Consolidated Kansas

[Dani4Hedgies]

Omg Danz I am so sorry to hear this hugs hugs hugs if there is anything we can do to help please let us know. So sorry

 

[sharol]

Well I wasn't so lucky with the storm. Disaster here today. A huge part of the tree over the driveway fell on one of the pickups and destroyed the entire front end, part of the roof and smashed the windshield. It has full coverage but the insurance would total it cause it's not worth nearly as much in book value as what it is worth to us. I told DH to just let the insurance company know you have no intent of accepting it as totalled if it is still driveable at all. It smashed the hood and crumpled the fenders so it's iffy if something will be bound by metal.
Then on to more disaster. I lost 5 goslings. Not sure what happened there other than the north vent was open and I think they got rained on and then some got trampled. That was a huge monetary loss not to mention heart breaking.
I had a window cracked in the brooder house and all the chicks are okay in there but the shavings are wet so that mean I have to shovel it out again to prevent any mold. I only have one bag of shavings left so that means another trip to Topeka. Wish I had thought of that last week when I went. Then on to one of the hoop coops. I had a bunch of 2-3 month old chicks in there. I lost at least 25 to 30 of them. At $15 or more each that was a huge loss. Many of those were technically sold or needed so that is even worse. Now I have to start over to fill some orders.
They had huddled up together outside of the coop area and gotten soaked and pounded into the mud. I have no idea why they were outside unless they got scared of the noise from the hail and the thunder and ran outside.
My garden is destroyed. My tomatoes are beaten to the ground. I even had two tomatoes formed on one of them and thought for once I would be ahead of the game. I had tilled an additional area where i was going to extend the garden and it all washed out. The yard is terraced and all the garden soil washed out and ran down the terrace. I guess I can be thankful I didn't get it planted yet. I haven't checked any further to see what else is ruined or destroyed. I did have all the windows open in the new building as well so that means I probably have a wet stinking mess in there to shovel as well.
@chicklover56 Sometimes some chicks just grow really slow. If you are speaking of sussex they are often one of those breeds that tends to have really slow growers. I have some three months old that look a ton smaller than the other chicks in the same age group. But then others grow really well. I'm not sure why this happens but they eventually get to size. If it isn't acting sick it is probably just pokey.

I just spent an hour cleaning out the hoop coop, and you know how small it is. The shavings inside the coop were soaked. The babies are ok because they all roost at night (thank goodness). I can't imagine how awful it must be to lose all those potential moneymakers not to mention their lives. My thoughts are with you today.

I have to get shavings today too, I used the last half bale in the hoop. I've found that I get more shavings for my money at Sutherlands -- they are bigger bales and cheaper than TSC or Orschlens. You might check them out when you are in Emporia next time.

I'm glad your house is ok. We got 4.75" of rain and the whole yard was flooded. The ground was already wet, so it just rolled across the yard. We lost a vehicle in a wreck that was like that -- too old to be worth enough for the insurance company to fix. It was a huge loss because it still ran fine, and we needed it.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Danz! That's terrible! I'm so sorry to hear about your storm damage.

We were well west of all the severe storms. We did get a rainshower that came through last night and got about half an inch of rain out of it, which was nice. It's considerably cooler here today. We finally got a window in my coop yesterday. One down, one to go! I was looking forward to leaving it open, but I think I'll just enjoy the extra light for now and leave the window closed. BRR!

 

[HEChicken]

Oh my gosh Danz, I'm so sorry for all the storm damage you are dealing with - hugs!

It sounds as though you guys got a lot more than we did. I was surprised to see 2 ½" in the rain gauge this morning but that is considerably less than your 3.75! It is very damp here but no damage and no lives lost. My poor 5-6 week old chicks were all on the roost this morning looking pretty wet. They had a spot they could have gone and stayed drier but I guess they preferred to be on the roost which was under a roof line but I think water must have blown in on them. They're fully feathered though so are probably already dry by now. I've been busy milking 2 goats and 2 cows so I haven't checked on them since about 7am.

