Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Hello fellow Kansasans!
I didn't realize there was a where are you forum here!
Someone pointed me here as I'm looking for fertile hatching eggs locally and not having any luck. ;( I'm in Manhattan. Anyone else near by? And do you have any fertile eggs???
Hope everyone is having a great Saturday.

WELCOME Srd!!! I don't have any eggs, but I'm sure you'll find some here or on the swap! Feel free to join in on any discussions!

Well guys, I should have about 50 Silkies for sale. The phone has rung off the wall.

WHOA!!! That is a TON of silkies!!!! I think I have my two silkie roosters sold. Pretty sure they are going to be stew soon. Ah well.

Well DH and I spent the entire day planting the front landscaping beds. This project has been in the making for 3 months and is finally installed! Phew! Now off to water and feed the crew...

That's great!! I'm done planting for now. But I did get 6 trees in this spring. Shade trees-- all Ash and Maple. We planned on getting our front landscaped and never got it done. Maybe this Fall we can hire it out. What are you planting in your beds?

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.

That's FUNNY! I swear, my DH is very similar.

Trish, congrats on getting a new wheelbarrow but you HAVE to use this to your advantage in the future.

funny!! SO cute about your chick story, too.

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.

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!

That is terrible about your hen! I bet it was the heat, but isn't that crazy? I sure hope my birds will be okay. If it's going to be this hot tomorrow, I'm going to hook up the water misters to keep their pens cool. It will be interesting to see how your granddaughter does during those 3 weeks!

 

[HEChicken]

Trish, I've heard a number of people say that Speckled Sussex are a little delicate and it doesn't take much to do them in. I've only had one and she was a pretty and very sweet-natured little thing but one morning I found her motionless under the roost. She was still breathing and I carried her indoors to get her comfortable but she died two hours later. It was December so it certainly wasn't the heat but I don't remember it being a particularly cold night that night either so who knows what that was.

I passed one thermometer today when out driving that said it was 105. If we are getting temps that hot in June, it is going to be another scorcher of a summer. Wow. My birds are so far all coping just fine. They have a lot of places they can dust bathe and I think being dug down in the dirt helps to keep them cool. Also, I have several shallow but wide tubs in their run that I fill with well water that comes out pretty cool, and I notice them standing in them quite often.

My day started today with a call from my SIL at the barn that my horse was colicking so I had to race over there and walk him for a few hours. Real fun in the heat. He finally started to seem more comfortable and I heard gut sounds and then he had a bowel movement so by that time I knew he was over the worst of it. He is real bonded to DD's little mare and when he started to be more concerned about where she was and how he could be reunited with her, than about his tummy ache, I thought it was time to put him back.

Prior to getting the call, DH and I had been discussing our to-do list and what we were going to try to accomplish in the relatively cool hours of the morning. One of the items on the list was to put chicken wire on the "ceiling" of the coop. The open rafters have proved too tempting to the birds and the majority have been roosting in them. Not a huge deal except that I worry about them jumping down from that height on a daily basis. That and it means very few of them are using the roosts I spent a morning building. Bwahahaha. So the sweet man continued with that list item, even though I was at the barn walking my horse and by the time I returned home, he was just about done. I had already cut the chicken wire so it just had to be stapled to the bottom side of the rafters but it turned out to be more challenging due to my recycling. The chicken wire I was using has been used at least 6 times in the past (eeek) so was contorted in places and he struggled to get it to straighten out enough to look neat.

The other thing he has been doing for me is my "coop-warming present". I didn't ask for this and never even suggested it - he came up with the idea on his own. He has installed an infra-red camera in the coop so I can see and hear them via my computer any time I like. He turned it on for the first time last night and I was stunned by how well the infrared works. I was watching birds at 10pm when it is pitch dark outside and it looked like it was 1pm in the coop! Anyway, I feel a little silly having a nanny-cam in my coop but it was so sweet of him. He said he thought I would enjoy being able to check on them this winter without having to go out in the cold. (Well, of course I'll still be there daily but it WILL be nice to be able to check on them more often without going outside).

 

[cherwill]

The other thing he has been doing for me is my "coop-warming present". I didn't ask for this and never even suggested it - he came up with the idea on his own. He has installed an infra-red camera in the coop so I can see and hear them via my computer any time I like. He turned it on for the first time last night and I was stunned by how well the infrared works. I was watching birds at 10pm when it is pitch dark outside and it looked like it was 1pm in the coop! Anyway, I feel a little silly having a nanny-cam in my coop but it was so sweet of him. He said he thought I would enjoy being able to check on them this winter without having to go out in the cold. (Well, of course I'll still be there daily but it WILL be nice to be able to check on them more often without going outside).

