Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well it's nearly 6:00pm and I just got done with my chores. It's no wonder I never get anything else done. I turned into a bear for sure out there today. I had made sure all the hoses were drained but still have frozen hoses. Dragging around one big long hose after I finally got one thawed all over the place was just too much work. I let my temper get the best of me. If I had electric lines and water lines run like I wanted I wouldn't be battling all this. I'm thinking some major selling going on in early spring.
I did manage, after battling water hoses and tons of feed to get all the baby chicks moved to the brooder house. I only have one bird in the house. That is like a first I think!!! I hope I don't loose any of those babies I put out there cause it's substantially cooler out there. That floor is cold regardless of what you do. I have the Sweeter heaters down really low to help warm them and I have the oil heater going on a thermostat so hopefully they'll be warm enough.
I fed all the birds regular feed then gave them bird seed treats because I figure they needed a little more protein and fat for this winter storm. Every one has plenty of fresh water so they should be okay.
I heard back from the guy who plans to buy my excess turkeys and some other birds today and he is saying he might make it New Years day. I told him it was costing me too much to feed them so He really needs to get them then.
HeChicken just thought I'd let you know those silly RPs started laying. I picked up 3 eggs from them today. Of course they were frozen. I can't believe they are laying in this weather!!! I'm really not ready to start hatching turkeys yet.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I can't believe your turkeys are laying, mine sure aren't. One of my older hens has been molting & she's just starting to look halfway decent again. She was the most pitiful looking bird with no tail & half of her neck feathers gone. She is getting her tail back now thank goodness. I still have a couple of hens in my layer flock that are pretty bare, I'm sure the white leghorn particularly is pretty cold right now. I've been giving them sunflower seeds for extra protein & they're gobbling them up in the mornings when I take them out. I let them out of their pen & then let them scratch around on the driveway to get the sunflower seeds, it gives them something to do for awhile. My Lemon Cuckoo hens are still laying, at least two & maybe three of them are anyway. I have about 3 roosters out there that are getting frostbite on their combs & they look pretty bad right now. Is there anything I can do for them? Two of the worst are in outdoor pens, but the other one is in the main coop.

We're supposed to get freezing rain tonight & in the morning & then snow, fun fun. It should be interesting going out to care for the birds tomorrow. It's supposed to be really cold the next 3 days, everybody try to stay warm.

 

[HEChicken]

I can't believe your turkeys are laying either Danz! Mine didn't start last year until February or March and I certainly haven't seen any turkey eggs yet this year. Lucky you!

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:

I can't believe your turkeys are laying either Danz! Mine didn't start last year until February or March and I certainly haven't seen any turkey eggs yet this year. Lucky you!

Yeah I was totally surprised. Maybe those couple of warm days fooled them into thinking it was spring. Those are the first three eggs they've laid. I dropped one of them carrying them to show DH. So Marshmallow got a mid afternoon treat. I put the others in with the eating eggs because it was so cold I was pretty sure they were partially frozen. I'm really not wanting to incubate turkeys yet... or much of any thing right now. I was just amazed they'd start laying this early.

Danz, I can't believe your turkeys are laying, mine sure aren't. One of my older hens has been molting & she's just starting to look halfway decent again. She was the most pitiful looking bird with no tail & half of her neck feathers gone. She is getting her tail back now thank goodness. I still have a couple of hens in my layer flock that are pretty bare, I'm sure the white leghorn particularly is pretty cold right now. I've been giving them sunflower seeds for extra protein & they're gobbling them up in the mornings when I take them out. I let them out of their pen & then let them scratch around on the driveway to get the sunflower seeds, it gives them something to do for awhile. My Lemon Cuckoo hens are still laying, at least two & maybe three of them are anyway. I have about 3 roosters out there that are getting frostbite on their combs & they look pretty bad right now. Is there anything I can do for them? Two of the worst are in outdoor pens, but the other one is in the main coop.

We're supposed to get freezing rain tonight & in the morning & then snow, fun fun. It should be interesting going out to care for the birds tomorrow. It's supposed to be really cold the next 3 days, everybody try to stay warm.

