Consolidated Kansas

[sapphireblu76]

Oh, Hawkeye, so sorry to hear about Seymour :'(

Karen...owww!!! Hope your eye gets better quickly

Didn't get anything to do with the coop or pen done today. I did move some chicks out of the house to the garage today. Still waiting for the eggs in the incubator to hatch.
I realized today how much I really love my ducks. I knew I would enjoy them, but I just love them. I love holding them (even if they really don't think it's the greatest). They're just so big and soft and cuddly. They are getting used to being held, they just don't really like being caught.

Then, the best part of my day. I spent the early evening on the new trampoline with my 2 boys, I haven't been on a trampoline in YEARS! We had so much fun. Then, we just laid on it and looked up at the sky and the clouds and just cuddled for awhile...I need more days like today ^_^

 

[chicken danz]

Aw Sapphire that is a wonderful way to end your day. Those memories are the ones that will keep coming back to you and make you smile for years.
Karen I suspect the nausea is from the eye injury as much as the percocet. I was so sick with mine. I do hope it heals quickly without further problems. Regardless of having a few accidents at least you have this amazing ability to tell stories about them that are truly funny. Unfortunately I think my brain and my mouth can be as bigger accident than anything that happens.
Ok I'm done. Had enough! Finished. I lost my favorite hen while ago. I believe she was egg bound and the egg broke inside of her. I brought her in the house today because she was feeling poorly. I had babied her and given her an antibiotic. I was laying sound asleep and heard a squawk and flapping of wings. I ran out to check on what was going on and she was dead. (This is the same hen that had the concrete block fall on her and break her leg. Her leg was all healed and she was doing well. She loved to be held and she would talk to me while I sat with her.)
I am feeling angry now. My Mom. then Hawkeye's Seymore, and now "Dirty Girl" my hen. It's not fair.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, I'm so, so sorry about Seymore. I loved looking for her in your pictures, especially the ones where you didn't even know she was there until later. Please don't beat yourself up about it. I know it's hard; I blame myself for every animal I've ever had who died. I go over everything I ever did wrong ... please don't do that to yourself. Things happen. You gave her the best home and lots of love.

My strawberry fiasco:As you might guess, dirt is everywhere by the time we're done. We need two more 10-packs of strawberries to fill the slats and top (another $10). Watering causes more dirt to fall out. DH wonders if we'll get $20 worth of strawberries out of this and I'm quite sure we won't, even if the plants survive the winter and produce next year! There's a reason the pictures online show a pallet filled with about $100 worth of already-grown plants -- that's how you keep the dirt in.

I'm just hoping the tarpaper will last all season and enough dirt will stay in to keep some of the plants alive.

Yeah, that's right! Seymore was never far from me and managed to get herself in about every photo I took outside. *sniff* It was like "where's waldo" for my turkey. I did have to laugh a bit at your strawberry fiasco, that was just kind of funny. They sure make hard things look easy on those DIY projects, don't they? I'd have given up and set the whole thing down on the ground. Good luck with that patch! I only planted 6 strawberries this year. It's not near enough, but it'll be fun to pick them when they are ripe.

The eye does feel better this eve, maybe because it's dark as well as healing?

Hawkeye, glad to see you're back. I feel so bad for you, I even support you blowing holes in the earth after those coyotes! Your DH sounds like mine. He makes clever little remarks that make me smile in spite of myself!

Glad you got more done on your coop! Sounds like it's almost there! I hope your eye does heal fast. Good luck with having it looked at again today. Funny that you're excited about a "vacation" day because you about gouged your eye out. hehe! My DH has a very dry wit and I think he's funny most of the time. But he loves poking fun at me, BUT to be honest, it's mostly because it's all true and he puts a great spin on it. We laugh a lot, he's good at lightening the mood or situation around here, but he's far from being a jokester.

Oh, Hawkeye, so sorry to hear about Seymour :'(

Then, the best part of my day. I spent the early evening on the new trampoline with my 2 boys, I haven't been on a trampoline in YEARS! We had so much fun. Then, we just laid on it and looked up at the sky and the clouds and just cuddled for awhile...I need more days like today ^_^

Thank you. And I'm with Danz, those days are special and what an amazing feeling it gives you.

Ok I'm done. Had enough! Finished. I lost my favorite hen while ago. I believe she was egg bound and the egg broke inside of her. I brought her in the house today because she was feeling poorly. I had babied her and given her an antibiotic. I was laying sound asleep and heard a squawk and flapping of wings. I ran out to check on what was going on and she was dead. (This is the same hen that had the concrete block fall on her and break her leg. Her leg was all healed and she was doing well. She loved to be held and she would talk to me while I sat with her.)
I am feeling angry now. My Mom. then Hawkeye's Seymore, and now "Dirty Girl" my hen. It's not fair.

