Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

Ivy, yes..... a wheaten ameracauna pullet please

Noted.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

I am afraid I am getting sick. Maybe getting the Karen stuff. I have a terrible headache, my lymph nodes in my neck are swollen and my throat is getting sore. Of course all that could be a combination of allergies and possibly sleeping wrong last night. I guess I'll know by morning. Any time I get my neck turned the wrong direction it kills me. It is fused not to turn so it reacts violently. I broke down and took some pain meds but it hasn't helped a lot yet.

OMGosh! What a nightmare if I gave you the crap I have. It sounds like it, though. Thursday, I was just really tired. Friday, I had a headache and lymph nodes were swollen. Saturday, I woke up with strep and ended up with everything all at once.

I sure hope I didn't give you what I have. I'm getting better quickly but it's kind of settled in my lunges. Get some antibiotics as quickly as you can to keep it from getting out of hand.

 

[Hawkeye95]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6215133/user_id/66378

Poppy the hen that was starting to get a cold, is now better. I ran her through duramycin-10 for 3 days and she is all cleared up! Now I have to wait 20 something days before I can use her eggs again. The craptastic part is that she is my best layer. Oh well. I would rather have a healthy bird.

Looks like a great start on the new coop! So glad that Poppy is doing better!

Visit with my family went fine - I guess. My brother did bring his dog, but we kept her fenced on the back porch - which made it hard when my dogs wanted to go outside to potty. When we were out of the house, we just put her down in the computer room locked up. She didn't like that, but I refused to let him keep her in the car like he wanted to. And wow.. my nephew is a little hellion on wheels. He's 5 and talks back more than in 10 minutes than my kids did in one year! He's a whiner too, I don't think I heard him say more than 10 full sentences that weren't whining about something. It really made me realize how lucky I was with my kids - they were nothing like that! Funny thing is that as stressed out as my DH was about the dog, he said the dog was better behaved than the kids! LOL. It was really nice seeing my father though - I don't get to see him as often as I'd like - He's in St. Louis. Graduation went well and it was so nice for everyone to go home yesterday! Nothing's better than a quiet house after 3 days of non-stop activity!

I think I'll have enough roos! LOL I bet half of my birds are roos. I don't know this for sure, but odds are...

That is crazy about the ivy being watered like twice a day! I agree, they need to change out the dirt. That would be a huge project-- since they have that all over the restaurant. I would be ANNOYED with whiny kids. I don't want to tell you what I do to my little 'chillins' when they get whiny or talk back. Talking back does NOT happen here. Ever... or at least, if it does happen, it's a pretty severe punishment. My oldest is too big for corporal punishment, so he gets to clean toilets and scrub bathtubs when he misbehaves. We have 3 full bathrooms... *evil cackle* My too younger ones are getting too old to be spanked now, so they serve time out on their beds. Not running around their room.. but sitting ON their bed. When they get older, they will be joining the chain gang crew of scrubbing toilets and whatever else I can think up. I'm a mean mama! LOL

I can't believe parents let their child talk back like that.

Hawkeye- Huge can of worms I have opened with these birds. SO, I thought all 3 were bearded? I was under the impression that non bearded birds looked like this????:

It is funny, a lot of the silkie stuff is much like cochins. The males tend to have lower wing carriage and that is problem. Look for overall type vs culling for one flaw. I do like the blue boys overall shape much better and even when he walks around he looks nicer to me in his overall stature. I should mention they are young still, 7-8 months maybe? I have found from this breeder that her pullets are very slow to mature and I bet this girl has a lot of filling in to do still. My last hen from her was not fully developed until well past a year of age and she just blossomed into an incredible bird which is why I hatched more eggs from this lady after I lost that little hen last summer to heat exhaustion. I will look at wings again today. So when you fan the wing out there will be a separation visible between the primaries and secondaries? I was looking at his wings yesterday and they appear to roll out away from his body and I didn't think that looked right.
I like this pic of the blue cockerel but it wouldn't load last night! Thanks for all your help lady!!! Sometimes I can't bring myself to post pics on the breeding forum because it seems like it just starts arguments over what should be culled for and what shouldn't and some people would cull both these boys but if its all you have to work with sometimes you have to start somewhere!

