Consolidated Kansas

[rvroman]

Ok, so DH is hard at work today on the coop. We opted to build an 8x4!!! It should be chicken ready by this evening. My girls and Leroy are way to big to be in the house anymore! I am so excited, there will be pictures. It wont look pretty yet, we still have to get the paneling, paint said paneling, shingle the roof and what not, but THE GIRLS CAN MOVE OUT OF THE BASEMENT!!!! I am charging the camera battery now to take pictures of the chicks I got from Triss44 and of the new coop. I am going to continue to keep the little ones separate for now. I am also going to put a heat lamp in the coop until it is consistently warm. I figure with 32 sq feet, they would have plenty of room to escape the lamp if it gets to hot in the corner.

Trish44, when should I put the new chicks out with my bigger girls, they are probably about 6-7 weeks old right now.

YAYAYAYAYAYAY THE COOP IS ALMOST DONE!!!!!!

 

[rittert3]

I just wanted to stop by and say Hi to all my old freinds who are not on the kansas groups on FB. I just don't have enough time to do everything else and keep up with this thread so if anyone wants to get ahold of me I'm on chicken chatter and the two kansas swap pages on FB or you can PM me on here and I'll come check it. I hope you are all well, and have a nice day!

 

[Trish44]

OK nurse Danz, I need your advice about a chick. I got new chicks in a couple days ago from the hatchery & then more yesterday from the CO-OP. They seemed fine last night when I came in, but this morning I went out & there was one little Speckled Sussex sitting in the middle of the brooder by herself. I picked her up & she is pretty limp, she will hold her head up once in awhile, but is not doing well. There is no pasty butt or any signs of illness otherwise. I brought her in & put her in the hatcher to warm her up & mixed up some of those chick electrolytes & gave her some in a syringe. Is there anything else I need to be doing? I don't know if she is just a failure to thrive chick or what is going on, all the rest of the chicks I got from there seem fine, running around eating, drinking, & pooping. I hate to lose her, but I don't know what else to do.

Also, I need advice for those of you with GQF cabinet incubators. I got mine all set up last night & running. How much water do you put in the tray for incubating? I just guessed at it & the humidity is higher than I would like for incubation. Do I just keep taking some out until I get it where I want it? How do you know how much it takes? I know also that when I put eggs in it will change again. What do you all use for hatching trays? I'm not happy with a cardboard hatching tray so I want to find something else to use rather than that. I was thinking some kind of plastic containers. I probably will for the most part just use my hovabator for hatching because it works so well & because on this batch of eggs I'm putting in there are so many different hatch dates. This is just a mishmash of eggs that I had waiting to go in & I had to get them in before they went bad. I got more then after that so they went in.

Hawkeye, don't beat yourself up over the egg. I know you're upset with yourself, but you're not the only one who has done that. I bought Welsummer eggs on eBay awhile back & I didn't do it while I was unpacking, but I was candling them one day & just dropped an egg & splattered it all over the place. I was upset about it, but at that point there isn't much to do but clean it up. I tried the scotch tape on another egg that got cracked, but it ended up going bad in the incubator & stinking, so I had to throw it away. That was one of the few I've lost so far after incubating for awhile, It rolled onto another egg.

Yes, I agree with you all, we need to find a soap opera name for this thread. I have to have my fix every day just as much as I do the one I watch on TV daily. We sure do have our dramas don't we.

I was exhausted last night after all of the running here & there to pick up chicks & get them where they needed to be then coming back here & moving furniture all around to find a good spot for my new incubator. I had my DH help me get things set up on it last night, I kind of figured if I had him help I might get him interested in it all since he likes electronic things. He is interested in the hatching & all, he just doesn't want me to know how much. He left about noon today to go to OKC for his marathon down there tomorrow. He was still a little upset with me for not going, but I think he finally understood better this morning after seeing the sick chick & me giving it liquid from a syringe.

 

[tntblake]

Hey Hawkeye, where did you say that nursery was that knows ALL about roses, and what was the name? I am going to start planting some and would like to go visit and see if they have anything I can't live without!

