Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

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Yes, I've been to Peck. Seems like I got some peaches from a small orchard near there. I belive I picked a peck a peaches in Peck!

Good idea about waiting till cooler weather. It's certainly not worth having a heat stroke over.

I just finished feeding and watering. I didn't see my one white guinea hen. I wonder if she is sitting on a clutch of eggs somewhere in the weeds. With our 3 GP's we've not had one predator problem, but that's not to say that it "couldn't happen." Those guys get a little lazy in all this heat, and I know they were busy on their job last night.

 

[Hawkeye95]

IvyWoods, yes there is a large orchard near us up the road. They are called Bergman's Orchard and they have apple and peach. There are also a couple other private orchards near us that are open to the public from time to time. I love our area, we have a sort of redneck farmers market going on just driving down the road. People will put out signs along the highway for strawberries and other fruits, eggs, etc... There are a lot of people like me- sort of a 'hobby farm' with horses or a few cows, chickens, goats, etc. Then we have the 'real' farmers mixed in with us, too. They're the ones that have their own silos, semi trucks and combines sitting in their yards. I love our little community and we all get along and we all chat often with each other. I can spend a lot of time at the CoOp chatting with the locals that come in to sit down and shoot the breeze. They talk about dogs, hunting, farming and livestock. Anyway, with the exception of the guy that lets his dogs run loose, it's great.

Where is Hiyawatha (I know I killed the spelling of that, sorry)

 

[Ivywoods]

We are almost as far northeast as you can go in Kansas. We are about 8 miles from nebraska and about 20-30 miles from Missouri, depending on which way you go. It is nice up here, too. It's some of the best soil in Kansas, and stuff grows like crazy. We have 160 acres, and we lease out 100 of that. All they raise around here is corn and soybeans. Dryland corn is consistently well over 200 bu/acre, and the soybeans are better than I ever saw back around home (Salina.) We have about 50 acres of woods that we hunt, and about 10 acres of pasture and ground where the house is. I love it.

Here is a planter I built. I think it was around the end of June. The day after I planted flowers in it we had a windstorm and it blew the thing over, dumping out all the flowers with all the dirt on top of them. It was a couple days before I had time to rescue them from being burried alive, but I got it replanted and made a couple modifications to keep it from blowing over again.

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I took this picture a couple weeks ago. The flowers are almost TWICE this size now!

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Now for the BAD news. I lost my white guinea hen this morning. I went out a little while ago to water some stuff I planted last night and I found a bunch of feathers. I was hoping maybe she had just gone broody somewhere. Anyway, some of the feathers looked like they had been cut through the shaft. I'm pretty sure it was a hawk that did it. Our GP's were probably somewhere sleeping in the cool shade. The male guineas came up to my bedroom window early this morning and were making their racket. At the time I looked out the window but couldn't see anything, so I didn't know what all the ruckus was about. Now I know.

 

[Ivywoods]

That "green thing" in the background of the first picture is the chicken tractor I built last summer out of material that I salvaged after a BIG windstorm that took out one barn, part of another and all the siding off the back of the house and anything that wasn't tied down. I am currently keeping a pair of bantam partridge wyandottes in there. They love it, but I move them into the barn during the winter. They sulk like they are being punished when I move them into the barn!

 

[sharol]

I'm working on insulating my coop (metal building). More for winter than summer, but that metal gets really hot in the afternoon. I'm using the pink foam stuff between studs and then covering the studding with thin plywood (painted of course). So far it really looks nice, but I'm waiting to see if it will help with the temp. It's 101 here now, and I'm giving up for the day. I got all but about a fourth of the insulation and plywood up. I have to put the plywood up section by section to keep the pink foam covered so they won't think it looks like food.

The problem is that the girls actually use the coop to lay in this heat, and periodically one of them will run me out to lay an egg. Got 3 today from the 6 of them, so that isn't bad for as hot as it has been.

This shows the foam in place waiting for the plywood to protect it.

This is the south wall done.

Obviously one problem is that the roosts have to come down before I can do the plywood or insulation, be shortened and cleaned, new supports installed, and then put back up before the girls miss them. I can't believe how much they HATE changes to their home. I did get the two sections with the roosts done this morning and the rest of the west side just before I came in (2:30 or so), but it is just too hot out there to finish the project right now.

 

[Ivywoods]

Looks nice, Sharol. One thing you might want to consider if you have to take the roosts down is building them so that they can be hinged at the top. That is what I have done with mine and I love it. All I have to do is pick it up, and I hook the bottom edge up with a bungie cord to the ceiling. It makes cleaning so much easier under the roost. Maybe I could go get a picture of mine real quick. It's kind of hard to get pics in there, but I'll try.

Be back later.

 

[Ivywoods]

Okay, here is a pic of my roost that hinges at the top. Pay no attention to the poop on the walls.

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Here is a closer picture of the hinge I used. I simply put up a 2 x 4 so I would have something more solid to hing to. Simple, yet works great.

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Hey, Chooks, recognize that girl in the background in the first pic?

 

[Hawkeye95]

IvyWoods- omGosh! that planter is gorgeous! I totally LOVE that! How did you get such a great idea? The plants you put in it- that is so lush looking. I love the stones you put under it, too. Just makes me want to start another project... oh right! I'm trying to start one now. heh. I'm a plant nut. My local nursery actually knows me when I walk in, since I go there so often. Your tractor is cute, too- did I see a nesting box on the back of it? I might have to go back and look at it again. I bet that keeps them pretty happy! We drove up to Minnesota and passed thru Nebraska and north KS and wow, does it look NOTHING like it looks down here. It's all green and lush and everything is growing like crazy. Corn everywhere. My dad's parents were farmers and raised beef and my dad held on to a few acres of his farmland from his parents. It's going to be passed on to me, so my dad likes to take me down there to look at it from time to time. We went down a few weeks ago. It's in south-east kansas around the Girard area (near Pittsburg) and he has a guy that farms it for him now- there is about 80 acres in corn that looks like it's doing really, really well. All said he has about 300 acres in various stuff, but the corn looked the best. That area gets a lot more rainfall than we do. Unfortunately we just live in a pocket of arid desert prairie right here. I sometimes dream of moving down there. It's so much nicer than here.

Looks like you are in a little patch of fabulous earth where you are at, too. I live on 10 acres, here too. We did what you did- divided it up into pasture and the rest for the house. Hey, that's pretty smart about having your roosts on a hinge! I'll remember that!

Sharol, looks like you are doing an awful lot of work on your coop! Have you already used it in the winter? Was it too cold? Just curious why you are insulating it now. I'm planning on insulating my coop, too. I love the round holes for your nesting boxes. Very cute!

 

[sharol]

Those look awesome. When I do my next round of changes, I'll put that on the list. I'm a bit overwhelmed with what I've taken on, and I HATE having to wait for my DH to use the table saw for a couple of pieces, but I'm terrified of it.

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[callducklover20]

Sorry my DBF made someone mad again-he is the most awesome man Ive ever been with in my life and Im sorry if he made anyone upset. Thanks Renee for the Perry wood tip and we will be picking some up some soon, hope everyone is doing well in all this heat-so glad we have lost no birds the last two nights