Consolidated Kansas

[lizzyGSR]

Must have another new layer in your group. Not unusual. When my mother was still alive I would give her all those type eggs. They will dry out in a short time so they'll just be a shell. She used to use them in tiny artificial bird nests for decorations.
I've been so busy I haven't even had time to read posts. Spring and fall seem to be that way every year. I hate it!! I've got a lot to do today as well. I was gone most of the day yesterday so today is really a catch up and prep day. I plan to butcher some tomorrow and do some more sorting.
Love the weather though!

This morning, I discovered my first shell-less egg. Weird-o! To make it even more ironic, I found my first shell-less duck egg this afternoon. It was huge compared to the shell-less chicken egg I found. I gave them to the chickens to eat. I wonder if they will eat them or not... I think my 4 young ducks are beginning to lay. I've found 2 duck eggs for the last several mornings, and I've found them in really random places - not the nest in the duck house where the older birds usually lay.

On the plus side, I did get the yard mowed this morning. It looks WAY better now. I also got some weeds mowed down that had been bothering me for a while but I hadn't been feeling good enough to mow under the trees where they were growing. The yard looks so much better now.

 

[Trish44]

Hello Kansas neighbors! Quick question. Does anyone near Topeka have any Silkie chicks available? I'm looking for just a few of them.

Thank you!

It seems everyone is pretty busy right now, the cooler weather is a great time to get things done outside. I'm not near Topeka & don't raise Silkies but if you're on Facebook you can go & search for the Kansas Poultry Swap & check on there. I'm not allowed to post a link here but if you search you should find it. There are other online swaps on FB as well. Other than that you can watch Craigslist & see if any are posted there.

 

[ladyj02]

[COLOR=0000FF]It seems everyone is pretty busy right now, the cooler weather is a great time to get things done outside. I'm not near Topeka & don't raise Silkies but if you're on Facebook you can go & search for the Kansas Poultry Swap & check on there. I'm not allowed to post a link here but if you search you should find it. There are other online swaps on FB as well. Other than that you can watch Craigslist & see if any are posted there. [/COLOR]

Thank you so much for the Facebook group suggestions!

 

[chicken danz]

I've been so busy the last few days I haven't had time to post. I did take it easy this morning for awhile which was really needed but then had a really full hard day after that. I had a waterer that got stuck and overflowed in the building so there was tons of wet stuff to clean up before it got smelly. Then while cleaning I cleaned out a couple pens and moved some birds to a different pen. Then shoveled out the walkway that was full of feathers and shavings and what have you. Several wheel barrels later I moved on to cleaning up debris in the yard and limbs that recent storms had taken down. We have a big roaring fire out there right now burning all that stuff up plus the feathers and guts from my butchering on Friday. I was going to set up some more panels for an outside pen and put netting over one of the vacated pens. Then I was going to put another pop door together and install it in that pen to the outside but I ran out of time and energy. Maybe tomorrow I will get back to work on that. If I can complete that project I'll move the Icelandics into the building. One more project done.
I wanted to move some more dirt with the bobcat today but the mud is still insane right now. I wish I had a bulldozer and a blade. I would be grading a bunch of land so the water wouldn't pool so bad. I found all kinds of water puddles that are drawing mosquitoes.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Hey everybody, been ages since I have been on here. All is good in Olathe, new neighbors last year, so that enabled me to have some again! If you dont remember, the last neighbor put her house up for sale and decided to report me to hoa, said housing values were dropping cause of the birds!! Anyway I am knee deep into birds again. Sent Verna a pm, need and or want to replenish my stock!!

 

[chicken danz]

@chickenrookie , glad you can have your birds again. Thanks for thinking of me.
Sounds like time for a road trip. I've got tons of birds for sale.

 

[Trish44]

Welcome back chickenrookie, I'm glad you can have chickens again.

