Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

OQB, that is a boatload of chicks - congratulations on the successful hatch. Like Trish, I might be interested in a couple of pullets down the road. I had a BCM who was wonderful and laid really dark eggs but she was one of the victims in my fox attack last year and I've never replaced her. I miss those really dark eggs.

I am really interested in the research aspect of figuring out the ovary question. I'm not about to butcher a pullet or a young hen in molt in order to get the answer to my question but if I have one die prematurely, I'll probably do a necropsy to see if that gives me any clarity. If anyone else happens to be doing a necropsy on a female bird, let me know what you see in that regard too. It is always good to add to our knowledge on some of these subjects.

Speaking of which, yesterday I was looking at my RP toms, trying to figure out which one to keep to be my breeder in the future. While looking at them I could see minor differences in them and it occurred to me that I don't know what the "desirable" traits are in RP's. So I turned to the internet and googled it and couldn't find any information there either. I wonder if it would be in the SOP - does anyone have a copy? Failing that informations being available, I might just have to make up my own SOP for them bwahahaha.

I might have to try pumpkins on my flock this year. I've given them to them in the past and they never showed any interest. But, that was back in Wichita and very few of the same birds I had there are still in my flock today due to natural attrition, the fox, and having added ducks, turkeys and a lot of new chickens since we moved. So perhaps THIS flock will be more interested in pumpkins than the birds I had in Wichita.

Well, enjoy the rainy weather. The one thing I will say - at least the temperatures are staying up! I moved my brooder chicks out of the house permanently this morning - yay! They will live in the hoop coop for the next little bit until I can get them transitioned to the main coop. They were so excited to get to the hoop coop this morning and immediately started running around flapping their little wings like crazy. They haven't had access to that much space before now and couldn't give those wings much of a try.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, congrats on getting the turkey pen done, and I'm with Trish - just reading about all the stuff you do makes me tired

. I'm still not done cleaning out my garden patch from this year. Last week I did harvest most of the green tomatoes and spent a day making and canning a huge batch of green tomato salsa. But I still need to do a lot of clearing out there.

KsKingBee, I've eaten guinea - and for the same reason. I had 13 guineas and one day they decided to chase my rooster. They chased him relentlessly and it was July and I was worried he was going to get heat exhaustion so I grabbed one and processed it right then and there. I would say I couldn't tell that much difference from chicken, honestly (and I know the joke about everything "tasting like chicken"). After that, Danz or someone on here pointed out they are probably worth more to sell than to eat so I advertised the remaining dozen on Craigslist and within and hour had two people willing to take them all. I let the first guy who responded come and get them and it was a great transaction. He came and cooed lovingly to them the whole time he was loading them and was clearly thrilled to have them join his existing flock, and didn't haggle over the price at all.

I've had a busy weekend. Not much that is really noteworthy but just finishing up little projects around the place.

I have question about ovaries. I processed an older hen this week and her ovary showed absolutely NO sign of egg production. She was 2 1/2 years old. My question is: would a hen who is in molt (and not laying) have an ovary that shows no sign of eggs even though she might still lay some after her molt, or is an ovary with no sign of eggs just totally done?

That's an interesting question about the egg production, if you find out the answer be sure to share it with us.

Josie - Nice to see you popping in here. Guess I'm the odd one since I like winter.

Danz - Nice job on getting the pen done. I'm still dragging my feet...

Well... it has been quite a busy weekend for me since I had to work Saturday. One of my Shelties got sick. He would not even eat. That was unusual of him because he always tried to find ways to get to food on the kitchen counter, trash can, etc. He tried to drink water but then he promptly threw that up as well. I called the vet and she said to keep an eye on him and if he still couldn't keep food down the next day, he will need to be seen. Well, he got better the next day. Ate a tiny bit of food and kept it down. He didn't throw up any more either so another good sign. Wonder if he ate something he shouldn't while outside.

Anyway, Here are the pictures I took while I was making salted duck eggs last night. I soaked 3 dozens this time. This will last us a while.

Eggs are clean and in the glass jar.




I put the start and end date on the lid so I know when the soaking period is done.




Filled the jar with salt water and some peppercorns were floating in it.




Put the lid on and ready to be put away.

Wow good job getting the eggs put up, that's a nice jar too.

We had to harvest our pumpkins early they vines were dying from lack of moisture, and the pumpkins weren't quite ripe yet. The ones that weren't ripe did eventually ripen. I left them outside on the sidewalk in a very sunny, warm spot, and that seemed to do the trick. Once they were ripe, I took them to the cool, dark pantry in the basement. So far, I've processed a little more than half of them and am not only running out of time but my DH thinks we've got enough pumpkin in the freezer to last us a year or more. I guess that means that the remaining ones will become bird food, which is why I grew the pumpkins in the first place. Do I need to cook them before I give them to the birds?

Good luck with y our pumpkins! I hope they ripen for you! After we harvested the pumpkins, we had several nice, warm days to help ripen them. I hope your weather is warm and sunny enough to do the job for you!

Gosh, it sounds like you're always so busy! I don't know how you do it!

