Consolidated Kansas

[OkieQueenBee]

This is a quote from HEChicken:
I'm not OQB, but if I'm understanding it correctly, queen bees can live for many years - I wanna say 15 or so?  OQB will hopefully chime in and correct this if I'm wrong.
(KKB tried to show me how to 'snip it' but my iPad is so different)
Queen bees can live up to 5 years but normally are replaced after 2. When the virgin queen goes on her mating flight she mates with as many drones as she can. The more sperm she can store the longer she will be viable, as the queen uses up the stored sperm she will begin to lay drones, (unfertilized eggs that become males). At that point the worker bees (females) know that it is time to replace the old queen so they find a few good, fertilized eggs, and make new queens. And that is your bee lesson for today.
Yesterday was KKB's birthday so we went to Hutch to the poultry show! There were some pretty birds there, but mainly bantams. We were hoping to see some Marans so we could get a better idea of what to look for in our birds. I guess if you were going to show birds it would be a lot easier to take care of the smaller birds. But there were some turkeys, geese and ducks and they were making their presence known.
This morning was beautiful when I went out to feed but then the wind decided to blow and then later in the afternoon the wind decided to blow some more. We did get the brooder babies moved into the tweener pen, the brooder pen cleaned and the swimming pool babies moved to the brooder pen. I left 3 in the swimming pool, 1 was wheezing and the other 2 were smaller and looked a little puny. We had almost 60 chicks in that pool, definitely time to get them in the bigger pen. Our chicken math is in the multiplication mode. :/
The processing class sounds like it was fun. If you do it in the spring hopefully I can make it. I'm just learning so much from reading everyone's posts. Who knew that raising chickens could be so complicated?

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:

Yesterday was KKB's birthday so we went to Hutch to the poultry show!
Happy Belated Birthday Kansas King Bee!
This morning was beautiful when I went out to feed but then the wind decided to blow and then later in the afternoon the wind decided to blow some more. We did get the brooder babies moved into the tweener pen, the brooder pen cleaned and the swimming pool babies moved to the brooder pen. I left 3 in the swimming pool, 1 was wheezing and the other 2 were smaller and looked a little puny. We had almost 60 chicks in that pool, definitely time to get them in the bigger pen. Our chicken math is in the multiplication mode.

The processing class sounds like it was fun. If you do it in the spring hopefully I can make it. I'm just learning so much from reading everyone's posts. Who knew that raising chickens could be so complicated?

We ended up with literally piles of things. You can sure see how the wind patterns blow around here. I have a huge pile of trash cans, plastic barrels, and anything else that wasn't tied down in the back yard. My joints really hurt today. Probably as much from fighting the wind to work as the cold front moving in.
You are going to equal me in amounts of birds if you keep it up. I swear we are soul sisters. Same birthday, both with Scorpio men, both lived in Oklahoma, and both keep gaining birds!!!
Originally Posted by sharol

The rescue people say there is almost no chance they can stay together, and frankly it might be better for the black and white dog (Blue) if he was away from his brother. Red sometimes carries the dominance thing a little far, and he is a little stifled. At first I thought he wasn't as smart, but I think it is just that he is totally submissive. He plays well with our Doxy (who is an alpha) without the overshadowing dominance. They are actually engaging in some activities separately from each other after only a week, so there is a chance that they just need the opportunity to survive separately.

I don't know what would be best for them. The Red dog will be able to move on if they are separated, but I'm not sure Blue will. If we were to keep him, at least there would be some continuity for him. We will just have to see how it shakes out.

In that case I think I'd consider keeping Blue. He probably is feeling at home there and if he is bonding with your Doxy the loss of his friend wouldn't be nearly as bad.
It seemed like my day went really fast yesterday. I got nothing done but care for birds. I hate days when there isn't a thing I can say I accomplished.

 

[HEChicken]

This is a quote from HEChicken:
I'm not OQB, but if I'm understanding it correctly, queen bees can live for many years - I wanna say 15 or so? OQB will hopefully chime in and correct this if I'm wrong.
(KKB tried to show me how to 'snip it' but my iPad is so different)
Queen bees can live up to 5 years but normally are replaced after 2. When the virgin queen goes on her mating flight she mates with as many drones as she can. The more sperm she can store the longer she will be viable, as the queen uses up the stored sperm she will begin to lay drones, (unfertilized eggs that become males). At that point the worker bees (females) know that it is time to replace the old queen so they find a few good, fertilized eggs, and make new queens. And that is your bee lesson for today.

Thanks for that. Maybe it was wasps I had heard live for 15 years. Good info to know.

