Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

Danz, I'm so sorry about the pups. There's nothing cuter than a puppy. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the rest.

Claire, we get eggs like that a lot. We feed them layer crumbles and kitchen scraps, so their diet should be sufficient. They're about 2 years old and I just figure the eggs look like that because they're young.

BrahmaBoy, those birds are gorgeous!

Ivy, congratulations on the weight loss. A couple of years ago I started losing weight and feeling great about it, then developed sciatica. I lost a lot of mobility over the next two years; until recently, I didn't even realize how much. Every time I tried working out or even simple stretches, it just seemed to make things worse. I finally found a doctor who can do something for it besides prescribe muscle relaxers (I also apparently have a pelvic strain that has resulted in the muscles kind of locking down) and things are really starting to improve. I'll look to your successes to keep me going!

I can't remember who asked about names, but our chickens do have names. We probably would have named them anyway, but my niece left us no choice about it! Of course, I don't know which bird is which except for Ruby, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. The three Buff Orps are Sophia, Penny and Daisy and the two Black Australorps are Anya and Willow. Justhatchin took Xander, our roo. I'm happy to know he'll have a flock to tend and land to roam. He's a good boy.

We miss hearing him crow. Since it's been so cold, the girls have been hanging out in the coop. I don't blame them. I've gotten spoiled by the mild weather.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, been thinking about you and worried for everyone. I sure hope last night went okay for you all. I'm with Renee-- was there an oil heater could can plug in? I love those things. We have an oil heater (space heater) and put it in the little one's room at night in the winter. We haven't used it this winter- hasn't been cold enough and they are so much older now and don't need the extra heat. But that thing is great-- I'd recommend everyone have one. Even if you have something touching it, it won't catch fire. But it sure radiates heat off of it. Anyway, I sure hope those pups and Marshmallow all do well. Saying a prayer for them.

Rlwt-- very cool that you are wanting to do incubation in your class room!!! Do you have an incubator? If not, Brinsea makes a "mini" incubator that holds like 10 eggs (large fowl --probably a couple more if they were bantams). http://www.brinsea.com/products/mini.html I just got their 25 egg holder Octagon 20 for xmas. Haven't used it yet! That would be so neat to have a garden and chicken coop at the school! What would you do for the summer months, though? Perhaps you should be building a chicken coop in YOUR backyard! I really love that idea though. In the 3rd grade, I remember our teacher hatched out two chicks. There were 4 eggs, but the other two didn't make it. That project was so fun. She ended up giving the chicks away to who ever in the class would take them home. My best friend at the time took them home. I remember her mom kept them on the porch in a cage. When they got big enough, they became stew! LOL

 

[BrahmaBoy27]

Good morning everyone!!! BRRRRR its cold outside it reads 17 on my thermometer. My chickens didnt wanna come out of there coop this morning i opened the door and they all ran out and next thing ya know they all came running right back in, lol..... Danz so sorry to hear about your puppies and wish you the best of luck i hope everything comes together for you!!!!!!!!

 

[chicken danz]

