Consolidated Kansas

[bigjohn752000]

hey kansas!!! im heading up your way soon like next week and i need help!!!! im looking for some eggs or chicks of the partridge brahmas to get me out of trouble with the wife hellllp

 

[chicken danz]

Well I've calmed down some. I just wish people would be upfront about what they have. I could never be a salesman because when I do try to sell something I end up pointing out every fault possible. Guess that is just who I am. I can always sell any that hatch later if they aren't what I want. I'm just trying to go to 100% English because I want some real eye candy here. Money is kind of tight right now and I probably shouldn't have ordered eggs in the first place. They should be a fine compliment to the birds I already have. If I ever get my all English breeders then I can always sell the other breeding stock.
I've been out catching and sorting birds that I hope will go today. That's the plan unless I have another cancellation.
One of these days I might actually get down to the numbers I want.
I don't know when I became a bird snob. Dang! I guess I have million dollar taste on a poverty budget.

 

[WichitaKidd]

Another B-E-A-U-TIFUL day in Kansas! Hope you have a chance to get out & enjoy the sun today.

Thanks for the feedback on my birds. Going to run by the store tonight & pick up some Sevin. Should have time to at least clean out the nest boxes & treat that before it get's dark. Will have to wait until the weekend to clean out the entire coop & treat that part. Should I bother treating the run? Between the wind & the rain I thought it might be a waste of Sevin. Any advice on the easiest way to treat birds with Sevin dust especially if it's just me doing it (one set of hands)? I'm guessing I'll need to get it up under their feathers? Or do I just sprinkle it on them? Will it further irritate the red skin they already have? Never done this before so sorry for the questions. Have also read about spraying the coop & nest boxes down with vinegar. What is that supposed to prevent & does it work? Supposed to be a more "natural" alternate to chemical treatments. I've obviously let this get out of hand & want to minimize this problem in the future. Any other advice appreciated.

 

[zigzag45]

@chicken danz - you've had the worst luck lately.

I'm curious on coop lights. I've had one in with the girls for a few months now. According to this (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=405), there are 12 hours between sunrise and sunset. How much sunlight do the birds need? How long do you leave the coop lights in?

I haven't even stopped and tried to figure out what the time change means to the manual timer in the coop... probably doesn't matter.

 

[sharol]

@chicken danz - you've had the worst luck lately.

I'm curious on coop lights. I've had one in with the girls for a few months now. According to this (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=405), there are 12 hours between sunrise and sunset. How much sunlight do the birds need? How long do you leave the coop lights in?

I haven't even stopped and tried to figure out what the time change means to the manual timer in the coop... probably doesn't matter.

My light comes on about 5 (DST) for a couple of hours and then again in the evening for about an hour to lure them into the coop. I have read 14 hours light for eggs. I've been getting lots of eggs (lots = 6 or so a day from 10 active layers, 1 broody, and one slug-a-bed) for a couple of months. 5 of the girls are almost 4, 3 are almost 3, and 4 will be a year old this summer.

Funny you should mention DST. I was heading out to the coop to change the times when I realized I had no idea what time it was and came back after my cell phone. ;-)

 

[Trish44]

I have also read they need at least 14 hours of light per day to lay. I want to start taking tarps off of the sides of my pens so my birds will have more light in those, but I want to make sure the weather is going to hold now. I did start taking off the plastic on the south sides of the hoop coops, but not the north yet. It's still getting cold at night yet so I may leave some of them for another week or so.

WichitaKidd, I usually wait till the birds are all on the roosts to try to dust them down with sevin. At least they're getting sleepy then & are all in one place. It usually causes a kind of uproar for a bit, but that's the way it goes. There is no easy way to do it if you have very many birds. If you only have a few you can catch each one & maybe do a better job with it, but I have so many it's impossible. I just do the best I can to get some on each bird. I also treat the whole coop when I clean it out too so it all gets taken care of.

I'm loving this weather, speaking of that, I just got back from a trip to Wichita so I have to get out there & get chores done.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I took a picture of the can of Rust-o-lium Sealer and a tub I had repaired last spring.. The tub hasn't been used since last fall, but I cleaned where the crack was on the inside of the tub. It was used by Muscovy ducks and did not leak after being repaired. The repair isn't pretty but I built it up on the bottom of the tub so that it would flow into the break.

