Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I just got in from feeding. It's getting cooler and its cloudy out. I don't want any more rain. If it rains this weekend my concrete will get postponed another week and so will my building. That would just bite. I need that building in so I can start getting pens built for winter.
My DH found a pair of glasses I lost months ago outside today. Yay! Now I can go back to wearing one pair at home and one when I'm out. I really need some new ones but can't afford them right at the moment.
I was moving guineas today to a larger pen and came back to the pen to find it empty. The little devils found a hole in the chain link I didn't see and escaped. So now I have a yard full of guineas that aren't used to being out. I sure hope they got back to their old pen tonight so I can capture them again.
I did some work on my hoop coop and moved some more chicks out of the brooder today. I still need to hook up a light for them so they know to go under the tarp instead of out in the untarped area at night. Plus they are used to an 80 degree building so being outside is going to be a shock. I cleaned all the pumpkins out of the garden today and fed them to the birds. Then I left the gate open so hopefully the ducks will go in and have some bug snacks. The tomatoes are still green but I doubt I'll get anything off of them. I just hope they don't eat my sweet potatoes since I still have hopes of producing some.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I feel like I just can't win. I decided to get out of ducks before winter and last week butchered 2 of the 21, getting me down to 19. This afternoon, I realized I'd been hearing a chirping sound quite a lot. I have a couple of broody raised chicks that hang around the house so I guess I'd been thinking it was them and not paying much attention but suddenly the sound was…..familiar and urgent. I went out to check and found a duck who has been broody under the front porch most of the summer, marching up and down, looking very fierce. But she wasn't the one making the chirping sound. Oh no. A glance under the porch revealed 7 newly hatched ducklings. So I've gone from 21 to 19 to 26 within a week. Does that sound like downsizing to you???? I guess it is Danzsizing at its finest.

On a related note, DD ate some duck the other day and called out to ask me if it was one of the 15 ducklings. I thought she was sad at the thought. Oh no, she wanted to rave about how tender it is. And, it turns out that what she was eating was NOT a duckling but the grand-daddy drake. I had decided since the ducklings are still growing out, I'd start with the ones I know won't grow any more so butchered the drake a few days ago. He was several years old and enormous and generated a ton of meat. I've been enjoying it but was really pleased that she noted its tenderness - it gives me great hope that the ducklings will be well received when it is their turn.

How did you cook the drake? I've got several birds in the freezer I need to figure out how to use.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

My DH found a pair of glasses I lost months ago outside today. Yay! Now I can go back to wearing one pair at home and one when I'm out. I really need some new ones but can't afford them right at the moment.

http://www.zennioptical.com/?gclid=...7DxmkcaAdwpQ3nB1rEiZ6qbv2bI-jFjYu5BoCKUTw_wcB

I wish I would have found this site YEARS ago! Enjoy!

Entering your info can be a bit time consuming but well worth it and I love the glasses I have gotten from them! Good quality and fast!

 

[HEChicken]

How did you cook the drake? I've got several birds in the freezer I need to figure out how to use.

In the crockpot. I dry plucked him because the feathers were coming out by the handfuls. A lot of people talk about pin feathers but I haven't encountered them on the muscovies - I just grab a handful of feathers, pull and am left with a patch of skin that is clean and soft as a baby's bottom

Once he was clean, I stuffed him - literally because he was so big - into the crockpot and set it on the 10-hour cycle. Halfway through cooking, I tried to break him up a little to get more of the meat down to where it was cooking in the juices. At the end of the 10 hours, I turned it off, waited for it to cool and then pulled the meat off the bones. The dogs got the bones and we got the meat.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

I have a question here. Having a problem with my almost mature BLR Wyandotte rooster. He acts like his legs are Killing him. He's very wobbly and sort of walks on the front of his feet. I looked at his feet and didn't find anything wrong. DH thinks it's more his legs than his feet. Any idea what might cause this? He was fine a couple days ago I'm quite sure! They've moved into their coop that now has roosts; could he have hurt himself coming down off of them? I'll post pics tomorrow. He seems fine other than seeming to be in pain. And of course this would be over the weekend!

