Consolidated Kansas

[tweetybaby2005]

I got the sheep out into the field reluctantly this morning, I had to lure them out with food. They are very food oriented so that helps. I finally kept showing them the can of food & they followed me out there where I let them have the food for going in. The goats went in without food, but it took a bit longer as they were suspicious of my motives for wanting them out there. Penny usually will go where I am so I kept calling her & she finally got curious & came out to see what I was doing & Patches followed.

My hatch for the BCM chicks is still ongoing, I had 5 earlybirds hatch today & another one is zipping out now. They're not really due till tomorrow so it kind of looks like most of the rest will wait. There is one more egg starting to pip so maybe that one will hatch tonight some time. I had to hurry & clean out the empty brooder as I wasn't expecting chicks today & I moved the 4 older chicks over to that one so they wouldn't get rowdy & stomp on the babies. There are 5 little week old Mottled Orps in with the new babies & I peeked in on them & they are helping keep the new ones warm, it's so sweet to see something like that.

Trish, I'm glad they are food oriented. At least you know they will go when there is food.

One of my summer broodies would come flying out of the coop squawking and screaming and head for the dusting spot. If anyone was using it, they vacated for her. It was like she was on a mission to finish all her chores in a limited time. I always knew when she was out of the coop because she announced it so loudly. It made it easy to candle the eggs because I knew she was off the nest.

This is funny Sharol... She likes to announce what she wants to do so everyone can vacate out the spot for her. I have this mental picture of an angry bird bee lining out of the coop to the dusting spot.

I'm kind of jealous! I'd love to see India!!

India is a very beautiful country. The culture is certainly different and their food is to die for! I just felt really helpless when I was approached by kids who wanted us to give them something to eat because they were starving! The security guards always shoo'd them away. When I gave one of the kids some money, her eyes lit up and a small group of kids swamped around me/us. It was something I will never forget. It was heartbreaking because those children should be at school learning and have a full tummy. Instead, they were out on the street panhandling.

My coworkers said I was a softy but how could you not? Sigh...

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Praire Fleur, you have some beautiful birds there, especially the pure white peachick. I think mold in the straw was one of the reasons why I lost some of my birds as well. DH didn't pay attention but I noticed mold when I was cleaning out the coop and I removed them completely and put new dry straws in. I'm glad your other chicks are doing well now!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Prairie the peas look like they are doing good. I think I have two more black shoulder males now that I can see how they are coloring in. And there are a couple more young ones out there I can't tell yet.
I hatched my last peachick egg two days ago. That was the last one of the season. Aw a break until next spring!!!
I've got to get out here shortly and start running a trencher. I am finally going to trench a line to the electric gate so we won't have to have an extension cord across the yard. I already destroyed one of them with the mower so it'll be great to have a line buried that will run it. And I can run another line back and finally get my electronic lock installed so the gate won't get opened in high winds.
I could do all kinds of things with the trencher if I had the thing full time. Rent is expensive though.
We rented it again so we can run the electrical to the new building underground.

Danz, I hope your building is coming along nicely. Sounds like you were having all kinds of stuff done with that trencher. DH needs to buy one for his business but that thing is expensive!

 

[tweetybaby2005]

I wish I didn't have so much money in my breeders. I'd love to let the peas free range. Maybe some day I'll have enough of them I can at least put in a big flight pen for them.
I need to figure out some more housing for the rest of the babies soon. What I don't sell will be sold next spring.

Danz, if you keep them inside long enough, will they recognize it as home and won't fly away, especially if they have a mate with them?

 

[tweetybaby2005]

My my, you guys have been bussy. Our chickens seem to be getting into rhythm now. I'm almost wishing that we could let one of our hens go broody right now. The girls are really productive right now and if we could get some of the colder weather chicks I hear that brings more hens that hot weather. Oh well. We have a little silkie rooster and I must admit he is really beautiful. If only we had a silkie hen I would never stop with the silkies. I just love their fluffyness.
Mom rented out a Billy goat to clear out our pastures, and by billy goat its a lawn mower sort of thing that clears out small trees almost. My cousin has been mowing down our pastures and clearing out a trail for Jet and I.

Hey so Halloween is coming up and we always have a party at the barn... So I have been trying to think up something to go as with this horse up there, His name is Sparky. Anyone have any Ideas? He is a little morgan and if it helps anything I can ride him bareback all gaits for you thinkers out there.

Sounds like you have the Halloween plan going, especially when you want to include your horse. I'm always busy with Halloween because my daughter's birthday is on Halloween. Some years I wish she has her birthday on other day but it is always fun to see what kind of cake I bring to school with her on her birthday because every year is different.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

After 5 1/2 mo of waiting 7 of my 16 hen are laying eggs now. Very happy

Congrats! I assume you started from chicks, right? That sounds pretty quick. Normally mine won't start laying until 6 months in.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

120 posts behind!

There's not much new going on here. We pulled out half of the tomatoes because we were just getting tiny, bug-eaten tomatoes. We dug up the last of the potatoes, The kale and eggplant are still going strong, there are a few watermelons still on the vine, and we got the first harvest of green peas. I've got a ton of crushed tomatoes in the freezer, so I'm a happy camper! Since the birds are molting, there have been no eggs for over two weeks.

