Consolidated Kansas

[Candace69]

PLEAS PLEASE HELP!
I have been trying to get into say hi and update everyone, but now I am just coming in to ask for help. I am so heartbroken.

I am heartbroken right now, please pray for Tess's safe homecoming.
Just Happened an hour ago. Kelsey was out picking blackberries (not even 300 yards from the house). Kit, Tess Fender were with. Came back to the house and Tess didn't come right away, which happens. I saw her running around the briars and called to her as Kelsey headed back to the house, Kit and Fender ran with him... HE came in washed his hands (less than a minute), went back out to let Tess in; I was rinsing the berries. Tess wasn't on the porch. Went to blackberry patch, saw a silver truck headed towards Burdick leaving. We are NOT saying Tess is stolen, could have been picked up, but we want her back. She has NEVER not come home, she has run that area many times getting the goats.
PLEASE PLEASE help us get her back, pray, spread the word if you are on any Kansas Groups.... picture attached.

 

[sharol]

Where is you DH's vet clinic located? How do I find them for a public cremation? My DH's elderly SH pointer is failing quickly (he is 15), and that decision is going to come up.

Sharol

I have to get on my soapbox. I worked as a vet tech for about 8 years and the first clinic I worked at myself and two other technicians were in charge of cremations. We all took this responsibility very seriously and were very careful to cremate private cremations alone and in group cremations we labeled the location of each pet in the crematorium so the appropriate ashes of each pet were collected for the appropriate owner. It is sad that some people lie to owners and don't return the true pets ashes because most places are very careful with the remains of peoples beloved pets. DHs veterinary clinic uses the Kansas Humane Society which also offers cremations to the public and they do a wonderful job. I know the girls that work there and they are all very honest and kind people who have their own pets and know the pain of losing a pet and the importance of returning the pet's remains to their owner. They provide a certificate with the cremation and a beautiful wooden urn. It is very professional and even the staff the comes to pick up the bodies are very respectful and careful with them. I don't want people to think that all places are like this, just ask questions if you are unsure and go with your gut about where to have a pet cremated. There are some wonderful services out there for folks who don't want to or can't bury their pet. Alright, off my soapbox!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- Love this girl, she is gorgeous and should come live with me!! I found a home for my silkie roo in Garnett so he is off to have his own ladies! On the cremation note, I have to get on my soapbox. I worked as a vet tech for about 8 years and the first clinic I worked at myself and two other technicians were in charge of cremations. We all took this responsibility very seriously and were very careful to cremate private cremations alone and in group cremations we labeled the location of each pet in the crematorium so the appropriate ashes of each pet were collected for the appropriate owner. It is sad that some people lie to owners and don't return the true pets ashes because most places are very careful with the remains of peoples beloved pets. DHs veterinary clinic uses the Kansas Humane Society which also offers cremations to the public and they do a wonderful job. I know the girls that work there and they are all very honest and kind people who have their own pets and know the pain of losing a pet and the importance of returning the pet's remains to their owner. They provide a certificate with the cremation and a beautiful wooden urn. It is very professional and even the staff the comes to pick up the bodies are very respectful and careful with them. I don't want people to think that all places are like this, just ask questions if you are unsure and go with your gut about where to have a pet cremated. There are some wonderful services out there for folks who don't want to or can't bury their pet. Alright, off my soapbox!!!

Must go get chores done, DH will be here in 3 hours and the house is a stinkin mess!!! Maybe have found a new home for my chicken killing dog too!

That is really amazing how the cremations worked when you were doing it. I'm pretty sure that's not how it works with the clinic I go to. I point blank asked them back when my pom died if the ashes would actually be hers. I was assured they would be. Then a vet tech pulled me aside and whispered to me that they all get mixed up and all the dogs/cats are thrown in there together. She had helped me for years when we were doing the DOCP/percorten shots and I think she just wanted to help me and knew I wouldn't say anything. But it's good to know that other places don't do that. Anyway-- I'm still ify on that little pullet. Maybe she could be yours if I decide to let her go this Fall! LOL!

Hawkeye, that's a really cute pic of your Silkie! Yeah I wonder if yours & my heart conditions make us more prone to getting overheated too fast? I have Mitral Valve Prolapse & have an irregular heartbeat because of it, I know I'm not supposed to get dehydrated I had read that a long time ago.

