Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Add another Kansan! Just officially joined BYC today but have been reading the threads to answer questions I've had for the last 10 months. Was always able to find my answers without needing to post myself, so I never officially joined!
Hello from Manhattan, KS!

Welcome to our group. We're always glad to help with whatever we can. We're a very informal group and talk about just about anything. Feel free to join in.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

I hatched out 13 campine chicks last spring from eggs I got from @Wisher1000 They are beautiful, chatty birds and I really love them. They are the most interesting of all my birds to watch and interact with. One of the pullets (all are silver except for one gold) I call Cathy because she is so chatty. She comes into the coop when I'm cleaning to snoopervise and be sure I do it right. This evening at dusk, 4 of them were pacing outside the run because they hadn't come when I put everyone in, and I didn't miss them. They were really glad to get back in. They are just charming little birds. There aren't many of them in Kansas yet, but they used to be standard layers 100 years ago.

Sharol are Campine Bantams or are they just a smaller breed?

 

[sharol]

Sharol are Campine Bantams or are they just a smaller breed?

They are officially large fowl. They are smaller large fowl, though, when compared to English Orpingtons. Their eggs are on the large end of medium to the medium end of large and translucent looking white.

My poor little cockerels really got frostbitten during the last cold snap. There is lots of ventilation and no added heat. Not sure why there was so much damage. I'll see how much of it turns out to be permanent.

 

[chicken danz]

@Dani4Hedgies in size, they are comparable to my Aruacanas or even a little smaller than the Icelandics. Campines seem to have a little bossy personality to me and are a bit flighty. Which is a good thing if they are in a mixed group where they need to hold their own. In my case I was trying to breed them and ended up with a little group of unruly birds to deal with. In @sharol 's case they made a good flock member. I do like the gold much better than the silver for sure for color. But then you know I am partial to the big birds. For you Dani they would be a nice addition.
Even loving big birds, I am really enjoying the Icelandics, cause they are personable and funny. I've hatched a nice little group of them now. I love the color variation as well.
Sharol, my chickens got a lot of frostbite during that really cold snap. Worse than I've seen in years. It affected the smaller groups that don't sleep close to each other the most.
I got the pop doors hung yesterday in the building with just hook eyes and a rope. There are 11 out of 14 that are installed. I haven't put the other 3 in yet because I don't have any outside pens for them. It's not real convenient at this point, but at least I can open and close them with the rope from outside the pens instead of having to go inside. I'm still trying to figure an exact plan to rig them all with pulleys to make it even easier. The set up isn't the best for using a pulley system because I don't have wood in place to mount it to.

 

[Trish44]

My roosters took the brunt of that arctic cold snap as well, I'm wondering how much of their combs they will lose over it. I agree with danz, it was worse than has happened in a long time. I think it just hit so fast & hard that it really hit them. It had been fairly warm in contrast before that, so maybe that was why I don't know.

Danz if I were you I would just worry about those pop doors you don't have done in the spring, geez it's too cold to be out doing that stuff now. I know I won't be doing any work out there till spring myself. It's enough to have to go out in the cold just to do chores, let alone work on anything. I had my last of the series of knee injections on my right knee yesterday at my surgeon's office who did my total knee on the left. The PA said don't go out if there is snow or ice & I just looked at him & said well I have to. Ha, he doesn't know I'm a farm girl & snow & ice are all part of taking care of the animals & birds. We were gone all day yesterday for my Dr. appt & last minute shopping & got home just in time for my DH to help me get chores done fast before dark. We were running to get done in time by the time we got here. I'm glad he helped me or I would have been out in the dark.

 

[sharol]

@Dani4Hedgies in size, they are comparable to my Aruacanas or even a little smaller than the Icelandics. Campines seem to have a little bossy personality to me and are a bit flighty. Which is a good thing if they are in a mixed group where they need to hold their own. In my case I was trying to breed them and ended up with a little group of unruly birds to deal with. In @sharol 's case they made a good flock member. I do like the gold much better than the silver for sure for color. But then you know I am partial to the big birds. For you Dani they would be a nice addition.
Even loving big birds, I am really enjoying the Icelandics, cause they are personable and funny. I've hatched a nice little group of them now. I love the color variation as well.
Sharol, my chickens got a lot of frostbite during that really cold snap. Worse than I've seen in years. It affected the smaller groups that don't sleep close to each other the most.
I got the pop doors hung yesterday in the building with just hook eyes and a rope. There are 11 out of 14 that are installed. I haven't put the other 3 in yet because I don't have any outside pens for them. It's not real convenient at this point, but at least I can open and close them with the rope from outside the pens instead of having to go inside. I'm still trying to figure an exact plan to rig them all with pulleys to make it even easier. The set up isn't the best for using a pulley system because I don't have wood in place to mount it to.

My Campines are about twice the size of the Araucanas I got from you. They must be from different lines from the ones you had. These are about the size of the barred rock and the speckled sussex hens in height. they are not quite as "round" and fluffy, but height and length (from tail to beak are about the same).

That cold snap was nasty. Lizbeth seemed to enjoy being in the house for that one night, and then I got the sweeter heater up in the hoop coop for her. It doesn't keep it warm in there (the water on the floor still froze, but it keeps the temperature in the 20's when the outside temp is sub zero.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz awesome on your Icelandics I can't until you get to our names on your waiting list for chicks. And yep I have already chatted with Sharol about getting some Campire from her.

