Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Actually a snake is the first thing that came into my mind without the laugh included. If there had been one in there trying to steal eggs it is very likely. That would be great actually. He would never be able to digest it.
That reminds me of some reading I was doing yesterday on trying to eliminate mice. One of the suggestions was to mix cocoa mix with plaster of paris and the mice would eat it and it would harden in them. I thought that sounded great If I could be sure the chickens couldn't get it. I'm at the point I will try about anything since they seem immune to the poison.
I went out to the brooder house first thing this morning and even with a heat lamp the young chicks were all huddled up. It felt pretty chilly out there.
Then I got pretty disturbed. I opened a brand new bag of Purina chick starter DH picked up for me when he was in Emporia last week. It had rained a little while he was up there and the starter was in the back of the truck. The whole thing was nothing but mold! Makes me sick at the price of feed these days. The last stuff I got from Orshlen's just fell apart and was pretty worthless. More waste than not. I'll have to buy some at Orshlen's tonight regardless cause there is no place else to buy it without traveling an hour and I am going to be up there any way.
That makes three bags of moldy feed I've had to toss lately. That sure is a waste of money.
So were the cattail roots a firm feel or were they soft like mashed potatoes? Got me curious, I imagine the young roots in the spring would be better eating for sure. I'm really curious.

 

[JosieChick]

We had the funniest thing happen this morning. My granddaughter & the girlfriend & I went out & were standing looking at the turkeys & my granddaughter started making this sound at them. All of the sudden the tom turkey started displaying for her & just fanning his tail & dancing around & gobbling it was just hilarious. He really put on a show for them & I just laughed my head off at him. I have never seen a turkey turn & twist his tail around the way he was doing, it was almost like he was a fashion model & he was doing all of these poses.

Oh cute! I love turkeys, they are too funny!

Hi Karen! We miss you and your stories!

I've read up again, but haven't had time to reply. I sure enjoy reading up on everyone. Things are starting to return to a more sane level now that the kids are back in school. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon.

Sounds like a good day for you! It's nice to see company go, isn't it? I mean-- I LOVE having company! I live to have people come over, so fun!!! But also nice when they go and you can sit back and relax.

Me too! I love to have people over but I always worry the house is messy and people will think I am a lousy housekeeper, which I probably am! How is your little polish girl doing? I have one maran hen with bumble foot and I have treated it in the past and it came back. She doesn't have any swelling in the foot and gets around fine. I have left it alone because she limped so badly when I worked on it that I didn't want to put her through it again....don't really want it to get too bad though...hmmm..

Here is my poor dog Gnomeo(black & white one) who was hit by a car a few days ago with his buddy George. He is getting better but is still having a hard time getting around so i have to carry him in and outdoors

Poor buddy, hope he is better soon!

Josie I'll try the veggie oil. Then when I see you tomorrow we can talk about the vet if that doesn't help.She isn't a valuable duck but she is one of my breeders.
My silly geese are eating through the electric poultry netting. But so far they are just yelling at it.
I've got nothing done today but the essentials. I am just totally dragging.

Geese!! EVERYTHING goes in the mouth, like two year olds right? I am going to get some pool toys for mine at wally world. The girls on the sebbie thread said dog rope bones, kids pool toys and little kiddie plastic toys are what they give their geese. My geese would love a shoe!! I forgot a box of zip ties on the fence the other day and it fell into their run. Well you can imagine what it looked like in the morning, there were hundreds of zip ties strewn all over the place. I have to be careful to put the rope for the pool on the fence and tie it or they take it and put it in their pool. Yuck!

Maybe JosieChick's snake got it.

Maybe it did! I have heard of people putting golf balls in nests to kill snakes because they eat them and die because they can't digest it. I would rather just kill them outright and not let them suffer and starve to death. This snake was HUGE to me! I have seen little 8 inch long snakes out here and I have seen one copperhead that was about 2 feet long but this bugger was at least 5 feet long and probably at least 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter at its widest part. It is the biggest snake I have ever seen outside and it scared the daylights out of me! DH laughed when I told him I clocked on the hen with a grain scoop!

It was trying to get in with my babies!

