Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

Sorry I've been so absent on here lately. I don't like to post on here when I am going to be gone. I just got back from Fort Benning, GA with son. We will be celebrating our Thanksgiving a little late (tomorrow) My other two boys will be up tonight from KSU. It will be so good to see them and have them all here together.

I'll have to catch up on this thread a little later. I've got so much to do to get things ready.

Hope all is well with everyone!

 

[ChooksChick]

Danz, the eggs are cooking away and it seems like I may get a quail or two- some have just dried up, while others are still heavy- very weird little things! Only 2 of the duck eggs started, but they look really nice.

My friend lost her favorite of the guineas for an afternoon and nearly killed herself getting it back- the Lavender Pied got out through the smallest hole in the avian netting- they are soooooo smart and actively looking for chinks in the armor! Anyway, she finally got it back and the rest of the guinea flock threw up a blasting hurrah of joy- it was hilarious! I was a couple hundred yards away when she turned it back in, and I could hear it clear as day!

If you end up with extra pups, please do keep me in mind- I really do want at least one, if not a pair- preferably one female, at least.

How are you feeling? Is the precip wearing on your healing bits? I have prayed for quick and complete healing for you!

Ivy, did you drive? That's a long trip!

Hawkeye, the horseback turkey is hilarious! I keep wondering when I'll see the chickens on the miniature horses, but they aren't the faintest bit interested in getting up on those wild boys.

ByNature, I use the nipples in some of my runs, too, and have been scheming to come up with a passive solar heater that could keep the buckets thawed. I think I'll use a coil of flexible copper into the water and out again, in a circuit of air through the soda can panel. I keep re-designing this thing mentally and yet haven't gotten around to building the latest idea...time's a wastin' with the cold setting in! I haven't any power out at the breeding facility, so I have to be clever or be hauling hot water 10 miles out there in my car...and how much fun does that sound like?

Hatched a handful of Partridge Chantes, a dozen FBCMs, a few more Silkies and some other odds and ends so far. I've got all kinds of stuff set for me and other peeps still, and tomorrow I'll set a bunch of Red Pyle Ameraucana Project, Silkies, Porcelain Orps Project and some of the South American composites. It's a nutty thing to set so many in winter, but bake 'em if ya got 'em!

I guess I'll collect all of the Silkies with incorrect toe spacing and sell them on Craig's List. I'm really freaked out about them- I don't have a single adult with incorrect toes, but I got a bird with 6 toes on each foot!! 6!!! A normal back toe AND a double toe with good spacing. I got one with 6 on one foot and 5 on the other. Last week I had some with 4 and 5, but 5 and 6!?

I'm not sure where it's coming from. Poofs are huge, coloring is great, skin is REALLY black, but polydactlyism beyond all others.

Got all of the coops plasticked up, 8mil vinyl over a portion of each run for shelter, collected 50+ bags of leaves for winter bedding and using over the snow when it falls...and because I'm so well prepared, we'll have a very mild winter. How else could it go?

 

[chicken danz]

I'm really surprised with the duck eggs. I very rarely have any that aren't fertile unless it is a super small egg from a new layer. The quail don't surprise me. Their tiny eggs are so thin and fragile they can have a pinhole leak and you would never know it. I usually got at least 60% hatch from them, but some of those eggs I gave you obviously weren't all that fresh. I gathered a couple dozen a couple days ago just to do a current test on fertility. I just pulled eggs from the new mates I had put together to try to produce more blue and white chicks. They are supposed to quit laying this time of year but they are still heavy at it. I was happy to give them to you. Also if those don't do well and you are through here again I'll be glad to give you more. Remember if anyone asks for some in the future to send them my way. Almost all my business is from word of mouth from former customers.
Sure glad your friend likes the guineas. My poor babies are in the mud right now with no place to get away from it with this rain. Sure wish I was well enough I could shovel some sand or gravel in their pen for them. I plan to pull as many females as I can out of what is left when I get better and move them to the breeder pen. That way I can mega produce babies next spring.
I'm doing pretty good, although I have some stubborn muscles that are giving me fits. I over did it today trying to clean the filter on the Mandarin pond. Not smart but DH wasn't available and it had to be done. I'm not real intelligent when it comes to medical restrictions. I push until I hurt myself.
So have you been on the road to another store this week?
Where'd you find 8 mil plastic? I used to use 6 mil and now I can mostly only find 4 mil. 4 is just worthless in this Kansas wind. I'd like to get some wind breaks up around here. Tarps shred in the wind after a while and create a danger with the strings.
Ivy, hope you have a great Thanksgiving celebration. I can't wait until Christmas when I can have some real holiday food myself!

 

[Trish44]

ChooksChick, What are Red Pyle Ameraucanas? That sounds intriguing. I'm planning to try to hatch some split Lavender & Blacks next Spring if I can get a Black Rooster from IVY. I already have the two Lavender hens. Well that would be nice if we did have a mild winter, at least from my perspective, but I have a feeling it's not going to go that way.

