Consolidated Kansas

[ChooksChick]

Just checking in quickly and see everyone seems to be accounted for and safe- glad to see that!

Danz, I'm still praying for your mom and family.

 

[checoukan]

Sounds like everyone made it thru the storms ok. Its not fun in kansas this time of year.

What a wonderful surprize that Ivy and her DH, showed up, never exepected that .
I did send Ivy home with some birds. I hope they continue to do well. I wanted her to have some rosecombs to be able to show this fall if she wants too. I started hatching in January so they would be ready. I just started to gather eggs out of the nest boxes, and put some shavings in with them and sent them with her. Im not even sure how many I sent with her. Rosecomb, bb red oes, and blue red oes. She should get a good price out of those babies. When I went to Pryor show there was no blue reds to be seen. May have to get back to work on those. And start showing them next year.

I don't sell many chicks here. So many people hatch around here, just hard to sell nice chicks for a decent price when you have neighbors selling mass production of the same chicks, of poor quaility, for a cheaper price. I just hold my mouth when they bring them to the fair, and can't understand why their birds don't do well against my birds. They will never understand.

We have a two day total of 4 inches, some hail, a little wind, but all in all made the storm system ok. Seemed the worst stayed west of us. We have had our share of storms here for a while. Better go and do something.

 

[msjfrizzle]

Quick check-in from the middle of Wichita (Riverside). We didn't lose power or anything, just have a few small branches to pick up. I didn't take the chickens to the basement, but the family sure hunkered down. The basement is really more like a dungeon; the house was built in 1906. I'm glad to hear everyone made it through a scary night!
Danz, I'll keep praying for you and your family

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Ivy - how did you make that bucket nest? I need something like that.

 

[Ivywoods]

It's just a 5 gallon bucket screwed to the wall. I cut a half moon circle out of the lid. Pretty simple.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Checking the forum and wow! Lots of adventures and wonderful stories! I'm so glad everyone made it through the storms okay! Lawrence didn't get anything at all, I think it was so slow moving that it fizzled itself out by the time it would have gotten here, but we did have the coop run covered with a tarp just in case. Beautiful pictures too!

Danz, I'm thinking about you today!

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

It's just a 5 gallon bucket screwed to the wall. I cut a half moon circle out of the lid. Pretty simple.

Thanks, I was over thinking it and making it too complicated.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Trish, you asked a while back if Seymore is talkative. I'd have to say she never really is quiet, unless she's being sneaky. But mostly, she does her turkey call all day long and babbles to herself as she free ranges. I can hear her outside around the house most of the time. Not a quiet bird. I enjoy listening to her. OH-- and the poor thing hasn't been laying in a few days, so I thought her cycle must be over, and it was a good long run, so I wasn't too bummed. BUT then she was gone this morning and I went to the spot where she started that nest and low and behold, there were 5 eggs in it! They aren't fertile, so I brought them in. What do you all think?? Safe to eat?? It's been cool the last few days....??? I know which one was the one from today, it was warm when I got there and the others were all cold.

Ivy, your RP's are gorgeous!!! That is so exciting that you now have Toms! Yay! Great pictures! Love their pen with the weeds, that's something that Seymore enjoys-- she likes to hunker down in the tall weeds. Your adventure yesterday sounds like it was a lot of fun! Glad you got to see Rosie! So neat that she gave you some 'presents' too!

MsjFrizzle, glad to see you on here! That must be something hiding out from the storm in a basement that old. I love your house and all the homes in the Riverside area-- so much character and charm. Glad your chickens and your family were all okay.

Karen, your tornado drill was a good idea, since you did have to put it into effect. Crazy night for you all with so many people and animals to keep track of! Had to laugh that your DH sat on a chair covered in a towel.

Well, we found out that Boeing has some damage to their building too and there is too much debris from Spirit and their own buildings for people to go into work tomorrow. They have to clear it all out and check the safety of the buildings, etc. So my DH might be home with me for the next couple of days. It will be fun to have him home tomorrow. They said the Boeing campus had a direct hit, so I guess we'll see what that looks like. (I doubt it was anything like the Spirit building, or it would have been on the news) It's too bad about the Hangar-- I wonder where they are going to stash Air Force One.... Sigh.

 

[Ivywoods]

I put some food and water in the pen for the little chicks with their broody momma. The are SO fun to watch! I enjoy watching the hens as much as the babies. I love the way they constantly talk and chatter, scratch and twist and turn watching the "kids."

Now I'm trying to decide if I should take the other chicks out of the bucket nest and put them on the ground where they can get to food and water. I think I will wait until morning, and then get them out. I think I'll put a little "hay nest" on the ground for them to cuddle up in. I still have the rooster in the pen with them. He seems to be very proud of his "girls" but is leaving them alone for once. Does anyone see any problem with leaving him in there with them? They all seem to be doing fine, but I am a little nervous about it. I've really never raised very many chicks with their broody mommas. I thought about taking the chicks and putting them in a brooder, but I just couldn't do it. It is so much fun to watch them, and those hens are being such good mommas.

I also took some chicks out of the basement and put in the stock tank brooder with some older chicks. The new guys are scared and huddled at one end of the tank, away from the food and water. I think I will go back out later tonight, and if they are still huddled up at the end I will put another feeder and waterer at that end of the tank. There is some variation in size in the chicks, and I don't want the older ones to keep the smaller chicks from getting food and water.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, tell him we have one he could borrow. Give him my cell, if he hasn't already found one.

Thanks Karen. By the time I saw your offer and texted him, he replied that he had already found one. That is so nice of you though, to offer it to a stranger like that!

Not the best pictures, but I try my best not to disturb the new mama's at all. One hen is tending the chicks on the ground, and the other hen is still in the nest with the remaining nest. I am thinking I will let them try to raise them, at least for a while. As soon as I rest up a bit (I already feel like I've overdone it today) I will go out and be sure the chicks have food and water they can safely get to.

Ivy, what great pics and congrats on the new babies. I'm so glad you were able to leave the babies with their mommas - it is such a neat experience to watch them interacting and the moms talking to the chicks, isn't it? I was amazed at how intuitive it is to them. When my BSL went broody last year, although she herself never had a Mama, she just seemed to know exactly what to do, finding treats for them, then calling them over and offering the treats to them right out of her beak, constantly on the lookout for dangers. One time I saw her peering up at the sky and then she made a sound I'd never heard before. The chicks recognized it as a danger call and en masse raced for a corner of the coop, where they huddled completely still and quiet, until Mama told them it was safe to come out again. Both DH and I spent many hours just watching them, enjoying how well she cared for them.

Karen-the comb on that black and white one sure looks like a pullet.

That's what I thought, too. I'll just have to wait and see. If it turns out to be a pullet, I'll keep it. I'm going to choose one roo after HEChicken chooses a couple. She'll take this one if it's a roo to cross with her beautiful Silkie/EE hen. They will make some beautiful chicks! Either way, I'll be happy because I fully intend to con her out of a couple hatching eggs from that beautiful hen!

Haha - you are too funny! When the time comes you will be welcome to some of her eggs.


MsjFrizzle, you mustn't be very far from me. I am currently just west of Delano, although in a few weeks we'll be moving out of town onto some acreage. I spend a lot of time in Riverside though, as my kids have music lessons there, etc. It is a lovely neighborhood - I love the look of the older homes and the wide, tree-lined streets.