Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

It smells SOOOOO good in here. I am not a fan of cooked apples. I don't like apple pie. But I do like applesauce. We have never had decent apples on our old infected trees here but this was a bounty year. I had one tree fall over and die out except for a sprout. That sprout has developed into a decent sized tree that was loaded with apples this year. DH happened to grab one one day and take a bite. He said it was the sweetest apple he had ever had. I have never known him to touch an apple of any kind. So earlier today I went out and picked a bucket of those apples. There are tons more. They of course are all spotted and stuff but there are good parts. I cored them and cut out the bad parts and have them cooking on the stove to make some apple sauce. You can't imagine how rich it smells. If it turns out good I may make even more and I'll probably try to can some of this.
HEChicken and Tweety I normally do the same thing with ACV. But even a gallon of that diluted and distilled ACV is still not real cheap. I figure I am getting at least 2 gallons for probably 75 cents worth of sugar to start it. And it uses the peels and the cores which otherwise would be waste. I honestly so far am very impressed with the whole process. Of course it's not vinegar yet but I have no doubt it will be.
HEChicken I am sorry you lost a hen. Yep it's time for the dead eye of yours to take aim and fire. I'll bet that fox has been watching and waiting all along for the first slip up. Maybe you should put a chicken in a cage out in the lagoon area and sit and wait with loaded gun.
I moved some more chicks to the brooder house today and moved a dozen or so out to grow out pens. Now I'm of course worried that they'll find shelter and stay warm enough tonight. I was going to try to put some of the other larger birds from the grow out pens in cages in the houses to get them acquainted with some of my breeders but I ran out of energy. I really hate caging birds. I just wish they would accept each other and I wouldn't have to do it this way.
I gathered up the two huge nests of duck eggs I found and got them all fed back to the birds. I also gave them the apple scraps and of course the chipmunks got a little apple as well.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I live in a rural area and My nearest neighbors are over a mile away. I have no problems when it goes to raising anything, but all the small towns have rules about raising livestock in town. Really just one rule; they don't allow it. I can understand the no rooster rule, as I have a black Langshan rooster that crows from dawn to dark, and even at night if its bright moonlight. And I always warn anyone I sell a peacock to that they need really understanding neighbors or no neighbors. And the understanding neighbors may change after they have a peacock nearby. Last week I told a customer this and she bought all three of the adult males I had advertised. She lives just outside of the city limits , but they are very, large farmers. Southeast Kansas is a farming community and should allow a few backyard hens or rabbits.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Just for fun-- looks like a stuffed toy LOL

 

[zigzag45]

Agreed Danz. City councilman, be good if their opinions could be based on fact and experience.

However, if backyard chicken growers get involved, they have a chance to swing things the other way. I'm betting that those advocating for chickens are a bit more passionate and vocal than the nay-sayers.

 

[PrettyWhitty23]

Hi all. I'm kind of new to BYC. I haven't posted yet but have been lurking for a few months now. My husband and I just started our chicken experience about 6 weeks ago. We just moved to Augusta. We bought a house on 10 acres and thought it would be fun to have chickens. Needless to say we have become obsessed. We just moved them out of their box in the garage into their chicken coop on Tuesday and they seem to love all the space they have. Most of our flock are barred rock. We also have a few bantams. We are interested in owning a few frizzles or sizzles but we have been unable to find some. Anyways we are excited to be apart of the kansas group!

 

[Frizzled Pink]

Hi all. I'm kind of new to BYC. I haven't posted yet but have been lurking for a few months now. My husband and I just started our chicken experience about 6 weeks ago. We just moved to Augusta. We bought a house on 10 acres and thought it would be fun to have chickens. Needless to say we have become obsessed. We just moved them out of their box in the garage into their chicken coop on Tuesday and they seem to love all the space they have. Most of our flock are barred rock. We also have a few bantams. We are interested in owning a few frizzles or sizzles but we have been unable to find some. Anyways we are excited to be apart of the kansas group!

, Glad you have joined us. I love the frizzles too! There are lots of folks on here that are in the Wichita area that may be able to direct you to a good source for frizzles/sizzles. I dont know that they would be quite as cute as the monkey in your avatar photo though

 

[HEChicken]

Hi all. I'm kind of new to BYC. I haven't posted yet but have been lurking for a few months now. My husband and I just started our chicken experience about 6 weeks ago. We just moved to Augusta. We bought a house on 10 acres and thought it would be fun to have chickens. Needless to say we have become obsessed. We just moved them out of their box in the garage into their chicken coop on Tuesday and they seem to love all the space they have. Most of our flock are barred rock. We also have a few bantams. We are interested in owning a few frizzles or sizzles but we have been unable to find some. Anyways we are excited to be apart of the kansas group!

....neighbor!

 

[PrettyWhitty23]

, Glad you have joined us.  I love the frizzles too!  There are lots of folks on here that are in the Wichita area that may be able to direct you to a good source for frizzles/sizzles.  I dont know that they would be quite as cute as the monkey in your avatar photo though

That is a wonderful idea. We originally looked into getting some at a hatchery but then we decided if we could get some elsewhere we would rather do that. Ah,yes. The monkey just turned 10 months today. He is crazy. He loves the chickens. When they were in the garage he would just look over and yell (talk) to them. We also have 4 German Shepherds so he loves animals already.