Well it was one crazy night and I feel like I've been pulled apart. I'm glad to say that everyone is doing well and we have 7 puppies that all appear healthy and well. Marshmallow is exhausted though. When it warms up I'll try again to convince her to go get some excercise. I ended up calling the vet. I brought all the pups in the house prior to that but couldn't get Marshmallow to get up. She was having clean out pains still. He said that she either had to get up or the pups had to nurse to get her oxytocin working. So I turned up the heater and ahuled the pups back out. I sat out there with them until they all had eaten and were falling asleep or still nursing. I was up every couple hours and checked on all of them and spent time in the dog house. I just left my clothes on all night. They all seem fine. I still need to get Marshmallow up but I want to wait until it warms up some.
This cold weather has brought in all kinds of problems. I have an RO-DI system in my basement that was running so the sump hole filled up. The outside line from the sump pump is frozen so the water can't pump out. Sure would be awful if we had a pipe break or something. We would have a flood. I drain all my hoses and blow them out but my faucet handles are frozen and one of the hoses froze while watering. People say it can't happen but it happened several times last winter and it did yesterday AM. So everyone is without water except what little is in their bowls. I hauled a few bucket out the back door and poured it in a bin so the ducks and the free rangers had some water until it freezes. It was 11 degrees when I first went out this AM about 6:00. It's been mild this winter but I'm so done with it already. I hate the cold.
Hawkeye, I guess that would be the best redeeming factor to moving to OKC. When I lived there, fall was 6 weeks later and spring was 6 weeks earlier than Kansas. What they called snow we would call sleet. It accumulated like snow but it was ice crystals. When it snows everything stops. They don't have snow plows and stuff because it isn't cost effective. Winter was basically 3 weeks in January. We had tomatoes up to December. Then we planted peas the first of February. The wind does blow but not as bad as Kansas. Bad thing was dust storms. It is so much dryer that sometimes in the summer we would have dust storms which would leave a half inch of dust on everything. Small price to pay for a warmer climate though.
Thanks again all of you for your support and prayers with the puppies.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Just realized that stupid "Currently Viewing" thing is on every page! What a total PITA! I hate being followed like that. since I leave my computer on all day and leave all of my browser tabs open so I can just hit "refresh" and see what's happened.... it makes me look like I'm here actively sitting on this thread all day long. Sheesh. They need to take that thing down. I don't want to change my habits of keeping my browser open. I think that is a bit invasive of our privacy to see who's on here too. I can also see there is a "guest" on here with us.... Speak up, log in, and join in on the fun!! See? I bet they didn't want to be known and just wanted to lurk and read is all. I hope BYC takes that thing down.

Okay-- back to reading about hatching! LOL!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well it was one crazy night and I feel like I've been pulled apart. I'm glad to say that everyone is doing well and we have 7 puppies that all appear healthy and well. Marshmallow is exhausted though. When it warms up I'll try again to convince her to go get some excercise. I ended up calling the vet. I brought all the pups in the house prior to that but couldn't get Marshmallow to get up. She was having clean out pains still. He said that she either had to get up or the pups had to nurse to get her oxytocin working. So I turned up the heater and ahuled the pups back out. I sat out there with them until they all had eaten and were falling asleep or still nursing. I was up every couple hours and checked on all of them and spent time in the dog house. I just left my clothes on all night. They all seem fine. I still need to get Marshmallow up but I want to wait until it warms up some.
This cold weather has brought in all kinds of problems. I have an RO-DI system in my basement that was running so the sump hole filled up. The outside line from the sump pump is frozen so the water can't pump out. Sure would be awful if we had a pipe break or something. We would have a flood. I drain all my hoses and blow them out but my faucet handles are frozen and one of the hoses froze while watering. People say it can't happen but it happened several times last winter and it did yesterday AM. So everyone is without water except what little is in their bowls. I hauled a few bucket out the back door and poured it in a bin so the ducks and the free rangers had some water until it freezes. It was 11 degrees when I first went out this AM about 6:00. It's been mild this winter but I'm so done with it already. I hate the cold.
Hawkeye, I guess that would be the best redeeming factor to moving to OKC. When I lived there, fall was 6 weeks later and spring was 6 weeks earlier than Kansas. What they called snow we would call sleet. It accumulated like snow but it was ice crystals. When it snows everything stops. They don't have snow plows and stuff because it isn't cost effective. Winter was basically 3 weeks in January. We had tomatoes up to December. Then we planted peas the first of February. The wind does blow but not as bad as Kansas. Bad thing was dust storms. It is so much dryer that sometimes in the summer we would have dust storms which would leave a half inch of dust on everything. Small price to pay for a warmer climate though.
Thanks again all of you for your support and prayers with the puppies.

