Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

HeChicken, yay I'm so glad you found your dog!

I want to share with those of you that have turkeys or have tried to hatch turkeys what the person who I got my poults from told me today. She said that turkeys need to be under the heat lamp for 8 weeks because they have a temperature regulation problem. I still had my young ones under one in my brooder, but these I just got must be close to a month old already & still need the heat for another 4 weeks yet. She also said they need turkey starter, which I have not seen in my area. I have seen the gamebird starter & that is what I will have to get once this bag of food is gone I have. I had gotten a general starter feed at TSC that said it could be used for turkeys & other game birds & is higher in protein than the chick starter, but it is only a small bag. I hadn't wanted to buy a huge bag when I only had two turkeys, but now I have 7, so I will have to go tomorrow & get some of the other stuff. I usually just end up buying feed when I'm not going to Wichita at Orschelyn's because the CO-OP in Arkansas City carries a lot of Purina feeds & they are more expensive. I figured a CO-OP would sell cheaper feed, but that hasn't been the case when I have bought feed there. I don't go to the CO-OP in Winfield because the people that run it are rude & not helpful at all. I would rather drive 10 miles down the road than go there.

I went out & checked on my little chicks outside in their pen & they seem happy as clams out there. I did have to put a folded tarp over the end of their pen for some shade because it's in a very sunny spot in the afternoon. My GP pups were very curious about these chicks when I first put them out there & they barked at them at first, but this morning I found Lily laying by the pen as if she was guarding them, so that's kind of nice that she realizes they need watching. I just hope they behave themselves & stay home when we won't be around for a couple of days. We have not left them out before when we left town, this will be a first because with all of my rabbits outside I need them to be out there guarding.

The little turkeys all seem to have made the overnight trip fine, so far so good. I was told to give them sugar water for 24 hours, so that's what I have been doing. I will switch it out probably tonight. I read that you can't tell sexes on RPs until about 4 months, so I have awhile to wait.

 

[chicken danz]

Heather that is great news! Sure glad you got your dog back. I'll bet he'll be glad to be home too. Sending you a PM after while as well. I'm so happy for you. Loosing a pet is like loosing a family member.
Well I got all my grain shoveled in the barrels. That wind is killer. My grain was $200 this time. I had run out of corn in the feed bank. Ouch! Okay money makes me get more serious about down sizing for sure! $200 every 10 days or so plus all the chick starter, game bird starter, and layer feed I feed adds up to too much.I guess I need to put an add on Craigslist this weekend. I almost hate to do that any more because so many people call and then don't show up.
My sisters are gone this week so I am left to take care of my Dad. I don't want to sit here waiting on someone who won't show up when I could be in town making sure he is taken care of.
I just felt like crum today and accomplished nothing. I would go look at stuff but not do anything. I broke the mower as well. I hit something and killed it and it wouldn't start again. I was just trying to get some of these areas that haven't been done recently.

 

[Ivywoods]

I am trying to get a little video of the 2 Ancona ducks I got from Danz last summer. They love to play with our big black lab. She just lays down and lets them crawl all over her and the peck at her like they are cleaning her fur. So funny! They even put their head in her mouth! Hopefully I will get a video and post it.

Danz, I am glad your buyer came by! Hope you are feeling better.

Medawinks and Ivy -- Hope to meet you at the swap on Sat. If you see a tall gray haired lady wandering -- that would be me. My name is Karen. How can I recognize you.

I will try to have a sign with my stuff that says, "Ivywoods Farm." If not, look for a red Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Hawkeye, I like the names Seymore and Cornelius I used to have a very dignified "old soul" therapy dog in my classroom. He put up with anything my students could dish out and since I teach kiddos with severe disabilities, that can be a lot! He would alert me to seizures by sitting right nest to the child and not moving. His name was Jeeves

While I was out feeding and watering this morning Sera's silike was clucking away. Sounds so strange versus the peeps we are now used to. She does have some darker marks on her, but yes.... we were targeted as novice chicken folks- she is definitely NOT white We have to white ones, a tiny one month old one and a 2 month old one Definite difference!

Now if I can just keep them all alive.....

