Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Wish I could have tagged along OQB! I would have loved to see Trudi. I'm glad you bought her incubators. You need to send me a PM and let me know how much the mead is. I think I may want to buy some for Christmas gifts.....or just to drink myself.
If I were going to incubate eggs from a sick bird I would tek trol the eggs. I do that to all my eggs anyway. Seems my babies end up much healthier. Two ounces Tek trol to one gallon of water at 140 degrees. Dip the eggs for a second or two, or pour it over them. This is the Frank Reece method. I must say it has made a difference.
If this is caused by having children it's no wonder I am this way...I had way too many kids!

 

[Trish44]

Ta Dah!

Now we just need some eggs! I need to medicate my flock again, thanks to the sick turkey, would it be ok to incubate those eggs? Our friend is bringing us 4 more dozen Marans eggs on Monday. So we have it turned on and warming up.
After we got back from Council Grove, we took a scenic tour on the way home, we decided to get some more honey pulled. Just got it unloaded and stacked in the honey house. Now to get my butt up and fix dinner
Tomorrow it is back to working on the chicken house and pulling more honey. And sometime or other I gotta do laundry and dishes.
Danz and Trish, I believe what we suffer from is called sometimers and I even have the CRS syndrome. I think it is caused by having children.

Most of my stuff is still in boxes here and in Stillwater so I can never find anything. One of these days I'm gonna make lip balm, lotion bars and soap again, (when I find my stuff).
Trish congrats on the baby Ameraucana. Those are my favorite birds, just love the colors. Trudy's Sebbies were beautiful, but I didn't get to bring them home. DH said not until we have a proper place, don't want them to be coyote food this winter. Soo, another pen to build.
Well the hamburger is thawed, what to fix?

Congrats on the incubators, I'm sure you will get some use out of them. Are the Marans the black copper or the cuckoo variety? I would love to have a couple more black copper hens, the one I have left is about 3 now & she doesn't lay that much any more. I would recommend a hoop coop if you're going to build something for the geese. I have 3 of them now & I wish I just had all hoop coops. They're so nice because nothing sits on top of them & they're easy to build.

 

[HEChicken]

