Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, those fluffballs just don't look like chickens to me, they're too cute honestly, but I'm sure people who have never seen them before wonder what in the world they are. They're in a class all their own, that's for sure. I'm afraid they're just too fragile for me, I like the large fowl myself, but that's OK that's why there are so many breeds of chickens around so everyone can find one or more they like. My problem lately has been that I have found way too many that I like, lol.

Sapphire, no I never could get it pulled all the way around, I'm like 3-4 inches short of where I need to be, so I just gave up on it & I'll rig it to work. I used this big metal pole thing that my hubby uses to dig with & break rock with, it's really heavy & I would push it through the fence & dig it into the ground inside the pen & then pull the fence, but even with that I couldn't get it far enough. I already attached all the wires on the tops & bottom rails & tomorrow I'll just wire some other fence over that area & attach it. I'm going to put the chicken wire on the inside of the pen too just like I did on the turkey pen so the smaller birds can't get through the chain link. The Ameraucanas I'm putting in that pen aren't full grown yet, they're still young, so I don't want any escapees. It will take me another full evening probably to get all the wire put on the pen. Yeah after this experience I probably wouldn't buy this kind of pen again either, but it was available at the time I was looking for another pen so I bought it. I'm going to have to figure out when I get my breeder coop done how I want to do the pens, but that's down the road.

I got all of the Swedish Flower Hen chicks except that one all settled in a crate tonight & they're doing really well. I sure hope that other little guy recovers & is able to get on it's feet. I have had one or two like this before, but this one is pretty bad. I just keep giving it electrolytes & vitamin E & I still have it in the incubator. It does seem to be getting somewhat stronger, now if it could get it's balance & be able to walk it would be all right. It sure is a cute little thing. What we won't do for our chicks, huh. I only have one more egg in the incubator now, that is the Cream Legbar egg & then I'm done hatching for this year.

Here are the Swedish Flower Hen Chicks I just hatched:



They will change a lot in the next few weeks. I will have to try to get pics of the older ones so you can see what I mean. But there are quite a lot of colors in this bunch. I don't know if you can see it or not, but the black one in the back right may end up being crested, we'll see when it gets older, but it seems like it has kind of a poufy head. All of the chicks are different, the same as the first batch was.

Here are the Cream Legbars, this isn't the best photo because the flash just scared them & they're all puffed up:



There are two cockerels in there & three pullets, these can be sexed at hatch, that's what is nice about them.

 

[JosieChick]

Josie I had been told to raise peafowl on wire too. I'm just not sure how to do that. 1. What size wire do you use and does it need to be vinyl coated? 2. How big of a cage do you need for peafowl and does it need a lot of height and a perch? I am going to have to make some provisions for this and any others I hatch. I particularly want this white one to live. It was on my bucket list. How did Leggs have things set up for his peachicks? Can you describe it? Of course I have my baby in a bin in the house right now but that can't last for long. He is pretty sweet and hasn't gotten wild yet.

Josie, I questioned my mentor on peafowl and a couple other exotics. He says you need to keep them on wire for 90 days and do not worm them until they are 90 days old. I am waiting for an answer on what he uses to worm with. I also asked him how often to worm the adults. I have so many questions. I am so proud of this one and only baby I have that I just don't want to mess up. Help more and more info please!!!!

