Consolidated Kansas

[Anderson Lowe]

My fellow Kansan chickeners, Quick question for you all.

Type and brands of incubator?

Disregard this post please.
I lost my little girl I was going to incubate eggs from.

 

[chicken danz]

My fellow Kansan chickeners, Quick question for you all.

Type and brands of incubator?

I use GQF digital cabinet incubators. They are a large incubator and with the digital controls very dependable. Before that I had Little Giant styrofoam incubators. They work okay if you learn how to manage them but there is quite a learning curve to make them worth the trouble. There are some other smaller incubators that work very well made by Brinsea. These however are pretty pricy as well.

 

[chicken danz]

Tara sounds like you are as busy as I am. What a lovely inheritance! My poor green house hasn't been set up properly here and so far has only housed birds. Before I moved, it always had things growing in it. I really would love to use it as a green house again but not sure I can afford the additional utilities to keep it going in winter.
My dream is to build an underground greenhouse. I would so love to be able to walk from my basement into a greenhouse using the earth's natural heat and the solar gain from the top to keep it warm all year. Never going to happen unless somehow I would win a ton of money. I don't buy lottery tickets so that is probably never going to happen. I just love the idea of having my own tropical garden that is maintained by nature. I guarantee you I would spend all my time there. I am a person that loves warmth and sunshine.
When I was feeding today I saw one of my turkeys who has sat all summer more or less has at least 4 little turkey poults she hatched. This is pretty unexpected and I really don't have a safe place to put them. It just warms my heart when nature does it's thing.

 

[Anderson Lowe]

I use GQF digital cabinet  incubators. They are a large incubator and with the digital controls very dependable. Before that I had Little Giant styrofoam  incubators. They work okay if you learn how to manage them but there is quite a learning curve to make them worth the trouble. There are some other smaller incubators that work very well made by Brinsea. These however are pretty pricy as well.

Thanks Danz I will look that one up.

It will probably be awhile before I get back into wanting to breed/incubate

 

[Trish44]

I'm sorry for your loss Anderson.

It sounds like everyone is busy right now. It's the time of year to start getting things ready for winter. I've been working on projects out at my pens & getting coops cleaned out. I still have some more things to do before the cold gets here but I'm getting there. I have two new Partridge Orpington pullets coming from Tx this coming week. I sure hope they make it here OK, they're pretty pricey birds. I will be adding a couple birds from danz as well this week for my breeding stock. I've sold off all of the birds now that I had intended to sell so now all I have left are keepers. The young pullets have all gone into the main coop now other than one that is still not old enough yet & a little roo as well that are residing with my Mille Fleur Leghorns right now. I've been slowly getting all of the birds integrated into the pens & coops where they belong, it's been a process.

danz I'm so happy for you that you got that watering system in & working, that's great!

 

[chicken danz]

@Anderson Lowe , I'm sorry I missed the end of your post where you lost your hen. That's sad. Just for the record from about now until January is the very best time to buy a used incubator form individuals. I would be watching Craigslist for some bargains. It's never a bad idea to have one available just in case. And they are great tools to use if you have a chick that gets chilled for some reason as well. I am always taking a chick and putting it in the incubator to get warmed up. Seems every once in a while they all decide to try to drown themselves in the the waterers or something.
I'm down to just 2 peacock eggs now and a few partridge orpington eggs in my incubator. I don't know if I'll get to shut down completely or not but it sure is a nice change. If I get the rest of my projects caught up I might actually enjoy hatching again next spring. That's a big if though. I can't imagine getting caught up.
A couple of my pullets for some orpington colors have finally started laying. It's so tempting to pop them in the incubator.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Tara sounds like you are as busy as I am. What a lovely inheritance! My poor green house hasn't been set up properly here and so far has only housed birds. Before I moved, it always had things growing in it. I really would love to use it as a green house again but not sure I can afford the additional utilities to keep it going in winter.
My dream is to build an underground greenhouse. I would so love to be able to walk from my basement into a greenhouse using the earth's natural heat and the solar gain from the top to keep it warm all year. Never going to happen unless somehow I would win a ton of money. I don't buy lottery tickets so that is probably never going to happen. I just love the idea of having my own tropical garden that is maintained by nature. I guarantee you I would spend all my time there. I am a person that loves warmth and sunshine.
When I was feeding today I saw one of my turkeys who has sat all summer more or less has at least 4 little turkey poults she hatched. This is pretty unexpected and I really don't have a safe place to put them. It just warms my heart when nature does it's thing.

I worked for a locally owned Wholesale Greenhouse for 3 years. I shot my ideas for growing citris in this area to the owner with 40+ years experience. We surmised that you could safely go about 4 to 5 feet into the ground before you would lose too much light. With another 7 feet of GH above the surface I think you could safely grow dwarf versions of most citrus and tropical fruits. Of course suplimental light would be needed in the winter but it is possible.

BUT I don't play the lottery either, nor do I have any millionaire inheritance in the near future.....
We are going to go about three feet down, which is how my G-Father-in-law designed it. It is a small one, only about 12 x 8 I think, with maybe 6 feet above ground. I want a grow box on one side and simply weedblock material on the other. My middle son has been asking for a banana tree for years, now he may get one!
I am going to do a good amount of vertical growing as well.

 

[chicken danz]

I used to grow bananas when I lived in Oklahoma City. I would simply take the roots and plant them out in spring, then dig them up and store them in the crawl space under the house for winter. The "trees' would get about 8 feet tall during the summer. Of course these were the large type, not the dwarf ornamental type. It was always so nice just to have that tropical feel in the yard. But we didn't ever get bananas. I also have had orange trees, lime trees, etc. There is nothing nicer than the smell of orange blossums. I just kept a tree in a large pot and brought it inside in winter. I did have a lot of southern windows in my old house and this house doesn't have any good ones.
Well when talking about an underground greenhouse I was talking about a large one. At least 20 feet wide and maybe 40-50 feet long. I do know where there is one, but I don't know the people or I would ask to go look at it.
I was gone all afternoon. I sold some birds this morning as well so it's been a busy day. I got to watch my granddaughter for a little while today. We're just far enough apart that hasn't ever happened before. I really enjoyed it. She is 5 years old and talks like she is 25.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I used to grow bananas when I lived in Oklahoma City. I would simply take the roots and plant them out in spring, then dig them up and store them in the crawl space under the house for winter. The "trees' would get about 8 feet tall during the summer. Of course these were the large type, not the dwarf ornamental type. It was always so nice just to have that tropical feel in the yard. But we didn't ever get bananas. I also have had orange trees, lime trees, etc. There is nothing nicer than the smell of orange blossums. I just kept a tree in a large pot and brought it inside in winter. I did have a lot of southern windows in my old house and this house doesn't have any good ones.
Well when talking about an underground greenhouse I was talking about a large one. At least 20 feet wide and maybe 40-50 feet long. I do know where there is one, but I don't know the people or I would ask to go look at it.
I was gone all afternoon. I sold some birds this morning as well so it's been a busy day. I got to watch my granddaughter for a little while today. We're just far enough apart that hasn't ever happened before. I really enjoyed it. She is 5 years old and talks like she is 25.

Yes that is more the size of what we had at the GH I worked at. Maybe one day I'll buy one from him and get some property to put it on!

 

[TakenBackBre]

Here is the new guy. . Seeley Jacob.

He's very quiet still and keeps his eyes wide open looking around most of the time. Keeping us all busy and happy.