Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Picture overload, Here are some of my birds:



Buff Orps



Partridge Orps


Lavender Orps (I just haven't been able yet to get a really good pic of this rooster, this one doesn't do him justice at all, he's huge & just beautiful)


Mottled Orps (This rooster is still young, he probably will get more spotting as he ages)




Jubilee Orps


Silver Penciled Rocks (These are still young yet, the roosters still have a little growing to do)


Lavender & Blue Ameraucanas



Wheaten Ameraucanas


Crested Cream Legbar Hen


Heritage Rhode Island Red Hens


Ancona Ducks


Heritage Barred Rocks


Buff Sebastabol Goose (She's kind of messy right now, molting)

 

[Trish44]

We have pretty good internet service with the addition of a booster and a tower. It is through Verizon. It's terribly expensive though and we use an awful lot of gigs. I wish I could find something else as dependable that wasn't so expensive. I'd like to be able to download movies without eating up our entire amount of gigs. Also If I could eliminate all the pop up advertising it would help. I've made some adjustments but they really haven't helped all that much. BYC is one of those places that uses a lot and Facebook is the worst.
It's going to be so cold today but one of my customers insist she is coming so I guess I'll have to handle it. I'm not at all looking forward to it. They'll be here in about an hour I guess I should go out and feed and water while I'm waiting but I'm just not ready to face the cold yet today. I don't think I'm going to be working on the goose pen today either. It can wait.

Yeah there just doesn't seem to be a great solution for rural internet in Kansas as of yet. We're on a wireless service with the tower within sight of our house. We don't have an download limits but it does get bogged down if too many people are online at once. We've been told not to stream anything but I think someone does in the evenings at times & that just stops everyone else's service. I have complained about it to no avail. It sure beats having satellite though, I couldn't wait to get off of that. My niece in the middle of nowhere in Missouri got fiber optics, go figure.

 

[chicken danz]

I took some more pictures today but I really have to get a different camera. And the birds that are in the building are hard to photograph because of the lighting. The flash goes off and washes every thing out. I found an older picture of my lavenders when my barred lavender was quite a bit younger.





My current buff rooster.


Current picture of my gold laced Orpingtons.



Some of my naked blue partridge brahmas





And some of my sussex
It was really cold out there today. I sold one peacock and thank heavens other customers are waiting until tomorrow. Got my feeding and watering done and pulled some weeds before I got too cold and tired.
I found my first two Sabastopol eggs today. I am pretty sure they have laid elsewhere and I didn't find them but I was thrilled to have these. I've got to get out there and get that pen finished.

 

[zigzag45]

@chicken danz and @Trish44 thank you for the pics. Danz - I know your birds are awesome as I've seen them in person. Trish - I'd suspected you had some great birds but never gotten to see them. Thanks for sharing. I remember when you talked about getting the silver penciled rocks... never heard of them before.

I really like those Jubilee Orps. To my untrained eye, they look alot like the Speckle Sussex. And, since I can't seem to keep hold of an SS - they always turn into boys or get sick -- maybe if I tried some jubilee I'd be able to actually enjoy raising them. And, the Jubillee look alot like the mottled (just different base color I'm thinking).

I cleaned/changed out the pine chips in the brooder today and got a kick out of my babies. We put them in their original shipping box from Cackle during the bedding change. They filled it up. When we got them, all 12 huddled in a corner and barely took up 25% of the floor area. Two weeks later, they were looking out the top of the box and the entire thing was filled. I wish I had a pic.

I also got my main coop cleaned out. The deep litter method (DLM) has worked well, but it seemed like they were overwhelming it a bit of late. So, new litter and the old "stuff" is out front for a local gardener to pick up. I thought about taking the four trash bags to Starbucks to set with their coffee grounds that they make available for gardeners but that was more work.

Always feels good to have things cleaned out.

I don't know how you guys that have hundreds of birds do it.

