Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Hello Everyone!
I would like to start a backyard (and otherwise) chicken group to meet in Lawrence. Anyone interested?
Reply here or PM me.

What did you have in mind Plinky? Are you planning to just get together with other chicken owners to chat or have a learning group or what?

Well the fence was up and running mid morning yesterday. I did find some problems that have to be corrected though; things that were done wrong. The wire running to the ground was done with the wrong wire and it's dangerous as it is. I guess that is the difference between the old time farm way and doing things safer and more modern. Not a huge problem to fix. I found one post close to the line that has no insulators. I later learned it was one that was already there. It should have been insulated or removed cause it's too close to the wires. My hot ground is not hooked up no is the wire run across the gate. I need to put some more ground rods in along the fence line connected to the hot ground at some point. This hot ground makes the fence safer for the animals as well as keeps it operating in hot dry or frozen ground. The fencer had never installed a hot ground and didn't know anything about it. He just missed some of what I tried to explain to him.
We went to Ottawa last night and got the new metal gates for the field. I hope DH works on getting those in. I've got to try find the time to get the front gates covered with wire and then these gates covered when they are hung.
I did manage to save myself $100 off my labor bill. I traded the fencer 20 cockerels for $100. I chose the biggest ones I could. That means I have a little more time before I absolutely have to get this butchering done. And I can use more time. Surely getting 20 big birds out of here will save on the feed bill. I could have easily sold him another 20. I saved a few back that I can use for back up breeders as well as some that I have to take to a friend. I was hoping to empty a pen but of course mixing pens of roosters didn't work cause they immediately ganged up on the newcomers. Maybe I can get that remedied when I get a few more of them out of here.
It felt good not having to set the alarm so I could be dressed and socialble early in the morning. Mornings are just not my time.

 

[Trish44]

@chicken danz I'm glad you got the fence up & can fix the things that are wrong. I hope you can get help getting the gates up soon. That's great you could trade roosters for some of your bill. I don't have as many as you but have plenty I need to either re-home or process. I just don't do very well with processing birds any more with my arthritis in my hands. I have 3 ducks that need to be done as well.

I put two new pullets in the main coop last night to integrate them. Slowly but surely I'm getting the ones that are growing out into where they belong. I still have a group of Silver Penciled Rocks that need to go yet that aren't big enough. I've sold all of the groups of birds I need to sell but people haven't picked them all up yet, hopefully in the next few days they will all be gone, less mouths to feed.

 

[Plinky]

What did you have in mind Plinky? Are you planning to just get together with other chicken owners to chat or have a learning group or what?

Well the fence was up and running mid morning yesterday. I did find some problems that have to be corrected though; things that were done wrong. The wire running to the ground was done with the wrong wire and it's dangerous as it is. I guess that is the difference between the old time farm way and doing things safer and more modern. Not a huge problem to fix. I found one post close to the line that has no insulators. I later learned it was one that was already there. It should have been insulated or removed cause it's too close to the wires. My hot ground is not hooked up no is the wire run across the gate. I need to put some more ground rods in along the fence line connected to the hot ground at some point. This hot ground makes the fence safer for the animals as well as keeps it operating in hot dry or frozen ground. The fencer had never installed a hot ground and didn't know anything about it. He just missed some of what I tried to explain to him.
We went to Ottawa last night and got the new metal gates for the field. I hope DH works on getting those in. I've got to try find the time to get the front gates covered with wire and then these gates covered when they are hung.
I did manage to save myself $100 off my labor bill. I traded the fencer 20 cockerels for $100. I chose the biggest ones I could. That means I have a little more time before I absolutely have to get this butchering done. And I can use more time. Surely getting 20 big birds out of here will save on the feed bill. I could have easily sold him another 20. I saved a few back that I can use for back up breeders as well as some that I have to take to a friend. I was hoping to empty a pen but of course mixing pens of roosters didn't work cause they immediately ganged up on the newcomers. Maybe I can get that remedied when I get a few more of them out of here.
It felt good not having to set the alarm so I could be dressed and socialble early in the morning. Mornings are just not my time.

Chicken danz- a group in Lawrence could be anything those involved want or need it to be. Personally I'd like to connect in person with other chicken enthusiasts to share experience and knowledge. I realize some may not want to meet and transfer diseases from one coop to another, but with awareness to change clothes, shoes, etc...
I made a suggestion to an extension contact that some sort of education program for backyard chicken owners would be a great and wonderful thing. I would bet that Larryville has one of the highest per capita backyard chicken populations in Kansas!

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
I don't live in Lawrence but am an hour or so from there. Easy trip there. Several of this group back a couple years ago used to get together and have a pot luck at one person or another's home. It was great fun. We did chicken things but also just enjoyed each others company. I honestly think shared knowledge is better than general knowledge. More minds work better than a single thought. This group has always been great about talking and sharing with other chicken owners. There's tons of experience here. Lawrence is a little different because the last I knew they didn't allow roosters. Is that still the case?
In the meantime if you have anything you want to discuss or want to know about please ask on the forum. We'd be really glad to give you our opinions and discuss anything you want. One thing about chickens : When you think you know it all, there's always something new that comes up.

