Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I'm thinking of moving some of my brooder chicks out to the growout pen this afternoon. It's supposed to be warmer in the daytime, but still pretty cold at night. I have weaned them from any heat other than what is in the house in general. I'm only moving the bigger ones out there that look to be all feathered completely. Do you all think they'll be OK out there? There is a group of just a bit bigger chicks in there that they can huddle with. They all tend to huddle together on the floor & the two little BR chicks I got from you HEChicken get in to the middle of the huddle. I know the ones you had grew up outside, so they're used to it, but these all have been in the house in a brooder since they came here. I'm going to try to put the Cream Legbar cockerel in with the other young ones in the breeder coop & at least he can go in at night. He's getting pretty good sized now too.

We finally got all of the stuff loaded up from in the garage that goes to Goodwill, I cornered my DH about it today & got him to help me get it all in the truck. We've got a whole truck load to take up there in a bit, wow that will be a relief to get that out of there. A lot of it was stuff that belonged to my son & he took what he wanted & left me the rest to get rid of. I still have a bit of cleaning up to do in the back of the workshop part yet, but I have gotten a lot cleaned out of there so far. It's amazing what you collect over the years & it just builds up & doesn't go away until one day you finally decide some of it has to go. It's kind of a cathartic thing to clean out once in awhile. I don't like to get rid of things, I'm kind of a packrat of sorts, I inherited that from my dad. But eventually I will decided there are things I don't need any more & I have been doing that for the last two years. At least if something happens to me there won't be quite as much to have to clean out.

Oh I did catch my kitty this morning in the garage, she was sitting up on a saw in there & came to me nicely this time. She was just in a toot last night, but she must have gotten over it & went back into her crate for now. I'll have to let her out for awhile again this evening.

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken- That wellie roo is molting and grew his tail back in! He is looking quite roostery these days with his big green shiny tail. I need to get some pinless peepers and try to incorporate him into the main pen again, he does not get along well with my other boys. DH doesn't like him because he doesn't like DH!! He gets out of the pen sometimes and DH is a terrible chicken herder and chases him all over trying to get him back in so they don't like each other. He has a very distinct warning noise that he makes when he sees DH!!!! Too funny. It is nice that he makes that sound though because the Pyrs know that is his "warning" noise and that something is up and they come running all huffy and ready to kick some butt if someone is after their birds.

I should come by and see him sometime! Thanks for the update - its nice to know how he's doing.

I'm thinking of moving some of my brooder chicks out to the growout pen this afternoon. It's supposed to be warmer in the daytime, but still pretty cold at night. I have weaned them from any heat other than what is in the house in general. I'm only moving the bigger ones out there that look to be all feathered completely. Do you all think they'll be OK out there? There is a group of just a bit bigger chicks in there that they can huddle with. They all tend to huddle together on the floor & the two little BR chicks I got from you HEChicken get in to the middle of the huddle. I know the ones you had grew up outside, so they're used to it, but these all have been in the house in a brooder since they came here. I'm going to try to put the Cream Legbar cockerel in with the other young ones in the breeder coop & at least he can go in at night. He's getting pretty good sized now too.

Oh no, those two were brooder raised as well. I can't remember how long they'd been outside - probably a couple of weeks.

Glad you got your kitty back!

 

[Trish44]

I should come by and see him sometime! Thanks for the update - its nice to know how he's doing.

Oh no, those two were brooder raised as well. I can't remember how long they'd been outside - probably a couple of weeks.

Glad you got your kitty back!

Oh OK, I thought these were some the broody hen had raised. Well they seem to be doing fine out there with the others, they went in there & just acted like they have always been there. They hang out together but at night the whole group huddles together at the southeast corner of the pen. It's kind of funny but they sleep right by the door that isn't covered. The rest of the pen has tarps & plastic on it.

We just got back from unloading that whole truck load of stuff at Goodwill in town. When we got there & the ladies opened the doors their eyes kind of got big when they saw how much stuff we had brought. This is a smaller store here that just opened a few months ago, we had to drive to Ark City whenever we had a donation before that.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I'm thinking of moving some of my brooder chicks out to the growout pen this afternoon. It's supposed to be warmer in the daytime, but still pretty cold at night. I have weaned them from any heat other than what is in the house in general. I'm only moving the bigger ones out there that look to be all feathered completely. Do you all think they'll be OK out there? There is a group of just a bit bigger chicks in there that they can huddle with. They all tend to huddle together on the floor & the two little BR chicks I got from you HEChicken get in to the middle of the huddle. I know the ones you had grew up outside, so they're used to it, but these all have been in the house in a brooder since they came here. I'm going to try to put the Cream Legbar cockerel in with the other young ones in the breeder coop & at least he can go in at night. He's getting pretty good sized now too.