Here's my Scooby Doo impression.. "Ruh Rooh!" I thought you had non bearded, they really look it. I went back and closely examined those pictures again. Both roos look like non's because the muff should be completely covering their wattles and the standard calls out for no visibility of wattles on bearded's. Also, bearded have very small wattles-- almost not even there. Your pullet, I think once she fills in more, she might look more like a bearded too. Lets hope they do a lot more filling in and if you say that blood line is slower to mature, then I'd believe it. My rooster has done a LOT of filling in lately-- he doesn't look like his pictures before. I also agree that if this is what you have to work with, you could do worse. These really are not bad looking birds. I'd still be hesitant to use your Splash, but with heavy culling, you might be okay. And if not-- like i said, I bet I will have several really nice Splash roo's here by Fall. I have bought both blood lines out of show stock and these breeders are listed in shows and do well. (one is from CA and the other is in Virginia) The chicks that hatched from my shipped eggs-- this breeder has done an exceptional job on working on toes, etc-- none are fused, and have fantastic spacing! She also has not had problems with leakage. I can't wait to see what I have. I really like your Blue roo the best-- his crest is really good, and his type is far better than your other guy. But yeah, pick type over other little faults every time. It's easier to breed out certain things, but you can't get type back. Or at least, not easily! Anyway, I can see his wings really well from this angle and his wings look really great! Especially if he is of breeding age, where they start to drop. (what a neat correlation to cochins!) His wings stack nicely-- unlike your Splash. As for the wings, when you spread them out, they should not be missing any feathers. Often times when wings stack wrong, they are split, which means the outer wings are growing in one direction and the secondaries are growing in another-- so they look brushed out from each other causing a split and for them to stack wrong. That is a DQ, and anyone would tell you to not use a bird like that at all, because I believe that becomes an autosomal dominant-- which means it takes only ONE parent to pass that on almost every time. But if you pull his wings out and there is no split, he is fine to use.

Sera's adorable and sassy in all the right ways. You've obviously prepared her well for the ignorant and/or cruel people she will meet from time to time. As for the dirt, I'll say what I always told my niece when she worried that her mom would be mad because she was dirty: "You're washable, right?"

X2!!

Piasanos is where my son and his wife had their wedding reception.

Anyway we ate at Pizza Ranch which I always love, last night. I can graze the salad bar and never have to eat pizza there, even though it is some of the best pizza ever.
I ended up buying 16 hot pepper plants. They are all different varieties.

I LOVE Pizza Ranch!! One of my favorite pizza places! YUM! I'm sooo bummed about your turkeys, that is such a shame that they aren't coming now.

I love peppers! I have planted 6 plants and I'm afraid that just isn't enough! hehe! I chop them and then freeze them for winter usage.

The turkeys that just hatched: Royal palm, blue slate and some mixes of the two and one lone guinea (the lavender one to the right in the pic.) I loved the way some of them were sitting there on their fat bottoms looking up at me.

I must be hormonal! I nearly started crying looking at your RP's. Sigh. I miss Seymore.

That one in the top part of the picture that is eye balling the camera-- that is a cutie!

Well I got 20 ducks, and 41 chickens in cages and I'm still waiting to hear from my buyer. .

I am afraid I am getting sick. Maybe getting the Karen stuff. I have a terrible headache, my lymph nodes in my neck are swollen and my throat is getting sore.

Medawinks I think Sera would really enjoy the swap at Premier. Some of the sellers are kind of picky but surely some of them would let her hold a bunny or something. I was telling the girls about your son dismantling every thing. That's so funny.

My sister called and wants to come out and visit. I am not prepared for visitors and DH is trying to sleep so he can work tonight. Maybe she'll get here in time to load birds. She is NOT a chicken person. In fact she isn't an animal person at all.
So assuming I'm not sick and I have no more surprises I might be coming to Topeka Saturday morning to the meet. I need to sell some more chicks. I have a guy coming from quite a ways into Missouri to buy up all the Seramas except a few and I'm not sure what time to expect him.

Good luck with your chicken selling! I hope you sell loads of them! I hope you aren't sick, either! Better drink your OJ and take some Vit C. I'll be thinking of you! Stay healthy! That would be so funny if your sister got there in time to help you tackle loading birds! tee-he-he!!! I love it when non-animal people find them selves wrangled.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Now.... when he takes a part a latch on someone's animal cage Sat purely because it is there and he is driven to figure out how it works..... might not be so funny at the moment I will be on high alert however to keep everyone under control

Seriously, though, he is a total sweet heart. just in a very different way than his sisters. He is very attached to his silver crested Polish and his tiny white Silkie chick I found in an Orshelen's bin. She has not been growing well and still doesn't have any feathers beyond chick fuzz on her head. I went and bought more parrot food, which I had not been doing the past 2 weeks, and hopefully that will help. He watches her very carefully and can be very gentle, when he is motivated to think about his actions He has calculated how much it will cost to feed her parrot food versus chick feed however..... He has even offered to pay the difference. That had not crossed my mind at all.

