Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Trish44- thanks , I gues I'll just mix in what is needed when I feed, I do my FF the same way ,adding some to the old each day.
I am supposed to be working at getting our place ready for company on Thanksgiving , and while I did get some stuff done I admit ,I kind of goofed off and did chicken stuff today. Cleaned out the old bedding and added nice warm new layer, put the kiddy pools away, took down the fan and closed up the windows some. I love this cool weather. I feel like I can get so much more done when I'm not hot.
Danz- how are you going to stor your vinegar? Is it stabil like the Braggs acv, or is it more active like kambucha?
Sharol & Hechicken - the shelter in Emporia said he was a corgi mix , he's built really funny, kind of roach-backed and real steep thru the rear-end. Who knows, the guy said he was dumped so its all just a guess.

[/URL]
Anybody want some Roos ? I think I probably know the answer to that but just thought I'd throw it out there. I have a couple too many. :-(

That dark one is really pretty, but I sure don't need any more roosters here. I hope you find good homes for them, you might put them on Craigslist if you haven't & the Kansas Poultry Swap on Facebook. You never know there could be someone who lost one to a predator & needs a new one, that's how I have gotten rid of a few.

 

[HEChicken]

That dark one is really pretty, but I sure don't need any more roosters here. I hope you find good homes for them, you might put them on Craigslist if you haven't & the Kansas Poultry Swap on Facebook. You never know there could be someone who lost one to a predator & needs a new one, that's how I have gotten rid of a few.

I was in that situation after my fox attack, where all my roosters were killed and I was looking for one, so it does happen. To be honest, I butcher all of my extra roosters because there is such low demand for them. I've rehomed a few where people called asking if I had a rooster and I'm always happy to find them a home but they are the lucky few. I long ago came to terms with butchering and figure that it is a way to provide food for my family (in addition to eggs). My birds have great lives - SO much better than the way the commercial chickens are raised - and even at the end the treatment they get is so much more humane than the way the commercial birds meet their end, so I'm ok with it. If you decide you want to go that route, let me know. Trish and I have been talking about holding a processing class to help people who don't know how to do it, to get over that initial hump, so if you're interested, PM me and we can include you in that.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Just a quick update on my experiments. I just went to the next stage of my apple cider making. I just screened out all the peels and cores from the apples. The results smell very apple-ey and the taste is sweet. Now just a few more weeks if all goes well and I should have a couple gallons of ACV that didn't cost me anything but the cost of a couple cups of sugar for processing. Makes me wish I had made more. I think I could probably add a little more pure water to it and still have ACV in the end.
It's not been a bad experiment cause I really haven't had to do much of anything to it.
I just have it sitting in a 5 gallon bucket in my kitchen.

Talking about ACV, I just bought a bottle of Braggs and mix it up with regular ACV. It seems to develop the mother on its own. But your experiment sounds interesting and of course if you already have the material to do it, then it just makes sense to use what you have to make it instead of spending money to get a bottle. I definitely prefer the homemade kind though. The apple tree in the old house did not give us much apples at all this year. Dont' know what the deal is since we have had such nice weather compared to the last 2 yrs.

awww, Josie, that's too bad ,that dog sounds like he's trying to find a better home. I love my little Heeler mix ,he fallows me around like a little shadow. He's never even looked cross-eyed at the chickens. I think he's half Chihuahua (snicker..) ie, the" Yoda ears" and he's less than a foot tall. All 4 of ours are strays or rescues and I love them all, not perfect by any stretch but neither am I.

Trish44- I just ordered some of that rooster booster wormer, ? did you mix it in with your FF and let it ferment with everything or just stir it in right before you fed it. I was wondering if the fermentation would change it's effectiveness at all ? By the way that cat is beautiful ! I have a real soft spot for longhairs.

Oh.... the dog is soooo cute. Love those Yoda ears... Makes me smile...