I've been so busy lately myself getting things done outside before the weather turns. Yesterday really seemed warm after having cooler days. I moved most of my young birds into their permanent pens but there are still a few in the growout pen that have some growing yet to do before they can be moved, hopefully before too long. I also hatched 4 BLRW chicks that are just over a week old. I normally don't hatch this time of year but I have been trying to get these chicks all year.

 

[chicken danz]

Today has been one of those days. I had planned to do so much. I was going to finish painting a coop before the rain started tonight but no we had rain off and on most of the day. Plus the wind was blowing so hard I would have been wearing more than the building.
This afternoon when there was finally a break in the rain a guy from the Co-op I use and his wife showed up unannounced. They just bought a farm and are wanting to get chickens. But also looking for ideas for coops and such. So I spent a couple hours showing them around. So the time period when I could get some things done was used up.
When we were butchering the other day my friend and I were discussing the ducks. My Asian friend always prefers the Cayuga eggs because he says they have a creamier texture. But while we butchered all three kinds there was a distinct difference in how many pin feathers the cayugas had as compared to the pekin and the Ancona. And more people ask to buy the Cayuga than the others. So I think I've decided to slowly switch to just cayuga. The hatcheries are sold out. I gathered all the cayuga eggs I found in the multiple nests around the yard and put them in the incubator. I am sure some are not good and some won't be pure. I have very few cayuga left in my ducks. I figure I'll just hatch the cayuga and keep the purebred ones for myself. The other ducks can lay all they want and provide duck eggs for those that want them. Then when I have enough stock built up I can sell the other hens and drakes. This could take a while though. Meanwhile my ducks are laying and eating bugs like normal. The cayuga eggs are green but a few of the other eggs have a green color as well so I may hatch a few others. It's probably not the right time of year to hatch ducks but at least I have room in the incubator.
One problem with the cayuga is that they seem to be the ones the owls pick out. That is what has happened to most of them that I haven't sold. I guess owls like black ducks.

 

[chicken danz]

My daughter just sent me this and I am laughing out loud. I think the writer is living my life. For all your chicken sellers out there this is perfect!!!!

The Top 10 Worst Chicken Buyers by Steve Neumann

1. Nancy No Show- Nothing says, "I respect you" more than failing to call or message somebody that you can't make an arranged time to pick up birds.

2. Rebecca Raise My Birds for Me- The person who strings you along with steady excuses of why they can't pick up chicks you're holding for them as they get progressively older, more well feathered. Puts the seller in the awkward position of renegotiating the price for prolonged care of chicks they never intended to keep and raise out.

3. Porter the Price Critic- "Your birds are too expensive. I can get one from X for this much." Fine, by all means, please do.

4. Wishy Washy Wanda- "Well, we haven't started building the coop yet, and I need to talk to my husband, so I will call you back." No you won't. Please stop wasting my time.

5. Hagar the Belated Haggler- After bringing birds somewhere to sell with a clearly listed price and no discussion of price, he starts haggling...after putting the birds in his cage.

6. Samuel the Chicken Student- After asking chicken rearing questions for an hour over info that could be gleaned from any web forum, he disappears, only to call back a couple weeks later and say, "I bought birds from X because they were cheaper, but they're sick. What should I do?" Please...go look it up and leave me alone.

7. Renae the Rooster Wrath Lady- Sometimes a refund or an exchanged pullet is just not enough retribution in the world for the horrible torture she went through getting a rooster. And she lets EVERYBODY know about it.

8. Howard the Horrible Hatcher- The reason most people don't sell hatching eggs. Somebody who blasts you on every web forum known to man because he couldn't hatch any eggs after the postman kicked the package, and he set
the eggs in a crappy still air incubator he got at a garage sale.

9. Pricilla the Problematic Proxy Breeder- Buys birds from you, crosses them to some ugly hatchery birds, and sells horrible ugly birds she says are from your line.

10. Milton the Misinformed- "Your Marans are supposed to have clean shanks." No dude, they're not. Go look at the standard before you tell me what I have is wrong.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

giggles these are great Hopefully I have never been one of these.