Danz- At Leggs I believe he keeps them in large metal hatchery type brooders for 2 months, then they are moved to large sheds with pine shavings for another two and at 4 months they are moved to 3 sided coops with runs that have sand for the base to help keep the ground dry. I don't think he mean't to deworm until the birds are on the ground. So for him that would start at 4 months up until they are a year old about once a month deworming. Most folks after that seem to deworm every couple of months. I have read most people deworm before breeding season in the early spring, late summer after they have just finished breeding and again mid fall. His advice was to keep them off the actual physical ground for as long as possible. He said dampness is a peachicks biggest enemy. They usually sleep on the ground in groups when they are young and the dampness of the earth chills them. In his opinion that is the number one killer of pea chicks. He recommended keeping them on shavings elevated off the ground until at least four months but the longer the better. I think everyone has their own opinions and what works for them. I put them in a coop on a plywood floor with shavings and will keep them there until they are at least 4 months old. I don't like wire personally and don't even know if I could put a very young pea on wire but a lot of people swear by it. The few times I have put chicks on wire they have rubbed their bellies naked. There is a vinyl coated wire that I have seen the cochin people use for their show birds that doesn't break feathers like hard wire does. I am not sure what is called but I know they have to order it online. Let me know what you find out about dewormers. I have wazine, pyrantel, ivermectin. I don't have piperazine (sp?) and would rather not have another dewormer to deal with if I don't have to!

I was just curious if you shaved her neck? We have a really nice one that even on the highest setting wouldn't "bite" the dogs good enough. Finally read the instructions (pffft! who needs instructions!?) and realized we needed to shave the area that the electrode would touch for the "bite" to go through.

I haven't but she doesn't have very much hair, she is not very thick coated yet and the collar is tight. We went through Sit Means Sit remote collar training with our house dogs so we have had extensive training with the collars and working the dogs on them. They use a static type stimulation not a shock type which is great for training obedience and off leash work but harder for redirecting really undesirable behavior because when she is in the moment she has an iron will and ignores it. It is not enough of a bite to make her think twice about going after a bird. She really isn't trying to kill the birds, she was raised with them so she tries to play with them but she weighs 45-50 pounds and has a powerful jaw so we all know that doesn't go well! They make collars that deliver more of a shock type bite and I know that is what she needs and at a higher level. Our invisible fence collars are like that and she is very respectful of the boundary for that. But she is also turned up much higher than Molly because the lower level wasn't enough to contain her.


Trish- I wouldn't be afraid to stop in to Leggs peafowl if you are interested. I read some bad reviews on one website online but it was two people who bought birds that got sick and they lost them. I imagine that kind of bad luck could happen to anyone and we all know how birds can be, fine one minute and gone the next. I was a little nervous about it so I read some more reviews and also a lot of folks on here know him and his farm. A couple years ago the UPA had a meeting in KC and they met at Leggs to see the new varieties he is working on. So overall I don't think it is a bad operation. I am happy with my pea chicks and they seem to be doing very well so far. They need to grow in a few feathers but I have gotten birds from other breeders that had been picked on in the brooder so I don't think its that uncommon when you have a large number of birds housed together. His property was well kept and all the birds I could see looked happy and clean. He has very nice pens and runs set up for all of them and uses commercial brooders for the chicks. I don't think anyone is perfect and sometimes selling and moving a bird stresses them enough that they become ill too so it is the risk you take anytime you buy a bird I think.

 

[averytds]

Congrats Hawkeye.

We've got our first fair down and school winding down, so hoping for pc time soon. Only up right now because I'm tuned up about the fair. I'm shocked, appalled, depressed, aggravated....I don't know....just all sorts of bad things.


The judge awarded Grand Champion to a little girl. About 15min later, the super told her mother she could keep the Rosette, but nothing else as the fair (judge not included) had decided not to give Grand and Reserve in anything to anyone under 7 years because it wouldn't be fair to the older kids. Because, well a 6 year old couldn't possibly have earned or deserved it. Twenty minutes later, they took her Rosette away!

This is a Youth Fair, not 4-H. They get their own fair in 2 weeks. We were told it was an unwritten rule/understanding that just hadn't been enforced in several years and what was wrong with us anyways that we were making such a big deal out of it. The 6 year old could just get over having her awards she'd earned at her only chance each year taken away because older kids might get upset losing to younger kids and not be able to get over it before their next chance in 2 weeks or again in 2 more weeks or again in 3 weeks?!?!?!? The only reason we even attend is for my youngest who isn't old enough for 4-H yet. Not an hour later another super was getting ready to give my little one a GC Rosette for something else and I had to decline it.

I'm just

right now!