I am rather discouraged this morning. The tiny silver polish "bed head" my son has been so excited about watching change and grow was dead this morning. No signs at all that she was not feeling good. She was running around eating and drinking and no poop looked loose in the tray when I changed it. I don't know what happened. He is devastated. Of course, his silkie chick was our first to die and now this one. I know he has not hurt them. He had a tough experience with death in China, had a child pass while in bed next to him and he remembers it in vivid detail. Having today be a day of good byes at school, which he also struggles with and this.... I can't do anything to fix any of it :-( Running him to McD before school for a treat breakfast and hugging him and reassuring him is about all I can do right now.

So sorry. I had to go through some of this with my youngest. Every pet he got died early. It's so heartbreaking to see the little guys struggle with this. Hugs, hugs and more hugs.

Coop v2.0 update - I was only able to get the legs and floor attached last night. There are two new pics in the album to show my progress:

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

I am hoping to get more of the framing done this evening. Then, I will have to stop and get it moved outside as this thing is getting heavy! I have some paving stones to act as footers for the legs so they aren't sitting on the ground. This is going to be one huge coop! Getting excited.

Wow! Pikeman you are really going to have a nice coop! Wish we had built a new one but hubs didn't want to spend that much.

We remodeled an old shed -- which was actually a sheep barn about 30 years ago and turned it into a nice big chicken house. It is nice a roomy but so old!!

Here is a pic of our house before we painted it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/6728198/width/900/height/900/flags/LL

Looks good to me! The price was probably right, too!

Ivy- I am sending you a pm!

Hawkeye- Thanks for all your silkie advice! Have you tried soaking the chick starter in water and letting it poof up? I usually grind my starter for silkies or at least soak it in warm water and then plunk them right in the middle of a tray of it and they just go bananas! I have had a few that looked like crud because they weren't eating and once I did that they got going and did great. I wish they made a bantam chick starter for small babies, some of those chunks are as big as the darn chick! I LOVE the name Orville!!! That is so sweet. I just love my turkeys, I am going to go to the swap in Topeka for some of Ivys RP poults. I have wanted some for a while but really want babies so I can coddle them!
I bought a pair of silkies from Jenn a long time ago that I ended up having to rehome because the roo crowed non stop even at night and I didn't want my neighbors calling the chicken police but they sure were pretty birds. She has gorgeous birds!

Medawinks- I am so sorry for your son. What an awful experience for a child to go through when he was in China. I have found the crested breeds (polish, silkies) to be very, very fragile. I lost a number of polish chicks to piling where the other chicks would get on top and the polish would bury underneath and get crushed. I personally think it has to do with their weird noggins but don't know for a fact. I am sorry for your son but tell him lots of us have had a hard time keeping polish and silkies alive, they are very delicate creatures and it is not his fault.



UGH, ok GP folks. WHAT is the puppy doing????? She is on some kind of mission to make my yard look like a tornado went through it. She picks up every darn loose item she can find and strews it all over the place. People must drive by and think I have gone mad throwing things out the front door!! Is this GP behavior or what? I have never had a dog do this before...I think she is bored because Molly has been working hard the last few nights and just finds a hole to go to sleep in so she has nobody to play with.

Alrighty, today I am going to get stuff done!!!!! Off to it!!

I often take the starter and grind it up fine, and then I sprinkle it around on the paper they are on. Mine first go in tote type brooders with a rough paper liner for footing. It is just natural for them to peck around on the ground, and I like to do this before it gets poopy. Then I take my finger and tap the floor and scratch as if I was the mother hen pecking around. You would be surprised at how often they come running to your finger to check it out. It just attracts them naturally, like it's their instincts to follow that pecking sound. I do this as soon as I get them out of the hatcher, give them a drink and set them in the brooder. If I'm worried about them getting started eating, I do it several times until I'm pretty sure they've got the idea. May not work if your chick is not well, I suppose.

Just wanted to pop in real quick and say we got the call! After almost 3 days at large, finally someone found her and called our number. We are headed to go and pick her up right now! I really had started to think I would never see her again so I am teary and unbelievably happy right now. Thanks for all your well wishes.