Sure enough if was that chick & it was hurt. Something had pulled all of it's feathers off of it's back & it has a hurt wing. I was able to catch it fairly easily & put it in the rabbit cage that is still sitting out there from the last time I had to put a chick in there to heal.

Gosh it's just a shuffle all the time moving birds here & there. I don't know how you do it Danz with all the birds you have all the time. You have a lot more pens than I do. We need a break in this weather for a bit so I can get some things done outside, but I don't know when that will be.

I do think the heat makes it harder on the heart, for sure. I have MVP too! But that is only minor compared to my real heart condition. The MVP gives me an irregular heartbeat and my valve is pretty leaky, but my WPWS (wolf parkinsons) is why I had the heart attack and have so many other issues. I think it makes me melt in the heat too-- I get to where I will pass out. You have to take it very seriously, and only YOU know how you feel and what you think you can handle. You just can't push it. The last time I pushed myself was when I was doing too much at the church, I was president of a group, on a couple of committees and committed up to my eye balls. I wound up having a heart seizure (until I had one, I didn't even know what it was!) there at the church and woke up in the ER. Fun, fun. I had to quit most of my stuff, but I still do volunteer when I can and I try to not over commit myself -- even though my favorite thing to say is "YES!". ha!

I'm so glad you found your chick!! That was lucky and just in time, poor thing. I wonder what got ahold of it. Maybe a rat or a snake?? I hope it does okay and lives.

By the way all I talked to a person who raises $500 chickens. They are show chickens and go for that much at 3 months old! I can't imagine.

I know of at least 2 vets near here that put all the dead animals in a freezer until the crematory comes once a month. They are literally loaded up plastic garbage bags and all and thrown in there. I feel it is terribly unethical but sometimes smaller facilities have no other way to do it. I am sure this is a situation similar to what Hawkeye is referring to. Sad!

WOW! I know silkies can go for $200 a piece... but $500!!! WOW! Did he say what breed he has that racks up that kind of change? That might be something that you would want to do! LOL I think with our dry heat and the wind blowing, the misters are fine. I'm putting the misters in the shade, so I wonder if that helps? Good to keep in mind, but not sure it would be a problem for how I'm using them.

Well, the mama Australorp finally got up and I could see that she has 10 keets -- 5 eggs still on the nest but she hasn't returned to it. Hawkeye, we have a guinea hen setting somewhere but don't know where -- she disappeared so I assume she is setting unless a coyote got her.

Congrats on your keets!!! They are adorable!

PLEAS PLEASE HELP!
I have been trying to get into say hi and update everyone, but now I am just coming in to ask for help. I am so heartbroken.

I am heartbroken right now, please pray for Tess's safe homecoming.
Just Happened an hour ago. Kelsey was out picking blackberries (not even 300 yards from the house). Kit, Tess Fender were with. Came back to the house and Tess didn't come right away, which happens. I saw her running around the briars and called to her as Kelsey headed back to the house, Kit and Fender ran with him... HE came in washed his hands (less than a minute), went back out to let Tess in; I was rinsing the berries. Tess wasn't on the porch. Went to blackberry patch, saw a silver truck headed towards Burdick leaving. We are NOT saying Tess is stolen, could have been picked up, but we want her back. She has NEVER not come home, she has run that area many times getting the goats.
PLEASE PLEASE help us get her back, pray, spread the word if you are on any Kansas Groups.... picture attached.

I'm sooo sorry about Tess. What kind of dog is that? Is it something people would want to steal? I would have jumped in my car and went after them if I could have. You should put up signs with her picture with "MISSING" on it. And maybe she'll get loose and run back home on her own. I'll pray you find her. That is just terrible.

 

[Trish44]

Candace, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog, how heartbreaking! I sure hope you find her & get her back. It sounds like someone picked her up & I hope they don't have ulterior motives, not to sound negative, but why would they be stealing someone's dog if they didn't have some motive to do so. I would put the word out to all the nearby towns, call the Vets there & have them post about her & keep their eyes open. I would put an ad in the local paper too, just anything to get the word out about the dog being missing. Put up posters if you can with pics of her in town too, maybe someone will see her. Good luck with your search & hugs to you.

