Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

Karen-WOW! Love your pens you have and that garden! Wow again! Hats off to you! How do you like your electric fence? I've always thought that would be nice to have to be able to move around, especially for my DH's goats. I just never have made it a big enough priority to budget for. We bought some goats from a lady who was selling out one time. She had a BUNCH of that electric fence. We asked her if she wanted to sell it, too. She just didn't know at the time. Then we found out she advertised it a week later and of course someone bought it before we saw the add. It would have been a good buy if we had been quick enough to get it.

Avery-Yes, I will keep it in mind. I would probably just start over with the test and all. It was a year ago this past April that I took it the first time.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Karen-WOW! Love your pens you have and that garden! Wow again! Hats off to you! How do you like your electric fence? I've always thought that would be nice to have to be able to move around, especially for my DH's goats. I just never have made it a big enough priority to budget for. We bought some goats from a lady who was selling out one time. She had a BUNCH of that electric fence. We asked her if she wanted to sell it, too. She just didn't know at the time. Then we found out she advertised it a week later and of course someone bought it before we saw the add. It would have been a good buy if we had been quick enough to get it.

Thanks Ivy! I love the electric fence! I have it on solar power and it works great. This one is PermaNet because it's made to be semi-permanent. Mainly, there's just less sag to it because it has more support posts per linear foot. It was easy to set up and it's easy to move. I'm very happy with it. Once I use the coop for a brooder only, then I'll use the electric fence around the breeder pens and keep them moving over the acreage for fresh grass and bugs. The coop has a concrete floor so I think it's secure enough without the electric fence. I'll have to insulate the breeder coops for winter but using that reflective stuff should work really well and be relatively simple.

 

[Trish44]

KarenS, wow, your work makes me tired again, good job! I love the pens you made, that's similar to what I want to do with my pallets.

I got nothing done today, I just haven't felt that well since Sunday for some reason. I've been headachy & tired feeling, just no energy at all. I've been dragging myself around the last two days. I've got to get up out of this chair in a bit & get some things done. We're going to OKC in the morning to take my granddaughter down there to get her tooth fixed, so it will probably be a long day.

My little turkeys in the brooder aren't doing well today. I thought they were over the flipping thing, but it turns out they weren't. I found one flipping today & lost another one. I don't think any of them are going to make it honestly. They were looking so good when I put them out there & then they started all over again, it's really disheartening. I still have 3 eggs in the incubator from that other guy that have another week to go yet, so maybe they will make it. I sure was looking forward to having some turkeys this year, but the way things are going I may not.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

KarenS, wow, your work makes me tired again, good job! I love the pens you made, that's similar to what I want to do with my pallets.

I got nothing done today, I just haven't felt that well since Sunday for some reason. I've been headachy & tired feeling, just no energy at all. I've been dragging myself around the last two days. I've got to get up out of this chair in a bit & get some things done. We're going to OKC in the morning to take my granddaughter down there to get her tooth fixed, so it will probably be a long day.

My little turkeys in the brooder aren't doing well today. I thought they were over the flipping thing, but it turns out they weren't. I found one flipping today & lost another one. I don't think any of them are going to make it honestly. They were looking so good when I put them out there & then they started all over again, it's really disheartening. I still have 3 eggs in the incubator from that other guy that have another week to go yet, so maybe they will make it. I sure was looking forward to having some turkeys this year, but the way things are going I may not.

Thanks, Teresa! I love pallets. I just discovered them this year and I have all kinds of ideas for them. Ideas yes, energy, no! I haven't felt worth a flip since yesterday. I feel headachy and a little queasy. I better not be catching strep from DD. Don't have time for that.

I'm really sorry about your turkeys. That's so sad. It's really hard when you nurse them along to no avail.

Hey Pikeman, how are you feeling by now?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye your chicks are SO CUTE and fluffy. You sure can tell the difference between hatchery stock and good breeder stock. Is your brother getting involved in the Lawerence chicken controversy at all?

I did manage to get my second set of pens moved into the barn yesterday. They did get rained on the night before, which I didn't want, but really had no choice. With the tops and the bottoms of the pens being plywood water is not good, but I think the wind dried them out quickly and it doesn't seem to have hurt them.