That is too cool!

We got out to the garden before it was too hot. We've been really good about staying on top of the weeds so far this year, so it doesn't take long to hoe whenever we go. Then we did some reworking of the drip system out back that we'd been putting off, then DH went to a friend's house to play American Ninja Warrior. I don't know if any of you watch it, but it's basically a monstrously tough obstacle course. His friend built a section of it in his backyard and they were trying to do it. He said it's much harder than it looks, and it looks pretty hard.

I know some of you have lost some chickens to the heat; I'm sorry about that. It got our behinds in gear, though, and DH wired up a fan in the coop. We did that last year, too, and made it through the heat OK. It helps that we have a lot of shade in their pen. There are three lilac bushes (trees really, since the chickens have eaten all the leaves on the lower parts) and they used to have drippers at their bases to water them. Last year, DH replaced the drippers with things that sit about 3-4 inches off the ground and release the water in several streams. I've never seen a chicken actually use it as a sprinkler, but they do lay in the mud at the base of the lilacs. It was so ridiculously hot today, I put ice cubes in their waterer to help cool them down a bit. They seemed to like that.

 

[medawinks]

My youngest daughter got a new Silkie tonight and spent the ride home with it in a small crate in her lap telling it all about the chicken friends she would soon be meeting. I sat and listened in amazement. My son was playing chess and my oldest daughter was listening to music on headphones, so Sera had plenty of time to chat up her new friend. She brought her home and put her in the wire cage to protect her from the bigger birds while they make friends- without me telling her. She had remembered from when we brought our youngest ameracauna and Marans home.... She fed her new friend and happily went off to bed. I know she will be up at dawn to help me water and feed the birds and the dogs before I go to work. As much as I enjoy my birds for stress relief.... I honestly think I enjoy enjoying them with her more... Sharing a hobby with her is priceless!!! All of my kids enjoy the chickens , but she is my little chicky girl. I treasure this gift!

I am sorry your hen didn't make it Trish! It is so hot! We put out ice cubes in water for the birds and dogs today and I am going to try a deeper pan tomorrow for them to wade in.

HEchicken, I love the nanny cam idea!!! If I got one of those I would have no need for TV . My kids still might though you have a gem for a DH!! Glad your horse is better too.

Hoping the heat eases up and no more of our birds are lost. Night all!

 

[Kansaseq]

HEchicken, what camera did your dh get for you? I'm so intrigued by the thought of having a nanny-cam in my coop!

 

[Hawkeye95]

HEChicken, yikes on the colic! Of course, it happens in the heat and in the dead of winter, that's the way it works. My oldest is the only one that colics. And while she has done it on real "grain" (I feed her pellet now) it is usually because she doesn't drink enough to hydrate her and her system gets backed up. The vet has reached way in and pulled out HUGE dry chunks of manure from her. They are like bricks. He'll do that first and then tube her for a couple of days. It's a serious deal, for sure. I'm so glad that his body started working for you while you were there and you didn't have to go to the vet. That is really neat about the nanny cam! I want one!!! What kind of camera did your DH buy? Is it wireless??? Maybe I can convince my DH to install one, too!

Cherwill, yeah, this heat is not going to be good if were in triple digits in June. Sigh. I'm hooking up my misters today for the birds. I need to buy another one, too. Poor babies. I have shade for everyone, so at least no one is in the sun if they don't want to be. But I'm worried it might not be enough. My birds did make it thru last summer too, and it was far worse. I just used the misters on them.

Medawinks-- is this the silkie from Danz?? So neat that she got another bird to baby! And yeah, I'm enjoying the fact that my kids love the chickens, too.

Kansaseq--- RIGHT!?!??! Yeah, I want to know what the camera is too!!!! LOL!!!!!!

So yesterday was insanely busy. We went to church and my DH is now playing in the praise band. Then we came home and we started cleaning rooms to get ready to move beds around. I needed to get rid of my baby cribs and since they had drop sides on them, I couldn't sell them. SO I put them on Facebook for free, and they were GONE by yesterday evening. Nice!! Then we moved all the beds around and got all the bedding on them. It took all afternoon/evening since we had to go get a bed that we had down in my parent's basement stored there for the last 3 years. We knew we were going to use it, so glad we didn't have to buy a bed. Also watered trees and spent some time in the heat moving around the hoses to get the new trees watered and the new trees from last year watered. It was quite a job. So far, birds are hanging in there, and I hope it stays that way. I have to get my oldest to VBS at church this morning. Last one! And then we have a birthday party for my MIL at her house this evening. I'm going to make one of those layered chocolate pudding cakes that are topped with cool whip for the party. Another busy day!!

