Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

prairie, thanks so much! We were a bit late putting in the garden so the lettuce didn't do much of anything but I've got some really nice kale that I think I'm going to freeze. I really like that stuff in soups and stews and I thought I might share a bit with the chickens. We've pulled some onions and some squash but the cukes are just now coming on and the tomatoes aren't even happening yet but are getting there!

Tweety, so sorry you've been ill. That's just the pits. Hope you are back to normal soon, girl. I'm with you, rain would be a really welcome thing, hopefully tomorrow?

Danz, hope you don't have anymore duck disasters. Good grief!

 

[chicken danz]

Medawinks,meant to tell you that the little salmon roo has become my best buddy. He comes running when he sees me and likes to be hand fed. It doesn't matter how much food he has, he just likes being fed by hand. The D'uclle always comes up too but rarely wants to eat out of my hand. He is so independent. I actually thin the little salmon is going to be an awesome bird. He's much more like my old roo that died and much better quality than my currrent roo.
Sunshine girl when a rooster turns mean he will most likely stay mean. He sees you or anyone else as a threat to his manhood. There's all kinds of things people try to tame them down but I honestly don't think it is possible. Thank goodness I have never had a mean rooster but my daughter has had to cull almost every one of her roosters. Put an add on Craiglist and I'll be you get a taker. Especially if you offer him for free.Yeah get some girls and have a chance to enjoy your chickens.
Karen your kiddos are precious. Those are some awesome radishes. I still have parts of my garden that are just now coming u pand some that probably won't. I just got it in too late and there hasn't been enough real moisture. The only thing I've harvested yet is peppers.

 

[JosieChick]

I was enjoying following the chat here, but life has gotten REALLY BUSY and has made for basically no computer time! (And this is ONLY the Beginning of Summer!!!

) But I have a question for you seasoned chicken lovers...

I have 3 roos and they are not all together happy together. (no hens) The one has always pecked on the other and so finally I put an apron on the pecked one. But now that Apron dude is being SOOO mean to us when we go out there to do anything with them!!! What shall I do?? I want to get chicks this fall and then look forward to eggs! But I've thought about just 'giving these away' OR taking 1 or 2 to farmer's market, but now with KS new farmer's market regulations, I think I'd still need to give them away there too. (you gotta have Sales Tax # and other things you gotta 'sign on the dotted line' for....) If there's a way to tame Apron dude, I'm open to that too. I have a hard time cleaning in the pen with him in there, He has NO mercy on anybody! These are silkies and they are lil over a 1 yr old now. Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions!

Corporal cuddling!!!! Silkie roos can be, for lack of a better word, butt heads. Am I right Hawkeye?

Not all of them but some of them for sure! I have one that attacks my feet but I think it partly has to do with his inability to see well because he will make all kinds of alarming clucks when I wear my green crocs and I swear he thinks it is a snake or something! What exactly is your roo doing? Maybe put an apron on all of them so apron dude doesn't feel singled out and embarrassed? I corporal cuddle any boy who has an attitude. I scoop them up and pet them and love them and embarrass the ever living daylights out of them. Then I carry them around for a few minutes with me so they remember how small they are and they are sweet for days. Couple weeks of this and they are totally different boys. Now he sees the green shoes and goes "UH OH! Its that crazy lady who pets me and all the girls laugh at me for getting carried around, better get out of her way!"

 

[RIRJen]

Hi there!

My name is Jenny and I live in Michigan. (I know...I'm on the wrong list lol) I have a friend who lives near Salina/Manhattan KS area who is coming to visit soon and I'm hoping to find some birds for her to bring back home with her! I am trying to locate some bearded Silkies in White,Blue or Splash...possibly partridge too and laying hens in Speckled Sussex. (not asking for much right! lol) I would be interested in chicks. If anyone on here knows of any or has any please PM me with the info, I would love to have her bring me a few new birds for the flock!
Thanks!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, sorry about your babies! That is crazy that you got them all back from the brink of death and then a couple of them go and drown themselves. Geez. I hope you have good luck hatching your new eggs!! So exciting!! I have my incubator cleaned up and packed away. I have enough birds to choose from, get rid of several and keep the ones I want to use next year to breed and show. I'm excited!

