Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Quote: It depends on what you are looking for. Having some knowledge of the breeds helps. If you are just looking at mixed breed or hatchery birds it's a whole different story. If you want a young laying hen it's best if the feathers look shiny and bright and not roughed up. Young legs look much smoother than an old birds legs. You would be the safest to buy some pullets that aren't quite ready to lay. So they are smaller and still have some growing to do. At least without a trained eye you know those aren't old hens. I would avoid buying sex link birds at all unless they are still really young. Those birds lay a lot but are pretty burnt out by the time they are about 18 months old. Many people buy them, then replace them at about that time. They will still lay a bit longer but not worth paying the price for for a few months of eggs.

 

[girlsnammo]

Just updated my run building project thread. My girls have their own little farm house now. All that's left is the siding for their cozy new home. Took a while with dh being hurt, I did most of the building myself while he did the intricate cuts and told me what to do. It was a really fun project but I'm glad it's almost done. We put the roofing on yesterday and have to paint the siding before installing it but moses and the girls love it! Of course we made it to fit 20+ chickens so they have tons of room plus an entire 15x20 run to play in. Dh says he is jealous cuz they have a mansion. I think this spring I will get a few lav. Orphingtons to add to the flock. I hope my silkie goes broody so I can give them to her.

 

[chicken danz]

Just updated my run building project thread. My girls have their own little farm house now. All that's left is the siding for their cozy new home. Took a while with dh being hurt, I did most of the building myself while he did the intricate cuts and told me what to do. It was a really fun project but I'm glad it's almost done. We put the roofing on yesterday and have to paint the siding before installing it but moses and the girls love it! Of course we made it to fit 20+ chickens so they have tons of room plus an entire 15x20 run to play in. Dh says he is jealous cuz they have a mansion. I think this spring I will get a few lav. Orphingtons to add to the flock. I hope my silkie goes broody so I can give them to her.

Congrats on getting your coop near completion. Just in time for the cool weather to set in. I couldn't believe the forecast I saw last night. Looks like I'll be wearing jeans before the weekend rolls around.
I had such a busy weekend. Then yesterday I had a little girl here all afternoon. She wanted to help me but it turned out it tripled the amount of work I had to do. Then we went on a mouse hunt. I've got to say those cats are doing their jobs! The only place where they are still prevalent is in the peafowl pens where they can't get in or too close to most of it. If the peafowl wouldn't get spooked I'd put a cat in one run at a time and let them have at it. Still there's way too many of them around here. I'm sure hoping to find a cheap spay and neuter option so I can get them all fixed. Besides they are eating tons of catfood as the mice population decreases. I have a couple that like to hang out in my new building which is great but when it gets cold I won't be leaving the door open for them.
Anyway I am looking forward to taking it a bit easier today. My back is really flaring and it makes it hard to move my right leg.

 

[Trish44]

Just updated my run building project thread. My girls have their own little farm house now. All that's left is the siding for their cozy new home. Took a while with dh being hurt, I did most of the building myself while he did the intricate cuts and told me what to do. It was a really fun project but I'm glad it's almost done. We put the roofing on yesterday and have to paint the siding before installing it but moses and the girls love it! Of course we made it to fit 20+ chickens so they have tons of room plus an entire 15x20 run to play in. Dh says he is jealous cuz they have a mansion. I think this spring I will get a few lav. Orphingtons to add to the flock. I hope my silkie goes broody so I can give them to her.

Congrats on the new coop, we'd love to see pics of it when you're all finished.

MaSmith I sent you a PM back.

I've been working on quite a project in the house, ugh. My walk in closet had gotten way out of control so I've been working the last two days cleaning that out & getting things put back where they belong. I've still got a little bit left today to do but the worst of it is done, thank goodness. I have a huge load of trash bags full of clothes to go to Goodwill when I get a chance to take them there. I have been needing to do that for a very long time. Now I have to get back to work outside when I'm finished with this project.

 

[LavrisChica]

Hello everyone!

Goodness, its been a while since I posted anything. Did not realize how much time had gone by. Guess the adage of time flies when having fun holds true!

So much to catch up on reading. Not sure I can get that accomplished!! lol

Been busy busy busy on various projects. The coop remodel looks great, so roomy and better designed for functionality, complete with hinged roosts (enough for a flock of close to 80 +/-), curtained nesting boxes, built-in inside dust-bathe box, a cage cabinet housing 6 separate cages with supply storage above, new large feed bins that hold 80-100 lbs of feed at a time (yay!), two hanging broody cages, and an added on brooder! Awaiting sand for the flooring (hopefully next week) and then I can start enclosing the run which will cover a 30' x 18' +/- area and adding fun things for them in the run. Can't wait to embellish and make cute/appealing with little touches here and there!