Trish44- thanks , I gues I'll just mix in what is needed when I feed, I do my FF the same way ,adding some to the old each day.
I am supposed to be working at getting our place ready for company on Thanksgiving , and while I did get some stuff done I admit ,I kind of goofed off and did chicken stuff today. Cleaned out the old bedding and added nice warm new layer, put the kiddy pools away, took down the fan and closed up the windows some. I love this cool weather. I feel like I can get so much more done when I'm not hot.
Danz- how are you going to stor your vinegar? Is it stabil like the Braggs acv, or is it more active like kambucha?
Sharol & Hechicken - the shelter in Emporia said he was a corgi mix , he's built really funny, kind of roach-backed and real steep thru the rear-end. Who knows, the guy said he was dumped so its all just a guess.

[/URL]
Anybody want some Roos ? I think I probably know the answer to that but just thought I'd throw it out there. I have a couple too many. :-(

Love the color of the roos. Just too bad we have a few too many already. Hope you find some takes soon.

Well I had called the Vet's office & I didn't get a call back till I was out feeding from the Vet herself. She wants me to bring the cat back in tomorrow so she can give her a shot to try to reduce the swelling in her throat so hopefully she can eat. She just gags & chokes every time I try to give her medicine or water. I have thought all along she acted like her throat is sore. It makes sense to me since she has so much drainage, just like us when we have an upper respiratory infection & we have drainage down our throat. This shot will be a faster acting steroid than the other one she got that was a longer acting one. She is breathing some better, but still is really clogged up in her nose, poor thing. She also talked about maybe an antibiotic injection too since we don't know how much of the medicine she is really getting down at this point. I just hope something helps her get over this soon.

It sounds like your turkeys are settling into their new shelter.

I managed to get out there & get the plastic put on the north sides of all 3 hoop coops this afternoon, so at least the north wind will be blocked. I will go out & try to get the other sides done on all of them tomorrow & then I have a few tarps to get up yet. I guess this is what I'll be doing after I take the cat to the Vet & come back. I will need to buy one more roll of plastic yet to do a few other pens probably & the backs of the hoop coops, but it can wait a few days till I go to the store again. I just really wanted to get the north sides done today to block that wind first. I'm trying to get myself acclimated to the colder weather, so working out there is helping that. I just don't want to go out there one day & freeze because I didn't work up to it.

My next door neighbor came over tonight in his little truck like they have at companies just to drive things around, the really small ones that have the cab open. He & his wife came to get some eggs from me & my silly goats were still out because I was just starting to feed when they got there. Penny, the one I bottle fed that thinks she is a dog immediately as soon as they got out jumped into the truck & every time I got her out she would jump back in on the seat. Then when I finally got her out of there she started jumping up on the truck bed & wouldn't stay down, she is such a goofball. They got a big kick out of them, I'm just glad they like animals. I finally was able to talk to him about the GPs barking at night & he is totally fine about it. He is a really good neighbor, he watches what goes on & he was really good to come over for me & shut my run door & open it again the next day when I had to go out of town. They moved in after their aunt & uncle's trailer blew away in a tornado or straight line wind whatever it was & they moved to town. They have been better neighbors than the aunt & uncle were, lol!

Trish, sounds like your cat has a pretty bad respitory infection. I think the shots will be a better option since it is more fast acting. She really needs to be able to drink in order to stay hydrated. Poor kitty... I hope she starts feeling better soon. From the sound of it, your neighbors are great! Can't beat having neighbors who love animals that's for sure. I love to hear your goat story... love how goofy they are. DH keeps asking if we can have some goats and I keep saying no... LOL Maybe next year. Need to add 1 thing at a time... not all at once.

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I have bad news. One of the peachicks died. This is not the one who was gaping either. I was very surprised to see it dead to be honest. I looked all over it and found nothing wrong with it. It was still alive and jumping and drinking water the night before so I really have no idea what happened. It is sad to see the other one all alone. This one is still gaping toohough. I hope I don't lose it. Sigh... I'm getting ready to put all the lavenders and BRs chicks out in the main coop (sectioned off area). The 9 week olds should be able to move out of there and be on their own. Once I can move them out there, I'll do a major cleaning and disinfecting with Oxine in the storage room before I move this last batch of chicks out (these are the chicks hatched from the eggs I got from Danz). I'll get it done this weekend and hopefully no more casualty.

