Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well the freezer that died was an upright. I replaced every part I could except the compressor just too make sure all bases were covered. The door seal was still good. I did some online searching and learned it just needed the freon recharged. It was at least 15+ years old anyway. There was never any frost build up in this one. The defroster made sure of that before I replaced it.
Ralph you can probably find a replacement seal for that freezer and eliminate the cat litter. There's a lot of after market seals that are a lot cheaper. Just look on line if you can find the model number and stuff for it.

 

[DLC Eskies]

Hi everyone!!! I haven't posted here in a while, we've been so busy.

So, my chicks finally came yesterday. They all appear to be healthy, eating, drinking, playing, sleeping.
I have become addicted to chick tv, lol. They are so funny.

We started building the coop 3 weeks ago. All that's left to do is some painting, putting the hardware cloth in the windows and finish putting the fencing up on the yard. It would have been done this past weekend but our household goods shipment was finally delivered. Getting stuff unpacked and set up took priority.
Hoping to get it finished this weekend cause we've been considering getting 2 or 3 pullets that have started to lay, if we can find some within driving distance from us.

Here are a couple pics of my new fuzzbutts:

 

[chicken danz]

Welcome back. I'll bet it's great to have your own things back and be settling in. You'll have to post pictures of your coop since you've nearly got it finished.
I'd suggest looking on Craigslist if you are looking for pullets. Just be careful that you don't end up with someone's old birds. Red flags include being bare on the back from a rooster. Pullets haven't been bred long enough to have rooster rash. Look for smooth soft feathers and hopefully some shine to them. If the feathers look dull and rough they are probably older birds. Check the skin on the legs. Older birds have older looking skin and younger birds still appear supple.
I sure didn't get much done yesterday. Last night was the third night in a row I was awake most of the night coughing. I really believe this a viral thing because I haven't seen indications of infection yet, but man am I miserable. I don't know if I feel worse because of lack of sleep or because of all the coughing. I just keep taking everything I can to get the symptoms to subside but it's not doing much good. I really don't want to go to the doctor and get a prescription cause I'm not totally sure it will help. I've tried some essential oils on my chest but they haven't improved things.

 

[Trish44]

danz I'm sorry you're feeling bad, I hope you get better soon.

This week has just been a whirlwind for me, way too busy & I can't get anything done at home for being gone. I've got to get on that painting today & see if I can get the last piece done today.

I dodged a bullet with the other broody who was sitting on eggs, they turned out to not be fertile, whew. I just didn't want more little chicks right now, it doesn't fit into my timeline. It's hard to have to integrate small chicks in outside when it's cold. I did it last year & didn't want to this year. Most of the birds left in my growout pen are getting good sized other than just a handful of younger ones, but they're growing. I'm still trying to separate out the females guineas from the males. As they start to do their calls I go in & grab the females & take them to the guinea coop. I heard another one in the growout pen right at dark last night but couldn't see well enough to pick out which one was buckwheating.

 

[jennyjane73]

Billy Idol, the city rooster, is moving to a farm this weekend.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Well things are starting to, if not slow down, then at least settling into a routine here again. Getting stuff done around the house is still a struggle with the DH out of his dominate hand. He is able to grip some things now, but has a long way to go regaining strength after losing so much muscle to nerve damage. Hopefully as the weather cools we can at least get one more breeding pen up before winter.
I plan to bring my numbers down before winter as well. I am having a difficult time letting go of some of my original hens though, and one of the capons (of course the largest) is just so sweet LOL. I told myself that I wouldn't keep old hens but some have earned a free ride.

On a less local note, what the heck ever happened to two people breaking up and moving on....Dodge City just had a murder and attempted suicide of a man, his ex, and her new BF. Then a couple of days ago an old HS friend of mine was the boyfriend in another similar shooting. When did this become the thing to do???

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I would add to be very careful about the health of the pullets you buy. There are horror stories about people who bring home a hen or two and lose their whole flock to one disease or another. Isolate the new pullets from the babies for at least a few weeks -- shouldn't be too hard with the little ones inside, but keep in mind new babies are vulnerable to disease. Were it me, I wouldn't get pullets unless I knew the breeder and the history of the flock.

