Consolidated Kansas

[MrsProf]

@Ron Rose I think I would set a live trap and see what it catches. Or maybe a game camera, so you know what you're up against. The cats in our neighborhood don't bother the chickens, but we've had opossum and raccoon and hawks (not to mention dogs!) all cause problems.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Not a great pic but I have chicks! Haven't had time to count them but I have chicks! These are from my hatch. Mostly Buff Sussex but a few crosses: Buff/Aloha and Buff/Speckled Sussex.



And...
I have ducks! These are my Silver Appleyards from Holderread's. So cute! All arrived safe and sound.



I still have 10 chicks coming from Walt'z Ark and 10 geese coming from McMurray.


I have been crazy busy around here, even with all the rain. My pond has started to fill -- yay! The weeds are totally happy -- maybe I will get a chance to do something about their reign over my domain, if the rain will let up.

Man, I did not sleep last night. Just one of those nights.

I did catch up on reading -- missed a lot of good conversation!

Thndrdncr, I hope you are feeling better. What a bummer to come home sick.

 

[chicken danz]

Anyone ever had problems with stray tom cats killing small chickens? I am losing my 10 week old chickens but I can't find any clues? No noise no feathers and all during day time. At first I thought it was a hawk but I never see any flying around. But we have had a couple stray toms. We have no problem with our cats the chickens actually eat out of the cats dish with the cats. Since these stray cats are the only thing my family sees on a regular basis is making me believe it might be them. I have looked in the out buildings all around equipment but can't find any trace of feathers.

I would guess a young coyote (if you are out in the country), a fox if you are in town. (It's breeding season for fox and they like to move to populated areas to have their kits.) I don't think the cats would bother a chick that old but I guess anything is possible. I have seen cats grab a full sized rabbit before when the opportunity was there. Hawks can be very cunning and they are day hunters. Dogs usually kill for the sport, not grab and run.
If you have feral cats around you are better to get them out of there anyway so trapping might solve the problem.

@chicken danz The Scientist that discovered the protien says that a treatment could be ready for human trials in as little as 2 years.

I'll probably be dead before they have a cure but maybe it would help my kids or my grandkids.

Not a great pic but I have chicks! Haven't had time to count them but I have chicks! These are from my hatch. Mostly Buff Sussex but a few crosses: Buff/Aloha and Buff/Speckled Sussex.



And...
I have ducks! These are my Silver Appleyards from Holderread's. So cute! All arrived safe and sound.



I still have 10 chicks coming from Walt'z Ark and 10 geese coming from McMurray.


I have been crazy busy around here, even with all the rain. My pond has started to fill -- yay! The weeds are totally happy -- maybe I will get a chance to do something about their reign over my domain, if the rain will let up.

Man, I did not sleep last night. Just one of those nights.

I did catch up on reading -- missed a lot of good conversation!

Thndrdncr, I hope you are feeling better. What a bummer to come home sick.

Aw! Congrats on the chicks and ducks. I hatched a duckling that looks just like those appleyards. It is feathering in the strangest way too. I have a few mixed ducks and all the ducks are running free range together right now, so my combinations can be anything. I didn't hatch per say last year, and decided to hatch some this year to fill the freezer and add a few girls for layers.
In fact because I had room in the incubators for a change I gathered a bunch of duck eggs from here and there and put them in last night. The girls are all wanting to nest so there are duck egg piles every where imaginable. I like it much better when they lay in the duck house. I normally just sell the eggs for eating eggs but thanks to the weather and the work I've been doing I hadn't gotten them gathered.
My geese have quit laying and the girls are still wanting to be maternal. One pair chased a duck off a nest and the goose is sitting on it now. If she leaves, the duck sneaks back on. They may never hatch but it would be funny to see who claims the babies.
I switched out a door on one of my incubators. My old hatcher had a plexiglass door and I switched it to one of the other incubators. What an improvement. I hatch my goslings and peafowl in this incubator and I need to be able to see pips. This incubator had a solid wood door that was a real pain.

 

[Trish44]

Deerfield I love the markings on those ducklings, cute! I have a few ducklings right now of the Anconas & more in the incubator due soon. I'm about done hatching ducks except for the eggs I got in the mail yesterday. I got some green ancona eggs from a gal in OK that I've been waiting for awhile. I thought it would be fun to add some green egg layers to the others I have that lay white. Those will of course not be due for a month. I have one set of chicks I've been waiting on to be shipped for months & they keep coming up with excuses so now I don't know if I will get them or not. I wish they would just tell me if they can't send them rather than stringing me along.

