Consolidated Kansas

[pikeman94]

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.

My two do the same thing. They are very friendly and will eat from your hand. Sometimes if I stay still too long one will sit between my legs. They are definitely kid friendly.

 

[HEChicken]

Josie, those brooders are wonderful - tell DH & MIL that I am VERY envious (but also impressed with their handiwork)!

Haha - so do we all share house-keeping skills because we keep chickens or do we keep chickens because we all have the same attitude towards house-cleaning???

Sunflower - sorry about Welp. I guess no one but you and me was interested? I don't think I can go more than 5 unfortunately. I did want to say too on the Marans, you might want to consider Black Copper Marans in addition to Cuckoo Marans. The BCM lay the darkest eggs (so I'm told). I had a BCM and a Cuckoo and the BCM eggs were noticeably darker than the Cuckoo eggs. I still have the Cuckoo and depending on where she is in her cycle, sometimes the eggs are only slightly darker than my regular brown egg layers eggs. In fact, when I showed DH the eggs I had collected the other day and said "I finally got one of every color and size on the same day", his comment was "I don't see one there from the Marans though", and I had to point out her egg to him. With the BCM, even her light days were super dark.

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, Yeah I think you're right about us being more interested in our chicken keeping than housekeeping. My DH gripes at me all the time about it & I just let it go in one ear & out the other, much like he does what I say to him. I agree that the Black Copper Marans lay the darkest eggs. Mine usually are speckled as well as chocolate brown. I have had people ask me if they're real, it's kind of funny.

Josie, I love those brooders, wow! You can send him to build some stuff for me, ha!

I have to get out there this afternoon & start trying to build my peacock hoop house pen. I found a peacock yearling for a decent price & the gal is going to hold him for me until I get my pen done. I can't wait to get him, but I have to get this pen done first, wish me luck. Sunflowerparrot, I may be calling you to come over & help me get the 2nd side hooked on, it doesn't sound like fun bending those panels.

 

[JosieChick]

Josie, those brooders are wonderful - tell DH & MIL that I am VERY envious (but also impressed with their handiwork)!
Thanks! I love them, they are perfect for what I need and exactly what I wanted.

Haha - so do we all share house-keeping skills because we keep chickens or do we keep chickens because we all have the same attitude towards house-cleaning???
Which came first, the chicken or the egg.

Sunflower - sorry about Welp. I guess no one but you and me was interested? I don't think I can go more than 5 unfortunately. I did want to say too on the Marans, you might want to consider Black Copper Marans in addition to Cuckoo Marans. The BCM lay the darkest eggs (so I'm told). I had a BCM and a Cuckoo and the BCM eggs were noticeably darker than the Cuckoo eggs. I still have the Cuckoo and depending on where she is in her cycle, sometimes the eggs are only slightly darker than my regular brown egg layers eggs. In fact, when I showed DH the eggs I had collected the other day and said "I finally got one of every color and size on the same day", his comment was "I don't see one there from the Marans though", and I had to point out her egg to him. With the BCM, even her light days were super dark.
If you guys wait until spring I would be happy to go in on an order with you. I want bronze turkeys but they are sold out for the season. I agree with the marans. I have cuckoo and while I love the girls their eggs are practically the same color as my other brown egg layers. I think that is what you get with hatchery marans though, they aren't really culling for egg color like a breeder would.

HEChicken, Yeah I think you're right about us being more interested in our chicken keeping than housekeeping. My DH gripes at me all the time about it & I just let it go in one ear & out the other, much like he does what I say to him. I agree that the Black Copper Marans lay the darkest eggs. Mine usually are speckled as well as chocolate brown. I have had people ask me if they're real, it's kind of funny.

Josie, I love those brooders, wow! You can send him to build some stuff for me, ha!

I have to get out there this afternoon & start trying to build my peacock hoop house pen. I found a peacock yearling for a decent price & the gal is going to hold him for me until I get my pen done. I can't wait to get him, but I have to get this pen done first, wish me luck. Sunflowerparrot, I may be calling you to come over & help me get the 2nd side hooked on, it doesn't sound like fun bending those panels.

You will need help! I tried to build one by myself and couldn't get a full size cattle panel bent by myself unless you can get it stapled on the other side and then push it in using the stapled side as your "other set of hands".

 

[chicken danz]

Girls, you just need one of those nylon tie down straps or ropes with the ratchets on them. If you hook it to each side of the panel then ratchet it tight you can get it drawn up easily. This only well with the light weight panels. The regular more expensive cattle panels are too strong and stiff to manage very well.

 

[JosieChick]

Girls, you just need one of those nylon tie down straps or ropes with the ratchets on them. If you hook it to each side of the panel then ratchet it tight you can get it drawn up easily. This only well with the light weight panels. The regular more expensive cattle panels are too strong and stiff to manage very well.

Danz- You are so clever, what a good idea! I apparently prefer to fight and struggle and pull muscles....

 

[HEChicken]

Girls, you just need one of those nylon tie down straps or ropes with the ratchets on them. If you hook it to each side of the panel then ratchet it tight you can get it drawn up easily. This only well with the light weight panels. The regular more expensive cattle panels are too strong and stiff to manage very well.

Yep, that sounds like a good plan. DH suggested using them also for getting the chain link on my turkey pen, since I mentioned that others had had a hard time stretching the chain link to fit. If I can ever get all the pieces I need together at one time, I do plan on trying that.

