Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

KarenS, it was so nice to see you again! Your chickens are a riot, I could tell you're out there with them a lot, they're so curious. You really have a bunch of good kids, it was nice meeting them all. It was so funny they didn't want to miss a word. I left your place & went to Atwoods & would't you know they wete out of what I needed. That seems to happen quite a bit. So now I have to go to Orschelyn's tomorrow, crud.

Josie, it was nice seeing you again also. I hope the little roo made the trip OK. He sure talked a lot on the way up.

 

[cherwill]

Sharing thanks that my son-in-law has returned from another deployment. He has been gone for just over 9 months. My two older grandsons are SO excited to have their daddy home!


The youngest, who was less than a week old when Daddy deployed, is still working on it.

Those are the sweetest pictures.

I've been reading, but not writing much. I'm sorry. I think of things I want to say and by the time I'm done reading, I don't have the energy to say them. My back has been hurting a lot the last few days and it's wearing me out. I have done a little canning (mostly beets done in various ways) and am ducksitting while my niece is on vacation. I'll be sure and get some pictures; they sure do go crazy in the pool.

Rain! Finally rain!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Nana that is so great that your SIL is home. I'll bet those grandsons of yours are super happy. Thank him for his service and thank your daughter for standing by him while he was gone.
Hawkeye love the pictures.
I have one of my doves who built a nest in the netting over the guinea pen. She should be hatching babies within a few days. Here is her picture. She isn't afraid of me at all. Every time I go in to feed the guineas I wiggle her nest because it hits the top of the door. She just rides along.

Great picture! She is really pretty!! What beautiful birds they are!

Those are the sweetest pictures.

I've been reading, but not writing much. I'm sorry. I think of things I want to say and by the time I'm done reading, I don't have the energy to say them. My back has been hurting a lot the last few days and it's wearing me out. I have done a little canning (mostly beets done in various ways) and am ducksitting while my niece is on vacation. I'll be sure and get some pictures; they sure do go crazy in the pool.

Rain! Finally rain!

Sorry about your back hurting you! You sound like a canning pro! I've done it once with my mom a long time ago with jams she was making.

Nana-- just got a second look at your youngest grandchild--- and realized he is wearing an Amber Teething necklace! So neat! I love those things!

 

[chicken danz]

LizzyGSR I can't put the pool in the shade for the Mandarin ducks. This is an in ground pond.
Nana2kjs, I know what you mean about your knees. My wrist was bone to bone and I couldn't even pick up a coffee cup. Any movement at all was extremely painful. If your knees were like that I don't know how you walked at all. Mine are in the arthritis stage and hurt and make it hard to climb stairs or anything some times. Sure has made me decide not to add an upstairs to this house even though the extra space would be great.
Cherwill I used to can all the time. I plan to do a bunch this year. I have two pressure canners, lots of jars, pickle crocks etc. I used to make sweet pickles but my DH doesn't like pickles. So I paln to make some bread and butter and dill pickles anyway. I planted lots of pickling cucumbers and some dill. The darn dill is just coming up. It was really slow to germinate. I'm afraid I'll have cucumbers much earlier than I'll have dill heads. I also plan to make some bread and butter jalapenos. Love those things. Unless the unforeseen happens I should have lots of beans to can. I love home grown canned green beans.
I am so thrilled we finally got rain.I don't know how much yet but the ground is wet. Yipee. The dust bowl is settled for at least a day!

 

[HEChicken]

We got 2" of rain! I'm so excited - the cracks around here were getting so big I was afraid I was going to lose one of the dogs. I'm not used to this clay soil - at my old house it was mostly top soil and we didn't get cracks even in a prolonged dry spell. I'm hoping the rain was enough to get my compost pile damp enough to really take off now.

Cherwill - so sorry about your back. Back pain I know about (chiropractor is on speed dial) so I can really empathize. It takes everything out of you to have your back out, as there is little you can do physically that doesn't involve your back. Even sneezing or coughing is painful.

The pics of the grandsons greeting their daddy are wonderful - I am sure they are glad he is back and hope it is for awhile.

Danz - that dove brooding is beautiful. How long do dove eggs take and when is she due?

Yesterday I let a few birds out of the coop. I've been following the conventional wisdom of keeping them locked in the coop so they know it is home. My fencing wasn't finished so that made it an easier decision too - didn't want to let them out and have them wander out of sight. So yesterday morning DS and I got the fence complete and let the silkies, ducks and four of the older chicks (about 16 weeks old) out into the run. That left the guineas and 6 younger chicks, still in the coop. The guineas are really bonded to the ducks and got very upset when they left, making a huge racket, but I *really* don't want the guineas out. I guess its better if they spend six weeks in the coop if I want them ever to come back to it to sleep at night, from what I'm reading.

