Consolidated Kansas

[Ivywoods]

g'morning everyone. I am beat. Long night at work. I'm dreading the next week because I know it is going to be hotter 'n haides. I sure hope I don't loose any more birds. I wish I had some more shade here, but I'll have plenty of shade once we move. I just hope I don't loose any more birds between now and then. Even once we move we are going to have to do some more work to get the place ready where I want to keep my birds.

It's going to be a very busy weekend for us. We've got so much to do to get this place ready to sell. Our farm ground will sell at auction this coming Tues. Everyone pray for a favorable auction! I still have not had an opening for a new positon come up, so we haven't listed the house yet. If things drag on too long we will go ahead and sell this house and I will move and take a different position. I can always advance once I get moved. There will be opportunities, I have no doubt. (eternal optimist here!)

Have a great day folks.... stay cool. Maybe enjoy some nice cold watermelon!

g'night.

 

[chicken danz]

Checoukan, If those sebbies are anything like mine I would jump on that deal. They were going for $110 each at the Gardner auction this spring. Someone local was selling some for $50 each but just because I knew who he was I wouldn't have paid $10 each for his birds. I would find out how old they are. If they were this years birds and related I might trade you a drake so we could each add another blood line here. You would love these guys. They are so comical. I love just going out and talking to mine because they are total clowns.
Ivy good luck finding a new job. I am with you. I believe you wouldn't have found such a perfect place if you weren't meant to be there regardless of employment. I would so love to have such a lovely home and land. Particularly that pond. My ducks would be thrilled.

 

[JosieChick]

I just bet you are exhausted from the fair, even if it is going well. It is a brutal heat week to be outside all day in hot barns.

Tory is 16 months old. She previously lived with a family where she had no opportunity to guard livestock. The family had numerous small children and they got her as a pup thinking she would guard the kids, but as she got older they found she was more interested in chasing coyotes so they kept her in a small pen to keep her from roaming. Realizing she was miserable, they wanted her to go to a home where she had a "job" and that was right after my fox attack when I was considering trying to find a LGD so it all worked out nicely. However as she had had no real exposure to poultry before (the family had chickens but she was penned while they were out free-ranging), I am not surprised she doesn't quite know how to behave around them.

Josie had suggested a shock collar to teach her to leave them alone and I am still considering that idea. However, at our old house, the chooks free-ranged the backyard but DH and the kids got tired of all the chicken poop on the deck so at the new place I agreed to build them a large chicken "yard" in which they could roam freely (it is 240x60) and never run out of grass/bugs, but at the same time they would be contained and not pooping where people want to walk barefoot. If they were free-ranging now, the shock collar would probably work really well as I could just hide, wait for her to approach a chicken, and then shock her to teach her that chickens "bite" and should be left alone. However as she doesn't regularly have the opportunity to approach them - it would only be the odd occasion when one gets out somehow - it makes it harder to know how to train her not to show interest. The chicken yard is off limits to the dogs and they all kind of know to stop at the gate and don't try to push in even when I am going in and out of the gate. I had considered taking her in the yard on leash and walking around, correcting her for any interest in the birds but not sure if that is a good idea? If I wasn't fast enough correcting and she did get hold of one, I would feel just horrible for putting them at risk.

Bummer about the chick. She is young still. Molly doesn't ever touch or even make direct eye contact with my chickens. Lucie gets a buzzer even if she makes direct eye contact and stares at the chickens. I don't think if you "set her up" she would harm the chickens unless you left her alone for a while with them. If you are right there she would probably never even make contact with them if she received a correction in time. I have watched Lucie and she tends to follow the chickens and when they start running and scattering it takes a long time before she ever grabs anyone by the tail and it isn't like a regular dog would "go for the jugular" kind of thing, it is a very soft mouthing, like they kind of pick them up and hold them gently. I have lost a few roos who flew over the pen fence and they don't have a wound on them, just all slobbery and slimy. I think she carries them around and they just die of the panic of being caught.