@KsKingBee -- nice to see your name go past. Making it to Gardener? Somehow, I have managed to keep my one hive alive last year and till now. I have another in my basement that needs assembly. I'm hoping to split my current hive this spring and start the next one. I have two queens on order which means I need to have two functional hives at some point this year.
(Edited because some of the @ didn't go through)

 

[sharol]

Picture overload, Here are some of my birds:



Buff Orps



Partridge Orps


Lavender Orps (I just haven't been able yet to get a really good pic of this rooster, this one doesn't do him justice at all, he's huge & just beautiful)


Mottled Orps (This rooster is still young, he probably will get more spotting as he ages)




Jubilee Orps


Silver Penciled Rocks (These are still young yet, the roosters still have a little growing to do)


Lavender & Blue Ameraucanas



Wheaten Ameraucanas


Crested Cream Legbar Hen


Heritage Rhode Island Red Hens


Ancona Ducks


Heritage Barred Rocks


Buff Sebastabol Goose (She's kind of messy right now, molting)

Wow. You have some lovely birds. It is amazing the difference between the true heritage birds and the hatchery versions. I have a hatchery buff orp and a variety of Danz's English orps, and they don't even look like the same species. I was shocked when I saw the BO's at the state fair several years ago.

Those barred rocks are gorgeous. I especially love the feathering on the Roo. He is spectacular.

 

[KsKingBee]

@chicken danz and @Trish44 thank you for the pics. Danz - I know your birds are awesome as I've seen them in person. Trish - I'd suspected you had some great birds but never gotten to see them. Thanks for sharing. I remember when you talked about getting the silver penciled rocks... never heard of them before.

I really like those Jubilee Orps. To my untrained eye, they look alot like the Speckle Sussex. And, since I can't seem to keep hold of an SS - they always turn into boys or get sick -- maybe if I tried some jubilee I'd be able to actually enjoy raising them. And, the Jubillee look alot like the mottled (just different base color I'm thinking).

I cleaned/changed out the pine chips in the brooder today and got a kick out of my babies. We put them in their original shipping box from Cackle during the bedding change. They filled it up. When we got them, all 12 huddled in a corner and barely took up 25% of the floor area. Two weeks later, they were looking out the top of the box and the entire thing was filled. I wish I had a pic.

I also got my main coop cleaned out. The deep litter method (DLM) has worked well, but it seemed like they were overwhelming it a bit of late. So, new litter and the old "stuff" is out front for a local gardener to pick up. I thought about taking the four trash bags to Starbucks to set with their coffee grounds that they make available for gardeners but that was more work.

Always feels good to have things cleaned out.

I don't know how you guys that have hundreds of birds do it.

@KsKingBee -- nice to see your name go past. Making it to Gardener? Somehow, I have managed to keep my one hive alive last year and till now. I have another in my basement that needs assembly. I'm hoping to split my current hive this spring and start the next one. I have two queens on order which means I need to have two functional hives at some point this year.
(Edited because some of the @ didn't go through)

Thanks Zig! The way I do it is by making a really huge compost pile and garden.

I have been experimenting with using hay instead of pine shavings, so far I prefer it. We will see how I like it tomorrow when I clean it out and replace it. I don't know if I will be making it to Gardner, don't count me out yet though. We are scheduled to be teaching a beekeeping class that Saturday and the next. An old time attendee of Gardner told me today that he thought that the sales will be high like they are every spring. I was thinking that there would be an overload of birds since there wasn't an auction last fall. He had been talking to another Peafowl producer up near Topeka that has nearly sold out thanks to taking birds to Oklahoma and advertising on Craigs List. They also sell at Gardner, but hardly have any to take this time. Maybe I should take a trailer load...

Keep an eye on the stores left in your hive, we are coming into a critical time when they start raising a lot of brood and can starve out easily when a cold snap blows through.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

Trish, the rural cooperative telephone service that I am on, is installing fiber optics in southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri. They have competition from another co-op that is also expanding their service. They both now have cellphone service. If land lines are to stay in business, they will all need to go to fiber optics, or go out of business. I still have my land line, because during stormy weather cell phones loose service, during heavy cloud cover.