Anyway, they had a great day outside. I was surprised that the first order of business was dust-bathing, rather than bug-catching. Maybe for them it is like it is for us if we go a week without a shower - it just feels good to get under the water. From the contented grunts I was hearing, a dust-bath feels just as good to them. Once the bathing was over, they started exploring. Getting them in last night was pretty easy - just opened the door and herded them in. I didn't set up a feeder outside so all they had to eat were the greens and bugs they found, so getting to the feeder was motivation enough to go inside the coop, I guess.

This morning I opened the door again, to try and let the same group out. Its not easy to keep some in and let others out, and I had one guinea that was very determined to NOT be separated from his/her ducky friends for a second day. So a guinea is out today. I really hope it sticks close to the ducks and is there to be herded in when I put them away this afternoon.

 

[lizzyGSR]

LizzyGSR I can't put the pool in the shade for the Mandarin ducks. This is an in ground pond.

Is there any way you could try snails? Malaysian Trumpet Snails are cheap and multiply quickly so you could afford to lose a few if your ducks decide they like to eat snails.

If you're interested in trying some, let me know. I have some I could send you.

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy this is green water, not the kind of algae that grows on the sides of something. I used to build water gardens and kept them crystal clear. I just can't make the principles work here. I need plants to use the nutrients and shade the water. But when I put water lilies in there the ducks ate them like candy. I am trying to grow some grape vines to go over the top but that could take a couple years to get them up that high. DH talked about putting a roof over the pond at one time but we have so many other projects going, I'm not about to ask. I have it filtered but it seems to e useless against the duck poo. It's just sad because it is a very nice looking pond but I want it to be a healthy nice looking pond. I should have made it more shallow so it wouldn't take so much water to fill each time I pump it out. Live and learn. I was thinking more in terms of keeping it from freezing which it did.
Doves take about 16 days to hatch. I'm not sure what day she actually started sitting. But we should be getting there soon. Hopefully the babies won't fall through the net and I can get some pictures of them up close like this one. Baby doves are butt ugly though. I have several more pairs nesting in the trees. I doubt their survival rate will be good out there. I need to build a recapture pen outside of the dove house/pen sometime before cold weather hits so they won't freeze. They are really enjoying flying around the yard though. I haven't seen but one of them fly across the road and it came right back. I guess they know where the food is. I guess I should go check to see the storm didn't knock her nest down.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy this is green water, not the kind of algae that grows on the sides of something. I used to build water gardens and kept them crystal clear. I just can't make the principles work here. I need plants to use the nutrients and shade the water. But when I put water lilies in there the ducks ate them like candy. I am trying to grow some grape vines to go over the top but that could take a couple years to get them up that high. DH talked about putting a roof over the pond at one time but we have so many other projects going, I'm not about to ask. I have it filtered but it seems to e useless against the duck poo. It's just sad because it is a very nice looking pond but I want it to be a healthy nice looking pond. I should have made it more shallow so it wouldn't take so much water to fill each time I pump it out. Live and learn. I was thinking more in terms of keeping it from freezing which it did.

Water lillies do a good job of shading the water, but they don't grow fast enough to keep the nutrients in balance. Have you tried anacharis (egeria densa)? I've never tried it outside or in a high light environment, but they say that it grows VERY FAST. They say it grows fast enough to keep up with goldfish eating it, so I don't see why it wouldn't grow fast enough to keep up with the ducks eating it, unless the ducks pull it out of the pond anyway, especially if you got a larger amount at first to give it a chance. The only problem with anacharis is that you need to be careful to keep it out of natural bodies of water as it can grow fast enough to become a problem. However, I do not think that it would survive the freezing temperatures of KS winters.

Here is some info on anacharis: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=92&category=genus&spec=Egeria

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I have found the hornwort to work the best for cleaning pond water, it survives the winter, & the fish don't eat it as much. Mine grows like crazy in there. My GP pups have made a total mess of my pond. They seem to think I put it there just for them.

 

[chicken danz]

I used to have that as well as anacharis, but my Koi ate it like crazy. There are no fish in the duck pond, but I'll bet the ducks would go nuts over that stuff. I am thinking a cork in every vent would work the best!