Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Congrats HEchicken, that is a cute baby! Nothing like being born in the snow huh. Are you keeping this one?

Josie, thanks I think the little guy is pretty special myself. I wish I could have stayed longer to see him, but we had to get back so my DH could work the next day. Hopefully we'll get to see him again soon. They're hoping to get to go home tomorrow, mom had kind of a rough day the first day & with being a high risk pregnancy they have kept her longer than most. He had a little bout of fever while trying to regulate his temp yesterday but he's doing better today & they actually went home this evening to her mom's for a few days so mom can help her with the baby while she recovers. I didn't know they had gone him when I started typing till my son texted me some pics & told me.

So glad they got to go home. That's a good sign.

No, that name is reserved for the first boy!

I'm glad Dana is doing well enough to leave already and that baby's fever has resolved.

Yes, we will keep all ewe lambs born this year as we want to grow our flock. Actually, we may keep them all next year too. We haven't decided exactly how big we want the flock to be, yet. I do hope we get at least one ram lamb this year, as we do enjoy eating lamb very much. So it won't break our hearts no matter what is born this year. I have one more ewe that went from looking "not very pregnant" this morning to "huge" this evening, so it may not be long until we have another new flock member as well.

I wish you wouldn't post things like that. Makes me want to get more animals.

The Bald Eagles tend to follow the Snow Geese. I saw one feasting on one in a bean field about two miles west of my place last week. They prefer to attack where they have lots of room to maneuver. For some reason I haven't been bothered by hawks. It could be the two large white dogs that roam near the poultry yards. My dogs have accepted the Emu. They were barking at her when she came close to the poultry, but when they are in the pasture with the Emu and the goats, they don't bark at or chase the Emu. The Emu's wounds have healed, but she does have bare-spots where they were. She spends the night in an older calf shed by herself, but is out roaming all day. She makes some big "chicken tracks" in the snow!

I have three of those big white dogs and the hawks just don't seem to want to come in too close. My oldest girl thinks she can fly. I have seen her jump in the air after a hawk more than once. I sure hope that Eagle didn't notice my Sabastopols. I've never worried too much about overhead threats for them.
I'm waiting for the weather to warm so I can get out and get busy today. We have so much snow left on the ground I'm afraid it is going to be a muddy mess out there when it does melt. I hate the mud but it sure beats all this darned cold. The birds got out early today but they act like the wind is chilly and are cowering up against things. I hope that is temporary.

 

[HEChicken]

Sorry Danz

I don't like mud but I'll take it over slogging through all this snow. My coop is a disaster after the amount of time they've spent in it the past few weeks. It needs to be cleaned out desperately but it will have to wait for the snow to melt and even the mud to dry up a little so I can get the lawn cart in to haul the bedding to the veggie garden. Sigh. It will be a big, heavy job when the time comes - that I do know.

The little lamb made it through the night just fine. She and Mama are still in their shelter, while the rest I have let out to graze for the day. I may end up having to let Mama out though, if the others won't leave her to go out and graze. I'm just concerned little one won't be able to keep up and will get tired, or cold, since there is still so much snow on the ground. I'm hoping it gets really warm today and by tomorrow it won't be nearly as bad to let them out to rejoin the flock.

I walked out to the pasture today to look for the birthing spot, and found it pretty easily. She ate most but not all of the placenta, so I gathered up the rest (frozen of course) and threw it to the chickens, who happily ate it. I just didn't want it out there attracting predators.

 

[chicken danz]

Yeah the coyotes would be on that stuff in a minute. I remember having colts born years ago and it was like a smorgasboard for them. I never thought of feeding it to the chickens. Very smart!
I will certainly deal with mud over the snow. There's no melting going on here yet but I am still hoping the temperature starts rising.
When I raised goats it seems like they always had their kids on the coldest snowiest nights of the year. Crazy animals. At least your lamb waited a few days until we had a warming trend.

 

[cherwill]

Its a girl

Yeah the coyotes would be on that stuff in a minute. I remember having colts born years ago and it was like a smorgasboard for them. I never thought of feeding it to the chickens. Very smart!
I will certainly deal with mud over the snow. There's no melting going on here yet but I am still hoping the temperature starts rising.
When I raised goats it seems like they always had their kids on the coldest snowiest nights of the year. Crazy animals. At least your lamb waited a few days until we had a warming trend.

 

[Trish44]

Really? I don't see that. Ohhhh wait a minute - the one from Pleasanton? Those are piglets! And I'm sorely tempted as I've wanted to raise pork for awhile now, but I don't really have a suitable place to keep them so I think I will once again pass. Maybe another year.

No, not the piglets! This one has hair sheep & she is one I have talked to about lambs. You really don't need that much for pigs, just a little shelter & a small pen. They take so little time to grow to market weight that you don't have them but about 6 months or so depending on their age when you get them.

 

[HEChicken]

No, not the piglets! This one has hair sheep & she is one I have talked to about lambs. You really don't need that much for pigs, just a little shelter & a small pen. They take so little time to grow to market weight that you don't have them but about 6 months or so depending on their age when you get them.

Oh, ok, yeah, those are further down the page so I haven't seen them for awhile. Yeah - that's the problem! I don't have anywhere to put a shelter and a pen that wouldn't cut into space we're already using for something else. Now, if I needed an area tilled, that would be a great place to put pigs but my veggie garden space is already well tilled, and I can't leave them in there after I start to plant. Plus, we'd have to feed pigs - the sheep and goats just go and eat the pasture. So they will probably always be on my wish list but never actually happen.

 

[HEChicken]

My RP tom is eating!!! Yesterday he came up to me when I had a bowl of eggs (eggs that had been frozen so I had broken them into a bowl to give the chickens). He seemed very interested so I tried to make sure he got a decent serving of the eggs in spite of the competition. About then is when I saw the lamb and went to check her out.

Today I tried to take an egg to him but he couldn't get near the bowl due to the crowd so he only got a couple of nibbles. When I read the info about cayenne pepper, metronidazole etc., another person who had the same issue with her turkey hen, said even after the symptoms subsided, it took a long time before her hen started eating grain again. So I was really pleased when my tom followed me into the feed room this evening. While filling the feeder, I offered him grain out of the scoop and he ate quite a bit of it.

As of tonight, he has completed 6 full days of meds and since he is now eating grain again, I feel very optimistic that he will make a full recovery.

 

[Trish44]

My RP tom is eating!!! Yesterday he came up to me when I had a bowl of eggs (eggs that had been frozen so I had broken them into a bowl to give the chickens). He seemed very interested so I tried to make sure he got a decent serving of the eggs in spite of the competition. About then is when I saw the lamb and went to check her out.

Today I tried to take an egg to him but he couldn't get near the bowl due to the crowd so he only got a couple of nibbles. When I read the info about cayenne pepper, metronidazole etc., another person who had the same issue with her turkey hen, said even after the symptoms subsided, it took a long time before her hen started eating grain again. So I was really pleased when my tom followed me into the feed room this evening. While filling the feeder, I offered him grain out of the scoop and he ate quite a bit of it.

As of tonight, he has completed 6 full days of meds and since he is now eating grain again, I feel very optimistic that he will make a full recovery.

Congrats, I'm so glad your tom is doing so much better! All of the work for you seems to have paid off.

 

[KsKingBee]

Congrats, I'm so glad your tom is doing so much better! All of the work for you seems to have paid off.

X 2 !!!

 

[HEChicken]

Wow - it was 42 outside when I woke up this morning!!!

Trish, how is your Valentine's Day hatch going? I had 4 out of 5 pipped before I went to bed last night and 2 chicks by this morning.