have is for dogs and is 2.27%. I figured it up and it would be .3 ml for a 3 pound duck. I have some of the sulfa that Josie recommneded as well. Valley vet ships really fast.

Thank you for the information, Danz! I really appreciate it and will call the vet tomorrow after they open.

 

[cherwill]

We had our granddaughter here for awhile yesterday evening & I think she is coming back this evening for supper since my DH is smoking ribs. She said she is grounded so we think this was kind of an escape for her to come yesterday. I'm kind of surprised her mom let her come.

It can be very nice to escape to Grandma's house. I'm glad you're able to spend some more time with her.

Cherwill, I am really!!! I get so uptight when I can't just go about my normal activity. And now the sore muscles and aching joints are kicking in from the cleaning.

So do I. I've told you how I used to be so OCD about cleaning. I had a basic routine, certain things done on certain days. If I fell behind, I was a stressed-out mess until I got caught up. I actually like doing housework, but I sure can turn it into an ordeal!

Well I went out to my growout pen & found two more chicks who were victims of all the rain & mud, they were dead under a pallet. They were one of my Speckled Sussex & a lavender Orp chick. I brought the other Speckled Sussex in & gave her a bath, that's a first for me giving a chick a bath. She was so covered in mud she couldn't move, so I bathed her & it took two big bowls of warm water to get it all off & she is now in the brooder in the house under the light. She at least is walking around some, so if she doesn't get too chilled maybe she will make it, we'll see. I need to see if there are any more that need to be cleaned off too. I guess if they get too much mud on them they just can't shake it off well enough. This was really gooey sticky mud too.

Trish and Danz, I'm sorry about your chicks. This mud is something else.

Update - Buffy is eating and drinking, walking and foraging like nothing happened although her butt is a mess.

The keets in the little day pen are still in the garage since the attack. Three keets are gone except for a mess of feathers and a small gut pile.

Here is my riddle - What would attack in late morning, clear a two foot fence, pass up a small eight week turkey with a broken leg and take three little three week old keets away?

Good news about Buffy! Thank goodness you noticed and were able to treat her so quickly.

I have no idea what got to your keets. When a fox got my niece's duck, the only thing left was feathers.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz, I'm glad your turkey is back. My first thought was that she might have a nest somewhere so she may do the disappearing act again yet.
Me too! She tried it again last night but I found her in the hen house pen. I carried her stubborn little self to her own pen.
Trish, glad also that your duck is okay. Man, they just keep on keeping us worrying, don't they?

I had a duck buyer stop by today and buy 10 birds from me. I'm glad to have 10 fewer mouths to feed, along with some cash to buy more feed. She took 8 ducks, and she also took a cockerel who is about 4 months old and just started crowing, and she wanted a hen to go with him so I found a pullet who hatched around the same time and offered her. She is a really pretty thing - looks like a blue Sultan with the crest, feathered legs and 5 toes. Hopefully she will be happy with her purchases.
I need to advertise some ducks. I've actually lost a couple of ducklings in the mud. I need to move their pen but it takes 3 men and a tractor to do so. I think I would just cut ruts in the yard trying to get traction right now.
I had somehow wound up with way more birds than I realized. I'd kind of stopped thinking the number was "around 50" but as the ducklings and turkey poults grew up, I realized "wait a minute. I have 20 ducks, 20 turkeys and already had 30 chickens and then got that order from Ideal of 25 chicks in the Spring" and when I did the math, it was a real shock. So I'm glad to be trending downwards again now.
LOL I know how that happens. I have a ton of birds growing up right now that I hatched or bought for more breeders. Well I guess I was more successful than I thought. I have a ton of them. I am going to have to downsize again soon.
Danz, you remember my little "crested" turkey? Well, I'm having trouble figuring this one out. He was one of two turkeys raised by my Aloha hen and they are both boys. But the brother is HUGE - already about the size of his dad - and he displays and gobbles and looks every bit the part of the turkey tom. Meanwhile, the rest of my turkeys are about a month younger and were hatched by me and raised in a brooder. The crested turkey looks like a boy when you look at the wattles and snood. But - he is so much smaller than his same-age brother that he is now being surpassed in size even by the birds a month younger than he is. Plus, I've never seen him display. There is so much gobbling going on these days that its sometimes hard to know who is doing it but I've specifically watched him when there's lots of gobbling and never seen him do that either. I'm keeping him regardless, as I am very curious about him at this point. I half wonder if he isn't one of those asexual birds - has the physical characteristics of a male but doesn't have the full male package. Perhaps the "crest" is part of the puzzle. Anyway, at this point I figure him to be an "interesting scientific experiment" so I'm keeping him on. Most of the rest will probably end up as Thanksgiving dinners. I'm keeping the oldest male to replace Ned, who died a couple of weeks ago, and will be keeping one of the hens as I always wanted a trio, but now it looks like I'll be keeping a quad over the winter, when I add the crested to the mix.