Wonder if it will work on the kiddie pool for the ducks since it is a bit more flexible. But if it is only $10, I can certainly give it a try. I can always use it for something else if it doesn't work for the duck pool since I always have broken stuff around.

Just came in from outside is 58* and chicks that hatched Monday with broody hen are content and running around. I obsess when I have chickens in the garage or brooder but these little boogers are tougher than we realize. Mother hen was sitting on dog house and watching little guys below

I never get tired of looking at baby chicks either. Congrats on the new broody hatched chicks.

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/poison/plants/pprosar.htm

The red ones in the picture?

Ohhh... I have never seen this type of beans before! The flowers look beautiful though.

ROSARY PEA, PRECATORY BEAN - Abrus precatorius

Tweety I do believe this is it. I can't believe they now grow in Florida. Maybe I can find some here. I just think they were awesome looking. I started a couple plants but lost them before they flowered. Don't know if I can get them to grow indoors or not. Sounds like they probably aren't very hardy.
I don't know how you found those Sharol but thank you.
Here are some more names for it:
Abrus precatorius, known commonly as "Gunja",Jequirity, Crab's Eye, Rosary Pea, John Crow Bead, Precatory bean, Indian Licorice, Akar Saga, Giddee Giddee or Jumbie Bead
I found several offers for it on Ebay so I won't need to get them from China

I may have to get some from eBay too! It is a lot easier any way because my husband will, usually, get 1/2 of what I request him to bring back from China. You think my travelling internationally he will at least take 2 luggages with him. Nope... took 1... a 21" carry on which he checked in. Then he has a backpack just to carry the iPad for my son.

Well here we go my grandma fell and broke her hip in bartlesville for a few days

So sorry to hear that... sending you prayers for a speedy recovery.

I am afraid I have too many roos. I have a lovely lav orp and a nice olive egger (black copper marans/ameraucana) who are both good roos. I only have 8 hens. I thought I would be ok but the hens are showing signs of wear. None of my lav orp eggs last year were girls, and I rehomed his brothers. I was going to breed lav orps, but due to my health, I am not up to building a separate pen this year. I have black copper marans girls, and want to get some more, as well as some ameraucanas. Orps are great, but I am afraid they wouldn't tolerate our nasty summers and I would worry. I am so torn. I really do not want to part with either roo, but I am afraid my 8 ladies just aren't enough. Does anyone have any advice or experience with either breed? This is hard for me. I get so attached to my chickies!

Yup... that's too many roos to hens. I don't know much about different breeds so hopefully Danz or Trish will give you some advise.

After hearing and seeing mice in the coop, I broke down and bought an electric mousetrap that zaps the mice because I loathe dealing with life mice. The first week I caught 8 of the suckers, but then the door fell off. I talked (via e-mail) with Amazon, and they are sending a new one.. In the meantime, I finally found the old one in the garage (in the DE bin???). I cleaned it up and set it. So far, that one is at 9 mice over 4 nights. I'm still hearing them in the walls. SHUDDER.

I finally figured out that I need to scrub out the manual trap after each catch for it to keep working. I'm thinking I need another manual trap.

I like the zapper one because the mouse is dead. I don't like that it only catches one at a time. I should be getting the replacement today or tomorrow, so that will add one a night to the kill rate.

My dachshund helps with the multiple catches. I dump the trap into a 5 gallon white plastic bucket, and then let Lucky at them. Yesterday there were two. He dived into the bucket and when he emerged, the one still in the bucket was dead and the he proceded to kill the one he had in his mouth. he doesn't eat them, but man is he a mouse predator. he just can't get to the ones in the walls.

15 down, who knows how many more to go.

Sharol... I didn't know that there are electric traps! DH always bought the manual ones. I might have to invest in some of those. The feed storage rooms constantly have mice running around even though we set the manual traps there. I think they got smart after seeing their peers got trapped. Now they just ignored them.

Woohoo! We got our first egg of the season this year! I was beginning to think that my birds were getting old enough not to lay.

Congrats Lizzy! First egg is always exciting!

Another B-E-A-U-TIFUL day in Kansas! Hope you have a chance to get out & enjoy the sun today.