I know we needed this rain but enough for awhile, I wish we could just spread it out when we need it instead of getting it all at once. I have things outside that I need to be doing but it's just too messy to do it. I have to watch my footing out there so I don't break anything again, ugh that would just be the pits.

I'm finishing up a hatch from yesterday & my one brooder is really full now. Then this morning I found chicks in the bottom of the incubator again & either I got the date wrong or those little critters were way early. What the?? I put little slips of paper in with the eggs to show the due dates besides writing all batches down I set in my log book so I'm scratching my head on this one. They seem to be fine but I don't like them to hatch & fall to the bottom of the incubator with the turner going. I'm always afraid they'll get caught & get smashed.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish we should have ducks due the same day. I have another batch due in 2 days. All the female from that group are spoken for so I hope I have lots of girls. I want some boys for the freezer but not a ton of them.
I'm with you. It just keeps raining and I can't get anything done I want to because of it. It's a muddy mess and the flies have increased 10 fold since this rain started.
My broody hens moved their chicks out in the yard today. I had them in a pen in the garage. I guess they weren't happy with the food service I provided. I love watching the Mom's with their babies but it seems the broodies tend to loose a lot of their babies. I'd sure like a couple pullets to survive in this group cause they should be olive eggers. Just another little addition to eating eggs I guess.
I've had that happen before as well, Trish. I can understand if the date is a week off. I figure I just counted wrong but I've had some like 5 days off and wonder how on earth I did that. I don't keep journals and I just write the breed and the hatch date on the egg. I move my eggs around to make room when I am doing a lot of hatching. I would never be able to keep track with paper. Even then I have so many breeds hatch at one time I have to identify the chicks as I pull them out. I suppose I should have better records because I never know how many of what breed I have at a time.
I have some guineas hatching today. Not many. I've only had a few white guineas in the past and this year about 50% are hatching white and I think most of the others have been pearl pieds. I've not hatched any lavenders at all yet which are probably my favorite. I only have one lavender hen in this group. I may have to find a way to put her with one of my free range lavender cocks.
Last evening I saw one of my group of young cockerels that are free ranging with something dangling from it's mouth. I thought perhaps it was a dead chick or something. It was too long legged to be a mouse. Of course the chase was on and the other cockerels were chasing the one with the prize. He finally dropped it and it started hopping away. It was a frog. It was so funny to watch those boys trying to catch that hopping frog again. It's all normal chicken behavior but throw in the element of a hopping frog it sure becomes funny.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Deerfield I love the markings on those ducklings, cute! I have a few ducklings right now of the Anconas & more in the incubator due soon. I'm about done hatching ducks except for the eggs I got in the mail yesterday. I got some green ancona eggs from a gal in OK that I've been waiting for awhile. I thought it would be fun to add some green egg layers to the others I have that lay white. Those will of course not be due for a month. I have one set of chicks I've been waiting on to be shipped for months & they keep coming up with excuses so now I don't know if I will get them or not. I wish they would just tell me if they can't send them rather than stringing me along.

I know we needed this rain but enough for awhile, I wish we could just spread it out when we need it instead of getting it all at once. I have things outside that I need to be doing but it's just too messy to do it. I have to watch my footing out there so I don't break anything again, ugh that would just be the pits.

I'm finishing up a hatch from yesterday & my one brooder is really full now. Then this morning I found chicks in the bottom of the incubator again & either I got the date wrong or those little critters were way early. What the?? I put little slips of paper in with the eggs to show the due dates besides writing all batches down I set in my log book so I'm scratching my head on this one. They seem to be fine but I don't like them to hatch & fall to the bottom of the incubator with the turner going. I'm always afraid they'll get caught & get smashed.

Green duck eggs -- that's really cool! That's really weird about the chicks hatching early. I had that happen in my Sportsman once and I couldn't figure out what the heck! With those moving parts, he risk of them getting caught is really unnerving.

I love ducks but they are the messiest things. I guess the geese won't be any tidier. Ha!

Last evening I saw one of my group of young cockerels that are free ranging with something dangling from it's mouth. I thought perhaps it was a dead chick or something. It was too long legged to be a mouse. Of course the chase was on and the other cockerels were chasing the one with the prize. He finally dropped it and it started hoping away. It was a frog. It was so funny to watch those boys trying to catch that hopping frog again. It's all normal chicken behavior but throw in the element of a hopping frog it sure becomes funny.

Funny! I can just imagine it. My ducks love frogs but from the sound of it, there are plenty left out there. This time of year the cat doesn't want to go outside because she's scared of the frog noise. If she makes it outside, she turns right around, low to the ground and comes right back in. Makes me laugh. Big cat like that.

I managed to get some weeds pulled!

