Consolidated Kansas

[averytds]

All I did was step out of my vehicle onto the blacktop to let the kids out at bus stop. Got back in and drove off. Almost immediately felt something crawling up my leg. Pulled over and found a tick.

They must like me too.

 

[Ivywoods]

Doctor said Echlicious (?sp) Only ongoing problem was stamina for a couple of months. I had one tick between my fingers! if you can believe I didn't see that one and the other 2 on my lower leg.

My hubby who is in the pastures and fields everyday never gets ticks -- I have only found one on him in the last 30 years that I can remember! He even lays down in the hay field if he has trouble with the baler or swather! He has extremely oily skin and I have thought that might be the reason they don't like him! I use Skin So Soft spray all over me whenever I go out and it is really oily but I had forgotten to spray myself when we went out to pick gooseberries last June and I got the ticks.

My ex husband used to never get bit by ticks or mosquitos. The kids and I would be chewed to pieces yet he wouldn't get a single bite.

I decided it was because he was rotten to the core, not even the bugs wanted anything to do with him!

(Absolutely no reference to your husband is inferred by this statment!)

 

[averytds]

DSs straight blacks have blue mini zip ties. Separated in own hatcher or wire basket for hatch. If mixed with other chicks, the zip ties go on straight away from hatcher, but a little loose and you just check every few weeks for a couple months. If it doesn't have a blue tie, no matter what it looks like, it's not 100% black AM. He used to have some lavs and splits with their own colors, but don't know that he does anymore. Pretty strict about the blue band thing though, so I know what it stands for.

Green ties are olive eggers. DD has a bunch with orange ties. Not sure what that's for....keepers maybe?

 

[chicken danz]

Geez I hate it when I have nothing to contribute!
I just put 105 duck eggs, 47 guineas eggs, and 26 pheasant eggs in the incubators. I am again completely full. Of course all of those won't be fertile but it should be a pretty good hatch. I just candled my midget white turkey eggs and I tossed 3 that obviously weren't fertile. The others I'm not sure about. They only have about 10 days to go and they don't look developed enough to me. That is why I rarely candle anything until they go in the hatcher. I will keep worrying about them until hatch day.

 

[Trish44]

Josie, I'm sending you a PM in a few about the Amerauacanas.

IVY, let me know how your hatches come out with the black/lav splits on the Ameraucanas. I've got one chick so far saved back from my first hatch to let it grow out, but I'm not sure yet if it's a hen or a roo, it hasn't shown any signs yet anyway of being a roo, but it's still very young. Whichever it ends up being then I'll keep another to try to get the opposite since Jean Ribbick told me I needed to keep both a hen & a roo for my breeding program. My understanding from what she said was that if I kept a roo & bred it back to the lav hens then I will get more lavenders since the roo would have the lavender gene. Then the hen I would breed back to the black roo I have to further improve the line & from that one should get half blacks & half lavenders. I guess it will be interesting next spring to see what I end up with.

I lost one of the little black sexlinks during the night, it just looked like it got trampled. I couldn't see anything else wrong with it & they were fine last night when I checked them. It was one that I suspected was a little roo, so that was not a big loss if that was the case. Not many people want roos anyway unless they just need a replacement or one for breeding.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at Karen's that can make it!

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye- You are lucky to have such sound minded horses! Sounds like quite the adventure out to the road! I will try to get pics of the boys today while it is nice out.

What does everyone up my neck of the woods use for home phone service? I called AT&T and they weren't sure if they came out here!! I have used them in the past and have never been overly thrilled with their customer service so would like to find somewhere else that isn't too pricey. My cell doesn't get good reception and I am tired of driving up to the highway to make a call! Thanks in advance for info!

 

[chicken danz]

Josie you are in the same boat as I am. People who live in the sticks just don't get cell service. We have Century Link here cause nothing else goes out this far. I hate paying for long distance. I am sure I could get a better plan for more $$ a month but I spend too much already.
I went out to finish feeding and watering and found a whole 'nother pile of eggs I didn't get in the incubator. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them other than just let them sit until I have room. I'm not hatching any more chicken eggs at all right now. All I have is what is already in the incubator. I hate to waste eggs I would normally incubate but there just isn't any room.
Kare, does your husband smoke? I have noticed that my DH who smokes doesn't get ticks and the mosquitoes don't bite him either but they eat me up. Of course if I was a tick or a mosquito I wouldn't want that awful taste in my mouth either!!

 

[HEChicken]

I downloaded the pics from my camera and will show a couple below. After the last photo was taken, a door was framed in one end but I didn't take a pic of that yet. The door is not hung because it didn't have hinges (door was donated by a neighbor who was getting rid of it - free is my price) but I got the hinges this morning so plan to get that hung next time.

The coop specifics:

Size is 10' x 14'. The first 10x10 will be the coop and the last 4x10 will be a storage area. There will be a screened wall dividing them (prob just a frame covered by chicken wire because all it has to do is keep the chooks on their side), a walk-in people door at each end and also one in the screen wall, so I can enter either the coop or the storage area or go from one to the other (my neighbor actually gave me 4 doors - the 4th will most likely be laid flat in my work area to be used as a bench). Each of the 14' walls will have a window. I just got the windows this morning at Habitat - they are about 4x3. So next time I'd like to frame those as well.

Anyway, when I think of all that is left, there is a long way to go but I am very glad of the start I've made. I was not really looking forward to doing all that anchoring into concrete so there is some feeling of accomplishment that THAT part of things is done and now I can focus on the coop itself. Here is a pic when two of the walls were up. You can see a livestock shelter in the background. I told my neighbor (the one who mowed my place not once but TWICE) to go ahead and put her horses in my pasture so they can graze it down some. They spent most of yesterday hanging out under the shelter watching the coop progress with apparent interest.


And here is a pic once all four walls were up:

 

[chicken danz]

So are you going to go back later and cut out and frame for the doors and windows? Looks very nice! I am envious of the concrete.
Just got done tilling. Now I am trying to figure out a way to get all the grass out without having to rake the whole area.

 

[HEChicken]

Yes, I'm cutting out after the fact. My original plan had me framing as I built the walls but I hadn't bought the windows yet so didn't know what size to frame. I have a friend helping with the build and he suggested just building all four walls and then cutting out and framing afterward, and that seems to be working very well so far. We got the door framed up beautifully and I would have loved to have hung it but alas, no hinges. We used a hacksaw to cut out the studs at the nails so wound up with intact lumber that we then reused in framing the door.

I am so lucky to have the concrete slab, and didn't even know it was there when we bought the house! My original plan had the coop in another area of the yard but then I saw the slab and it was a no-brainer to change plans and put it there instead.

I wish I had a tiller. I need to till an area for my vegie garden and may end up having to rent one. At this point I'll probably leave it til next year as I just don't have time to get it tilled and ready to go this year with everything else.