Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

honeycreek, I love that pic of your hubby & the chickens, adorable!

Candace, I forgot to mention your chicks, they're some cuties! You're really going to have a bunch when all of those get delivered to you that you ordered in Ark City. You must have lots of room for birds, wow I wish I had all of that room to keep chickens in, I'm jealous. Your hubby really is a special one, you'd better hang onto him. You might ask him about how he skins the chickens when processing, I think we all could learn from that, it could save some time for sure if we have to do it.

 

[checoukan]

Hi all came on for a brag, but hadn't been on in a few days and I fall SO far behind.

I know I'll say this, I do eat some of the chickens I raise, along with the rabbits, hogs, goats, etc. I am on some sites, that even though they raise the meat goats, they can't eat them themselves, they may sell them for that purpose, or try to avoid selling them for that purpose, etc. Some can do it, some can't. Either way, we all do what we can, and raise and care for our animals. Some for more pets some for the idea of having something in the freezer.

I personally like the fact that I KNOW what is in the food my family consumes, know how it was raised, know it had a good life, know it didn't suffer or didn't go without. I will admit, I can do some of the dressing, and DH does the butchering; I try to help, but am more squeamish....I learned long ago not to judge one or another, we each have differences, that is what makes the world more interesting.

With the bunnies, I am trying to keep my distance, they are so stinkin' cute, but I am mentally keeping it in my minds eye, keeping it where I remember, they are for the freezer. They are going to benefit my family. Healthy eating.

I will be honest, I got out of the meat goats, but mainly due to them having only one end, the meat end, I have the fiber animals so I can have more than one end. The fiber I get two crops, kid and fleece. And if I want, I CAN dress one, it's not as big a carcass, but it's still a goat or sheep. The Shetland sheep are actually a very fine meat; bred for meat and fiber.....And then I have my milk goats. So I am trying all the way around, with eggs, meat, and putting in my garden, to have as much as I can without having to get it from the store.

You think fresh eggs taste good; you should try a fresh steak! I had no idea how much better flavor there was in your own meat, but I SO understand those that can't do it.

But, now, for my brag, my happy, my excited announcement.....I got my chicks in today!
Picked them up at the post office, from Cackle, not a single death loss, they all look great!!!

Looks like you got a good variety.

 

[HEChicken]

Horse feed was on sale, so I bought like twice as much as I usually do. My barrels weren't empty either-- so I have bags left over. They were a $1 off!! I'm tempted to go back and get another 500 lbs-- I paid $7.89 for 12%!!!

That's an amazing price - what brand is that? I just bought horse feed this past weekend and paid quite a bit more than that. I feed the 12% too so sounds like a good time to stock up.

 

[checoukan]

I'm all for eating my own chickens! If we end up staying here, I'd like to start a meat bird coop, I think that would be much nicer than buying the grocery store birds. I have dressed a lot of birds myself, and frankly, I just don't want to do it again if I don't have to. Thanks to my dad-- I'm off put by the process of it... it's just time consuming and I hate scalding my hands. Hopefully I can find someone locally to do birds for me. But I could certainly butcher my own birds if I had to. Sounds like the majority of us are on the same page.

Candace-- YAY on your Polish!!! I LOVE my Polish! They are super fun, but they are such light weight birds, even for LF. The WCB are my favorites, but the silver laced are probably my next favorite. Great pic of your babies! I didn't know you raised meat bunnies. I think that would be tough to do, but I know a lot of people do it. I grew up eating rabbit that my dad hunted. It's not the same. You're not attached to them.

Karen, I cloth diapered all 3 of my kids. I even have a diaper business. So if you know anyone needing the modern cloth-- the kind that uses an insert, snaps (no pins) and is easy to clean, send them my way!

Took my pom to the groomers today. Went to Atwoods while I was in town and picked up horse feed and more chicken feed. Horse feed was on sale, so I bought like twice as much as I usually do. My barrels weren't empty either-- so I have bags left over. They were a $1 off!! I'm tempted to go back and get another 500 lbs-- I paid $7.89 for 12%!!! I can hardly believe it!!! I just don't know where all I'd put it. Maybe leave it in the bed of the truck for now, since it's always sitting in the barn... I don't know. The wind is insane, and the humidity is up. I grabbed Yoda when I got home and unloaded the grain and forced her to walk around in the front yard for a few minutes so she could wake up and poop. Put her back and she ate and drank before climbing back on her nest. If I don't do that-- she won't eat!! She won't even poop! I skipped a day and she never ate, drank or pooped that entire day. Didn't catch it until later the next day and realized her food was untouched. She's a great broody, but she has a death wish.

