Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

The move to Texas was because of work. I couldn't find anything in KC and there were any other remote jobs available. Besides, this opportunity was too good to pass up! I haven't brewed in a while, but once we are settled that is my first order of business.

I hope your move goes well. Will you have chickens there?

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, I love watching chicks with their broody moms. The cats manage to get most of the chicks around here but I have some Moms who each have one chick and the cats don't dare get near them. Those girls mean business.
I'm down to almost zero eggs a day out of hundreds of birds. This weather is awful for all reasons.

I like watching them too. This hen seems to be a really good mama. Any animal that walks on the outside, she will follow from the inside of the coop/run. She doesn't even like any of the other chicks getting close to her two chicks. She kept chasing them around the run but doesn't go in the coop very often so the otehrs were hanging out in the coop despite the heat. I finally had to put up a fence so the other chicks wouldn't be afraid to come out of the coop... For one reason or another, the other chicks that have hatched here in previous years have never made it to adulthood, but I have high hope for these two chicks.

 

[Trish44]

Let us know how the chicks do. Speckled Sussex are one of my favorite breeds.

 

[chicken danz]

I love the speckled sussex as well but something had to go. Now that Lizzy has them I've had several people ask if I have chicks. I do have a few that I hatched that were younger and I have a buyer for those. I need to get a count. I am so far behind on little details.

 

[Trish44]

I still raise the Speckled Sussex & plan to continue with them. I have some new pullets & a backup rooster growing out now.

 

[chicken danz]

Once these are gone Trish, I'm sending the local customers your way.

 

[Ghostnuke]

I woke up this morning to hear another chicken crowing

 

[chicken danz]

@Ghostnuke , those things happen!!! LOL Do you know what kind this one is?

Well yesterday was the quite the day. Another day in extreme heat. I was trying to get all the birds fed and watered which seems to take forever in this heat. Among some extra projects like cleaning the auto waterers in the building. DH came and told me the house was hot and the AC had quit. Oh No! What an awful day for that to happen. I dug out my owner manuals and looked up the codes, and then got a Handyman article looked up on how to do some minor repairs. Once the cover was off the condensor unit it was pretty obvious the code was right. It said condensor unit dirty, fan not running, etc etc. The fins were absolutely packed in a fine fine dust. I am sure it is because of the extreme heat and the dry soil. This clay blows like powder when it gets really dry. Several hours into the project I had it all cleaned up, vacuumed, washed and hosed out. Changed the filter in the inside unit and she worked like a charm. Note to self: Do another maintenance in hot summers.
Then I fed some more birds, and went to clean out the duck pond. It was quite a stinky mess. A few rotten eggs in the bottom and the birds are molting so there was feathers and tree droppings, and tons of algae. When it was close to being pumped out I started cleaning the rocks around it, and spraying underneath the edges of them to get the residual duck poo washed out. I saw a snake come out breifly then go back in. I went out and got a shovel as snakes present a hazard to those little ducks, and I was sure it was either a bull snake or a rattler. Since I have only found one rattler here since i lived here I figured that it was a bullsnake. He was under a huge rock so I called DH and asked him to help lift the rock. Sure enough he was coiled underneath there. I hit him with the shovel and counted 4 rattlers on his tail. I would have been a lot more nervous if I'd known he really was a rattle snake. Anyway he's no longer.
My AC went out again so now there's a repair man here. Hope it isn't anything major.
I sold all my last years peafowl in one group this morning. Yay! An empty pen!!!

 

[lizzyGSR]

Let us know how the chicks do. Speckled Sussex are one of my favorite breeds.

Mine too! Danz has lots of other birds that are REALLY pretty, but the sussex temprament and coloring is just so nice! These birds don't let me pet them, but they aren't afraid of me just walking around them, and they follow me around, hoping for treats. I'm liking them more and more the longer I have them!

@Ghostnuke
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I saw a snake come out breifly then go back in. I went out and got a shovel as snakes present a hazard to those little ducks, and I was sure it was either a bull snake or a rattler. Since I have only found one rattler here since i lived here I figured that it was a bullsnake. He was under a huge rock so I called DH and asked him to help lift the rock. Sure enough he was coiled underneath there. I hit him with the shovel and counted 4 rattlers on his tail. I would have been a lot more nervous if I'd known he really was a rattle snake. Anyway he's no longer.

Oh man! The problem with areas like yours is that they are so rare so people aren't as careful! I'm glad you saw him and got him! That's not a good thing to have so close to the house and the birds!

I was outside the other evening in flip flops. We had gotten home late after VBS and I had gone out to take care of my horses (other chores done before we left) without changing shoes. I was walking around in the yard in the dark with just a dim keychain flashlight, and the dog started bouncing around. She'd obviously encountered a snake that I hadn't seen. I eventually found it with my flashlight and decided it was a garter snake, but I sure decided that was enough walking around in the dark for me! I'm so glad the snake I saw was a garter and not a rattler - we've got enough rattlers around, it sure could have been one. It's unnerving enough to find a garter snake in the dark when wearing insufficient footwear!)

 

[Trish44]

I've just heard so many stories this year about snakes, particularly rattlers to the point now that I'm watching my feet everywhere I walk now. We do have rattlers in the area where I live as well as copperheads.