Josie, thanks for chiming in with your experience on the Anconas. I think that plus our experience on Saturday would be enough to deter me from keeping them for meat, as in addition to a good-tasting bird, I want to be able to produce all of my meat so that they both live and die well. Like Tweety, I found it a little distressing watching those ducks hang there for as long as it took for them to bleed out. On the drake, I did try cutting the other side but by then I think he had bled out enough that we didn't notice much additional flow from the second cut and then I just felt bad for increasing his suffering there at the end.

I've enjoyed the muscovies but I don't think I am overall a duck person. The ducks are so messy, playing in and splashing out the water. In summer its not so bad since I have a 5-gallon galvanized waterer and they can only drink out of it like the other birds but now that I'm using the rubber bowls for the winter, they get right in them and poop and mess up the water for everyone else. I haven't been overly impressed with their laying and brooding either. They went broody just fine but contaminated so many of the eggs that relative to the number they started with, they really didn't hatch many ducklings. The meat is good, but not good enough to be worth the hassle, in my opinion. I do plan on keeping over a couple of drakes and a few ducks and do one more year with them but I suspect this time next year I will just butcher the lot of them and go back to keeping only chickens and turkeys. Those two species seem the most compatible, as they are both neat and clean with the water, not too noisy, and for the most part are pretty good about getting in the coop and roosting at night.

Last night 6 of my remaining 9 ducks spent the night at the pond. On the one hand, I was glad to have that many fewer birds pooping in the coop all night, but on the other hand, I worried about the fox we know lives around here getting to them. I did go down to the pond to try to encourage them to come up but they were out in the middle of the pond and showed no interest in cooperating. I had no choice but to leave and hope they stayed out there when the fox came a-hunting. This morning they are all still there so I guess it worked out.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz was posting the same time I was! And I'm glad because I totally forgot to comment on Sharol's dogs. They are both good-looking dogs and kudos to you for doing the foster thing. I did that for awhile and it is a big commitment and responsibility - thank you for taking it on! One nice thing about fostering is you do get to really know the dogs, which makes it easier to decide whether or not to adopt any particular one. In your case it is wonderful that you get to check out how they are around your birds and if it turns out they are not compatible, you don't have to commit to adopt.

That wind yesterday was just awful. I was out in it most of the afternoon and it wore me out. In the morning I didn't realize it was so windy - I think I was fooled by the fact that none of the trees have leaves on them any more so when I looked out, the trees didn't appear to be blowing too much. But then I got out in it and holy moly. The next couple of days are forecast to be in the 60's and then it will really cool off. I guess this is the time to complete any outdoor stuff so we can spend more time indoors later in the week.

 

[ashncarson]

It sounds like one of my new chickens is snoring when she breathes, does that mean she is probably getting a respiratory illness? Whats the best way to treat this?

 

[chicken danz]

Our forecast only has tomorrow at 60. The rest of the week including today is supposed to be in the 50's, then Friday the bottom drops out. They were even forecasting snow next weekend. Of course that could change a hundred times by then. It froze last night here and it wasn't supposed to. We just made it to 33 a few minutes ago.
HEChicken I really like my ducks. I guess because I really don't do much with them but let them lay eggs for me and butcher a few. (Haven't butchered any Anconas yet though.) I think when I do I'll be cutting off heads, just cause I couldn't stand watching them suffer. I've just been walking the ones I have left into the pen at night and they seem fairly anxious to go. Food is always a motivator! I did notice the last two nights they are laying in the duck house rather than on the ground. You can sure tell winter is about here. Mine just free range and that makes a huge difference. The group I have in the pen that are mostly all drakes are a total mess. I just need to sell or butcher them. It's one of those things I keep putting off. I have some nice big meaty ones so I keep thinking I should keep them for myself and therefore I do nothing.
Of course raising Muscovies may be entirely different.
I noticed yesterday one of my bourbon red hens who hadn't molted is suddenly in full molt. Good grief! What a dumb bird. She is half bare and it's getting really cold. I hope she gets darker like the other hen did. She isn't a pretty bird.

 

[chicken danz]

It sounds like one of my new chickens is snoring when she breathes, does that mean she is probably getting a respiratory illness? Whats the best way to treat this?

Yes it probably does. I would try VetRX first. If you can separate her that might keep the other chickens from getting it. Unless they've already been exposed.

