Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

Cherwill-I've used duck, goose, turkey and guinea eggs for scrambling and for baking. I think the turkey eggs are the BEST for baking. It seems like duck eggs would be really good for baking, too.

As far as just "eating" an egg, I never noticed much difference in the taste between the different eggs. What I did notice was a big difference in texture of the yolk. The yolks of the turkey eggs were much "thicker" and held together more than a chicken egg. Because of that I just didn't care for them for scrambling or frying.

Duck eggs may taste different to eat, I don't know. Their diet on the average is somewhat different than most chickens. Where I really notice the difference in taste is between caged eggs and free range eggs. The free range eggs taste much better to me, and the caged eggs just don't seem to have any flavor at all.

I've got some extra eggs right now. Maybe I should bake a cake!

 

[JosieChick]

Howdy all,

Sorry if I forget something important, just ran through 50 some odd posts! We went a wedding in Manhattan last night and got home super late but it was a great time!

Ivy- LOVE those dogs, so sweet. You will enjoy them so much, they are one of the best lap dogs ever! The puppy is ridiculously cute too.

Hawkeye- Good luck with your hatch!! I just set a bunch of eggs and the box was pretty beaten up so I am

Danz- Thanks for all the advice on my birds and making all the testing not scary at all!! Folks make it sound awful frightening but it was very laid back and not nearly as much anxiety as I anticipated.

Karen- So sorry about your little turkey! Hope you are feeling better soon!

Sorry everyone else, my brain is still fried if I missed you!

My little serama hen is feeling pretty good. She is still on injectable antibiotics and in the house but she is her cackling normal self so hopefully she is going to be ok! I have never had a hen have an egg break inside of her before. They have always passed them whole when they are egg bound but she is a crazy little spit fire and was jumping all over the place in the bowl of warm water so I assume her struggling didn't help matters.

 

[Trish44]

I have been told by some people that duck eggs are wonderful for baking cakes, I don't know because I never have tried it.

Hawkeye, congrats on the new chicks!

HeChicken, you didn't make the same mistake in thinking I did on the turkey lockdown? I hope you're thinking 28 days, not 21, it's hard to remember if you hatch chicks too. I'll send you a PM after while regarding the turkey poults.

I got to play with the new tablet computer late last night & just like a kid with a new toy stayed up late messing with it. It really is a nice one & I think I"m going to like it a lot, it works just like my smartphone & uses the Android system, which I'm familiar with, so that's good. I found out last night I can download a movie on Google & then I can have it to watch on our trip next weekend, so that will be nice not to have to drag the heavy laptop along. We don't get good phone reception at my DH's brother's house because he has metal siding on his house & it just drags our phones down trying to search for a signal in there, so I will set up my email on the tablet & will be able to check it on that instead. Anyway, I guess all the aggravation was worth it in the end since we got the newer model.

My last little Ameraucana hatched this morning that was going to for a few days, so I ended up with 7 & 1 Easter Egger. I took half of them out to the brooder earlier & the other 4 will go out later today. One had just a little problem with spraddle leg, but it seems to be resolving after I gave them some paper towels to walk on. When I took the babies out to the brooder my little Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas in there that are getting bigger, (they actually look huge compared to the new babies), started picking on the new ones. So I fixed up a cage that I use for my rabbits with some hardware cloth on the sides so hopefully they can't escape & put them in there for now until I can get my pen done. I'm just running out of brooder space, so tomorrow I've got to get out there & work hard trying to get that pen put together, we'll see how that goes. I'm not a builder like some of you, but maybe I can manage a simple pen.

KarenS, I hope you feel better soon, that's the pits. Your incubator is working great. One thing I did notice is that your humidity is different than mine. Maybe it has to do with whatever the issue is with my control center or the thermostat, we'll find out. My DH decided he was going to try to take the parts out & see if he could see what might be wrong, but he kind of messed up taking the thermostat thing out. Hopefully it won't void my warranty since they already sent me new parts. He says he isn't sure how that control center comes out. I'm hoping they send instructions because they sure didn't give me much idea on the phone about how it all comes out or how to change it out. My DH was kind of aggravated that they think we should be electricians, but hopefully it's not that difficult once you have instructions.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish I am thinking of replacing my old controller with a new digital control panel. I like having that constant readout all the time. Let me know if they send instructions. I can figure out the difference in wiring if I have the basic schematics but don't want to order one if they don't have clear instructions. Has your DH looked on their website? They surely have removal instructions there.
I've cooked with lots of duck eggs. They have a lot more substance so they act kind of like adding an extra egg. To me they taste richer. Too bad my ducks are penned right now because they do have so much better flavor when they are allowed to free range.
I need to get out and feed an water everyone and water my darned garden. One of the rare times they predicted rain and I really wanted it , then of course it didn't come!

 

[prairie]

Well we too were gone most of the afternoon and all evening -- graduation dinner party and then the Burlingame Rodeo. Hubs is in the Saddle Club so he always helps out at the rodeo. I went this year but the wind was so bad and there was so much dust blowing that I had dust in my eyes, teeth, and I think my hair was beige instead of grey! But lots of fun at the rodeo! Then had so much shopping to do after church that we didn't get home from Topeka until about 3:30 this afternoon.

I love the chicken area under the deck! We have a large deck on the back and the chickens and ducks love to go under there because of all the dusty dirt!

