Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Rob these chicks are in a bin inside my house. That is my point. They are in the most controlled environment I can create simply because I am trying to raise them without problems in this heat and exposure to any outside conditions. Not really a chance of anything getting to them. I've been so careful.
I'm trying to figure out a way to mount one of those big barn fans in my chicken trailer for next year. If I open the wall to accommodate it then I am going to have a gaping hole to cover for winter. But it will be way too hot in there in the summer if I don't get some good air flow going. Anyone have any ideas on this. Not that I've been out there working in that oven but need to get back to it as soon as the weather cools some.
I heard on the news our median high temp for the month of July is 105. The normal median temp for the month of July is 89. Yeah It's hot!
I need to go do some shopping. I am about out of dog food. I also need to buy some groceries. We are having a dinner for my Dad who is turning 89 on Thursday. I've got to do some cooking. Also have another dinner at church next Sunday I have to cook for.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Karen, you crack me up! You and I are so much alike. I have bins and cages all over my house because I can't just let something suffer. They get moved but they always come back. Your husband is a keeper for sure.
The little lemon cuckoo died during the night and now I am really worried. I just changed bins and bedding yesterday evening. It seems like it would have surely had a problem before that. I am just totally confused where a cold might have come from. I guess I'll keep pouring on the probiotics and try to watch every one really close. Maybe I'm not supposed to raise these pretty birds after all. I sure seem to have lousy luck with them. I am starting to wonder about feed now. I wonder if it is possible that some viruses can come from the chick starter. With all the other problems lately I guess it is possible. I am using Purina right now, but not one of the recalled lot numbers.
I'll check into the denagard. My apothecary keeps growing. Probably won't order it though unless I have another bird come down with a cold. I have duramycin, tylan, and baytril all here already. It's just that I keep encountering some new problem like in this case, a young chick that I don't know how to dose. I do like the idea of self adjusting on dosage. That is the biggest worry I had about Baytril. I was too worried I was over dosing with it.

I know!!! I didn't want to use Baytril this time (I still have some) because I didn't want to inject 20 something birds AND most of them are still too young to guess on dosage. I knew the Duramycin hasn't worked for me in the past and I have already looked for Tylan with no luck. I guess this Denagard came up at the right time and reading about how breeders use this over in Europe and all the great reveiws for CRD, it sounded like a win-win. Not loving the fact I spent $55 on it, though. But now I have it and used it for 5 days, I can see it's going to go a long way. I'm glad to have it on hand now. Is there a Tylan that is water soluable?? That would be great, too if there were! I'm so sorry about your lemon cuckoo-- those are gorgeous!

 

[schellie69]

Well today has started out bad, 2 of my dogs got out of the back fence someone had taken the pen out so the gate could be open. I have 3 possible reasons that the pin could have been pulled
1. some kids got into the yard to steal eggs (I did not gather eggs yesterday and might be short some).
2. My DD ex-husband sneaking around for whatever reason
3. Kids cutting through my yard to get to the alley (but neighbor has a shorter fence so easier to cut through her yard)
I got a dog at large ticket $125 So seeing red right now. Need to figure out who is messing with my gate. need to see if the kids want to have an over night camp out in the back yard to see if someone is trying to steal eggs or just causing me trouble.
My poor DS's birthday is today and it was his dog that got out so now he feels like he should help pay for the ticket. So just hope this day gets better. I need to water my garden tonight since I have planted my fall crops. I hope I get a decent harvest out of them this fall. I hope things cool off soon.

I will say Saturday was a great day we took the grand daughters 3 and 2 to the park early in the morning no one was there and it was really nice had almost 2 hours of just watching them play. spent Sunday rearranging their toys and the living room now working on thinning out the other parts of the house. Been doing house projects just to hot for outside projects.

Stay as cool as you can.

 

[pikeman94]

Whew! Busy weekend. I managed to get my hop oast cabinet built. Now I need to make the trays for it. Then, I can harvest and dry my hops.

Last night I moved the little ones outside. 3 of the five are definitely looking roo-ish. The jury is still out though. Now, if they are roos I can't keep them and as they were given to me I can't sell them either. So I will offer the Cuckoo Marans roos for free to anyone on the thread. Just PM me and we can make arrangements.

