Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

OKay, I had to think about what my user name was on here! LOL Good thing I remembered my password! Whew! So we're mostly settled in down here in OK. So far, we're liking it. For those that don't know, we've been building a couple of barns to get set back up with the horses and chickens. They are not done yet-- eekks! I'm concerned. We're going to start working on the chicken pens this weekend. I need to build lots of doors. Lots of doors. I'm thinking of going to Habitat ReStore and seeing if I can find some used screen doors.



I took a picture of the inside (we have the horse stalls in there) but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. I'll be really glad when we're done. We still have the barred rocks, my layers and of course the silkies. I have less silkies though... I lost two of them a couple weeks ago to sour crop. I've never had that before, so I didn't know what I had until it killed one of my roosters. I tried to save a hen that had it, but no dice. Sigh. I think it's because they aren't in "real" coops/pens and it's just really hard to take good care of them when I'm using temporary kennels. OH! I do have a couple of silkie chicks I hatched a while back. I have more due on the 22nd and another batch of eggs a week after that. Slowly starting to build back up. I need to get ready for the show season next year. I don't think I'll be ready until next Fall though.

I've missed everyone! Hope everyone is doing great!

 

[HEChicken]

And we've missed you, Hawkeye - so nice to see you back. Sorry about the sour crop - I haven't experienced it yet either so I'm not sure how fast I'd recognize it.

 

[Hawkeye95]

HEChicken-- okay, I"m trying to think if it was the ABA or the APA-- but they do bands by color so you know what year your birds were hatched in. I was going to buy them, but I had already bought some bands online and ended up not needing anymore by the time I figured out I should have bought the other kind of bands. They are the ones that you have to put on when they are small and then they grow into them. I believe Rosie has been using them for years. Anyway, I know some shows are sponsored by the ABA/APA and if you are using their bands, you are eligible for prizes. I just thought that was neat, because I saw that in one of my show flyers a while back. I've just been using the bands that are adjustable-- I got them from Valley Feed and Seed in Wichita, KS. They are numbered, but are kind of like a spiral band in that they stretch so you can get them on adults. When I run out of those, I've decided to buy the other kind.

Hey, do you let your duck "rest" for a couple of days before cooking after butchering, or go ahead and cook them up right away?

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks for that info on bands. It is the spiral ones I have been looking at, since they look like they should be easy enough to get on.

I go ahead and cook them right away. I used to let them to rest but that required finding a pot big enough to fit them in, and then finding room in the fridge for them. One day I decided to try putting one directly in the crock pot and see how it turned out and it was the most tender bird we've ever had. Since then I don't do the rest period at all - I butcher, skin, eviscerate and have them in the crock pot, in about an hour from start to finish. I put it on the slow setting (my crock pot has options for both 8 hour and 10 hour, and I choose 8 hour for young birds and 10 hour for older ones). For the first 4 hours or so, nothing much seems to happen but in the last half, the meat starts to fall off the bones. Eventually, it is just meat cooking in its own juices. Once its done, I turn the crock pot off, let it cool, then separate the meat from the bones and put the meat in Ziploc bags in the freezer. That way they don't take up too much room and I try to divide it up into a baggie of meat that is the right size to later turn into a casserole.

 

[Trish44]

OKay, I had to think about what my user name was on here! LOL Good thing I remembered my password! Whew! So we're mostly settled in down here in OK. So far, we're liking it. For those that don't know, we've been building a couple of barns to get set back up with the horses and chickens. They are not done yet-- eekks! I'm concerned. We're going to start working on the chicken pens this weekend. I need to build lots of doors. Lots of doors. I'm thinking of going to Habitat ReStore and seeing if I can find some used screen doors.



I took a picture of the inside (we have the horse stalls in there) but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. I'll be really glad when we're done. We still have the barred rocks, my layers and of course the silkies. I have less silkies though... I lost two of them a couple weeks ago to sour crop. I've never had that before, so I didn't know what I had until it killed one of my roosters. I tried to save a hen that had it, but no dice. Sigh. I think it's because they aren't in "real" coops/pens and it's just really hard to take good care of them when I'm using temporary kennels. OH! I do have a couple of silkie chicks I hatched a while back. I have more due on the 22nd and another batch of eggs a week after that. Slowly starting to build back up. I need to get ready for the show season next year. I don't think I'll be ready until next Fall though.

