Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh Danz, my stars, that just tops it! I'm not much for drinking either, but I think I'll join in just from pure sympathy.

We had 70 mph winds here. I had my Alohas shut in the east side of the shop inside their pens so they were safe and sound. The ducks and all of the other birds were safely inside the coop so all was well. When we got up this morning one of the framed out breeder runs had taken a tumble in the wind and come completely apart. One of the dog kennels had also taken a tumble and it broke the flooring boards, also tumbled into the electric fence and knocked it over. I was sure glad I had all the birds inside when I saw that mess! It's a bit coolish this morning but the ducks went happily down to the pond where there is protection from the wind. The big chickens are inside the electric fence, no harm done to it, thankfully. I've opened the big door on the south side for the Alohas so they'd have fresh air but will need to move them back once I make sure the weather is done for now. I don't know how much rain we got but it was enough because the garden is still wet and the pond is fuller so that's great. No watering today for me!!! Yipppeeeee!

prairie, I'm with you. Today is a great day for a nap.

 

[sharol]

My ex-inlaws lived just west of Burlingame before they passed away. It's just a hop and a skip up 99 through Harveyville.

Sharol

Sharol, When I met you last Saturday I forgot that you lived in Admire --- I live near Burlingame -- we're really close neighbors!

My sister out east of Topeka got nearly 1 1/2" -- wish we would get more rain.

 

[sharol]

What a morning!!! Sounds like you need another pair of hands with her.

Sharol

Well my luck is typical to my life! I got in the truck with Marshmallow in the dog kennel she had been penned in all night long. But as soon as the truck started moving she just freaked out. She broke out of the back end of the kennel. Just forced herself right through it. This is a big 48" long kennel made for huge dogs. Then she started trying to put her nose through the open window on the cab part of the camper. I had to stop and pull the side windows shut because she could have opened them and gone right through them. I had them open so she could get air. I thought if I opened the slider on the pickup that and talked to her it would calm her. So I did that. Big mistake. Next thing I knew she had both sliders forced open and had half of her body in the cab of the truck. I had to stop and force her back into the camper or we would have wrecked for sure.
When we got to the clinic and opened the camper back window gate, she acted like she was going to bolt, so the vet slammed the window gate down. When he did it caught me on the cheek and ripped a big gash in my face. She actually easily came out of the truck and into the clinic on a leash. She was just glad to get out of the truck. Well then he started giving her the meds to put her asleep. He gave her the maximum dose and she never went down. She just fought it every step of the way. He finally said she wouldn't go down and he could give her no more anesthesia so we'd have to take her elsewhere that did small animal work and had gas. So we loaded her back up and I brought her home.
I got her out of the truck after while and lead her to the house. She is now sleeping like a log.
I made a couple calls hoping I could just take her somewhere today but there was too much danger of mixing anesthesia. So I ended up making an appointment for her for next Thursday to go to Garnett. I am very pleased with the people I talked to and the vet actually performing the spay has already called back to talk to me. They are mailing me a sedative to give her an hour or so before loading her next week so she will be easier to handle.
I guess I need to rebuild the kennel so it will hold her next time. So I have a sleepy unspayed dog and a wicked cut on my face to show for my efforts.
After all that was settled I was emptying the incubutor. I had chicks, ducklings, guineas and a couple pheasants in there.
I decided to just put the new pheasants with the older ones I have. One of the older ones flew out and is now hiding behind a file cabinet that I can't possibly get to . I guess I just have to wait him out and hope the cats don't think he is dinner in the meantime. I took the new chicks to the brooder but haven't done any other care or feeding. I just need to take a chill pill for now. I'm not much of a drinker but a nice stiff drink or a couple glasses of wine would sure help.