 

[chicken danz]

I think locally at least as they have to replace lines they are replacing them with fiber optics. The problem is there are many many many miles of line to be replaced before it can be all fiber optic. I am sure I won't live long enough to see that. I'm still waiting for them to put in underground electric. When I left Oklahoma City in 1986 I was surprised to come back to Kansas and see overhead electric lines. Makes no sense to me. Instead of burying cable when a line goes down or poles need replaced they just put the same old stuff in. It seems it would be much cheaper and easier to maintain if they would just replace it with underground. And no more storm outages either.
I sure hope it warms up quickly today. I was watching a movie last night and didn't get to see the weather. I hope the forecast is the same as it was the day before. Right now it's still really cold out there but the sun is shining.

 

[sharol]

I had a charming surprise when I went to feed and water this morning. I have a Breda Fowl trio that was brooder raised. They hatched when my grandkids were here from Denver, so they were handled a lot when they were babies. They permit petting and handling better than their broody raised coopmates. That said they have never been particularly friendly. This morning the gray pullet flew 10 feet across the run from a straw bale and landed on my shoulder to check out the food bucket, almost immediately her black sister landed on the other shoulder. When they hopped onto the straw bales where the food is located, they acted like they wanted petted, so I obliged.

I have some Campine hatching eggs coming this week. I've never hatched shipped eggs before, so my fingers are crossed that they arrive in good shape. She will be shipping early in the week (from Alabama) and the weather appears to be cooperating. I plan to spend lots of time with those hatchlings. Campines are a little flighty anyway, so I want them to like me and trust me before they go into the main population in a couple of months. Wish me luck.

I sure like my birds. More every day.

The little black Orpington was on the nest this morning (no egg yet, but I found one in the yard yesterday, so maybe soon). Of the 4 younger ones, 2 are laying, just not sure which 2.

 

[Trish44]

I had a charming surprise when I went to feed and water this morning. I have a Breda Fowl trio that was brooder raised. They hatched when my grandkids were here from Denver, so they were handled a lot when they were babies. They permit petting and handling better than their broody raised coopmates. That said they have never been particularly friendly. This morning the gray pullet flew 10 feet across the run from a straw bale and landed on my shoulder to check out the food bucket, almost immediately her black sister landed on the other shoulder. When they hopped onto the straw bales where the food is located, they acted like they wanted petted, so I obliged.

I have some Campine hatching eggs coming this week. I've never hatched shipped eggs before, so my fingers are crossed that they arrive in good shape. She will be shipping early in the week (from Alabama) and the weather appears to be cooperating. I plan to spend lots of time with those hatchlings. Campines are a little flighty anyway, so I want them to like me and trust me before they go into the main population in a couple of months. Wish me luck.

I sure like my birds. More every day.

The little black Orpington was on the nest this morning (no egg yet, but I found one in the yard yesterday, so maybe soon). Of the 4 younger ones, 2 are laying, just not sure which 2.

That's cute that they flew up on your shoulder. I had that one Campine for awhile & she was terribly flighty, like a Leghorn. She wouldn't let me get within 5 feet of her & she would fly away. She always flew out of the run when the door was opened instead of walking out like the other hens.

I think locally at least as they have to replace lines they are replacing them with fiber optics. The problem is there are many many many miles of line to be replaced before it can be all fiber optic. I am sure I won't live long enough to see that. I'm still waiting for them to put in underground electric. When I left Oklahoma City in 1986 I was surprised to come back to Kansas and see overhead electric lines. Makes no sense to me. Instead of burying cable when a line goes down or poles need replaced they just put the same old stuff in. It seems it would be much cheaper and easier to maintain if they would just replace it with underground. And no more storm outages either.
I sure hope it warms up quickly today. I was watching a movie last night and didn't get to see the weather. I hope the forecast is the same as it was the day before. Right now it's still really cold out there but the sun is shining.

I had checked recently with a fiberoptic company & they said they will not be coming to this area till 2017 & then it will be just for business. I doubt we get it any time soon, even though we live just right outside the city limits. Yeah I agree with you danz, it seems like it would be a lot better to bury the lines than keep putting them back like they are. I guess it's just what they know.