My DH suggested a place in the barn for them that I would not have asked for because I considered that space "his" for his goats when they are having their kids. It is not an ideal place, but it will work. I'm happy to get it in there. Now I can work on finishing them for the chickens. I want to put some scraps of linoleum down for the bottoms of the cages, and I think I will do the sides different than I did the other set. With the others I made a bowl shape out of some heavy plastic that I scrounged. I am out of that stuff, so I think I will just make some sideboards to go in there to keep them from throwing the shavings out. I've got quite a bit of salvaged 1" boards, so it should work out well. Once that is done I will hook up my auto waterer for it. I will just have to order a few more of the little cups for the system.

I have 3 Splash-- the little stair steps I took a picture of are Splash... and I got a Blue yesterday. I'll take a picture of them together so you can see the diff, because they kind of do look blue in that pic! I can't believe how amazing my chicks are coming out! So far no toe faults! Except for that first chick that Yoda hatched. But the ones out of the incubator have NO fused toes and all of them look great. Just have to make sure they continue to grow out and don't have any other faults. So far, so good!! I'm excited!!

Take a pic of your pens when you get them up. Soooooo envious of those! That was so nice of your DH to offer his kidding space in the barn to you. I hope it works out okay when his goats are having babies, though. Danz mentioned you feed from the outside-- how does that work??

Okay so that was part one. I am last minute learning about my baby Mandarins. It seems I either have to take them from their mother or put up some kind of barrier to keep them in. I am told they can easily go through the 1 inch chicken wire and they can also climb hardware cloth and scale right out of the pen. So I am thinking I am going to have to ugly up my aviary for a while and put metal or something around the bottom so they won't get out. I really want the Mom to raise them if she can. I understand they are sometimes hard to teach to eat. I sure hope she does good job of leading them to food. I was gone yesterday but Dennis said that they were all out swimming on the pond with their Mom. He did say he hadn't seen them eat yet. I am like a worried Mom. Of course that means another project for me. Just what I need!
I've got several birds hatching today. I sure hope nothing goes wrong with the hatcher this time. So far so good.
I really need to get busy on the trailer again probably won't have time with the Mandarin project. Too bad I learn things on the fly! I read and read but when it comes down to it there are always some surprises.
I am really pleased with my Production Red hens Ivy picked up for me. I'll be selling some pullets and stuff starting about next week so I can integrate them as my major egg layers soon.
I have such a huge order for eggs this week I have to keep everyone cranking them out for now.

Oh my, I bet those little Mandarins are adorable!! The parents are spectacular, so I can only imagine what the little ones are like. Awww... I'm so glad that those production reds are working out well! What color egg do they lay?

 

[chicken danz]

Well I'm with all of you. Headachy, feeling tired, got a gut ache. I thought mine was from just being exhausted.
I couldn't figure out what to do with the Mandarin Aviary. I finally got some old greenhouse panels and cut them in half then cut them to length. If they were all flush across the top they wouldn't look bad but a lot of them had been cut to fit on a wood frame. Back when I was building water gardens for people and growing aquatic plants I had a 35 foot long pond enclosed like a greenhouse to overwinter semi-tropical water plants in. It was a bit brittle but I cut it with a grinder and it went fairly well. Then I fastened it along the bottom of the Mandarin pen. Hopefully that will keep my 5 little babies from escaping. I have got to figure out how to use my video camera and film those little sweeties swimming with their Mom.
So besides my normal feeding and moving a few birds from the incubator to the brooder I didn't get anything else done today. I was dragging around all day like each of my feet weighed 50 pounds. Ivy, between spending Sunday catching ducks and doing my part to catch the pullets yesterday my bender won't bend today. And no comments about how I did with your net!!

One thing I didn't mention from Ivy's yesterday is a Americana rooster that thinks he is a turkey and was breeding the female turkeys. He is just hilarious. I would bet the turkeys didn't even realize he was back there. You should have seen him. That and her funny dog who was pointing baby chicks and trembling he was so excited. I guess a bird is a bird.
Karen no wonder you are tired. Are you going to sell some of your extra produce at a farmer's market or are you planning to freeze and can it. You are right in line with my goal.
Hey anyone who is NPIP certified and wants to buy some serum: I bought some smaller bottles to divide it and can sell it a couple hundred doses at a time. It makes it much cheaper. The license runs from Sept to Sept and the fees have gone up from what they post on line. I am not doing this to make money. Just to take care of myself, my friends, and some of the 4-H kids. One word of warning , Taking the test doesn't necessarily make you know what you are doing. And then there is the equipment you need. If some others get licensed next year I'd love to split some serum. I don't like the kind of money I've been spending on this so far. I just want to follow the law and do things right as far as resale if chicks and eggs. About 99% of those eggs you buy on Ebay are illegal when you get down to it. They can not be shipped into the state of Kansas without the appropriate testing. Every state has laws that differ a little. Regardless of what kind of bird it is you are not supposed to bring any bird or egg into Oklahoma without testing papers accompanying it. However Oklahoma divides serum and sells it to their qualified testers in smaller quantities. The manufacturers are contesting that so it may not last very long. Unfortunately if you live outside of the state you can't buy their serum.

