Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

People all over the state reported feeling that earthquake & the news said it was felt in 7 states. I really don't like my house shaking like that, especially when we sleep on the 2nd floor.

I managed to get my breeder coop cleaned out yesterday & get my Wheaten Ameraucana group moved to one of the pens there. They were kind of freaked out last night because they had not found the inside part yet & the roost. Hopefully today they will explore a little more. Today it's on to cleaning out my big main coop, that one is quite a bit of work.

 

[chicken danz]

I worked all day putting welded wire on the fence gates. There's 32 feet of gates each in two places I had to attach wire to. Of course the wire was bent some and I had to hook it fairly often to get it to lay even partially flat. DH got one of the field gates hung and is working on the second. I went ahead and put the welded wire on the one not hung yet and it was at least 100 times easier and faster to do that the ones already hung. I got the last two ground rods almost in the ground and hooked up the wire jumper to the hot ground. I didn't connect it to the ground posts though cause I figured it would get knocked off trying to get them pounded in the rest of the way.
As it is, as soon as this final gate is hung we can power this baby up and have 10 acres for my dogs to patrol without worrying about them getting out. I would have liked to give them 20 but it would have taken so much time to cut out trees and stuff that we'd never have gotten it done. Plus now I have the field and pasture separated so I could potentially run some livestock there now if I want. I've waited so long to have this project done. Having a charger going I can easily hook up some other temporary areas if I need to for the animals in the future.
Maybe tomorrow I can get back to working on some of my other projects that are in need of finishing.
Time to get back to the never ending chore of moving and sorting chickens.

 

[Trish44]

I got all of the old shavings out of my main coop yesterday, 7 wheelbarrow loads, whew! I have to go back out this morning & spray the building for mites & such & then I can put fresh shavings in. I need to change out the nest boxes too. I have a couple of hens wanting to sit & I keep taking their eggs away. I sure don't want chicks this time of year & they would be barnyard mix anyway. I'll be so glad to get these coops done so that's out of the way till spring. That is a chore I just don't relish, especially the big main coop.

 

[chicken danz]

Way to go @Trish44 . I have several coops that could use a good cleaning. My Asian friend stopped coming for chicken poop so I don't have free clean outs any more. Darn it!
I'm letting one pullet sit on eggs. There are several that want to but I decided I'd let this one give it a try. I'm just curious as to how the chicks will turn out this generation. Even though these birds are in my laying group now. Except for the past week or so when they've free ranged they've been only exposed to a like pure bred rooster only. I've got some girls in the building trying to sit as well. There are two pens I'm not gathering eggs in because the girls are so insistent on sitting. If they hatch a few it's okay I guess. They'll just be running around the building like some earlier ones do. The first batch that hatched there were three chicks. All three of those birds are cockerels. Since they've always been in there I may choose one to leave for a back up rooster. Not that I particularly need one right now. But just the fact they get along with the rooster is a benefit.
I am so sore I can barely move my arms today. At least I am done working on fences for awhile. I may start sorting birds again today. It's supposed to be hotter so I guess I'll let the temperature decide if that is a good idea or not.

 

[lizzyGSR]

We just got back from a quick trip to Central KS for my DH's family reunion. It was nice to show off our newest addition to the family, but she didn't sleep well while we were gone, and my Dh and I are both exhausted. We are taking today off to recover from our vacation.

My Sussex rooster gets to live one more day. Neither me nor DH feel up to processing him today. I caught him this morning and put him in an XL dog cage so I could let ther est of the birds free range. He isn't happy about it, but it is better than having him locked in the hot coop for the day. It really is too bad I can't keep him. He is a really pretty bird. He asked for it though by attacking my little guy.

If you were in my shoes, would you look into getting a replacement roo? I have 14 or 15 girls (all hatchery stock) and had been interested in letting a couple of them go broody in the spring but I am worried about another rooster attacking my toddler. Also, I'm not likely to be able to get anything but hatchery stock out here. I just want the birds for eggs and eventually for the meat. What are your thoughts?

 

[sharol]

I just want to share a little success.

As some of you know, I hatched out 34 Campines last spring. I sold 4 of them as a group (I hope they are doing well), and planned to sell another trio when they got to laying age. I haven't had any luck selling the second group, and the cockerel has an intermittent limp, so I guess I'll just keep the whole lot and separate out the ones I want to breed when the time comes. The best of them look to be show quality, so they are wasted on me, I suppose. In any case, they have been living in the second coop (bigger, cooler, nicer) with the English Orps. They all get along pretty well, so it seems to be working.