We started getting freezing rain and sleet last night. We have a nice frozen surface this morning. Trish I think every rooster I have out there has frost bite. I've read to put vaseline on it but I honestly don't know what that would do for it. I know in humans you treat frost bite like you would a burn. I've had roosters with frost bite before and it either eventually healed or it dried up and fell off. I have had a few a couple years ago that injured their frost bit combs and got it bleeding. I just put pine tar on those so other birds wouldn't pick on them. If it bleeds it's still live tissue so it deserves being treated. If it doesn't it's going to fall off anyway.
I still have one of the older Bourbon red hens that is pretty bare. She didn't start molting until recently. That's just crazy. I also have a few chickens in various stages of molt too.
we're forecast to get about 6 inches of snow here but at the same time they are saying we'll get a lot of freezing rain and sleet. I think they are confused about what and which we will get. It's an icy mess. I was enjoying watching the little snow birds this morning. I had put a bunch of shavings and stuff from the brooder house on my front flower bed. The chickens and ducks have been working it occasionally. But this morning it's covered with the little snow birds. They are actually fighting with each other and trying to chase each other off out there. I guess it must be a bird thing regardless of what kind.

 

[Trish44]

We got ice last night as well & it's still coming down. Below is a pic I took out the bathroom window this morning, it's kind of blurry from the dirty window, but you can see my GP Lily laying out there kind of under the cedars with a cat on top of her & one on the left side of her. Jasmine is laying up the row of trees a few feet, but there aren't any cats with her right now, there usually are. Those cats are pretty smart to snuggle up with the big polar bears, they have so much fur it makes a nice warm bed.



I haven't been out yet, boy I hate to have to go out there, I'm afraid I'm going to kill myself trying to get down the hill to my pens, especially carrying buckets of water.

I just found this article on FF that I thought was really interesting, thought I would share it: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html

 

[22qZoo]

TRISH44~ that is so cool what your GP was letting your cats do ! I love it when different species can work together, gives ya hope for the rest of the world . I've seen the cats sleep on the horses a few times too, but that's usually when they have a blanket on and the claws can't dig in .
Sure is getting slick out there, hope nobody has to do any traveling . Oklahoma looks like a real mess.
I think that means it's time to make some cookies, you know ,,, in case the power goes out.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL 22qZoo...does that mean if the power goes out you'll be enjoying cookie dough? Sounds like a win win to me!

 

[HEChicken]

LOL 22qZoo...does that mean if the power goes out you'll be enjoying cookie dough? Sounds like a win win to me!

Oh goodness yes, doesn't it though?

22qZoo, we made the same decision for the same reason. I like to bake on these cold, dreary days. It helps to heat up the kitchen! We are currently working on brownies….

Egad what an awful day. Freezing rain, sleet, snow. I'm surprised how many birds were out in it. I took them down a warm mash and that was well received and later I threw a cup of BOSS into the coop so the birds that were staying in would have something to do and hopefully turn over the needing looking for more.

Danz, I decided to wear the Glacier Bay gloves to do chores today and although I still wish they fit better, I do like them for doing chores when it is so icy out. My hands didn't get cold and I didn't mind having to touch metal surfaces, like door knobs, with them on.

My little chick with the frostbitten toes is doing great. She is such a sweetheart! Since I started making sure she is getting food 3x a day, she has quickly become used to the routine. The past couple of days she hasn't come out of the coop in the morning but has instead waited in there for me to get her. I open the door, call out "where's my little girl?" and she will come tottering out from whatever group of birds she was hanging with, and come over to me to be picked up. I put her in the feed bin so she can eat as much as she wants to without competition from larger birds. Once her crop is full, I set her down next to the waterer and keep other birds at bay so she can drink in peace for as long as she wants to. She lets me know she's done by turning away from the water and waiting to be picked up again. I then return her to the coop and let her find her group of friends again. She seems very happy with the new arrangement and remains as sweet as ever. I really hate to see how her toes are becoming more and more useless. I wish there was a boot I could make for her that would help to make up for the lack of feeling in her toes and give her better balance again.

