Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I haven't really found any bands I like that much yet. I tried the kind that just open up & wrap around but I used them on the turkeys & they kept losing them. I have used just colored cable ties but then you have to take them off as they grow & replace them. I will have to probably put some on the Marans I want to keep to identify them. That's quite a system you have KKB, aren't you organized! I guess I'm not that organized yet anyway & so far I haven't really needed to keep track of which birds I got in what year because on some breeds I only have one age of birds & others are still growing out. That may be a consideration at some point though.

My DH just went out to brave the snow & feed the birds, he's not a very happy camper today. I know he is wishing my leg would miraculously heal so I could be out there instead.

 

[lizzyGSR]

We've already got a couple more inches of snow today, on top of the 6" we already had. Plus, we've got wind today as well, which has been blowing stuff around. Hopefully, the snow we already had developed enough of a crust to stay put. We really need the moisture, and if we have to deal with this kind of cold, it'd be nice to get something positive out of it. Tomorrow is supposed to be absolutely miserable out. Tomorrow's HIGH is only 3*F with windchills forecast to be in the negative teens to around 20 below zero. I am NOT looking forward to having to get out and do chores tomorrow. Thankfully, it sounds like it is supposed to warm back up this weekend. The forecast is currently saying that highs this weekend are going to be near freezing... Yay!!

 

[cherwill]

so do any of you guys have instagram? I am looking to add more friends on there!

I wish I could comment more often but being new to chickens, I don't have alot to add! I now have at least 4 chickens laying, possibly 5.

Do you guys keep a monthly egg count? I am starting one just for fun and ended up with 29 eggs for Jan! I thought that was pretty good for the first month!


Stay warm everyone! We had a ugly possom in the backyard tonight, the dogs where fighting with it but it left after I got them inside. We plan on setting a trap out soon for it!

I don't do Instagram or Twitter, and I actually don't do much on Facebook anymore, either. I filter so I just see what my family is up to. Sorry!

I wish I'd thought to keep an egg journal. Maybe then I'd notice more quickly when something odd is going on.

Don't worry about having much to add about chickens. I'm still new enough that I don't know much, either. I just come on and ask questions, learn from what others are talking about, and chat about my girls.

We where driving home eariler today and I go "CHICKENS" "I SEE CHICKENS" This house had this small fence built onto their house and a door that went what looked like into the house, but on the side, built in! my family thinks I am CRAZY!

LOL! I do that whenever I see chickens, too. My coop is a converted playhouse, so I also have a tendency to see playhouses and say to DH, "Look at THAT chicken coop!" Fortunately, even though DH has called me a 'crazy chicken lady' in the past, he's just as crazy about them.

Lots of snow on the ground and it's still coming on strong. Yuck.

 

[chicken danz]

I went out and fed the birds and closed some more pens up better. I hope I'll be able to dig the doors out enough to open them later. We have somewhere between 4 inches and 2 foot so far. It's hard to tell cause it's already drifting really bad. Guessing from the tops of level things I'm going to say it's probably about 6 inches or slightly more and still coming down but not as much as it was earlier. It certainly hasn't stopped. I got the feed that had been buried under snow cleaned up and got the feed bowls inside as best as I could. The water bowls are dirty and I am sure it is from the starlings and other wild birds out there. I got the hoses dug out of the snow and drapped them over a ladder so I should at least be able to get to them. I know tomorrow I will have to go out and make sure all the birds have fresh water. But today none of them were even interested in coming out to visit the water bowl. Surprisingly the doors that face East weren't collecting much snow inside. That was a relief. I do wish I'd had several more bales of straw to put in the pens yesterday. I noticed where there is lots of straw the birds are all snuggled in.
I really wish those nasty starlings and some of the house sparrows weren't around. I had lots of cardinals and snow birds out visiting today. I may have to just go out there and fill one of the hanging feeders for them. There's nothing like seeing the bright red of the cardinals on the white snow. My Mom loved cardinals. I think it was probably one of her favorite things of all. Every time I see them I can't help but feel like she is there with me. Silly.... makes me cry when it should make me happy.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Wooooooohoooooooooo

My first egg !!!!