I am totally exhausted. I turned into a bit of a bear this morning. I was supposed to meet this lady in Lawrence about 11:00 am to get this pirit hose today. I wrote the gal who hadn't answered my last email and asked her where I was supposed to meet her mom. Well here I am getting ready to drive to Lawrence and I find out at the last minute she isn't coming to Lawrence that I have to go to Baldwin city. I have never been there. So I look on google and it shows it north of Lawrence a few miles.
So I get the answer late and rush to drive an hour over to Lawrence. They put in a new road that just got finished and my GPS isn't updated. It kept telling me to go to the highlighted route 'cause it thought I was driving where there wasn't a road. So I get to Lawrence and call this lady and she doesn't answer. So then I call again and she finally answers and tells me I have to go back 7 miles then go on this road and that and turn this way and that. I told her I would probably have to call her back. So I have to get gas and go to the gas station and the stupid gas pump keeps telling me to push enter after I put my card in and there is no button that says enter. So I try over and over and push this button and that, and it locks me out. Then I had to go stand in line inside before I could talk to this spaced out meth head clerk. She basically said she didn't know...she just does it.
So I go back out and try again and this time hit the right button. The writing was worn off so it was just a guessing game.
So I go back down the Highway and turn off on the first road this gal said to turn on, and finally my GPS tells me where to go. It takes me to a cul de sac where there are about 6 mail boxes. I choose the house closest to the right number and end up at the wrong house. I call the gal again and she is out in space some place. Then I finally see a little cow path and her house is hidden behind the trees off this cow path. Nice house just a lousy way to get there.
I get there, call her again and she says she will put her shoes on and come out. 10 minutes later she comes out. She has no idea where the hose is. I guess her daughter just brought all their stuff and off loaded it in her front yard.
Well the hose is in a big plastic bin under a bunch of other hoses and it is sitting in about 4 inches of water. Keep in mind this is an electric hose.
So I say I am worried about it working cause it has been so wet. She says we can plug it in. I asked if it was thermostatically controlled and she kind of gave me a blank look. Plugs it in and nothing happens. So I explain the the thermostat part would have to be down to freezing. She goes on and on about what a good idea that is she has never heard of something like that. So she sticks the thermostat end in a freezer in her garage. We wait and wait and nothing happens. She says she is going in to see if her daughter is on line to ask her about it. Meanwhile I walk in the garage and move the thermostat back away from the door to where it would actually be cold. Another 15 minutes goes by and the lady is still in the house on the internet. I check the hose and it is getting warm. So I go knock on the door.
No response. Finally another 7-8 minutes later she comes out and says her daughter isn't on line. I have no idea why she didn't just call her. I tell her the hose is working so all is good. Then she asks about chickens and she has to take me around back to show me a chicken tractor that her daughter says she could use. I try to be nice but it's getting late. I encourage her to get some chickens and walk toward my car trying to get out of there.
I give her the money and start loading the hose. I was about to scream. I had already wasted almost 3 hours trying to get this darned hose and I still had to drive home.
The hose had one side that was sun bleached from laying outside. She said, "Oh, this must be the part that heats up cause it's a different color. I almost laughed out loud. What a ditz. I don't think she had ever gotten her hands dirty or been outside to do anything in her life. She told me she was going to school and I was thinking college.
After talking to her for awhile I think it might have been grade school.
So I left home at 10:00 AM and got back home at 2:00 PM just to get this stinking hose. It was a good price or I wouldn't have driven that far for it but really????
Sometimes I wish I was just a girly girl that stayed inside and cleaned and worked on my hobbies. Until I meet someone who does that. I would so much rather know something other than how to run a vacuum.
My newly acquired turkeys aren't interested in the fermented feed yet. They look at it like it is a foreign object. They liked my special grains though.

Wow, I can't believe I missed a whole page of posts somehow. If everyone hadn't been commiserating on your hose story, I never would have known!

HEChicken that little NH cockerel is the cutest thing, I have him in the growout pen right now with some other birds of similar size. I have never had that breed before, so this will be a new experience for me with him.

I'm really glad you like him. I really like the breed myself. Hopefully he'll grow up to be as good-looking as his daddy - whenever people come to visit they can't get over how beautiful he is.

Is this the brother to the ones I recieved? I am pretty sure that 1 of the new ones is a girl, that one looks alot different than the other 2!

Yes, this is their brother. I will really feel bad if the others turn out to be cockerels since I know you can't keep them. We'll figure out how to get you pullets yet!

 

[OkieQueenBee]

My hens aren't the ones that are sick just that 1turkey and the Buff Roo that I got at Gardner has a little runny nose so I thought I should put some Duramycin in their water, again. Thanks for the tip about tek trol will pick that up next time in town. Can I tame the peachicks? They are jumpy when I feed them.
HEChicken thanks for, well you know.
Trish yes they are the FBCMs and the eggs he brings us are really nice and dark. I need to order one of those egg color charts. We have 8 that are 5 weeks old, 6 cockerels and 2 pullets, and 19 more that are a couple of weeks. A picture tutorial of you building a hoop coop would be very helpful for me. I am such a visual person. I brought all the hog panels up from Stillwater so I could build some.

 

[chicken danz]