I hope everyone is well!

Cherwill, sounds like you have been busy! You got a good crop this year with your veggies. I'm aiming for next year! There is always next year for me. hahaha

 

[lllaible]

Congrats! I assume you started from chicks, right? That sounds pretty quick. Normally mine won't start laying until 6 months in.

Yes they were chicks. 1 has been laying eggs 2 weeks before all the others at 5 mos. I didn't know she was laying till guy next door 1/4 mi away thank me for 2 eggs. I would let them out early in the am. . Now I don't let them out til after 2 pm.

 

[cherwill]

sad day yesterday. After installing a new heating/air system in rental house I went by last wednesday to show house only to find my condensing unit in pieces.. I called police and he stared at unit for 20 minutes before telling me he thought it was all there but in pieces. I knew that but to my way of thinking it should be in one piece and it is not alright for somebody to come into yard and tear it up. After he told me how lucky I was he picked up a flashlight the gentleman had left and he left. I called the installing company and they came out and put the pieces together and we secured unit in garage until we get house rented. My wife the never trusting type was on my case to bring unit home until house is rented. I believing these units are not portable didn,t listen. My friend came back, broke into garage dismanteled my unit again and took condenser and compressor. Needless to say my wife is extremely angry with me. To top it off the heating/air guy said the metal would be sold as mixed metal and only worth $25 to $30, what a waste

I'm sorry you have to deal with that. I agree with HEChicken; it sounds like the thief was interrupted the first time. I hope the officer kept the flashlight as evidence. The odds of finding a one-time thief with no prior record are pretty slim, but your intruder might be on a spree and could eventually be caught. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the insurance works out so you won't be out too much.

My neighbor already finished her garden too and opened it up to let her horses in to eat whatever they want of what is left. Mine is still going strong though so it will be awhile before I follow suit I think. Last night I picked another 20 or more pounds of tomatoes so today will be another sauce making day. I also got a bunch more peppers and four enormous zucchini, onion, and the biggest surprise - a pound of green beans. I thought they were done ages ago and haven't even been checking them but I guess they got their second wind and started another crop. I found some dried on the bush because I hadn't noticed and picked them (shame on me!) but enough that were perfectly ripe to be worth picking.

I confess I've been a bit of a geek this year and I've actually been weighing and recording my harvest - by the variety. I probably won't do this every year but this year I grew a bunch of heirloom tomatoes from seed and wanted to know which varieties are worth growing and which are a waste of my time. It has proven to be really valuable (even though time-consuming as I have to pick them separately, then weigh them, record it and only then can I relax about the varieties getting mixed up). I got a handful of Romas last night and there are still a few green ones out there but they seem to be close to done, while some of the other varieties are still going great guns. Unfortunately I also had quite a few volunteers this year and I pulled most but let a few stay if they came up in places where I had room for them. There are a couple of the orange colored grape tomatoes which I grew last year but a couple of them are growing big, red tomatoes and I have no clue what varieties I grew last year so no idea what these are. They didn't really start producing until recently and suddenly last night I half filled a 5-gallon bucket with them. I didn't bother about weighing them but I'm sure they'll be great in the sauce.

I also butchered the first of my 15 ducklings yesterday and he cooked down all day. Surprisingly he was actually harder to deal with than the older adults. The adults I did must have been in molt and dry plucked super easy whereas the duckling (about 16 weeks I think) was keeping a tight hold on all of his feathers so I had to skin him.

I don't think I have the patience to weigh my crops, but I'm interested in what you're finding out.

My mouth is watering at the thought of duck fat! I don't get to do it often (like, less than once a year), but I love potatoes roasted in duck fat.

Cherwill, sounds like you have been busy! You got a good crop this year with your veggies. I'm aiming for next year! There is always next year for me. hahaha

Yes, there's always next year to look forward to! I find that, by the end of the season, I'm more than ready to be done with the garden. Then sometime in January or February, I start looking forward to the next garden. You had a lot of things going on this summer, so it's no wonder you had so much trouble keeping a garden going.

 

[HEChicken]

India is a very beautiful country. The culture is certainly different and their food is to die for! I just felt really helpless when I was approached by kids who wanted us to give them something to eat because they were starving! The security guards always shoo'd them away. When I gave one of the kids some money, her eyes lit up and a small group of kids swamped around me/us. It was something I will never forget. It was heartbreaking because those children should be at school learning and have a full tummy. Instead, they were out on the street panhandling.

My coworkers said I was a softy but how could you not? Sigh...

I'm afraid it would be really difficult for me seeing all those children in need. $1 for us is such a small amount but such a large amount for them and buys so much food that it would be so tempting to just give them a dollar. But then as you say, you are swarmed by others wanting $1 and eventually you run out of $1's.

Cherwill, sounds like you have been busy! You got a good crop this year with your veggies. I'm aiming for next year! There is always next year for me. hahaha

Maybe next year you won't travel so much and it will be easier to maintain a garden.

@morgangirl1 , I'm sorry I didn't really respond about costumes for your horse - I am just so bad at that kind of thing. I hate being invited to costume parties myself because I can never think of anything to go as. I'm sure you'll come up with something great though and then you'll have to post pictures.