Consolidated Kansas

[pikeman94]

Sapphire, I meant to tell you your marans are beautiful, I love the splash hen! I have a roo just like that, his name is Rusty & he is getting just huge. I got him to go with my BC Marans hens because the roo I had died. My marans hens are looking really ragged right now due to the heat, in fact all of my adult hens look pretty ragged right now, this summer isn't doing them any favors for sure. I just hope they all make it through it.

I agree with that! My 5 mature hens are laying only about 2-3 eggs a day. I actually had a day where no one laid an egg. This weather can suck it!

 

[chicken danz]

Okay let's all put our minds together and think rain and 75 degrees. Maybe a combination of the minds working together will make a difference.

 

[JosieChick]

My dog has been running away with the ducks' food bowl(s). I think he's even been helping them eat their food, even though he's got plenty of his own. I've got a growing gosling that I've been trying to feed, so the dog helping them eat their food means that the gosling doesn't get her share.

Any ideas on what I could do to stop this behavior?

Also, my ducks have been "free ranging", which seems to just mean that they hang out underneath a tree outside of their pen. Is this because of the heat? Will they free range more once it cools down? I tried to move them to the yard where there's more grass/bugs for them to eat and no trees, and they turned tail and ran back to "their tree" as soon as I stopped watching them. They're gonna kill what little grass is in the yard if they don't move around the yard a little more!

Lizzygsr- Have you tried a big feed pan with a huge rock in it? Thats what I did with Lucie when she kept carrying their dog food bowls off and they would just have to eat around the rock when I fed them! I am sure he is eating their feed, I have to feed everyone shut in their pens or the dogs would live on chicken and goose feed!

Grand Champion Rosecomb pullet, Same pullet Overall Grand Champion

Its hot!!!

Congratulations checoukan!!!! That is awesome!

Yeah you'll be having mixed duck eggs soon!

Tweety- Love the duck dance!! hahaha, they are so silly those ducks, mine get in the pool and do that too but I haven't seen any of that action going on yet!!! I am sure I will soon. There is something about a fresh pool that just gets ducks and geese going!

Okay let's all put our minds together and think rain and 75 degrees. Maybe a combination of the minds working together will make a difference.

Ok, I'm thinkin real hard about rain and 75 degrees. It makes it feel a lot hotter outside though when I am thinking about 75.....

That darn broody, I let her out of the vari kennel this morning and she just took off and those babies were screaming their little heads off and she never even came back for them. She was walking all around clucking like a broody does but she never came back to near where they were so I took them from her. They are too cute and sweet to let her neglect them and I don't want them to die out there!

The little polish chicks are the best of friends today! So cute. I swear, I don't know how they know they are both polish but they do!

So I am kind of aggravated with Ideal. I ordered chicks from them and so far several "pullets" are getting kinda big rooish looking combs. I mean, I expect one mistake but several?? And, I ordered two black australorp cockerels and they are feathering in like barred rocks!!! I don't want barred rock cockerels! I am less than impressed with this experience. I don't know if I should call or not, what does everyone think? I don't really want to get more chicks that I have to grow out and feed but I am a bit aggravated because now I have a ton more birds to feed out and butcher. Ugh. I have ordered chicks from meyers in the past and had a great experience and only had one accidental cockerel in 3 orders. Maybe I should just stick with them.

I moved all my big laying girls over to the metal run in last night and my banties into the big girls coop. I am trying to get the big girls closer to the gate so I can start free ranging them but boy they didn't like that move! I went out this morning and 3/4 of them were back in the original pen so I had to block the gate with a big rubber tote so they can't squeeze back into their old stomping grounds!

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks! My ducks are about 21 weeks old now. They just started this behavior no more than a couple weeks ago.

Okay, so it sounds like they mature in around the same time frame as chickens - good to know. That means mine still have a ways to go but they are already huge! I started with six and the fox got two of them and it looks like he got both hens. The lady I got them from vent sexed them and said she gave me 2 males, 4 females, which is what I wanted. I kept waiting for the gender differences to show up. I had read that around 6 weeks the boys would start to get bigger and longer than the girls, but six weeks came and went and they still all looked the same. Then the fox came and got two, and now two weeks later, two of them are obviously a lot bigger than the other two. It just took more like 8 weeks instead of 6 for the size difference to show up. I wish I hadn't lost any but if I had to lose some, I would have chosen for one of them to be a male, so I'd have more breeding females. Oh well. It is what it is. I'd rather have two pairs than for them all to be one gender.

 

[Trish44]

I was just outside & it's sizzling out there already, ugh. The bigger chicks that I moved last night look pretty comfortable over in their shady pen, I think I'm going to go back out in a bit & move the 4 Swedish Flower Hen chicks in there too, they're getting pretty good sized now. They keep trying to get out every time I open the pen door. I wish there was a way for me to move that whole pen over in the shade, but I put it together in the run & I don't have any way to get it back out other than take it apart & I really don't want to have to do that. KarenS, your DH is so good at building those little pens you have, maybe I should get him to build me one, ha! I sure do like those though.