I would definitely keep that turkey as well. Honestly if you figure out it is actually one sex or another you could use it for a breeder and produce a smaller table size turkey with a crest which would be a great thing. If not it would just be fun to determine what on earth it is. I know that one chicken I had was definitely asexual.
I have a ton of poults now and plan to keep most of the girls and sell or butcher the boys. If I do happen to end up with a higher number of girls I'll probably just sell a few pairs later. I had such a hard time getting them started at first so most of mine are still young. I covet my turkeys. Next year I don't plan to do that. We can only eat so much turkey around here, and there is just so much room in the freezer.
Originally Posted by OkieQueenBee

We where able to get some work done today! Need to do the roof, add a side cleaning door, screen in the windows, put up the back wall, add the roosts, and then close in the run! Hoping to be done by this weeknd! Lets hope it does not rain much the next 2 days..altough we are both back to work tomorrow!

You sure got a lot done. Great job.

So do I. I've told you how I used to be so OCD about cleaning. I had a basic routine, certain things done on certain days. If I fell behind, I was a stressed-out mess until I got caught up. I actually like doing housework, but I sure can turn it into an ordeal!

I don't think I will ever like housework. It depresses me terribly.

Well it is raining again. It was a major storm earlier and the water is sitting all over, places I don't remember seeing wet before. Even the ducks and geese are tired of the water and seeking shelter. I really fear the basement will start flooding then I'll have more nasty messes to clean up. And it looks like we'll continue to get more rain for a couple more hours.
I noticed several chickens getting the sneezes which seems to come along with wet weather. Poor things can't get dry enough.
Yesterday I spent my afternoon cleaning out a couple of chicken houses. They had so much mud tracked in them. I just scraped and shoveled and vacuumed the ones with chickens in there but power washed another one and put lye down in the run. I am sure it has been activated to the max with all this rain. I had planned to move a couple breeding groups in there but now it is too wet. I have to build a fence and gate to divide the run too. I had a 6 X10 gate panel in there previously but used it to build pens elsewhere. So I might as well just construct something permanent. If I want to use the whole pen for one breed I can always just leave the gate open like I do on the inside. I only plan to put just trios or quads in there anyway. I took out the nest box bank because they were all tiny. I had built it for Seramas a long time ago. I'm not sure if I can rebuild it to make something useable or not. I don't plan to have any bantams at all.
I put a new roost up in one of the houses as well. I haven't screwed it down but I hope it stays in place. I didn't really have good roosting spots in there. It spans across two diffferent pens so both sides have roosts.
I've got some allergy to something that grows in this yard. I have had three patches of contact dermatitis that itch insane and cause a bumpy rash. It's either on the tops of my feet or the bottom of my legs. The first one took about 2 weeks to heal. Now I have two new patches. I just keep getting more and more allergies. It's probably some plant that has grown in the yard forever. I need to live in a bubble.

 

[pikeman94]

OkieQueenBee:

Thanks for the advice on the DE and how much to use. As soon as I added some to the feed the little critters disappeared! I have also been sprinkling it in the areas that were previously affected by the little buggers. So far so good! I will keep you posted.