Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

What kind of geese Ralph? I sure hope mine don't start laying because they only lay for a few months each year. I sure don't want to loose what precious few eggs they lay to getting frozen. I would however like to be able to figure out for sure who is male and who is female in the 2013 bunch I still have. I am sure I have a few males I need to sell....I'm just not sure how many.
Well I am totally amazed. I have this little brahma pullet that suffered a brain injury some time ago. She has recovered from it other than she squints her eyes. We call her Magoo. She came down with congestion and sneezing and I gave her antibiotics and she appeared to be well. a couple days ago she started wheezing and sneezing all over again. Late yesterday afternoon she was so congested and having so much trouble breathing she could no longer stand. She was laying on one side and had no strength to stand up. I figured she was a goner for sure. We have become very attached to her because she loves to snuggle. I took her in the bathroom and hooked up the nebulizer with a steroid solution and made her breath it. Today she is up walking and doing pretty darned good. I'm trying to not to get my hopes up too high but she is for sure getting another treatment today. Steroids do worry me because you can't just use them and stop but maybe treating her for a few days will get her over this.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Danz, they are African. the males have a larger hump on their head, behind their beak. They each laid today.

 

[Trish44]

Wow Ralph, silly geese laying in this kind of weather!

I finally have 2 Barnevelder chicks this morning, they're a day late. The other egg I have I heard peeping from but there is no pipping yet. These are my first ones of this breed to hatch myself. I'm glad at least I will get a few chicks, I would rather have had all of them develop & hatch, but that's the way it is with shipped eggs most of the time.

Danz, I'm glad your little pullet is better again. You really go above & beyond for your birds.

We did manage to get the car out yesterday & get it to the neighbor's house after my DH dug out the driveway some. We had to get to Sam's & a couple of other places yesterday for shopping & when we came back we left the car at the neighbor's again & drove our old truck home. We were surprised that the streets in Wichita were just a mess. There was snow all over them & it was slick where the cars had been driving. They sure need to get them cleaned better than that. It was strange & we weren't expecting it because the highways going there were clear. It looks like the NOAA says we're supposed to get less than an inch of snow tonight & then tomorrow. We sure don't need any more I know that with our driveway not having melted any at all from the last time. It's supposed to start warming up next Weds. & be warmer for a few days as far as I can see right now. Anything would be an improvement from that it's been for sure.

 

[chicken danz]

I've seen Africans. I don't know that much about them except how loud they are when you see them at a swap or auction.

Do they also have a limited breeding season? I honestly never thought I would ever want geese because of some bad experiences with them years ago. But I totally love my Sebbies. They are just too sweet. I just wish they laid more.
Trish don't let me fool you. I don't do a lot more than anyone else for most of the birds. But every now and then you have some that are extra special or extra expensive that I have to try everything imaginable to save. This girl is still sneezing today but I'm glad to know she isn't down like yesterday. This little bird is a talker and a snuggler. She just loves to sit on your lap or someplace and she talks back if you talk to her. Another one of those heart string pulling chickens.
I have eggs due to hatch today as well but only have one pip so far. These were in the group that were in the incubator when the fans quit functioning so they didn't have even temperatures for a couple of days. I have no idea what to expect out of them.
I had to toss one of my expensive shipped eggs already because it was getting rotten Yuk! and found a second one with a crack in it. That is pretty bad since they've only been in the incubator 2 days and there are only 8 eggs. The first batch I got arrived frozen. I had asked specifically to include a heat pack with this batch but the seller didn't do so. I really keep telling myself I won't buy eggs any more but I have a moment of weakness here and there. I'm not sure which is worse. To buy eggs that don't hatch or to buy chicks that don't thrive. Both are darned expensive. This weather is killer on both. But unfortunately, if you want to have layers before next fall you have to get them early.
Trish I'm glad you got the car out. I am really tired of seeing white on the ground. I can't wait for a warm up and some sunshine. I have a feeling that even at 40 degrees next week it will seem like a heat wave.

 

[Trish44]

I've seen Africans. I don't know that much about them except how loud they are when you see them at a swap or auction.