I have had a cage on saw horses in there to break 3 broodies I've been wrestling with for the last few weeks, and the Campines had taken to roosting on the top of the cage (It was about 4' off the floor -- I put plywood up there so they wouldn't be on wire and so they wouldn't poop on the poor broody in the cage). Well today I disassembled the cage/saw horse thing and installed a roost about 4' off the floor that runs at a bit of an angle across the front of the coop. I'll have to duck under it, but I didn't want it any higher. The Orps roosts are about 2' off the floor, 1.5 feet off the shavings. I wasn't sure they would get the idea, but when I went out to count beaks, 8 of the 9 of them were settled in happily on the higher roost. I helped the other one up (she is my stubborn, independent little soul -- even for Campines), and they are perfectly happy up there.

They are going to be crowded in there this winter, even after I butcher the roos (orps too young to butcher last weekend) there will be over 20 chickens in a 64 sq ft. building, but with the roost situation worked out, I think it may not be a problem. There are 11 adult Orpingtons, 9 young Campines, and 3 more young orps that may be female and one little Breda/Araucana cross that I really want to be female. Sigh. At least Winston (my Jubilee Orpington Rooster) is good natured about sharing the digs with other males. I just hope that continues.

We have been enjoying the early fall weather and getting some long neglected yard work done, too, so that is a bonus.

 

[HEChicken]

Good job Sharol! Fwiw, my coop is 100 sq.ft and has had over 100 birds in it at one time or another. The whole coop is roosts, with 4 bars running down the left when you walk in the door and another 3 on the right. There is just the narrow walkway between the two sets of roosts to allow me to walk in there. It works out okay for me though, since they free-range all day so they only go in there to sleep.

... spray the building for mites

What do you use for spray? I probably need to do that myself next time I clean out.

... had been interested in letting a couple of them go broody in the spring ...

Hatchery birds often don't go broody so don't count on them hatching for you. Hatcheries don't want broody birds, since broody girls don't lay, so they try to breed broodiness out of them. Over the years, even the breeds that are traditionally very broody birds, have had that trait bred out of them by the hatcheries.

That is not to say a hatchery bird won't go broody. My very first broody hen was a 3-year-old hatchery black sex link. However I had had her since a chick and waited 3 years for her to go broody - and some I'd had much longer and they never did brood.

Last week I found a broody hen sitting and she had been so sneaky about it that she'd managed to gather a large group of eggs under her by the time I found her. I have no idea how long she has been sitting there or even how many eggs are under her. I reached under and felt a lot (she is a large barred rock hen) however she wasn't keen on me bothering her and wouldn't stand to let me see, so I gave up and left her to it. I should probably have taken the eggs and tossed them since I don't need more chicks, but I don't have to heart to toss developing eggs - and I have no idea at all how far along these are. Sigh. Ironically, the place she chose to sit is the brooder I keep in my 3-season room for raising large hatches. At least they are safe, dry and when the chicks hatch, it will be easy to put a feeder and waterer in there and let her raise them there for a little while.

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken I got permectrin II because it was recommended to me for the coops. I didn't know where to find it locally so I got it online. I know I had mites in my main coop so hopefully this will take care of them. It does stink & I didn't let the birds in there till it dried completely. I also used gloves when I was spraying it. I got a quart container of it & with the amount you mix I think it will last a long time. I had the windows open & the people door when I was spraying in there will I worked my way out the door. Then I just shut the people door & blocked off the pop door till I was ready to let the chickens back in. I also used it in my breeder coop.

I was so happy to get those coops done, happy dance! Now I don't have to do that again till March. I've been clearing out extra birds lately too. Today I have a lady coming to pick up 18 roosters, I'm so thrilled to have those going. I also have another lady coming this evening to get two young roosters in addition to the others. Tomorrow I have someone driving down to pick up his group of Jubilees he already paid for. Then I can move my three backup roosters into that pen & I will have two empty pens for the first time ever. I still have a few birds in the growout pen that aren't quite big enough yet to integrate, hopefully soon. I will have a few chicks in there still for awhile that just moved outside but I'm slowly moving them out as I either sell them or get them big enough to go to the pens they belong in. I have chosen the roosters I'm keeping now so I shouldn't have any extras left after these leave today. Now if I could only find the rooster I'm trying to get for my Mille Fleur Leghorns I would be very happy. I've been looking for one for a year. I got a buff Leghorn to fill in till I find the right color, but he produces buff chicks that are split to Mille Fleur. If anybody knows of anyone who raises MF Leghorns send me a PM because I'm having a heck of a time finding a rooster.

 

[chicken danz]

We just got back from a quick trip to Central KS for my DH's family reunion. It was nice to show off our newest addition to the family, but she didn't sleep well while we were gone, and my Dh and I are both exhausted. We are taking today off to recover from our vacation.