I am thinking one of these cool evenings I am going to set chickens up in a few wire rabbit cages on the ground and some baby chicks and put them out a ways from the pen and hide and wait until she "discovers" them and get her with the collar so she starts to learn that chickens outside the pen should be left alone too. If that goes well I may try leaving a few bigger ones loose and watching her and getting her with the collar if she even looks at them. I want her to learn that even when I am not around, the chickens bite! You have gone through all the crud I have gone through with the dogs in like two weeks! I keep telling DH that I want to post an ad for a really mean rooster, the kind that will attack things way bigger than it with no remorse and let the pup learn a good lesson about messing with the chickens! She is terrified of the geese, they chase her all over the yard!

I think that is an excellent idea Heather. If she has enough GP in here she will understand scolding for sure. Keep her on a leash. If you have a metal correction collar that would be the best way to get the message across. Say a firm NO! and yank on the leash. I would do this a few times and I'll bet she would understand it is strictly off limits.
I raise my pups in and around free range chickens so there really isn't issues. Sometimes when they are very young they will chase a chicken and a firm correction or two will usually stop the activity. Sometimes Cloud who is still quite young will run into the flock of ducks to make them scatter but she never chases them.
She made the mistake of trying that with the Sabastopols. They taught her a quick lesson!
Oh Josie, yesterday I heard a bunch of yelling and one of my red hens had gotten into the Sabastopol pen. One of the drakes decided he didn't want her there and was dragging her around by the head yelling at her. I ran in and he dropped the chicken. The chicken was unscathed but I'll be she thinks before she goes in there again. It was kind of funny after the fact but it sure wasn't looking favorable for the hen.
I'm wondering if I ever get the fence up and let the sebbies free range if they will become bossy with every one else.

Poor red hen! They tend to protect their own but the rest of my birds have learned to stay clear of them and they aren't a problem. They won't go looking for trouble but if someone is in their way or too close to a ganders girls they will go after them.

Have you tried corn syrup with your roo that was down? Maybe he is hypoglycemic from the stress and not eating? Might perk him up a bit.


Well I am off to get some stuff done! Clean the house, finish cleaning out the chicken pens, organize the feed area in the garage, plant some trees and plants. It never ends!

 

[Hawkeye95]

They were all fine at the last check this afternoon, but I found her laying down on her side with her wing out at the back corner of the pen.

Poor thing, I hope she is feeling better this morning? She/he is just gorgeous!!! I love the coloring on them!

I was so grateful for a break in the heat today. No rain but lots of clouds and we could hear thunder. Almost forgot what that sounded like. Some of my birds have started with the sneezing.

Hawkeye how are your birds doing?

Coyotes are out tonight. I hope to goodness everything we've done is enough. I just chased them away once. They were in the neighbor's yard where they haven't cut the hay, yet. Finally, the hay is cut immediately behind us and all that's left is the back half of the neighbor's yard to the west.

Birds are still sneezing, but I JUST got my Denagard in yesterday. I put it in the water this morning. Some of them seem to be a bit better, but most of them are still sneezing. It doesn't seem to be too serious....BUT, in this heat, I'm taking it very seriously. I'm hoping this drug kicks respiratory butt! hehe! I was reading about it this morning because on the bottle it didn't list any dosage for poultry! I was like-- whaaaa?? I didn't know how to dose it. SO in my reading, I discovered that this drug is not approved for poultry in the USA, but it is approved for pigs, which is why they can sell it here. In the UK and in Europe, people apparently use this stuff all the time and swear by it. So I got the dosing off of a UK site and then had to figure out all there silly math and put it into something I could work with. Then I found another site, where someone had already done the math for all the Americans asking the same question. Anyway, I'm hopeful! I hope those coyotes are deterred by the fence and the new screens. Our coyotes are BOLD-- they come right up to our back deck, but I haven't seen them up here in a while.