My younger chicks I pulled in and left in my 3-season room overnight. Boy are they noisy! That room is attached to the house and I had the window open leading to it for air flow so we could hear them all evening and starting at first light. I've just put them back outside. The grass is wet but they'll be fine and have a little more room to move around.

Sharol, may I ask what you pay at Sutherlands for your shavings? I've been getting mine at Ace Hardware where they are $6/bale. I don't like the ones from TSC as the flakes are too large. I prefer what Ace calls "Swift Pick" shavings as the flakes are uniform in size and very small so they break down a lot faster. Do you know if Sutherlands sells the swift pick or are their flakes the large ones like at TSC?

 

[chicken danz]

I put pictures of the truck on facebook. Geez.
I like getting bales of shavings at Menards. They are cheaper and really big bales. Guess I'll be buying a lot more. I noticed the west end of the cornfield that was just coming up is flooded and a lot of the plants are washed out. The geese and ducks are really enjoying the new lake we call a yard now.

 

[Trish44]

danz I'm so sorry for your losses & damage,

. I guess all of you further north got a lot more out of that storm that we did. I think we only got an inch at most & only a tiny bit of hail that was brief. I could hear thunder & lightening all around but it never got really bad here.

 

[sharol]

Sharol, may I ask what you pay at Sutherlands for your shavings? I've been getting mine at Ace Hardware where they are $6/bale. I don't like the ones from TSC as the flakes are too large. I prefer what Ace calls "Swift Pick" shavings as the flakes are uniform in size and very small so they break down a lot faster. Do you know if Sutherlands sells the swift pick or are their flakes the large ones like at TSC?

They are a little under $7 for a 2.6 cu ft compressed 6 cu ft fluffed bag. HOWEVER they are the bigger chips (they work better for me than the fine stuff.

 

[dwink2]

Danz I am so sorry for all of your losses. You need your luck to change real soon. The $$ loss has to hurt but I can not imagine the heart ache. Hugs.

We were just on the western edge of the storms and only got a quick shower. I did see a rope tornado but thankfully it did not touch down. I was looking at the radar last night and was trying to visualize where everyone lived and was hoping that all were safe. I love spring but hate storms. I locked my chickens in last evening early and they let me know they weren't happy about it. I just wanted them to be safe if the storms did hit.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Danz I am so sorry for all of your losses. You need your luck to change real soon. The $$ loss has to hurt but I can not imagine the heart ache. Hugs.

We were just on the western edge of the storms and only got a quick shower. I did see a rope tornado but thankfully it did not touch down. I was looking at the radar last night and was trying to visualize where everyone lived and was hoping that all were safe. I love spring but hate storms. I locked my chickens in last evening early and they let me know they weren't happy about it. I just wanted them to be safe if the storms did hit.

Can I ask you to clarify on the "tornado" you saw? If it didn't touch down, then by definition it wasn't a tornado, only a funnel cloud. I don't mean to nit-pick here, but I think it's important that people know the difference.

I locked my chickens in last night as well, even though we weren't really supposed to get anything severe. I could see storms building around us, and it made me nervous. They were thrilled to be let out this morning.

 

[FarmerBlake]

We fared pretty well here. Got pea sized hail here last night. No damage to the plants though. I was anxious to see if the tomato and pepper plants were okay this morning. I did have to clean out wet shavings from the chicken coop. There is a "window" at the top that let in a lot of water last night. Of course it was blowing pretty hard too. Sorry to hear about your truck, Danz. Never good to have a vehicle down. We must be in a pretty protected spot as we haven't been hit with too much for all the years we've been here (not on wood!). Had a few damp spots in the basement from overflow of the front gutters. I think they are totally plugged with the seeds from the tree out back. Every spring it puts out a kabillion seeds and inevitably they end up in my garden. It's a lovely shade of green right now. Next week if it's dry enough I will spend hours de-treeing my garden. Gardens are always a crap shoot at the beginning of spring. Frost, hail, too much rain.....but the fresh produce. Sigh. I feel pretty blessed this morning to escape with the little inconveniences we had this morning. The May forecast is looking drier. Hope not too dry.