Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I'm glad you decided to adopt both boys Sharol. I kind of figured you would. Puppies remind me of kids. Just about the time you think they are growing up they start acting like kids again.
I've been busy all day and should still be busy, but I am just totally exhausted. I have to get back up in the morning and get busy cooking again. I never seem to get quite caught up at anything.
I had some more dead chicks in the brooder house today. They just cheap non stop. I think that floor is just too cold in there regardless of the overhead heat.
The other birds seems fine though. It was really cold thanks to the stupid wind blowing.

 

[cherwill]

Danz, sorry about your birds. It's been darn cold. I haven't seen my birds outside for a couple of days, except today two came out to eat some BOSS.

Sharol, good luck with dogs and bless you for keeping them both!

Tweety, I hope the cone of shame does the trick for your GP.

I hope everyone has a beautiful holiday!

 

[TheDownyChick]

Merry Christmas, everyone! It is certainly a white Christmas this year!

Danz, I am sorry about your birds. This bitterly cold weather has me a bit concerned, as my coop is a hoop coop made out of cattle panels with a tarp roof. We stacked bales of straw two high on the north and south sides. When it snowed, some got in the coop, so we put two bales high all around, except the door (1 bale) and added a third row on the north and south. It looks like a straw Fort Knox! I take them warm oatmeal in the mornings, too, with apples, raisins, cayenne, snd red pepper flakes. I may have some frostbitten combs. Everyone says not to worry because chickens (especially cold hardy breeds) handle the cold much better than humans. But I love those sweet fluffy butts, so I worry anyway.

I don't use a light for heat. I have heard of too many fires, and lots of folks have said it may do more harm than good, especially if there is an electrical outage.

 

[TheDownyChick]

Speaking of cold, what do y'all do with frozen eggs? We collected 4 eggs (frozen) from 8 hens last night. I am amazed that they are laying in this cold! The coop is even darker thsn normal because of the additional straw bales. I thought about maybe boiling them, as they are cracked, then mushing them up, shell and all, to feed to the chickies with thier oatmeal. Is that a good idea? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[chicken danz]

I feed my broken eggs back to my chickens as they are. As long as they are broken and not whole. I've never had an egg eater that I know of as a result. To them a cracked egg is different than a whole egg. I also break them and put them in the dog's food. Sometimes I do make a big pan of scrambled eggs for both but only if I have lots of eggs. Young birds love scrambled eggs.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, 50F sounds so warm. But the wind will make it feel cold though.

The wind chill wasn't as bad yesterday as I had expected. However, I also went out with my son in a moby wrap on my chest so maybe that had something to do with it.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

It is certainly a white Christmas this year!

It's not white here...

In fact, it is supposed to be 40*F here today, and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend, with highs forecasted to be in the upper 50's and lower 60's through Saturday, cooling back down to the mid 30's for Sunday.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all on Consolidated Kansas. Starting to thaw out here after a one inch ice storm. I had 5 adult turkeys that were roosting on top of their shelter and only had a little ice on the ends of one's tail feathers. They are able to keep the ice from forming on them somehow. So far I haven't lost any poultry due to the cold weather, but I have major tree damage. One large limb is on the roof. I have a tree trimmer contacted who will start tomorrow on that mess.

 

[Trish44]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all have a great holiday.

 

[HEChicken]

Merry Christmas everyone! It is an absolutely beautiful day out there today. I went out at 7am and the thermometer said 20 but with no wind, and the sun already out, it felt wonderful. I think the animals felt the same way and were largely out of the coop and moving around by the time I got down there. It has already passed 32 so the best Christmas present for me is not having to worry about keeping water thawed for them all day today.

I got some clothing items suited to doing chores outside. If I'm really lucky the weather will now warm up and I won't need them but I will certainly be better equipped the next time I DO need them. Yay!!!

Danz, that little chick that hatched from your eggs is a cockerel which is what I was really hoping for. The cockerel I got from Good Shepherd did not have very good type and all of his offspring are turning out somewhat disappointing. The pullets are great - but the cockerels all got his knock knees. So I was really hoping the one from you would be a cockerel and that he will turn out to be better type than the ones I've been getting. If so, he will ultimately become one of my two breeding roosters. So far I am super happy with him. Despite being broody raised, he is very outgoing towards me and will hop out of the broody coop when I bring water, chattering away to me. I will have to wait quite a bit longer to tell what his type will be like, but he is slowly feathering out and growing nicely now.

Sharol, congrats on the decision to keep the foster pups. Until about age 2, puppies can really be a handful but after age 2 they mostly seem to settle down. Our black dog was 8 months when we adopted her and though she has always been a pretty good dog, I really noticed a difference right around her second birthday, when she suddenly seemed more settled down.

Tweety, sorry about the hassles with the spay surgery. I hope the cone of shame allows her to heal from here on out without any further complications.

 

[milomac]

Merry Christmas all. I'm cheaper than most, but if I get a couple of frozen cracked eggs I leave them on the counter for several hours and bake a cake or cookies after all they are frozen not spoiled