 

[cherwill]

I live in a rural area and My nearest neighbors are over a mile away. I have no problems when it goes to raising anything, but all the small towns have rules about raising livestock in town. Really just one rule; they don't allow it. I can understand the no rooster rule, as I have a black Langshan rooster that crows from dawn to dark, and even at night if its bright moonlight. And I always warn anyone I sell a peacock to that they need really understanding neighbors or no neighbors. And the understanding neighbors may change after they have a peacock nearby. Last week I told a customer this and she bought all three of the adult males I had advertised. She lives just outside of the city limits , but they are very, large farmers. Southeast Kansas is a farming community and should allow a few backyard hens or rabbits.

McPherson allows a number of "farm" animals in town, including horses. Roosters were fine until they got three complaints about a roo somewhere (not my neighborhood; most of the neighbors said they enjoyed hearing our roo). There are many, many more complaints about dogs and whatnot, but this particular complainer had connections. Several of our neighbors, and people in other neighborhoods with chickens, went to the city meetings to defend roos. They mentioned the noise from barking dogs, trains, lawnmowers, etc., and said it was all temporary noise that didn't bother them. The mayor offered several compromise solutions that were OK with most people and there was an agreement about what the new ordinance would be. Then he drafted an ordinance outlawing roos just like he'd wanted to from the beginning and it was voted on privately. While I do understand why a city might not want roos, I don't think they're the most unpleasantly noisy thing I hear regularly in town. The funny thing is, that around here, it's the smallest towns who want to ban chickens altogether because they don't like the stigma of being too rural, even though they are. And why is that a bad thing???

Just for fun-- looks like a stuffed toy LOL

Cute!

Hi all. I'm kind of new to BYC. I haven't posted yet but have been lurking for a few months now. My husband and I just started our chicken experience about 6 weeks ago. We just moved to Augusta. We bought a house on 10 acres and thought it would be fun to have chickens. Needless to say we have become obsessed. We just moved them out of their box in the garage into their chicken coop on Tuesday and they seem to love all the space they have. Most of our flock are barred rock. We also have a few bantams. We are interested in owning a few frizzles or sizzles but we have been unable to find some. Anyways we are excited to be apart of the kansas group!

Welcome! Congratulations on your property and your fuzzies.

 

[Trish44]

Just for fun-- looks like a stuffed toy LOL

That's cute!

Hi all. I'm kind of new to BYC. I haven't posted yet but have been lurking for a few months now. My husband and I just started our chicken experience about 6 weeks ago. We just moved to Augusta. We bought a house on 10 acres and thought it would be fun to have chickens. Needless to say we have become obsessed. We just moved them out of their box in the garage into their chicken coop on Tuesday and they seem to love all the space they have. Most of our flock are barred rock. We also have a few bantams. We are interested in owning a few frizzles or sizzles but we have been unable to find some. Anyways we are excited to be apart of the kansas group!

Welcome, we're always glad to have new people join us. We have quite a few people around the Wichita & surrounding area. We also have a Kansas Poultry Swap on Facebook if you're on there. If you're interested in joining we can get you the link. We have a lot of different birds come through the swap at different times. There is also a Kansas Farm Animal Swap on FB for other animals & there are a few birds on that one too.

HEChicken, my kitty got tortured again today, at least that is how she saw it. I took her in to the Vet again & she gave her more fluids, an antibiotic injection since she was having so much of a problem swallowing, a short acting steroid shot to hopefully reduce the swelling in her throat, & a B-12 shot to stimulate her appetite. She was so mad at me when I got her home, she went & hid behind the chair, she sees me as the bad person who has been shoving things down her throat & taking her to the bad Dr. who pokes holes in her with needles. This cat has never had to go through anything like this before so this has been pretty traumatic for her. At any rate, I left her to rest this afternoon after all of that & went out to continue putting up tarps & plastic on my hoop coops & pens. My DH had to go into work really early this morning to get re-certified in CPR & first aid since he is a first responder, so he got home about 4:30 this afternoon instead of working 2nd shift today. We both did things outside for awhile & then I had to feed & do all of my chores. About the time I had started chores my granddaughter called me wanting me to come & bring her cell phone back to her because I had it checking out her issues with it & hadn't had time between taking the cat to the Vet all the time & working on winterizing, so I told her we would come after chores were done & we ate supper. We had to take the cell phone over & then came back to check on the cat & hopefully get her to eat, it's been days since she has eaten a thing or drank water on her own because she's been so sick. My DH got her on his lap & I warmed up this canned food the Vet had us get from her, it's a special diet for seriously ill cats. I really was expecting her to look at it & turn up her nose again the way she has been doing, but to our surprise she started chomping it down & ate every little bit. I didn't want to overwhelm her stomach after not eating for days so I didn't give her much the first time. But we were so thrilled to see her eating something & then evidently the canned stuff spurred her to go out & try some dry food as well after that. That is so exciting to see her eating & acting better. She got brushed, something she loves for a reward for eating & she was actually purring! Finally, something helped her, I was getting really concerned & the Vet was too, she said she should have been better before this & she told me she would call me tomorrow to see how she is doing. I'm really liking this new Vet we have, she is really good & is really caring. I like that she tells you all of your options & let's you decide what you want to proceed with. The next step if this didn't help was to sedate her & check out her nose, but I hated to have her go through that, she has had so much trauma already.