Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I'm not really picky about the eggs. Would like a flock of all different colors and breeds so I'm open. Would love americana or easter egger, black/blue/ or lav orp, anything friendly and a good layer.

I'm not anywhere near you, I'm in Winfield, but I do have fertile purebred Ameraucana eggs. I have been incubating chicks, but have quit collecting eggs for the incubator now. I will hatch out what I have left in there & then quit for the year. I only have two lavender Amerauacana hens & a black Ameraucana rooster, so I don't get a lot of eggs at once & it would take me a few days to get enough to matter much. I'm in the process of building a breeder coop so I can separate the breeds I want to raise, so next spring I will have several breeds to choose from, some of them rare breeds that have just been imported recently to this country. Do you ever get to Wichita? I go there quite a bit so if you could ever meet me there & we could plan it I might be able to bring eggs & meet you there. I will be meeting someone July 14th to exchange chicks up there. Otherwise it's just whenever we need to go up for shopping. Other than that, Chookschick up in Lawrence has lavender Orps, you might try contacting her or we do have a KS Poultry Swap on Facebook if you're on there. Here is the link for it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/. Just go to the page & ask to join & one of us will approve you. You might put on an ad for hatching eggs & see what responses you get, be sure to give your location.

Josie, no darn it I still haven't caught the little bugger, he is the smartest little chick I've ever seen. My DH even tried to help me before we left today & it didn't work. He knows all the escape routes & hiding places. I have had several of the others fly out, but at least they're too scared to run off, not that little bugger. You never had any sign of your little roo huh?

HeChicken, so cute about the chick falling asleep in your hand! Too bad you couldn't have gotten a pic of that.

We finally got home from doing all of our shopping this evening & I ran out to feed & water everyone since they were all waiting for me. After I got that all done I went in to put away all the groceries & such & my DH went out to move some dirt around by the new coop. I've been telling him for a very, very long time that we need a new wheelbarrow & he just pretty much ignored me or said we didn't really need it. I knew the day would eventually come when he would be the one needing to use it & guess what today was it. He put air in the tire & went out & the air didn't stay. He came back up disgusted & said, well I guess we should have taken the truck so we could buy a new wheelbarrow. Well Duh! It's always like that until something directly affects him it's not important & then all of the sudden it is because it's something HE has to deal with. If it were me trying to haul dirt & the wheel wouldn't stay up he would just say well what did you do to it or something of the sort & go on & not worry about it. Now it's him that has to work with something that is broken & needing to be replaced. Ha, now maybe we'll get a new one! I had him look at one at Sam's Club awhile back & it was a nice one with big wheels & a good price, but we didn't have any way to get it home, so of course it was forgotten. Now maybe he'll remember next time why we need to take the truck up. I want to see him move all that dirt around with nothing to haul it in.

 

[HEChicken]

Trish, congrats on getting a new wheelbarrow but you HAVE to use this to your advantage in the future. Next time you know you need something new, find a way to sweetly ask him to use it as soon as you're aware it needs replaced. For example, on the wheelbarrow, the first time you have trouble with it, find a way to say "Honey, would you mind bringing me up a load of xxxxxxx in the wheelbarrow on your way up to the house". That way he finds out right away that there's something wrong with it and comes in and tells YOU the wheelbarrow is broken and needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, you can respond innocently enough that the last time you used it, you thought there was something funky going on with it but didn't realize it was bad enough to need replacing yet". If you lead him to noticing it and it is his decision to replace it, you won't have to deal with faulty equipment for as long.

 

[Trish44]

HeChicken, if only that would work that would be great, but it just never seems to work out that way. He hasn't needed the wheelbarrow for quite a long time, so I haven't been able to figure out anything for him to use it for, that is until now. He is one of those guys that will fix something & fix something until it can't be fixed any more, the case with the wheelbarrow. It's just worn out & now we need a new one. But it has to be him to decided if something is worn out enough to replace, if it's my idea it's not good enough. I'm just glad it was him that needed it this time & then he had to find out it can't be fixed any more.