Also been working on a new craft/tool/workshop shed about the size of a two car garage. Its been a slow process with a lot of obstacles. UGH.

The inside remodel has come a long way as well. Almost completely done with both the second bathroom and the living room! Wowser!

We now have three goats, too! What fun! One white and cream Kiko with grey tear stains, I named Tearston; one chocolate brown and white La Mancha named Moses, and one tri-colored Nubian named Maximilian. We banded them last week, so they're wethers now. We know nothing about goats, so this has been and will be an adventure for sure!

The hawks on our property have multiplied, and there for a while were dive-bombing the flock, large birds and all, while I was standing not but 10' away! As a result, lost several birds. So one week was spent researching and implementing various hawk-deterrent methods, which also included me running around like a screaming banshee waving my arms to scare them away. What a sight! SMH. Now we have three scare-hawk ladies that I've adorned with plastic strips, ribbons, tin cans, and old CD's that sure reflect and cause commotion when the wind blows and the sun shines. I move them every few days to keep the hawks guessing. So far so good.

A handful of chickens came down with a laryngitis-like issue about a month ago. Affected their voices and caused a little sneezing. No drainage and no lethargy, so just been watching them closely. All seemed ok for the most part until yesterday one of my toddler chicks looked pretty pekid and began gasping for air and noticed what looks like a conjunctivitis. So, he's separated, lots of TLC, and antibiotics. That began the mad-cleaning of all the waterers, pools, feeders, roosts, etc, and a round of tetracycline for the flock today. Hope that gets nipped in the bud as I have 7 baby polish chicks in the brooder now, and 7 ducklings arriving this week.

Looking to add more to the flock, as several of my colored-egg-layers became predator prey (hawks most likely). I was hoping to get them now so they'd be laying by spring. But, it seems most the hatcheries are done for the season, so I must wait.

Got to spend quite a bit of time with the grandkids this summer, and am expecting two more come February and April 2016! YAY!

The chicken garden got put on hold til next year, and instead we now have an explosion of burs/stickers! EVERYWHERE. The whole place seems infested with them! Its never been this bad before! UGH! So, next year's work will be doubled to eradicate those pesky things completely! And the wasps this summer have seemed to quadruple. Don't know what's up with that; however, with my allergy to their stings, I am forever terrified and cautious where I go. Anyone else having these issues this summer?

Well, hopefully I can get some catching up done - we shall see. lol

 

[Oatbucket]

I too have been absent for far too long. Things have been crazy busy for a while. I had all of the run up to a book release earlier this spring, Then the garden went crazy this summer and the produce from it was trying to take over my kitchen (we were bringing in 130+ pounds of tomatoes from it twice a week) and the canners were running pretty much non-stop, usually until 11pm each night. Then my grandmother started failing and we were making 120 mile round trips at least three times a week to see her, clean out her house (she went to a nursing home), get it sold which happened amazingly quick although she barely made payoff and fees off it, and handle all kinds of things, up until she passed last week. And then there were all of the arrangements to be made and the funeral to attend. In the midst of all of this I've still been trying to wedge some writing in and I had a book event to go to.

The garden is growing quiet now, there are no more 120 mile round trips to be made (though I'm not happy about the reason for that), and cool weather is finally starting to creep in. Many of the hens are molting, but we are still getting a good number of eggs each day. Of my three polish hens, only one is left. The other two died of unknown causes during the summer. All of the rest of the ladies are happy and healthy. During the hottest part of the summer we put the sprinkler in their pen to help keep them cool. They always like that. Even with a lot of deep shade for them to get into, it was still way too hot to just let them deal with it. As soon as we turned on the sprinkler for the afternoon, they would all run to stand in it.

We also appear to have another cat. Not because I want another cat, but because he seems to want us. *sigh* I can't turn him away so it looks like I will be hauling a cat in to be neutered soon.

 

[girlsnammo]

Thank you everyone and as soon as its completed I will definitely post a pic.

