Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well crap! I just put some water in the pond and found out my stupid filter leaks like a sieve. I used tank fittings which are supposed to be water proof. Not the case! Now I have to come up with a whole new filter system quickly after spending a fortune on this one. I'm so discouraged, plus after all this, the tub is full of water and built inside the box so I am going to have to find a way to bail out water. Grrr.

 

[Ivywoods]

YIKES! I just looked at the radar! Here it comes. I hear thunder right now. I am SO NOT WANTING winter right now!

Danz-Well, crap! It's always something isn't it? Wish I could come down and help you get that thing going. Maybe this little cold snap won't last long.

A zip tie gun.... hmmm.... that is going to have to be on my Christmas list or something. I'm sure it will come in handy next summer when we build the new barn and runs.

Stay warm, everyone!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, this front is moving a little quicker than I anticipated. I thought I had my doors cut exactly right and I double checked them a while ago (dry fit), and they are overlapping by just a tiny bit. I need to drag out all my power tools to fix it and trim them down a smidge! ARGH. But it's already looking dark and scarey here, so I don't know if want to risk it. I need an indoor shop, or something. The horses know something is up, too- they are dancing around out there. I swear I just heard thunder, too???!

Danz, oh no! I'm so sorry about your filter! What a royal pain!! Shoot! I hope you can figure something out. I do think it's going to get nicer after today, the weather doesn't really look bad later in the week.

Well, I guess I'll catch up on house keeping.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Seymore's latest tricks are escaping from her pen under the deck. I had stapled the top under the deck over the summer, but it's come undone, and now she can fly out if she feels like it. Which she does... a lot. So then, she's figured out that all she has to do is hop up the deck stairs and start "knocking" on our window with her beak and she gains the attention of the kids and the dogs. I just put on my shoes and pick her up and put her back. Now I'm having to wash down the deck... ick!

 

[chicken danz]

Seymore is really big now! She just wants to be with the family. I came in while ago. It was too wet and too cold to keep working. I couldn't find what I needed so I finally said it is time to come in and rest. Rather than wire the Serama house I hung some hooks and ran an extension cord to a heat lamp. If they don't knock it down it will be fine. I also put a heat lamp in the bantam polish house.
I got all my nest boxes hung except one I plan to mount on a center pole DH plans to put in with some metal thing he found.
I have an electric chain saw but can't find it anywhere. I was going to cut an old dead limb and put it in the mandarin pen. Also needed to put on a latch and can't find the box with all the gate hardware in it.
I finally came in, stuff my face with all I could find and decided it is time to rest for awhile. Maybe thing swill get better after I warm up. We aren't getting rain. We are getting a cold heavy mist and lots of north wind. It was really nice out there when the wind was switching.
Not at all now!

 

[SeramasLovers]

Hawkeye95- wow Seymore is so pretty.. and the kid i dont know if shes your daughter but she is beautiful.

Chicken Danz - Yes rest up. you need it for all the hard work you put yourself into lately..

It time to bust out them thick blankets and hot coco chocolate. yummy!

I need to get some hay for my flocks.. i dont know where in town to get some.. i heard they gotten expensive.. anyone can help me out where i can get some hay for a reasonable price?
close to town?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
I found the most beautifully clean and sweet smelling yellow Straw on south Broadway-- down on 63rd street, I think? (close to Haysville) It's a little garden center that just has the plastic green houses put up. But they are the cheapest in town, too! Only $5 a bale!! I need to go back and get more before people realize they are cheap and buy it all up. Don't buy hay! Hay will mold quickly and doesn't hold up like straw does. Not only that, but you'll be paying close to $9 a bale for real hay. Everyone else is selling their straw for $6-7 and it's not near as nice. Thank you, that is my daughter! She is 3 yrs old. I have two older boys, too-- 4 and 7 yrs old. My kids are still pretty little.

I love Seymore! I think she is really pretty too! I'm hoping the boys can show her for 4-H this Spring. Speaking of hot cocoa- I've already filled the little one's cups with it. I just sat down with a Campbells cup of soup (those packets you mix with water). I love those! I take those on camping trips too!

Danz, it is just misting here, too. It did rain for like 3 minutes when it first came in. There was thunder, even! But after that, it's just been a heavy gray wet mist. I have been out in it a lot today already. Sounds like you did get a lot done today, wow! I just couldn't bring myself to work on my doors in this, so I've done some quick yard work is all. I've been cleaning house and catching up on laundry the majority of the day. I gave up on Seymore today-- she is roosting on my pergola railing out back. Whatever. She just won't stay in anymore and I can't blame her. It's not fun being penned up under the deck, I'm sure.

