Consolidated Kansas

[rvroman]

Man, y'all sure have been busy bees! After reading about all your gardening ventures I may have enough motivation to go out and pull up all the baby trees my maple spawned over the last 2 years, and try and find my garden under all the weeds! Maybe by next week I can get a few plants in the ground! The babies are doing great! They have grown so much since I started them on fermented starter feed! The hubby built me a wonderful step up brooder with a run for the babies.

This weekend was my son's 7th birthday, so all last week I was crazy busy getting the house in order for his party. It was great, even if the weather changed our plans a bit.

We had sunshine for the first day Wednesday and the babies got some time outside in the grass. Our new neighbors even came over to take a peek at the little ones. That was the first time they really spoke to me, so I think that is a step in the right direction. Once I have enough eggs I'm gonna send the minions over with a dozen. My father dropped my egg container and all but 2 cracked :-( fortunately the girls are going strong and we are already up more than a dozen (pretty good for my 6 hens ranging 2 to 4 years old).

Well I suppose I should stop rambling and get my evening chores done so I can try and get back into some sort of schedule. I sure do hope the sunshine stays around for a while!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

rvroman, I've had to pull up a bunch of elms that dropped their seeds all over my garden. Now the Cottonwoods are starting with their cotton. Oh well, gives me something to think about.

Just sipping my coffee getting ready to start "the rounds" for the birds. Two brooders, one meat pen, one ornery duck who keeps chasing the baby ducks so is in "time out, the Silver Sussex and the baby ducks pen. I actually love greeting all the birds in the morning and letting everyone out and about.

I am planning to build either a hoop coop or split my 4 4' pens into 2' pens, making 8 instead of 4, and adding permanent roofing and some PVC on the bottom so they are easier to move. I'm thinking the mobile pens are really the better option as far as versatility, so I will probably modify those. If I can actually decide, I could get started!

So I am off for another day of planting and hope I get everything done before it rains again tonight. I'm ready to open the pool so I hope it warms up and clears up so we can get the pool water warmed a bit. In the summer we typically do our chores in the morning and swim. We alternate days of swim parties with quiet days so everyone can recover. The house sure is quiet the day after a big swim.

Okay, I'm off and running... hope everyone has a great day out there. Danz and Trish, I'm praying you won't get more rain!

 

[chicken danz]

This weekend was my son's 7th birthday, so all last week I was crazy busy getting the house in order for his party. It was great, even if the weather changed our plans a bit.

We had sunshine for the first day Wednesday and the babies got some time outside in the grass. Our new neighbors even came over to take a peek at the little ones. That was the first time they really spoke to me, so I think that is a step in the right direction. Once I have enough eggs I'm gonna send the minions over with a dozen. My father dropped my egg container and all but 2 cracked :-( fortunately the girls are going strong and we are already up more than a dozen (pretty good for my 6 hens ranging 2 to 4 years old).

I miss the days of having kids and doing things like that. I was so much more organized back then. I miss being able to do so much as well.
I'd love to take baby chicks outside. I've been trying to figure out some way I could let them out without letting cold air in when I'm not using the opening. Nothing has come to my little brain just yet. My brooder is on the northwest side of the building which isn't a good option for making an opening.

Quote:

rvroman, I've had to pull up a bunch of elms that dropped their seeds all over my garden.

Just sipping my coffee getting ready to start "the rounds" for the birds. Two brooders, one meat pen, one ornery duck who keeps chasing the baby ducks so is in "time out, the Silver Sussex and the baby ducks pen. I actually love greeting all the birds in the morning and letting everyone out and about.

I am planning to build either a hoop coop or split my 4 4' pens into 2' pens, making 8 instead of 4, and adding permanent roofing and some PVC on the bottom so they are easier to move. I'm thinking the mobile pens are really the better option as far as versatility, so I will probably modify those. If I can actually decide, I could get started!

So I am off for another day of planting and hope I get everything done before it rains again tonight. I'm ready to open the pool so I hope it warms up and clears up so we can get the pool water warmed a bit. In the summer we typically do our chores in the morning and swim. We alternate days of swim parties with quiet days so everyone can recover. The house sure is quiet the day after a big swim.

Okay, I'm off and running... hope everyone has a great day out there. Danz and Trish, I'm praying you won't get more rain!