Thanks

I'm not hawkeye but we use the same nursery. It is Dutch's on south Seneca between just a little south of 47th street. I love that place. They are a wealth of knowledge there!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hey Hawkeye, where did you say that nursery was that knows ALL about roses, and what was the name? I am going to start planting some and would like to go visit and see if they have anything I can't live without!

Thanks

Dutch's Nursery. They are on Seneca around 47th street south. On the west side of the street. The Rose Society of Wichita highly recommends them and they work with them.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm not hawkeye but we use the same nursery. It is Dutch's on south Seneca between just a little south of 47th street. I love that place. They are a wealth of knowledge there!

HA! I didnt even see your response! Too funny!! You go there too? They are the BEST place in all of Wichita!! The Rose Society speaks highly of them and when ever you ask them where their varieties are coming from, it's Dutch's.

 

[pikeman94]

How ya feeling Pikeman?

Much better than Monday (surgery day). However, I get worn out quickly. My frustration level is increasing as the weather is nice and I need to get some yard stuff done. On top of that I have a few indoor projects that I would like to get completed. DW keeps after me so that I don't lift anything heavy - doctors orders.

On another note I am studying coop designs. I have the Catawba plans (a friend gave them to me) and the plans look solid. If I go that route I would make the coop longer like this guy did: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-chicken-coopark

My hesitation is that I have heard some negative comments about this coop style. I will say I have an A frame coop now. It seems to work well, but has some design flaws. The Catawba coop resolves those flaws.

What is the opinion of the more experienced members here?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Its not a official forum until some one does what one of those three have done. I think we will set the standard, by which all other forums are measured.

These are the days of our lives on Consolidated Kansas....I think I can hear the theme music...

I LOVE getting on here so I don't feel like the only one who is losing her mind on a daily basis!!

Hawkeye- sorry about your egg, such a bummer but don't beat yourself up! If it is any consolation to you I got a batch of mottled bantam cochins from a breeder on the east coast a few weeks ago and I had ten precious eggs and decided to put them under my tried and true cochin broody hen who had been sitting religiously on dud eggs for 2 weeks awaiting the arrival of these eggs. Five days in they were ALL developing and I was so excited. I got home from class one night and found her sitting on the floor in the corner of the coop on NOTHING!! I was so upset, they were all stone cold so I raced them inside and slowly warmed them up and put them in the bator. I am so glad to have the three healthy chicks I have but I was so upset that they were all going and I lost most of them. Silly, foolish hen!

Lucie was so filthy the other day but I was amazed when she came back 20 minutes later just as clean as can be!

Thanks. Yeah, we're a mess on here.

Funny that your muddy girl came back clean. How in the world do they do that?

LOL! I think that is why I love it here. Regardless of what goes on there is always something funny. Am I morbid to laugh at everyone else's mishaps? Makes me feel better about my own anyway.

Where's David (Wichita Kid) He seems to be MIA recently.
How ya feeling Pikeman?
Yes, I use that scotch magic tape or equivelent. You know they kind that isn't clear but disappears on a package. I always have it around for wrapping. Well DA that I am I mispelled the word. It is Occlusive dressing. I found mine at a drug store but didn't have any luck when I looked a while back at Walmart and Walgreens. Here is a link to prices at Shopzilla. Also if you have a medical aid store nearby they might have some. http://www.shopzilla.com/medicine-remedies/occlusive+dressings/22001/products
I had some on hand from a bad burn and used them on broken eggs. Expensive but they worked great. It would probably be cheaper to get the breathable bags.
Speaking of being a klutz, that burn was to my knee from the back of my zero turn mower muffler. I bumped my knee on it while adding an implement. When that just got healed I bumped it again this time really burning it bad. I put a gauze pad on it to protect it from my jeans rubbing it at work. The gauze slipped down and my pants caused it to rub back and forth on the burn. Then it was really deep and got infected. That is why I had to use the dressings on it. I have a nice big scar on my knee after that episode. It doesn't show to much though because of all my other scars. Just kind of blends in!