We finally got all of the stuff loaded up from in the garage that goes to Goodwill, I cornered my DH about it today & got him to help me get it all in the truck. We've got a whole truck load to take up there in a bit, wow that will be a relief to get that out of there. A lot of it was stuff that belonged to my son & he took what he wanted & left me the rest to get rid of. I still have a bit of cleaning up to do in the back of the workshop part yet, but I have gotten a lot cleaned out of there so far. It's amazing what you collect over the years & it just builds up & doesn't go away until one day you finally decide some of it has to go. It's kind of a cathartic thing to clean out once in awhile. I don't like to get rid of things, I'm kind of a packrat of sorts, I inherited that from my dad. But eventually I will decided there are things I don't need any more & I have been doing that for the last two years. At least if something happens to me there won't be quite as much to have to clean out.

Oh I did catch my kitty this morning in the garage, she was sitting up on a saw in there & came to me nicely this time. She was just in a toot last night, but she must have gotten over it & went back into her crate for now. I'll have to let her out for awhile again this evening.

Seems like this weekend will be a great time to get chicks outside. I have a group of 6 week old EE's that need to go out but some of the boys are not fully feathered in yet and I don't put heat out so I will just have to be careful. I don't want them to freeze but know it is time for them to go. It just is colder this year than last when I had chicks this age at his time, I guess I could use some encouragement too.

 

[chicken danz]

My multis aren't showing up. I read this stuff hours ago and now I don't have a clue what I read.
JosieChick, just wondering where you came up with that 10 feet deep figure for the depth of structures. I am thinking of buying premade building for the geese and maybe more. So I am wondering about the depth. I am thinking that the direction the wind blows and how hard it blows would make the depth change. Just curious. I don't want to invest money if it isn't going to block wind. My peacock building is only a tiny bit over 8 feet deep and other than right at the front it seems to cut the wind. I do know that the pens on the East side get more of the cold wind than the ones on the west. If I could I would put solid dividers in each pen because I know that would help in winter but in summer I am sure it would stop a lot of cooling. I could put plastic up on each one in winter but that would be a pain.
I didn't get any cleaning done but I did get caught up on some stuff around here. I got all those apples cut up and made applesauce out of them. The jars are in the canner as I type. I found a recipe for some easy crock pot version of sweet and sour chicken. Let me tell you tasting it was awful. I had to add this and that and I think I finally have the sauce so it tastes decent. I still have to thicken it and make some rice to put it on. DH should be home from work soon so I'll mess with that then.
I did go out while I was feeding and watering and test out my water system. Success! The only problem with it is that the last faucet drips a little. It's not anything I did. It's just that the faucet isn't quite perfect. I had no leaks and I tested all the faucets individually and they work great. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some hoses on them. It's a shame I dump and clean bowl every day. It would be nice to just turn on the faucets and fill all the bowls at once and not have to go in the pens to do it. But I am pretty picky about keeping things like that clean and fresh.
Trish, glad the kitty has forgiven you. I'll bet you're relieved to have that stuff out of the garage. I could spend months and never have stuff cleaned up around here.
Maidenwolf I'm glad to hear your son has taken an interest in the chickens. I know your daughter loves them. That is awesome.

 

[Trish44]

My multis aren't showing up. I read this stuff hours ago and now I don't have a clue what I read.
JosieChick, just wondering where you came up with that 10 feet deep figure for the depth of structures. I am thinking of buying premade building for the geese and maybe more. So I am wondering about the depth. I am thinking that the direction the wind blows and how hard it blows would make the depth change. Just curious. I don't want to invest money if it isn't going to block wind. My peacock building is only a tiny bit over 8 feet deep and other than right at the front it seems to cut the wind. I do know that the pens on the East side get more of the cold wind than the ones on the west. If I could I would put solid dividers in each pen because I know that would help in winter but in summer I am sure it would stop a lot of cooling. I could put plastic up on each one in winter but that would be a pain.
I didn't get any cleaning done but I did get caught up on some stuff around here. I got all those apples cut up and made applesauce out of them. The jars are in the canner as I type. I found a recipe for some easy crock pot version of sweet and sour chicken. Let me tell you tasting it was awful. I had to add this and that and I think I finally have the sauce so it tastes decent. I still have to thicken it and make some rice to put it on. DH should be home from work soon so I'll mess with that then.
I did go out while I was feeding and watering and test out my water system. Success! The only problem with it is that the last faucet drips a little. It's not anything I did. It's just that the faucet isn't quite perfect. I had no leaks and I tested all the faucets individually and they work great. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some hoses on them. It's a shame I dump and clean bowl every day. It would be nice to just turn on the faucets and fill all the bowls at once and not have to go in the pens to do it. But I am pretty picky about keeping things like that clean and fresh.
Trish, glad the kitty has forgiven you. I'll bet you're relieved to have that stuff out of the garage. I could spend months and never have stuff cleaned up around here.
Maidenwolf I'm glad to hear your son has taken an interest in the chickens. I know your daughter loves them. That is awesome.