I'm SO glad to hear this. Happy, happy! Today we were going to Topeka for an appointment. In the middle of the highway was a dog, a hunting type dog walking along right down the middle of the highway. It was obvious someone had dumped him out. He trotted into the field beside the highway as we passed. He was so skinny it was obvious he was starving. I felt so bad for him and angry someone would do this. On the way home I looked for him and prayed I wouldn't find him lying in the middle of the road, I there was no sign of him.


I am totally wiped out after our trip today. Dr.would have released me to go back to work because my knee was doing so well, but didn't release me due to the foot problem. He prescribed an arch support and some therapy for my foot, but wasn't sure any of it would help and simply said it was going to take a long time to heal. Bummer. I don't want to take a long time to heal. I really want to get over the pain and get back to work.

I didn't sleep at all last night and I am so wiped out right now I am almost nauseated, so if I need to reply to someone be patient with me. If I don't get to it tonight I will tomorrow.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Hi guys. I've been reading but not attempting to keep up with replies. This stuff has gone into my chest and I feel like it's a bit better today but my state of mind sure isn't. I just hate not having the energy to do stuff. I watered the garden and did my bird rounds and that's all I've managed to get accomplished. Now I'm parked on the couch like a beached whale feeling very sorry for myself. I am so glad my children don't whine the way I do. They are telling me to adjust my expectations and I'm trying really hard. It does make me smile when they use my phrases.

On the upside, I've got one whole lavender orp hatched out, one pip and one zip out of 6 eggs left of the 24 I bought. Not a great hatch but at this point I'm grateful for whatever I get. They came from Georgia so there you go. I'm so thrilled to see the little thing!

I emailed Jenn about her lav orps and told her I was interested because I didn't think anything at all was going to come of these eggs. She told me to make an offer, which I was a little lost there, for the 2 roo, 3 pullet group that is about 6 months old. I know how much I paid for hatching eggs so I made an offer, only to find out that she's got $300 in those 5 birds!!! Have mercy how embarrassing! I feel like a total jerk. She probably thinks I'm messing with her, but, no, I'm just that ignorant. Yikes! I bet they are gorgeous birds! Happily, I've got some babies showing up finally so hopefully, I won't have to worry about buying any. $300! I was totally mortified. Just so you all know, just give me a price for whatever it is you're selling, please save me the humiliation of showing my complete and utter ignorance. Sigh.


HEChicken, I'm so, so glad your dog is back! That's just wonderful news!

Okay, I'm out of energy. Best be giving it up before I say something really stupid. Or did I already?

Danz, I PM'd you!

Here's my new baby:

 

[JosieChick]

Just wanted to pop in real quick and say we got the call! After almost 3 days at large, finally someone found her and called our number. We are headed to go and pick her up right now! I really had started to think I would never see her again so I am teary and unbelievably happy right now. Thanks for all your well wishes.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a relief!!!!!!!! I bet you will be the happiest dog mom in the world!!!

 

[sapphireblu76]

Beautiful birds! Hopefully someday soon, I will have some peas.

Well, still in Dallas with my family, just checking in, there were 100+ messages, couldn't possible read through them all. I hope to catch up with everybody once I get back next week!



I got the EE from Trish44, she could probably tell you what kinda mix he is, but he has the pea comb to definitely be an EE. I am glad that they are all fitting in really well, Herman needed a gf I guess, because he was pretty nasty to my little ones when they came out of the brooder.

Thanks! Trish got back with me

Just wanted to pop in real quick and say we got the call! After almost 3 days at large, finally someone found her and called our number. We are headed to go and pick her up right now! I really had started to think I would never see her again so I am teary and unbelievably happy right now. Thanks for all your well wishes.

YAY!!!!

Hi guys. I've been reading but not attempting to keep up with replies. This stuff has gone into my chest and I feel like it's a bit better today but my state of mind sure isn't. I just hate not having the energy to do stuff. I watered the garden and did my bird rounds and that's all I've managed to get accomplished. Now I'm parked on the couch like a beached whale feeling very sorry for myself. I am so glad my children don't whine the way I do. They are telling me to adjust my expectations and I'm trying really hard. It does make me smile when they use my phrases.