If the volunteer trees that grow where they aren't supposed to would send up trees in the yard where they'd be beneficial this place would be a forest.
I totally agree with the moveable pen concept. The worst part with that idea is that when you have so many you run out of places to move them where you still have access to water and can run power if you need it. The mold in those East pens is so bad now that I know I have to move them. I just haven't figure out where on earth they can go that I can still stretch a hose. The biggest problem of course is also finding a place that won't get too hot and has some shade when it does decide to be summer. I want to do things differently any way but I have to empty pens first before I can reconfigure things much.
Well we are forecast to have two rounds of storms today. One this morning and another one later this evening. I am hoping for it to change it's course and miss us. I still have lots of babies to move around and would really like to get that done today. We have rain forecast all the way through the weekend every day.

I have a whole tray of eggs that were due the 1st that haven't hatched. I'm wondering if I dated them wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. I have baby ducks due tomorrow. A couple of trays worth. I'm wondering why I set them. I do have a buyer for some pekin girls though once they are hatched. I let the last little group out of their pen yesterday since it was warmer. They aren't very big. I sure hope they were smart enough to go back in last night.
Deerfield, I'm thinking Chopper is getting senile. Bad duck!!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

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LOL! Old and cranky? Like me! We are letting him out now, until he starts going after the younger ones. We penned him completely separately from the Anconas when they were growing out for awhile and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[chicken danz]

Sure hope he behaves. He just wants to be sure these young ducks know who's king out there!

 

[rvroman]

I want ducks so bad! The hubs draws the line at adding a new species to our menagerie. One day, when I have my farm and acreage... No one can stop me!

 

[Prairie Fleur]

Took a bad chemical hit yesterday so I'm laying around the house today trying to recuperate. I so want to be out working with my birds and goats but I'm exhausted from the reaction last night and I'm terrified I'll have another one if I go out again. I love summer but I HATE all the chem application. I have to go out and do the milking at least. Hopefully if I hurry and rush in to do a detox bath it won't do Too much damage.. :/
I'm trying to occupy my brain while I don't have the energy to do anything and I'm bored stiff. Reaction fuzzes my brain too so I'm not able to do bookwork or anything very profitable. sigh. Maybe someday we'll be able to move....

 

[sharol]

Mybroody isn't staying on the nest. She has one hatched chick and 11 eggs. Do I take the eggs to the incubator? She will be on the nest for 10 minutes and then off of the nest for 10 or 15 minutes. That can't be good for those eggs.

However, she is still protective of those eggs.

 

[sharol]

After running her back into the nest 4 times in 3 hours, I gave up and VERY CAREFULLY moved the eggs to the incubator. She was growling at me, but dang, mom. The one baby is doing well and running around all over the enclosure. I'm hoping some of them hatch in spite of the chilling today and I'll try to graft them back to her if I can.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

rvroman, I have 10 Silver Appleyard ducklings and they are so cute. They really are adorable but they are so messy. They soak everything and aren't content until their waterers are completely empty. If they have a wading pool to play in, they make a huge mess with that instead of draining the waterers. So, they are a bit of a nuisance but we enjoy them in spite of the mess.

sharol, That's a shame your broody wouldn't stay on task.

Prairie Fleur, I'm really sorry you're not feeling well. So, is it the chemical applications from farms that make you ill?

The kids and I worked like fiends today. We planted 11 cantaloupe, 11 watermelon, 10 more peppers, 7 Roma tomatoes, kohlrabi, cucumbers, yellow and green squash/zucchini, more beets, 11 cilantro, 1 curly and 1 flat parsley, 1 Italian Basil and 1 Sweet Basil, and more green beans. I didn't get to the radishes and carrots but I was too tired to keep going. We are going to sleep well tonight.

I love working in sight of the chicken yard. The little ducks had such a good time playing in the pool today. Chopper behaved for awhile with the littles and then began chasing and pulling their feathers. He had to go back in time out. But we'll try again tomorrow. He'll come around.

I still have to plant my sweet potato slips, and I would like to plant more corn, some pumpkins, amaranth, quinoa, more sunflowers and beans, if I get around to it. However, I think I've earned a day off. Tomorrow I'm going to bake some Ezekiel bread and make more bar soap.

I candled my Aloha shipped eggs yesterday and have 15 left, which is about half. So that's not to bad for a box that arrived with knife wounds. It will be interesting to see if any of them actually hatch. Keeping my fingers crossed.