I'm so very sorry about your special hen, Dirty Girl. That is terribly sad, poor thing. You're dealing with a loss so significant it will change you, and then to have things like Dirty Girl happen, it does seem to be too much. Yesterday, I had my iPod with me most of the day and had it on repeat of all my favorite Praise songs and I tried REALLY hard not to be mad. It didn't matter, I was still angry and still sad. My Seymore is such a small thing in my life compared to your mom, so I can't even imagine the emotions you are dealing with. I just know I'm going to lean on God and keep reminding myself that there is a season for everything and He gives and He takes away. It's what I'm telling myself, anyway. I'm still not quite there. I'll still feel better once I get my guns cleaned up and can get out there.

OH, and speaking of which!! Those darned coyotes were looking for another dinner last night! They howled about 40 feet from my bedroom window!! I got up out of bed and looked out the window and I saw two of them-- one was sniffing around the chicken coop and going around it. The other one was the "look out" and he was over by my saw horses where I work when I'm cutting and building. All of this is IN my backyard!! NOT the horse pasture!! Literally feet away from the house! And then I lost sight of them and it looked like they were headed in closer to the house, so I ran and flipped on the flood lights. But then I realized I shouldn't do that, I want them getting nice and comfortable back there. I plan on sitting on my back deck here soon waiting on them.....

I heard other yipping further off in the pasture, so I don't know how many of them were out there. My neighbor asked me last night if I was going to get them, and I said I was going to try, but don't count on it. She reminded me of when they attacked my oldest mare a few years back. But that wasn't the same pack as now.

 

[averytds]

A lot of this is left up to the Poultry leader to tell us what to do. We don't have a local one here, so I'm relying on what I'm reading and hearing from everyone else. I don't know that I want to get into another breeding project. I think so far, the BBS silkies are complicated enough with worrying about the gold leakage coming out. I think we'll give our Polish a shot this year just for fun and think about next year what to do. I doubt any of them are worth breeding... but maybe a couple of them are. We'll see.


You could probably stack your eggs until your new incubator comes along. I've seen pictures of people doing that with our Brinsea-- stacking eggs in there like crazy. Sounds like you are going to be busy with your projects! It sounds really fun, honestly!

There is/was a discussion of gold vs silver leakage in older BBS males either on Silkie or Ameraucana forum or maybe a bit on both. Don't have time at the moment to double check, but something about gold being preferable for better black lines and silver being for the blues. Discussion surrounded underlying genetics, making better blacks and not running blacks with blue/splash. Don't know what specific issues you are having, but worth reading when you get a chance. Neither forum moves as fast as here.

On the faking issue, don't do it, no matter what the poultry leader says she does. Our poultry super for multiple years was shocked when she heard we actually bathe our birds for show. Almost show prep step 1. Some people can't be bothered to educate themselves and some just don't care. Start your kids right and you never have to worry about it. Personally, I'd have the kids show the birds. Use it for showmanship and impress the judge with their knowledge.

Trish, your bunnies are so pretty. We had some bunnies when I was a kid and I still think their fur is one of the softest things on earth.

Tweety, I'm glad to see you're being a good influence on your granddaughter! That's a great picture of you two.

HEChickens, I love that compost setup. Your dogs look like sweeties, too.

Pikeman, good luck with the surgery and hope you have a quick recovery.

I'm too tired to tell you about it now, but I think my brilliant idea about the pallet strawberry planter is not so much brilliant as it is harebrained.

Can't sit around today drooling over Ivy's cages. Off to work on my strawberry pallets. Approached mine differently, so hopefully I'll not have as many issues.

Oh, for anyone near Indy, I saw this about a poultry swap here this weekend. http://seks.craigslist.org/grd/2974422835.html

 

[chicken danz]