On the upside, I've got one whole lavender orp hatched out, one pip and one zip out of 6 eggs left of the 24 I bought. Not a great hatch but at this point I'm grateful for whatever I get. They came from Georgia so there you go. I'm so thrilled to see the little thing!

I emailed Jenn about her lav orps and told her I was interested because I didn't think anything at all was going to come of these eggs. She told me to make an offer, which I was a little lost there, for the 2 roo, 3 pullet group that is about 6 months old. I know how much I paid for hatching eggs so I made an offer, only to find out that she's got $300 in those 5 birds!!! Have mercy how embarrassing! I feel like a total jerk. She probably thinks I'm messing with her, but, no, I'm just that ignorant. Yikes! I bet they are gorgeous birds! Happily, I've got some babies showing up finally so hopefully, I won't have to worry about buying any. $300! I was totally mortified. Just so you all know, just give me a price for whatever it is you're selling, please save me the humiliation of showing my complete and utter ignorance. Sigh.


HEChicken, I'm so, so glad your dog is back! That's just wonderful news!

Okay, I'm out of energy. Best be giving it up before I say something really stupid. Or did I already?

Danz, I PM'd you!

Here's my new baby:

WOW! I'd be in the same boat as you. I have no idea what some of these breeds run. I need a base price to work with, too.

Well, what a crappy day. I went to bed early (for me) last night, laid there for an hour and a half tossing and turning. Decided to get up, so I went out to sit on the porch for a bit. Some random people stopped at the end of my driveway. The driver got out and was talking to the 2 people sitting on the tail gate. I don't even think they saw me, sitting there in the dark. I have no idea what was going on, but they turned around, not even in my driveway, took out one of the reflectors stuck in the ground down there, barely missed the green metal box in the ground and took off again. They drove up and down the road the rest of the morning. They finally quit around 5:30., so I never got back to bed until after the kids went to school. So now you're saying, "Why didn't you call the police?" Well, because I was pretty sure they were looking for a loose horse. The neighbor has a horse that will get down and crawl under fences, lol. I could hear her stable mate whinnying all night long. I wish I could've slept, but once I'm up, it's almost impossible to go to sleep until I'm just ready to pass out.

THEN, this afternoon, with this &%^$&! wind...Just taking hubby to work and getting my son from the bus stop had me wiped out. I finally mustered enough oomph to go out to feed and water, only to discover one of my EE pullets running around the outside of the pen. I couldn't figure how she could've gotten out. I got her caught and put in the pen and...ohhhhh S**T! My beautiful black headed blue EE was crushed under the center ground support of the pen! Apparently, the wind had come up so hard that it lifted the front of the pen, the one bird got out, the other got under the support, the wind died down, and down came the pen. I think the only thing that kept it from blowing over was the set of wooden cages I had moved in for the roos I got from RVroman. So, since the wind is still really aggressive and I could see it starting to lift again, and no way to anchor it down, I had to make the leap and move all 35 birds to the big pen with the 7 adults and the dog...ever seen a chicken rodeo? Sarge thought we were playing a great game, the birds were NOT amused. Anyway, so chores took an hour longer than they should've and I spent some time in the pen giving treats to bring tensions down. By the time I finally went in to start dinner for the kids, everyone was okay. GAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! This day needs to be done.

 

[chicken danz]

Sapphire, sounds like the wind is equally as harsh every where. I have a kennel on the back porch and the wind took off with it. I now have a concrete block on top and hope that will hold it still. I had the flowers I bought for my Mom's grave on top it and it dumped them upside down as well. It doesn't look like the wind is dying down at all either. Makes me want to just curl up and go to sleep.

 

[HEChicken]

Karen, so sorry you are still feeling so poorly. I love your kids' response to it though! Congrats on the lavender orps and hope many more have pipped by morning.

Ivy, that is so sad about that dog. However after my experience, I can't help wondering if it was dumped or made an error in judgement like my girl did. Either way, I hate to think of it fending for itself, lonely and sad.

Sapphire, so sorry about your lost chick - what an awful discovery, and on a day you didn't have much energy anyway.

