Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Sex links can be about any cross. And they are called by so many names. Sometimes they will tell you what they are but most of the time they don't. Here is what wikipedia says: Red sex-links are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a White Rock (This variety pair is known as a Golden Comet), Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island White or Delaware hen.
Some of the hatcheries tell you what they use to cross and others don't.
If I were you I might try the freedom rangers. They sound like a decent chicken with a good turn around for eating. Plus of course, the females can be used for layers, unlike those big nasty cornishX. I've never seen one myself. Or you could just buy cockerels and buy layers in another breed.
I went out and fed and watered and got stuck in the mud a few times. The wheel barrel would just dig in and stall. I almost welcome the cold air moving in hoping it will dry up some of the mud.
I need to go back out in a bit and gather eggs. Most of my girls seem to wait until late afternoon to crank them out. I was trying to wash out some liners I use in the brooding bins but got wet and cold so that is also waiting on me.

 

[chicken danz]

My boy is IB split to white or pied. The girl was IB.
I have extra IB girls right now. 2104 stock.
No I don't feed medicated food. The only medicated food I feed is to chicks the first few weeks to prevent cocci.
I worm my birds one time with Safeguard goat drench and the next time with Ivermectin injectable. I use 4cc per gallon of water of each one and add some sugar cause the birds don't like the taste at all. I try to worm every quarter except sometimes I skip the winter worming. The safeguard will kill out the cecal and capilliary worms and the ivermectin will get the others. It's a good idea to use the wormer in the water for 3 consecutive days.

 

[Trish44]

Howdy all!!!!
I know I am not from Kansas anymore but I wanted to stop by and say hello from the snow covered, freezing state of Maine! Despite the fact that there is a lot of snow on the ground still we are thinking about broilers this spring and wondering if anyone has any recommendations? I want a normal sized bird, no gigantic breasted birds and something with a lot of flavor. Everyone we know has done cornish and said they taste just like store bought birds. Any ideas?

Boy I just hated those Cornish X chickens, they were the nastiest, smelliest birds I ever had & I had to till up the pen with a tiller when they were butchered it smelled so bad. I have read that some people like the freedom rangers for meat. I have not personally tried them. If you're going to order sex link chicks from a hatchery you may get about anything because they use different breeds to produce them. They are usually good layers though. I did produce some Cinnamon Queens last year myself with a New Hampshire Red rooster & Silver Laced Wyandotte hens. I have one I kept, I wish I had kept more & she is a beautiful hen & a good layer. Oh & I'm glad you stopped by, you're always welcome here even if you're not in KS any more, we love to hear from you.

Danz and KKB I hadn't even realized Prejudice wasn't feeling well until she was dead. I just thought she was cold. My vet does fecals for me as well altho I've never taken pea poo in yet.

lol I'd have treated her with Something if I'd had any idea. Sigh. Oh well I'll just have to watch them a little closer. Hopefully Pride wI'll manage to survive alone until I can get another one or two or.....

My alpaca seems to be responding to the worming regime I've been putting her thru and all the prayers I've prayed! She ate a little alfalfa this evening and a little bit of carrot top. She's a little more lively and not so listless.

The snow definitely started melting off today. Had to do a grocery shopping trip today; if the weather warms up later this week I didn't want to waste it by having to be in town. My does are still increasing in size. Guess we'll see if this is the week we finally have kids on the ground!

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm glad your alpaca is improving though.

I've been so busy bottle feeding this little lamb, it sure takes up a lot of your time, almost like having a human baby only you can't take it anywhere. I'll be glad when I can put him outside with the others & the feedings get spread out more. He seems to be doing fine so far on the lamb milk replacer but it sure isn't cheap. I plan to change to a home made formula when this bag is gone. I found a recipe some people have tried & have had good luck with it.

Someone asked about the cayenne & I have been mixing it in off & on in my FF mixture. I buy it at Sam's Club, they have bigger cannisters than at the regular grocery store.

