Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I do think while the concrete guy is here I am going to ask him about putting in a footing for my screened in porch off the dining room.

It would be a shame if he mixed up too much concrete by accident. Then he'd need to put it *somewhere*.

That is wild about the dust devil targeting your box. We just got one of those too that I haven't even put together yet. We are sharing it with our neighbor for all package deliveries.

 

[cherwill]

I was gone all day yesterday. I got home and was watering when I saw something right in front of me I had never seen anything like in my lifetime. I have seen little dust devils forever and they are nothing. I was standing there and the air was perfectly calm and miserable hot. All of a sudden the wind started gusting and this thing touched down right in front of me in the driveway. There was no dust until it touched the ground. It was like a mini tornado. It touched down and picked up this big storage box 4 1/2 feet by 4 feet I have outside the gate for packages. It had a large section of slab rock in the bottom to keep it stable and a big chunk of sandstone on top to keep the lid down. It threw it at least 30 feet in the air and tore it apart. The big slab of rock hit the fence on the other side of the driveway. I haven't found the sandstone yet. The bottom ended up in the pasture across the road. One of the doors was in the road. Another piece that laid on the floor ended up on the west side of the driveway and the lid, both sides and the other door ended up about 40 feet east of where it was sitting. It bent the hydraulic hinges in half. I found two packages that had been delivered that were in it and I sure hope there weren't any more cause if there were they are long gone. It would have been something on video but it occurred so fast you would have had to be recording to get it in time. So I lost a $200+ storage box that is smashed beyond repair. It broke all the plastic out where it was screwed together as well so I don't think there's any way to salvage it.

That's wild. I've seen dust devils in the fields, but I've never seen one up close and personal. I'm glad it was only a bit of property damage, and you weren't hurt.

I have a buyer who appears to be very serious who plans to come from Cincinnati to buy a bunch of my more expensive birds. If this goes down as I expect it will it will be a prayer answered. He plans to drive down and bring a large truck to carry birds home. He is talking about coming mid September. That seems like a ways away but really it's not. Just a couple of weeks or so. It would get me right sized for winter and give me the money to do more work to the building.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it all works out.

Well Danz, I'm the wrong one to give you color advice - I'm terrible at it. Plus, I love green on houses!

I love green on everything!

 

[sharol]

I hope the dark pigment on the legs of BR's indicates pullets. All 3 of mine have distinctly black splashes up their legs.

The 3 little speckled sussex are really adorable. All 3 are pretty light with narrow black markings.









Zoom in on this one. The BR has an impressive comb for a 1 day old.

 

[Trish44]

I'm with HEChicken, I like colors on houses & buildings that are more close to natural as well, that's why we had our house siding done in a taupe shade & the garage was already a tan color. When I went to buy paint for my breeder coop though I couldn't find any paint for a good enough price in anything but red & white & I knew I didn't want white. So I'm going to have barn red on it & I have that to paint when it gets a bit cooler & I don't have to die out there doing it. I also hope there is enough paint to paint the sheep building with too. I don't handle this heat & humidity well either, it just about does me in. There was just no air today & the chickens were having problems coping. It's supposed to start cooling a few degrees, but not enough yet. My laying hens have severely cut back on laying while it's so hot, I don't blame them.

sharol, I'm guessing girls on those SS, we'll see if I'm right. I have looked at my BR chicks & there is one for sure that is definitely a cockerel. Mine are older than yours, but this one is just getting really long legs & bulking up so I'm just sure it is. The ones I feel like are pullets do have the darker markings on the legs.

I'm envious of you all with all of the tomatoes, maybe next year when I have all of the goats & sheep in the pasture where they belong I can have a small garden again. I just need to build some smaller raised beds that are easier for me to handle.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: Be sure to weight your box down with something. Ours has gone scooting in high winds before....just not thrown into the air and torn to bits before. that is why I had the rocks weighing it down. I have seen lots of dust devils but nothing to the magnitude of this thing. I was standing at the trailer when it went through, and those of you who have been here know that isn't that far from the driveway. I got a lot of wind but nothing compared to the immediate force where it touched down.