 

[Trish44]

I agree with sharol about buying birds & adding them to your chicks. Be very careful who you buy from. I'm really kind of relieved that I can't buy any birds except from other breeders who are NPIP & I know quite a few people now. The only bad thing is most all of them are out of state so I have to buy hatching eggs if I want to add any birds. I doubt I'll be adding too many in the next year though unless I lose a breeder bird & need to replace it. I'm pretty happy with what I have other than a couple of pullets I'm going to have shipped to me for a rooster I have no hens for.

tarabellabirds, I'm glad your DH is getting better, those things just take a lot of time. I know what you mean about the crazy things people do these days, it's hard to believe sometimes & you wonder what in the world gets into them.

I'm still integrating young birds into pens, I will be doing that for a bit yet till I get my growout pen emptied out. I moved a couple today again so a few at a time is progress I guess. I will be selling a group of birds tomorrow evening so I will be moving some into that pen as soon as I clean it good. I've been waiting to sell this group so I could move another breed in there from the growout pen. I guess now I will be choosing which roosters I want to keep. I think I may still have 3 roosters of that breed left so I will have an extra to get rid of. I also have a Speckled Sussex rooster that is really young that I don't need either. I've been lucky lately that some people have needed replacement roosters for some of them I had. It's hard though to sell extra roosters usually since people only need so many. I will start moving another group of pullets to the main coop Monday too so another group to have to teach where to go in at night. I just got the other 3 so they will go in at dark, yay! Now I have another group of 3 to work with. It's exhausting trying to get them in the mindset that they don't live in the growout pen any more. They will go & hang out around that pen all day long when they could be free ranging & having fun. I'm hoping the new ones that just learned will start ranging more away from the pens & eating bugs & all before there aren't any left when it gets too cold.

 

[chicken danz]

I got a little more sleep last night cause I wasn't coughing so much but I am running a fever and this congestion has also moved to my sinuses now. Good grief. I really don't have time to stop and heal. I learned several years ago the best thing I can do if I am sick with congestion things is to spend time out in the sun. It's weird but it seems to help me more than anything else. I've got plenty to do out there anyway.
I haven't felt like doing much extra recently, but I'd like to get my water system finished up this weekend in the building.... at least the breeder's side. I am going to have to have DH's help with some of the fittings that are in the air cause I don't have enough strength to run the crimpers without bracing them on something.
I need to make a trip to get a load of chick starter too. I drive a couple hours to get it but I usually get about 15 bags at a time. It seems I always need things on holiday weekends.
Tara I think honestly, it has become a status for people to have guns. And then you add a little chemical brain imbalance, or the use of recreational drugs and you end up with disaster. It's scary how many shootings there are now. When I was a police officer and homeowners had guns, we learned that the homeowners were a lot bigger threat than the criminals. When there was a prowler call , we used to have the dispatchers stay on the phone with them just so they wouldn't shoot us when we got there. Nothing is worse than an emotional person with a gun regardless of whether it is a domestic situation or a burglary. And now it's even worse since people are getting more and more guns for self protection.
I won't go into my opinions on gun control cause I don't want to end up with arguments.
What I find the most sad is the lack of respect for a human life.

 

[sharol]

Well, we had a near loss last night. When I checked the chickens, one of the young Araucana pullets was missing. I looked everywhere I could think of for her -- under things in the coop, the run, the yard. I even went out from the house a ways, but of course it was dark, and she isn't a lap bird so she didn't even peep at me. I woke up this morning expecting to find a sad little corpse somewhere in the pasture today, and there she was perched on the fence rail OUTSIDE THE NETTING. The little stinker had gotten out of the yard at some point yesterday and couldn't get back in. She was savvy enough to hide out all night though, and after a bit of a skirmish, she came back in. When I caught her, she snuggled down on my arm, so I think she was glad to be getting home.

One of my BBS Orp eggs hatched this morning. Mom kicked out the egg shell, but I haven't seen the chick yet. I her HER peeping. 1 down, 9 or 10 to go (I've lost track of the eggs that are left). I took the broodies some cucumber this morning and put it a the entrance to the nest boxes. They seemed to appreciate the snack and dived right in. I figured that would get some moisture into them if they were sitting tight. Now the wait for the others.