Wow, he sounds like an incredibly intelligent kid! Too funny about all the mischief he has caused with food and walls. Sounds like he really keeps you on your toes. What a sweetie that he figured out the difference between the parrot and chick feed and wanted to try to help you out. I hope his silkie starts catching up doing doing better on gaining.

OMGosh! What a nightmare if I gave you the crap I have. It sounds like it, though. Thursday, I was just really tired. Friday, I had a headache and lymph nodes were swollen. Saturday, I woke up with strep and ended up with everything all at once.

I sure hope I didn't give you what I have. I'm getting better quickly but it's kind of settled in my lunges. Get some antibiotics as quickly as you can to keep it from getting out of hand.

Karen, what a crazy week you've had! Being so sick and all the night time escapades you've had.. Strep is no fun to have, it totally wipes you out. DANZ-- do take care of yourself!

 

[Hawkeye95]

I don't know if anyone knows Jenn (aka Revolution Mama Ranch) but she is downsizing and posted a list of birds she is selling off: She is in the Lawrence, KS area again.

HERE IS MY BREED LIST, HOW ABOUT IF YOUR INTERESTED PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [email protected] shipping will depend on the breed(s) shipping boxes are $11.00

REVOLUTIONMAMA'S RANCH BREED LIST-
Indian Runner Ducks
3 Roosters of Show Quality Lavender Silkie Chickens
Rare Coronation Sussex from Imported Lines
Rare Buff Sussex from Imported Lines
Rare Red Sussex
Rare Silver Sussex from Imported Lines
Rare Lavender Orpingtons
Rare Lavender/Isabel Orpington Project
Lavender & Black Standard Ameraucanas
Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas
Buckeye Chickens
Bantam Frizzle & Smooth Bantam Polish (rare colors)
Black Java Chickens
Black Sumatras
Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons

Rare Poultry Antiquities & Ayam Cemani project...very close

*We are NPIP-certified and Pullorum/Typhoid & IA clean

 

[Trish44]

Well my little Royal Palm turkeys arrived today, a day early, not that I'm complaining because the trip probably was hard enough on them as it was, but that was some fast shipping from Oregon. They were yelling their little heads off in the Post Office when I got there. They were joking that the lady in the back thought the ones in the front were whistling at her. Those of you that have had baby turkeys know what I'm talking about. I think the sound they make is so cute, it's somewhere between a peep & a whistle. Anyway, I got them home & they're in a temporary cage until I can get the pen done tonight & get my chicks out of the brooder, then the turkeys can go in there for now until I get a pen done for them. These are just a tad older than the two I had, so they're slightly bigger. I don't think my other turkey poults knew quite what to think because they have not seen other turkeys before, they have been with baby chicks & I think that's what they think they are.

I have one Ameraucana chick hatched so far today & there is one more egg in the hatcher that was due today & then a couple for the next day. I have a lady coming tomorrow to get whatever I have ready by then for her, so that will just about be all the chicks I have to sell right now other than the black sexlinks, which nobody has seemed to want. I just hatched them really because the eggs were available & I wanted to try out my incubator. I may end up having to keep those, which I guess wouldn't be a bad thing if I had room for them, but my coop is going to be crowded for awhile until I get my breeder coop done. We did get the levels today that my DH wanted to get in order to level the foundation. With all we have going on this week though I don't see any more work on it happening until at least Monday. I did tell my DH today that I need to come back earlier on Sunday than usual & as I figured that didn't go over well. I haven't even told him yet we're taking chicks with us when we leave. I didn't want to hit him with both things at once.

IVY, it looks like you had a great hatch on the turkeys, it must be nice I'm jealous. I have tried twice to hatch some, but then I have been having incubator issues too, so maybe later on when my incubator is fixed & my turkeys start laying I can try again.

Well I'd better go get busy. I was kind of waiting until I had more shade to go out there & work. I have to make the door now for the end of the pen, put it on, & then cover the top & I'm done. I know those chicks will be thrilled to get out into a bigger pen & not be so crowded. I'm surprised they haven't been picking on each other. Then as soon as I get all of those chicks moved I have the task of cleaning out the brooder so I can put the turkeys in there. I have one brooder I had my keeper chicks in & one for the ones I hatch to sell. Have a good evening everyone!

 

[HEChicken]

I am tempted by some of the breeds Jenn listed but I really shouldn't add any new birds right now - I have so much on my plate already.