 

[sapphireblu76]

Hawkeye, those fluffballs just don't look like chickens to me, they're too cute honestly, but I'm sure people who have never seen them before wonder what in the world they are. They're in a class all their own, that's for sure. I'm afraid they're just too fragile for me, I like the large fowl myself, but that's OK that's why there are so many breeds of chickens around so everyone can find one or more they like. My problem lately has been that I have found way too many that I like, lol.

Sapphire, no I never could get it pulled all the way around, I'm like 3-4 inches short of where I need to be, so I just gave up on it & I'll rig it to work. I used this big metal pole thing that my hubby uses to dig with & break rock with, it's really heavy & I would push it through the fence & dig it into the ground inside the pen & then pull the fence, but even with that I couldn't get it far enough. I already attached all the wires on the tops & bottom rails & tomorrow I'll just wire some other fence over that area & attach it. I'm going to put the chicken wire on the inside of the pen too just like I did on the turkey pen so the smaller birds can't get through the chain link. The Ameraucanas I'm putting in that pen aren't full grown yet, they're still young, so I don't want any escapees. It will take me another full evening probably to get all the wire put on the pen. Yeah after this experience I probably wouldn't buy this kind of pen again either, but it was available at the time I was looking for another pen so I bought it. I'm going to have to figure out when I get my breeder coop done how I want to do the pens, but that's down the road.

I got all of the Swedish Flower Hen chicks except that one all settled in a crate tonight & they're doing really well. I sure hope that other little guy recovers & is able to get on it's feet. I have had one or two like this before, but this one is pretty bad. I just keep giving it electrolytes & vitamin E & I still have it in the incubator. It does seem to be getting somewhat stronger, now if it could get it's balance & be able to walk it would be all right. It sure is a cute little thing. What we won't do for our chicks, huh. I only have one more egg in the incubator now, that is the Cream Legbar egg & then I'm done hatching for this year.

Here are the Swedish Flower Hen Chicks I just hatched:



They will change a lot in the next few weeks. I will have to try to get pics of the older ones so you can see what I mean. But there are quite a lot of colors in this bunch. I don't know if you can see it or not, but the black one in the back right may end up being crested, we'll see when it gets older, but it seems like it has kind of a poufy head. All of the chicks are different, the same as the first batch was.

Here are the Cream Legbars, this isn't the best photo because the flash just scared them & they're all puffed up:



There are two cockerels in there & three pullets, these can be sexed at hatch, that's what is nice about them.

Aww, I want them all! LOL! Very nice looking chicks you have there

Congrats Hawkeye.

We've got our first fair down and school winding down, so hoping for pc time soon. Only up right now because I'm tuned up about the fair. I'm shocked, appalled, depressed, aggravated....I don't know....just all sorts of bad things.


The judge awarded Grand Champion to a little girl. About 15min later, the super told her mother she could keep the Rosette, but nothing else as the fair (judge not included) had decided not to give Grand and Reserve in anything to anyone under 7 years because it wouldn't be fair to the older kids. Because, well a 6 year old couldn't possibly have earned or deserved it. Twenty minutes later, they took her Rosette away!

This is a Youth Fair, not 4-H. They get their own fair in 2 weeks. We were told it was an unwritten rule/understanding that just hadn't been enforced in several years and what was wrong with us anyways that we were making such a big deal out of it. The 6 year old could just get over having her awards she'd earned at her only chance each year taken away because older kids might get upset losing to younger kids and not be able to get over it before their next chance in 2 weeks or again in 2 more weeks or again in 3 weeks?!?!?!? The only reason we even attend is for my youngest who isn't old enough for 4-H yet. Not an hour later another super was getting ready to give my little one a GC Rosette for something else and I had to decline it.

I'm just

right now!

That is such a crock of $h*# I think I'd be ripping someone a new rear end.

 

[sharol]

When we were putting fencing around the run we put one of those long metal strip down through the end piece of the wire (wove it through all the links in the end one). My DH hooked a pull rope to the back of his heavy duty mower and pulled it with that. We were able to get enough tension on it to stretch it to where it was supposed to be.