I so wish I could relocate my dogs to your place for a few days, Hawkeye. Those coyotes would be history. But maybe if you are able to shoot them that will be good for the soul. Who owns the land behind you? Would they mind if someone hunted back there. There are lots of people who coyote hunt for the pelts. If the owner would let you hunt you might put an add in CL looking for coyote hunters who'd want to take advantage of having a place to go. Around here people are always looking for places to hunt.
It's funny you should mention Praise songs. I have had church songs going through my head since my mother passed. Funny, it is something I just never did before. In the Garden is the one that has been there the most because it sounded just like my mother. She loved her garden.
I've got to get my act together today. I have someone coming about noon to get a few ducks. When DH gets up he wants to go to Topeka and buy some more lumber for the pens and the building. Hopefully that will get him back to work on it. He has 3 days off so it would be really nice to see some progress. Those poor peafowl are still closed up in that horse trailer. I'll never get eggs if I don't get them out of there.
I haven't mentioned my Sabastopol geese or Chopper recently. Chopper decided he is a goose and has moved in with the geese. That makes me happy because they can wander around the yard together some day. I really love the geese. They are so endearing. And I noticed their poo smells like grass not like duck poo. That is a blessing for sure! I still want to fence the front part of the yard so I don't have to worry about the birds or dogs getting on the road. My puppy is growing like a weed. I haven't officially named her yet either. It's about time. She's getting huge.

 

[Ivywoods]

Avery-Yeah, don't drool. My cages are still loaded on the back of the trailer and I am still scratching my head about how to re-arrange things.

Hawkeye-Oh, man! I'm ready to come down and get those freaking coyotes for you. Generally, if I can see them, I can hit them. What kind of gun do you have? I'd be willing to help with any advice regarding hunting coyotes if you want. The other option is to put an add on craigslist or somewhere asking people to come hunt them. ONLY let hunters come in that hunt by calling them in. You do not want a coyote runner... one that runs them with dogs to get them. And, of course, I know I've said this before, be very careful about any information you give out or who you let on your place. You might know someone who could find a hunter for you, and that might be better.

I wish you could experience what we do with our great pyrenese. When we first got our boer goats we couldn't sleep at night because of the coyotes. We got these dogs and we have never lost one goat or bird, to a predator (other than my own dog, Digger, who has since found a new home) and one guinea that was killed by an owl or hawk.

Danz-So sorry for your hen. Why is it we always loose the ones we love the most? That goes for more than just chickens. Perhaps the reason you liked that hen so much was because she was a bit like you.... somewhat accident prone. (sorry)

Sapphire-WOW! Laying on the trampoline, looking up at the stars. That is EXACTLY what I used to do with my kids. We had some of our closest, best times doing exactly that. They are times that I treasure, and I know the kids do to because they still talk about how nice it is to lay out here and look up at night. With them away at college there isn't so much time together, so those times we spent laying there talking and admiring the starts are even more special.

 

[chicken danz]

Ivy, Made me laugh! Yeah well, don't forget Karen is running a real close second!!!

Sapphire's post brought so many memories back to me. My boys and I used to sit at the kitchen table and tell jokes and sing silly songs. That time was so precious. I think the clue to being a good Mom is to let yourself be a kid again for a little while. Maybe that came too easily to me.

Playing with the kids was such fun. My boys used to play practical jokes on me all the time and then stand back and laugh when I was startled. I am so lucky to have been able to share time with them.
When my girls were little I was too worried about keeping them spotless and making them mind. I regret I was too young and immature to realize that they could be fun back then. But by the time I had my boys I was older and really ready to be a Mom, but still young enough at heart to play with them. My Mom used to play with us when we were young and the things we did were things mentioned in her funeral service. It brought back more sweet memories.
Sounds like I need to do some maintenance on my hatcher. The fan is making noise. I only have some duck eggs in there right now. Wish they would all hatch and I could tear the hatcher down and oil the fan. Maybe I can talk DH into doing it for me later.
I had a busy day yesterday. I separated out my larger baby ducks from the smaller babies and set up another pen for them. I didn't have a shelter for them so I hope they did ok through the night. I drained the duck pond, cleaned it and refilled it. I think I may add a couple water lilies. I don't know if the ducks will eat them or not, but I figure if they don't they will help use up some of the extra nutrients ( poo) in the water. It would look nice if they let them grow. I have plenty of them so it won't cost anything to try.

 

[Nana2KJS]

We've had my daughter's lab since the day the new baby was born. Had the baby (now 1 month old) for an hour this morning. Looks to me like Lexi thinks the baby is ok. Maybe it's time for the dog to go home.

 

[Ivywoods]

Danz-Glad I could make you laugh. I was hoping to lighten things up a little for you.

Nana-What a beautiful little baby, and I love labs, too. Heck, I just love dogs!.

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye- Sooooo sorry to hear about Seymore!!

She was such a special turkey. It is so hard to lose them, they become such beloved pets.

Danz- Poor dirty girl! I am so sorry you lost her, she seemed like such a sweetie. I lost a brahma to being egg bound too a while back. It is so hard.

At least you girls can both take comfort in the fact that your birds were loved pets and they knew it. They had good lives with both of you.