Back to the thing I call a job.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Danz, funny but the birds are a lot quieter than our yappy little dogs! Those silly dogs loved having the chickens in the bedroom. Jorgie couldn't get to them but just licked the cages. He loves everybody and everything. Reggie kept trying to reach in to bop them on the head through the wire kennel, so I put it up on a cedar chest in my closet and that put a stop to that nonsense. What a menagerie! I had an old cockatiel sized bird cage that I put the little Serama in and she loved it. She loved that it had two roosts and immediately flew to the top one. So cute. She fits really great in there too. I thought to myself -- would it be totally weird to keep a chicken in a birdcage?

You guys are so right -- I need A/C in the craftroom and hen house and I would already have it if it weren't back-to-school season. I've just dropped a cool $3,000 for clothes and supplies. Ouch! I desperately want at least one A/C unit but we need to pay off the credit card before we go there. I already have a dehumidifier so I've closed up the craftroom this a.m. while it's still relatively cool and am running the dehumidifier. That should help maintain a lower temp than outside today. I think my mistake last night at the big birds pen was to stop running puddles after 6:00pm. It was still just too hot and I should have continued with the puddles.

My little Wellie that wasn't doing so well died while I was holding it and trying to get it to take a little water this morning. Broke my heart.

I really worked on that little bird but it was just too far gone. I am so sick of this heat. We've had clouds all morning and there was a nice rain north of us, but it fell apart right before it reached us. At least we still have some clouds -- I hope that holds all day and keeps these temps down. I can dream, can't I?

One of the Ameraucanas just isn't growing like the others. It seems active and healthy but it's just tiny and staying that way. I keep hoping it'll have a growth spurt.

Another swim party is set for this afternoon. At least the kids are well entertained at home. I just don't want to go anywhere while this heat is threatening my birds.

 

[chicken danz]

Actually Karen there are several people who keep Seramas as inside cage birds. That is one reason the size A or smallest ones bring a much higher price. I had my original Seramas in my basement for their first year. They had never been outside. I kept them in because they weren't supposed to be cold hearty, but they are as hearty as any other bantam. The guy that bought those 50 breeding stock birds from me wrote a couple days ago and he is so thrilled. He said the ones that hatched from the original eggs I gave him free had turned out to be excellent with beautiful coloring and were tiny. He has really made a ton of money from them. I just didn't have the market here. These country folks just don't see the use for a tiny chicken I guess. I should probably sell the rest but I do like them, and every once in awhile I sell some because someone sees them here and falls in love.
Rob you are more than welcome to sell those birds if you want. They were a gift. And a gift means you can do what you want to with them.You have also put money into them feeding them. You might as well re-coop some of your investment.
It was cloudy here but it looks like the sun is burning through. Darn it! I haven't been out yet. I'm just being lazy so far today.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well today has started out bad, 2 of my dogs got out of the back fence someone had taken the pen out so the gate could be open. I have 3 possible reasons that the pin could have been pulled
1. some kids got into the yard to steal eggs (I did not gather eggs yesterday and might be short some).
2. My DD ex-husband sneaking around for whatever reason
3. Kids cutting through my yard to get to the alley (but neighbor has a shorter fence so easier to cut through her yard)
I got a dog at large ticket $125 So seeing red right now. Need to figure out who is messing with my gate. need to see if the kids want to have an over night camp out in the back yard to see if someone is trying to steal eggs or just causing me trouble.
My poor DS's birthday is today and it was his dog that got out so now he feels like he should help pay for the ticket. So just hope this day gets better. I need to water my garden tonight since I have planted my fall crops. I hope I get a decent harvest out of them this fall. I hope things cool off soon.

I will say Saturday was a great day we took the grand daughters 3 and 2 to the park early in the morning no one was there and it was really nice had almost 2 hours of just watching them play. spent Sunday rearranging their toys and the living room now working on thinning out the other parts of the house. Been doing house projects just to hot for outside projects.

Stay as cool as you can.

oh no! So sorry about the ticket. I bet it was some kids messing around. Do you have a bicycle chain? When I go on trail rides, I use a cute pink bicycle chain with combination lock on it to close the gate on my stalls. I don't trust their locks and don't want my horse "walking off" in the middle of the night. So if you can put a bicycle chain thru the chain link and the gate, it won't matter if anyone pulls the pin or even lifts the lock-- it still won't come undone. UNLESS they get serious and use wire cutters, and in that case, I'd call the police. But until someone uses wire cutters on your chain, I'd go with the kids theory. I would put the chain on, take a picture of it on your phone or somewhere easy to get to. Then if anything happens you can show the measures you have gone to.