DH finally welded a guard on the back of the mower so I couldn't bump it again. I really need guards for everything the way I manage to hurt myself. As you can guess I was never a Ballerina!

Eh, you can laugh at me! It's alright.

I have some of that tape, but it didn't stick well. I must have bought the cheapie stuff. I think I will use your link to hunt down that occlusive stuff and get some of that to keep on hand. Then I will be better prepared! Wow, you are a mess for having burned yourself on that muffler more than once. ha! Sorry about that, but funny the scar blends in with all the others.

I just wanted to stop by and say Hi to all my old freinds who are not on the kansas groups on FB. I just don't have enough time to do everything else and keep up with this thread so if anyone wants to get ahold of me I'm on chicken chatter and the two kansas swap pages on FB or you can PM me on here and I'll come check it. I hope you are all well, and have a nice day!

Hi Tony! Nice to see you here! I don't hang out on the FB pages, but I do look at them from time to time. I just don't have anything to sell and don't want to buy anything.

Hawkeye, don't beat yourself up over the egg. I know you're upset with yourself, but you're not the only one who has done that. I bought Welsummer eggs on eBay awhile back & I didn't do it while I was unpacking, but I was candling them one day & just dropped an egg & splattered it all over the place. I was upset about it, but at that point there isn't much to do but clean it up. I tried the scotch tape on another egg that got cracked, but it ended up going bad in the incubator & stinking, so I had to throw it away. That was one of the few I've lost so far after incubating for awhile, It rolled onto another egg.

Yes, I agree with you all, we need to find a soap opera name for this thread. I have to have my fix every day just as much as I do the one I watch on TV daily. We sure do have our dramas don't we.

I was exhausted last night after all of the running here & there to pick up chicks & get them where they needed to be then coming back here & moving furniture all around to find a good spot for my new incubator. I had my DH help me get things set up on it last night, I kind of figured if I had him help I might get him interested in it all since he likes electronic things. He is interested in the hatching & all, he just doesn't want me to know how much. He left about noon today to go to OKC for his marathon down there tomorrow. He was still a little upset with me for not going, but I think he finally understood better this morning after seeing the sick chick & me giving it liquid from a syringe.

Thanks, Trish.

I can't believe all of the really dumb things I've done lately. Glad your DH will understand. I recently let my DH go on an over nighter last month by himself for a run, because of the kid's schedule. He didn't mind, he is in a Wichita running group and they all drove up together. I can't imagine 5 sweaty guys in one car... but oh well. He did really good on his run, but at the end realized he had more to give and he thinks he isn't meeting his potential. He has since hired a personal trainer that trains athletes here for marathons. He has clients that make it to the Olympics. It's not with a gym or anything-- he has his own office on the West side. Maybe now he'll BQ and he can get in! I have a really close girl friend who lives in Boston on the route and her house is at the aid station at mile 13. She's offered for us to come stay with her.

I hope your chick makes it! I'd keep up with the electrolytes-- but you need to add a pinch of Sugar in it too! Often animals really need that sugar to get going, and straight electrolytes don't have sugar in them! So, I'm not sure what the point is of using with without sugar.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Much better than Monday (surgery day). However, I get worn out quickly. My frustration level is increasing as the weather is nice and I need to get some yard stuff done. On top of that I have a few indoor projects that I would like to get completed. DW keeps after me so that I don't lift anything heavy - doctors orders.

On another note I am studying coop designs. I have the Catawba plans (a friend gave them to me) and the plans look solid. If I go that route I would make the coop longer like this guy did: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-chicken-coopark

My hesitation is that I have heard some negative comments about this coop style. I will say I have an A frame coop now. It seems to work well, but has some design flaws. The Catawba coop resolves those flaws.

What is the opinion of the more experienced members here?

I think it could work. Can you post a pic of your coop so we can offer you ideas for expansion? I can usually think creatively when I SEE something.

 

[Trish44]

Well I just lost the little speckled sussex pullet, she just must have had something wrong with her or she wasn't strong enough. I tried, but there wasn't anything I could do. I hate losing a chick, but sometimes it just happens.