Thanks again for all the well wishes on the missing dog. They really are like members of the family, aren't they? When I got the call about the dog, I was getting ready to head out to a double header for DS' baseball, having *just* returned from touring the animal shelter to make sure she wasn't among the animals there. I planned to go get her and just let him be late for his game but DD begged me to let her go pick up the dog. I think she really wanted to feel like a grown-up. She hasn't had her license long, and is at that age where she's in-between being a kid and a grown-up. I decided this would be a good thing for her to be able to take care of, so I let her. However that means I didn't actually see my dog until a few minutes ago, since I was gone to the game by the time DD returned with the dog (we did talk throughout the evening though). She is exhausted from her adventure and has a small abrasion on one back leg, but otherwise seems unharmed. Where the lady found her was right about where I first noticed she was missing. Its very strange. I have NO recollection of hearing her go out the window. But *something* made me look back and check that both the dogs were there and when I didn't see them, pull over on the shoulder to check more thoroughly. So, since she was found in almost the same place I pulled over to do that check, I can't help thinking something tipped me off to her leaving the car at that point, even though I wasn't aware of it at the time and even thinking back on it, can't remember a specific sound. The scariest part is that at that point I was probably going 50-60 mph. If that is where she jumped, that she is uninjured is nothing short of a miracle. Anyway, we will be working on teaching her NOT to jump out. DH wants to leave her in the car with the windows down and hide nearby so he can correct her immediately she jumps out. Me, I'm not sure I will EVER completely trust her not to do it again so I guess going forward we will be driving with the windows mostly up. It may get a little warm some days, but its worth it to avoid this kind of aggravation again in the future. However she will not be able to go run errands with me like she has up until now, as at this time of year I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her in the car with the windows mostly up. She did THAT to herself.

 

[Trish44]

Sapphire, I'm so sorry about your pullet. I hope you can get some sleep tonight.

KarenS, congrats on the baby lavender orp. I know what you mean about luck with shipped eggs. I candled my really expensive ones again today since they're due to hatch soon & only 9 now out of 14 are viable, ouch! That makes the ones that are left even more expensive & they haven't hatched yet. I wasn't aware that lavender orps were so pricey either, gosh I hope some of mine hatch because wow I can't afford to buy the birds either. I know that Chooks has some, but hers are lav orp/porcelain isabella cross or something of the kind, I saw a pic of them. I was wanting to get some eggs from her, but it didn't work out for us to meet that week we came to your place, maybe next time she is in Wichita hopefully.

IVY, that's a bummer about your foot, I hope you can get some relief soon. You seemed like you have done so well with the new knee, it's just too bad you had to have this complication.

Well I'm done in myself too. I spent quite a bit of time out tonight making sure all of my animals were cared for & cleaning out rabbit cages I had neglected in the garage. I tried to round up extra water bowls for the rabbits & found a few. If I can't find enough I will use the bottles I have, but I'm not fond of those, it seems like it's hard for them to get the water out very well. I think the bearings in them wear out over time or something. I just like using water bowls better, they're easier to fill & clean out. I sure hope I get some sleep tonight, I'm sure I'll be out as soon as I hit the pillow because I didn't sleep much last night, I was too angry to sleep. I just hate nights like that. I have so much to do tomorrow too to get ready to leave on Friday, it makes my head spin.

 

[Ivywoods]

HEChicken-We love to take our dogs with us when we travel. I never trust any of them to not jump out. It's just not safe. Well, actually I know Buster, our old bird dog wouldn't jump. He won't even jump IN the car. He stands there and waits for you to pick his butt up, and no amount of coaxing is going to get him to jump in by himself. He is such a good dog, but what a klutz! He's never even mastered a stairway very gracefully.... but he knows how to point!

I would feel safer in your case putting a collar on them and tying them in the center of the car where they can't reach the window. You wouldn't want them to be able to jump out and then hang themselves by their collar, either.

I've got quite a bit of work to do to get birds ready to transport on Saturday to Topeka. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you.

I've got chicks to move around here at home and a bunch to come out of the hatcher this morning. I haven't looked in there yet this morning, but I hope I've got a good hatch going on..
I sure wiped out last night.

Have a great day everyone!