Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

Trish, I'm going to look up those Garden Trugs. Hadn't heard of those.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Wish my DH to see that I'm not the only one that takes a bit in the morning, usually one full cup of coffee makes it safe to talk to me. Poor man has developed a survival strategy of making coffee even though he drinks none!

Glad to see everyone is getting rain. Today the wind makes working outside impossible. I have some heirloom seedlings started but have yet to put anything in the ground. Super excited to get some soybeans this year. My layered garden is ready to go, and I need to clean out my pots for the tomatoes and greens.

I had to make a tough decision this weeks, and today was the day I carried it out.
My head roo of my free-range flock started showing severe aggression. All at once he went from a cuddly bird that the kids could carry around, to a monster that saw threats everywhere. I tried all of the tips for abating it the last 6 months and after a bad bite to the hand, he had to go. He was a 3 year old hatchery stock Buff Brahma and all I can think is that once he reached full maturity at around 2 1/2 the hormones made him go apeshit.
All went smoothly, and now my poor RSL hen can get a break and regrow her feathers. She was the only one in his flock, obviously Pretty (my son thus named her LOL) is the most desirable hen around.
My Wheaten Ameraucana went broody so I figure I'll let her hatch some since I haven't been getting eggs from her much anyway.

 

[chicken danz]

Well it's rained so much here and we've had two huge storms this afternoon on top of all the other. I finally called the person back that called early and he lived out Northwest of Manhattan so a couple hours drive to get here. I told him to bring boots and a change of clothes if he were planning on stopping anywhere. I don't think he took me serious until he got here. Then we had a big storm while he was here and had to wait it out. At any rate he bought more birds than he thought he would and reduced a bunch of my babies for me. Made me very happy. So I did make some unexpected money. I sold some cheap to him since I had such an overload right now.
I had a real heart break today too. My huge ole blue English roo was dead this morning. I went into panic. I just got money for any young stock I had yesterday that had any age to them so they are sold... just not picked up. It will be months before I have a blue old enough to replace him. All I can figure is he broke his neck. He was in between the roosts. He was fat and in perfect health and weighed about 15 pounds so it had to be some trauma. I found one bloody toe. I don't know if maybe he could have caught his toe somewhere and then fallen or what. I guess I'll not be selling any more BBS chicks for awhile other than those I already have. I have a spare Mottled cockerel who is almost breeding age. He doesn't have great mottling and I planned to just keep him for a back up. If he figures out how to breed he should work for me until I can get another blue boy old enough. I've seen people starting to breed blue mottles so I may create a few just by default. I always try to keep a back up roo for my colors but I had sold my back up a while back when someone needed one. My error.
It looks like my gardening will be on hold for some time. Right now I have to worry about my birds getting down in the mud and water and dying. I was going to move these stinking ducklings outside and I'm glad I didn't right now cause they would have certainly drowned.
I've got to get a brooder for the goslings fixed up now cause it obviously isn't working to put them with the chicken chicks.

 

[milomac]

am wanting to respond to Danzs post earlier, I have had an instance several times when a chick fresh from the incubator will wander from the heat. When you pick them up they are cold and limp but surprising when placed back under heat they revive. It is remarkable the abuse those little bodies can take and still survive. Other chicks that should make it don,t but I,m trying to say is don,t give up on those little guys they are full of surprises. Another thing I,ve learned is that the more expensive chicks are the first to go and if I lose a chick it was always going to be a girl, that is why I end up with more roosters(LOL)

 

[chicken danz]

Milomac I have to agree. Especially on the expensive chicks. Some mutt boy will live under all odds. But a valuable pullet will die in a heartbeat. I do have losses because I hatch so many birds but it's especially heartbreaking when I know it is something I might have caused or at least prevented.
Days like today when the pens are all standing in water and there's really nothing I can do to make things better makes me wonder what on earth I am thinking to have the birds in the first place.
I swear in my next life I will have the top facilities before I take on an animal. Right now from the looks of this weather they could all blow away anyway. It's nasty out there.