 

[chicken danz]

@sharol , I just did some research and found out a bantam Campine had been imported from Europe. Mine came from top show lines and I never asked I guess. I just assumed that all Campines were that size. My bad. I knew that the young lady that I gave mine to had shown them and won several top honors with them.
I'm going to have to come see yours some day. And since there are bantam and large fowl sizes that could make a huge difference in personality and egg size as well.
I wasn't incidentally ditching your birds. I was trying to explain to Dani why they didn't work for me but would work for her.
apologize.

 

[sharol]

@sharol , I just did some research and found out a bantam Campine had been imported from Europe. Mine came from top show lines and I never asked I guess. I just assumed that all Campines were that size. My bad. I knew that the young lady that I gave mine to had shown them and won several top honors with them.
I'm going to have to come see yours some day. And since there are bantam and large fowl sizes that could make a huge difference in personality and egg size as well.
I wasn't incidentally ditching your birds. I was trying to explain to Dani why they didn't work for me but would work for her.
apologize.

No offense taken or implied. Yes. there are bantams, too. And this birds are not LARGE by any means, but they aren't really small either. I guess I just figurred they were all about the same size until you posted.

My Orp rooster has what looks like damage to one eye. It is really sore and looks like it was cut --- another bird or a twig or something. I'm using some eye ointment for dogs that I had in the drawer. Any other suggestions? It is mattered shut, and this evening he didn't argue with me about the meds, so they must feel good to him. He is acting fine, but that wound has to hurt.

 

[chicken danz]

My Orp rooster has what looks like damage to one eye. It is really sore and looks like it was cut --- another bird or a twig or something. I'm using some eye ointment for dogs that I had in the drawer. Any other suggestions? It is mattered shut, and this evening he didn't argue with me about the meds, so they must feel good to him. He is acting fine, but that wound has to hurt.

I use regular triple antibiotic ointment on my birds with injured or infected eyes. Just be sure not to use the kind with pain reliever in it. It is the same formulation used for eye treatment in humans. Neomycin, polymyxin, and bacitracin. Check the ingredients in the dog eye treatment and they could be the same, Or could be different depending on what it was given for. If it seems to be helping, stick with what you have.
As I said yesterday was a bad day for roosters around here. My backup gold laced rooster has been free ranging in the building for some time. I put a younger male in with the girls because my fertility wasn't good. I also have a really great looking speckled sussex in the building in a large cage. I had put him in the breeding pen and the older rooster beat him half to death. So he got removed for his own safety. The worst part is, after the beating he is pretty much a rooster that is ready to fight other male birds.
When I was feeding yesterday I found my gold laced dead on the floor outside the sussex's pen. Apparently he had gone down and gotten into a huge fight with the sussex through the cage. I had a metal bar across the top of the pen and the water container hung from the bar. The bar was knocked down. The water container thrown to the opposite end of the cage (a 3 1/2 foot long cage) Food bowls thrown and dumped etc etc. Obviously they had been fighting through the openings in the cage and judging from his position my gold laced had apparently stuck his head through the bars and gotten his neck broken. He was probably a good 13 to 14 pound rooster. What a loss!
Then my other gold laced I had held who was the biggest of all three of the gold laced roos has been in a cage recovering from another rooster fight and severe frost bite. He had been in a pen with the same three roosters for some time and they seemed to get along well. I had found him several days ago, head down and rear up like they get when they have given up the fight. Unfortunately it was during the really cold time and he had severe frost bite on his wattles and comb. I brought him in to nurse him back to health cause he wouldn't get out of the submissive position. Yesterday when I checked him it had been two days since he had eaten or drank anything. And of course he was still cowering like he had been. I could see evidence his liver was shutting down. I removed him and found his wattles and comb were really severely infected. They were actually oozing. They felt really hot to the point you could feel the heat come off them without touching them. Obviously the infection was traveling through his body at this point. I brought him in and forced some antibiotic and some sugar and salt water down him. I had been giving him medicated water and probiotics but since he wasn't eating or drinking they weren't helping. I put silvadene on his frost bite. Frost bite should be treated like a burn. Luckily I still had some left from a bad muffler burn to one of my knees that got infected. I even gave him a few drops of colloidal silver down his throat as well. Then I put him in a much larger cage with fresh food and water with more antibiotics. When I left he was standing and crowing. That doesn't mean a lot though in the grand scheme of things. His chances of living are fairly slim as far down as he had gotten. I just hope I can save him. I really need him now since the other rooster got killed.
Then I went to the greenhouse where the baby ducks are staying. I had the cockerel that the turkeys had beaten up in there. He had gone downhill the day before. Sure enough he had also passed away. It's days like that you wonder why you even bother. Thank heavens they were all boys this time except for the old turkey that died the day before.
I'm thinking the ducks are old enough to go outside now. They're still small but they are so messy. I took @lizzyGSR 's idea and made a wire cover for their water pan the day before. Stupid things still had a muddy mess and had splashed most of the water out. I have a few flower boxes in there and I think I am going to move them, move the ducklings and shut down the heater.
It was perfectly clear out when I got up. Now we have very heavy freezing fog.