Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Wow...such nice welcomes! Thank you! makes coming out of our shell easier (no pun intended)
Weather stinks here today.....playing on the computer instead of doing the work I should do.
We ordered the chicks from Cackle Hatchery....only place I could find that sold small number of pullet Bantams (Assorted)...Originally wanted Silkies but then found they don't lay many eggs...so went with other Bantams...We were kinda overwhelmed with the size of some of the hens...so we decided to start with the Bantams. We will see if we made the right decision.

I missed this post the first time around! Meyers Hatchery and My Pet Chicken also sells as little as 3 birds at a time. But I bet you'll be pretty happy with Cackle, too. I love my Silkies-- but they only lay every other day. I don't know if that's because of the cold and the dark, or not. I have the two pullets and get an egg a day. Sometimes, my black pullet only lays an egg every 3 days. So yeah, if you are wanting eggs, you were right, not the best choice and I've heard that is common in silkies. I have Polish, and they are a LF (large fowl) bird, but on the smaller, slimmer side. Not as big as my Wyandottes and Rocks. I think you'll love your birds and enjoy them. And bantams don't eat as much and take up less space-- also a bonus. Depending on what they are, they might not be as cold hardy, though.

That reminds me... Rosecombs and OE's need to be inside in winter, yes? Same with my silkies, so I'm thinking of building a winter pen in my barn (if we stay). Right now, they are in my garage, and while that is really convenient for feeding, watering, etc... my DH is letting me know my building skills better come into play this summer to get them moved out of there.

 

[checoukan]

I missed this post the first time around! Meyers Hatchery and My Pet Chicken also sells as little as 3 birds at a time. But I bet you'll be pretty happy with Cackle, too. I love my Silkies-- but they only lay every other day. I don't know if that's because of the cold and the dark, or not. I have the two pullets and get an egg a day. Sometimes, my black pullet only lays an egg every 3 days. So yeah, if you are wanting eggs, you were right, not the best choice and I've heard that is common in silkies. I have Polish, and they are a LF (large fowl) bird, but on the smaller, slimmer side. Not as big as my Wyandottes and Rocks. I think you'll love your birds and enjoy them. And bantams don't eat as much and take up less space-- also a bonus. Depending on what they are, they might not be as cold hardy, though.

That reminds me... Rosecombs and OE's need to be inside in winter, yes? Same with my silkies, so I'm thinking of building a winter pen in my barn (if we stay). Right now, they are in my garage, and while that is really convenient for feeding, watering, etc... my DH is letting me know my building skills better come into play this summer to get them moved out of there.

Hey, hawkeye, they don't have to be kept in a barn. I have let a lot of mine just run around, just as long as they have a building to get into when they need it, they do real well. They are really tough little guys.
On the rosecombs, when they are babies, you have to watch the leader on their combs during winter, but unless it just gets super cold for -30 degress for 40 days and nights they do fine.

 

[HEChicken]

Ok...I'm so new to this website...and not getting how everyone is doing these "quote" replies....I'm confused....Guess I'll catch on..

On the Consolidated KS thread, it moves so quickly sometimes that quoting is necessary so people know what you're replying to. If you just want to quote one person, you can hit the "quote" button and it will take you straight to a reply with the person's entire post in it. What I usually do, is delete everything except the one sentence I am actually responding to - otherwise the page gets too long. I also delete any photos in the person's post, unless I am specifically referring to one of the photos.

Now....sometimes all you have to do is go away for an hour, come back, and there are 3 pages of new posts. No kidding. So in reading through them to get caught up, you find yourself wanting to respond to multiple things. In that case, below each post that contains something to respond to, click the "multi" button one time. You won't see anything happen but the system will remember the click. Once you have clicked "multi" on every post you need to, click on the "quote" button one time. Now when it opens up the reply box, each of the posts will be there and you can reply under each individual one. Hope that helps!

