Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Trish was it diagnosed as Hodgkins disease since it is in the lymph nodes? If it was, that could be a blessing. The cure rate is higher than most forms of cancer. If they remove the lymph nodes that creates some hand and feet swelling but it is better than loosing the battle. I know this isn't good news but keeping an positive attitude is how you beat these things. You need to encourage him and her as much as you can even if you feel miserable about it.
I lost a sister in law at 28 years old to very advanced Hodgkins so I know the battles she has ahead. She was a young mother with 3 children. I also lost a grandfather to lung cancer. Just keep in mind that she could very well be a survivor. She of course needs to quit smoking of course. Maybe this will cause that to happen. You have my prayers. I am so sorry.
And you know we don't care if you don't write about chickens. We are all friends here and value each other way beyond our birds!!!

 

[Trish44]

Danz, No, as far as I know it wasn't diagnosed as Hodgkins. From what my son said it had already spread to her lymph nodes, so this is not the original site where it started. I'm sure I will hear more as they do more testing & get more information. I know I need to be strong for them, it's just hard for me because I have already lost so many people to cancer. My mom died from Multiple Myeloma back in 1984, then my father-in-law in 1988, & my husband in 1997. All of my mom's side of the family had cancer except one brother, 6 out of 7 of the siblings including her.

 

[HEChicken]

I know this has nothing to do with chickens, but I got some devastating news this morning in a text from my son. His girlfriend was just diagnosed this morning with malignant cancer & they say it's already in her lymph nodes & possibly metastasized all over her body. She's a heavy smoker so I have no doubt the original site was in a lung. They don't know yet if there will be any treatment or not. She is so young to have to go through something like this & it's going to destroy my son. He finally found someone who treats him really well & he has been happy for once & now this. Please send prayers their way, her name is Dana & my son's is Kyle. I went through all of this with two people in my family from smoking, my late father-in-law & my late husband. They have a really hard road ahead in the next few months.

Trish, I am so, so sorry about the news. Wasn't it only a week or so ago that you were telling us how much you like this new girl, after they visited? How awful for them to have this to deal with.

When I feed any animal and change foods I try to do it gradually by mixing foods. A change in diet can cause diarrhea or other problems if you make a sudden change. That is just my opinion though. It seems to work better for me with my pets as well as my birds.

I've heard this all my life but never actually experienced it. I used to mix new foods gradually, but even though I tried, inevitably it would happen that I was completely out of food before I made it to the store to buy more. With my cats, I don't use just one brand - when I buy a bag, I dump it into a container and it is a month or more before I need to buy more so by then I can never remember what brand I got last time, so just get something that looks good and is a reasonable price. With the dogs I have now found a food I like and buy it consistently but before that I used to change feeds constantly. My horse has had multiple feeds, according to what coupons I have at the time, and I also switch back and forth with the poultry all the time, whether it is another brand of the same type of food, or switching from chick to grower to layer feed. I can honestly say I've never had an animal get diarrhea on account of an abrupt change in feeds. If anything, I think they enjoy the variety, as it must get boring eating the same old food day in, day out.

Danz, sorry you haven't been feeling well - hope you get to feeling better soon.

I know that some swear by the Ecoglows but whenever I look into them, they seem really spendy. I guess if you run them constantly (i.e., for people who are hatching a lot), they eventually pay for themselves in energy savings but for me, running a brooder just a few times a year for a few weeks at a time, I don't think I can justify the expense of the Ecoglow. I keep my brooder lamp on a rheostat so I can turn it down as needed to save energy. So the only reason I would consider one would be to avoid fire risk. I try to be very careful hooking up my brooder lamp so that it can't fall into the bedding and cause an issue.

One of the things I like about brooding in the Fall is how much easier it is to keep them warm and how much less energy I need to use. My chicks that started hatching just last Wednesday, already don't seem to need heat during the day at all. I tried turning the lamp down really low on the rheostat but even so, every time I checked on them they were sleeping as far from it as they could get. So I finally just unplugged it yesterday and they didn't have heat all day, until it started to cool down in the evening. This morning I unplugged it around 7:30 as even by then they were hanging out at the far end of the brooder. I believe we have some cooler weather coming up so they may need it more again - we'll just play that one by ear. The warm night last night meant we were able to take them outside for an hour, which may be the youngest I've ever taken brooder chicks outside. With Spring chicks it seems like I can't take them outside until they are 2-3 weeks old and even then have to watch very carefully as we get some really cold winds in Spring.