My Sussex rooster gets to live one more day. Neither me nor DH feel up to processing him today. I caught him this morning and put him in an XL dog cage so I could let ther est of the birds free range. He isn't happy about it, but it is better than having him locked in the hot coop for the day. It really is too bad I can't keep him. He is a really pretty bird. He asked for it though by attacking my little guy.

If you were in my shoes, would you look into getting a replacement roo? I have 14 or 15 girls (all hatchery stock) and had been interested in letting a couple of them go broody in the spring but I am worried about another rooster attacking my toddler. Also, I'm not likely to be able to get anything but hatchery stock out here. I just want the birds for eggs and eventually for the meat. What are your thoughts?

More info here for you all. I feel this is important. The Sussex, Lizzy is speaking of had been at the bottom of the pecking order to the other cockerels she had until she butchered. I really believe that is why he chose to flog her son. He was finally the only and top rooster and Ethan is small and male.
I would certainly get another replacement roo because even though those are hatchery birds there will be some broodies for sure. My first chickens I had after many years absence were all hatchery stock and I raised hundreds of chicks from all hatchery stock and broody mamas. Maybe not all will go broody but surely some will. The plus here is that she has a mix of lots of breeds which means a larger degree of sitters.
As I told you before I would definitely get another cockerel but get a young one who hasn't had to compete with other cockerels for the girls.
You don't want one that has been forced to defend himself against other roos. I feel roosters serve a greater purpose than just breeding as well. A good rooster will work hard to protect his girls and warn them of disasters while they are free ranging. He will find them good food morsels and call them over for them.
Originally Posted by sharol

Good job Sharol! Fwiw, my coop is 100 sq.ft and has had over 100 birds in it at one time or another. The whole coop is roosts, with 4 bars running down the left when you walk in the door and another 3 on the right. There is just the narrow walkway between the two sets of roosts to allow me to walk in there. It works out okay for me though, since they free-range all day so they only go in there to sleep.

Quote: Of course I'm not Trish, but I highly recommend Permectrin II to spray with. It's great stuff. Goes a long way and inexpensive particularly as many doses as you get from a bottle. It is so much safer to use than a lot of other products. I have even sprayed baby chicks with it with no ill effects whatsoever. I dip my birds in a 5 gallon bucket with some Permectrin in it rather than spray them because for me that is faster. It does a great job. It's formulated for animals and their premises so it's perfect. And works so much better than Sevin or anything else I've tried.
I was barely able to function yesterday. I apparently pulled some muscles along with arthritis flares doing my fence work. But it's all done and I can finally rest and feel safe that what's in stays in and what's out stays out. I didn't get the electric fence signs hung yet but then who is going to need to see that? The coyotes or the deer that come a little too close to the fence line?

I moved a few birds to the laying pen. Most haven't started laying yet but at least they will be trained to go there when they are. I was also sorting out a few I wanted to keep for my breeders as well. Easier to put them there for now than put them in the breeder pens By that time in the day though I could barely move one foot in front of another.
I figured out a sure fire way to sex birds that are questionable. All I have to do is put them in the pen with the turkeys I am growing out. If they are male the Toms will flare up and chase them around the pen. I had added a couple I was unsure about a within 5 minutes I had no doubt which ones were male.

 

[lizzyGSR]

More info here for you all. I feel this is important. The Sussex, Lizzy is speaking of had been at the bottom of the pecking order to the other cockerels she had until she butchered. I really believe that is why he chose to flog her son. He was finally the only and top rooster and Ethan is small and male.
I would certainly get another replacement roo because even though those are hatchery birds there will be some broodies for sure. My first chickens I had after many years absence were all hatchery stock and I raised hundreds of chicks from all hatchery stock and broody mamas. Maybe not all will go broody but surely some will. The plus here is that she has a mix of lots of breeds which means a larger degree of sitters.
As I told you before I would definitely get another cockerel but get a young one who hasn't had to compete with other cockerels for the girls.
You don't want one that has been forced to defend himself against other roos. I feel roosters serve a greater purpose than just breeding as well. A good rooster will work hard to protect his girls and warn them of disasters while they are free ranging. He will find them good food morsels and call them over for them.

Thanks for filling int he story, Danz! Where would I find a roo that hasn't had to compete? Most people selling roosters are selling them because they have too many, aren't they? Ethan well remembers getting attacked and now knows the difference between hen and (mean) rooster. I would hate to get another bird that would possibly flog him but at the same time, I had wanted to keep a rooster for a reason. I guess I'm just torn... I really don't want Ethan to grow up being scared of chickens, but I also see the value in having a rooster. Any suggestions on where to find one and what breed(s) to look for?