It actually got warm enough today to melt off most of the snow here, thank goodness. I hadn't been able to get out & check on birds & animals till today since I'm reluctant when I don't have to with a bum knee still to go out there when it's slick. Today though there is mud & I had to be very careful in places because it's just slick with that now. I finally got all of my birds for the moment on FF & none on chick starter any more, yay! That is till I get some eggs to hatch. The only thing I have in the incubator at present is Sebbie goose eggs. This will hopefully be my first time hatching goslings & I'm excited. I got them from someone close enough I didn't have to have them shipped. They will be due later this month. Deerfield I like to have my humidity around 40-45% for chicken eggs. I do have the goose eggs at a little higher humidity because I was told they need it but I don't have any other eggs in there at the moment. If the darned weather will straighten up for the spring I can start hatching for my orders that I have waiting. People get crazy this time of year wanting chicks & they don't realize the weather is a big factor in laying & fertility.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

JosieChick, I did end up with like 3 hens out of those EE's and they laid pretty, turquoise colored eggs. I have heard good things about the Freedom Rangers and read somewhere that someone had kept some to breed the next year and were happy with the result of the chicks they got out of that mating. I haven't tried them out personally.

Trish, Thanks! I did lower the humidity in my incubator to about 35 -40%. It depends on which hygrometer I read. The digital says one thing and the one I got at that reptile place in Derby says another. That was a ghastly little visit there. They had an 18' python in there. Sheesh. The things I go through for my chickens.

I got my cayenne pepper at Sam's too.

Prairie Fleur I'm so happy to hear your Alpaca is improving!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Hi all! New from SW KS. Anyone raising bobs and/or ringneck pheasant?

Where in SW KS? I am 15 min shy of the OK border South of Dodge.
I have a friend that just started raising quail but I don't think she's doing BobWhites.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

@Trish44 I felt the same about Cornish the first time I raised them, then a lady here convinced me to give them another shot. She said I raised them wrong!
Well she was 100% spot on. I've done them for 3 years now free ranging with my layers, and let me tell you I love CX now! When they have to compete for food, chase bugs, and have a shot at acting like normal chickens, they thrive. My butcher time was longer, about 14 weeks on average and as long as 19! I got an 11lb bird this Summer.

 

[chicken danz]

It's snowing here AGAIN. It looks like we may end up with a pretty substantial snow again. It doesn't appear to be letting up any. The wind is kicking really hard too so I'm afraid there'll be a lot of drifting. I haven't counted my chicks yet. I lost three of them which is kind of unusual. All three of them had totally filled their shells and couldn't finish pipping. I'm not sure why they grew so large. I had kept the humidity down except when I was hatching. I swear no matter how many years I do this and how many thousands of birds I hatch there always seems to be some new variable I come across.

 

[Trish44]

It's been snowing here all morning as well, ugh I hate this stuff, I would rather see rain any day. It's pretty cold today but is supposed to start a warming trend by the end of the week. If it would just stay warm that would be great but you just never know about March, it's so variable. My laying hens were so very happy to get out again yesterday after the snow melted but I'm sure they're back in today. My geese & ducks were so glad to come out that when I went to put them in for the night they resisted & I had to make 3 rounds around all of my pens to get them in.

Danz, I don't know it just seems like some chicks don't make it all the way through for one reason or the other. They can be totally formed & then die right before hatch or even during the hatch. They may have problems we don't know about & there is some reason for it. It seems like such a shame though to grow all of that time only to die at the end.

Good luck with your hatching Deerfield, I hope you get a good one. I use a combo thermometer/hygrometer in my incubator & hatcher. I finally found one I really like & that seems to be pretty accurate.

 

[chicken danz]

I used to use these little digital hygrometer thermometers in my incubators but now that I have 3 that have the constant readout I don't add one in those units. I've tested them and the read out is very accurate. With my two older incubators without a digital readout I still use those small units.
I haven't done anything yet to day and need to get myself in gear. It's so hard to get motivated when it's cold and gloomy for days. They have already changed the forecast some so it's not saying it's going to be as warm as what they had forecast last night. Grrrrr!

 

[thndrdancr]

It snowed here overnight but was finished by late morning! I was quite indignant when I looked out! I need to throw my showgirl out and it's too darned cold for her since she is now used to being in. She is one of the poopin est chickens I ever had except her son, who I named Pooper!

I had s pet house showgirl years ago and she didn't go nearly as much as this little thing! Sigh
Can we start breeding for poopyness or lack thereof??? Ha

She has now officially taken over the easy chair. I put eggs under her so she would keep it clean.