It was quite chilly this morning so stay warm everyone. I think it will warm up to 60F this afternoon.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish44- thanks , I gues I'll just mix in what is needed when I feed, I do my FF the same way ,adding some to the old each day.
I am supposed to be working at getting our place ready for company on Thanksgiving , and while I did get some stuff done I admit ,I kind of goofed off and did chicken stuff today. Cleaned out the old bedding and added nice warm new layer, put the kiddy pools away, took down the fan and closed up the windows some. I love this cool weather. I feel like I can get so much more done when I'm not hot.
Danz- how are you going to stor your vinegar? Is it stabil like the Braggs acv, or is it more active like kambucha?
It is just normal apple cider vinegar. I am getting a couple gallon jugs from one of my sisters to store it in. I have used all I had. I told her about it and now she is considering trying to make some herself. It is so simple I can't believe I haven't tried it before. I did notice the smell has increased since I seined out the peels and cores. I hoe that means we are starting to turn into vinegar now.

Well I had called the Vet's office & I didn't get a call back till I was out feeding from the Vet herself. She wants me to bring the cat back in tomorrow so she can give her a shot to try to reduce the swelling in her throat so hopefully she can eat. She just gags & chokes every time I try to give her medicine or water. I have thought all along she acted like her throat is sore. It makes sense to me since she has so much drainage, just like us when we have an upper respiratory infection & we have drainage down our throat. This shot will be a faster acting steroid than the other one she got that was a longer acting one. She is breathing some better, but still is really clogged up in her nose, poor thing. She also talked about maybe an antibiotic injection too since we don't know how much of the medicine she is really getting down at this point. I just hope something helps her get over this soon.

It sounds like your turkeys are settling into their new shelter.

I managed to get out there & get the plastic put on the north sides of all 3 hoop coops this afternoon, so at least the north wind will be blocked. I will go out & try to get the other sides done on all of them tomorrow & then I have a few tarps to get up yet. I guess this is what I'll be doing after I take the cat to the Vet & come back. I will need to buy one more roll of plastic yet to do a few other pens probably & the backs of the hoop coops, but it can wait a few days till I go to the store again. I just really wanted to get the north sides done today to block that wind first. I'm trying to get myself acclimated to the colder weather, so working out there is helping that. I just don't want to go out there one day & freeze because I didn't work up to it.

Sounds like you've been really busy Trish. I tried not to spend more time than I had to out working yesterday. It was too cold here. I spent a little over $50 and ordered a couple more pair of fishermans gloves last night. My hands were so cold an my older ones are wearing out.
I hope your cat improves.

I was in that situation after my fox attack, where all my roosters were killed and I was looking for one, so it does happen. To be honest, I butcher all of my extra roosters because there is such low demand for them. I've rehomed a few where people called asking if I had a rooster and I'm always happy to find them a home but they are the lucky few. I long ago came to terms with butchering and figure that it is a way to provide food for my family (in addition to eggs). My birds have great lives - SO much better than the way the commercial chickens are raised - and even at the end the treatment they get is so much more humane than the way the commercial birds meet their end, so I'm ok with it. If you decide you want to go that route, let me know. Trish and I have been talking about holding a processing class to help people who don't know how to do it, to get over that initial hump, so if you're interested, PM me and we can include you in that.

I try to keep a back up rooster for my breeds just for that reason. When you need a quality rooster it's impossible to find one at a decent price. I hate to think of nice roosters I sold for a couple dollars each to have to turn around and pay $15 or more for a replacement. If I had just one group of chickens I'd probably only have one rooster. I have an extra brahma roo who takes care of all the extra hens in the yard. He is very attentive and protective but still a sweet bird.
I have one mixed rooster from Reece eggs that I intended to butcher for meat cause he is enormous. But he is such a nice boy I hate to kill him. I'll do it one day though.
I can see the benefit of having a butchering class. It is really a simple process but lots of people just can't get over that initial hump to do it. I can and do do it but that doesn't make me enjoy it by any means. I prefer to do several birds at once rather than setting it all up for one or two birds.
I think it's going to be a little warmer this afternoon so I guess I need to get out and get some work done. I need to move some more chicks around today. My bin in the house is over full once again. I also need to see if I can find a place to put some more out in the grow out pens. I may move some cages to the coops to introduce some young birds here and there.
I found two huge piles of duck eggs. I think I'll just cook them up for the birds and dogs since I'm not sure how old they are. It would sure be nice if they would all go back to laying in the duck houses again. They tend to use them more in winter than any time else.

