Consolidated Kansas

[checoukan]

lissy~~ what do you need to know?
What county fair are you going to be attending?
What breed to duck are you going to show?
What kind of cooping does the show have?
When is the show?

 

[checoukan]

hawkeye~~ look at the feathers around the vents. Do you have any grey powder looking like stuff on the feathers next to the quill? If you do, that is actually mite excrement (poop), and well you have mites. Sometimes, you just cannot see them they can hide really fast. If you see one it usually will be a reddish color. The white whites, are almost impossible to see.

If you have a lot of feather picking:
One you have bored caged chickens,
Two, you have mites, and the other chickens can see them and a heavy load the chickens will pluck the feathers of their coop mates trying to eat the mites.

 

[HEChicken]

All this talk about local predators and such has made me kind of nervous. Today is day #2 of letting my flock free range in the yard. We do have a guard dog, but he is a lab and, as such, is a bird dog. However, he is a really smart dog, and we have been working really hard on teaching him that THESE birds are not to be hunted. So far, he has been doing really well. I even decided to not put his shock collar on him today, to see how he does without it. So far, he's been completely ignoring my birds.

I went to a garage sale on SAturday and found some really good deals. They had a table saw for sale there, and I walked away with it and the miter saw that came with it for $35. My husband was quite happy with my purchase. We are nearly finished building the duck house (just need to put in a couple more windows and finish painting the trim), but we still have to build the duck run and the loafing shed for my horses. He said that the saws would be very helpful for both projects. Now, we just need to make sure that they are both in good working order and get busy building! So far, my DH has been doing all of the work on the loafing shed himself. He's been digging holes about 2 feet in diameter and about 4 1/2 feet deep. It's a lot of work because of how dry it's been, but he hasn't complained at all. I'm so proud of him!

Keep in mind that though labs are bird dogs, they are trained to fetch and carry a bird after it has been shot and as such, are supposed to have gentle mouths so as not to hurt it. In other words, the hunter wants it retrieved in as good shape as possible. So a lab isn't necessarily a bird killer. One of my dogs is lab/border collie cross and has never shown the slightest inclination to chase any of the poultry. She does love to retrieve anything that is thrown though. The only way I could see her chasing a bird is if I picked it up and threw it. Then she'd be after it like a shot.

I am so envious of your table saw deal. I have a miter saw but would love a table saw and that price is certainly right! And if I got another miter saw at the same time for no extra cost, well, I wouldn't complain about that either. I don't doubt your husband was pleased with your purchase!

I was told that fox are solitary, but when they have families, they will stay together to feed the young. Since that was a male and did so much destruction, I would say, he was feeding the family, and you have a female around somewhere, with young. They might even had the young with him to teach them how to hunt and kill.
Usually fox avoid coyotes simply because of the size difference. If you have a lot of coyotes, you usually never see a fox. Its not because they are not there, they just have to stay hidden, coyotes will kill fox.

Oh great. So there could be another one out there ready to come finish what he started? Great, just great. Well, I am certainly on high alert still, and have the .22 by the door ready to grab if I see anything amiss.

 

[checoukan]

Oh, the question was asked, which do I use, Boss or sabre. I use which ever one I can buy, they are both kill lice and mites, so which ever you find will work.

 

[JosieChick]

Keep in mind that though labs are bird dogs, they are trained to fetch and carry a bird after it has been shot and as such, are supposed to have gentle mouths so as not to hurt it. In other words, the hunter wants it retrieved in as good shape as possible. So a lab isn't necessarily a bird killer. One of my dogs is lab/border collie cross and has never shown the slightest inclination to chase any of the poultry. She does love to retrieve anything that is thrown though. The only way I could see her chasing a bird is if I picked it up and threw it. Then she'd be after it like a shot.

Lizzy- Just be careful there. I have to take the opposite stance because our chicken killer was a flat coated retriever. We have a terrier and a heeler and neither one of them would ever touch a bird. When I am watching the retriever and he is on his shock collar he is very well behaved but left to his own devices he goes on a bird killing spree. It is the drive to chase that gets him, he just grabs the birds and shakes the ever living daylights out of them until they die then goes on to the next. I have a friend that wants to get a LGD that is half Pyr and half Golden retriever and I have told her multiple times I wouldn't go there. You just don't know what you are going to get for prey drive in a hunting dog. I have met some labs that were mellow as anything and would never go after a bird and others that given the opportunity and no supervision get out of control and bird crazed real fast.

Hawkeye- How fun!! I really would like to get into showing my birds this fall. There is a guy here in KS that is encouraging me to show my Sebbies in November. I have never done it before so it is a bit intimidating. Such great pictures!