Hawkeye- I don't know if its cooler, it sure doesn't feel like it sometimes! We have a heavily wooded area and the horses hang out in there during the day so that helps. Plus mine are younger still for the most part aside from Denver who is 17, I think. You have some older mares right? My old quarter horse mare never dealt with the heat well at all. It has been so miserable out.

You can come up to my house and take all the cedar you want!!!! People up here treat it like a weed.

You lucky dog, to have all of those trees for the horses! No wonder they are doing better than mine! Yeah, I have two mares that are much older. My gelding is the one I mainly ride now because he's a lot younger. I wish cedar would just spring up in my yard! All we get are those mulberry trees and they want to grow into my foundation. SO I am always cutting them and spraying them with killer.

My Molly did try to stand tonight, drank some in her own and started resisting the syringe. She even ate some yogurt and a couple of meal worms. The corn syrup really did help! Thank you Josie!! She is still far from being OK, though, just stands with her head down and tires out from eating and drinking very quickly. I added more ice bottles and another mister in my coop. If they are waterlogged, I guess that is better than overheated. I will just have to change out their straw daily, to keep it from molding??

Hope your birdie is feeling better this morning! Everyone seems to be nursing a heat stroke.

I am starting to tire out. I was gonna stay up and clean the house but I worked outside all day today, bathed 3 horses, cleaned pens, moved stuff and fixed fencing, scrubbed out all the kiddie pools with diluted bleach...I am tuckered out. Guess I will have to get up tomorrow and get to work early. Don't want the in laws to come up on Sunday and think I am slacking off up here! Stay cool everyone!

YIKES!! That is a ton of work! I would be tired out, too! When it's cooler, it sounds about as busy as I keep myself outside. But in this heat, everthing gets put to the backburner. I need to mow, but heck if I am going to do that! LOL I'm sure you can pull your house together before everyone gets there. The kitchen is my worst place in the house. I manage to keep up on everything else... but the kitchen is what does me in. I have no room in there. If we end up staying, we are building an addition. We've talked about it for years... and we've put it off for various reasons and mostly the last couple because Boeing was so unstable. I hope DH gets a good solid job so we can add on my dream kitchen!

Yes, and you will have to water them to keep them alive until the drought breaks. You practically need a pickaxe to get through the crust.

Indeed, it was like digging into rock. Bleah.

These guys started out in my bathtub Then into a rabbit hutch.. time for them to move!

Am getting 5 guinea keets Tuesday that will move into the hutch for a bit.

Hope everyone is surviving this heat - I made the sugar/salt/potassium/baking soda water for my chickens and am going to use that anything the temps are 99 or higher. Am glad I found that

Pictures!!!

Last summer when it was so hot (116 here for a couple of days and over 110 for quite a few more) I don't remember people having the losses they are this year. I wonder what the difference is.

I have a couple of misters going from late morning until the girls go in, and they are smart enough to stay in the shade and mist areas. Last night I hooked the people door open (it faces north and there was a north/east breeze) and sat out there in a lawn chair getting chiggers until nearly 10 trying to get the temp in the coop down a bit. It was 87 outside and 96 in the coop at 9, but by 9:30 the temps were about the same. It wasn't cool, but at least it wasn't quite as hot.

It is quite a bit cooler this morning than it was yesterday at this time, so I'm hopeful.

Maybe the heat index is worse?? But how could that be? Last summer was far hotter. But maybe two years of heat and a mild winter... either way, it's not looking good.

I think Lucie probably will get it fairly soon. Tory is doing okay. I don't really like her level of interest in the birds and I think she may have killed one.
I'm glad to hear she is a little better. How is she this morning?

Uh oh, sorry about your poor little chick. On the up side, it's a good thing she didn't eat it. I think it's a great idea to take her into the yard on a leash and correct her for too much interest.

Good morning everyone, I am running late, so thought I might as well make it real late.

So far all is going well and I have not lost any birds to the heat. I have a high speed fan blowing in the chicken barn. So I keep knocking on wood!!