 

[chicken danz]

Tweety your message didn't multi. I am so sorry you lost a peachick. That is very strange if it was acting fine yesterday. The only ones I lost were all humped over and not acting good for a couple days before they died. Of course like I said that was my fault for not getting them wormed sooner. Peafowl are really susceptible to disease. Had it been picked on at all by the chicks? Was it on medicated food? I'll have some older ones available by spring I am sure. I kind of want to grow these I have out to see what I have. Is there any chance the peachick got some mold or something, or got chilled?

 

[cherwill]

I have bad news. One of the peachicks died. This is not the one who was gaping either. I was very surprised to see it dead to be honest. I looked all over it and found nothing wrong with it. It was still alive and jumping and drinking water the night before so I really have no idea what happened. It is sad to see the other one all alone. This one is still gaping toohough. I hope I don't lose it. Sigh... I'm getting ready to put all the lavenders and BRs chicks out in the main coop (sectioned off area). The 9 week olds should be able to move out of there and be on their own. Once I can move them out there, I'll do a major cleaning and disinfecting with Oxine in the storage room before I move this last batch of chicks out (these are the chicks hatched from the eggs I got from Danz). I'll get it done this weekend and hopefully no more casualty.

It was quite chilly this morning so stay warm everyone. I think it will warm up to 60F this afternoon.

I'm sorry about your little peachick. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the other one. It's frustrating to lose them, but even more so when we can't figure out why.

awww, Josie, that's too bad ,that dog sounds like he's trying to find a better home. I love my little Heeler mix ,he fallows me around like a little shadow. He's never even looked cross-eyed at the chickens. I think he's half Chihuahua (snicker..) ie, the" Yoda ears" and he's less than a foot tall. All 4 of ours are strays or rescues and I love them all, not perfect by any stretch but neither am I.

Trish44- I just ordered some of that rooster booster wormer, ? did you mix it in with your FF and let it ferment with everything or just stir it in right before you fed it. I was wondering if the fermentation would change it's effectiveness at all ? By the way that cat is beautiful ! I have a real soft spot for longhairs.

He's cute. DH had a blue heeler years ago; he was crazy about her and her personality.

[/URL]
Anybody want some Roos ? I think I probably know the answer to that but just thought I'd throw it out there. I have a couple too many. :-(

I wish I could have a roo here in town, but they're outlawed. Yours are beautiful.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Tweety your message didn't multi. I am so sorry you lost a peachick. That is very strange if it was acting fine yesterday. The only ones I lost were all humped over and not acting good for a couple days before they died. Of course like I said that was my fault for not getting them wormed sooner. Peafowl are really susceptible to disease. Had it been picked on at all by the chicks? Was it on medicated food? I'll have some older ones available by spring I am sure. I kind of want to grow these I have out to see what I have. Is there any chance the peachick got some mold or something, or got chilled?

DH and I checked it thoroughly and we didn't see any signs of it being picked on. The Brinsea heater is still on so I dont' think it got chilled. They have all been on medicated chick feeds so I don't think that was it. I have completely changed their bedding on Sunday so it was all fresh. I didn't see any mold from the bag of pine shavings I was using but then again, I wasn't really paying attention to it. I'll double check when I get home today. It is just a bummer because I've been babying them a lot too, just to make sure they are OK, not too cold, not to hot, have fresh feeds and water daily, fresh bedding every few days. I even use PDZ to make sure things are drier and fresher. I wish I know what's wrong so I can fix it. I'll be thoroughly disinfecting the grow out area this weekend with Oxine (unactivated since it is an enclosed area with 1 window). I may even bring the lone peachick back inside the house with me so I can keep an eye on it even more.