 

[chicken danz]

I think we only got maybe a half inch of rain. But I'm not complaining.
Prairie I have plenty more keets if you are interested. They grow so fast, before you know it they'll be out having bugs for lunch.
I guess when it comes to dogs it is what you trade for what you get. She is the worlds best livestock guardian in my opinion but she is bonded to her property and doesn't like leaving. She did get weighed in and weighs 85 pounds. She is really a small Pyrenees. I imagine Fluff weighs around 130-140. But 85 pounds is a lot more than I can physically handle alone for sure.
I just checked in on her. She is napping in DHs bathroom. She looked up and wagged her tail. She is smaking her lips like she has dry mouth. I guess she has forgiven me for putting her through this. But I'll bet it's a bigger fight next week.

 

[JosieChick]

Danz- What a disaster!! Glad you and Marshmallow are mostly ok. Sounds like the vet in Garnett will take good care of you. A sedative for the trip in is a really good idea. It is hard to sedate an animal when they are ramped up on adrenaline and can be kinda dangerous so it will be much easier on both of you for her to have a chill pill!!

It is so cool this morning...I don't know what to do with myself. I had to put on a coat!! Should get the chainsaw fired up and finish clearing fenceline for the dogs invisible fence while it isn't terribly hot.

Danz, I know we chatted about this but I am still on the fence about my bronze turkeys. I really don't want to butcher them but I looked up the hatchery and they only sell the broad breasted variety and I have read a lot that they are like cornish and will be crippled by the time they are a year old?? They are almost 4 months old now and don't seem that huge to me. They free range all day and are rather lean little boogers. They are so sweet and friendly that I just can't bear to butcher them but I also don't want them to suffer. Does anyone else have broad breasted birds that are pets??

 

[Ivywoods]

Oh my gosh! Danz! What an ordeal and then to get a gash on your face to top it off. I agree with Josie. The sedative ahead of time will really help. You know, I was an anesthetist for 17 years, and belive me, when someone was hyped up, scared, etc, it could take over twice as much anesthetic to do the job. It was much more dangerous than when someone came to surgery relaxed and calm. I think you will have better luck next week.

Josie-I LOVE pickled beets! I haven't had any for so long.

Well, we sure could have used a little more rain. The ground is dry already, even with the cool temps and clouds. I'm sure glad we didn't get as much wind. We did get some wind that blew a screen door open and had all the dogs barking and woke DH up. It took me a couple minutes to figure out what all the commotion was.

Karen-Sounds like you got more than your share of wind. Hope everything is "fixable."

I had PT for my foot this morning. Now I have to sit around until 3:30 with this thing sticking to my foot while it infuses some decadron hopefully to the nerve that is causing the problem for my foot. I sure hope this works. I'm ready to go back to work as soon as I can stand to be on my feet for more than a couple hours.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I'm so sorry you had such a hard day, I would for sure give Marshmallow that sedative before I tried to take her in again. I hope your cut heals fast, ouch! I'm with you, I'm not much of a drinker either, but a glass of wine or two after that would have been very appropriate.

The wind here today is crazy from the north. I went out to do chores this morning & the young chicks in the pen in the run were trying to huddle in corners to get away from it, but there was nowhere to go. I finally went in the garage & got some of the scraps of wood I have in there & put some between their pen & the outside pen to try to block some of it. It had blown rain in their feeder & the food was a soggy mess, so I had to go clean that out & get them some dry food. I lost one of my pretty Salmon Faverolle pullets in the storm, of course it had to be one of those, she was a nice one too. It looked like they all tried to smash into a corner & just trampled her, they probably were in a panic with the storm. My only Welsummer got smashed too. I don't know how much rain we got here, enough to wet the ground at least, we sure needed anything we could get. I don't think we got anything like some places did, but every little bit helps. It's cool enough today that we turned off the air conditioner again & opened up the windows. It will be a decent day to work on my turkey pen if the wind will just die down a bit. I may have to take the wood in the garage to build some of it just to avoid blowing away. I will have to go buy some hardware cloth because this pen will be outside & chicken wire isn't good enough to protect them. Even though I have the dogs I just want to make sure they're protected because these turkeys were kind of expensive with shipping & all.