I have a question about rooster behavior. Last week I mentioned that Cyrus flogged me. Two days later we "sparred" and he wasn't giving in easily but eventually tired of it and at that point I grabbed him and carried him around for awhile. Since then he has been ultra respectful and walks away from me any time I approach him. So far, so good. But here's my question. I have also noticed that since then, whenever I walk in, he will approach but keep a respectful distance, and then peck at the ground. I'm thinking this is a sign of submission but it also occurred to me it might be a devious way of keeping an eye on me so he can jump me as soon as I don't seem to be paying attention again. What do you all think? It honestly "feels" like he is showing submission, keeping his head low to the ground to indicate he knows I am alpha over him, but I don't want to let down my guard when he's doing this if what he is really doing is waiting for another opportunity.

Josie, good point on the marans. My cuckoo is hatchery while my BCM I hatched from eggs I got from a good breeder so that probably contributed to the difference in egg color too. And mine were also speckled and just plain gorgeous. She was a sweet hen who I would miss anyway, but I really do miss those eggs.

 

[JosieChick]

Yep, that sounds like a good plan. DH suggested using them also for getting the chain link on my turkey pen, since I mentioned that others had had a hard time stretching the chain link to fit. If I can ever get all the pieces I need together at one time, I do plan on trying that.

I have a question about rooster behavior. Last week I mentioned that Cyrus flogged me. Two days later we "sparred" and he wasn't giving in easily but eventually tired of it and at that point I grabbed him and carried him around for awhile. Since then he has been ultra respectful and walks away from me any time I approach him. So far, so good. But here's my question. I have also noticed that since then, whenever I walk in, he will approach but keep a respectful distance, and then peck at the ground. I'm thinking this is a sign of submission but it also occurred to me it might be a devious way of keeping an eye on me so he can jump me as soon as I don't seem to be paying attention again. What do you all think? It honestly "feels" like he is showing submission, keeping his head low to the ground to indicate he knows I am alpha over him, but I don't want to let down my guard when he's doing this if what he is really doing is waiting for another opportunity.

Josie, good point on the marans. My cuckoo is hatchery while my BCM I hatched from eggs I got from a good breeder so that probably contributed to the difference in egg color too. And mine were also speckled and just plain gorgeous. She was a sweet hen who I would miss anyway, but I really do miss those eggs.

Hahaha! I have joined your ranks of being flogged!!! I have 3 splash french maran cockerels that I am growing out. One of them will have the honor of presiding over my future olive egger pen but I can tell you which one is going to the soup pot first! I would watch him like a hawk. This boy caught me off guard the other day and I chased him until I caught him and then carried him around for a while. Later that evening I went into their pen to change their water and he walked away from me which I was happy to see. Well I noticed that he came back around and was pecking at the ground a few feet away but figured I was safe because he wasn't staring me down and when I bent down to get the waterer he was on me like lightening. Fortunately I saw the blur out of the corner of my eye and managed to spin around and deck him with the waterer as he came up off the ground at me which send him hurdling in the other direction. I don't know about mean roos but I have no patience for it and he is going as soon as I get enough boys big enough to justify hauling out the scalding pot! I have a cochin roo who will drag his wing at me but all I have to do is scoop him up and he goes to sleep in my arms so I don't deal well with naughty boys, even if they are protecting their ladies!

 

[chicken danz]

Danz- You are so clever, what a good idea! I apparently prefer to fight and struggle and pull muscles....

Ha! I may be clever but I can't seem to write in the English language. I really need to start proofreading. I just assume that my fingers are typing what I am thinking. Obviously they have something else in mind.

The first mean rooster I have will be made into Chinese dinner by my friends. It's just not going to be accepted around here. My daughter raises orpingtons and almost every one of her roos has gotten mean. Makes me a bit nervous about trying to raise all of the Orp girls. I have to have a few roost to breed true but they had better be nice boys or we will have non-fertile eggs around here.

 

[Hawkeye95]

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.

Wow, that would really upset me, too! I'm not sold on eating cattail roots! LOL

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!

I'm still doing that & it's amazing how much "stuff" you accululate over the years.

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.

Sorry you can't get those babies sold. I've been toying with the idea of getting a rabbit, but not until we know what we're doing next year. And yeah, it is easy to suddenly acquire more things than you really need, and then what to do with it all? We are constantly purging around here. At least once a month, I usually take in 5 big bags to give to Goodwill. Mostly clothes, but also household things, like decorations or picture frames, etc... just whatever. And we don't have a lot of stuff sitting around, but still, makes you wonder how it all sneaked up on you.

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!

WOW!!!!!

I WANT!!!! I want it, I want it!! That looks amazing! I love it! I need to build myself something just like it! It looks fantastic!! Tell your DH he did a fantastic job!

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!

Sorry you didn't get your order to work out for you. At least you were kind of expecting it, and it wasn't a surprise. I love your excuses, I think I will borrow one or two of them, I like the fighting off coyotes, bobcats and dinosaurs..

My two do the same thing. They are very friendly and will eat from your hand. Sometimes if I stay still too long one will sit between my legs. They are definitely kid friendly.

So neat! My barred rocks are pretty friendly. If they didn't pick on my Polish so much, I'd enjoy them a lot more.

Girls, you just need one of those nylon tie down straps or ropes with the ratchets on them. If you hook it to each side of the panel then ratchet it tight you can get it drawn up easily. This only well with the light weight panels. The regular more expensive cattle panels are too strong and stiff to manage very well.

What a great idea! Going to remember this in case I ever build a hoop house!