Whew! Busy weekend. I managed to get my hop oast cabinet built. Now I need to make the trays for it. Then, I can harvest and dry my hops.

Last night I moved the little ones outside. 3 of the five are definitely looking roo-ish. The jury is still out though. Now, if they are roos I can't keep them and as they were given to me I can't sell them either. So I will offer the Cuckoo Marans roos for free to anyone on the thread. Just PM me and we can make arrangements.

Back to the thing I call a job.

So that means-- more brewing, right? Mmmmm Hope you don't wind up with too many little roos.

Danz, funny but the birds are a lot quieter than our yappy little dogs! Those silly dogs loved having the chickens in the bedroom. Jorgie couldn't get to them but just licked the cages. He loves everybody and everything. Reggie kept trying to reach in to bop them on the head through the wire kennel, so I put it up on a cedar chest in my closet and that put a stop to that nonsense. What a menagerie! I had an old cockatiel sized bird cage that I put the little Serama in and she loved it. She loved that it had two roosts and immediately flew to the top one. So cute. She fits really great in there too. I thought to myself -- would it be totally weird to keep a chicken in a birdcage?

You guys are so right -- I need A/C in the craftroom and hen house and I would already have it if it weren't back-to-school season. I've just dropped a cool $3,000 for clothes and supplies. Ouch! I desperately want at least one A/C unit but we need to pay off the credit card before we go there. I already have a dehumidifier so I've closed up the craftroom this a.m. while it's still relatively cool and am running the dehumidifier. That should help maintain a lower temp than outside today. I think my mistake last night at the big birds pen was to stop running puddles after 6:00pm. It was still just too hot and I should have continued with the puddles.

My little Wellie that wasn't doing so well died while I was holding it and trying to get it to take a little water this morning. Broke my heart.

I really worked on that little bird but it was just too far gone. I am so sick of this heat. We've had clouds all morning and there was a nice rain north of us, but it fell apart right before it reached us. At least we still have some clouds -- I hope that holds all day and keeps these temps down. I can dream, can't I?

One of the Ameraucanas just isn't growing like the others. It seems active and healthy but it's just tiny and staying that way. I keep hoping it'll have a growth spurt.

Another swim party is set for this afternoon. At least the kids are well entertained at home. I just don't want to go anywhere while this heat is threatening my birds.

wow, with 8 kids, I think I can understand the money issue with back to school. Sigh. Most of those AC units were $80, but if you don't have it, you don't have it. Totally understandable. I'm really sorry about your Wellie. I'm with you, I've been OVER this heat since it started. I can handle it for a while, but not when there is just no end in sight. Then it just starts stressing me out and ruining my summer. I've had no fun out here either. I'm hosing down a senior horse daily and taking extreme measures to keep animals alive. Bleah. I hate Fall and winter.... but screw it!! BRING IT ON!!!

 

[chicken danz]

I'm with you, I've been OVER this heat since it started. I can handle it for a while, but not when there is just no end in sight. Then it just starts stressing me out and ruining my summer. I've had no fun out here either. I'm hosing down a senior horse daily and taking extreme measures to keep animals alive. Bleah. I hate Fall and winter.... but screw it!! BRING IT ON!!!

LOL Hawkeye! My sentiments exactly! I keep praying for a real fall this year. Not a jump into winter. A fall with rain too! And I truly hate fall and winter.
I was reading the farmers almanac site yesterday. They said cooler than normal temps for July. But they are also predicting another winter with little snowfall. I was thinking maybe they'll be off as far this winter as they were this summer. I certainly don't desire a bunch of snow and ice but it would be moisture. I think with this continued heat the birds immune systems are going to be wrecked. If we have an influx of colds like last year we could loose all of our birds. I think my strategy is going to be to add lots of probiotics this fall, if any of the birds manage to survive that long!

 

[sharol]

Some of the "attic" whole house fans have a panel that opens when the fan is on and closes when it is off. the air flow makes the slats open. At least that would give you some cover in the winter. You could also put insulation in the hole. The fan would hold it in on one side and you could cover it with chicken wire or hardware wire on the other side with some staples. I agree that the fan would be a great idea. Would you be putting hardware wire on the inside to keep them from flying into the blades?