IVY, I soaked my foot in epsom salts twice yesterday with really hot water & it does seem to look better today. The good thing is that where I got bitten is over the spot on my foot that is always swollen, it never goes down, so there is not good circulation there which means the poison couldn't spread like it would have somewhere else. My arthritis Dr. says this swelling is related to my arthritis. It's really strange, it's just on the top of my foot on my right one. It has caused me problems with wearing certain shoes, some of them I can't get on that foot any more. At any rate, it looks like I dodged a bullet this time with the bite. I have never had something that looked like that did & it just worsened so quickly. When I came in it was starting to blister & then before I knew it that spread over a much bigger area & looked kind of like a burn, it did drain for a day or so too. We have lots of spiders of all types here with all of the rocks here & the woody area, so we just have a good place for brown recluse to live.

Oh, IVY also I had two little Ameraucanas hatch yesterday & they have kind of different markings than any of the others I have hatched. I will try to take some pics of them later & show you. I just took them out to the brooder this morning. I have two more eggs in the hatcher that are not due to hatch until tomorrow. I hope they hatch because I have a lady coming next Weds. to get more that bought 6 from me before. I plan to keep hatching until the end of June & then stop, so I figured out I have about another week to collect eggs to incubate.

I've got to get my two pups into the Vet too & that in itself with two of them isn't going to be fun at all, especially with Jasmine. I could probably get Lily in the car fairly easily, but Jasmine is going to freak for sure. Yesterday morning I was trying to get her into the pen to feed them & she decided she wasn't going. She kept running away from me & got into the cat food & chased the cats away from their food. She was being really contrary, which she can be. I thought Lily was the stubborn one, but I think Jasmine is even more strong minded than her.

 

[chickmama1662]

Danz, I saw an earlier post where you had placed an ad for guineas in Craigs list. Are you near Baldwin City? Do you know how much longer you will be having guineas this spring? My husband would like some, but we're not done yet with their housing ... I'd rather wait till we're closer to finishing their coop before we get some; but also don't want to wait too late. Thanks.

 

[cherwill]

Well my luck is typical to my life! I got in the truck with Marshmallow in the dog kennel she had been penned in all night long. But as soon as the truck started moving she just freaked out. She broke out of the back end of the kennel. Just forced herself right through it. This is a big 48" long kennel made for huge dogs. Then she started trying to put her nose through the open window on the cab part of the camper. I had to stop and pull the side windows shut because she could have opened them and gone right through them. I had them open so she could get air. I thought if I opened the slider on the pickup that and talked to her it would calm her. So I did that. Big mistake. Next thing I knew she had both sliders forced open and had half of her body in the cab of the truck. I had to stop and force her back into the camper or we would have wrecked for sure.
When we got to the clinic and opened the camper back window gate, she acted like she was going to bolt, so the vet slammed the window gate down. When he did it caught me on the cheek and ripped a big gash in my face. She actually easily came out of the truck and into the clinic on a leash. She was just glad to get out of the truck. Well then he started giving her the meds to put her asleep. He gave her the maximum dose and she never went down. She just fought it every step of the way. He finally said she wouldn't go down and he could give her no more anesthesia so we'd have to take her elsewhere that did small animal work and had gas. So we loaded her back up and I brought her home.
I got her out of the truck after while and lead her to the house. She is now sleeping like a log.
I made a couple calls hoping I could just take her somewhere today but there was too much danger of mixing anesthesia. So I ended up making an appointment for her for next Thursday to go to Garnett. I am very pleased with the people I talked to and the vet actually performing the spay has already called back to talk to me. They are mailing me a sedative to give her an hour or so before loading her next week so she will be easier to handle.
I guess I need to rebuild the kennel so it will hold her next time. So I have a sleepy unspayed dog and a wicked cut on my face to show for my efforts.
After all that was settled I was emptying the incubutor. I had chicks, ducklings, guineas and a couple pheasants in there.
I decided to just put the new pheasants with the older ones I have. One of the older ones flew out and is now hiding behind a file cabinet that I can't possibly get to . I guess I just have to wait him out and hope the cats don't think he is dinner in the meantime. I took the new chicks to the brooder but haven't done any other care or feeding. I just need to take a chill pill for now. I'm not much of a drinker but a nice stiff drink or a couple glasses of wine would sure help.

