Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I had company a good deal of the day so I got nothing done then. Then DH decided he wanted to go to Emporia to get some shopping done. I needed to go to stock up on some basics to last me until I get back on my feet anyway. We just got home.
Tomorrow will be another busy day. To church and my Mom's bright and early. Then I've got to get the animals taken care of, some stuff put on Ebay, a couple packages ready to go in the mail, clean house some more, then start packing my hospital bag.
I hatched a few more chicks during the day today. The bin I have in the house is getting crowded. I guess that means I need to move a load of them to the brooder. I meant to pull some out of the brooder today and let them graduate to the big pen but never got it done. Tomorrow will probably be too cold for them for a first day out.

 

[sunshinegirl620]

I am convinced by now that all of my 4 silkies are roos, soooo.... would anyone be happy to trade me for some hens or is there a good place I could give 2 away too? I was really looking forward to gathering eggs and so far I haven't had any laying so, makes me pretty convinced!

They are roughly 6 months old. Also is it a must to lock em up for the night? Mine are in a chicken tractor... and I haven't ever let them out to free range.

 

[chicken danz]

OK, Sunshine don't jump to conclusion just yet. Have you heard them crow? If they are 6 months old and haven't crowed they won't be boys. The weather and light change etc will slow down laying. And some birds just start late. If you can posts some close up pictures and we might be able to help sex them by the way they look. Depending on where you are and the circumstances You could let them out during the day at least when you are there. They will come back to their tractor at night. I wouldn't leave them out at night though because of predators.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, it's a church morning here too, then I hope I can work when I get home. It's going to be COLD today- I would think it would be too cold for little chicks to be out in this, but what do I know! LOL Maybe you should prepare a couple of casseroles ahead of time and freeze them so they'll be ready and you dont have to work? Or even tv dinners are good in a pinch. Something that you don't have to work at. I'm not even sure if I should be putting my older babies out in the horse stall today. I suppose they should be okay, they are almost 7 weeks old now. They are such cuties! It turns out that our two Barred Rocks are our most friendly birds! They follow us and jump on our shoes and want to be held. The others still scatter and run when I try to catch them or just walk by them. Crazy things! I think I'd rather have a flock of the barred rocks instead of the flighty flappy ones. The Polish are the worst and then the Wynadottes are just as screechy. Ah well.

Sunshine, I'm with Danz on this one. They are 6 months old and haven't crowed??? Well, I have a 4 month old silkie cockerel and ALL he does is crow! All day long! He's crowing right now! I think he crows just to hear himself. I've been talking to some other people who have silkies and asking them if this is normal and they assure me that Silkies crow early and they love to crow. So, hang in there, perhaps you still have hens. They were also telling me that it's not uncommon for silkies to start laying right around 8 months old-- and not before, because they mature slower. Post pictures of them!

Well, I'm going to see how much lumber I can fit into my minivan full of kids today after church. I can fold a partial seat down in the back, but I still have two kids sitting clear in the back row, so not much wiggle room to get 8ft lumber in there. We take a neighbor girl with us to church, so my 3 kids, plus her, may spell disaster to getting the boards I need to finish my roost today. Sigh. Regardless, I still need to buy the hinges again that I lost.

 

[chicken danz]

These chicks aren't little. They are fully feathered and getting big. At least 8 weeks old. I take them to the old garage and as long as they stay inside they will be plenty warm but they have the option of going out. I just hate to take them from a nice warm 75 degree brooder building and put them in the cooler garage. I have a bin in the house with smaller chicks in it and need to move some of them to the outside brooder house as well. They have heat lamps in their particular run so it stays plenty warm out there. My brooder is 7 X 12 feet. It's a good sized building with 6 runs to divide the different aged chickens and it gives me the ability to regulate heat for each group. I had about 30 hatches yesterday with another 25 or so that I already had in this bin so they are plenty crowded.
Well my Mom is determined she wants to go to church so I am going to take her. I thought maybe she wouldn't want to get out in the cold. I asked my sister to make arrangements for the next few weeks to make sure she gets to church while I can't drive. I sure hope arrangements are made because she will try to take herself and that would be too much for her. She would fall and hurt herself for sure.
When your parents get just so aged it is sort of like having children again, but worth every second I have with them

 

[tntblake]

I was looking out the window at my birds and noticed them acting funny and my broody had her hackles fluffed out and was standing really tall looking at the sky so I looked up in the tree to see what she was looking at and there was a hawk! As I was looking he swooped down and tried to grab one of my 4-5 week olds but mama did a great job of protecting them! I bet I was a sight for the neighbors running out into the backyard in my PJ's yelling and flapping my arms to scare the hawk away! I know he will be back now that he knows they are there so it looks like they will be spending a lot of time in the run until they are too big to take. I have never had a hawk around here before. What can I do to scare them away besides running out there? I don't want them hanging around at all.

 

[chicken danz]

Are you in town? If not you can shoot at him. Most predatory birds will get the message when they realize there is a threat. If yo have them in a pen that isn;t covered you can string ropes, or strips of cloth or whatever you have available back and forth across the top of the pen about every 10 inches. Preditors can't get in to get the birds without entangling their wings.

 

[tntblake]

Quote:
Yeah, I'm in town so no shooting. I have deer netting over my run but they were in the yard when it happened. I just don't want to have to keep them in the run all the time forever because they like to be free. I just didn't know if there was something that I could do to keep them away from my yard.

 

[chicken danz]

If it comes back and you have a metal post or something. Try banging something else metal against it. I used a piece of pipe against a steel post the one time I had a hawk try to get to the guineas and it flew off. As far as I know it didn't return. I think your full sized chickens would be fine but those babies probably need you around to supervise.
What a dreary day. I've been out moving some juvenile birds around and cleaning up some pens. It is just almost depresing. No sun!!

 

[sharol]

tntblake,

I know what you mean about the hawks. We have a large redtail that lives in a grove of trees about 1/4 mile south of us. He floats along my fenceline, as my husband says, perusing the buffet in the run. I have bird netting over the run, and the girls know to head in there if the hawk is around, but he still makes me nervous. A couple of weeks ago he swooped down into a group of 5 or 6 adult chickens, and I'm convinced he would have grabbed one of the smaller ones if I hadn't been there and yelled at him. I doubt he could have carried her off, but he sure could have killed her on the ground. My girls are out in the yard when I'm home and in their fairly large run when I'm not. The hawk is truly beautiful, and I wish him no harm, but I wish he would stick to rodents.

Sharol