 

[Plinky]

I don't live in Lawrence but am an hour or so from there. Easy trip there. Several of this group back a couple years ago used to get together and have a pot luck at one person or another's home. It was great fun. We did chicken things but also just enjoyed each others company. I honestly think shared knowledge is better than general knowledge. More minds work better than a single thought. This group has always been great about talking and sharing with other chicken owners. There's tons of experience here. Lawrence is a little different because the last I knew they didn't allow roosters. Is that still the case?
In the meantime if you have anything you want to discuss or want to know about please ask on the forum. We'd be really glad to give you our opinions and discuss anything you want. One thing about chickens : When you think you know it all, there's always something new that comes up.

Thanks chicken danz! Hopefully some other area folks will express interest and we can try to organize something!

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
Are there any Facebook Douglas county swap and talk pages or anything similar? Maybe you could put the same request up there as well. Lots of people skim those adds every day and you might spark a lot of interest.
I spent another hard day working on the fence. I'm doing the final touches and trying to get everything in it's final stages. I had thought about leaving a few things to do later but after thinking about it I think the idea of having it all complete and taken care of is a much better option. The gates still need to be hung. We are going to have to buy some longer fence hangers to install them in these big old hedge posts. I dug a trench with the bobcat and we ran wire between the gates. We still have to buy some conduit to put it in and rebury the lines. And I still have two more grounds to install for the hot ground around the fence line. My old body is screaming that it's had enough. I'm ready to move back to my normal milllion projects and rest a little.

 

[chicken danz]

I guess the big news this morning is the earthquake that hit Oklahoma. It was felt all through Kansas. I didn't notice it but DH was outside and he did as well as several other locals. I'm starting wonder how much more damage fracking will do in the long run. We had a couple minor tremors when I lived in OKC but that was long long ago before they started doing that. I sure didn't expect to feel anything here since we are not located along a fault line. Which is why this was the place they chose to put a nuclear plant incidentally.
I couldn't imagine one that far away being felt this far from it.
I'm still so far behind on getting things done around here. If the rain holds off a few more days I may actually get around to moving some more dirt behind the chicken building so I can get it leveled for the pens eventually. Still got some fencing to finish up. I need to buy a fence tester as well. DH said something wasn't working quite right last night. Not sure what the problem was. It had power but wasn't flashing like it was supposed to.

 

[Trish44]

Yeah we felt the earthquake really strong here, of course we're only a few minutes from the OK border too. This one shook the whole house like crazy, I could hear it vibrating & I could hear the ground rumbling outside. It was a 5.6, bigger than the ones they've been having. This one was centered in Pawnee, OK. I haven't talked to my son, but I'll bet he really got shaken in OKC. My DH has family in Missouri & Arkansas & they reported feeling it as well.

I worked all day yesterday getting the wire back up on the top of my breeder pens after having to take it all down to put up the new panels & posts. I got that all back up in the afternoon & then it took me 2 hours to get the tarps back up there. It was a pain with not being able to get around except on two sides so I had to reach through the fence on top & inch it forward. My arms & neck were so sore by the time I got done with all of that working over my head for hours. I was really tired & then got woken up early by the earthquake this morning. I could hear the chickens in the main coop yelling about it all out there. They probably couldn't figure out what in the world was happening to them.

Well on to cleaning the breeder coop out today. I'm trying to catch up on things now that I couldn't stand to do in the heat.

 

[WichitaKSClucks]

This was in today's Wichita Eagle:

The poultry plunge is nothing to crow about
Eagle business columnist Carrie Rengers and her husband take on the raising of chickens in their backyard – and it’s more complex than you might think.

BY CARRIE RENGERS [email protected]