No Hawyeye, that is what some of the broody hens will do. Those that do finally leave the nest, man when they do go, they do enourmous buisness!!!

 

[tweetysvoice]

KarenS: I think you said it very well. I have absolutely no ill feeling towards anyone that raises chickens (or any other animal for meat) because just like you said, it's done so much more humanely than the commercial shops do. I recognize the big difference between "home grown" food and commercial food. My grandparents raised chickens, rabbits, and cows for meat (as well as hunted squirrel and coon). I've watched many chickens become dinner for that night (I couldn't watch the rabbits), and my grandma got a cow every Christmas to replace the one from the year prior to stuff their freezer for the year. Like I said, I just couldn't see myself mentally doing it. I'm afraid I'd get too attached. I used to raise rats and I've had to cull many of them that were cancerous or ill - bawled my eyes out as I did - and they were "just" rats.
I am so happy to hear that you are continuing the lifestyle that you were lucky to be raised with! Those kids have a very smart and loving mom! I do organic gardening and this year am planting fruit trees as well as a garden for both the family and the chickens. Nothing is better than fresh fruit and veges!

Chickmama - Once I start hatching eggs, and I know that chicken math and broody hens will require me to do so, that's exactly what I will have to do with my Roos. I can't have roos here, so as soon as they start to crow, then I will find someone locally to cull them for me. I'd be able to do it if one was sick or seriously injured, but I wouldn't be able to process them myself at all.

HEChicken - I don't think anyone really enjoys it, and if they do.. well… ya'll know where that might lead. I’m excited that you get to move someone where roos are allowed as well! They are beautiful birds. I'm just lucky that this home we bought actually allows chickens at all! The last place had a neighborhood management that dictated everything and only one pet was allowed. (I ignored that rule by keeping everyone inside, but that meant no chickens till we moved outta there).

Candace - Adorable chicks!!! Mine were ordered from chickensforbackyards.com, but came from the Cackle hatchery as well! I'm happy with them and will order from cackle again if I have to!

Chooks - Thanks for the info on the family in Garnett! I might have to get their information when it comes times - if/when I get a roo that needs to go.

Honeycreek - what great pictures!!! I love seeing that the chickens will take advantage of the digging. Because of course your DH is doing it just for them! Cute silkie (and son too!)

So today (took off another day of work. teehee) we got out quackers and ducky to just hold them in our laps for a half an hour. Quackers has a completely different disposition than Ducky. Quackers wants to explore, chirping loudly, trying to eat everything in site and in general just would not sit still. Even pooped in DH's hand! LOL. Ducky, found a comfy spot in the crook of my arm and just sat there looking around. DH made us trade cuz he was tired of trying to keep Quackers calm. LOL.

The chicks survived the night, so that's a good sign! The were happily scratching in the pine shavings after I removed the paper towels and man - I've never seen an animal eat as much as they do! LOL.

Question: Do chicks observe the dawn/evening time frames? What age do they start to do that? I was woken up by Pearl (I'm sure it's her cuz she's SOO loud) chirping at 2am. I ran down to check on her and they were all up just eating and scurrying around - no problems, she's just very very vocal.

 

[cherwill]

Ack, I got confused yesterday with all the posts. Instead of answering Hawkeye about MY MIL, I talked about hers! She's better. She says her arm is still sore, but it's only been a week so I'm not surprised. She's mostly aggravated that she can't do her embroidery or start planting peas.

Honeycreek, great pictures!

Chickens are so much fun. I didn't grow up with them. We almost always had a dog and, when we did live in the country, a couple of horses. DH grew up with dogs, cats, a cow or two, a goat or two, chickens and ducks. He didn't remember chickens being fun, but he gets as much of a kick out of them now as I do.

