Consolidated Kansas

[sunflowerparrot]

you could get a pup from where Sunflower parrot got hers? That Fern is a great little dog!

I got my little girl from Candace Harding - here is her weblink (I know she doesn't have any pups at the moment that she is selling; she has one little boy left and he is already spoken for by someone else.. but she can contact her and get on the waiting list.. Candace goes by first contact/first serve http://bar6diamondranch.com/

 

[Hawkeye95]

Wow, nothing like that happening where we are. I know you need it though for your well, so congratulations!

Does anyone else have chickens molting already? I have one who is looking really ragged and it seems early to me. But I guess its good - she'll be done with molt and be able to lay some eggs over the winter when some of the others are molting instead. I have one BO who does a hard molt every October/November.

Nope no rain here either-- but the half of us that live down on this end would be celebrating if it were! And yes, my silkies are starting to molt. I don't see any bare spots on them... BUT there pen has turned into a feathery pile of fluff. It is crazy how many fluffy feathers are on the ground out there. It looks like a chicken just exploded!

Coffee!? I will be right there!! I LOVE coffee on chilly days... I love coffee, pajamas, blankets and knitting.. ahhhh - I can't wait for winter

oh ME TOO!!! I can knit the entire winter away. I have made beautiful lacy knit dresses for my little girl. I can only do decaf coffee or I get a little wired-- okay, majorly wired. But I do splurge at church now and then and hit the regular. My DH doesn't like coffee, so I don't even bother to make it at home. Now, I get my fix downtown when I drop off kids for preschool. My favorite coffee shop is called "Meads Corner". Our church owns it and we started it up to be an outreach for our church. But it's a super hip place and a lot of people set up their laptops and Kindles and relax. It's what I do.

Hmm..Danz, I will have to wait a few weeks to bring you our little Feather, our
Mille fleur D'Uccle. Time for you to recuperate from company and time for your new babies to settle in so I can see them
I bought Feather with the little roo you have. She has essentially been a loner since. It's kind of sad. We will wait till she lays that first egg though it should be any day! She is a character! I love how she will fly up to sit in a ledge close to my head and just chatter away at me. Truly, I think she might thinks she is a parrot. I will hope she brings you lots of little D'Uccles
Hawkeye, wow! Kindergarten and preschool! You do have a busy house It sounds like you may have some quiet soon though. Big milestones!
I am sorry to read that Lucie got such a special chicken. I know that has to be a tough decision Josie, but she may actually be happier also, not having the chickens around to get in trouble over. It could be a win win for both of you and you could get a pup from where Sunflower parrot got hers? That Fern is a great little dog!
I hope it rains enough to provide much needed relief for many folks and animals and crops..... I grew up next to the RioGrande and can remember a few droughts my self. Yes... They are good memories now too, but a horrible thing at the time!
I can't remember who wrote about 100 dollar chickens. Wow.... I would be so scared to have them outside. Mine are at the most 5 dollar chicks. Well.... Maybe not after all the feed and treats, but that is my limit. I am happy to have my colorful variety and will be so much happier to have a colorful egg basket someday soon .
Nothing but a sweet little pink egg again today.

Hope you get that egg soon! It's easier than you think to get deep into the expensive chickens.

I think my Millie Fleur Booted Bantam will hatch chicks any day now. She hatched some this April and was a great mama. She is smarter than everyone else and has somewhere in the darkest corners of our barn that she hides her nest and I haven't found it yet. I haven't seen her today, so I'm hoping she either hatched or is just about to. I'm so excited (she let's me cuddle her babies)!!!!!

Hope you have chicks soon!


Mulvane Old Settlers Days starts tomorrow. The kids are off from school, actually so they can enjoy it. The two little kids have Dr's appts in the morning, they are going to be upset about that. But I already promised them icecream and we'll head over for the festivities and see what's going on.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Oh I forgot to say that I went out again last night & my one Lakenvelder hen was MIA again, so I wonder if she is sitting on a nest somewhere & I just can't find her. If she is back in the trees, she is pretty much a sitting duck. We'll see if she reappears again, those are some strange hens, very flighty.

Hope she comes back!

 

[sunflowerparrot]

oh ME TOO!!! I can knit the entire winter away. I have made beautiful lacy knit dresses for my little girl. I can only do decaf coffee or I get a little wired-- okay, majorly wired. But I do splurge at church now and then and hit the regular. My DH doesn't like coffee, so I don't even bother to make it at home. Now, I get my fix downtown when I drop off kids for preschool. My favorite coffee shop is called "Meads Corner". Our church owns it and we started it up to be an outreach for our church. But it's a super hip place and a lot of people set up their laptops and Kindles and relax. It's what I do.

I knit socks mostly... am making a cowl to throw over my head for cold winter days when I will be out feeding everyone. Meads Corner sounds like an awesome place

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

We just got a Keurig. One of the fancy ones that makes a cup at a time. Big step up from the ol' stove top thinger. (Why can I never remember what it's called?). It's so much fun, but my Nana's commercial style espresso machine is the best...

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, I have been seeing quite a few feathers I have noticed around in the coop & places, so I may have some starting to molt too. I have several hens that did start laying in the fall, so they for sure will molt soon. I hope since I do have some different ages of hens that they all won't molt at once so I still get some eggs. I have had my egg numbers really reduced a lot through the heat, so I don't want them to cut down any more or we won't have enough to sell. I for sure don't want to have to buy eggs to eat, yuck, I hate to think of having to go back to that. Oh, did you get the rest of your pen put up? I know you said you figured out the frame, but you didn't say if you got the fence put on.