Danz- Glad you pea is doing well!! I don't think I have anything going in these darn eggs. I tossed one yesterday that had an obvious blood ring. The others I can't see anything in and I would expect to see some veining by now. I am afraid one is rotten because it is getting dark, too dark for how far along it is. I think I need to candle it again tonight. I don't want it to break open under that hen!

Ivy- Love that pond!!! Man, if I had that place I would have my geese and ducks out of that pond in no time flat! They would love that so much. Such a cool place and all the old trees. I love huge trees around a house.

Shoot, can't remember what all everyone else wrote! Enjoy the slightly cooler weather today! I hope it rains here soon, we need it so badly.

 

[chicken danz]

Checoukan I guess I was wrong. I just assumed that a coyote wouldn't deter a fox because of the fox nature. I see some of both around this area as well as Bobcats so I just assumed they co-existed as long as they weren't hunting the same food. I'm just glad all of them are deterred by my dogs.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, sounds like your granddaughter is going to be learning a lot. I have no idea if you can bring a bird on a plane. I know that you are supposed to have NPIP to ship, but I don't think it's a really well enforced rule since I had 3 boxes of birds shipped to me last year and not a word about it from the PO. Might be something to check into, I think a dove would make an excellent pet, though! I had a neighbor that kept 2 of them in her house and they were very sweet. I probably would have just told your GD that once you wash an egg it has very little chance of surviving, but hey, we'll give it a shot anyway. Would have been an excellent time to tell her about the "bloom" and how important it is on an egg. That is so neat about your fox you got to live around years ago. I just don't know that much about them!

Checoukan, thanks for all the info, I think I'm going to hunt for that stuff so that I won't have egg withdrawal issues. I would think the Sevin would too, but I don't know what is going on yet. Perhaps my coyotes are actually keeping away all the other predators from us, then. Not that I like them, but if they are going to be there, might as well be useful for something.

Lizzy, great deal on the power tools!!! Showing ducks is a lot easier than showing poultry! You don't even need to get them tested! The only thing you want to keep in mind is to not have broken feathers, and be clean. So washing them down shouldn't be too hard and have them in a large enough enclosure that they don't break off feathers from their tails and wings. Glad your dog is doing well with the birds, that's a great deal!

 

[lizzyGSR]

lissy~~ what do you need to know?
What county fair are you going to be attending?
What breed to duck are you going to show?
What kind of cooping does the show have?
When is the show?

I need to know how everything works. I've never seen poultry judged and honestly don't know what is expected of me as an owner/entrant to the local fair. I would be entering the open division, as I am too old to be in 4H.

I have multiple breeds of ducks, but I would probably only enter my two pekin drakes as the others are either not full grown or are currently moulting. My goose is also not yet full grown.

If I enter, it would be the Sherman County fair. I went to look at the birds just briefly last year, but it was so hot that they'd sent all the poultry home directly after the judging. If I remember correctly, they have wire cages, though I'm not sure they use them for ducks (I know the wire is hard on the ducks' feet). The fair is July 28 - Aug. 4, but the poultry judging is on Monday, July 30th.

Keep in mind that though labs are bird dogs, they are trained to fetch and carry a bird after it has been shot and as such, are supposed to have gentle mouths so as not to hurt it. In other words, the hunter wants it retrieved in as good shape as possible. So a lab isn't necessarily a bird killer. One of my dogs is lab/border collie cross and has never shown the slightest inclination to chase any of the poultry. She does love to retrieve anything that is thrown though. The only way I could see her chasing a bird is if I picked it up and threw it. Then she'd be after it like a shot.

I am so envious of your table saw deal. I have a miter saw but would love a table saw and that price is certainly right! And if I got another miter saw at the same time for no extra cost, well, I wouldn't complain about that either. I don't doubt your husband was pleased with your purchase!

My husband's dog has killed two wild quail (or I presume they were wild anyway - the neighbor used to raise game birds and they still buy birds to "plant" for hunters to hunt. We've seen chukars on our property before and know that they were birds that got away, so it's possible the quail got away as well. The birds that do get away tend to be pretty dumb). He also used to try to chase my birds after we first got them, even though the birds were on the other side of a chicken wire fence. We stopped that behavior by using a shock collar on him, and he no longer tries to chase them, but he still looks at them with a hungry look on his face... He also chases anything that will run from him (my birds no longer pay him any attention, but I do watch them carefully in case they run in a direction that he could perceive as "away" and thus decide to take up the chase)

The dog isn't the only thing I worry about in relation to my birds. We live in the country, with the closest neighbor being 1/2 mile away and the next closest neighbor being over a mile. We've got skunks, plenty of coons, coyotes, badgers, etc and no fence around our yard. We've already killed one coon that came right up to the house almost nightly for about a week and have seen more in the area, in addition to their tracks in the driveway and on the road in front of the house.