 

[chicken danz]

Medawinks, it was so good to see you again. You too Pikeman.
I couldn't sleep late this morning as much as I wanted to. I should get out and get the birds taken care of first thing but I sure enjoy jut taking it easy in the morning. I had a terrible time keeping the brooder cool enough for the chicks yesterday. I lost 3 chicks and I think it was due to heat. I finally put a second fan in here and they seemed to be doing better. It's pretty crazy when instead of using heat lamps you nearly need air conditioning to brood your chicks.
I did clean out the entire brooder which was a pretty dumb job to do on a hot day! The guy that was supposed to come buy chicks never called or came by. That is so irritating to me when they make an appointment and don't even bother calling and saying they aren't coming. If I had had other plans it would have really upset me. As it was I carried phones around with me all day which is a pain in the butt. My cell doesn't work well at home so I had to carry the house phone around and of course I can't clip it to me like I can the cell phone.
So I didn't make much of a dent in selling chicks. I think it was just too hot for most people to leave their AC this weekend.
I need to water the garden but with this heat I'm afraid it will just immediately evaporate off.
Did you see the high in the nation yesterday was a Kansas town? 114 degrees!

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken, what camera did your dh get for you? I'm so intrigued by the thought of having a nanny-cam in my coop!

Oh no - I didn't even think to ask him! It is wireless but beyond that I didn't ask him any details

I will find out for you!

My youngest daughter got a new Silkie tonight and spent the ride home with it in a small crate in her lap telling it all about the chicken friends she would soon be meeting. I sat and listened in amazement. My son was playing chess and my oldest daughter was listening to music on headphones, so Sera had plenty of time to chat up her new friend. She brought her home and put her in the wire cage to protect her from the bigger birds while they make friends- without me telling her. She had remembered from when we brought our youngest ameracauna and Marans home.... She fed her new friend and happily went off to bed. I know she will be up at dawn to help me water and feed the birds and the dogs before I go to work. As much as I enjoy my birds for stress relief.... I honestly think I enjoy enjoying them with her more... Sharing a hobby with her is priceless!!! All of my kids enjoy the chickens , but she is my little chicky girl. I treasure this gift!

That is so sweet about Sera and what she is picking up about how to care for her birds. Sharing a hobby with a child is priceless. I wish my kids were more interested in the chickens.

...then DH went to a friend's house to play American Ninja Warrior. I don't know if any of you watch it, but it's basically a monstrously tough obstacle course. His friend built a section of it in his backyard and they were trying to do it. He said it's much harder than it looks, and it looks pretty hard.

I have never heard of that. Until you explained it, I was thinking it was some kind of X-Box/Playstation type of game. I will have to check it out.

HEChicken, yikes on the colic! Of course, it happens in the heat and in the dead of winter, that's the way it works. My oldest is the only one that colics. And while she has done it on real "grain" (I feed her pellet now) it is usually because she doesn't drink enough to hydrate her and her system gets backed up. The vet has reached way in and pulled out HUGE dry chunks of manure from her. They are like bricks. He'll do that first and then tube her for a couple of days. It's a serious deal, for sure. I'm so glad that his body started working for you while you were there and you didn't have to go to the vet. That is really neat about the nanny cam! I want one!!! What kind of camera did your DH buy? Is it wireless??? Maybe I can convince my DH to install one, too!

Then we came home and we started cleaning rooms to get ready to move beds around. I needed to get rid of my baby cribs and since they had drop sides on them, I couldn't sell them. SO I put them on Facebook for free, and they were GONE by yesterday evening. Nice!! Then we moved all the beds around and got all the bedding on them. It took all afternoon/evening since we had to go get a bed that we had down in my parent's basement stored there for the last 3 years. We knew we were going to use it, so glad we didn't have to buy a bed. Also watered trees and spent some time in the heat moving around the hoses to get the new trees watered and the new trees from last year watered. It was quite a job. So far, birds are hanging in there, and I hope it stays that way. I have to get my oldest to VBS at church this morning. Last one! And then we have a birthday party for my MIL at her house this evening. I'm going to make one of those layered chocolate pudding cakes that are topped with cool whip for the party. Another busy day!!

