Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Great link HEchicken. Now if I would get more proactive I could really use that. My problem is I throw all my stuff in a folder and think I will write all my sales down but then forget and get behind. Then I have to try to catch up which is never accurate.
I've been meaning to do my taxes but not feeling good I don't want to tackle them. I really need what little refund I will get. It's just such a headache to do them.
I need to get busy. I have tons to do today. I am so lacking the energy.

 

[Trish44]

chickies-duckies, I switched out the rabbit cage with a new one, so the problem with the wire is moot now. I will have to take that cage apart or figure out how to turn it upside down & use it otherwise, but I'm not going to worry about it right now. I don't really want any more cages that size anyway. I'm finding out they're just too large to be able to reach the rabbits well & the trays get too heavy for me to empty when they get full. I may eventually just go to the smaller cages, but I thought for now I would use the bigger ones for the does that kindle, that way there would be more room for the litters. I may wait until the swap meets start up again & find some cheaper cages to replace those big ones. I've been told they have really good deals on them there.

I was just about sick when I heard last night about this cabinet incubator that went for $100 at the swap meet last year. I'm going to have to go to those swaps more this year & see what treasures I can find. I just hate getting up that early to go anywhere, I'm not an early riser since we're on a 2nd shift schedule here. But if I found something wonderful I guess it would be worth getting up for.

Ugh, you all talking about taxes reminds me I need to start working on ours, not my favorite thing to do. It would be nice if you could use all of your losses on your taxes without having to prove you're a business, not a hobby. But if you show a loss for more than 3 years it would be considered a hobby anyway. My late husband had a computer business & he had a tendency to do things for people free. I kept telling him if he wanted to have a business he needed to charge for everything, but he was just too kind.

Hawkeye, sorry to hear about your eggs, I hope you have better luck with the next batch. I'm still waiting here for eggs,

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Danz, I'm sure your body is just worn out from fighting that illness for so long.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Tweety, I use Steve's Chicken Tracker that can be found here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...or-tracking-expenses-and-income-from-chickens to track my income and expenses. It is already VERY well set up for a backyard flock, if all you are interested in is keeping track of how much your hobby makes costs you. There is a tab for each month of the year, plus a tab for the total. The figures you enter by month automatically transfer over to the summary tab so you can see at a glance how much you have spent all year, and how much you have made in egg sales. You can track eggs collected by color, number of laying hens, eggs sold (by dozen), as well as feed & supplies purchased, and any flock purchases or hatching eggs sold. It really is very well thought out.

I've used it ever since I started. One year I actually tendered a $3/month PROFIT!!! Actually, that number isn't exactly right because the one thing it doesn't track all that well is the number of eggs you eat. In other words, it tells you how many you collect and how many you sell but not the number left over. Any egg I collected but didn't sell was eaten by my family, which means that in addition to the $3 per month income, we had FREE eggs. Yeah!!!

Unfortunately, that was when I was trying to be practical and the chooks had to pay for themselves. Since then it has become more of a hobby and I, ahem, now run at a loss every year. For example, the first year I acquired barnyard mutts from a local gal for a very low price. Last year I bought expensive hatching eggs and incubated them. Believe it or not, that made a difference.

I don't get it.. what was the difference? That the mutts were cheaper and made you more money? And the expensive hatching eggs gave you a loss?? I was following you up until that point and i got lost! ha! But I am curious to know what you meant.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, sorry to hear about your eggs, I hope you have better luck with the next batch. I'm still waiting here for eggs,

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Danz, I'm sure your body is just worn out from fighting that illness for so long.

Thanks, Trish. It's a shame because we could have eaten those if I'd known there was a fertility issue. Ah well. As is it, we are getting enough eggs. I'm hoping the upcoming eggs the girls lay will be fertile.

I saw Zorro out there grabbing them, but then he didn't jump on top of them. I wonder if he's just not very smart. Sigh. I wish this weather would clear up and dry out a bit. I want to finish their coop and get them outside into a nice run where they can be in the sunshine all day.