Good luck with that, we were ready to throw in the towel.

Sharol

Welcome Schellie, I don't have pheasants & have too many projects myself right now, but maybe someone else can help you out.

Hawkeye, congrats on your win with your hen anyway. I think your rooster is a nice looking guy, like Danz said another judge may have seen him differently, it's subjective. It seems like there is a lot to learn about showing. I'm glad you're enjoying it all & your son is having a good time & learning lots too.

I went out earlier in the afternoon & tried to get that darned pen together, but I can't get the fencing tight enough around it to meet where it's supposed to. I tried using a pole to pull it with, but even with that I can't get it all the way. I'm thinking I'm just going to attach some other fence to it & call it good. I will be hooking chicken wire on the inside again anyway & covering the top, so I just can't see fighting with it any more. I'm not even sure with my DH's help we could get it pulled tight enough to get it all the way around, geez. Why do they have to make things so hard to put together? I'm going back out in a few minutes to hook on the top & bottom wires to hold it to the top & bottom frame & then I'll find something to fix that gap with & try to move the thing where it's supposed to go. I don't know if I can do that by myself or not. What a pain in the behind!

Well better get back out there, I was so soaked with sweat & about to fall over so I had to come in for awhile & rest & cool down, but now I need to go finish that the best I can & then do my chores.

 

[tweetysvoice]

I GOT MY FIRST EGG THIS MORNING!!!


Dunno who laid it, but of all things, I found it on the patio under the misters.. LOL! So excited! I guess its time to switch from the grower food to the layer food! (Think that will be ok for the silkies who aren't laying and 6 weeks behind?)

 

[Hawkeye95]

Congrats on the bread! How neat to be learning all that, too

Woo hoo! So sorry Zorro was not what they wanted him to be, but your birds are so nice looking, I'm sure you will have a great roo next year
Awwwwww!

this whole Fair experience has been wonderful and so much fun! Even though I'm sad about my rooster! LOL It's all a learning experience.

Hawkeye, those fluffballs just don't look like chickens to me, they're too cute honestly, but I'm sure people who have never seen them before wonder what in the world they are. They're in a class all their own, that's for sure.


Here are the Swedish Flower Hen Chicks I just hatched:



They will change a lot in the next few weeks. I will have to try to get pics of the older ones so you can see what I mean. But there are quite a lot of colors in this bunch. I don't know if you can see it or not, but the black one in the back right may end up being crested, we'll see when it gets older, but it seems like it has kind of a poufy head. All of the chicks are different, the same as the first batch was.

Here are the Cream Legbars, this isn't the best photo because the flash just scared them & they're all puffed up:



There are two cockerels in there & three pullets, these can be sexed at hatch, that's what is nice about them.

haha!! Yeah, I have had to take extra precautions with my silkies. But I'm okay with them being a delicate bird, it fits me. Your Swedish Flowers are CUTE!!! And those legbars already have amazing colors on them as chicks. So neat that you are getting into some of the most rare breeds around. Those guys go for big money. That would be fun to have a flock of amazing birds like that. And here I am thinking if I were to re-do this, I would get rid of everything I have except my silkies and WCBPolish. I enjoy them the most.

Congrats Hawkeye.

We've got our first fair down and school winding down, so hoping for pc time soon. Only up right now because I'm tuned up about the fair. I'm shocked, appalled, depressed, aggravated....I don't know....just all sorts of bad things.


The judge awarded Grand Champion to a little girl. About 15min later, the super told her mother she could keep the Rosette, but nothing else as the fair (judge not included) had decided not to give Grand and Reserve in anything to anyone under 7 years because it wouldn't be fair to the older kids. Because, well a 6 year old couldn't possibly have earned or deserved it. Twenty minutes later, they took her Rosette away!