I got his teeth floated on Friday so my first thought was that it was related to that but it seems like a VERY delayed reaction - about 40 hours after sedation - so I dunno. It seems like if it was because of that, it would have happened Friday night. The only other thought I had that might make it related to the floating is that his teeth were pretty bad and now that they've been floated it may be more possible for him to bolt his food. But even that seems a little far-fetched. His water tank had just been cleaned and was full so it *shouldn't* have been dehydration although with these guys you never know. What is that saying? You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink? Just because the tank is full doesn't mean he was drinking LOL. He has only done this one time before so I've been pretty lucky with him - that was years ago so I really can't complain that he is high maintenance. That time DH and I had to walk him for 3 days and nights before I finally felt comfortable leaving him, so we got off lightly yesterday in comparison.

On the camera, it *might* have been one that he already had. He works in IT so has a lot of computer equipment around. It is wireless - that I do know - but I didn't think to ask him any other details. I will find out for you.

That is cool you were able to get rid of the furniture. My kids are teens so I'm out of touch with baby furniture and didn't realize drop sides are now a no-no? I'm sure there's a valid reason but personally, I loved the drop sides on my kids cribs. Are you on Freecycle? That is another option for finding a new home for things you no longer need. I joined years ago and the first thing I got was my original chicken coop. Over the years I have given away outgrown kids' clothes, obtained empty egg cartons and a couple of Omaha Steaks coolers that I used to make my incubators, and just last week, offered that same chicken coop back on Freecycle. I was inundated with people wanting to take it and the family that did come had 4 of the cutest kids. In the course of conversation the mom mentioned that she would like to keep horses one day and when I mentioned that we have horses, the little boy who was probably 2-3 pointed to our 10x10 metal garden shed and asked "Is that where you keep your horses?" It was so hard to keep a straight face when I answered "No, that's where we keep our lawnmower - our horses live somewhere else".

 

[HEChicken]

Did you see the high in the nation yesterday was a Kansas town? 114 degrees!

Egad. And its only June! The 7-day forecast calls for triple digits here every day through Friday. I really hope no one loses any more birds to the heat but even last year I don't remember it being THIS hot in June. Maybe I'm just not remembering it clearly. It looks like it is going to be another scorcher of a summer. My parents are coming for two weeks in August. Not only are they not used to this kind of heat but they will be leaving from Melbourne where it is winter, and coming to Kansas where it will likely be triple digits for their entire stay so it will probably be even harder on them than it is for us since we are somewhat more acclimated to it. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with them.

Well, my to-do list is getting another kick in the teeth this morning due to a sick cat. This cat has a history of UTI and crystals in his urine so I'm sure its just that again but it means I need to find a vet in our new town and get him in to be checked out. Then 2 weeks of twice a day meds. I wish the kids weren't so fond of this cat or I'd just have him put to sleep as it costs a small fortune every time we have one of these episodes, and even though he's a sweet cat, my feeling is there are just so many cats out there that I really don't need one that is such high-maintenance.

 

[pikeman94]

Medawinks, it was so good to see you again. You too Pikeman.
I couldn't sleep late this morning as much as I wanted to. I should get out and get the birds taken care of first thing but I sure enjoy jut taking it easy in the morning. I had a terrible time keeping the brooder cool enough for the chicks yesterday. I lost 3 chicks and I think it was due to heat. I finally put a second fan in here and they seemed to be doing better. It's pretty crazy when instead of using heat lamps you nearly need air conditioning to brood your chicks.
I did clean out the entire brooder which was a pretty dumb job to do on a hot day! The guy that was supposed to come buy chicks never called or came by. That is so irritating to me when they make an appointment and don't even bother calling and saying they aren't coming. If I had had other plans it would have really upset me. As it was I carried phones around with me all day which is a pain in the butt. My cell doesn't work well at home so I had to carry the house phone around and of course I can't clip it to me like I can the cell phone.
So I didn't make much of a dent in selling chicks. I think it was just too hot for most people to leave their AC this weekend.
I need to water the garden but with this heat I'm afraid it will just immediately evaporate off.
Did you see the high in the nation yesterday was a Kansas town? 114 degrees!

Danz - It was good seeing you again as well! I hear ya on the fan for the brooder. So far my garage hasn't reach the temperature of the sun yet. However, if it does, those babies are coming inside with their heat lamp. This weather is crazy! Maybe since it got hotter sooner it will get cooler sooner? One can hope, right?