I'm trying to figure out a way to mount one of those big barn fans in my chicken trailer for next year. If I open the wall to accommodate it then I am going to have a gaping hole to cover for winter. But it will be way too hot in there in the summer if I don't get some good air flow going. Anyone have any ideas on this.

 

[HEChicken]

Winter I get, but Fall is my favorite season! The temperatures are still warm enough not to need jackets but not too hot, and there generally isn't the wind that we get in the Spring. I look forward to Fall all year long.....

Karen, you crack me up and yes, your DH is a keeper. It is so great to find a good one. I knew I had it made with mine when a pet rat I was very fond of was sick. I was concerned about her staying warm enough at night so brought her in bed with me and DH rolled over to pet her too. We both prefer not to have animals in the house since we moved, since at the last house it was crazy at times with cages here and there and cats and dogs everywhere, along of course with volumes of shed hair and the occasional barf to clean up. But I know if I really had to bring one in, he'd be fine with it.

Schellie, so sorry about the ticket - that is unbelievable. I hope you are able to get to the bottom of it. Would it be worth going to court to explain the situation and ask for a pardon from the ticket? If you were a habitual offender I wouldn't expect them to show leniency but if it the first time the dogs have been at large, I think they might. I'm really surprised you got a ticket right off the bat. I had an issue one time at the old place where we put the dogs in the backyard before leaving for the evening and didn't notice as we drove off that one of the side gates was open. When we got home we did have a warning taped to the front door for the dogs being at large but that was all it was - just a warning.

Danz, sorry about the Lemon Cuckoo, but Hawkeye, glad the Denagard is working so well. I would be willing to buy some of that bottle from you if it is such a large bottle. Keep in mind that many medications are only good for a certain amount of time and then lose their effectiveness so if you don't use it up in that time, you might have to trash it.

Well, my day started out great and then went downhill. Last night I put the two pet dogs in the chicken yard and also let Tory in to wander around and get a feel for it but then pulled her out before closing it up for the night. I started to walk up to the house, realized Tory wasn't with me, and turned around to see her standing at the gate next to the other two dogs. This morning when I went out she was in the same position! I'm sure she didn't stay there all night long but I was glad that she was hanging around with them rather than off roaming the neighborhood.

So, feeling rather chipper I went to make coffee. DS came out to sit on the porch with me to drink coffee and we saw Cyrus running down the yard, with the guineas right behind him. I thought nothing of it - until I watched him run back the other way with the guineas still behind him and realized they were chasing him. DS and I went to the chicken yard and for 30 minutes had to stand between Cyrus and the guineas to keep them away. The poor thing was getting exhausted from being chased and when they caught him, sometimes they would grab his wing and hang on so he'd be dragging them while he tried to run. He is such a gentle soul that he runs instead of turning around and flogging them. I'm so disappointed in the guineas because they were raised with the flock and up until this morning I have not seen a single instance of them bullying the chickens, even though I had read that guineas sometimes will. The weird thing is they have singled out Cyrus and stalked him all morning long. The rest of the chickens mingle around with the guineas without an issue but whenever they spot Cyrus, the chase is back on. I worried about him getting heat stroke from all that running as the day gets warmer, so when the guineas went into the coop to get something to eat, I shut the door to give him some peace. It will be hotter for them in there but I've checked on them a few times and they seem fine. I gave them water and food. The only problem is, now the hens can't get in to lay their eggs. I'm hoping when the day is a little warmer I can let them back out and they will have lost interest in chasing during the hot part of the day.

But, (and I hope this doesn't upset anyone to hear), I value Cyrus more than I value those guineas. I never minded, or even really noticed the noise but DH has commented a few times on how loud they can be and said he wouldn't care if I got more chickens but could happily live without the guineas. So, given their obsession with eliminating Cyrus, I've decided it is time we found out what guinea tastes like. I've already processed one but couldn't catch the others. I'm debating whether to go to Walmart and try to get a fishing net so I can catch the rest, or just wait until after dark when they are on the roost. The problem with that is that it leaves me processing in the dark which doesn't appeal a great deal. Karen, I need some of your chicken wranglers! I asked DS if he fancied himself a guinea wrangler but he said he didn't think he'd be very good at catching them.