Well I'm pretty sure what I have in the turkey pen are two trios, so I'm going to have to pick out the trio I want & sell the other one. Anybody want a trio of Royal Palms? They're starting to eat a lot more feed, so I think it's about time for about half of them to go. I want to band the 3 I want to keep so I can keep them straight, does anybody know where to get some colored bands cheap? I don't want to buy a bunch, but I'm thinking of banding the peacocks too & I would like more than one color. They have to be easy to get on because with my arthritis I don't have a lot of strength in my hands. I read that those spiral ones are pretty tricky to get on. I was thinking of maybe those numbered ones because I read they pop off if they get too tight.

The little peafowl chicks are growing, they're about twice the size already that they were when they came & they're eating well. I'm so happy that I finally got some that are thriving. I haven't brought up the visit to the peacock farm yet to my DH, there isn't any reason to until closer to time for us to go up there, he will forget I ever mentioned it by then anyway.

Pikeman, yeah my hens aren't laying very well right now either, but can you really blame them in this heat? I wouldn't lay either if I were them. I built that nice 6 hole nest box for them all & now only about half of them use it, the other half make a nest on the floor in the shavings & some out in the straw in the run, kind of aggravating after all the work I put into building the thing. I put nest pads in them to try to keep them cleaner & some of them don't like those, so I think I'm going to have to take them out & just put shavings back in there, picky girls. My two BC Marans I think are being broody again & they want to sleep in the nest boxes. I didn't know the Marans were such broody hens, but these two sure have been. I would rather they would lay, I love seeing those chocolate eggs.

I noticed on the Poultry Swap that now that I quit hatching there are several people looking for Ameraucana chicks, it figures. Oh well, I'm pretty burned out on hatching for now so I'm glad I'm done except for that one egg, I need a break from it. It's too darned hot to put the chicks out in the brooders & it's been a mess having to have them in the utility room & storage room. I'm down to the one crate now & I'm glad. Next year I'm going to try to start hatching earlier & quit earlier I think. Most of the people that hatch every year stop at the end of May, I think with the way our summers have been that is probably pretty smart.

 

[cherwill]

Okay let's all put our minds together and think rain and 75 degrees. Maybe a combination of the minds working together will make a difference.

 

[michelleml]

Okay let's all put our minds together and think rain and 75 degrees. Maybe a combination of the minds working together will make a difference.

I've been doing this all day and it's not working come on cooler weather and rain

 

[Trish44]

OK, who can do a rain dance? We sure need some rain here, it's just like a desert here, everything is dying & we have dust clouds when any wind comes up. This is just an awful summer, I usually like summer, but I honestly can't wait for this one to be over. I went out & sprayed off my rabbits & wet down birds & put the mister in the pen for the younger chicks. Even those poor little chicks are panting like crazy. I couldn't get them to come over to the mister, so I had to kind of put it on them for a minute or two for them to get the idea. The older ones outside the pen were trying to get in so they could get in it. I sprayed them off some too & gave the turkeys their pan of water to walk around in. I do think I'm going to go out when it cools a bit & haul some more dirt up to make sure the little chicks can't get under the pen & move all of them over to the shade. It's just too hot in that run for them, at least they would have shade where that new pen is. I know it's still hot, but if you at least have shade it's a few degrees cooler. Then I can just put the mister out there for them all tomorrow. I had to run two silly hens out of the coop who were just sitting in the nest boxes panting, silly girls. They weren't laying, just sitting in there. At least the others have the sense to go to the shade under the bushes & trees & it's even better when I spray their favorite bush & just let the water drip down under there. I wet the ground under the bush too so they can have something wet & cool to sit in to cool off. They don't like it when I'm spraying it with the hose, but they go back in when I'm done.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish, I can't do a rain dance but I can do a Chicken Danz!

It was so miserable today and I haven't hardly accomplished anything.
I finally took my grand daughter to the creek and we caught frogs, tadpoles and minnows. At least it gave her something to do where it wasn't so miserable hot.
I have my partridge cochin rooster in here. He was almost gone. I got him in the house and set him in water for probably 20 minutes. Then he started shaking really bad even though the water wasn't cold. So I took him out laid him on a towel and covered him with another one. I figured he was going into shock. He laid there about an hour on his side before he could sit up. He is now walking around the dining room but he still is a little unsteady on his feet. Poor guy. I sure hope he will be okay. I don't have a good replacement bird for him.
I have the misters running today but some of the birds aren't near them.
I just hate this darned weather. We were going to take the boat out but DH is working on the carburetor. We haven't taken it out for a couple of years. I'm like Trish. I've always been a summer person but I'm not a desert person.

 

[michelleml]

we can see some storm clouds but not sure if will get any of it. The wind has picked up in the last five minutes we've been signing a rain song so maybe will get some

Danz have you tried this i just used plan salt
Heat stress and dehydration deplete the body of electrolytes required for a chicken's normal body functioning, therefore replenishing them is a priority when chickens suffer from heat stress and/or dehydration. The following instructions for making a homemade electrolyte solution can be found in The Chicken Encyclopedia, a book I highly recommend every chicken-keeper include in their library.

HOMEMADE ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION

1/2 teaspoon salt substitute
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 gallon water

*Note: Salt substitute is readily available in most grocery stores in the spice aisle near the salt, but if you do not have it, don't worry.​