I know in my peafowl/guinea pen even with the front open in the winter the wind doesn't seem to blow back into there, so maybe you have something there Josie. Their roost is back in the middle of the hoop coop at 8 feet back so they have a draft free place to roost. I plan to build another hoop coop & move the guineas out in the spring so the peafowl will have more room. My older 3 will be breeding age next year, so I figure they will need more room then. My young black shoulder peahen seems to be very happy in there & the one extra peacock has taken to roosting with her so I think he has picked her for a mate. The other male paired up with the India Blue peahen. She is not aggressive at all about getting in there at feeding time with the guineas so I usually stand in there so she can get some food before the pushy guineas chase her out. My peafowl all have names they're Penelope (she had hers when I got her), her mate is Percy, then the new peahen is Priscilla & her mate is Pete. Those males are really getting pretty now & are growing their tails. I wish that black shoulder male had made it, but maybe I can hatch some more eggs in the spring. I'm actually owed 4 eggs from a swap that never came through if I ever get them.

Danz, when you have a chance take a pic of that watering system so we can see what you did. It's hard to visualize it without a pic of it.

 

[chicken danz]

Okay either I am not getting notifications or there were no posts at all today. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before.
I did some research on buildings and air flow and I found something interesting. A 2 foot apron at the top of the building will block air movement coming from the back. I was glad to read that since we put an apron on our peafowl pen even though we just did it for looks more than anything. Also the higher the trusses are,the more air comes in. So having just an 8 foot tall building is an asset as well.
I had a very busy day and it wasn't very bird related. I had a bunch of eggs to get washed and taken to town. I took in 8 dozen chicken eggs and 5 dozen duck eggs today. That was a bunch of work just getting them ready. I had some in the fridge already but hadn't gotten them washed so no... I didn't get that many eggs this week. The duck eggs were all from this week though.
My friend gave me two wintermelon and 4 large heads of garlic to plant. With the garlic I already planted I should have a ton of it next year. His garlic already had shoots on it and the stuff I ordered didn't. So I guess we'll see which one does best. I had to stop here and there with the eggs and went to see my middle sister. I hadn't seen her since my Dad's funeral. Of course that took a lot more time than I intended to spend. She had found my piggy bank I got when I was born. I wondered where it was. My other sister is in Hawaii right now. She texted me and said that the chickens run wild in Hawaii. Funny I just saw a TV show where there were wild chickens in the Hawaiian jungle.
I got my flu shot when I went to town finally. Now if I can stay well for a few weeks till it kicks in!
I got home and it was almost dark so I had to run around feeding and watering in the dark. My poor birds must have felt deserted.
I noticed the ammonia was building in the brooder house, so it looks like whether I want to or not I have to clean it out tomorrow.
I also got some flowers in the mail so those need to be planted. I sure hope it doesn't rain as forecast tomorrow.

 

[sharol]

Okay either I am not getting notifications or there were no posts at all today. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

It was a slow day on the board. Everyone was probably out getting stuff done while there is some decent weather. We went to Wichita to get another load of stuff out of KKB's house, he is supposed to sign the contract on it next week. Yay! One more load and then find someplace to put it all. And then maybe someday we can get to Okieland and get my stuff.
The latest chick to come down with the mysterious illness is now walking and eating, should be ready to join his buddies tomorrow. Sure wish we could figure out the problem. We will put a band on his leg to identify him for future reference. We're gonna have to mix them with the flock soon, the swimming pool babies are out growing their pool. But first to get the oxine and do a thorough cleaning. Think there will be vendors at the bird show tomorrow?
We plan on building an open front pea house, so that is some good info to know. Our pea's spend time inside the house during the day but roost outside at night. Danz, we moved the three we got from you in with the others today and after just a little picking they all settled down. Gave them a pumpkin for a treat. We have too many peafowl to name right now. Have some that should be old enough to lay next year. Right now it is looking like we have as many females as males.
Danz, glad you got to spend some time away from the farm today. Good to get out every once in awhile, although you were probably thinking of everything that wasn't getting done.
Anybody going to the Hutch show tomorrow?

 

[HEChicken]

Hmmm....I don't get notifications - I just set my home page so that when I click on the home button, it takes me to the page showing all the threads I've posted on and I can instantly see if there are new posts on any of the threads I follow. I've been busy and reading but haven't had much to comment on. Today was a gift, weather wise, to be so warm in mid-November. I was able to get my big waterer back out (thought I'd put it away for winter) since the next few days are supposed to stay above freezing and it is easier for me to keep the chickens in water than using the rubber bowls, that the ducks just splash all the water out of.

I processed a duck this morning - still trying to get my numbers down.

Question for those who have ordered leg bands: what size do you get for adult chickens? I realized today that now that I am breeding so many of the same breed, I need a way to mark which year they hatched, and I think I'll do a simple color coding system. Everything that hatches one year is one color and so on. Right now I can tell them apart based on age but I can already tell that once they are all the same size, I won't be able to tell one year's hatch from another.

I found a really good chart that shows the different sizes, i.e., #9 is 9/16" and so on. But I'm not very good at picturing sizes to know what size I would need. I plan to band them once they are teenagers, so I don't need to worry about them being too big for chicks, but I want to make sure they aren't too tight once they're full grown.