 

[chicken danz]

Medawinks, I will be home after about 1:00 PM today. If you want to come down please do. I may have some people coming this afternoon anyway. I've already had one no show. Perhaps she'll call and come down today. The other silkies sold yesterday. Call me or send me a PM if you can, so I know when if and when to expect you. There is no hurry though. She isn't bothering me. She hasn't been handled at all so the kids will want to spend some time with her. I hope one of the expected people comes today because he wants to buy all my excess chicks. That would be wonderful.
Well up till now I had 8 lavender orps hatch and 3 lemon cuckoos hatch. I don't know if there will be any more cause I don't see any more pips. I'm not disappointed. I have another batch of each in the incubators. Not many lavenders but I have plenty for a good start anyway, unless they turn out to be all boys or I loose them for some reason. I'll try to take pictures later.
I also hatched 3 marans for Pikeman.
I've got another big load of guineas that hatched yesterday. I haven't moved all of them from the hatcher yet.
And of course more ducks and more to hatch. I am getting duck over run here right now. I'm not hatching any more for a while though other than what is in the incubator. I have a buyer for the eggs to eat and I don't have room for any more to grow out.
Josie, thanks for the info. I feel I almost need to send Tim money for an appointment for all his advice. BTW I think maybe the limp gosling might have broken her knee or damaged the cartilage some how. As she grows her foot turns in a little and of course she still has a lot of swelling in it. She sure gets around a lot better than she did though. I had a female Lady Amherst pheasant who has been limping and holding up one leg. I caught her the other day and found an obvious compound fracture on her upper leg bone. I don't know if the cock got too rough with her or not. It has been that way for a while now so I assume it has started to heal out of place. I don't think there is anything I can do for her to fix it. I moved the younger cock out a couple months ago because the older one was picking on it. Since then, I haven't had any more fertile eggs. The young one doesn't have adult feathers but I am thinking he was the fertile one. I may do some switching and see if the eggs get fertile again. If so, I know one pretty boy who is going to the sale this fall!
I was awake almost the entire night with severe leg cramps in both my legs. My knees have really been bothering me lately but I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. I would have to get up and stand on them to get the muscles to quit cramping up and pulling my feet in. I would love to stay home this morning and get some rest but need to go take Dad to church.
I got the Mandarin duck pond pumped out again yesterday and refilled. The algae had gotten so severe in just a matter of a few days. This heat and no rain isn't helping anything at all.
HEchicken, You are one wise woman. I do the same thing!!

 

[JosieChick]

Danz-No worries, I pick DH's brain constantly. He is used to it. He said if you get fish oil capsules or a bottle of flax seed capsules to just give her the dose on the bottle for an adult. So no mottled lavender chicks, huh? I have a batch in the bator so I am hoping for at least one.

Trish- No sign of the roo anywhere. I almost wonder if a hawk didn't come by. They fly over once and a while and if he was out of the pen he was pretty little. That is the only time I have seen a bird go missing and not have a single sign of a struggle. So sad, poor little guy, he was so sweet. I would think he wouldn't have gone far from the pen otherwise, usually if someone gets loose they just hang around the fence.

Well off to get some stuff done, its gonna be a hot one today!!

 

[Trish44]

Well I went out this morning to let all the chickens out to range & went in to see if there were any eggs yet to collect & found my pretty Speckled Sussex hen dead on the floor underneath the roosts. She was fine yesterday & it looks like she just died sleeping & fell off is what it looks like to me because she was in the position that they sleep in with her head tucked under. That makes me so sad because she was one of my favorites. I'm glad I got an extra SS chick this spring. I'm planning to put a trio in the breeder coop & that will leave me one pullet extra. I really like the Speckled Sussex. The rooster is all I have left now of the trio I bought last year from a breeder I know in Haysville. The other hen I think I lost to a fox.

Danz, I hope you get rid of lots of chicks & such today. I had two more Ameraucanas hatch during the night & there are 3 more eggs in the hatcher yet. Next week will be a big week for hatching all kinds of things. I'm so excited Danz, my first batch of peacock eggs go in to lockdown Monday, I can't wait! When are yours due to hatch? That's the first batch for me & then the other one is not due till the first week of July. I still don't hold out a lot of hope for that batch, those are the ones that came from Michigan.