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: Yep that is Danzsizing at its finest. With all my recent projects around here I missed a broody hen. It's been about a week so I am just going to let her set. I need a few more egg layers for next spring anyway. She's just one of my crosses I bred to lay eggs but probably bred by a buff orp. If I get a couple pullets out of her I won't regret missing the eggs she lays that much. I've not had good luck with my few broodies raising chicks this year. I had a nice group one hen hatched, but her chicks all disappeared one by one as they grew. The were free ranging and never started sleeping with the other birds. Maybe this one can raise a few.
Prairie Fleur he could have strained his joints jumping from the roost. I have one buff that walks that very way and there are no apparent injuries or bumble foot, but he got "beat out" by another rooster and I think somehow hurt his feet or legs while sparing. He almost looks like his walking on his toes. It's weird. He has however been walking that way for months and doesn't seem worse for the wear.
I'm wandering around in the dark this morning. I had to get up early so I can get on the road early. I'm going to the Gardner auction today. DH is going to be home so hopefully the concrete guys will show up and get some work done. If we could just avoid this rain they are forecasting I might get concrete poured on Tuesday.
I normally make a full day of the Gardner auction but I may leave earlier today. It just depends. I don't have anything in the auction and don't know that I'll want to buy anything unless it is a real buyers market and something I can't live without, other than buying wire if I find some really cheap. It's more of a rare social event for me than anything. I need to save all the money I can for my projects here anyway. But then again with Danzsizing I might come home with a whole truck full of birds.

 

[friendshipstar]

Good morning, everyone.
Gosh, it seems like I haven't been online in forever. I demonstrated the computerized quilting machine that I use at the state fair on the first Fri - Sun. Then I spent a big portion of last week in the hospital. My diabetes really snuck up behind me and showed me that I am NOT bulletproof.
While I was away at the fair, my DH shut off the air conditioner and opened all the windows, EXCEPTin the two rooms where I had incubators running. I came home to cooked eggs. 54 Cream Legbar eggs. Of those 54, I candled six that I thought might be still viable. A lot of the eggs were already rotten by the time I got home on Monday morning. But this morning I have two little pullets, which almost seems like more of a pain than none at all. I will have to make a seperate pen for just two chicks.
My husband felt horrible about cooking the eggs. And I have more on the way. So my incubators will be running for a bit longer than normal this year.
I am ready for bright colored fall leaves and sweatshirts.

 

[Trish44]

friendshipstar, I'm sorry about your eggs, that's the pits.

HEChicken you really have the environment for broody birds, wow on the ducklings.

I have 5 little Mottled/Spangled Orp chicks that hatched yesterday & today, I'm very pleased with that hatch, 5 out of 8 eggs isn't bad for shipped eggs.

danz, have fun but don't come home with a truckload of birds, your're downsizing remember.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

*snip*
Prairie Fleur he could have strained his joints jumping from the roost. I have one buff that walks that very way and there are no apparent injuries or bumble foot,  but he got "beat out" by another rooster and I think somehow hurt his feet or legs while sparing. He almost looks like his walking on his toes. It's weird. He has however been walking that way for months and doesn't seem worse for the wear.
I'm wandering around in the dark this morning. I had to get up early so I can get on the road early. I'm going to the Gardner auction today. DH is going to be home so hopefully the concrete guys will show up and get some work done. If we could just avoid this rain they are forecasting I might get concrete poured on Tuesday.
I normally make a full day of the Gardner auction but I may leave earlier today. It just depends. I don't have anything in the auction and don't know that I'll want to buy anything unless it is a real buyers market and something I can't live without, other than buying wire if I find some really cheap. It's more of a rare social event for me than anything.  I need to save all the money I can for my projects here anyway. But then again with Danzsizing I might come home with a whole truck full of birds.

Ok I'll keep watching him. He's been pretty slow since he got wobbly and I'm positive he's in pain. I wish there was something I could do but I guess I'll just keep watching him and hope that at least his pain goes away soon. I miss my confident rooster strutting around! Will he still be able to breed to hens if he keeps on like this? He doesn't look like it hardly. Guess if he doesn't improve well have to eat him and I'll have to get another roo. I really hope he improves because he's been really getting pretty the last while.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Updated pics of the birds I got from Chicken Danz....still not sure on the Lav tho.