Oh, guys, the chick I've been babying is doing great. I brought in another chick to keep it company and it has progressed to the point it could go back out with the others. I've enjoyed having the two in here so I'm not in a rush to take them back out!

I think it just got chilled. Somehow it wandered out of the hover brooder and didn't go back in. Silly baby.

 

[Trish44]

Trish we should have ducks due the same day. I have another batch due in 2 days. All the female from that group are spoken for so I hope I have lots of girls. I want some boys for the freezer but not a ton of them.
I'm with you. It just keeps raining and I can't get anything done I want to because of it. It's a muddy mess and the flies have increased 10 fold since this rain started.
My broody hens moved their chicks out in the yard today. I had them in a pen in the garage. I guess they weren't happy with the food service I provided. I love watching the Mom's with their babies but it seems the broodies tend to loose a lot of their babies. I'd sure like a couple pullets to survive in this group cause they should be olive eggers. Just another little addition to eating eggs I guess.
I've had that happen before as well, Trish. I can understand if the date is a week off. I figure I just counted wrong but I've had some like 5 days off and wonder how on earth I did that. I don't keep journals and I just write the breed and the hatch date on the egg. I move my eggs around to make room when I am doing a lot of hatching. I would never be able to keep track with paper. Even then I have so many breeds hatch at one time I have to identify the chicks as I pull them out. I suppose I should have better records because I never know how many of what breed I have at a time.
I have some guineas hatching today. Not many. I've only had a few white guineas in the past and this year about 50% are hatching white and I think most of the others have been pearl pieds. I've not hatched any lavenders at all yet which are probably my favorite. I only have one lavender hen in this group. I may have to find a way to put her with one of my free range lavender cocks.
Last evening I saw one of my group of young cockerels that are free ranging with something dangling from it's mouth. I thought perhaps it was a dead chick or something. It was too long legged to be a mouse. Of course the chase was on and the other cockerels were chasing the one with the prize. He finally dropped it and it started hopping away. It was a frog. It was so funny to watch those boys trying to catch that hopping frog again. It's all normal chicken behavior but throw in the element of a hopping frog it sure becomes funny.

Yeah these chicks were like a week early, huh? I put those little slips of paper in the tray when I set the eggs so I don't see how I could be off that much, oh well.

I have the two white guineas in my hoop coop so I'm hoping I get some more whites too. I haven't put more males outside yet because I want to wait till it stops raining to throw them out. I have violet & pinto guinea eggs in the incubator so I hope some of those hatch. The pinto are interesting looking, they have more white than just the pied. I have had purples before but not violet so I will be interested to see what they look like. I'm getting some interesting colors now.

I have seen my chickens catch frogs before too, a really big one & they fought over it. I never saw if they ate it or it got away because they ran down the hill with it. It's the funniest thing ever to see though, a chicken with a big frog in their mouth. I had some the other day catch a mouse in the pen. They gave that mouse hell passing it around. I think they finally killed it & ate it. I have mouse tunnels in my breeder coop pens & sometimes I wash them out when watering the birds so that's what happened that day.

 

[jennyjane73]

Your kids are adopted? That's too cool! I'm adopted myself as is my younger brother. I always love a good adoption story! I hope we can someday try for kids of our own as well as consider adopting. Maybe in the next year or two if God blesses with improved health.

If any of you are interested in becoming a foster parent and you're in the Wichita area, let me know. I train foster parents and am a foster parent myself.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

If any of you are interested in becoming a foster parent and you're in the Wichita area, let me know. I train foster parents and am a foster parent myself.

I've had friends who have fostered and after watching them I'm pretty sure its not something I really want to be involved in. I've watched children blossom under their foster parents and then seen the turmoil and damage caused when they have parental visits. A friend also got their license pulled for abuse and will now be unable to adopt, ever, to my knowledge, because she left a kindergartener and preschooler in her fenced backyard for 5 minutes unsupervised and one of them got a small bruise no one knew what it was from. The kids were so obviously happy and secure with them that the whole thing was absurd. It works out wonderfully for some people and it's a mission in itself, but I couldn't stand having my heart ripped out when 'my babies' were put back in a home where they were unhappy, insecure, and possibly abused. Sometimes the kids need to go back to their parents but so many times it's seems like common sense in the whole thing is lacking. One parent gets the kids pulled permanently for something that's ridiculous and other kids go back to situations that are deplorable. But it's just my opinion based on my own observations so maybe I've seen more negative than there is other places. I'll shut up and keep my opinions to myself now!

 

[thndrdancr]

Your not wrong, Prairie. I used to work in foster care in Nebraska, seen a lot of that crap. Had my heart ripped out a couple times too.