You really don't need anything as substantial as a hoop coop unless you just use it for shelter, for the geese. They can't fly....heck sometimes they have trouble walking. It would give them some shelter from the elements though. Basically any kind of pen 30 inches high that they won't eat will work. They don't like closed up shelters but like a place to go get out of cold wind and hot sun, like an open shelter. My older ones have a big pen but the young ones just free range the yard. I have a couple of cobbled up three sided shelters for the older ones. Just maybe 36 inches tall by 10 feet long with an open front. The younger ones just run under something to get out of weather. Some 3 foot wire and a few fence posts could enclose an area for them really nicely.
You may have to order the tek trol. I don't know that I've ever seen it in stores. If it seems cost prohibitive don't let that fool you. It will last forever. You use so little. I disinfect the incubator and and brooder boxes and lots of other things with mine.
Several of us have built hoop coops here and documented it. It's such a simple project. Do a quick search on BYC in general and you'll get all kinds of ideas. You basically build a frame 8 feet wide by however long you want (depending on how many panels you plan to use. Then you bend the panels and attach them to the frame in a hoop. I use a ratchet rope to pull my panels into the hoop shape. And I use plumbers tape or metal strapping to secure them to the frame. I put my panels on the inside of the frame and I think Trish puts hers on the outside of the frame. I do put an angled brace at each corner of the framework after I put the panels in. And because I join two boards together for the long sides of the frame I also put a brace in the middle to help hold it all together.
Frame in the ends, and for a pen build a gate on one end. Cover with wire and a tarp and voila you are done.
Unless you are me and go really elaborate and add a lot to it.

I tend to go a little over board adding stuff.
Knowing who your buffs came from I would guess he got a little cold just from stress. I am sure they came from a very healthy flock. I think I'd be giving the birds some probiotics. The rooster may not need antibiotics at all. I found one of my new lavender orps has a slightly swollen eye yesterday. These guys are in a very protected pen. I sure hope she just got something in it. I just brought her in and used some veterycin in it and put some neosporin on it. I sure hope that does it. I would just die if the birds in that pen got sick.
I forgot to mention. Yes you can tame peachicks. Just pick them up and hold them on your lap and talk to them. You can pet them and get them used to your touch or feed them goodies. Warning.. you might want to practice this with a towel or something on your lap. Pea poop stinks. My little white peahen used to lfy up and land on my lap them jump up to my shoulder. She loved eating my hair.

 

[blavis]

Our chicks are 11 days old now and we have put up chicken wire around the pool. It is 3 feet tall and they are starting stretch their wings and fly into the wire. Is this normal/safe? Do we need to build a taller box? or is it ok for them to fly into the wire. we have 9 chicks in the pool.

 

[sharol]

Our chicks are 11 days old now and we have put up chicken wire around the pool. It is 3 feet tall and they are starting stretch their wings and fly into the wire. Is this normal/safe? Do we need to build a taller box? or is it ok for them to fly into the wire. we have 9 chicks in the pool.


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[HEChicken]

A picture tutorial of you building a hoop coop would be very helpful for me. I am such a visual person. I brought all the hog panels up from Stillwater so I could build some.

If you look in my signature, I have a link to the build of my hoop coop and I can highly recommend them (x2 on everything Danz said). They are so easy and relatively cheap to build! The only part I asked DH for help on, was bending over the hoop. I could probably have done it alone but it was easier with two and he was available, and there is safety in having another person there in case it doesn't go well. But basically, I attached the panels to the support boards while it was flat on the ground and then we pulled one board over using the ratchet straps mentioned by Danz, to form the hoop, then fastened on the end boards. At that point it was stable enough I was able to relieve DH to go back to work and I continued on, on my own. It was also pretty fast compared to building other types of coops/runs, I think. There are so many options. As Danz mentioned, some attach the panels on the inside, some the outside. She mentioned making it 8' across but I had some 10' board so mine is 10' across. I am short enough that it works for me because I can still stand upright in it, and it gives the birds more square footage that way. I.e. if your length is 12' and it is 8' across, they have 96 sq. ft., but if it is 10' across, they have 120 sq.ft across. For tall people, it would be inconvenient since 10' across means it isn't as tall in the middle but like I said, for shorter people like me, it works great. My next hoop coop will be 13' long because.....I figured mine up based on the panels being 4' high. So I figured a 12' board would accommodate 3 panels. But it turns out the panels are actually 52" so I wound up with some overlap to fit them on the 12' board. So for the second one, I bought 14' boards. I will lay the panels on it with no overlap and 3 will come to exactly 13', and I will cut 12" off the boards, but just that little bit will add an additional 10 sq. ft., and best of all, no need to overlap.