Danz, you're still recovering. Take it easy. I've been a bum today, but that's about to change. I have been doing laundry, though and cleaned up the kitchen. I need to get out and clean out the water in the big coop and check on everyone.

 

[honeycreek]

Okay, candled several eggs today. They are supposed to be Day 12. I'm thinking these are clear?? I see no veins... the second photo has a weird blood spot in it that never gets bigger and just moves with the mass (yolk) inside when I rotate the egg. I don't see any veins on any of these. There are two really dark eggs I just can't see into.. no idea what's in them. Sooo.... hang on to these still?? Just in case??? Nothing is stinking... Do these look "clear" to you all????

Second egg with weird blood spot-- that hasn't changed. Below:

After 12 days you should see a half developed chick in them (if they've been in an incubator or under a hen?). If they're clear like that, they're not fertile and never will be. The blood blob is just that, a blood blob. It may be the result of something starting to develop and then stopped. It's not any good either.

 

[honeycreek]

If you're using a flashlight to candle eggs with, it helps to have the beam directed straight up through a small tube. A regular candler has the light recessed below the edge of the candler and a flashlight is harder to candle with. What I used to do was to take a used toilet tissue roll, cut about 1" off and place that over the flashlight and kind of set the egg on the edge of the TP roll. That way the light is directed straighter and not off to the sides as well.

 

[Ivywoods]

....AND if you are having trouble finding a dark enough room to candle during the day, try going into a closet, shut the door and usually it's pitch black in there.

I go into my son's closet in his basement room and it is totally dark which makes candling these dark marans eggs a little easier.

 

[Marty1876]

I just have to wait until night time, and turn on my setup - which is about to become LED- then turn off all the lights and go for it. Gotta try the stethoscope though....

Whens do the hearts of preganent eggs start beating?

....AND if you are having trouble finding a dark enough room to candle during the day, try going into a closet, shut the door and usually it's pitch black in there.

I go into my son's closet in his basement room and it is totally dark which makes candling these dark marans eggs a little easier.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Haweye & Danz - That is excellent tax information! Thank you for enlightening me! I don't think I'll ever go that far, but it's good to hear that if I sell my eggs or any chicks that I hatch I won't have to worry about it! Appreciate you taking the time to type all that out for me.

Hechicken - wow! I would never have thought that Wichita would be stricter than Lawrence on that issue. I'm really glad we don't have any laws about the number of species, because I have cats, dogs, a guinea pig, a bearded dragon, tree frogs, the chickens coming, and just a couple years ago had rats, hampsters and bunnies too! (Can you tell I love animals! At least they all pass from old age and never disease or sickness). I'd be rich if I didn't spend so much money on my menagerie of pets. LOL

The Steve's Chicken Tracker is actually exactly what I found last night after responding to Marty. It's awesome!! More detail than I thought I'd need, but it will give me a nice overall view of how much money I'm spending!

Bought me a ceramic brooder light today. It's a lot bigger than the one I had, so I have the light on testing the temps again. I'm probably going to have to move it around again and get it right. I'm glad I have time to do this and not just the night before the chicks arrive.

It's so nice outside that I think we are going to cut down the tree that's dead and currently in the middle of where we are putting the coop and the run. I'm thinking about leaving a nice stump there though so the chickens have a place to play "king of the hill". Might make some nice photo ops.

 

[Ivywoods]

Tweety-Leaving the stump is a good idea. Roosters love to hop up on something to crow.

Sold some chicks today. Thank you for your purchase. Now I can hatch more, but I'm wondering about my sanity. I will be going to the Dr. in Topeka Tues. about getting my knee fixed. Once they do that I will be laid up for a few weeks... a couple at least, and my DH will be saddled with more chores than normal during that time. He's doing better himself, but still isn't 100%. If I knew when the surgery was going to be I would try not to hatch around that time, but I have a feeling I already have eggs in the incubator that will be hatching when I have my surgery. I want to get it done as soon as possible.

I posted on the poultry swap site that I've got chicks for sale. Marans, ameraucanas and golden lakenvelders. If anyone is interested just send me a p.m.