 

[chicken danz]

Been busy busy busy on various projects. The coop remodel looks great, so roomy and better designed for functionality, complete with hinged roosts (enough for a flock of close to 80 +/-), curtained nesting boxes, built-in inside dust-bathe box, a cage cabinet housing 6 separate cages with supply storage above, new large feed bins that hold 80-100 lbs of feed at a time (yay!), two hanging broody cages, and an added on brooder! Awaiting sand for the flooring (hopefully next week) and then I can start enclosing the run which will cover a 30' x 18' +/- area and adding fun things for them in the run. Can't wait to embellish and make cute/appealing with little touches here and there!
That sounds like quite the coop. You should post pictures!
Also been working on a new craft/tool/workshop shed about the size of a two car garage. Its been a slow process with a lot of obstacles. UGH.
Love to see that too. I can live vicariously from things other people have that I wish I did.
The inside remodel has come a long way as well. Almost completely done with both the second bathroom and the living room! Wowser!
Again I am envious. I have so many unfinished projects in the house. The house seems to have taken a back seat to the birds and other animals.
We now have three goats, too! What fun! One white and cream Kiko with grey tear stains, I named Tearston; one chocolate brown and white La Mancha named Moses, and one tri-colored Nubian named Maximilian. We banded them last week, so they're wethers now. We know nothing about goats, so this has been and will be an adventure for sure!
Glad it's you and not me. What are you going to do with them? Do you plan to butcher them or just keep them for pets? I enjoyed having baby goats when I had them but the bad outweighed the good. They're great for clearing out brush though.
The hawks on our property have multiplied, and there for a while were dive-bombing the flock, large birds and all, while I was standing not but 10' away! As a result, lost several birds. So one week was spent researching and implementing various hawk-deterrent methods, which also included me running around like a screaming banshee waving my arms to scare them away. What a sight! SMH. Now we have three scare-hawk ladies that I've adorned with plastic strips, ribbons, tin cans, and old CD's that sure reflect and cause commotion when the wind blows and the sun shines. I move them every few days to keep the hawks guessing. So far so good.

A handful of chickens came down with a laryngitis-like issue about a month ago. Affected their voices and caused a little sneezing. No drainage and no lethargy, so just been watching them closely. All seemed ok for the most part until yesterday one of my toddler chicks looked pretty pekid and began gasping for air and noticed what looks like a conjunctivitis. So, he's separated, lots of TLC, and antibiotics. That began the mad-cleaning of all the waterers, pools, feeders, roosts, etc, and a round of tetracycline for the flock today. Hope that gets nipped in the bud as I have 7 baby polish chicks in the brooder now, and 7 ducklings arriving this week.

Looking to add more to the flock, as several of my colored-egg-layers became predator prey (hawks most likely). I was hoping to get them now so they'd be laying by spring. But, it seems most the hatcheries are done for the season, so I must wait.

Got to spend quite a bit of time with the grandkids this summer, and am expecting two more come February and April 2016! YAY!

The chicken garden got put on hold til next year, and instead we now have an explosion of burs/stickers! EVERYWHERE. The whole place seems infested with them! Its never been this bad before! UGH! So, next year's work will be doubled to eradicate those pesky things completely! And the wasps this summer have seemed to quadruple. Don't know what's up with that; however, with my allergy to their stings, I am forever terrified and cautious where I go. Anyone else having these issues this summer?
This year was the worst for burrs and stickers. I think all those seeds were lying in wait for a wet year. We have them where they've never shown up before.
Well, hopefully I can get some catching up done - we shall see. lol

I too have been absent for far too long. Things have been crazy busy for a while. I had all of the run up to a book release earlier this spring, Then the garden went crazy this summer and the produce from it was trying to take over my kitchen (we were bringing in 130+ pounds of tomatoes from it twice a week) and the canners were running pretty much non-stop, usually until 11pm each night. Then my grandmother started failing and we were making 120 mile round trips at least three times a week to see her, clean out her house (she went to a nursing home), get it sold which happened amazingly quick although she barely made payoff and fees off it, and handle all kinds of things, up until she passed last week. And then there were all of the arrangements to be made and the funeral to attend. In the midst of all of this I've still been trying to wedge some writing in and I had a book event to go to.
I'm envious of your garden. Mine drowned out early this year and I had nothing left but weeds. I finally gave up. I need to get it cleaned up and get some garlic planted soon. I'm hoping for better luck next year. So sorry about your grandmother.