Saturday the fair ends at 10 PM and man am I ready. starting to take a toll on all of us, doesn't look like we will get any relief from the heat, and I think it is going to keep heating up for a few more days anyway.

Everyone please be careful outside, and drink lots of water.

That is great that you have no losses! I hope the fair continues to go well and the birds all stay healthy out there. Hope you are having a good time, even though the heat is zapping your energy level.

I had a lot of catch up reading to do.
My rooster is still staring into space but he did jump out of his box once yesterday. He still isn't eating which really worries me.

I told DH last night I have always liked sunny gardens and haven't cared to have too many trees but now I would be happy to have an entire yard full of trees. I wish I knew the secret to the volunteer trees. How they can come up and grow without any attention or water and thrive. I have about 4 in my iris garden that need to be removed. I think I may leave one of them as much as it is bad placement. The others have to go though because they are right beside an existing tree and would never do anything.
I can't believe some of you had rain yesterday. We never had a cloud in the sky and it certainly didn't cool down at all.
We took the boat out to the lake last evening. The water was perfectly calm cause there was no wind. That is the first time I've ever jumped off the boat into the water and not had a bit of a chill initially.
I have another busy day planned today. Plus I have to get laundry all done and get my granddaughter packed to go back to Colorado tomorrow. The time really has gone fast and we haven't gotten to do a lot of what we planned. But I think she has enjoyed herself just the same.
I am sorry for all the losses every one is having. I do hope this weather breaks even though it doesn't look promising in the forecast. They can be wrong all winter so maybe they'll be wrong now.

Your rooster is really having a tough time, poor guy! So neat that you all got to go boating! Fun!! Yeah, I'm all about trees on my property. It'll take a looooong time before I see these trees get any size on them. I'm trying to concentrate on fast growing trees-- maples and ash. I do have a globe willow that I think is growing before my eyes. I think I'll have to get more of those! My apple trees are also doing really, really good! Of course, I water trees almost every single morning. Glad your granddaughter and you had a really fun time together.

 

[Trish44]

HeChicken, you asked how my little Swedish Flower Hen chick is today, it's not doing so well. It seems to have some neurological damage from the heat stroke. I gave it some electrolytes again this morning & some vitamin E to see if that would help any. I got woken up several times during the night with it flopping around in the crate, it can't stand so it just flops around. I'm just letting it rest in-between giving it electrolytes. I may try some yogurt in a syringe after while to see if that perks it up any. The poor thing I just feel so sorry for it.

I went out when I got up & it was already hotter than hades out there, not a good sign first thing. I went ahead & wet some areas down for the chickens & checked to make sure everyone has enough water. I'll go back out after while & check them all again. I did freeze some bottles of water last night. I saw an idea on another thread when I was searching last night for ways to keep everyone cool. This gal had taken ice packs, but you could use bottles too, & had put a plastic tub on it's side & then put the ice packs at the back of it so they kind of created an air conditioned effect in the tub. I have a tub like that in my pen out there for the chicks just to have something for them to get in & on, they have been playing in it. I think I'm going to put a 2 liter frozen bottle in there today & see if they go in there. I wish I had more room in my freezer & I would freeze more bottles, I have the bottles, just not the room for them right now. I may have to go see if there is anything in there that needs to be thrown out. I could see using that tub even in other places so the chickens could just walk in there when they want to or have more than one. I think it's a pretty good idea. I have quite a few of those storage tubs that are empty now out in my garage that I could put to use if I had enough frozen bottles.

Everyone be careful today, it's going to be awful out there & good luck with keeping everything cooled down, I think we're all going to need it.

 

[chicken danz]

Well good news I think. After Josie's post yesterday about the neurological damage I started giving the rooster some vitamin E along with all the other stuff I was giving him by dropper. This morning I gave him more. He has actually drank an entire bowl of pedialite, probiotics, sweetener and water and eaten almost an entire raw egg. There's hope! That is the first food he had consumed. He really fought me giving him the vitamin E this morning so that encouraged me.
I'm not going to put him back outside for several days as long as he continues to improve, I had heat exhaustion once and it took about 2 years before I could tolerate the heat. I am going to assume that animals are the same.
He's got a ways to go yet but just seeing him eat and drink on his own again has given me hope. I just hope if he recovers that his reproductive system remained in tact.