Yeah, I think it's time for a drink! I'm glad you found another vet; sounds like they may be more used to dealing with bigger and/or more difficult cases. So sorry you were injured, too. What a nightmare!

Cherwill, I was wondering about you because I heard Hutch and Wichita really had high winds. Glad you didn't have the storms but praying for rain soon!

We did finally get some rain out of it, but I don't know how much. Better than nothing, anyway, but I'm sure we're way behind for the year so far.

We had 70 mph winds here. I had my Alohas shut in the east side of the shop inside their pens so they were safe and sound. The ducks and all of the other birds were safely inside the coop so all was well. When we got up this morning one of the framed out breeder runs had taken a tumble in the wind and come completely apart. One of the dog kennels had also taken a tumble and it broke the flooring boards, also tumbled into the electric fence and knocked it over. I was sure glad I had all the birds inside when I saw that mess! It's a bit coolish this morning but the ducks went happily down to the pond where there is protection from the wind. The big chickens are inside the electric fence, no harm done to it, thankfully. I've opened the big door on the south side for the Alohas so they'd have fresh air but will need to move them back once I make sure the weather is done for now. I don't know how much rain we got but it was enough because the garden is still wet and the pond is fuller so that's great. No watering today for me!!! Yipppeeeee!

prairie, I'm with you. Today is a great day for a nap.

I hope the repairs go quickly. Those are some crazy winds!

Yet another duck question: My niece's ducks arrived; two for her and one for a friend. One keeps falling over. Do ducks have some of the same Vitamin E issues as turkeys? Or is it just that they're only a couple of days old and had a bit of a trip to get there?

 

[chicken danz]

Chickmama I will be hatching all summer virtually. If I remember right they laid until July or August last year. I'm not that far from Baldwin City. I live about 35 minutes SW of Ottawa.
I had asked my vet if I could give Marshmallow a sedative before hand, but he said it would complicate the meds he uses to put them to sleep. At least he is safe. He is just more a large animal vet than a small animal vet, but he is very caring. He just doesn't have the facilities to do a lot of things.
Marshmallow is now awake and stumbled in here to be close. She walks like a drunk! At least she comes to me for comfort when she isn't feeling good. She's still snoozing off and on but looks up if I make a noise.
I can live with gash on my face as long as it heals and doesn't leave an ugly scar! That would be awful. It is kind of painful.
I just got in from dumping wet feed, putting out fresh and getting every one fresh water. I need to go change the water in the brooder again and check on the babies. I had a chilled duckling who is now back in the hatcher warming up. He was terribly small so he must have been weak to start with. The escaped pheasant is watching me between the computer desk and the printer cabinet. But as soon as I move he runs back behind the bookcase. I guess if it weren't so crowded in here I would have better luck catching him. Why on earth did I ever buy a house that was half the size of what I had before??????
According to tracking I should be getting lavender Orpington and Lemon cuckoo Orpington eggs in the mail today. Am I sane? I think not!!! But how cool will that be if I get nice eggs and hatch a few of each?
I now have 5 Mille Fleur chicks hatched. One egg left to go ....or not to go. And I bit the bullet and paid for 6 peafowl eggs. What a chance I am taking with those. I am giving up on getting eggs from my mature pair this year. I think they just got moved around too much. It would have been better if I'd gotten them last fall so they acclimated better.
I noticed my Mandarin and Wood ducks and my pheasants are moulting already. I guess they are done with most of the breeding and will wait to get pretty again in the fall. I still like them any way. They just aren't the show stoppers they were before.