 

[friendshipstar]

I started 42 eggs on the Monday before the big storm. We were without power for several days. This last Friday would have been lockdown day. When I candled the eggs looked good. I locked down on Saturday. This morning there was one breakthrough that quit. I wonder if the others are going to try and how long I should wait before I discard and start a new batch. Suggestions please.

 

[chicken danz]

friendshipstar, the eggs got cooler when the power was off. I would give them an additional three days because cooler temps would have slowed them down. I never toss an egg without candling it first unless it stinks.
The last 24 hours has probably been the worst I've ever had when it came to birds. I am totally wondering why on earth I do this. I've had more losses in the past day than I normally have in months. Now it feels like winter and we are living in a lake here. It rained so much on top of the rain we already had it's just one big mud hole. I was watching the weather and we were right where the rain that was up north and the rain to the south seemed to collect. Most of the area around us got 1/2 to 2 inches max. I think we are sitting probably about the 5" mark. And then I lost chicks and goslings to stupid things that you just don't ever expect to happen.
I couldn't even feed yesterday cause the pens are standing in water. The food bowls were full of water and there was no way to put any more out that wouldn't end up the same.
I need to get feed in two different places today as well and they are a couple hours apart. It's so cold out and I want nothing to do with it especially knowing it's going to be wet.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Danz, sounds like a big mess and very disheartening. What in the world are you going to do? I wish we weren't so far away, the kids and I would come help out, but two of them came back from their trip sick from a kid who had to go to the competition ill. I noticed you were getting a ton of rain up there. How is the new building faring in all that water?

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Tarabellabirds, My kids have developed the same survival strategy by making coffee in the morning too! If one of them starts to negotiate for something before I've had my coffee the others will say, "Don't ask, she hasn't had coffee yet." They used to start "Momming" me before I could even get down the stairs. Now it's pretty peaceful till I drink the coffee. Pretty sweet for a houseful of teens. So if they really want something, by the time I hit the bottom stair someone is handing me my coffee with a big smile on their face. They know I will drink it faster out of pure curiosity. I used to feel guilty about it but I got over it.

I'm resilient that way.

Friendshipstar, I'm with Danz, she always knows her stuff. Three extra days ought to do it and sometimes it really takes quite some time from pip to zip. I hope your little chickettes make it! I have 48 in my incubator so I'm pretty stoked. Don't know if you read what happened last time but all but one were infertile due to fluffy bum birds. We fixed that issue so I'm excited to see what happens.

Okay, guys I'm a little more hard core than some, I process excess roosters for the family at times and now I'm learning to caponize. I am going to be caponizing a bunch of hatchery White Rocks and will sell them for grow outs and keep the ones that don't sell for meat. I'll be doing that the end of this month so if anyone wants to grow out a capon whether for pet or for meat, PM me. They will be 4 weeks old. They are fed non GMO, organic starter feed that is fermented and given sprouted wheat for treats.

 

[Trish44]

Danz we didn't get near as much rain as you did up there, I hope it runs off or soaks in soon so you can get into your pens. I'm glad we didn't get that much at once because living on a hill you can imagine the power of the water coming off of it & the damage that can do. That happened a couple of years ago when we had torrential rain & I had a river running down the hill that literally drowned a bunch of my chicks in one pen. After that I built a rock wall to divert the water around the pens. I need to work on that & get it fixed back up when I can. When the goats were out in the yard they kept knocking it down to the point I finally gave up & left it. I have some more rock for it so I need to get it fixed now that the goats aren't out there any more.

Deerfield that garden trug is higher so I wouldn't have to hurt my back working in it & I could cover it to keep the chickens out because they won't even leave pots alone that I plant with flowers. They did up pretty much everything I have planted or eat it one of the two. I have given up on growing any flowers as long as I have free range chickens.