Actually a snake is the first thing that came into my mind without the laugh included. If there had been one in there trying to steal eggs it is very likely. That would be great actually. He would never be able to digest it.
That reminds me of some reading I was doing yesterday on trying to eliminate mice. One of the suggestions was to mix cocoa mix with plaster of paris and the mice would eat it and it would harden in them. I thought that sounded great If I could be sure the chickens couldn't get it. I'm at the point I will try about anything since they seem immune to the poison.

I have a dumb question. Why don't you have any barn cats? I only have one and we barely ever have problems with mice, that are alive anyway....she leaves them laying all over the place. You have plenty of room and places for them to go when the weather is bad. If you got a couple young cats used to being outside I bet they would do great.



Well we got lots done this weekend but not as much as I thought we would! Got the fencing up mostly for the breeding coop so I can move my brahmas and cochins. I have to build gates by myself today since we didn't get to that so they should be real high quality with my wood working skills! Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[pikeman94]

Welp hatchery is the hatchery I can buy wholesale from. I would recommend them. They have great personal service. The chicks come from other breeders somewhat like Ideal does. If I were you I would see if you can find other people near by wanting to buy a few chicks without placing a big order to make your 25. I like my Cuckoos. They are great layers and pretty easy going.

I was so busy yesterday I never got a chance to get on here after morning. I got very little sleep and got up and started again.
Why is company so much work? I never got the yard cleaned up which I hopes to do.There is just too little of me to go around sometimes.

I hatched some speckled sussex this morning. Woot! I guess I'll see how they turn out. I wasn't sure these pullet eggs would be good but they appear to be great.
I have some buff orpingtons running with my sussex. I can't wait to get one of my little roosters big enough to breed them.
My back is killing me today. I hate being old!!!

Holy Cow Danz! SSX already? You move quick! My two just started consistently laying about a week ago. It is funny because their eggs are still tiny.

 

[chicken danz]

Josie the problem with barn cats is that they won't stay barn cats. Dennis brings them in cause he feels sorry for them then they think they live inside. We have had a couple that moved in. We spent the money to have them neutered and treated them for all those other things, shots, worming, frontline etc and they ended up disappearing after a while. Three of my four cats go out at night and hunt but they don't stay out. Two of those three bring their catches back in the house if you don't watch them when you let them in.
I just don't feel I can take a chance of just letting them stay out there without preventative vetting because I don't want anything to get started that can spread to my dogs or my other cats. If my old cats ever die I will probably attempt to get outdoor cats again. And if they will just stay outdoor cats that will be great.
I do love cats.
My chickens kill enough mice you wouldn't think there would be a problem. I spray water in holes and they come up by the dozens. I normally call the chickens and they come running and catch and consume as fast as they can. The guineas beg for mice. It's nuts. I think the grain and the water has driven them in from the fields.
One thing I am considering doing is removing the oats from my feed mix. I read where mice really love oats. I don't know if it would help but it would be worth a try.
I guess tonight I'll run to walmart and see what I can find for the geese. I was looking for dog toys but cloud has hidden all of them. I think she hides them so she has an excuse to love taking any thing else she can get her mouth around.

 

[chicken danz]

Holy Cow Danz! SSX already? You move quick! My two just started consistently laying about a week ago. It is funny because their eggs are still tiny.

Really? Mine have laid for a couple months now. The eggs are still small but starting to get some size. I could have a whole flock of these lovelies. These silly birds come when I call them for the most part and eat anything I have in my hand. I really love them. Hopefully we'll have them separate soon so I can raise them without getting some guessing eggs in there.

 

[Trish44]

Josie, I know what you mean about the company, I think we all probably just get used to the level of messiness as a rule that we live with & don't think that much of it until we're supposed to have people in. I know I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but I refuse to spend all my time cleaning, that's just not how I want to spend my old age, killing myself to have a white glove house. I'm not saying you don't have to clean some & do some upkeep, but some people just go to extremes with the cleaning all the time. I just want to spend my time doing things that I enjoy & that make me happy. I've been trying for a couple years now to de-clutter my life more & get rid of a lot of things that have just collected over the years. I'm still doing that & it's amazing how much "stuff" you accululate over the years. My DH gets on me about having to work so hard to get the house cleaned when someone is coming, but I guess I would rather do that than have to work so hard all the time at it. This summer has been a lot of maintenance with the birds & all just trying to keep everything alive & that was pretty exhausting. I'm hoping to get caught up on some things now that it's starting to cool down. I'm still working on trying to make more room in the garage & I mentioned to my son about a big heavy old tool cart that belonged to his dad while he was here & he said he didn't have room for it right now, so I guess I'm stuck with that. I'll have to use it for storage I guess just to put it to some use. If it's going to take up room then at least it should be good for something.

