Consolidated Kansas

[Prairie Fleur]

Sounds like a really fun weekend Trish!!!! I'm kind of jealous! mine was really stressful and not a fun weekend at all.

 

[Trish44]

Sounds like a really fun weekend Trish!!!! I'm kind of jealous!

mine was really stressful and not a fun weekend at all.

Well if you call clothes shopping with 9 & 14 year old girls fun, I guess. At least we got our 9 year old grand daughter to find some pants, she is the worst in the world for being picky about pants. She absolutely hates jeans, she's one of these people who is just sensitive to textures on her skin, it's the weirdest thing I have ever seen. She has been that way since she was a baby pretty much & she throws fits about it. I told her older sister that I sure hoped she wears these pants she got. They have some now that look like jeans but are stretchy, so she managed to find a couple like that she thought she could wear, geez.

I'm sorry your weekend wasn't fun. The rest of ours consisted of hauling the hay & getting it stacked in the horse shed for winter for the goats & sheep. This is my first winter with the sheep, so I just had to guess on amount I would need. I just had the two goats last winter, so I guessed on the high side hoping that will last.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

As my Mottled Java broody hen laid an egg today, I thought maybe she would now be on the roost instead of trying to cover her 17 guinea keets.; but they were all piled in the corner of the gate. The guineas get on the roost during the day, and as part of the 6 foot high pen isn't covered, they fly out during the day and free-range in the adjoining pasture.
Maybe if I move her back with the other Mottled java hens the guineas will use the roosts.

I also to a picture of my turkeys on their roost. They choose to stay in the open and unprotected. The adults spent all last winter roosting on top of the pens, even during freezing rain. But they survived the winter in excellent shape. Even the Peafowl have sense enough to get under cover in bad weather.

 

[sharol]

It is nothing short of amazing how much difference the removal of 2 young cockerels makes in the atmosphere of the coop overnight.

I finally lost patience with their constant harassment of the hens and pullets and confined them to the run part of the hoop coop yesterday morning. Jake, the roo, was really glad to get a break from disciplining them, and the hens and pullets breathed a sigh of relief. Last night the little girls (12 weeks) were on the roost for the first time and there was peace in the coop.

I remember saying to my daughter that I didn't think I could butcher one of my chickens. She replied that at some point a cockerel would drive me to it. These guys have gotten really obnoxious. They ganged up on one of the older hens and the dog had to intervene. She was shocky for 2 days, but she is finally coming out of it. This morning she is in the yard with the rest of the flock for the first time since the middle of last week. Dang cockerels.

They are in the hoop run until the train for freezer camp leaves. Jill was right, I am SO ready to be rid of the little b*&^%$$ds.

The last 3 hatched are all girls (at 12 weeks), and I have a friend with a little boy who keeps chickens and sells eggs. They are taking those three. One of the brood before that (the age of the cockerels at 19 weeks) is staying (Maudie -- she just got a name today). It is looking like Copper's latest (2.5 weeks) may be 2 pullets, but one appears to definitely be a boy). Graycie is broody again, and I'm thinking about giving her some fancy eggs.

What a summer. Right now I have 16 in the coop less the 3 that are going to my friend. That makes 13 + the two possible pullets + any that Gracie successfully hatches (if she gets eggs). All this in a 6x8 coop with lots of roost space. I love the babies, but I'm rapidly running out of room. Hello chicken math.

 

[chicken danz]

As my Mottled Java broody hen laid an egg today, I thought maybe she would now be on the roost instead of trying to cover her 17 guinea keets.; but they were all piled in the corner of the gate. The guineas get on the roost during the day, and as part of the 6 foot high pen isn't covered, they fly out during the day and free-range in the adjoining pasture.
Maybe if I move her back with the other Mottled java hens the guineas will use the roosts.

I also to a picture of my turkeys on their roost. They choose to stay in the open and unprotected. The adults spent all last winter roosting on top of the pens, even during freezing rain. But they survived the winter in excellent shape. Even the Peafowl have sense enough to get under cover in bad weather.

Ralph if I let me turkeys out and don't get them back in the pen that is exactly what they do. They will even sit on top of their own pen. I do have my pens all covered though because the owls seem to figure that out fairly quickly if you don't. I usually don't shut the the gates on the free rangers unless we start having owls hanging around.

It is nothing short of amazing how much difference the removal of 2 young cockerels makes in the atmosphere of the coop overnight.

I finally lost patience with their constant harassment of the hens and pullets and confined them to the run part of the hoop coop yesterday morning. Jake, the roo, was really glad to get a break from disciplining them, and the hens and pullets breathed a sigh of relief. Last night the little girls (12 weeks) were on the roost for the first time and there was peace in the coop.

I remember saying to my daughter that I didn't think I could butcher one of my chickens. She replied that at some point a cockerel would drive me to it. These guys have gotten really obnoxious. They ganged up on one of the older hens and the dog had to intervene. She was shocky for 2 days, but she is finally coming out of it. This morning she is in the yard with the rest of the flock for the first time since the middle of last week. Dang cockerels.

They are in the hoop run until the train for freezer camp leaves. Jill was right, I am SO ready to be rid of the little b*&^%$$ds.

The last 3 hatched are all girls (at 12 weeks), and I have a friend with a little boy who keeps chickens and sells eggs. They are taking those three. One of the brood before that (the age of the cockerels at 19 weeks) is staying (Maudie -- she just got a name today). It is looking like Copper's latest (2.5 weeks) may be 2 pullets, but one appears to definitely be a boy). Graycie is broody again, and I'm thinking about giving her some fancy eggs.