 

[zigzag45]

For any Olathe residents... the City Council has temporarily ok'd special use permits but the article mentions interest in banning back yard chickens in general.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/07/4603683/olathe-oks-backyard-chickens-for.html

 

[chicken danz]

zigzig, that just infuriates me. Olathe needs to get with the rest of the world and realize this is a good thing. I think people get in their high classed state of mind and feel that things like chickens are low classed and dirty. I'll put my hands in chicken poop long before I'd put them in dog poop or cat poop. I have children who live in Olathe that would probably feel along the lines of some of those councilmen. But they are all about bringing their child here to the farm to "feed the chickens" and pick up eggs.
I think one of the problems with Olathe is they have the old town part which is lower classed then there are all the new areas with the high income. It seems most of Johnson county has this idea they have to be the richest people around. If I were a resident I would be in there fighting tooth and nail for all of those chicken owners.
I'm so sorry about your peachick Tweety. I raised my first white peachick in the house last year. I had it with one chicken chick just so it wouldn't be lonely. Those two became my lap buddies. It's so hard to loose a pricy bird that you really want. Did you happen to do your own necropsy to see if you could find anything at all?

 

[HEChicken]

Talking about ACV, I just bought a bottle of Braggs and mix it up with regular ACV. It seems to develop the mother on its own. .... The apple tree in the old house did not give us much apples at all this year. Dont' know what the deal is since we have had such nice weather compared to the last 2 yrs.

I have bad news. One of the peachicks died.

I do the same Tweety - Deerfield Acres, who isn't active on this forum much any more, put me on to that little tidbit. Now I buy the cheap ACV from Walmart, pour off a cup, pour in a cup of the Braggs and then pour the original Walmart ACV back into the Braggs bottle. That way the mother develops in all of it. I buy a new bottle of Walmart ACV whenever I am down to about half, and then it sits there growing the mother while I keep using the current bottle.

Apple trees sometimes produce on an every other year basis. One year they will have only a few apples, the next the branches will be laden, and the following year it will be scant again. Unfortunately this year was my year to get tons from ours so it may be a couple of years before I have enough apples to learn how to make my own ACV (but Danz has definitely got me interested in doing it).

So sorry your little peachick died - I hope the gaping one gets better and you can find him or her a companion easily.

I can see the benefit of having a butchering class. It is really a simple process but lots of people just can't get over that initial hump to do it. I can and do do it but that doesn't make me enjoy it by any means. I prefer to do several birds at once rather than setting it all up for one or two birds.

Exactly! I know how hard it was for me to get started because I hadn't been exposed to that kind of thing. Mostly I didn't want to cause undue suffering to the bird, and that led to me putting off doing the first one as long as possible. I figured there are probably lots of others out there who are in the same boat and now that I've done enough of them to gain some confidence and know that I can do it without the bird feeling too stressed or experiencing much pain, I thought if I could help someone else get over that initial hump too then….I would.

I actually just do the processing inside any more, as there is less to set up and put away afterwards. I have my cone hung outside, so I do the deed there but then carry them in and do the rest inside. I've done two at a time, but more often I just do one early in the morning, then put it immediately in the crockpot and let it render the meat at a slow temperature all day long. By doing it more frequently, I've kind of got into a rhythm where I can do a chicken from start to being finished cleaning up in about an hour - slightly longer for a duck or turkey. If I were doing a large number, it would be worth setting up outside but just the setting up and taking down can take almost an hour if you have to cover a lot of distance to retrieve everything you need, so for me, doing one at a time inside is what is working the best.

Well, remember the fox we had here a few weeks ago? It was back this morning. We could see it out in the pasture, way out of range, but were able to watch it through the binoculars. We could see it was eating something and I felt smug that all of my birds were locked up tight (as usual) last night. I figured it had a rabbit or something. Later, DH and I walked out to where it had been and I was disappointed to find a pile of black feathers. Then I remembered that yesterday morning one of my (black) hens had somehow got over the fence and into the lagoon fence. This happens a lot and - as usual - I left her to figure out how to get back. Last night it didn't even really occur to me to look for her in the coop, and I didn't notice her in the lagoon. If you'd asked me, I'd have said I assumed she made it back in hours before. Well, I guess she didn't. Lesson learned.

The dogs are in the chicken yard at night - and I've had no losses from within the chicken yard so I really think their presence there is effective. But apparently all bets are off if a bird is NOT within the confines of the chicken yard at night. I can't let the dogs roam the whole property because in order to give them access to the pasture, I'd have to let the goats and sheep out.

But - all bets are off for that fox as well. Next sighting, you can bet, I won't be using "out of range" as a reason not to try. I'll for darn sure be trying to get myself back IN range.

Trish, how is your cat doing?