No, I didn't get the chain link on yet. When we unrolled it, we found that it only has one of the rods that go through the ends, and none of the brackets, which is a little annoying because I very specifically asked the guy if it had all that. They're not frightfully expensive but Atwoods doesn't carry them so I've been waiting until I'm making a trip to Orschelns because I know they carry them there. I think I'll be there tomorrow afternoon so I will be able to get them and then get the chain link put up on the pen this weekend.

Oh I forgot to say that I went out again last night & my one Lakenvelder hen was MIA again, so I wonder if she is sitting on a nest somewhere & I just can't find her. If she is back in the trees, she is pretty much a sitting duck. We'll see if she reappears again, those are some strange hens, very flighty.

I've never had a Lakenvelder - they look so pretty but I didn't realize they were also flighty. I hope she shows up again.

My favorite coffee shop is called "Meads Corner". Our church owns it and we started it up to be an outreach for our church. But it's a super hip place and a lot of people set up their laptops and Kindles and relax. It's what I do.

I bet we know some of the same people then, because we have a very good friend who is super involved with Meads Corner. He was there at its inception and is a regular there for coffee several mornings every week. When we lived in Wichita we used to sometimes join him for a cuppa first thing in the morning. It was walking distance from DH's office and we also used to go there for lunch sometimes. It is a really cool place!

 

[Trish44]

Mmmm coffee, we're a little spoiled at our house, my DH roasts his own green coffee beans so we have fresh roasted coffee all the time. He orders the coffee beans from a place called Sweet Marias & the guy travels all over the world to get the best beans. I hate going to his brother's place & drinking their weak Folger's coffee, it's just sad after drinking what we have at home. I've been drinking iced coffee this summer a lot since it's been so hot & that is so good too.

Well the little Lakenvelder hen wasn't back in the coop tonight, so who knows if she'll show back up or not. I just kind of count her as gone & then if she shows up then it's kind of a surprise. Oh & I went to feed the little guineas tonight & looked down & they had knocked the mason jar off the feeder base & one of the little guineas had crawled in there to eat the remaining feed & got stuck. I almost didn't get it out either. I have never seen a little chick of any kind do that before, that was a new one on me. I hope it learned it's lesson & doesn't try to get back in there again if the jar falls off. I can't wait until these guys get old enough to let them loose to go eat bugs. I walked out to the truck to get in & go to get feed today & just in the time it took to walk beside the truck & get in I had to pick 10 deer ticks off of my feet & legs, yuck it just had my skin crawling. They're just thick here this year worse than any year I can remember. You can't walk anywhere around here hardly without getting some on you. I have to check myself every night before I go to bed & I still sometimes miss them.

It really was pretty decent here today weather-wise, a little windy but cool & nice just like I like it. Still no rain here or much of any chance of any in the next few days, but it's supposed to be in the 80s. Well better get back to work.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Oh I forgot to say that I went out again last night & my one Lakenvelder hen was MIA again, so I wonder if she is sitting on a nest somewhere & I just can't find her. If she is back in the trees, she is pretty much a sitting duck. We'll see if she reappears again, those are some strange hens, very flighty.

I hope you find her! I do agree that they are very flighty though. Very fun to look at with their bright red combs against the black and white.

 

[HEChicken]

Just got notice my Orlandsk Dwarfs shipped yesterday. I sure hope they make it by the weekend. I really hoped he would keep them and send them Monday so they for sure would get here. Now I'm a nervous wreck! Since I have company Saturday AM it could be really inconvenient to have to drive 25 miles to the post office and then have to get them set up and settled in. Ugh! But better than than not making it here at all!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that they make it Saturday. I hate to think of them sitting in a post office somewhere until they reopen on Monday. I can't wait to hear how they are doing and see pics of them!

.....I feed the birds a little less than I think they COULD eat to help encourage them to free range. They free-ranged all right

...right to Jake's food bowl!

I do see them out grazing and chasing bugs as well.

Now the bad news. Our well went dry. My parents left to go prep for the restaurant today, so we're just conserving as much as we can, and my dad is coming home in a few hours to haul some water from the Government well a few miles down the road. I ran some rain water from my garden water buckets through a homemade filter (2 liter bottle with sand, rocks, Denim, and A cotton ball) so that they had something to drink, and thankfully we had our Brita pitcher (not running rainwater through there, seems like it would just backfire on me) for us. But we are washing our hands in a cup that has bit of water in it and germ-ex. We're living like savages here, it's horrible.

So sorry to hear about your well. When you say you ran some rain water through the home made filter, is that for your birds? If so, I wouldn't worry about filtering it. I've watched mine drink from enough puddles and places where water has pooled that look horribly filthy, when there was a bowl of CLEAN water only a few steps away. Its almost like they prefer it to the clean water. So I wouldn't go to any extraordinary measures to filter rain water for them. Now if it was your parents you were filtering it for....now that is another matter.

I don't know who it was said they were only flushing once a day due to low water but....have you considered a composting toilet? The commercial ones are horribly expensive but you can make your own with a 5-gallon bucket and a toilet seat. Just keep on hand some kind of organic absorbent material - shavings, shredded leaves etc. Sit on the "toilet" as you normally would, but instead of flushing afterward, cover with a layer of the organic material. Repeat until the bucket is full and then dump in a compost pile used only by those buckets. After a year, it will be rich, loamy compost ready for use. If you don't want to use it on vegie gardens, (although it would be perfectly safe to), you can use it around trees, flower gardens, or anywhere the soil would benefit from an amendment.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

No I was filtering for the birds. The water was really nasty, and even though they would drink it anyways it made me feel better. Plus, I had to make it for school next week anyways, so I just got a head start.