The first time my husband brought up the idea of keeping chickens in our backyard, I was too flabbergasted to respond.
In the 22 years we’ve been together, the only pets we’ve owned were two goldfish he had while we were dating. Jimmy lost his life in an unfortunate sink disposal incident during a bowl cleaning. Then Jerry died of a broken heart.
Or perhaps a lack of food.
Or the fact that my husband, Joe, never cleaned the bowl again.
We’ve not had dogs or cats because I’m allergic. To everything.
So chickens? Not unless they’re on a plate.
But Joe worked on me.
“Think of the eggs!”
You mean those little white things I can buy at a store?
He concocted a plan to turn our Ethan Allen armoire into a coop.
“And we could name the chickens Ethan, Allen and Armoire,” Joe said, appealing to the side of me that loves naming all things.
He took me to Atwoods under the guise of studying coops. But then there were all these fuzzy, cuddly little chicks right there in a box, further weakening my resolve.
So on a rainy Monday morning, we unloaded three Wyandottes from a borrowed dog carrier into our – thankfully – store-bought coop.
The chickens seemed as bewildered about the whole thing as I felt.
Joe and I ran into the house and took turns watching out the back door, relaying information to each other on their movements.
“They’re pecking at the ground!”
“They’re checking out the stairs!”
“Oh, my god! One of them is climbing the stairs!”
If we’d known it would be this entertaining, we could have dropped our cable a long time ago.
We named the biggest one Armoire in homage to the homemade coop that wasn’t. The other two went nameless until their personalities emerged to serve as inspiration: Speedy and Sneaky.
What, you don’t believe chickens have personalities? Then you’ve clearly never met one outside of dinner before.
I think Sneaky truly enjoyed being sneaky just for the game of it. And much like a toddler playing hide-and-seek, she wasn’t very good at it. She’d sit extremely still, peering out from under a table like, hey, maybe they can’t see me.
Speedy, however, was speedy. On 2-inch legs, Speedy had no trouble eluding Joe with a getaway down the driveway. I think she came back only because she liked him so much – or was hungry.
EMPTY, LONELY YARD
They made our backyard in North Riverside their home by finding various nesting spots under trees and among plants.
Almost immediately, they started laying eggs, which led to on-demand omelets and egg sandwiches and hostess gifts.
The girls became our joint focus. Have the girls been fed? Tucked in for the night? Should we give them a mealworm treat?
So it was when Joe returned from an out-of-town trip that he said, “Hey, should we go see the girls?”
We started toward their coop but didn’t see them. Even before Joe opened the nesting box, my stomach dropped.
The three were curled together, completely still. We were confused and afraid to touch them. Were they sleeping?
We walked away, hoping. The next morning confirmed they were gone, though.
An extension agent speculated fertilizer may have killed them, but we don’t know.
It happened to be a week of particularly awful national tragedies, so I didn’t think it wise to put anything on Facebook about my chicken loss, but I was down.
For a good day and a half, I was genuinely sad, quietly wiping away tears at work before co-workers – the ones joking about a fried chicken memorial lunch – could see.
For a few weeks, I returned home each day to an empty, lonely yard.
A TRIP TO YODER
Finally, on a Friday, Joe announced he was going to the Yoder Poultry Auction. We packed a big box in the back of his truck, ready for our next avian adventure.
Clueless, Joe and I milled among the crates of chickens, roosters, ducks and pheasants along with row after row of boxed bunnies.
We may have been just 40 minutes from Wichita, but the city seemed a world away.
And I think they – the auctioneers, that is – saw us coming. Because one of the hens they sold us turned out to be a rooster. Henrietta is a he.
So began our friends’ jokes about how we’d have to build another bathroom for Henry.
We’re not doing that, though, because Henry isn’t staying. In addition to not producing any eggs, and in addition to being illegal within city limits – a co-worker helpfully handed me the city’s fine schedule for animal violations – Henry won’t stop crowing.
There’s a rooster living in the yard behind us, too, and the two tend to get each other going – around sunrise most days, and then it just continues as they rile each other throughout the day.
We’ve also not had much luck with the hens – Pepper and Gertie – so far. Our “layers,” as they’re called, aren’t laying.
A friend bought us “Raising Chickens for Dummies,” which we obviously need to read. Quickly.
Another suggested placing a golf ball in their nesting box to encourage egg production.
Joe thinks he has solved the perennial riddle of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
“The chickens, and they’re still not laying any eggs!”
They are, however, doing a marvelous job fertilizing our patio.
Some people manage to teach their chickens how to play tic-tac-toe and swing in swings. We can’t even potty train ours.
Squirt guns didn’t work. Nor did the garden hose. I fear Joe may try water-boarding them next.
I won’t let that happen, though, because I love those girls.
And there’s one bonus. All this crowing has led to the discovery of my one true talent: I can cock-adoodle-doo with the best of them.
When I do it, even Henry and the girls stop to look. Then the rooster behind our fence crows back. Then Henry chimes in.
It’s turned into quite a party trick for me.
So I will accept the taunts of my co-workers. I will continue to hose off the patio. And I am prepared to be hauled into animal court or whatever it is to defend Henry until I can find him a safe home.
Long after this whole chicken fad has ended, I intend to still have mine. It’s not a stretch to say I see myself in them – my inquisitive Pepper and constantly confused Gertie.
Egg producers or not, they’re staying.
And I’m going to keep on crowing.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S
MORE
So, here’s an update that’s likely to further damage our reputation as chicken parents. Fortunately for us, I don’t think there are any state agencies that are likely to get involved.
We successfully found Henry a new home on a farm in Sedgwick where he can rule the roost.
Almost immediately after he left, though, Gertie started making some strange guttural noises. The sounds grew and finally morphed into full-on crowing.
Somehow Henry’s presence had held back Gertie, but now she – he – is free to be the rooster he was always meant to be.
That’s right, we have egg on our faces again, if only figuratively, because we still have no eggs and clearly won’t be getting any from Gertie.
At this point, it’s fair to ask whether Joe and I are the two stupidest people who have ever attempted to raise chickens.
I have another question, though: Does anyone need a rooster?
Carrie Rengers: 316-268-6340, @CarrieRengers

 

[spree56]

Cute & funny story. I love my girls & their personalities too.
Felt the earthquake in Manhattan as well.