 

[Ivywoods]

I have little feeders and waterers that hook onto the wire in the doors and then just enough space cut through the wire for them to get their head out and eat. It probably wouldn't be too good of an idea with your "top knot" birds, though. It might work okay if the birds were full grown and you cut enough room to accommodate their fancy hairdos. Maybe I can get pictures soon. I'm kind of beat tonight. I got a lot done on the flower beds. They were SO neglected all year last year. I hope I can keep up this year once I get back to work.

Oh, I also have one set of pens that is actually a 3-stack cage for indoor birds, like amazon parrots or some other kind of large bird. The feeders and waterers are stainless steel bowls that are set in a ring on a hinged door, and they just swing to the outside for filling and then back in for the birds to eat. It's pretty neat, too.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to confuse people. I saw the post about the cage bottom helping to keep toes trimmed and have been having problems with getting scratched by my ducks' toe nails, so I thought I'd ask in hopes that SOMEONE would have an answer. I didn't mean to confuse anyone.

I did understand that the original poster was talking about chickens. And, just to make things clear, I was NOT asking about or ever thinking about trimming my ducks' beaks and do not think that doing so would be a good idea.

I got a good laugh out of this-- no biggie.

We're all pretty laid back and relaxed here. And if you stick around long enough, you'll see we all make some mistakes now and then.

This is the brooder pen DH and I are putting together. The enclosed area is a dog kennel purchased at Atwoods and can hold 10 - 12 LF. This one is for the bantams. The kennel and the run are both light weight enough for me and one of the kids to move. I may or may not put the whole thing on wheels later.









Here are the strawberries and asparagus. The asparagus are planted in pallets with some of the boards removed. This section is still unplanted, but will be in time.

How is your turkey doing??? I sure hope he'll be okay! I LOVE your little dog house/run solution! What a cute home for them! Your garden is HUGE!! WOW!! How on earth are you going to keep up with all of that? I can barely keep up with my 8 X 8! LOL!! You are one busy mama!

Sigh....Looking at all you've gotten done reminds me of all the things I should be doing right now instead of lolly gagging around online.

Love the brooder pens.


Just something to think on if/when Ivy. I don't think you would have any problems at all splitting up a bottle for next year with enough people....you, Danz. Rosie maybe???? would open up this area to you. I got mine for fair this year last weekend, but would go in with you all next year. That's 4 people. I go to Wichita regularly....so Hawkeye maybe? Something to think on. Just don' t let Danz do the shopping.

For sure-- if anyone comes this way, I definitely want to do the testing. I need it for showing, anyway, and want to keep up on it. Has to be done once a year. I still need to find someone to do it for me before the fair. I've called the extension office again... so I hope I can get something scheduled!

Our 4-H is supposed to provide someone to do this for us (for a fee of course).

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm exhausted! Long day today and I didn't get a whole heck of a lot done. Sigh. I'm completely worn out, though. I plan on buying some trees tomorrow and then coming home and working outside! I need to get stuff DONE.

Danz and Ivy, sounds like you ladies had so much fun yesterday! I have to go get kids in bed, and then I think I'm going to crash.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Danz, can and freeze for sure! There are 8 kids with healthy appetites here that I feel confident can more than handle whatever we raise. I thought perhaps down the road some of the kids may want to do the Farmer's Market thing. Especially once we are getting fruit from the trees and eggs from the hens.

Hawkeye, keeping up with the garden is always the worst in mid summer but we've learned that we have to get up before it gets so hot we can't stand it and then we go swimming! Before the stock market crashed and a whole other series of unfortunate events occurred, we paid cash to have a pool put in. Even though we wouldn't have, if we could have looked into a crystal ball, it's wonderful to have it. I had my oldest son plant grapevines on the north and south sides this year so in a couple we can snack on grapes while we swim. I'm thinking about putting in Goji berry bushes on the east and west ends, we'll see. AAAaaaahhhhh ! Not more planting!!!!!!

Okay, maybe next year. Me and my big ideas!