Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Ethan is adorable Lizzy! You guys are giving me baby fever.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Aw what adorable babies. I miss mine being so little.
Well here is my newest problem...

Can anyone tell me what this is? It appeared overnight. They are firm like warts.

 

[ashncarson]

Ash, you mean you played or sung them? Sorry about the predator Lizzy. That would really worry me. My dogs were awfully busy last night. The cold must make food hard to find.
I'm waiting for my hair to dry so I can get out in the cold. Not that I'm anxious but I really need to go take care of those birds! I just hope I have running water!!

sorry, I programed them into the program using already made songs!

 

[Trish44]

I love the smell of a real tree but can't afford to get sick from allergies to enjoy the scent. I do like putting out evergreen smelling candles and such this time of year.
Amelia is just a precious child. She is just too cute. I love the picture!
I spent about 3 hours out in the cold working.Even with all my prep I still had frozen hoses. I spent what seemed like hours dragging the darn things around. I tried taking one long one and put it in the shop but it never thawed out. So I had to rig up another one to use on that side. I had to use the heat gun to thaw the faucet handle so I could turn water on. I had unplugged the pirit hose to use the heat gun and failed to plug it back in. By the time I got through watering on the other side the pirit hose was frozen. What a pain in the butt. I picked up an egg from my Coronation sussex that was still warm from being laid and set it outside. By the time I had dispensed feed to the east set of pens and came back the egg had frozen and cracked. I can't imagine a whole week of even colder temps. Holy crap!
I did go get the Christmas tree and hauled it to the house on a wagon. It's still sitting by the front door. After all that work out there I don't have the energy to put it up.
I've got to reduce some numbers here shortly. I am feeding well over 150 pounds of feed a day. This cold weather is killing me financially.

OMG, I can't even imagine using that much feed in a day, I go through enough as it is. I think the Danzsizing needs to really happen instead of adding more birds & going the other way. I'm having problems with my FF freezing in the troughs before they eat it all. Today was just awful, I spent two hours out there in the cold this afternoon doing chores. & fortunately I had on my whole regalia & was fairly warm except for my feet. I did have on some of my DH's wool socks, but they weren't even enough today. I guess I'm going to have to start layering socks too. My feet were just ice cubes by the time I came in the first time. I had to come in for a few minutes & get my feet thawed out & then go back out & finish feeding the cats, dogs, & rabbits. Holy cow, I was just exhausted by the time I got in from being out there. I talked to my son in OKC this afternoon & it is even worse down there, he said it's really icy & there are accidents everywhere. He is being sent to Texas due to an ice storm down there so he isn't going to make it this weekend for our dinner & his daughter's birthday, he was really upset about it. They were told they would go or they would be fired, so he had no choice. He just hated to have to tell his daughter he wasn't going to be able to come.

I doubt the predator would have gotten close if our dog had been outside to do his job. I really dislike this weather. Yuck!


Amelia is absolutely adorable and what a fantastic picture!

Ok, here is one of Ethan's newborn pictures:


...and here are a couple from yesterday....

Awww, what a cutie! I love the little bear outfit too.

Aw what adorable babies. I miss mine being so little.
Well here is my newest problem...

Can anyone tell me what this is? It appeared overnight. They are firm like warts.

It looks like Fowl Pox & if it is there isn't anything you can do except wait it out. You do need to isolate the birds that have it though because it is contagious & it is spread by the dander from the affected birds. When they get over it you will need to disinfect the area they have been in with bleach. There is a wet form & a dry form & I can't tell for sure from the pics, but it looks like the dry form. The wet form is worse & can get into their noses & throats & cause them to have problems eating.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

OMG, I can't even imagine using that much feed in a day, I go through enough as it is. I think the Danzsizing needs to really happen instead of adding more birds & going the other way. I'm having problems with my FF freezing in the troughs before they eat it all. Today was just awful, I spent two hours out there in the cold this afternoon doing chores. & fortunately I had on my whole regalia & was fairly warm except for my feet. I did have on some of my DH's wool socks, but they weren't even enough today. I guess I'm going to have to start layering socks too. My feet were just ice cubes by the time I came in the first time. I had to come in for a few minutes & get my feet thawed out & then go back out & finish feeding the cats, dogs, & rabbits. Holy cow, I was just exhausted by the time I got in from being out there. I talked to my son in OKC this afternoon & it is even worse down there, he said it's really icy & there are accidents everywhere. He is being sent to Texas due to an ice storm down there so he isn't going to make it this weekend for our dinner & his daughter's birthday, he was really upset about it. They were told they would go or they would be fired, so he had no choice. He just hated to have to tell his daughter he wasn't going to be able to come.