Sunshinegirl-- there are swap meets in Mulvane and I keep missing them! We're always out of town for every single one so far. I don't know how I manage. But the next one, I'm going to take my silkies if they are still here. This tax ID you are talking about-- is this something you need for the Farmers Market out at the County Extension Office??? If so, that just blows! They are making things waaaaay too difficult for us! Basically I sort of look at a Farmers Market as a garage sale-- just what you have around the house! LOL I know some people are really serious about it, but honestly, how much money can they really make? And I do believe that if you bring in under $6,000 your "business" is just a hobby and you don't need a tax ID. I wonder what the deal is. I was just thinking that the peach trees we have going are waaay too much for just us and I was thinking how neat it would be to bundle them up and sell off the excess.

Karen that is a fantastic picture of your kids! Wow, look at all those raddishes! I love those things! Could eat them forever! What great egg colors you are getting from your girls, too! And YES!! The pool did wear out the kids and I'm going to have to take them back there often! LOL We have a YMCA membership and so the outdoor pool park comes free. I just bring a bag with water and a snack and then I don't even spend any money there, either. Wear out the kids for a good couple of hours and then bring them home for them to crash. Of course... me, too. I want to crash, it really wipes you out! LOL But they have so many slides, waterfalls, and even a junglegym thing IN the water that has water guns on it, a tunnel, etc.. it can keep them entertained forever. The only thing I can do with them by myself is the Lazy River with the innertubes. They all want to go round and round and there's just me. So maybe this weekend I can get my DH to come and we can go on that thing.

Trish, you've tried using your net on him? What a crafty bird! I hope you are able to catch him soon! So neat that your Swedish Flowers are so sweet and curious. I love friendly birds. They make the whole thing so much more fun! I love that shady spot you picked out for your new breeder coop. That will really be a blessing on hot summer days.

Tweety, WOW, you were seriously sick!! I'm glad you are doing better now. I don't suppose they can take out a pancrease? How is your kitty that was sick? Sounds like you have a pretty good plan to incorporate your silkies! Did they all turn out to be girls??? When you are feeling better and up to it, I'd love to see pictures of them!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Corporal cuddling!!!! Silkie roos can be, for lack of a better word, butt heads. Am I right Hawkeye?

Not all of them but some of them for sure! I have one that attacks my feet but I think it partly has to do with his inability to see well because he will make all kinds of alarming clucks when I wear my green crocs and I swear he thinks it is a snake or something! What exactly is your roo doing? Maybe put an apron on all of them so apron dude doesn't feel singled out and embarrassed? I corporal cuddle any boy who has an attitude. I scoop them up and pet them and love them and embarrass the ever living daylights out of them. Then I carry them around for a few minutes with me so they remember how small they are and they are sweet for days. Couple weeks of this and they are totally different boys. Now he sees the green shoes and goes "UH OH! Its that crazy lady who pets me and all the girls laugh at me for getting carried around, better get out of her way!"

Yeah, Zorro, my favorite rooster is getting quite the protector. Which means he goes after my feet too. Fortunately, they are little guys and can't fly up to flog you, so the best he can do is try to protect on the ground. I usually just grab him and pick him up and talk to him and pet him. When he realizes it's ME, he settles right down and relaxes. I think it's because he can't really see anymore. I'd be tempted to cut back his muff and crest... but he's going to the county fair and he has to look his fluffy best! LOL Now, my slender hatchery quality silkies out in my layer pen-- they see very well and they ignore me. Unless I'm inside the coop itself and then they drop their wings and try to show me who's boss. They are so small, I just grab them and pick them up. When I set them down, they run for the hills and stay away from me. I don't know that this method would always work. When I was a kid, we had this little mutt bantam named Susan and he was the MEANEST rooster ever! He could fly up to your face and he pecked me several times. So much, I ended up with a bleeding nose and ear one time. From then on, I went out with a broom so I could whack him away from me. I would have loved for him to go into the pot, but my dad said he was too tiny. There was no amount of anything you could have done to change that rooster's mind. He just wanted to attack at all times. I say eat them. And that's what I'd be doing with my white silkie roos in my layer pen (even though they are nice!!) but I can't stand the thought of black meat. *Shudder*

Hi there!

My name is Jenny and I live in Michigan. (I know...I'm on the wrong list lol) I have a friend who lives near Salina/Manhattan KS area who is coming to visit soon and I'm hoping to find some birds for her to bring back home with her! I am trying to locate some bearded Silkies in White,Blue or Splash...possibly partridge too and laying hens in Speckled Sussex. (not asking for much right! lol) I would be interested in chicks. If anyone on here knows of any or has any please PM me with the info, I would love to have her bring me a few new birds for the flock!
Thanks!!