Thanks for the feedback on my birds. Going to run by the store tonight & pick up some Sevin. Should have time to at least clean out the nest boxes & treat that before it get's dark. Will have to wait until the weekend to clean out the entire coop & treat that part. Should I bother treating the run? Between the wind & the rain I thought it might be a waste of Sevin. Any advice on the easiest way to treat birds with Sevin dust especially if it's just me doing it (one set of hands)? I'm guessing I'll need to get it up under their feathers? Or do I just sprinkle it on them? Will it further irritate the red skin they already have? Never done this before so sorry for the questions. Have also read about spraying the coop & nest boxes down with vinegar. What is that supposed to prevent & does it work? Supposed to be a more "natural" alternate to chemical treatments. I've obviously let this get out of hand & want to minimize this problem in the future. Any other advice appreciated.

WichitaKidd, hope you get get the mites under control. I haven't heard of spraying vinegar help with mites control though. I mainly use it for laundry. LOL. When Wally World has the Sevin in Spring/Summer, I always stock up. They are hard to come by in Fall/Winter. I use it year round sprinking it in the nest boxes when I clean them. Enjoy this wonder day! It is warm out there.

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I have to go to Atwoods to get some Ivermectin for the dogs. Now that the weather is warming up, I need to get them for the dogs so they won't get heart worms. I don't use them on my Shelties since they are prone to having seizures with Ivermectin. They are too sensitive to it. The GPs, however, will tolerate it. My vet told me the dosage so I will go get it from the feed store. Plus I can use it for the birds any way.

The boys are on the plane now. I miss seeing my coworkers already...LOL I'm just pathetic this way. But I get to watch the birds foraging out there through the big window from the dining room where I work. The weather is so nice that the birds are enjoying the day out there.

Just stopped to go outside to feed the birds. It sure is nice out albeit a bit windy. But the temp is great. I've 2 roosters that need to go into the crockpot. I mentioned that they were mean a couple of weeks before and they continue to be meanies. So they have to go.

Enjot the weather everyone. Tomorrow will be a tad cooler but still nice in the 60s.

 

[sharol]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E1RIUU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That is the link to the Victor electronic mousetrap. It uses 4 AA batteries (not included) and claims that it can electrocute 100 mice on one set of batteries. If you order it, be sure to read the reviews. The top positive review has some really good instructions and tips.

 

[chicken danz]

I am dragging. I got birds sorted and moved around getting ready for my buyer. I knew she had a doctors appointment today and I had all but given up on her. She just call and will be here in an hour or so.
Thank heavens. I've had some birds caged all day long and I sure didn't want to put them back in the pen. And it will sure lighten my load on feed and stuff. They are all roosters and even though some are really nice I need them moved.
My phone has rung all afternoon. Warm weather makes people want to buy birds or maybe I should say talk birds. I had one gal who was going to show up today to get birds and she cancelled for the second time. Since then I've had another person call and confirm he was going to take some birds from me at Gardner so she may miss out. I really wanted to sell to her because she was taking a roo I need to sell but this other guy is going to take the other roo I needed to move so I guess it's a matter of who gives me the dollars. I like to be fair but I need these birds out of here ASAP.
Now I still have to catch a bunch of roosters but they'll be in a pen so it won't be so bad. And I need to catch ducks which isn't going to be fun at all. Too much mud. I pulled out three to keep to butcher for myself. And one I think is female but isn't purebred. But she can lay eggs for eating.
It was beautiful out but when its nice I tend to over work myself.
I unloaded the lumber I bought last weekend from the pickup. I still have a sheet of plywood DH will have to unload for me. I'll have to take the pickup to Gardner in hopes of buying fencing wire and hauling a couple cages of birds.
Tweety I am thinking of ordering a big bunch of those "ladybug" beans. If I do I will just keep some extras for you. I also need to order some of those Vietnamese luffa or Chinese cucumber seeds. I saved your recipe from last year so I could make more of that delicious soup.
I hope I can get my birds situated so I can actually plant a garden and take care of it. It helps so much with feeding the birds.
Well I guess my coffee break is over. I'd better get back out there and see if I can catch and cage some more of these birds so I can load them in a hurry.

 

[Frizzled Pink]

I will be there and OkieQueenBee, ZigZag will be there weather cooperating. I would also expect that FrizzledPink and 22Qzoo might make an appearance.

yes planning on being there--happy that it wont be so darn cold this year--last year couldn't tell who was who since we were all bundled to our eye balls in blankets. For those who haven't been there before you will go right by "Blazer Burger" on your way in--its great old fashioned burger joint--