 

[HEChicken]

Yeah, mine free range too, and while out free ranging they are pretty fun to watch. They will find any body of water they can - the dog water bowl, or even a puddle under the gutter downspout, and have a blast. And they fly really well. It is fun to watch them take off and do a huge circuit or two around the property and then come in for a semi-crash-landing. Or watch them fly down to the pond and skid across the water on landing. It is also nice to know that they could fly away any time they want to, but they choose to stay here.

However I got the muscovies because they were touted to be great layers, mothers and meat birds. I have two ducks who laid fairly well and two that basically laid a clutch and they were done. After hatching they never resumed laying. So I fed 2 drakes and 4 ducks from May '12 to Feb '13 before I got the first egg, then one by one the ducks laid a clutch, went broody, and only 2 of them ever laid again after their brood. Now they are done for the year and it will be spring before I see another duck egg. So I guess in my case I am not that impressed with them as egg layers.

They were good broodies and good mothers, except for the fact that they contaminated the eggs. Next year I plan to have them in a hoop coop by themselves to brood and with fresh bedding down, I'm hoping they can keep their feet cleaner (i.e. cleaner than in the main coop where all the birds sleep at night) and contaminate fewer of the eggs. What ducklings they did hatch, they did a great job of raising.

And they are excellent meat birds. They bleed out as fast as a chicken, and put on a LOT of meat in a short amount of time. They can get to eating size in 8-12 weeks and have the best feed to meat ratio of any duck (or so I've read). Trish will attest to how huge the drakes get!!! The meat itself is dark, almost like beef, and very tasty.

What I'm going to try next year is separating the ducks into a hoop coop and hope they hatch a lot more ducklings than they did this year. Then I will raise the drakes for only 12 weeks and butcher them. This year I kept putting it off so I fed them a lot more than I needed to. So I will reevaluate at the end of the year whether or not to keep the species.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I wouldn't breed anything without yellow legs, if you do it may not present itself in the next generation but the genes are there.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/basic-chicken-color-genetics This is a good page, you would need a blue roo over a blue hen to get a splash.



HEchicken/Trish-We butchered a few ancona drakes and they took FOREVER to bleed out, it was horrid. The first one it was like 7 minutes and it was awful. Second one we cut both sides of its neck and it went a little faster, we also covered their eyes with a piece of sock to keep them quiet (I do this with roos too, I think it helps keep them calm because they can't see, kind of like blinders on a horse)

On a random side note I am trying to reintro that wellie roo again and he won't stop trying to pick fights with my little black cochin roo so last night I put Lucie in the pen next to them to deter predators and left the run door open overnight. Well I went out first thing this morning to check on them and the wellie roo and two hens were still in the pen and no sign of any other chickens anywhere! I was about ready to beat myself up for feeding some night time predator all my hens when I came across the brahma roo and a small harem of girls in the barn under the tractor. Then I found the other two bantam roos hiding in the woods with the rest of the girls. I guess they all took their little girlfriends and hid from him!!!

Thank you so much for your help in this. Maybe I will just keep the yellow legged juvies and then breed them and start from there.. I want to make them better and am looking for a project so this would be a good one here.

Our forecast only has tomorrow at 60. The rest of the week including today is supposed to be in the 50's, then Friday the bottom drops out. They were even forecasting snow next weekend. Of course that could change a hundred times by then. It froze last night here and it wasn't supposed to. We just made it to 33 a few minutes ago.
HEChicken I really like my ducks. I guess because I really don't do much with them but let them lay eggs for me and butcher a few. (Haven't butchered any Anconas yet though.) I think when I do I'll be cutting off heads, just cause I couldn't stand watching them suffer. I've just been walking the ones I have left into the pen at night and they seem fairly anxious to go. Food is always a motivator! I did notice the last two nights they are laying in the duck house rather than on the ground. You can sure tell winter is about here. Mine just free range and that makes a huge difference. The group I have in the pen that are mostly all drakes are a total mess. I just need to sell or butcher them. It's one of those things I keep putting off. I have some nice big meaty ones so I keep thinking I should keep them for myself and therefore I do nothing.
Of course raising Muscovies may be entirely different.
I noticed yesterday one of my bourbon red hens who hadn't molted is suddenly in full molt. Good grief! What a dumb bird. She is half bare and it's getting really cold. I hope she gets darker like the other hen did. She isn't a pretty bird.

It is nice today for sure and the wind has settled down here. I also have some hens that have not molted and now are molting nicely. Hope they get it done before it is too cold.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I only have Muscovy ducks, but I have came to the conclusion that they all have censers on the bottom of their feet. They don't seem to be able to step on concrete sidewalks without having an bowl movement. Not the neatest yard ornaments!