 

[JosieChick]

Well good news I think. After Josie's post yesterday about the neurological damage I started giving the rooster some vitamin E along with all the other stuff I was giving him by dropper. This morning I gave him more. He has actually drank an entire bowl of pedialite, probiotics, sweetener and water and eaten almost an entire raw egg. There's hope! That is the first food he had consumed. He really fought me giving him the vitamin E this morning so that encouraged me.
I'm not going to put him back outside for several days as long as he continues to improve, I had heat exhaustion once and it took about 2 years before I could tolerate the heat. I am going to assume that animals are the same.
He's got a ways to go yet but just seeing him eat and drink on his own again has given me hope. I just hope if he recovers that his reproductive system remained in tact.

Oh good!! That is wonderful news! I hope he continues to improve! I just hung up my last tarp for shade over the big girls run in and boy does that make a huge difference. I bought a heavier duty one and I wish I had spent the money on the other tarps and bought the heavier gray ones for everyone instead of the lighter blue ones because it blocks the sunlight a lot better and was so much cooler once I hung it up!

I read on a post somewhere on here about making swamp tents. You take large pieces of burlap and can hang it over things then spray it down with water and the evaporating water cools the air. I guess people use it to stay cool in the jungles. I don't know where to find burlap though. Guess I will have to make a trip to a fabric store. Our wal mart in Paola is like the last wal mart to still carry fabric, maybe I should check there.

Stay cool all!

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Just went and checked on my 5 chicks (2 months old) and they're doing great - active, eating, drinking, etc. They're in a rabbit hutch in an area with some fairly decent shade...

I will get some photos of my temp chick coop later this evening. Basically - it is a surplus box that we cut some holes in and reinforced the edges. All I have to do is get a little fenced area up for them to run around. This is just a temp coop - will eventually be used for broilers - but am going to start building the real deal for the layers in a few weeks.

Boyfriend came out this afternoon and we had delicious BLTs for lunch along with chips/salsa and cantaloup... YUMM! I am glad I took half a day off from work

 

[Hawkeye95]

Just went and checked on my 5 chicks (2 months old) and they're doing great - active, eating, drinking, etc. They're in a rabbit hutch in an area with some fairly decent shade...

I will get some photos of my temp chick coop later this evening. Basically - it is a surplus box that we cut some holes in and reinforced the edges. All I have to do is get a little fenced area up for them to run around. This is just a temp coop - will eventually be used for broilers - but am going to start building the real deal for the layers in a few weeks.

Boyfriend came out this afternoon and we had delicious BLTs for lunch along with chips/salsa and cantaloup... YUMM! I am glad I took half a day off from work

oh that is so neat to use a surplus box! We used one of those when I was a kid. We got one of the great big airplane wood boxes that was about 5 ft high. My dad put on a V shaped roof and a door and lots of flip down "windows" (basically holes with hardware cloth over it) and we used that for birds. We had little coop areas everywhere-- we had a horse stall all wired in for more birds, the backyard chain link fencing kept in our geese and ducks.. we were a bird haven there. LOL! Would love to see photos of what you're doing.

ETA-- those sandwiches sound heavenly in this kind of weather with chips and salsa. I could really go for that tonight! mmmm..

 

[lizzyGSR]

I know there's been a lot of talk on here recently about GPs as LGDs. There's an ad in the "Western Kansas Online Marketplace" on FB for some... If you're interested in these dogs, let me know and I'll get you the contact information for the person who has them.

The ad:
"I need to find homes for my dogs the city of goodland just came and told me they have to go....i have two pure bread great pyrennese one male one female both intact i also have a male pup mix great pyrennese and dalmation and a two year old same mix dalmation n pyrennese female!"