I am very happy about being able to purchase the saws! We built the duck house with only a circular saw (no clamps, saw horses, or any other handy such tools). I'm quite happy to have some more suitable saws for the loafing shed! The table saw should make long, straight cuts SO MUCH easier! I came home with nearly $70 worth of good deals from this garage sale... I got an office chair ($5), a box of reloading stuff for my DH ($15, easily worth of $35+), a horse blanket ($2, easily worth $25), a large wire dog cage ($3, easily worth $50), the saws, a large shop vac ($5) and some other smaller things. I came home with a car load and was kinda disappointed that I didn't have room for a saw horse that they were also selling!

 

[chicken danz]

Well testing a bird is no problem since I am a certified NPIP tester. I don't believe doves are tested though. For one thing you would probably never be able to find a vein large enough to draw blood from. But if I needed to I could certainly do it and fill out the form so she could take it with her.
That reminds me, KarenS, if you want, I can bring my serum and test equipment when we come down, and test your hens and aloha breeders if you like. That way you are good if you have some you want to ship or eggs you want to sell across state lines. Let me know.
Looks like I am going to be doing a lot of testing the next couple weeks for the fair. I really kind of enjoy it as long as I don't have to chase the chickens down. I guess I feel like I am doing something good for someone. So many people were unable to take their birds to town for testing on a week day when they had a test day.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, you can go on whichever airline's website that your granddaughter is traveling on & look up their rules for taking pets. I just looked at American Airlines just to see what they had on theirs & it says only cats & dogs are allowed. I had to look under the FAQ area to find that & then it referred to traveling with pets & there is a whole page on that. It's nice that she is learning things about the birds & enjoying them.

Here is something I just found about the red fox, which is what we have here:
Red foxes are omnivores, which is to say they will eat almost anything, from old bread tossed away in a McDonald's parking lot to mice, eggs, young groundhogs, grasshoppers, rats, chickens, crayfish, snails, berries, corn, potatoes, fruit, berries, and even acorns and grass.
The chief staple of the red fox, however is not sheep or chickens (as some may claim), but field mice. Unlike wolves or coyotes which will hunt in a pack to bring down large game, the red fox is a solitary hunter that patrols forest paths and field edges, listening for the rustle of mice in the grass and leaves. When a mouse is heard, the red fox will launch itself upwards at an almost 45 degree trajectory, and then pounce down on the exact location where its remarkable hearing has suggested a mouse or vole can be found. Red fox are cautious, smart, and posses extraordinary powers of hearing. A fox in a hedgerow will slink away if it hears a man and dog come, or will dive down a groundhog hole to attempt to avoid detection if escape is otherwise prevented.

I do know that we have them here, but you rarely actually see one. My neighbor told me he has seen one around here & it has been seen going after his chickens, but until the end of last year they didn't have a coop or shut them up at night, so they were fair game for any predator. We have the biggest problems here with coyotes, raccoons, & opossums. I lost birds my first year of having chickens here before our coop was finished to a raccoon & then half of my guineas to 'possums. HeChicken, after seeing the cute little 'possums you had in Australia I'll bet the ones here look extraordinarily ugly in comparison. I thought those little animals over there were actually cute. When we saw those we said wow I wish our 'possums looked like that! They even use the fur to make things out of & it's pretty.

It's not nearly as cool here as the weather some of you are having, lucky people. We got only enough rain yesterday evening to just barely wet the ground a little, not nearly enough. It's supposed to be 93 here today & it's humid, which makes it even worse.

Hawkeye, I wish you luck with the show & thanks for the photos of the testing, that was interesting. Good luck to everyone else who is doing shows also. I just don't have the energy to do that at this point. Just trying to keep my birds cooled down & alive right now is taking about all the energy I have.

Well someone asked me if we made any progress on the coop this weekend & the answer is not much. We had gotten the primer put on the floor & wood putty put in some cracks & moved some dirt. We were going to come back after doing the grocery shopping & put the first coat of paint on the floor, but it rained while we were gone, so the floor was wet. Oh well, that's the way it goes. We sure needed what little rain we got & it did cool things down a trifle. There is always another day I guess.

By the way, Danz, how many birds do you have to test out of a flock to be certified? I didn't think you had to test them all.