Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss Patricia Allison. It may or may not have been too much heat - sometimes chicks just don't make it. But - for next time - always have an area that is under the heat lamp and an area that is not, so they can choose where they want to be. Ideally you want them to spend some time under the heat and some time at the opposite end of the brooder where there is no heat. If they are spending all their time under the lamp it is too cool and if they're spending all their time at the cool end, the lamp is too warm.

Edited to correct lamb to lamp. Every time I wrote the word. I guess I have sheep on the brain.....

 

[Trish44]

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.

That is so right on danz, I think you & I both as breeders have run into about every one of these types.

A few weeks ago I mentioned having a puncture in my mower tire and a couple of people recommended the green slime stuff from Walmart as a sealant for the tire. I know @Trish44 was one of them and I'm thinking maybe @lizzyGSR was the other? I have some updated info on that.

I went out and bought a bottle of it last Thursday. As luck would have it, on Friday, while mowing, the engine blew, so the mower is now in at a repair shop. I talked to them about the incessant punctures. We have a lot of hedge trees and those branches have thorns so punctures are just part and parcel of it. I told them I had bought the green slime stuff on the recommendation of friends here but the mower people said not to use the green slime as it will corrode the wheels. They recommended two other products that can be used instead. One is called AmerSeal and the other started with B and is available at O'Reillys. So I need to pass on that info in the group to anyone who is using the green slime from Walmart. It would suck to fix the puncture only to have to later replace the whole wheel!

HEChicken we have been using the slime & the stuff from Orscheln's for years & so far it has done great. We have the same issue as you although I think we have even more hedge trees than you.

In the last couple of days, my husband's puppy has gotten over a dozen eggs and eaten them. She sneaks into the coop and gets them from the nests. So, today, I put up a child's gate in the doorway of the run. My poor chickens are thoroughly confused! There were 4 girls that took quite a while to figure out how to get out, and now I'm watching one girl pace back and forth in front trying to figure out how to get back in.

I had that issue with my GPs when I first got them as pups, they found out they could get into the coop & get eggs so they did at every opportunity. I put up a livestock panel gate at the door of the run so it wasn't long that they were too big to get through the squares. The hens could get through fine, even the big roosters so it has stayed every since.

Picked up Violet and Luna on Saturday. We just love them! Considering chocolate orps for spring. I just love my orpingtons!

Orpingtons are very laid back birds & get along with most other breeds, but they do tend to be on the bottom of the pecking order for that reason. I have quite a few Wyandottes & they are beautiful & very good layers but are a bit more bossy usually.

We just got back last night from a vacation in Europe so we have been gone two weeks. I like visiting places but am always glad to be home again & I have missed my pets, birds, & animals a lot. I'm suffering from jet lag today & effects of flying for hours on end yesterday. Ugh, that is the part I hate the most about flying that far, it just drags on & on & I can't sleep well on planes, but tiny naps & that just leaves you feeling even worse. The thread seemed pretty quiet while I was gone since I was able to catch up on reading pretty fast. Where is everyone? I hope to have things settle down now that I'm back & all I have coming up to do now is winterizing the outside pens before it gets too cold. I did a lot of work fixing & altering things before I left to make them easier for my animal care person to deal with.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken we have been using the slime & the stuff from Orscheln's for years & so far it has done great. We have the same issue as you although I think we have even more hedge trees than you.

I decided I wasn't taking any chances and returned the bottle unopened. While the mower people had it putting in the new engine, I asked them to just go ahead and do the AmerSeal treatment as well. Even though I had to pay their time to do it, I figured while they already had it up on blocks to do the engine, it wouldn't take much extra to do that and that way when we got it back it was ready to go.

 

[mama23grlz1boy]

Funny thing... I have 2 orpingtons that relentlessly pick in one of my EE's. They are ironically the 2 that like me least of all.

 

[Trish44]

Funny thing... I have 2 orpingtons that relentlessly pick in one of my EE's. They are ironically the 2 that like me least of all.

That's strange because usually the Orpingtons are the most laid back of all of the breeds, but like anything else I guess you can have exceptions. My two big Buff Orpingtons I added to my laying flock this year from my own breeding stock are really at the bottom of the pecking order or pretty close. They're way bigger than the others but just not aggressive at all.

 

[mama23grlz1boy]

Pick on may not be entirely the right words. They chase her away from the treat tray, so I now have 2.

 

[Trish44]

This thread is too quiet without danz. Hopefully she will be able to get back on soon.

 

[chicken danz]

Thank you. Just a quick note since I'm still doing this one handed. I have an appointment with the surgeon in the morning. Because I forgot to tell him I was allergic to external stitches, my hand is in severe pain again. It also won't heal as long as they are in there. Not sure what he will do at this point. I've had butterfly strips before when that happened but the hand flexes too much for them to hold. I'm really feeling crabby now. Too many days of discomfort and not being able to get things done.
I have a friend coming Thursday to help me get my calf pen finished. I'll be so glad to get her home even though I won't be able to work with her much for a while.

 

[sharol]

Thank you. Just a quick note since I'm still doing this one handed. I have an appointment with the surgeon in the morning. Because I forgot to tell him I was allergic to external stitches, my hand is in severe pain again. It also won't heal as long as they are in there. Not sure what he will do at this point. I've had butterfly strips before when that happened but the hand flexes too much for them to hold. I'm really feeling crabby now. Too many days of discomfort and not being able to get things done.
I have a friend coming Thursday to help me get my calf pen finished. I'll be so glad to get her home even though I won't be able to work with her much for a while.

You've had a time with that hand. Thanks for making the effort to post. We are all thinking about you.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Hugs Danz hope your hand heals super quick so you can play and pet your new fur baby