Oh thank goodness that your pups are doing well! I hope you get marshmallow up later on and she feels better. I bet she is just really worn out. Maybe put broth on her dog food to entice her? I sure am glad that the puppy you brought in is doing well today. What a crazy night you had! Hopefully tonight will be much better and they will all be a little stronger and vigorous. No fun about your water problems. Wow. Yeah, I'm done with winter too. I HATE it. I hate the cold. Miserable. On the up side, my horses LOVE this weather and they feel good in it. If the sun come out, they lay down and sun bathe out there. So long as it's not snowing and sleeting on them, they are pretty happy. Keep us updated on the pups and Marshmallow. I prayed for them this morning too-- I'm so relived with your news. And wow, that is nice to know about OKC! I could handle milder winters and a longer growing season! YAY! I think it REALLY looks like we're going to OKC. Even if my DH doesn't get the transfer, he said it's going to be so much easier to find software jobs down there than here. He already found a couple of listings down there with GE that he could do and he thought might be fun with the right pay! So, I think we'll be okay with whatever happens. I'm starting to get more excited about OKC. The more I read about it and the more research I do, the better it sounds. Or maybe I'm just resigned. ha! We'll see what happens. Wonder if I would need my green house if we moved down there? I'm going to miss my mini apple orchard I started here. I only have 5 trees, but they were all producing right now. I hate starting over.

 

[averytds]

Some forums give you the option to hide yourself. Can't say if BYC does or did. Been a long time since I've fiddled with settings here. Eh, doesn't bother me. I know there are lots of people who leave their pc on sites all day. I have a stand alone Skype phone that makes it look like I'm on it all day.

No idea on the temp here beyond "OMG! It's freezing!" At least it's not as windy today. All of my waterers are operational, so I'm happy. Even the 4W one, which I find impressive for what it is. That one started more with a variation on the usual heated roost. My DH has a huge Christmas village display and uses the multiple strand lights, so I "borrowed" a single he wasn't going to use anyways. Thought if it worked out, i could use a multi-light strand for a row of pens. The baby tins I had because I like those cookies. I really wanted to make this one

http://avianaquamiser.com/posts/Heated_bucket_chicken_waterer/ but again couldn't justify the expense for the cord.


I've looked at, thought about getting one of these heaters before http://www.truevalue.com/product/Ho...d-Radiator-Heater/pc/7/c/105/sc/1151/2065.uts Sale is listed through the end of the month so maybe by then.

 

[Hawkeye95]

OH!! Chooks, I totally forgot to say how upset I would be too about lost birds! Yikes!! Were they put on a plane, do you know? When my birds were shipped, they are NOT checked in at the airport. So you might want to call your airport and see if they have live birds there. That is what I did. I spent over an hour on the phone trying to track them down and no one knew anything, because they failed to check them in at their stops. Well, then they just sit at the airport for like a day. I found mine and they were fine, but I'd check there. Also, if you have a large sorting center -- I'd call them personally, too. The customer service reps won't be much help at all. I'm so sorry about that! I sure hope they are okay. Let us know!!

 

[averytds]

The Okies are awesome chicken people. They have a get together every year, lots of shows, friendly....


Crap...lost SAMs is really bad. We never got a single one to sexual maturity. Close, but never there. It was heartbreaking. I'm not sure what you should do. Did they need to go through an area with bad weather that might have held them up? Maybe they got lucky and there are Tammy's along their route that'll help get them to you safe and sound.

 

[rittert3]

Well I got a busy afternoon I'm going to get as much cleaning as I can done before 3 then headed to St. Marys to see about some pigeons or a trio of OEs. I'm hoping he will trade for some coturnix quail (I'm ordering 72 eggs as soon as the return come and only keeping 16 out of what hatches). But anyway I really want a Spangle OE Roo over Crele hens for my sex link project and he told me $25 or so on the phone for them. Well I'm off to set up some temporary pens, I'll be back on this evening.