No news on the dog. Every time my phone rings I race for it but so far nada. I went back and looked for her first thing this morning and drove that route again multiple times today. I just wish someone would see her and call me.

I egg-topsied my turkey eggs and they were both fully formed, still had a little yolk to absorb. I am developing a theory about hatching that involves nutrition. When a mammal is pregnant, the mother should maintain good nutrition throughout pregnancy in order to provide the fetus with what it needs. However a bird or reptile must put all the nutrition the fetus will need in the egg before she lays it. So - good nutrition for birds laying eggs that will be incubated is as important as it is for mammal mamas.

Since both Trish and I obtained our turkey eggs from the same source and had roughly the same result, I don't think its us - I think the problems lay in the eggs before we even obtained them. I have since talked with the guy we got them from who conceded that he has not had good hatch rates when hatching his own eggs. Trish and I each obtained the same number of eggs, had about the same number develop, and had those poults die prior to hatch. Coincidence? I think not.

It is all a learning experience but going forward, I plan to ask many more questions before I buy eggs. Things like "what has your fertility rate been?", "how many batches have you incubated and what were the results" and perhaps most important "what is the diet of the male and female from whom the eggs are obtained, and for how long have they been on this diet?"

Any thoughts on this?

Medawink, I really enjoyed the stories about your son - he sounds like a thinker, like my DS. When he was 3, I ran him a bath and while sitting in it, he asked "Where does the bath water come from?" Simplifying it for him (and also to hide my ignorance on the topic) I responded "From the river". He thought about that for a little while and then said, "But it must go to the factory first, to get cleaned". I guess he saw how clear his bathwater was, remembered how brown the river water is, and figured I had skipped a step. For me the surprise was that he was interested to know. All I know is, I turn the tap and water comes out - that's about as far as my interest has ever gone. I predict your DS will grow up to be an inventor or engineer

Pikeman, your coop is coming along nicely - be sure and keep us posted with your progress.

Karen, I hope you are starting to feel better and Danz, so sorry to hear you are coming down with it now too. Also, for the disappointment on the turkeys. Is that the MW's you have been looking forward to getting?

Last Wednesday I obtained 6 Muscovy ducklings and later the same day got the keets from Danz. I decided to brood them together and I can report it has been a roaring success so far. The Muscovies are a little bigger than the keets (and growing faster too maybe?) so they are the natural born leaders of the brooder. Whenever I go to see them, they all race screaming to one end of the brooder and stay there until one of the ducklings deems it safe to return to "foraging". As soon as one breaks free of the pack and heads for food or water at the other end, the rest of the brooder follows suit. Some of the smaller keets try to snuggle under the ducklings and the ducks seem just fine with that.

I made a little more progress with my coop today. DD was with me and helped me to carry OSB and hold it in place until I got the first couple of nails in. We now have two of the long sides completed and a little done on the shorter sides as well. Also got my internal wall framed out but did not install it yet. I know, I know, progress pics. I will when I can.

 

[Ivywoods]

HEChicken-I do have some thoughts on this regarding fertility, developement, survivability, etc. First off, I think environmental conditions has the biggest effect on fertility. If birds are kept in too tight of surroundings they often don't mate as they would if they had ample room in their surroundings. Secondly, if your male to female ratio is not right, often fertility suffers. Too many females to male and the other way around, too. Too many males, especially in enclosed areas will cause too much fighting. The males will fight each other each time one of them tries to do their job, and consequently none of them get the job done. Birds kept in cages do not have a great of fertility as those that are in larger pens or free ranged. Some cages are better than others, and those with wire footing often discourage mating.

As far as development, I think incubating factors is the biggest problem, possibly followed by conditions between the time the egg was laid and the time it is put in the incubator. Bacteria is a factor here, also. As far as your theory of nutrition in the parent stock, I believe that very well could be a factor. It certainly makes sense to me. Nutritional deficiencies should also show in the the parent stock itself, so a good look at where your eggs come from should give you a good clue as to nutritional health. Another factor is simple genetics. Some lines are easier to hatch than others. By far my poorest hatch from fully developed eggs has been with marans. Once they are out of the egg, however, they have been tough little chickies.

Lastly, survivability after hatch can certainly be related to the factors that affect the hatch rate, but here is where I think nutrition plays the biggest part. I can't help but think about how healthy my broody hen raised chicks have been. Generally they do not gain weight at the same rate as my incubator chicks. Perhaps I can compare it to people. Some people eat a diverse diet, packed with vitamins and minerals, never get overweight and are generally healthy. Other folks eat potato chips and ice cream, gain pound after pound, have no energy etc,. I hope no one takes offense at that statement. I know there are lots of exceptions. Frankly.... I love ice cream.