I just take a big pumpkin out & throw it on the ground really hard to crack it open & my birds take it from there. This time I did break off pieces of it to take around to all the pens since it was such a big one. My birds just love it raw with nothing done to it, they eat it down to the skin & leave that to dry up. What the birds don't get my goats get the rest of, they love it too. I had to put a big piece in the chicken run to keep it from the goats because I wanted the birds to have it but let the goats have the other part. I have one more huge pumpkin in the house I'm saving for about another week & then I'll give it to the birds too. I'm hoping they put them on sale soon so I can get some more. We don't eat that much pumpkin & we plan to go to Tom's family's place for Thanksgiving but none of them like pumpkin, so I just want to get some more for my birds. They gobble up those seeds like candy & they love the meaty part too. It's a really good treat for them. I even had them start eating it without me even breaking it open when I got the first one & sat it on the porch. I never thought about them eating holes in it like they did & I finally had to just give that one to them.

 

[sharol]

Ok, now I'm getting interested in salted eggs. Can you do this with chicken eggs?

After they set for several weeks, you cook them and use them in recipes, right? Are they also good sliced as a garnish on things?

Maybe if one can use chicken eggs, I'll try it IF my chickens start laying again.

I'm in Reno at my daughter's, and my DH is in charge of the chickens again He was worried about Scout, the Campine. He said she looked like the wind was blowing her feathers the wrong way because her skin was showing. Hello molt. I've been gone since Wednesday, and he has gotten 3 eggs from my 9 alleged layers. Sigh. I'm going to go home to naked chickens again.

 

[chicken danz]

Sharol chicken eggs don't turn out good as salt eggs. Only duck eggs. I like just slicing them and eating them. They salt is infused through them so you need nothing else with them.
I got the turkeys moved to their new pen and house. They've been very busy picking at the little weeds that are starting to come up in there. I didn't move the turkey that is raising the chicken chicks. I was also going to move some of the young poults in but have a couple people from out of state interested in buying some for breeders so I'll wait a while.
So I took some pictures of the pen and the house I built for them. I think my only problem will be that I will have to move the netting around the tree as it grows some. I laced some cord through the netting so I could do it without hopefully taking it all down. In a perfect world it would just stretch to fit as the tree grows.

 

[Trish44]

Wow Danz that is some nice turkey pen, love it! You really go all out when you build something, I'm so glad you got that done for them, they should be in turkey heaven.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I love that pen with the tree in the middle of it. Come summer those are going to be some very lucky birds! Good job on it!

Tweety, thanks for posting those pictures and I agree, that is a lovely jar. I need to start going to thrift stores and see if I can find some nice big jars like that. My biggest only fits in a dozen eggs.

 

[chicken danz]

Thanks Trish and HeChicken. This was a bit more difficult than usual because the ground slants down hill and not evenly. Also putting the netting up and getting it secured around the tree was more than what I bargained for.
I just got finished putting the metal up on the outside of what used to be the turkey pen. I had to remove about 20 feet of chicken wire first. I tore it up (and me) getting it off of there. I could have left it I guess but I was afraid it would be too bulky. I had to take some old stuff apart to come up with the tin, then when I put the last piece up I discovered it was too short. So I had to dig through a pile of old metal and finally came up with another piece to use. It's a different material but it will work. Then I put some hardware cloth on the front side of the pen because the corrogated metal wouldn't let the door open all the way. I have a pile of metal I need to move back to where I got it that wouldn't work but I don't think I have the energy to do it today.
It was warm out there for a while but it's getting cooler now and the wind came up. I was going to try to move some of the peachicks but I need to get some bedding down and maybe put some rocks on the back side of the building where the ground has worked away. Nothing ever goes as planned. I also think I need to add another roost because there are several birds. Maybe if it isn't pouring down rain tomorrow I'll get that done. I still have to feed and water every one yet as well.
I need to get that wheel barrow full of stuff from the garden put somewhere it won't get wet. Maybe if it is raining tomorrow I can get some of it canned or frozen.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Sharol, I've done salted chicken eggs before but flavor was not as good as duck eggs. I've listed several recipes a couple of pages before. You can also eat it just like that but make sure you don't soak it too long or it will be too salty.

Danz, the pen looks awesome! Can you give me the dimension? I'm trying to get an idea if it will work for me. Knowing the dimension will help.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Danz, I love that pen with the tree in the middle of it.  Come summer those are going to be some very lucky birds!  Good job on it!

Tweety, thanks for posting those pictures and I agree, that is a lovely jar.  I need to start going to thrift stores and see if I can find some nice big jars like that.  My biggest only fits in a dozen eggs.

Hechicken, I got that jar from Walk Mart for $10. Thrift store is a good idea. There is one in Park City. I will check it out to see if I can find some useful stuff.

 

[HEChicken]

Hechicken, I got that jar from Walk Mart for $10. Thrift store is a good idea. There is one in Park City. I will check it out to see if I can find some useful stuff.

Ooohhhh - I found it! http://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-Heritage-Hill-1-Gal-Jar-with-Lid/16486706

It is only $7.44 at my store right now so next time I'm there I think I'll grab one. Actually, the reviews from people mostly were using them because they hold a whole 5-lb bag of flour, sugar, rice etc, so I may end up getting more than one. I get really tired of the paper sacks that flour comes in - so messy.