I love my Silkies-- but they only lay every other day. I don't know if that's because of the cold and the dark, or not. I have the two pullets and get an egg a day. Sometimes, my black pullet only lays an egg every 3 days.

You haven't had a Silkie go broody yet have you Loralee? I'm planning on getting Silkies this year (I think) for their broody tendencies and am trying to figure out how many to get. Since they are usually only straight run, I want to get enough to ensure I have a couple of hens and enough to ensure I get broodies, but not so many that I am drowning in broodies. Its a fine line, methinks.

 

[HEChicken]

ESP Chickens-- I have seen some amazing swing set coops on here!! This one is my favorite-- the before and after pic:

What a difference, hu? And so functional! Sounds like you will be getting some cute mixes! Are they all going to be bantam??

Lovin' this idea! Our new property has a playset very similar this in the back. The seller offered to take it down for us since we don't have kids young enough to enjoy it, but I told him to leave it there. I was thinking I could use the lumber for one of my projects at some point. Now I'm wondering if I can make even better use of it. Ours has a slide that goes down from the upper story to the ground. DS suggested I could make that a rollout nest. I.e., the nest box would be at the top of the slide and the eggs would roll down to a collection bin at the bottom. Cute.

 

[checoukan]

Ok...I'm so new to this website...and not getting how everyone is doing these "quote" replies....I'm confused....Guess I'll catch on..HEChicken,
Jealous you are moving to your urban farm....we are looking...and looking...and still looking....hope to find a place eventually. In the mean time, we'll start our tiny project with 5 asst bantam pullets....supposed to be mix or not of barred rock, RHR, buff brahma, cochins, or creole old english. Supposed to hatch March 19...actually thinking of driving to pick them up....just to go somewhere for Spring Break....Lebanon, MO...not exactly Hawaii like some people we know from school..but who knows. We are so excited...we will definitely post pictures when they arrive. Planning on taking progress pictures of our coop progress too. We are going to turn the old playlet into the chicken coop & run....Our plans are pretty cool...IMO... waiting for weather to get nicer and to find good wire supplier.

Esp, If you look on the bottem right hand courner of the window frame, you will see a thumbs up, multi, quote, and reply. click the quote on the frame you want to contiune a conversation with roll the window if you wish. and start typing. The area you want to quote will be a very lite blue. I always try to type below that.

 

[checoukan]

Lovin' this idea! Our new property has a playset very similar this in the back. The seller offered to take it down for us since we don't have kids young enough to enjoy it, but I told him to leave it there. I was thinking I could use the lumber for one of my projects at some point. Now I'm wondering if I can make even better use of it. Ours has a slide that goes down from the upper story to the ground. DS suggested I could make that a rollout nest. I.e., the nest box would be at the top of the slide and the eggs would roll down to a collection bin at the bottom. Cute.

How would you cushion the eggs at the bottem?

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, I'm not seriously thinking of doing it! He's just a kid who has a lot of ideas - they're not always GOOD ideas

 

[checoukan]

There went the sun, do, da, do, do, there went the sun, I say its alright. Cat Stephens tune.

 

[checoukan]

Oh, I'm not seriously thinking of doing it! He's just a kid who has a lot of ideas - they're not always GOOD ideas

I was thinking about how long some of those slides are!!! "Watch out below" or " Bombs Away"!!!!!!!!!!

 

[checoukan]

Lovin' this idea! Our new property has a playset very similar this in the back. The seller offered to take it down for us since we don't have kids young enough to enjoy it, but I told him to leave it there. I was thinking I could use the lumber for one of my projects at some point. Now I'm wondering if I can make even better use of it. Ours has a slide that goes down from the upper story to the ground. DS suggested I could make that a rollout nest. I.e., the nest box would be at the top of the slide and the eggs would roll down to a collection bin at the bottom. Cute.

I like this, it is really nice, and if a person didn't see over the fence, they could not tell it was a chicken pen.