Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Prairie Fleur I'm sorry about your rooster, I've been hearing that the hawks are bad right now. He may have stayed out to defend the other birds & gotten attacked. I know my chickens always are on the alert here for things in the sky. They have plenty of cover to run under but they still watch.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

You're probably right, Trish. There's a dead tree not far from my cool that it a perfect perch for hawks to perch and watch the chickens. DH has been doing the chicken chores the last couple days so I don't know if the hawk has been around a lot the last while or not.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

The hawks have been terrible this year......and HUGE

! My poor flock is so flighty and nervous most of the time. So far only one loss, a CX and since then they all know to keep a look out. I used to love large birds of prey, but that was before I fell in love with the prey

 

[Trish44]

Tara I totally understand that statement, I used to like raccoons until they started attacking my chickens, now I hate them.

 

[HEChicken]

It sure is brisk out there - cold, windy and wet. Not nearly as fun doing my morning chores as it was just yesterday.

Tarabellabirds, congrats on the chicks hatching from the duct-taped egg - good to know that it worked.

I love the discussion about chicken math and how there is no subtraction in it. No wonder its so challenging! I am trying to subtract slowly but surely - I have another drake duckling ready to be processed this morning, which will be the third this week. My goal was two a week so I'm a little ahead of the game

I did another harvest in my veggie garden last night and got quite a few pounds of tomatoes, peppers, onions and zucchini. Probably not enough for a whole canner batch of sauce but enough to make several pints so I think I'll just make it and we'll eat it fresh over the next few days. I had an interesting experience with squash bugs the other day. I went out and looked and had one zuke that was almost big enough to pick but it was absolutely swarming with squash bugs - way more than I could ever think of picking off. So I went back in the house and took a container that holds about 2 ½ cups of water, put ½ tsp of Dawn dish detergent in it, filled it with water and shook it all the way back to the garden. When I got there, I poured it over the zuke. Initially there wasn't much of a reaction but as I watched the bugs started to fall off the zucchini. I thought they were just stunned but when I picked a couple up to look at them closer, they appeared to be dead. I went back in and told DH and he was amazed, saying he can't imagine what is in dish soap that would have that affect so quickly. I expected to find next day they were back but after checking every day since then, there hasn't been a single bug on the zuke and last night it was big enough to pick. I am at a loss for why it worked but thrilled that it did, as that is something I don't mind using, since after all, I use it to wash our own dishes, and I can easily rinse it off the skin of the zuke as well.

 

[StinkyChicken]

We have a lot of red tailed hawks around here. So far I haven’t had a problem. I’m going to go knock on something wood now.

 

[milomac]

if hawk killed your r00 I wouldn,t expect it be bloody. Hawk ay be nnocent this time I would suspect a dog or coyote n the daytime

 

[morgangirl1]

Well I hope everyone is well, I have to trust my birds in the hands of my city aunt and dad, (Oh dear) while I am off to OKC for Morgan Grand Nationals. It's this big horse show that all us Morgan people go too and its huge, I have never missed a year and this year I am helping both of my trainers out being a bucket girl and working for them, sounds like they pay good but I don't really care. It's not like I need money but I'm just happy to be able to spend a whole week with my people. I don't get to show but I am still looking foreword to helping out and working with the horses. I'll get them ready before classes and all that jazz, and I get to do this all week. Can't wait! Mom and I leave to go down there in about an hour, we will go meet up with my aunt who has a booth down there. I'm going to help her get set up tonight and my mom will head back Sunday morning. I hope everyone is well and I hope my city folks learn the routine pretty quick.

 

[chicken danz]

Actually I agree it was most likely a hawk. It probably made attempts to pick up the roo and it was too heavy. It would have been bloodied up if the rooster stood it's ground trying to protect the flock. I can't see your peas being aggressive at all. They might pick on each other if they are crowded or the boys might argue in mating season but otherwise they are very docile birds.
it's rained here for two days straight and still coming down. It's totally insane. My yard looks like a lake and I'm afraid once again I am going to loose birds in the mud. This clay here just doesn't let the moisture sink in. The gravel work that was done incorrectly that I complained about on my building needs work. There is water seeping in the east side because the guy had the gravel humped too high. I complained but of course they had gotten their money for the bobcat work and basically said too bad.
I had a terrible day yesterday. I was moving furniture and my tv slipped off the table. I caught it on my arm so it didn't crash to the floor but it hit the arm on an old rocker and broke the screen. It was a very high end tv although not huge. But I checked and the only thing comparable is like $1400. I called and the screen can be replaced but the screen alone is about $500 and then there is labor on top of that. I am just sick. I had only used that tv maybe a half dozen times. It's not hooked to the dish so we used to watch movies only for the time being.
I can't afford to replace it so I guess it will have to wait until later. What do you do with a TV that is otherwise perfect but has a hole int the screen? I still had the protective plastic around the edges and a card on the back.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

It sure is brisk out there - cold, windy and wet.  Not nearly as fun doing my morning chores as it was just yesterday.

Tarabellabirds, congrats on the chicks hatching from the duct-taped egg - good to know that it worked.

I love the discussion about chicken math and how there is no subtraction in it.  No wonder its so challenging!  I am trying to subtract slowly but surely - I have another drake duckling ready to be processed this morning, which will be the third this week.  My goal was two a week so I'm a little ahead of the game 

I did another harvest in my veggie garden last night and got quite a few pounds of tomatoes, peppers, onions and zucchini.  Probably not enough for a whole canner batch of sauce but enough to make several pints so I think I'll just make it and we'll eat it fresh over the next few days.  I had an interesting experience with squash bugs the other day.  I went out and looked and had one zuke that was almost big enough to pick but it was absolutely swarming with squash bugs - way more than I could ever think of picking off.  So I went back in the house and took a container that holds about 2 ½ cups of water, put ½ tsp of Dawn dish detergent in it, filled it with water and shook it all the way back to the garden.  When I got there, I poured it over the zuke.  Initially there wasn't much of a reaction but as I watched the bugs started to fall off the zucchini.  I thought they were just stunned but when I picked a couple up to look at them closer, they appeared to be dead.  I went back in and told DH and he was amazed, saying he can't imagine what is in dish soap that would have that affect so quickly.  I expected to find next day they were back but after checking every day since then, there hasn't been a single bug on the zuke and last night it was big enough to pick.  I am at a loss for why it worked but thrilled that it did, as that is something I don't mind using, since after all, I use it to wash our own dishes, and I can easily rinse it off the skin of the zuke as well.

Heather, I worked at a greenhouse for a number of years and dishsoap is is one of the first things my boss recommends to get rid of bugs especially on anything you're planning to eat. We used it on aphids as well. My SIL uses a natural fragrance and chemical free dish soap and it has worked wonders for her on her zukes too. I know Ive heard why it works but I can't remember right now.

Speaking of chicken math, I've been having quite the subtraction problems here between predators and loosing chicks and whatnot.