Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Regarding the egg eating…..someone said it isn't everyday - maybe once a week they find a gooey mess in the nest box. That doesn't sound like an egg eater to me but simply a case of a broken egg. If the shells are thin or an egg laid by one hen lands on one that was already in the box, sometimes the egg will break and cause a gooey mess in the nest box. Hens who see it might even eat the contents but that is different than being an egg eater. An egg eater will deliberately break eggs open in order to eat them and you might find holes pecked in eggs. Hens that have discovered they themselves can open eggs and eat them will likely do it every day - and it won't just be their own eggs either - they'll happily peck open any egg they find. So if you are not finding eggs broken and eaten every day, you probably don't have an egg eater, but just an occasional broken egg, which happens.

 

[chicken danz]

I agree with HeChicken on the egg eater thing 100%. In fact if I find a cracked egg i just throw it out for the hens to eat. It certainly hasn't turned them into egg eaters. I think I do have my very first egg eater and I know which hen it is. If she continues she's going out to the free rangers and if she continues after that she's going to the pot. I really wanted her in a breeding group but she doesn't do me any good if she eats eggs. I had her in a pen with no other layers and I would see an egg and then I wouldn't. So I put her in a group of other breeders and the egg numbers have drastically reduced. I'm trying to figure out if she is eating eggs or it's just reduction due to the time of year.
It is super chilly here today. Mid 40's this afternoon and has been misty raining all day long. It's forecast to be 38 tonight. As many doubts as I had about whether the building was the right thing to do I have no doubt as of today. My time outside was just awful.
I went to meet Prairie Fleur and her DH today and stopped and spent a few hours with KSKingBee and OKQueenBee. They have a really nice place. Sure makes me feel envious. My trip ended up being a lot longer than I had planned but it worked out well. I came home to stakes and boards in place for my concrete. Progress!!!! I love it. I should have been here cause I could see there were a couple things they left , and I assume it was because I wasn't here to ask about it. Like my tractor sitting out in the middle of where they were hauling dirt. If you don't know about the safety features on that thing you would never get it started even though it had keys in it. Also I think they were having a hard time figuring out where they were supposed to get the fill dirt. My friends who are also using the same people and getting a building done at the same time got their gravel spread today. But their land was already level.
I lost a couple of young birds last night. I'm guessing just because they were both really young they might have gotten a little chilled.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, you might try contacting dirt people. I was talking to the wife of a guy last week, who digs ponds. He said they're always in a bind trying to figure out what to do with all the dirt they dig out of the ponds. You must have people in your area that do similar work and might be happy to bring their extra over to you as fill.

 

[chicken danz]

Oh I have plenty of dirt and it's really close. However I showed their boss where they should get dirt and he wasn't here today. There is a patch of tall weeds I've been slowly cutting down blocking the view. So I am sure they just couldn't see it. They just took dirt I had scraped up to level the sea van. I told him I wanted to use the dirt here because A. It saved me money and B. I have a little pond I would like to expand. If they haul off what I already dug out that helps me make progress on that. But thanks for the suggestion.
The biggest problem was my stupid tractor sitting right in the middle of the whole thing.
I got a few more finishing ideas from KKB and OKQB for the inside from one of their buildings. It's not a chicken house but another insulated metal building they have there. I now know what I am doing for the ceiling. I really didn't want to use sheetrock and they gave me the answer.
When it quits raining and warms up (of it does) I need to start taking some pictures of the progress.

 

[Trish44]

Brrrr, I'm not ready for this stuff yet, not at all, it was so chilly today! We went out & pulled up the fence we have been working on today & my DH got it hooked onto the ends well enough I could put on the t-post clips this evening after I did my chores. So all he has to finish up is hooking on the remaining wires on both ends & the west side is done & that end is closed in, yay! Hopefully next we'll get the last 20 foot section in at the southeast corner & the gate & that will be it for fence. Then we have one more gate to install up by the pens & that will be the easy one because it's a metal tube gate for there. I will have to cover it with fencing so the animals can't climb through it because my sheep are still young enough I'm afraid they can get through it still. But that is an easy fix. I sure will be doing a happy dance when this fence is all done! The goats have been following us down into the field to eat while we've been working down there because they want to be near us & they have been having a blast eating down there. I know they will be really happy to have a new place to graze. I can't wait to get them all confined where they're supposed to be.

I'm really thinking I may actually have an egg eater for the first time. I have been finding broken eggs but today there was one just with a hole pecked into the end. I sure hate seeing that because I hate losing good eggs.

 

[Trish44]

I just found an interesting video on butchering chickens by Joel Salatin, here is the link for it. It's rather long, but informative:

 

[HEChicken]

I attended a Joel Salatin demonstration once - he is a good speaker and helps build confidence in the process.

 

[chicken danz]

Well I don't skin chickens like some of you do. Even though I don't eat the skin I like cooking with it because it adds flavor and helps hold the moisture in the meat. Ask Sharol. I showed her how I do it and I think she believes that it's just as easy to leave the skin on. I didn't watch the video cause my connection is too slow right now, but I read some comments. I don't use a plucker. There are ways to make the whole process pretty easy. The only time I skin is if I had one die right on the spot and I cook it for dog food.
More work being done on the concrete base today. I put my building contract in the mail box to go out today.

 

[morgangirl1]

*Sigh* Jay our little pony is so noddy, so he is supposed to be broke to ride, and who knows about driving right? He is no where near being close to driveing. He sicks his Tung over the bit a lot and he tried to run from me today but he couldn't get past a jog then he gave up. I'm letting him fiddle with the bit for a while and I'm going to work with him again tomorrow. He is noddy though and so little. I think he was bred to be a hot little Hackney pony but just wasn't pretty enough. I've been in charge of cleaning and sorting tack so I'm trying to work with the driveing harnesses because thats what most of our horses do. Jet and Tally work in a harness and Jay, needs to be trained in one. So I was fitting those today and after lunch I plan on putting together riding bridles and cleaning the tack and stuff.

Chicken emergency! One of our lavender/white buff orpingtons tore her ear lobe this morning. its really discusting and quite bloody, I'm sure running around in the woods will help, not. but mom and i put some vet-rx on it and it almost opened it more. We've had another hen have this happen too and I'm wondering what it might be from. We have a pretty crowded coop and I'm thinking we might be needing to make another soon. a big bird and a bantam/broody/little chicken pen and coop.

 

[sharol]

Well I don't skin chickens like some of you do. Even though I don't eat the skin I like cooking with it because it adds flavor and helps hold the moisture in the meat. Ask Sharol. I showed her how I do it and I think she believes that it's just as easy to leave the skin on. I didn't watch the video cause my connection is too slow right now, but I read some comments. I don't use a plucker. There are ways to make the whole process pretty easy. The only time I skin is if I had one die right on the spot and I cook it for dog food.
More work being done on the concrete base today. I put my building contract in the mail box to go out today.

True on the plucking. It was easy. Was that because we worked on them immediately after taking them out of the water and finished one before starting the next? In any case it was easy, even on the older roosters. No plucker, just pulled the feathers out. We started with the extremities -- legs and wings, didn't we? In any case I'm fairly confident I can do it myself here in a few weeks when the next cockerels are ready. The only thing I still need to find is an appropriate sized pot for the hot water. I know what I'm looking for, but they aren't deep enough.

Got the cone, a knife sharpener that really works and some wide vacuum bagging material in a roll.

I wrote out the process right after we did the work. Danz proofed it for me, and I'd be glad to share it if anyone is interested.