 

[cherwill]

I told DH earlier I didn't feel very good but as the day went on I got to feeling worse. I hope it is just stuff and will go away in a day. I try not to show it when I feel crummy anyway. Who knows, maybe I'm just tired.

I hope you're just tired and feel better tomorrow.

Danz, She is psyched to go to the swap on Sat!! So are my other two! I hope you are feeling better!

Yes... my son taking things apart is definitely humorous now When he put metal in my cigarette lighters in the car and blew out my electrical system.... simply because he got a kick out of the sparks, when he took apart the can opener and accidentally opened a can of beets... then got sidetracked enjoying painting the shower stall with it ( because he hid in there to open the can)....when he blew up the garbage disposal with wet paper towels and chicken noodles and then snow angled the chicken noodle soup along my hall walls... And the list goes on! He sees things I will never see without him pointing them out to me and experiences life on a very different plane than I do. I needed him to help me see those things and to keep me on my toes more Just yesterday he noticed a white feather on the tip of one of our BCM's. He promptly reached down to pull it out while telling me that it shouldn't be there and had the most disappointed look when I told him quickly to leave it there! He had not stopped to think that it would hurt the poor chicken to have it plucked, whether or not it looked like it belonged there or not! Now.... when he takes a part a latch on someone's animal cage Sat purely because it is there and he is driven to figure out how it works..... might not be so funny at the moment I will be on high alert however to keep everyone under control

Seriously, though, he is a total sweet heart. just in a very different way than his sisters. He is very attached to his silver crested Polish and his tiny white Silkie chick I found in an Orshelen's bin. She has not been growing well and still doesn't have any feathers beyond chick fuzz on her head. I went and bought more parrot food, which I had not been doing the past 2 weeks, and hopefully that will help. He watches her very carefully and can be very gentle, when he is motivated to think about his actions He has calculated how much it will cost to feed her parrot food versus chick feed however..... He has even offered to pay the difference. That had not crossed my mind at all.

Your son is a riot! He also shows a lot of curiosity and intelligence, not to mention creativity!

Cherwil, I hear you on the 50 50 chance of a pullet, even from the pullet bin...... I can't find pointed feathers on my two white and red EE.and their combs aren't bright red, but definitely are pink. They are both about 11 weeks old. Definitely old enough for us all to have become pretty attached to them.

I tried to post this earlier, but for some reason it wouldn't go through: I think you might be OK with your EEs. By 11 weeks, I could definitely tell a difference between the roos and the pullets. The roo combs were not the brighter red of my older birds, but they were definitely red, not pink. They were also showing the multiple rows on their combs while the pullets still had only one row, and it was shorter than those of the roos. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[chicken danz]

I have to agree with Ivy on lots of these factors. My birds that free range do so much better than the breeds I have to keep penned. They hatch better and the chicks are healthier. I try very hard to provide my birds with all their needs but being able to get out and forage makes a huge difference. I also noticed since I have several little groups of mama hens and chicks that those chicks are growing faster and much more active than the ones raised in the brooder. Besides they are so much fun to watch!
Well my buyer finally showed up just an hour ago. Unfortunately my sister had been here and gone before they got here. I sold all the birds I had caged and 16 dozen eggs so that paid for the load of feed I bought today. I carried the stupid phone around all day and postponed work that would be noisy like doing some mowing. So I failed to complete much today.
I talked to the guy who is buying the Seramas and it looks like he will be here Saturday so I think I will have to put in another chicken door and divide the house and the pen so I can separate the keepers from the non-keepers. Then maybe I can put the d'uccles in one half if I have some hatch.
Yeah that was the Midget White Turkeys I've been waiting for that got postponed. Dang it! I don't like the idea of having them that late because it might get too hot for them. I guess I 'll just deal with it though. Wouldn't you know I'd decide to get the most difficult breed to find.
But I guess I'm going to be busy with all these crested breeds in the next couple days or so. What was I thinking? I keep saying I'm downsizing but keep adding more birds and pens and houses.
Whoever asked, there is a Pizza Ranch in Emporia and they were supposed to put one in Manhattan but I don't know if that has happened yet. It's awesome food at a very low price for the buffet and they also have some of the best chicken around. We were told they are trying to expand to college towns because the business is so awesome with that crowd.
I discovered I have a few more hens sitting on eggs and can smell some more rotten eggs under the front porch. I have got to get that situation under control. I may staple some wire up if I get them out of there until we can get the fence pickets cut to go on it.