Do they also have a limited breeding season? I honestly never thought I would ever want geese because of some bad experiences with them years ago. But I totally love my Sebbies. They are just too sweet. I just wish they laid more.
Trish don't let me fool you. I don't do a lot more than anyone else for most of the birds. But every now and then you have some that are extra special or extra expensive that I have to try everything imaginable to save. This girl is still sneezing today but I'm glad to know she isn't down like yesterday. This little bird is a talker and a snuggler. She just loves to sit on your lap or someplace and she talks back if you talk to her. Another one of those heart string pulling chickens.
I have eggs due to hatch today as well but only have one pip so far. These were in the group that were in the incubator when the fans quit functioning so they didn't have even temperatures for a couple of days. I have no idea what to expect out of them.
I had to toss one of my expensive shipped eggs already because it was getting rotten Yuk! and found a second one with a crack in it. That is pretty bad since they've only been in the incubator 2 days and there are only 8 eggs. The first batch I got arrived frozen. I had asked specifically to include a heat pack with this batch but the seller didn't do so. I really keep telling myself I won't buy eggs any more but I have a moment of weakness here and there. I'm not sure which is worse. To buy eggs that don't hatch or to buy chicks that don't thrive. Both are darned expensive. This weather is killer on both. But unfortunately, if you want to have layers before next fall you have to get them early.
Trish I'm glad you got the car out. I am really tired of seeing white on the ground. I can't wait for a warm up and some sunshine. I have a feeling that even at 40 degrees next week it will seem like a heat wave.

That's the pits about your eggs being frozen, why is it people don't check to see what the weather is like at the other end of the transaction? I know shipped eggs are a crap shoot but the problem is you just can't find the breeds or colors you want locally so you end up having to go other places to find what you're looking for. That's why I have had to have eggs shipped in as well. It just makes the chicks you do end up getting even more expensive because you get so few. It's a risk having chicks shipped as well though, I would just rather most of the time have the eggs shipped so I can have the chicks in a better situation here than having to go through shipping stress because you can lose them that way too either in transit or later. I'm a little nervous as you probably are also about the Orpington chicks I'm supposed to have shipped later on. At least the weather will be warmer, but they are expensive chicks. I just hope they all make it here alive & well.

Yeah we were very relieved to get the car out also before it snows more. I didn't figure my neighbor would care if we parked there, it is just her there now. I am so ready for this winter to be over with & I know my DH is as well after having to feed my birds for 5 weeks now for me. Hopefully by the time my leg is healed it will be a bit warmer & I won't have to worry about going out in this stuff. Of course if I have to have knee surgery it will set me back again, ugh.

 

[chicken danz]

Yeah I have two batches of chicks that are waiting to be shipped right now. I just cringe thinking of them coming in the cold. I have so much money invested and I don't like being responsible for chicks dying either. I can't put these people off forever though. And then the third group is coming from where yours are. I'm hoping they just fall after it warms a bit more.
That reminds me. I should send some messages out about the chicks so they don't get shipped tomorrow.
Eggs generally are the cheaper option especially when you are looking at day old chicks that cost $25 to $100 each plus shipping. But eggs are such a crap shoot too. I don't even want to know how much money I've lost on shipped eggs just in the past year!! But some people never learn!!
One thing I have learned for sure is that people who have some of the most expensive birds available don't necessarily know how to safely ship eggs or chicks.

 

[ashncarson]

I have noticed that my two silkie/d'uccle crosses are laying almost daily! The eggs are small, but still great! Is that the silkie or the d'uccle breed that lays daily? or both?

 

[chicken danz]

ashncarson maybe it's the cross. I've raised both and neither seemed to lay every day. However, my d'uccle laid much more readily than the silkies did.

 

[Trish44]

Yeah I have two batches of chicks that are waiting to be shipped right now. I just cringe thinking of them coming in the cold. I have so much money invested and I don't like being responsible for chicks dying either. I can't put these people off forever though. And then the third group is coming from where yours are. I'm hoping they just fall after it warms a bit more.
That reminds me. I should send some messages out about the chicks so they don't get shipped tomorrow.
Eggs generally are the cheaper option especially when you are looking at day old chicks that cost $25 to $100 each plus shipping. But eggs are such a crap shoot too. I don't even want to know how much money I've lost on shipped eggs just in the past year!! But some people never learn!!
One thing I have learned for sure is that people who have some of the most expensive birds available don't necessarily know how to safely ship eggs or chicks.

That is true about people not knowing how to safely ship eggs for sure. I have gotten about every different method of packing eggs you could have, some good & some not so good. I think the people that ship on a regular basis are the more careful ones, at least the ones that really care about their birds & the outcome of the eggs. Some I know are just out to make money & they really don't care about the outcome, I have run into some of those as well.

It's getting colder here, the temp is dropping now instead of getting warmer, not good.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

There is no way I would ship eggs. Mainly because I do a lot of selling on EBay and I do my best to avoid negative feedback, and being a retired postal employee,; I know how they are handled. The mail moves locally between post offices mainly by private contractors in box-trucks that have no heat in the winter and are oven-hot in the summer. I have seen several mail cages of live quail that were already on the truck when it arrived at my location, and had over two hours more before they would be transferred to another box-truck before they would reach the distribution center in KCMO. But usually live chicks in the spring and fall have good survival rates.