Prairie, those are some cute little keets! They're so cute when they're little, I wish they could stay that way.

I just had my last two Ameraucana eggs hatch & the chicks are down there cheeping away in the hatcher. The only ones left to hatch now are under the broody hen & we'll see how that goes. This is my first time to use a broody hen, so this is new for me. I just put the 4 Cream Legbar eggs that went all the way to Dodge City in the incubator awhile ago. Surprisingly I didn't see that the air cells were detached, which was the case with the previous ones, so that's good. We'll see if anything develops after their long trip & being in the heat though.

I'm just wiped out today. We had one of those nights last night when we both were awake off & on all night, it wasn't a restful night & I'm not feeling well because of it today. I need to get a grocery list together & go later on to get a few things, but I think I'm going to have to lay down for awhile first. I just don't handle lack of sleep well at all, it makes me feel awful. I've been typing things that I didn't mean today & I shouldn't even be writing at all in the shape I'm in.

I agree with Hawkeye, I think the misters are OK for outdoor pens where they get plenty of air circulation & they dry out some overnight. mine is out in the run outside & I just have the small one in the corner of the pen. There is sand underneath the other bedding too, so it drains well. I don't have it going but during the late afternoon & turn it off when I go out to put everyone in for the night. Speaking of that I need to go out & do my spraying everybody down.

I can't imagine a $500 chicken either, wow that's a chunk of change, must be nice! I know some of the chickens Greenfire Farms sells are $200-300 apiece & up, way above my budget. But they're putting out big money importing these breeds too.

 

[Candace69]

She is a Border Collie, and we found her! in a well!!!! Watch out for those wells in old homesteads! Luckily we had partially filled the well in, so it was only about 6 foot deep!

 

[Trish44]

Candace, I'm so glad you found her! Wow a good thing you filled that in part way. We have one that worries me greatly too, it's a hand dug one with rock walls & it's really deep. The people got away with not having to fill it in when they sold this place & I on the other hand had a small bore well that was only a few inches around that I was made to pay $350 to have filled before I could pass inspection when I sold my house, go figure.

 

[sharol]

Thank goodness she is OK. She looks like a really good girl.

She is a Border Collie, and we found her! in a well!!!! Watch out for those wells in old homesteads! Luckily we had partially filled the well in, so it was only about 6 foot deep!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Candace, what a beautiful dog and a huge heartbreak! I'm praying with everyone else that it will make it home one way or another.

Danz, I know what you mean about coffee being a key ingredient to every morning! I hate having to speak without my morning coffee but end up doing so regularly, to everyone's dismay I'm sure. Those crazy birds sound hilarious though!

Hawkeye, once again I LOL'd at the sight of one of your birds. They are just so darn cute! Nice photo too, by the way. One of these days...

Trish44 & Hawkeye, we could form a club with our erratic hearts! I have an enormous amount of split P's and a minor mytral valve prolapse. My new medication has made a new woman of me but this heat really got to me today. It's hard to want to go inside when there are so many interesting and necessary things going on outside and today I pushed it just a bit over the line. I thought I had taken in plenty of water but nearly passed out, so I must have been seriously WRONG! So now I'm inside clicking my heels and waiting for a bit cooler temperatures while I guzzle ice water. Heat or no, I just prefer to be outside but this heat is really hard on flippy hearts.

I suppose moving birds today with my Aspergerish son hasn't helped. In order for him to accomplish anything it takes a seriously long time and you have to explain the thought process behind every step more than once. Still, he zones out cause he's a teen and not all that interested and finally I'm so frustrated with him and myself that I just want to throw a fit. I try so hard to teach him how to organize his thoughts and proceed with a task from start to finish without having to backtract all over the place but he still has no clue. Today he was trying so hard to get it right he got out a notebook and pen and was trying to work it out on paper because, for him, that eliminates a lot of distraction and still he just couldn't make sense of the whole thing. Lots of Asperger people make great successes of themselves but it's heartbreaking to see these deficits in your son. I guess that plus being out in the heat without enough water made me sick. At least the kids didn't know it. I've got to be more careful in this heat and save the organizational lessons for cooler temps. I'm very aware of being an old mom and know I won't be around for my kids as long as a younger mom would be, so I'm really driven to do my best for them. I'm 54 with a 7 year old still, so the thought does weigh on me. I'm older than my teen's friend's parents, so for my 7 year old, I'm ancient!