My granddaughter is coming over today, so it will be a busy day with her here. I'm not sure I'm up to it yet, but she is leaving in a week to be gone 3 weeks to Dallas to see her other grandparents, so we wanted to see her before she left. I don't think she is going to be happy being gone that long without her mom, I really don't think she will make it that long, we'll see. She is still in the stage where she doesn't do that well away from home. Her mom hasn't helped that any either, she actually makes it worse. It makes it hard to have her come over even to spend the night with us.

Well everybody have a great day & try to stay cool!

 

[cherwill]

I was awake almost the entire night with severe leg cramps in both my legs. My knees have really been bothering me lately but I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. I would have to get up and stand on them to get the muscles to quit cramping up and pulling my feet in. I would love to stay home this morning and get some rest but need to go take Dad to church.

This won't work if you're supposed to stay away from salt, but my neighbor recently learned from a friend (and former athlete) a way to stop cramps. You stir a teaspoon or two of sea salt into a glass of water and drink it. He said not to gulp it, but drink it slowly or sip it. My neighbor says he's done it a couple of times and it worked for him.

 

[chicken danz]

Cherwill, that does make sense. I am thinking maybe the cramps were from heat. I used to get heat cramps when I worked in the Nuke plant. There were several areas that were a constant 109 degrees with about 80 % humidity. I just never had them last all night and in both legs. It was usually just one episode in one leg.
Trish your sussex probably died from the heat. I lost several girls last summer that were sitting in nests and just sat there and died. I have one polish roo that is falling over today and I think it is heat related. I've got pans of water here and there and all of them are full of chickens standing in them.
No one is posting today. Must be a busy day. Wish I could have stayed in the AC and gotten the house cleaned but I needed to take care of the birds.

 

[sharol]

I need an opinion on something. 2 1/2 weeks ago I used Wazine to worm my chickens. I intended to do a followup with Ivermectin tonight, but it is so hot I hate to stress them any more.

Question 1: Does the use of Ivermectin stress the birds and does heat increase the stress?

QUestion 2: How long do I have to do the followup before I have to start over with the Wazine?

Sharol

 

[Trish44]

Danz, you're probably right, I was thinking of that tonight that my hen probably died from the heat. The chickens were all so hot today & I went out this afternoon & put this square plastic thing out & put some water in it. I don't know if any chickens got in it or not. I sprayed the rabbits all down with the hose & I took some of my little chicks out in a crate under the trees. It was hot out there too, but at least there was shade & earlier there was a breeze. I took them all back in tonight & so far they're all doing OK. I left the smaller & younger ones inside in the brooder with a fan going. I'm leaving the people door open tonight on the coop, it's still so darned hot in there it's awful & it should be OK with the run door shut & the dogs out there. I'm going to try tomorrow evening to go cut out another window in the coop & just put hardware cloth over it for now. I will frame it in & put the window on there later on this fall, it's not going to really matter right now other than if it rains in there. I guess if it does then I'll worry about it then. I have been trying to get enough air movement through that coop for awhile now. If I have to I'll cut another one on the other side too. There are two smaller windows that are open on the sides & one on the people door & then 3 vents around the side & back, but it's still not enough air. I was surprised that those poor hens actually did lay a lot of eggs today, more than they have been. I noticed one of the BC Marans was back to laying, but the one that went broody still hasn't laid yet. My little trooper hen on the porch is still sitting there on those eggs, none of which are hers, they're all Amerauacana eggs.

My granddaughter talked grandpa into buying that silly dog today for her, I knew she would. She came in carrying it when they came back from the store. It's this battery operated pug dog that rolls on wheels & if you clap your hands it barks & then you give it this magnetic bone & it makes eating sounds. If you push this heart on it's neck it whines. It has a collar & leash & a shirt with a cupcake on it. She picked a girl dog & named it Anna. She was kind of a brat all day, I don't know if it's connected to her leaving to go to Dallas or what, but she was acting out all day. We took her to see the Disney movie Brave this afternoon & she did act OK there & enjoyed the movie. She didn't want to go home when her mom said she had to be there, but we made her go so nobody would get in trouble. It probably will be a month before we get to see her again if she stays as long as they said she was going to. Then my son said he is going to have her down at his place for a week after she gets back too.

Man, I hate this heat, it's about to do me in already. I went out for only a few minutes & felt weak, I'm still not over this junk I've had yet & the heat doesn't help.