Danz, when you order from Welp do you still have to order 25 chicks? It's just harder to keep them warm in the fall than the spring, that's why I like to get new chicks in the spring. By fall then you have hens laying when some of the older ones are in molt. I was wondering the same thing as Josie too as to why you don't have outside cats to help with the mice. We keep a lot of cats around here for that reason & we don't have problems with mice around the house, garage, or pens. The momma cats take the kittens out pretty young to teach them to hunt, it's fun to watch them go out with her looking for rodents & sometimes even rabbits. We had to deal with the people down from us who dumped household trash on the hill for years & that attracted all kinds of things. Now there is nobody living there but the trash dump is still there & we have to deal with our GPs bringing home what they think of as treasures I'm sure. That's a shame about your feed. I noticed the other day when I went to Orschelyn's how much the feed prices had gone up since the last time I went. The rabbit feed I had been buying went up $4 a bag, that's a big jump, ouch! I'm going to be paring down my rabbit population before winter if I can get anybody to buy them. That has been the problem this summer that nobody wanted to buy any due to the heat. I've got 4 little babies I haven't been able to sell, so I'm going to have to take them to a swap somewhere & hope I can sell them there.

 

[chicken danz]

Trish you know it's funny. Even if I think my house is reasonably clean when company comes, suddenly I see dust on things I missed, cobwebs in the corners, fly spots on the cabinets, you name it. Stuff I might notice in someone else's house but never see in my own.
I am sure if I got rid of all of my excess stuff and my antiques that really are taking space that I could have a cleaner house. If I got up and dusted and swept every day it would help but my life is all about being outside and taking care of the birds and animals. I always think when winter comes I will get caught up but it doesn't happen.

 

[JosieChick]

Forgot to post pics of my fabulous new brooders!! I love them! DH and MIL made them for me and apparently it was a lot of work! Each individual slot is 24" by 24", 3 sides and the top are very narrow hardware cloth for good circulation, the pole running across the top is for heat lamps to hang from, each end there are 4 plug ins and rheostats for each heat lamp so they can be adjusted for temp based on number and age of chicks. The brooders have a hardware cloth framed divider that locks in place in the middle or swings up and locks so I can use both sides for a large batch of chicks, the fronts are flat so I can just open the brooder and sweep dirty bedding out into a bin, there is tons of storage space for feed and bedding underneath the brooders on the raised slats and the brooders come off the bases so they can be taken outside to be washed off with a hose. They are very bright blue, DH picked the color himself, he is quite proud of them! I am impressed with his handy work!

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Boohoo - Welp Hatchery called and said they couldn't fill my order because it didn't meet the minimum order... oh well - will make sure to get my Marans first thing next year.

Speaking of house cleaning - My brother will be here Thursday - haven't seen him in 10 years.. My daughter will be here Friday... Instead of cleaning, I decided I'd just come up with a million excuses why I haven't cleaned.. seriously. (I just moved 2 months ago... this dang dirt road; I dusted yesterday and look at all the dust already... my vacuum cleaner just broke on me last night... I have a hang nail... all the chickens escaped and I had to spend the entire night chasing each of them while fighting off coyotes, bobcats and dinosaurs... the puppy needed a bath... just getting over the bubonic plague and haven't been feeling to well...) I hope a few of those excuses are believable!

 

[chicken danz]

Boohoo - Welp Hatchery called and said they couldn't fill my order because it didn't meet the minimum order... oh well - will make sure to get my Marans first thing next year.

Speaking of house cleaning - My brother will be here Thursday - haven't seen him in 10 years.. My daughter will be here Friday... Instead of cleaning, I decided I'd just come up with a million excuses why I haven't cleaned.. seriously. (I just moved 2 months ago... this dang dirt road; I dusted yesterday and look at all the dust already... my vacuum cleaner just broke on me last night... I have a hang nail... all the chickens escaped and I had to spend the entire night chasing each of them while fighting off coyotes, bobcats and dinosaurs... the puppy needed a bath... just getting over the bubonic plague and haven't been feeling to well...) I hope a few of those excuses are believable!

Ha! Ha! you sound like me.
Josie those brooders are awesome!