Unless they get their necks stuck in the chicken wire holes, it should work fine. 3' should hold them for a little while.

How's the coop coming?

I found that by about 4 weeks I was sick of the smell in the house and badly needed them OUTSIDE. It is chilly at night now, though, so maybe that isn't going to be the case, but by 2 months, they should be fully feathered (or mostly) and ready to start adapting to the temps.

x2. I always have my chicks outside full time by the time they are four weeks old and I've never had any that didn't thrive doing that. I can't imagine having them in the house until they're 2 months old!

. One time I hatched chicks in January and they were still outside full time by the time they were 4 weeks old.

We got an inch of rain Friday night and it was the perfect amount at just the right time. We had such a busy week last week but next week is supposed to be quieter so I'm looking forward to getting a few things accomplished around here. Love this time of year when the temps aren't so hot but not too cool either, and we can enjoy working outside.

My new Bourbon Red and Blue Slate turkeys are beautiful and adapting well to their new environment. They're acting like they'd like to get out of their little pen and free-range with the rest of the flock but I'm keeping them locked up a little longer just to make sure they know where home is. Typically I do the adjustment to freedom by letting them out for just the last hour of a day. They don't go far from their pen and return to it to sleep. Next day they are let out 2 hours before bedtime....and so on. Doing it that way, within a week or so, they are full time with the flock and follow them into the main coop to sleep at night.

My last hatch of the season is underway. I gave two eggs to my broody Mille Fleur Cochin and she has hatched at least one - I didn't want to check under her to see what is happening with the other. Then I have a couple more due to hatch mid-week and that will be it for the year. My brooder chicks are busy, busy all the time, scratching in their shavings and getting up on their EcoGlow to peer out at the world.

 

[Trish44]

My hens aren't the ones that are sick just that 1turkey and the Buff Roo that I got at Gardner has a little runny nose so I thought I should put some Duramycin in their water, again. Thanks for the tip about tek trol will pick that up next time in town. Can I tame the peachicks? They are jumpy when I feed them.
HEChicken thanks for, well you know.
Trish yes they are the FBCMs and the eggs he brings us are really nice and dark. I need to order one of those egg color charts. We have 8 that are 5 weeks old, 6 cockerels and 2 pullets, and 19 more that are a couple of weeks. A picture tutorial of you building a hoop coop would be very helpful for me. I am such a visual person. I brought all the hog panels up from Stillwater so I could build some.

I posted some pics on the first hoop coop I built, so I'll try to repost some of them so you can see the construction. I don't go into as much detail as Danz does with hers, I don't put a coop in there, a floor, or anything like that, but mine are functional. I do hook my panels on the inside as well Danz & I use the plumber's strap & screw it on to hold the panels on. It does help a lot to have a second person to help you after you hook the panels on to the frame to flip it over & pull it in to hook onto the end frame. I use cable ties, lots of them to hook the panels together where they intersect. I used 4 panels to make mine 16 ft & they are 8 ft wide because I'm tall & want to be able to stand up in there & I can in all of mine. For your door you can make it any width you want, two of mine are 28 inches & the last one I did 30 inches, just wide enough to get yourself through & whatever you need to bring in there. I found a tarp at Walmart that is just about perfect for the top of mine & then for winter I put clear plastic tarps on the sides & leave the ends open for air flow. You don't want condensation building up in there, that's a bad thing. Oh & I use 2x6s for the bottom frame, treated since it sits on the ground & then 2x4s for the support frame. If you look through the coop pics on BYC you can see what others have done as well.

 

[ashncarson]

Yes, this is their brother. I will really feel bad if the others turn out to be cockerels since I know you can't keep them. We'll figure out how to get you pullets yet!

I am positive 2 of them are males! I will take a few photos tonight and share them! Last night I went into the coop and picked them up screaming and put them on the tall roost. I was tired of them sleeping by the door! I have not been closing them in at night, which helps at alot with time mangement in the morning on the way to work/school for the kids!