This is a Youth Fair, not 4-H. They get their own fair in 2 weeks. We were told it was an unwritten rule/understanding that just hadn't been enforced in several years and what was wrong with us anyways that we were making such a big deal out of it. The 6 year old could just get over having her awards she'd earned at her only chance each year taken away because older kids might get upset losing to younger kids and not be able to get over it before their next chance in 2 weeks or again in 2 more weeks or again in 3 weeks?!?!?!? The only reason we even attend is for my youngest who isn't old enough for 4-H yet. Not an hour later another super was getting ready to give my little one a GC Rosette for something else and I had to decline it.

I'm just

right now!

Avery, that is insane!! I would be feeling all of those things, too!! I am so appalled at how that was handled, and that was just bogus. If that was a a Youth Fair and NOT 4-H--- then what business do they have taking away awards that the judge gave?? I just can't believe that they would do that. Our Cloverbuds are allowed to show, but not get anything more than a participating ribbon. It's just more for experience. But it is noted at the top of the cage card. But those rules are spelled out in the rules for everyone to be aware of before anyone goes to the fair. Was there an age limit to show on the Youth Fair? Because if the age limit is 6yrs old.... then THAT means they can place. You don't take away ribbons. Wow, what a mess. I'm so sorry your child had to go thru that; at 6 they certainly will not understand why they won and then had it taken away because of their age. This is just terrible.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I GOT MY FIRST EGG THIS MORNING!!!


Dunno who laid it, but of all things, I found it on the patio under the misters.. LOL! So excited! I guess its time to switch from the grower food to the layer food! (Think that will be ok for the silkies who aren't laying and 6 weeks behind?)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[sharol]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congrats from me too. That first egg is so eggciting

 

[chicken danz]

Tweety congrats on the egg! You should actually start feeding layer about 3 weeks before they should start laying. It won't hurt them to feed it early. If you are feeding grower it just doesn't contain as much fat and is higher in calcium.
Hawkeye I swear I am like Trish I prefer large fowl but those silkies are adorable. I do have a few of my bantams but only because they sell well and don't eat all that much. My silkies weren't any where near that cute.
Avery I would be so upset. I think I would write an editorial or something about it. Someone obviously doesn't have a heart.I know several 6 years old who are just as capable as some 16 year olds. That is an unjust and unfair assumption.
I have one kennel that is like that Trish. I put it together one time and I refuse to ever take it down. It was a royal pain. I buy the individual panels so I can add or subtract where ever I want. I don't have a clue how many I have at this point. Seems I buy more each time they are on sale. That's what I was wrestling with today for the turkeys. At least it is up and the blue slates have been moved. I might try to move my babies in the morning. They are so terribly spoiled I don't know how they'll do outside. I really need their bin for chicks though.
I was going to make a trip in the morning to pick up lavender eggs but the person I am buying from is 3 short. So that's been postponed.
I was wondering how I was going to juggle all I had to do today any way.
Our little rain didn't last long enough that it didn't all evaporate off within 30 minutes but it sure was great while it lasted. I saw there is a chance for today. It would be so great if it poured all day.
Josie I don't like birds on wire either. I am still waiting on my answer. I've been trying to get in touch with a gal that lives fairly close that raises several hundred a year. I would really love to go visit her place and see how they do. I thought about putting the peafowl in the brooder house but I sure am nervous about making sure there are no contaminates of any kind. I don't think I can keep him in the house until he is 4 months old. Unless things change I don't think wet ground will be a problem though. I read somewhere to worm them in the spring and fall. Maybe that was on the peafowl thread for BYC. Also that other people raise on wood with with wood chips rather than wire. I still haven't gotten any kind of answer on how many square feet per bird they need.
As far as my neighbor yes he felt bad about his dog. He said to call him if he showed back up down here. At the time I was thinking I'd be calling him to pick up the dead body. But my roo came out last night and I checked him out and he seems okay. He has so much crest and beard it was hard to tell if there were any injuries but I didn't see any.
I may try to make a trip to Leggs some day to check him out as well. I'm afraid I would come home with a lot less money in my pocket and a bunch of new kinds I wanted to get.