We did get half of the fence relocated to the area on the east side of the shop so I could move the Alohas over there and let the other birds free range the property so they can find cooler areas and give the area around the hen house a break. We are getting another charger and splitting the fence in two so we can protect both sets of birds at night. We moved the bunnies to the craft room today also because it's far less hot in there and there are more fans. The bunnies are doing well with their ice packs but I didn't want to take any chances with them in the prolonged high temps. They are moving around today instead of just laying and panting so I think that's a good indication they're feeling better. My mister works great but I have three more coming and I can't wait for them to show up now that I've split the two groups. I'm careful to use the misters only in the hottest part of the day, also. I think it works out okay because the birds can move in and out of it as they please.

Well, my time is up here, no time to spell check. The children want their mom back!

Hang in there all!

 

[cherwill]

My guineas have slowed down to a crawl laying. They even laid through the heat last summer so you know it is bad out there.
I got up this morning and walked into the kitchen to make coffee and my Sabastopols were in the front yard. They can move a lot faster than the chickens or the ducks so I had to get them rounded back up. It only took two complete trips around the yard and letting their fence down to get them back in. So I was drenched in sweat before I even got my first cup of coffee this morning. I went ahead and watered everyone while I was out there. If you all knew my daily routine you would be in total disbelief. So it was at least an hour later when I came back in. I don't do anything before I have a few cups of coffee in the morning.

Here is some eye candy this morning-- a chick of mine-- it's an action shot. So funny, I can just hear her mind going, must find greener grass! Look at those feet moving on out! LOL!!

So pretty!

I can't remember if I told you all what happened yesterday afternoon or not. I went out to cool off the rabbits & put out the mister & while I was spraying the rabbits off I saw something move underneath the garden cart sitting there by the cages, it's the one we hook to our mower. Anyway, I finished what I was doing & then went back to see what it was because it was the color of the leghorn chick I have been missing for a few days. Sure enough if was that chick & it was hurt. Something had pulled all of it's feathers off of it's back & it has a hurt wing. I was able to catch it fairly easily & put it in the rabbit cage that is still sitting out there from the last time I had to put a chick in there to heal. I sprayed some stuff on it's back & the spot on it's wing & gave it food & water. The poor thing was so hungry she just gobbled food. I went out this morning & checked on her & she is doing OK, kind of sore & stiff I think, but alive. It's a good thing I saw her I guess. I think she must have wandered off from the other young ones & got lost, but I have no idea where she has been. I hope she can get healed & get her poor feathers back, she is pretty bare.

Thank goodness you were out there and saw her. I hope she recovers quickly.

Awwww ....

She is a Border Collie, and we found her! in a well!!!! Watch out for those wells in old homesteads! Luckily we had partially filled the well in, so it was only about 6 foot deep!

I'm glad to hear you found her and she's not hurt.


DH added a mister on a stake in the chicken pen. It's already set up with the tubing because of the lilacs, so he just uncovered a bit of the larger tubing and stuck a stake in it. Right now we've been running the microsystem twice a day for 20 minutes. That zone covers the planter beds and garden beds in back. Hopefully that will be enough to cool things down; we could always have it run more often but for a bit less time if necessary. Right now they want nothing to do with it, but I'm sure they'll learn to appreciate it.

 

[Candace69]

Trish, yeah, it was one with the rock sides, hand dug. We've filled in ones in this area as we find them. It was down by the blackberry bushes, we went to look for her again....I got out to unlock the gate and told Kelsey (i was at the house when he was picking, the dogs came out with me saw him up the road and ran to him)...BUt I told him..THIS is where I last saw her, bouncing in the grass....right here...then...I saw a hole, about 12-18" in diameter, I said "Tess?" and I saw a shadow....I stepped closer, and she looked up at me...I couldn't reach her and hse couldn't jump out.....She was bouncing and trying but was just a little too high at a very narrow weird angle...So Kelsey got out and came over, laid down, and reached in, grabbed her by the scruff as she jumped...I was SO elated!
She is my baby, been a huge help since the hospital. My heart was just so torn.