What a summer. Right now I have 16 in the coop less the 3 that are going to my friend. That makes 13 + the two possible pullets + any that Gracie successfully hatches (if she gets eggs). All this in a 6x8 coop with lots of roost space. I love the babies, but I'm rapidly running out of room. Hello chicken math.

I think hubby needs to start you a new coop. I can't imagine getting along with just one chicken coop even if I were down to what I had the first summer I had chickens. I just wish I could figure out how to make my chicken math work in reverse. It's so hard to figure out what I think I will be satisfied selling.
One more day and you should be on your way to peace and quiet.
I had so much to do yesterday but as usual got side tracked. I worked in the barn a little. Then decided to work on a fan that quit working. I had just worked on it a short time ago but this time the switch quit...or so I thought. I found a loose wire and soldered it but also found the mice had chewed through the cord so cut up a short extention cord and patched it in. It still only hummed. I was going to wire it direct but that didn't work either. So I quit. I may tear it down further at some stage and see if I can get it to function without a switch. It's been an excellent fan and I hate to just give up on it.
Then I went to the garden to pound in another post to support my tomatoes. I have been keeping the gate shut but still have lost all my green beans and my tomatoes etc have still been eaten on. Well as I was pounding the post in I saw the culprit. A rabbit hiding under the plants ran out through the opening between the gate and the latch post. So then I tried to reposition the gate so it filled the gap better. After several attempts that didn't work. So I took a section off the bottom of a cattle panel and wired it into the opening. I hope that keeps the fat little rabbit from enjoying his feast out there. So more time wasted.
Then it was really hot so I decided to come in the house and work. I started doing dishes and noticed mouse droppings in another cabinet I hadn't addressed before. I ended up taking every thing out of the cabinet. It was a lot cause it's the one that holds all the plastic containers. I had to wash all of them and tossed several of them. I cleaned out the cabinet itself and then crawled in there and screwed in some boards to cover a gap that ran along the dishwasher. So there went my day. I got nothing done I intended and then was out watering and feeding until dark again. Now I am further behind than I was.

 

[adventerousone]

Chicken Danz wow you have been busy ... sucks about your garden though Mom and I have managed to keep the deer and rabbits out of her garden and I have been bringing home buckets of grasshoppers for my chickens and ducks (they go nuts when they see me holding a bucket LOL) but now we are fighting a black and red/orange beetle :/ go figure lol.. made a batch of Tomato Basil jam yesterday OMG it is ssoooo good ) used a bunch of our yellow tomatoes .. will do a batch with reds next week after a few more ripen...

 

[chicken danz]

That sounds like a potato beetle but I'm sure there's lots of others out there too. I had some of those earlier. It seems to be the year for bugs and beetles for sure. Seems I've had about every kind there is out there this year. I need to get my onions dug but when do I find the time? I am so ready for life to slow down a little.

 

[adventerousone]

Brought a ton home but my chickens won't touch them

 

[Trish44]

It is nothing short of amazing how much difference the removal of 2 young cockerels makes in the atmosphere of the coop overnight.

I finally lost patience with their constant harassment of the hens and pullets and confined them to the run part of the hoop coop yesterday morning. Jake, the roo, was really glad to get a break from disciplining them, and the hens and pullets breathed a sigh of relief. Last night the little girls (12 weeks) were on the roost for the first time and there was peace in the coop.

I remember saying to my daughter that I didn't think I could butcher one of my chickens. She replied that at some point a cockerel would drive me to it. These guys have gotten really obnoxious. They ganged up on one of the older hens and the dog had to intervene. She was shocky for 2 days, but she is finally coming out of it. This morning she is in the yard with the rest of the flock for the first time since the middle of last week. Dang cockerels.

They are in the hoop run until the train for freezer camp leaves. Jill was right, I am SO ready to be rid of the little b*&^%$$ds.

The last 3 hatched are all girls (at 12 weeks), and I have a friend with a little boy who keeps chickens and sells eggs. They are taking those three. One of the brood before that (the age of the cockerels at 19 weeks) is staying (Maudie -- she just got a name today). It is looking like Copper's latest (2.5 weeks) may be 2 pullets, but one appears to definitely be a boy). Graycie is broody again, and I'm thinking about giving her some fancy eggs.

What a summer. Right now I have 16 in the coop less the 3 that are going to my friend. That makes 13 + the two possible pullets + any that Gracie successfully hatches (if she gets eggs). All this in a 6x8 coop with lots of roost space. I love the babies, but I'm rapidly running out of room. Hello chicken math.

sharol join the club, it seems like once you get started with chickens it just blossoms into a lot more. The 6 I was supposed to have ended up at this point being around 100+. I haven't counted little guineas or chicks growing out to know for sure how many of those I have so that is the +. I have a few more coming as well since I'm still working on breeding stock & have eggs incubating for myself. I hope to have that done soon so I can shut down my incubators & get them cleaned up & give them a rest for a few months till spring hatching.

Brought a ton home but my chickens won't touch them

My chickens really won't touch any kind of beetle either. The guineas will however, I saw one attacking a Japanese beetle one day, he ate it all too. I was really glad to see that. Those obnoxious guineas are good for getting rid of bugs.

 

[adventerousone]

Trish are there small quiet breeds of Guineas? The ones my friend has are large and very noisy ... Don't want to upset my neighbors need to move to the country with more land lol