Consolidated Kansas

[ppimf]

I'm looking for some guinea eggs to hatch that is close around me don't care about color. If anyone has some to sell please measage me I live in hays ks area and let me know a price I can handle from 1 dozen to 7dozen

 

[chicken danz]

It is chilly and windy out there today so I haven't gotten a thing done in the garden and I'm wondering if I will. DH is out tilling an unplanted section. What I really need to do is put some wheels on my brooder pen so I can roll those birds outside once they are big enough to do without heat, but I am lacking any motivation at all.

Yesterday I sprayed all that has been planted with compost tea, including all the grape vines leafing out around the pool. I can't believe it but I have some purple Thai beans coming up already. That was a surprise because I knew I planted them too early but I have plenty of seed so I thought I would try it anyway. You can use them for green beans or pole beans. The older 3 girls planted 7 earthboxes with carrots and radishes, so that was nice of them. I still have a 4' x 16' bed that needs to have more strawberries transplanted into it. I have one more of that same size ready for fill dirt and (3) 4' x 8' that also need fill dirt. I am so glad to have the boxes but I certainly didn't expect this many!

In the meantime, the chickens are keeping the orchard completely weed free for me. We put a lot of wood chips out there and they love digging through and pulling up any shoots. I am so glad I changed their fence to include the orchard. So far no damage to the fruit trees and I am hoping they will keep the bug population down.

I wanted to be sure I knew which eggs were coming from my Aloha, so we put blue food coloring on her vent. Worked great! The egg came out with some blue streaks. Alohachickens recommended this method so I thought I would just pass along this tip. The kids put the food coloring back in the kitchen cabinet.

I don't recommend storing any dye used on a chicken's arse in the kitchen cabinet. LOL!

Wow you are really getting this gardening thing going. I planted beans a week or so again but it's been way too cool for them to sprout. And I would have to wear hip waders to get in the garden. We still have water sitting every where from the rains. So my garden is going to weeds. We can't get our little tiller working so it needs to go to the shop. It was a very expensive one and is still under warranty. We have to take it back to Emporia for service. It's all a matter of time to get it done. My friend gave me some broccoli plants he started so I hope to get them planted soon.
So Deerfield, how long does the food coloring last on the vents? I have some hens that I need to see who is laying and who isn't. I'm thinking that might be the answer to it. Do you put it outside of the vent or on the inside of it. They are orps so you can't tell by leg color if they have stopped laying.
I wish I had an orchard. We lost most of our fruit trees to the drought and our apple trees have some kind of disease. I had never thought of having chickens work around the trees because the geese tend to chew on young trees. I bought a pear tree last year and didn't get it planted before it died in the pot. My bad! It was on sale thank heavens.

by sharol

I'm looking for some guinea eggs to hatch that is close around me don't care about color. If anyone has some to sell please measage me I live in hays ks area and let me know a price I can handle from 1 dozen to 7dozen

I have some but I'm certainly not close to you.
We went to Topeka yesterday and I spent a fortune on birds once again. Of course I was trying to think about parts I needed for my water system and ended up buying several pricy fittings wrong. I needed male and bought female parts. I hadn't thought about needing them until I was in the store and was trying to go by memory of what kind of fitting was on the waterers. I guess that means another trip some day soon.
I stocked up on a load of shavings so I hope it will last me a little while.
I had a fairly big hatch of chicks yesterday too.
I really am ready for a break!!!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

>>Wow you are really getting this gardening thing going. DH went crazy once he got started but I am really, really happy with all the raised beds and the lovely watering system. I planted beans a week or so again but it's been way too cool for them to sprout. And I would have to wear hip waders to get in the garden. We still have water sitting every where from the rains. So my garden is going to weeds.

That is just too frustrating. We can't get our little tiller working so it needs to go to the shop. It was a very expensive one and is still under warranty. We have to take it back to Emporia for service. Ours croaked right in the middle of all this work. It was a million years old, give or take a year or two, so DH replaced the engine and voila, it's good to go another million years, we hope. It's all a matter of time to get it done. My friend gave me some broccoli plants he started so I hope to get them planted soon.
So Deerfield, how long does the food coloring last on the vents? That naughty little bird didn't lay yesterday so I'm not sure, but we put more dye on her vent just to be sure she hadn't laid and the egg just didn't get any color. It was still around the vent, so I think it will last only a couple days but I am not sure. I have some hens that I need to see who is laying and who isn't. I'm thinking that might be the answer to it. Do you put it outside of the vent or on the inside of it. The kids put it on the outside of the vent. They are orps so you can't tell by leg color if they have stopped laying.
I wish I had an orchard. We lost most of our fruit trees to the drought and our apple trees have some kind of disease. I had never thought of having chickens work around the trees because the geese tend to chew on young trees. I bought a pear tree last year and didn't get it planted before it died in the pot. My bad! It was on sale thank heavens.<< I've had a tree or two die on me from just pure inexperience. Now they live but they aren't trimmed properly and I need to get with the program and either trim them or have someone else get it done. My plum tree looks to have an insect problem, or some such thing as part of it did not leaf out. Probably those darn borers.