 

[Trish44]

I got a surprise this afternoon, my son showed up in his big monster truck with the girls, I had no idea they were coming. I couldn't believe he drove up here in this snowstorm, I guess he has the truck for it. He said he got to work at 4 a.m., which he has to drive 105 miles to get there & found out they had canceled work today. So I guess he decided what the heck I might as well keep going. The girls were out of school today too. They left about an hour ago so he could get back, he was really tired, so I hope he makes it home OK.

It had stopped snowing for awhile & then started again. I don't think according to the forecast I looked at that it will get above freezing until next Monday. Now I really do feel stuck in here, ugh I hate this weather. We can't even get our cars out when it snows like this, so my DH had to take the old truck to work.

Danz, I'll bet your mom is watching the cardinals with you. They are pretty next to the snow, but we haven't had as many this year as usual. My favorite birds are the little Chickadees, but we haven't seen as many of those either. I haven't been very good about putting out any food for them the last couple of years. I used to fill the bird feeders up by the house regularly, but then I've been too busy with chickens the last couple years to mess with it.

CHICKENROOKIE congrats on the egg, that's always exciting.

 

[chicken danz]

Congrats on the egg, Chickenrookie. That chicken must have a weird sense of humor to lay it's first egg on a day like today!!!

The snow stopped here an hour or two ago. I don't think we are going to get nearly as much as they predicted. I haven't looked at radar to see if there is anymore coming or not.

 

[HEChicken]

It is still snowing here. Someone said the official count so far is 7" but the way it is still coming down, I expect it to end up being several more. And the wind picked up so there are drifts that are quite high. We are actually snowed in. In an emergency I could dig us out but since we don't have to go anywhere, I guess we'll enjoy the enforced confinement. I'm thinking fire in the fireplace and cookies in the oven tomorrow...

Chickenrookie - congrats on the first egg!

Trish, that is something that you son drove up on a day like today. Nice for his daughter to get to see him unexpectedly too.

My birds barely came out today but they seem to be holding up just fine. Always excited for me to visit so they can peck the snow off my boots since that is SOOOOO much easier than stepping outside and drinking out of the heated waterer (which is so close to the door they barely have to walk in snow to get to it). The sheep and goats didn't seem cold at all, but with the grazing covered, they are eating a lot more hay. I went to the back of their shelter to see what its like and out of the wind, and with the hay walls surrounding me, it actually felt very cozy and was kind of nice to stand there and just watch them munching on the hay for awhile.

 

[22qZoo]

I think if you were from say, another plannet and stopped by Kansas City today , and turned on the TV you would think that this white stuff falling from the sky had never happend before and that the end of the world was coming. Good grief! ... and a lot of it is "the media " sharing pics that other people send in on social media. (Sigh..)
Has any one ever had any luck making some girls change where they lay thier eggs ? I have three girls that insist on flying up and then over and out of the run so they can go lay thier egg in the barn in some hay. Everybody else is happy with the nesting boxes. The funny part is today with all the snow they would stand under the eves of the barn and "yell "at me in the house to come get them and take them back to the coop. They did NOT want to walk back thru the deep snow. They pace the fence really bad if they are actually locked up and can't get out. I don't want to cause any health issues if they refuse to lay in the boxes. So far if I'm not around to let them back in they just hang out close to the barn until somebody gets home, silly girls.

 

[HEChicken]

22qzoo, I have several that lay other places. In each case they are new layers, and therefore somewhere towards the bottom of the pecking order. I think they choose an alternate location because they don't have the confidence to vie for the main nest boxes. Over time, and as they move up in the pecking order, they usually wind up laying where I want them to. I don't really worry about it as long as I know where they are laying and know to check there. It only bothers me if they have a hidden nest and I am losing eggs.