Danz, well I agree with you about handling the pups. I think you have to be able to handle them to a degree anyway, how else are you going to catch them & put them on a lead when you need to take them to the Vet for shots or whatever else? You could end up with one like IVY mentioned when she went to get her dogs & the owners were not able to even catch the female for them to take her. It's not like I'm bringing them in the house & making a house pet out of them, they wouldn't like it in there anyway probably. Today they were out in the rain & it didn't even faze them a bit. They were all muddy & wet & they just acted like it wasn't any big deal at all. They do have a dog run & dog house to get in, but instead they chose to run around in the rain. We don't have a barn here like some of you do, that would be nice if we did, I'm sure it would be put to good use, but there isn't one here. Today we went & picked up another large dog house so the pups would each have one when they get bigger if they choose to get in them. I found it on Craigslist for a good price & it was too good of a deal to pass up. That's strange about your dogs knowing the difference between the wild game birds that come in & yours that you keep, I wonder how they distinguish that. I'm glad that you care so much about your dog that you don't want to over breed her. There are too many dog breeders out there that just do it for the money with no regard for the health of their dog. I actually think that's what happened to my little Yorkie's momma recently when she had another litter & died suddenly after developing a terrible infection & her organs failed. The breeder was crushed of course over it, but I just wonder how much time she had let her rest in between litters. I would never say that to her because she was so upset about losing her favorite dog, but that is my suspicion because these dogs are so small that often they have to have c-sections to deliver the puppies. When will you know for sure if your female is having pups? I hope for her sake if she does have them that she has a smaller litter this time too. That has to be a huge strain on their body to have so many like that.

 

[ChooksChick]

Danz, the biggest problem with the quail eggs is that I didn't think about it and started them in my LG, which I use bone dry. Duh! I moved them to the Rcom after that, so hopefully it will be a good thing. I have gotten a lot of people here intrigued with them before any even hatch, just by the sheer virtue of them being like hamster chickens- soooo cute and the eggs are adorable! I think I'll be able to send a lot of folks your way for all kinds of stuff!

Take it easy on yourself! I'm terrible about limiting my own activity when I'm down, too, but it keeps you down longer.

Can you have hubby get you a bunch of bags of leaves off folks' curbs? That's the best way to quickly deal with mud, and it's free! Light work, too.

I use the 6 mil clear plastic for wind breaks along fences and on windows and areas I can frame in for greenhouse warmth in some of the coops with 'porches,' but I use 8, 14, 20 and 30 mil vinyl fabric for the roofing and overhead covers. I have a friend who works for a big sign company, and when they take down banners and billboards, he gives me a lot of the stuff. I am soooo grateful, too! I usually have the white side up, but sometimes it's funny to have signage showing. We got a huge purple canvas awning like 15'x40' the other day, and it's for Kapland Test Prep....thought that was hilarious, as it's going over the bachelor pad, and they aren't prepping for much but the freezer...hereafter known as 'Kaplan Kamp.'

Trish, the Red Pyles are a white bird with red markings. The hens are white with a red front, the roos have the markings of a red/gold duckwing, but are white instead of black. It's a project I'm just playing with that I find pretty- the hens are stunners. I'm considering putting them in with the Silkied Ameraucana male to see what I get...that could be very cool!

 

[sharol]

I'm willing to let you take credit for it (if the weather stays mild).

Quote:

 

[Ivywoods]

Yes, we drove to and from Ft. Benning. Drove all night, stayed two nights and drove through the night coming back. Yes, it was a LONG drive.

We had arranged for someone to take care of the animals, and I thought we had everything under control...until right before I left. I went out to the barn to check on things, and I found one of my little ginger red old english pullets laying on her back. At first I thought it was probably the same respiratory thing I had been fighting with the other old english pen. I picked her up and brought her in the house. She was cold. I sat her upright, and she immediatly started to eat. That was a good sign. As she started to warm up I watched her. She was having trouble controlling her right wing, her right foot, and she kept turning her neck at a funny angle. She would loose her balance and get flipped over on her back and I would set her back up. We finally decided we would leave her in the house in a wire dog kennel with enough food and water to last until we got back. I was not looking forward to a dead chicken in the house when we got back, but what else could I do?

Domestic abuse is a terrible thing. We finally decided it was a case of domestic abuse, and that the live in boyfirend, a little black rosecomb that I had bought from another breeder had been the perpetrator of this crime. He must have beat the crap out of her. So we left the hen in protective custody in the house.

When we got back from Ft. Benning I was surprised to see she was still alive. She had obviously been eating, but was flipped over on her side and didn't seem to be able to get up. I sat her back upright and she immediately started to eat. It seems like sometimes she gets over on her back and can get up, and other times it seems like she can't. Anyway, she does seem to be doing better today, but still struggles with her left wing and arm. It's almost like someone who has had a bad stroke that affects one side.

Her live-in boyfriend has been sentenced to solitary confinement in the pen... a small pen.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
That rat. Doesn't he know it's going to come back to him? He's going to end up in a cell with a big guy named Bertha if Karma gets him...

 

[chicken danz]

Ivy, get some vitamin E capsules and start breaking them open and squirting them in her mouth twice a day. when she starts improving and can eat on her own you can just squirt it on top her food. This occurs from a brain injury and the Vitamin E somehow corrects the problem. It might take two weeks but if she is a good hen it will be worth it. Vit E is cheap, but it does take a couple minutes a day of your time. In the meantime make sure she can get to feed and water on her own even if it means putting bowls on the floor of the cage and making a mess.
Chooks, Ivy, or checoukan, I have been hatching silkies that appear perfectly healthy but when they get a few days old they die. No pasty butt no other signs apparent. They are eating and drinking. I have them in with new hatched Seramas so they aren't getting over run. Is there something about silkies I am missing? These aren't show quaility birds but they are decent. I just wanted to raise a few because everyone is always asking me if I have some. I'm baffled. Do they have a fatal gene like Seramas do? Any ideas?

 

[Ivywoods]

Quote:
Hi Danz She has been eating and drinking fine. She started eating right away after I picked her up initially, even when she was still cold. Now, if she gets "tipped over" sometimes she gets up on her own, and sometimes I pick her up and sit her upright, and the first thing she does is eat and take a drink, so that is good. I have some Vit E gelcaps, so I will give some of that to her.

I am not well versed on the silkies, but I think a lot of your very small bantams can have that lethal trait. Are the ones that are dying pure white, like they might have the lethal white thing going on?

edited for stupid typos.