Awww, what a cutie! I love the little bear outfit too.

It looks like Fowl Pox & if it is there isn't anything you can do except wait it out. You do need to isolate the birds that have it though because it is contagious & it is spread by the dander from the affected birds. When they get over it you will need to disinfect the area they have been in with bleach. There is a wet form & a dry form & I can't tell for sure from the pics, but it looks like the dry form. The wet form is worse & can get into their noses & throats & cause them to have problems eating.

Thank you. It has been there for 2 days and I did not separate him, I hope it isn't too late, I have 8 week old chicks in that coop.

 

[Trish44]

Thank you. It has been there for 2 days and I did not separate him, I hope it isn't too late, I have 8 week old chicks in that coop.

I would get him out of there & somewhere by himself & then clean the coop where he has been. Hopefully no more will get it at this point. They can get over it, I had one Cream Legbar rooster that got it this summer & he is fine now. He had the dry form & it's all cleared up. But I do have to warn you that I read that it can still be contagious if you don't get it killed off in the area for up to a year. I was shocked to read that.

 

[22qZoo]

Josie & Lizzy - your kids are too cute! That picture of Amelia is a treasure ! Little Ethan looks like he's really taking it all in.
I have a ? about geese and ducks, what do you do about there water?
I have a cookie-tin heater in the coop for the chickens and so far that's been great. I know the water birds like to get thier faces wet especially when they eat , so far I'm still using the kiddy pool and just busting out the ice. I don't remember to many winters here that have had cold spells that seem to last as long as this one might go. I don't have them in the main coop and run with the chickens ,they have a pretty nice pen and shelter but its more open then the coop.

 

[HEChicken]

I have a ? about geese and ducks, what do you do about there water?
I have a cookie-tin heater in the coop for the chickens and so far that's been great. I know the water birds like to get thier faces wet especially when they eat , so far I'm still using the kiddy pool and just busting out the ice. I don't remember to many winters here that have had cold spells that seem to last as long as this one might go. I don't have them in the main coop and run with the chickens ,they have a pretty nice pen and shelter but its more open then the coop.

I just have one 1-gallon heated dog water bowl outside the coop. I go down 3-4 times a day with a gallon of water from the house, and refill the bowl. So far that is working for all the chickens, turkeys and ducks. If it wasn't for the ducks, the water would last a lot longer but the ducks do play in it and splash it out and that's why I have to refill it several times a day. I must admit, it is times like this I'm really glad to have everyone living in the one coop, so I don't have to refill bowls for multiple pens.

This morning both of my drakes flew down to the pond. They are now ice-encrusted. That doesn't look much fun to me but apparently it is worth it to them.

The forecast for tonight is now 2 degrees. I don't think its been this cold since I started keeping birds in this area. I do remember a few years ago we had a night that was -2, and next morning I put a coat on our dog so he would survive walking DS to school. As you can imagine, the dog wasn't crazy about having a coat put on (I used an old kids coat, put his front legs through the arm holes and zipped it up along his back) but once he got used to moving in it, he trotted along just fine and I bet he was glad to have it on that morning. It made me feel better anyway.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I hope you are not frozen out in your yard somewhere!

I forgot to say that my Ice Bay Glacier Gloves arrived yesterday. I like them and think they would be very warm but unfortunately I think I'll have to regift them to DS for Christmas because the medium is just way too big. The small was out of stock so I hoped for the best, but they are so big they won't stay on very well. I have a Carhartt jacket and I tried putting the gloves on and then the jacket but the neoprene got hung up in the jacket and I couldn't pull the sleeve on. But, if I put the jacket on first, I can't get the glove far enough under the sleeve of the jacket that it will help hold the glove on. So I end up with them half hanging off my fingers, making it really hard to do anything that requires finger finesse. The other problem is that the neoprene also makes them fight being put into my pocket after I'm done with them. What I've typically done is keep my gloves in the pocket of my jacket and that way I always have them when I need them. But because these fight going in, I'm afraid they'll fall out of the pocket too easily and if I'm carrying the jacket somewhere, I'll lose them altogether.

I did a search yesterday and found a store that has the size small in stock right now and they're even offering free shipping for cyber week but - the gloves are $25. I only paid $16 for these on Amazon and the cheapskate in me is balking at spending that much for a pair of gloves.

 

[Trish44]

I had bought some of those gloves last year & recently I remembeted why I didn't like them. If you get the inside wet or sweat in them you have to turn them wrong side out to dry. They were hard to get off too, I ended up turning them wrong side out to get them off. They also weren't warm enough for me. I just bought Carhart gloves & they're very warm & easier to deal with.