I've missed everyone! Hope everyone is doing great!

Hawkeye, it's so nice so see you back here, we have really missed you! We have lots of new people here & some of the old ones aren't on here any more. That is such a nice barn, I'm envious, I wish I could have something like that built just to get all of my birds in one place. You'll have to post a pic when your other building is up so we can see it. I've never had sour crop either that I know of. What are the symptoms? I'm glad you're settling in down there & like it. You might not have seen it on my FB page, but we're going to have a new grandson in February down there in OKC, so we'll be coming down there more probably to see him. I would love to come see your new place some time when we're down there.

Well I have been having a surprise hatch today. I had told Danz that I put Cream Legbar eggs in the hatcher but I really wasn't expecting any to hatch because I candled them & saw no movement before I put them in there. But those blue eggs just are really hard to see in, pretty much like the darker brown eggs like the Marans are. Well today they were due & I went to take a peek at them & there was a chick hatched, oh wow I was so surprised. I had to run to Ark City this evening & when I came back I now have 4 chicks & one more trying to hatch. There are still 3 eggs left that haven't pipped yet. I'm so excited that they're hatching! These are shipped eggs, so I'm just happy to get some to hatch. I still have lavender Orp eggs in the incubator that aren't due till the 23rd. I hate to hatch chicks this time of year because then you're dealing with having to keep them warm longer & then they get thrown out in the cold at some point. I just moved that older group out of the brooder to the growout pen yesterday.

It's supposed to be warmer this weekend, so I've been trying to get leaves raked up & put into my pens. It gives the birds entertainment besides some bedding in there. The ones I got done today were having a good old time scratching around in those leaves. I still have more pens I want to put some in, but at least I got some of them done today. The leaves are really piling up here now.

I was thinking the same thing when I popped in earlier to read posts & there weren't any, I don't think we have gone a whole day before without someone posting.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

Hi Hawkeye . I am a transplanted Okie from the Stillwater area, moved up here to the middle of nowhere to be with my beekeeper. Beekeepers use a color marking system to know the age of the queen in each hive. This year's color is red, last year was yellow and next year green, then blue, then white. The queen gets a little dot of paint on her thorax. For our chickens and peafowl we are just using zip ties, they are the easiest, I think, but will check into the ones you mentioned. We want to keep track of age and where the bird came from. That is the plan, anyway.

 

[Trish44]

I probably should get some of those leg bands too so I can keep better track of things myself. I know they have all kinds of them on eBay, I'll have to look on there.

 

[HEChicken]

I probably should get some of those leg bands too so I can keep better track of things myself. I know they have all kinds of them on eBay, I'll have to look on there.

That's where I'm looking! I just need to figure out what size I need. On the size 11 (11/16th) the seller mentioned being suitable for bantams, leghorns etc. So I'm thinking I need a size or two up from there. Size 12 is 3/4" - I need to get out a ruler and visualize that to feel confident its the size I need. I don't want to order them and end up with something too big to use.

 

[sharol]

Hi Hawkeye

. I am a transplanted Okie from the Stillwater area, moved up here to the middle of nowhere to be with my beekeeper. Beekeepers use a color marking system to know the age of the queen in each hive. This year's color is red, last year was yellow and next year green, then blue, then white. The queen gets a little dot of paint on her thorax. For our chickens and peafowl we are just using zip ties, they are the easiest, I think, but will check into the ones you mentioned. We want to keep track of age and where the bird came from. That is the plan, anyway.

Shucks, and here I was visualizing queen bees with tiny little zip ties on their legs until I got to the part about the paint.

 

[HEChicken]

Shucks, and here I was visualizing queen bees with tiny little zip ties on their legs until I got to the part about the paint.