I have enjoyed reading the different reasons people do or don't eat meat, or eat their own chickens. I have been a vegetarian several times throughout my life. The first time was after having been around a feed lot when I was in my early teens. There have been other reasons, but in the end, I find that I truly am an omnivore. I do better with some meat in my diet, but I don't have to have it on a daily basis. I've always been interested in nutrition and health and the more I read, the more horrified I am sometimes. At this point in time, I couldn't eat any of my chickens. As DH says, I know them all by name. We don't have many (10 counting the new chicks) and I interact with them too much to be comfortable butchering and eating them. If we lived in the country, I THINK I could raise a separate flock to butcher. I wouldn't do the butchering as long as I could afford to pay someone else to do it. We've been lucky enough to make enough money to buy the kind of meat we want to eat ... grass fed beef, critters raised without antibiotics and artificial diets and all the other stuff we just don't want in our diets. My parents, when we lived in the country, did have a huge garden for a year or two. The grasshopper plague in the late 1970s cured them of that! I have slowly gotten into gardening over the years. I started with herbs, added greens and tomatoes, and now we have a huge plot in a community garden. My MIL was one of the original organic farmers, I think, so she's a great resource for all my questions. The gardening was awful last year. The gardens are built on former pasture and keeping up with the weeds was insane, and then the heat made things difficult for all of us. It was great to meet other people interested in organic gardening, though. Hopefully this year will be much better. We keep our same plots if we want (and we did), so when we clean out the chicken coop, we take it out to our plot. I've said it before about how much I love finding this forum and all these people interested in animals and food and composting. I see I'm not the only one who has to go online to find that!

 

[HEChicken]

Question: Do chicks observe the dawn/evening time frames? What age do they start to do that? I was woken up by Pearl (I'm sure it's her cuz she's SOO loud) chirping at 2am. I ran down to check on her and they were all up just eating and scurrying around - no problems, she's just very very vocal.

While they have a heat lamp on, they tend to go around the clock. By about 3 weeks I start turning the lamp off at night so they can adjust to the day/night schedule. The temperature in the house is warm enough that they don't get too cold. Then by about 4 weeks they are outside full-time and by they definitely know when it is night.

 

[pikeman94]

That is a lot of chicks!

 

[Ivywoods]

Busy morning here this morning.
Meet Blondie, Star and Dottie.


Blondie


Star


Dottie

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz-- http://www.prairie-tales.com/ That is my website. I did have a store attached to order from, but I took it down a few months ago when I started slowing down. I mainly sell directly to brick and mortar stores, but I do get inquires and sales thru the site, too. Hey, I spent quite a bit of time looking for duck diaper patterns. Not really seeing any at all! I saw plenty of sites that sold them, but no patterns or anyone explaining how to make them. The mother goose site sells them, and then I came across some lady on BYC that sold them for around $12 a piece. Just put in duck diapers.

HEChicken, uh, not sure what the brand is-- it's just the Atwoods "brand" I guess. It says "horse and mule" on it or something like that. I used to buy feed from the CoOp for years and years, and their prices finally got so high, I couldn't do it anymore. Plus, they started skimping on the molasses. My horses didn't like as well when they started cutting costs that way. I was paying about $11 a bag or more. I was sick of it and started buying the Atwoods brand and dropped my biweekly bill from $187 to $90. Nearly almost $100 in savings. I usually buy the 12%, but I will buy the 14% if it's really cold or they are under stress. I won't buy from the CoOp again.

Checoukan-- indeed, the last couple of days I set her out to go... it is HUGE. I hope she won't try to kill herself, but she's lost a lot of weight and is getting bony. I'm worried about her. She growls at me every time I come near, but the poor thing doesn't have a lot of strength to do much about it. She ate twice today and drank lots of water, so I feel good about her today.

Tweety, sounds like you are enjoying your new babies! I'd be taking work off too, just for the heck of it to watch them. I was sooooo excited when mine came in!

Cherwill, glad your MIL is feeling better. But a bummer she can't embroider or plant. I'm not ready to do any planting yet until I'm sure it's not going to freeze/snow again! I hope the cooler weather moves on out quickly.

Got more done on my coop. I'm just ready for the roof. I didn't feel up to cutting in this wind. I suppose I should have just cut it in the barn. Sigh. I've already been into town twice today and I'm tired. I think I'm ready for the rain-- got a lot of stuff put up.