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye Seymore is beautiful! Thanks for the heads up on the straw, I may have to go up there & get some. Hay is so expensive & hard to find that I have about given up on getting any. Every time I called on a lead I had they were already sold out on their hay.

I had let my chickens out earlier today as I usually do every day & it wasn't bad until that front blew in. Most of them went back in by themselves, but I had 5 that were some of my newer ones that aren't smart yet about it & were being stubborn. I tried to get them back in out in the blowing rain & wind, but they just ran under the red cedars & hid, so I figured they would be coming down about time to roost. I went back out about 5:50 & sure enough all 5 were standing close to the run door, which was closed & locked due to the wind. All of these hens are still kind of scared & won't let me get too close to them yet for the most part, especially the two Speckled Sussex. I got the run door propped open & then managed to get all but 2 in the run & chased those two into the dog run where I caught them from there. Silly chickens, don't they know when the weather turns bad to go in! I guess they'll learn like the others have. I have two red star hens & when I first got them they were the hardest to get in at night. One night the one decided no way was she going into that coop, so I gave up & said OK you can spend the night outside by yourself & we'll see how you like that. Well she didn't like it, she roosted in a bush & the next day she was more than ready to join the group & that was the last time she didn't go in with the rest. The speckled sussex scared me earlier too, I was counting chickens & the two hens came up missing. I had found the other missing 3, but these two were nowhere to be seen. Finally when I was about to give up they came wandering out from the backyard where most of the time the chickens don't go. I guess they got spooked by the wind & went up there since there is a hill behind our house & maybe it blocked some of the wind. I sure was glad to see them, I was afraid they had gotten spooked & wandered off somewhere since I haven't had them long.

 

[chicken danz]

I laid down and took a nap on the heat pad for an hour or so. Then I washed the dishes and started making some potato soup. The hot water actually made my hands feel better. The arthritis was hurting so bad I could barely move my fingers. I decided to wash them by hand rather than the dishwasher for just that reason.
If the weather isn't miserable tomorrow, I plan to go to town and visit my Mom. I've been so busy this week I haven't been in to see her.
Maybe DH can tell me where he put my chain saw and where the fence hardware box is so I can do a little more setting up on the pen. I'm just going to wait until Friday when he is off to try to fix the plumbing. I used a heat gun to put some of those fittings on and I know I can't possibly get them off by myself. I'll find a way to make it work. He is just never in the hurry to get things done that I am. I'm still waiting to get the footings poured for my chicken trailer that were supposed to be done last summer.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
Danz, sorry about your arthritis acting up- the cold snap isnt' going to help. Don't they make fingerless gloves or something that are supposed to hold in heat that might help? I have a friend who wears them- they are kind of like a neoprene glove. I dont know where she got hers, maybe a medical store or bought it online? Bummer that your plumbing needs fixing. I understand the "DH is never in a hurry to do anything"... geez, I have one of those! LOL So, do you heat your seramas all winter? Do they stay inside, or can they go outside, too? And you said you were going to warm your bantam polish- are they really sensitive just like the seramas? I have the LF polish, and they do seem "skinny" compared to my rocks and the wyandottes. Their breastbone sticks out when I pick them up and the others feel really meaty and fat. I'm planning to run the heat lamp on them all winter too. I just couldn't bear the thought of not having heat out there when they are all still so little. They all seem cold in the garage with the heat lamp on. So I bet the coop will be even colder!


Trish, I think I'd have a heart attack if I thought I lost my chickens! Every now and then Seymore runs off-- but I think she goes down to the pond near the back of the pasture. THAT scares me! There are a ton of coyote out there- even in the day! I think they are really hungry and are milling around by the pond hoping to catch something. I'm sure they will be up by the house in a matter of minutes when I finally put everyone out in the chicken house! We had a batch of rabbits under our deck a few years back and the babies cry on ocassion, and I went out to check on them, and there was a coyote under my deck sniffing around trying to get to them! Now that is pretty darned too bold for me. I shooed him off, and the closest he ever came back was my stock tank, but even that is close up to the house. D you have a fenced in back yard for your chickens? I always wonder how people can get away with doing the free range and not loose everyone. But I certainly think it's the healthiest way and I sure wish I could.

Friday says high of 60 and it gets even warmer for this weekend! Looks like I can hopefully try to finish up.