I had just an awful day yesterday. I had cleaned out the auto waterers the day before and found one that wasn't working. It was bone dry. So I filled the bowl and thought I would let DH take a look at it when he had a day off. Well yesterday I went out and the building was flooded!!!!! I had thousands of pounds of wet feed and shavings to clean out. I still need to vacuum up the rest of the damp areas and get the rest of the feed left cleaned up but I wore out after many hours shoveling. I had to take pain meds to stand what it was doing to my arthritis. Today I am really hurting.
To top it off all three of my Pyrenees were gone yesterday morning. After loosing Fluff just a couple weeks ago I was in total panic. Britt the oldest had come into heat. She always roams for miles when she is in heat and the other dogs follow her. It's time to play instead of do their jobs. I had said when she came in heat I was penning her up and keeping her there until it was over. But she was staying home so I hadn't done it yet. I spent probably 5 hours or more driving around the country side looking for the dogs and then DH drove around another hour with me until dark. When this has happened in the past I have always gotten calls from locals if they spotted them. I heard nothing from anyone. I even called the sheriff just in case. Well last night about 10Pm after feeling gut sick they all showed up hungry and thirsty. I was so relieved I cried. The leader got put in the pen where she will stay for the next couple weeks. I hope my dumb boy can figure out how to breed her this time. If he does and we have puppies, then she is going to get spayed and that will be the end of the running thing. She is the daughter of my best Pyr who died in December of cancer and Fluff who just died. I want a pup from both of them for myself. I have a newer pyr who isn't old enough to breed just yet who shows great promise. Hopefully we can have puppies from her someday as well.

 

[Trish44]

Hello everyone!

Goodness, its been a while since I posted anything. Did not realize how much time had gone by. Guess the adage of time flies when having fun holds true!

So much to catch up on reading. Not sure I can get that accomplished!! lol

Been busy busy busy on various projects. The coop remodel looks great, so roomy and better designed for functionality, complete with hinged roosts (enough for a flock of close to 80 +/-), curtained nesting boxes, built-in inside dust-bathe box, a cage cabinet housing 6 separate cages with supply storage above, new large feed bins that hold 80-100 lbs of feed at a time (yay!), two hanging broody cages, and an added on brooder! Awaiting sand for the flooring (hopefully next week) and then I can start enclosing the run which will cover a 30' x 18' +/- area and adding fun things for them in the run. Can't wait to embellish and make cute/appealing with little touches here and there!

Also been working on a new craft/tool/workshop shed about the size of a two car garage. Its been a slow process with a lot of obstacles. UGH.

The inside remodel has come a long way as well. Almost completely done with both the second bathroom and the living room! Wowser!

We now have three goats, too! What fun! One white and cream Kiko with grey tear stains, I named Tearston; one chocolate brown and white La Mancha named Moses, and one tri-colored Nubian named Maximilian. We banded them last week, so they're wethers now. We know nothing about goats, so this has been and will be an adventure for sure!

The hawks on our property have multiplied, and there for a while were dive-bombing the flock, large birds and all, while I was standing not but 10' away! As a result, lost several birds. So one week was spent researching and implementing various hawk-deterrent methods, which also included me running around like a screaming banshee waving my arms to scare them away. What a sight! SMH. Now we have three scare-hawk ladies that I've adorned with plastic strips, ribbons, tin cans, and old CD's that sure reflect and cause commotion when the wind blows and the sun shines. I move them every few days to keep the hawks guessing. So far so good.

A handful of chickens came down with a laryngitis-like issue about a month ago. Affected their voices and caused a little sneezing. No drainage and no lethargy, so just been watching them closely. All seemed ok for the most part until yesterday one of my toddler chicks looked pretty pekid and began gasping for air and noticed what looks like a conjunctivitis. So, he's separated, lots of TLC, and antibiotics. That began the mad-cleaning of all the waterers, pools, feeders, roosts, etc, and a round of tetracycline for the flock today. Hope that gets nipped in the bud as I have 7 baby polish chicks in the brooder now, and 7 ducklings arriving this week.

Looking to add more to the flock, as several of my colored-egg-layers became predator prey (hawks most likely). I was hoping to get them now so they'd be laying by spring. But, it seems most the hatcheries are done for the season, so I must wait.

Got to spend quite a bit of time with the grandkids this summer, and am expecting two more come February and April 2016! YAY!

The chicken garden got put on hold til next year, and instead we now have an explosion of burs/stickers! EVERYWHERE. The whole place seems infested with them! Its never been this bad before! UGH! So, next year's work will be doubled to eradicate those pesky things completely! And the wasps this summer have seemed to quadruple. Don't know what's up with that; however, with my allergy to their stings, I am forever terrified and cautious where I go. Anyone else having these issues this summer?