I hope the dark pigment on the legs of BR's indicates pullets. All 3 of mine have distinctly black splashes up their legs.

The 3 little speckled sussex are really adorable. All 3 are pretty light with narrow black markings.

Zoom in on this one. The BR has an impressive comb for a 1 day old.

Sharol don't let that comb fool you. Something about these heritage barred rocks are they often do have very prominent combs as chicks. I can't tell them apart until they get feathered in and the cockerels are then much finely feathered. The sussex can be the same way.
I still just don't know about the roof color. I'm sure if I do go with green that the greens won't match. There are two options for green but I have no idea whether they would even come close to the roof color. I should have ordered color swatches.
I've been trying to research doing the plumbing with pex underground. I keep hearing the same thing. It's easy peasy but the tools to crimp it and the fittings are insane in price. I really need to get scooting and get that either done or start calling for someone to come trench it for me.
I sure hope it cools down. The earlier forecast showed it was going to be much cooler by now. I need to be out there making progress.

 

[sharol]

Sharol don't let that comb fool you. Something about these heritage barred rocks are they often do have very prominent combs as chicks. I can't tell them apart until they get feathered in and the cockerels are then much finely feathered. The sussex can be the same way.
I still just don't know about the roof color. I'm sure if I do go with green that the greens won't match. There are two options for green but I have no idea whether they would even come close to the roof color. I should have ordered color swatches.
I've been trying to research doing the plumbing with pex underground. I keep hearing the same thing. It's easy peasy but the tools to crimp it and the fittings are insane in price. I really need to get scooting and get that either done or start calling for someone to come trench it for me.
I sure hope it cools down. The earlier forecast showed it was going to be much cooler by now. I need to be out there making progress.

I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm just going to enjoy them while they are little.

I eggtopsied the 2 that didn't hatch. They were almost fully formed, and both looked like they had died about the same time judging from the amount of yolk left. It is sad when they almost make it. The two eggs that didn't hatch were nearly round rather than egg shaped. Have you found any correlation with the hatch rate of your sussex eggs and egg shape?

The 6 are doing great. This morning there was a cicada in the run, and Graycie caught it and shared it with her babies. Watching those 2day olds chasing around with pieces of that thing was a hoot.

 

[chicken danz]

Aw! I love watching the mamas with the babies. Chances are in this weather those other two could have gotten too hot. I will watch some sussex eggs and see if there is any difference. I think I have a few in the incubator but I've kind of lost track.
I only had three eggs out of all I set last time that didn't hatch and I hadn't marked breed on them so I have no idea what they were. I just candled to see they had died in the last few days and never opened them.

 

[HEChicken]

Be sure to weight your box down with something.

I think we're just going to wire it to the fence - that way the only way its going anywhere is if the fence does too and if that happens we're really in trouble.

More canning today. I picked a ton more tomatoes this morning and am trying my hand at canning crushed tomatoes since that is something we will really use.

 

[Trish44]

Wow HEChicken if you get tired of processing tomatoes send a few my way. I miss homegrown tomatoes so much since I haven't had a garden for a couple of years.

We're getting a short rain shower right now, I think it will be through soon & I can go out & finish feeding. I managed to get the goats & sheep in & fed & the main flock but haven't gotten any further. I was kind of waiting out the rain so I didn't have to get soaked to feed.

 

[chicken danz]

I'm jealous. We really could use some rain and some cooling off. My tomato plants look good but I'm not getting tomatoes. I still have I guess the grasshoppers eating huge chunks from them when they are green. Next year the tomatoes are going in a different garden. I can't seem to grow anything but plants and no fruit where it is.
I finally took my camera out while ago. I don't know if I mentioned the hen that was sitting on duck eggs. Here she is with her two day old offspring. So far so good. I'm afraid she won't take it to the water though to clean his beak out.
As you can see, she is either in molt or ridden hard. She's pretty naked but getting new feathers in.