 

[cherwill]

Oh wow, I just saw this on FB, these are gorgeous!



This tells about how they're done: http://www.theeggshellsculptor.com/the-carving-process/

Wow, those are beautiful.

LOL 22qZoo...does that mean if the power goes out you'll be enjoying cookie dough? Sounds like a win win to me!

It sure does. In fact, most of the time I'd rather have the dough than the baked cookies.

My goodness it's cold! We're getting a beautiful snow, though. Big, fluffy flakes. I haven't seen the chickens since it started this afternoon.

 

[Trish44]

TRISH44~ that is so cool what your GP was letting your cats do ! I love it when different species can work together, gives ya hope for the rest of the world . I've seen the cats sleep on the horses a few times too, but that's usually when they have a blanket on and the claws can't dig in .
Sure is getting slick out there, hope nobody has to do any traveling . Oklahoma looks like a real mess.
I think that means it's time to make some cookies, you know ,,, in case the power goes out.

Yeah they actually do that a lot when it's really cold out, you will see several laying on each dog.

Oh goodness yes, doesn't it though?

22qZoo, we made the same decision for the same reason. I like to bake on these cold, dreary days. It helps to heat up the kitchen! We are currently working on brownies….

Egad what an awful day. Freezing rain, sleet, snow. I'm surprised how many birds were out in it. I took them down a warm mash and that was well received and later I threw a cup of BOSS into the coop so the birds that were staying in would have something to do and hopefully turn over the needing looking for more.

Danz, I decided to wear the Glacier Bay gloves to do chores today and although I still wish they fit better, I do like them for doing chores when it is so icy out. My hands didn't get cold and I didn't mind having to touch metal surfaces, like door knobs, with them on.

My little chick with the frostbitten toes is doing great. She is such a sweetheart! Since I started making sure she is getting food 3x a day, she has quickly become used to the routine. The past couple of days she hasn't come out of the coop in the morning but has instead waited in there for me to get her. I open the door, call out "where's my little girl?" and she will come tottering out from whatever group of birds she was hanging with, and come over to me to be picked up. I put her in the feed bin so she can eat as much as she wants to without competition from larger birds. Once her crop is full, I set her down next to the waterer and keep other birds at bay so she can drink in peace for as long as she wants to. She lets me know she's done by turning away from the water and waiting to be picked up again. I then return her to the coop and let her find her group of friends again. She seems very happy with the new arrangement and remains as sweet as ever. I really hate to see how her toes are becoming more and more useless. I wish there was a boot I could make for her that would help to make up for the lack of feeling in her toes and give her better balance again.

It's just been a miserable day, the worst yet. We had freezing rain from late last night through the day today & it was awful to try to get down to my pens. Finally I made it down there twice to get all the birds & goats fed & watered & then after my DH fed the cats I decided not to tempt fate & go back down there, so I got out two extra bowls & fed the GPs up by the house. I would rather have snow any day than this freezing rain. It just started snowing here a bit ago, so maybe we'll get enough to cover up that ice that's everywhere so we can get some traction tomorrow. I got some new boots I want to try out, so it looks like I'll get to try them then.

HEChicken I wonder if you can make some kind of boots like you would for any other bird with curled toes. It would have to be something kind of waterproof with it being so wet out now, but maybe some kind of lightweight plastic or cardboard covered with duct tape or something in the shape of her foot & then put it on with Vet wrap. It's just an idea you could try. I had a Welsummer chick that got an injured foot one time & she just kind of drug it around until I made her a shoe & she learned to walk with that pretty good for awhile. Her foot healed & she was fine after that. It served I guess as a kind of splint.

It's really strange that I got double the number of eggs on such a nasty day today than I have been. I guess since the hens didn't go outside they had nothing else to do but sit around & lay eggs. When I went into the coop to collect eggs I found a cat that had gotten accidentally shut in sitting in a nest box. I wish I had taken a pic of it, I was kind of startled to see a black & white cat just sitting there in the nest box looking at me.