Welcome!! I have silkies that are ready to go. But I'm in Wichita. And honestly, I don't feel like driving up to Salina! LOL There is Renee... uh, I can't think of her name here, and she has silkies, lots of them, I think. She is in Lawrence, so she is much closer. I only have about 2 or 3 I would let go of right now. They are about 2 months old. Going to go hunt down her name so you can email her. Her PM is usually filled up, but I'd try both PM'ing and emailing her. It's on her profile.

OKay-- here is the link to her profile: https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/14596/chookschick ChooksChick is her name here on BYC. I don't know how i forgot that!!

ETA-- I said my chicks are 3 months old and they are nearly 8 weeks old..

 

[prairie]

Tweety, Sorry to hear about your health prob and I do know how it takes forever once you get out of the hospital to really get all your energy back!! I was in the same boat last summer (different problem though) and in hospital 5 days and was not able to do much for about 2 mo after! I live fairly closeby (near Topeka) but we are in Lawrence often -- 2 sons live there and got 2 grandkids at KU.

I just integrated babies with the flock after a 2 week get-to-know you time and everything went fine! So funny though the babies are still in the chicken house -- I make them come out every once in a while but they are still too scared to come out on their own and its been a week. Not going to hurry them though just let nature take its course.

Hope you heal fast!! Wish I had ripe tomatoes!!! We got 3/4" rain last night

Hello everyone! I'm not going to even try to catch up since I've been MIA for the past few weeks. I had a really huge project in school that took up about a week and a half of my time, but then all last week I was in the hospital with pancreatitis and just went back to work today. I'm feeling much better but it's crazy how tiring being in the hospital for 6 days can make you! I hate spending my time off of work at work.. LOL (For those that don't know - I work in the ER at the hospital).

Updates on my birdies. I moved the silkies outside into a kennel the night before I was admitted and they are doing great! They are finally growing and look like chickens again! LOL. Our plan is to stick them in the big birds coop overnight this coming friday and hope that they are accepted into the full flock. The big girls have had access to talk to them and visit through the kennel, so i'm hoping that two weeks of that is enough and they will be friendly. All the birds are doing great. The big girls are sounding more and more like real chickens every day and I can't wait for them to start laying! Only about a month more and it'll be time!

Btw - who told the rain it could stay away? I'm tired of watering the garden every night. I'm getting tomatoes out the wazzoo though - time to make some salsa! (As soon as I can start eating real food! LOL)

 

[Hawkeye95]

This is Spock, the chick that my hen brooded. Just took this picture this morning! She is filling in nicely!

 

[chicken danz]

Tweety I hope you are feeling better. You too Trish.
Hawkeye that is a beautiful chick. If I had silkies that pretty I might reconsider keeping some. I doubt if Chooks is any closer, Hawkeye. It would be about a 3 hour trip to Salina I think guessing from driving there in the past. She hasn't been on here in so long I have no idea what she is up to these days.
I think I might have a pip or two in my lavender orp eggs. I just looked through the door. I haven't opened to really check it out yet. I've got some guineas hatching right now so I don't want to disturb them just yet.
I'm not sure if we got rain or just a heavy fog, but the ground looked damp first thing this morning. It seems to be drying up quickly though, darn it! If we didn't get rain I definitely have to water today.
I've got to take eggs to town today. I meant to do that yesterday but the day got away from me. I just hate all the time it takes to pack them and get them ready.

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye- That little silkie is gorgeous!! You don't perhaps have Jenn's phone number do you? (in Lawrence) I am supposed to be picking up chicks from her today but haven't heard back yet and can't find her number. If so could you PM it to me?

Danz- I can't believe it didn't rain down there! It poured here for a long time early this AM and thunder and lightening! I almost went out and locked up the dogs because they were out barking in it!! I went out this morning and they were both soaked and muddy but didn't seem to mind. Maybe they liked the challenge of working in the storm. So sorry about your duckies. They are not the brightest critters are they? I will have to get pics of the ducks today and post for you to see. The ducklings are getting so big!

Tweety- Welcome back! SO sorry you were sick, hope you are on the mend.

Karen- Love the pics of your kiddos especially the radish bouquets, they are just dolls!!