 

[chicken danz]

Deerfield, my chinese friend was showing us the other day how he trims out the center of his fruit trees and leaves the outside limbs so it gets more sunshine. He had a three year old peach with peaches forming by the hundreds on every limb and it's a small tree. I was very impressed. I plan to use his method if I ever get new trees. The exception is pear trees he said because of their growth habits. He has the most amazing garden. Everything is two foot high and perfect. He uses all his Chinese knowledge and starts all his own plants and works very hard. He says it's great because I give him all the chicken poop to make it grown. I know better. I would have to give up all my birds and gain a lot of energy to do all that work. His roll is very defined. His wife does house things. He does all the yard work, gardening, and most of the cooking. They only have a small town lot but he tends to use every inch of it to his advantage. He produces almost all the food they eat other than meat and eggs. Plus of course he works a full time job as well. You have to admire that kind of dedication. I couldn't get DH to even till the garden for me. If we have a garden he doesn't even notice.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Deerfield, my chinese friend was showing us the other day how he trims out the center of his fruit trees and leaves the outside limbs so it gets more sunshine. He had a three year old peach with peaches forming by the hundreds on every limb and it's a small tree. I was very impressed. I plan to use his method if I ever get new trees. The exception is pear trees he said because of their growth habits. He has the most amazing garden. Everything is two foot high and perfect. He uses all his Chinese knowledge and starts all his own plants and works very hard. He says it's great because I give him all the chicken poop to make it grown. I know better. I would have to give up all my birds and gain a lot of energy to do all that work. His roll is very defined. His wife does house things. He does all the yard work, gardening, and most of the cooking. They only have a small town lot but he tends to use every inch of it to his advantage. He produces almost all the food they eat other than meat and eggs. Plus of course he works a full time job as well. You have to admire that kind of dedication. I couldn't get DH to even till the garden for me. If we have a garden he doesn't even notice.

I would love to be able to garden as well as he and provide most of the food we eat. I've got the grapes covered! It's a start. Hearing about him makes me feel more motivated to get those fruit trees trimmed. The nectarines really need trimmed badly. I think they would produce for us, if the centers were trimmed out properly and I do love fresh nectarines. Maybe tomorrow when it warms up I'll finally take my lawn chair out there and tackle that job. Prune, sit, prune, sit. My neighbors must think I'm really lazy but I'm too restless to just hide in the house so they will have to think what they think. I am able to walk on the treadmill 45 minutes now. As soon as I stop, no matter how slowly I cool down, the dizziness hits and I have to lay back in the recliner to keep from passing out. It's the weirdest thing. My blood pressure just drops for no apparent reason. I'm doing everything they are telling me to do and I do feel a bit better. I think it may just take more time and more weight lost.

My Speckled Sussex/Buff Sussex crossed chick is so cute. I will have to take a pic later and show you. She has a downward tail right now -- do you have any idea if that tail is going to come up or is it destined to droop the rest of her life? I had one White Rock hen whose tail drooped but now it's upright so I have hope it won't stay that way. Have you seen chicks do that?

 

[ashncarson]

I was wondering if anyone near Hutch has any barred rock chicks, few days old? I am just hoping for one to add to my existing new babies. (30-45 minutes away possibly)

 

[sharol]

"Knowing your house I would think they would be okay. I didn't realize you had plumeria. I totally love plumeria. It's one of my favorite smells and flowers. I had some nice tropicals until one of the cats figured they would make a nice cat box. I tried to save them but the damage was done."

I can bring you a younger one when I come to get eggs if my little hen stays on the nest.

 

[chicken danz]

Deerfield, He also said to fertilize fruit trees in the fall so they take up nutrients for fruit in the spring.
Oh Sharol I would so love a plumeria. Maybe you could give me some tips to keep it alive.
Ashncarson I wish you were closer. I have some.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

I was wondering if anyone near Hutch has any barred rock chicks, few days old? I am just hoping for one to add to my existing new babies. (30-45 minutes away possibly)

Hey, Ashley! I know you!!

I wish we could've coordinated on this! I have 10 day-old chicks coming tomorrow in the mail, and I could've just added some to my order for you if I would've know you were wanting some. Darn. Next spring we will have to chat before we plan our newbies so we can coordinate. I have 3 barred rocks (1 roo and 2 hens) that are 4 weeks old. Our one that was killed in the "Good Friday Dog Massacre" was the sweetest hen we had. She was pretty much a lap chicken. When I was picking roos, I asked the people at My Pet Chicken for advice (because I was contemplating buying a Rhode Island Red roo). When I said I had kids, she suggested the Barred Rock. She said the Rhode Island roos can be protective to a fault (aka sometimes viewing people as a threat to their girls). I was thankful for the advice. We will see how Mr. Rock does as a (hopefully) gentle but firm protector!

 

[Grain Gypsy]

We are all geared up and ready for our next brood of chicks, arriving at the post office in time for pick-up tomorrow morning. This is our first time brooding two different ages of broods so close together. Our first brood is exactly 3 weeks older than our new chicks. We set up the brooder in the garage this time, and tonight we added a hardware cloth divider so the 3-week-olds will have one side and the day-olds will have the other. We moved the Brinsea Ecoglow to the day-old side and I put up a heat lamp (WAY UP HIGH) for the 3-week-olds. The 3-week-olds are a spritely bunch, so I doubt they'll need supplemental heat much longer. Just in case, though, they've got it! Here are pictures.

This is the entire brooder with the hardware mesh screen divider in.

Here are a couple ladies at the watering hole! I stapled hardware mesh to the sides of the brooder so I can raise and lower the waterers as needed.

Here's the 3-week-old side of the brooder. I drilled an old board onto the side of the brooder for stability, then clamped the heat lamp onto that. Heat lamps make me very nervous!

This is miss half-pint herself. I call her Millie. She's our Mille Fleur D'Uccle.

After brooding chicks in the fall/winter, we decided to use this 4-H feeder that holds 7 lbs. of feed for even the tiniest of the chicks. We start it out on the ground, then raise it up using a sturdy base of bricks as they grow. A full feeder is a happy flock of birds!

This is the new chick side of the brooder. We can't wait 'til it's full!