We plant a lot of corn -- mainly because the granddaughters love it and Grandpa plants it for them but he does put a double hot wire fence around it. We have had coons in it but also our dogs. Our 2 black labs just love to pull an ear off and plot down and eat it.

Hubby also takes the tractor with the scoop and piles huge piles of cow and horse manure for compost and then puts several loads on the garden spot each fall. Makes for easier gardening.

woohoo! One of my guineas finally started a nest in the chicken house. I have 6 guinea eggs collected but they had been laying out in the yard just where they wanted to and this is the first one in the chicken house. Now to get a broody! I am envious of all of you with broodies and hatching your babies.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, no they don't have instructions on changing out the digital control module or the thermostat control on their website. You would think they would, but it's not there. My DH finally took all the screws out & took the top of the incubator off so he could see what he was doing & found where the thermostat plugs in. He's going to change that out first like they said to & see if that fixes the problem & then go from there. I'm hoping we don't have to take the whole digital control thing out.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Wow! I was busy working on (pasture) fence yesterday and didn't have time to get on the computer. Today, I get on and have 6 pages to read in order to catch up! I can't reply to everyone, but I'll reply to a couple

Ivy - the dogs are adorable!

Hawkeye - Congrats on the new pen underneath your deck! It looks really nice!

On the duck egg issue - I've used duck eggs in cooking before and haven't noticed any difference from chicken eggs. I have 2 ducks (I think one of them is female), but they aren't old enough to start laying yet.

Someone mentioned ducks and water earlier (sorry, I don't remember who). Ducklings need water to duck their beak and head/eyes in. If you let them swim, you need to supervise them because they can get waterlogged and sink. When mine were little, I'd fill up the tub with some warm water and let them swim (supervised) for a while, usually about 30 minutes. Then, I'd towel them off and put them back in their pen. I never had a problem doing it that way. And, yes, as someone mentioned, ducks are MESSY when it comes to water. Mine are still in the house 'cuz our duck house isn't quite done yet, and they have been making a terrific mess inside. I take them outside to a temporary fenced area during the day. They really seem to enjoy the extra space, the grass, the mud, and the pool they have out there.

Yesterday, I was taking down an old fence, rolling the wire up, and giving it to my DH who was using it to put up a new fence (we currently have a couple of fences running through the middle of our property and are missing a fence on the edge of our property). I was taking the barbed wire off the fence (post-by-post) and rolling it up into a roll about 3 feet tall. I got to an area where the weeds were a bit taller and leaned the roll against what was left of the fence. I then stepped around the roll and went to remove the staple that was holding the wire to the post. After doing so, I turned around to get the roll of wire, and there was a rattlesnake coiled up right beside the roll of wire.

The snake was only 3 feet from where I was standing at the time and was right in the path I took to go around the roll of wire. I am still not sure how I managed to not see him when I walked past him

and am still amazed that I neither stepped on him nor rolled the roll of barbed wire over him. It was cool enough that he wasn't rattling either. He sure scared me, though! When I realized that I had just stepped over/around a poisonous snake without noticing the snake, I started shaking pretty badly - my knees, my arms, my hands.... After that, my DH helped me move the roll of wire to the opposite side of the fence where the grass/weeds weren't as tall. He then helped me finish rolling the wire. I hate to think of what could have happened if it had been a bit warmer yesterday... I am hoping that we can find someone with a gyro mower that we can borrow to mow all those weeds down so the pasture is a little bit safer. Plus, it'd be good to give the grass a chance - we'll need every acre of grass we can get for my horses with as dry as it has been out here.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Trish44, how is the humidity different in mine? Was yours reading too high? Just curious, I knew you had a terrible time with the humidity level being too high.

I have lots of congestion in my chest today, on top of strep and am feeling really crappy.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay hatching experts-- I hope you're on!!! I need HELP!


I had all my chicks hatch except for two when I left to take my oldest to a b-day party. I came back and all he!! had broke loose here. The kids had lifted the incubator lid (including my DH!!) and two babies were shrink wrapped!

One baby made it out, BUT it was so sticky, it could not stand up and kept rolling over on it's back and it had egg shell and membrane stuck all over on it. It was terrible! I think it was going to die, it was struggling SO hard! So I did the unthinkable!! I took it out and gave it a really warm bath in front of the space heater. I had to keep rubbing at it over and over and dunking it, it was awful! I think it was that or let it die. I figured I am at least giving it a shot??!! I don't know!!!


Chick #2 that is stuck is STILL in the shell. It is screeching like mad, and it hadn't started to zip, because I don't think it could move. It just kept making bigger and bigger hole into the shell until almost the entire head was shown! I went ahead and got it out, wrapped it in a wet warm paper towel and started to slowly break off the shell around the top of it's head. I then stuck it back into the incubator with the wet towel wrapped around it and I'm hoping maybe it can push out now that I got the top off???! What do I do?? It's in there screaming!

 

[prairie]

Wow Lizzy! I am not sure I could muster the courage to continue working in the weeds if I had rattlers ! I live in Kansas too -- south of Topeka and we don't have rattlers -- at least never seen any on our farm but just to the southwest of us about 10 miles they do have them and we didn't let our boys help farmers with their haying in that area because of the rattlers! Glad you are ok!!