Well, hopefully I can get some catching up done - we shall see. lol

We would love to see pics of your coop when you get a chance, it's always interesting to see other people's projects. I have 3 Boer goats here, at least till Weds. & then the buck will hopefully be leaving. My two does are pregnant & due soon so we will have our first little kids. I had not intended to raise goats but we decided awhile back we would like to try some goat meat so I got the buck. But now he has served his purpose & he can go on to do his thing with someone else's herd. You're smart wethering those goats because mine is intact & he is a real pain to deal with. He's been in rut so the smell has been anything but pleasant around here lately. I hope you have the goats fenced away from anything you don't want eaten because they for sure will eat just what you don't want them to, take it from me. They are really good for brush control & that's what I originally got mine for. We have 5 acres where we didn't do anything with it & it has gotten really overgrown down there. The first area we fenced they cleaned it out in nothing flat. We're working on getting posts up now for another section & then we have one more bigger one to do next year & it all will be fenced to keep all of the sheep & goats in. I got hair sheep to raise for meat & we will be taking our first lamb to process this fall. We have one more that is growing out for later on as well.

I'm envious of your house remodel too because we have materials sitting around here to do things that have not gotten done. I told my DH we need to start working on those this winter when he's not working on fence. He tends to put off things if he really doesn't want to do them, but these things need to get done.

I too have been absent for far too long. Things have been crazy busy for a while. I had all of the run up to a book release earlier this spring, Then the garden went crazy this summer and the produce from it was trying to take over my kitchen (we were bringing in 130+ pounds of tomatoes from it twice a week) and the canners were running pretty much non-stop, usually until 11pm each night. Then my grandmother started failing and we were making 120 mile round trips at least three times a week to see her, clean out her house (she went to a nursing home), get it sold which happened amazingly quick although she barely made payoff and fees off it, and handle all kinds of things, up until she passed last week. And then there were all of the arrangements to be made and the funeral to attend. In the midst of all of this I've still been trying to wedge some writing in and I had a book event to go to.

The garden is growing quiet now, there are no more 120 mile round trips to be made (though I'm not happy about the reason for that), and cool weather is finally starting to creep in. Many of the hens are molting, but we are still getting a good number of eggs each day. Of my three polish hens, only one is left. The other two died of unknown causes during the summer. All of the rest of the ladies are happy and healthy. During the hottest part of the summer we put the sprinkler in their pen to help keep them cool. They always like that. Even with a lot of deep shade for them to get into, it was still way too hot to just let them deal with it. As soon as we turned on the sprinkler for the afternoon, they would all run to stand in it.

We also appear to have another cat. Not because I want another cat, but because he seems to want us. *sigh* I can't turn him away so it looks like I will be hauling a cat in to be neutered soon.

Wow, that's crazy about the tomatoes, ours were a total bust this year other than just a few cherry tomatoes. My neighbor down the hill had a year like you though & she brought me a bag of tomatoes yesterday. I love home grown tomatoes so that is a real treat.

I'm sorry about your loss, that's always a hard thing.

Maybe with the garden about to it's end & the other things you can breathe for awhile. You need to tell us about your books so we can read them. I'm an avid reader & have a kindle that I love.

We always have lots of cats here, I wish we didn't have quite so many but we haven't been able to get the females spayed as of yet. I just gave away 5 kittens last week to someone wanting barn cats so that reduced our population some. We don't have a lot of problems with mice like other people do because these cats keep most of them cleaned out. We see them with big fat field mice all the time.

Well I got my walk in closet project done last night, whew! That was way more of a project than I originally thought it was going to be. I have bags & bags now of stuff to take to Goodwill. That has needed to get done for a very long time. I hadn't planned on doing it right now, but I'm glad it's done. I have to go out today & see if I can fix the doors to my pens on my breeder coop. The eye bolts that were holding them up failed eventually & the doors have been sitting on the ground so I got bigger bolts & I hope that will work for awhile at least. It's always something around here that needs to be done. Yesterday I took some pieces of old tin off the top of my one pen out there & got a tarp put up over most of it. I didn't have enough tin to cover the whole thing so it was kind of a haphazard thing. I have one more I need to do that with as well but it's not an easy task because I had to get up on the ladder & with my knee like it is it really scares me to do that. I fall enough as it is without falling off of a darned ladder.

 

[MaSmith]

what do you all do with your chickens after they stop laying? Do you eat them? I'm such a critter nut, I don't think I could eat my own hens. Maybe sell them to someone else to eat? Or not.