 

[chicken danz]

I like fall chicks better too. For one reason you can start getting eggs about the time that others are buying their spring chicks. The only problem is that so many hens are moulting in the fall and it makes it harder to get eggs or chicks. It is much easier to keep them warm with needing heat mostly at night.
I checked on the peahen. She only has two chicks. The last egg hasn't hatched. She had one of the chicks out to eat but the other one couldn't jump high enough to get out of the nest. I guess that is a consideration I hadn't thought of. By next year I hope to have some built nests made just right for them.
Trish I am so sorry about all this. I hope it works out well and she can get it in remission.
I just realized when I don't feel good and am out feeding and watering it is easier to talk myself out of more chicken breeds!

I want some opinions from some of you. What would you continue to raise if you wanted to raise for chicks/ eggs to sell.
I'm still trying to make decisions about what colors/breeds I want to keep and want to eliminate. I've started accumulating some of these rare breeds now but need to keep a few normal breeds around for local sales. The worst problems are picking which colors of each breed I want.

 

[michelleml]

Sunflowerparrot, I have heard good things about the EcoGlow & I have thought of getting one myself, but haven't had the money as of yet. That Sweeter Heater looks good too though & it is a lot cheaper, you could get two of those for what the Ecoglow costs. It kind of depends on what kind of brooder you're going to build. Have you seen the two I have in my garage yet? I kept them busy last spring & am thinking I probably will need another one for next year too.

I know this has nothing to do with chickens, but I got some devastating news this morning in a text from my son. His girlfriend was just diagnosed this morning with malignant cancer & they say it's already in her lymph nodes & possibly metastasized all over her body. She's a heavy smoker so I have no doubt the original site was in a lung. They don't know yet if there will be any treatment or not. She is so young to have to go through something like this & it's going to destroy my son. He finally found someone who treats him really well & he has been happy for once & now this. Please send prayers their way, her name is Dana & my son's is Kyle. I went through all of this with two people in my family from smoking, my late father-in-law & my late husband. They have a really hard road ahead in the next few months.

So sorry Trish i will keep them both in my prayers

 

[HEChicken]

I want some opinions from some of you. What would you continue to raise if you wanted to raise for chicks/ eggs to sell.
I'm still trying to make decisions about what colors/breeds I want to keep and want to eliminate. I've started accumulating some of these rare breeds now but need to keep a few normal breeds around for local sales. The worst problems are picking which colors of each breed I want.

Hmmmm....for me a colorful egg basket has always been important. This isn't just because I like the variety - it is also because it makes it easier to tell who is laying. If I have 10 Barred Rocks, I'm going to get up to 10 light brown eggs of a similar size and shape every day. But if I have a BCM, a CM, an EE, a Araucana, a white egg layer (LF), a white egg layer (bantam), a Buckeye (supposedly lay a bullet-shaped egg) etc etc., it gets a lot easier to tell who is laying and who isn't.

As for the birds themselves, I value birds that are friendly, curious, easy-going and not flighty. I like to have a variety of colors around because I like to be able to tell at a glance who is there and easily determine which bird is missing when the head count doesn't add up. Although those 10 BR's would all have slight differences, I don't want to be peering at them to notice the small differences like an extra point in the comb or the degree of comb flop.

I know that doesn't really narrow it down much. If you are thinking about going into the egg shipping business, then I would pick some rare and valuable breeds with the goal of making your money back selling hatching eggs down the road. For the most part, local chicken keepers don't know or care about the rare birds though - they just want a dependable bird that will lay well. So if you are looking at selling locally, I wouldn't invest a lot in rare breeds because your local customers a) won't understand the value and b) won't be willing to pay what you know they're worth.

Hope that helps and/or, is that what you were looking for when you asked for opinions?

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Sunflowerparrot, I have heard good things about the EcoGlow & I have thought of getting one myself, but haven't had the money as of yet. That Sweeter Heater looks good too though & it is a lot cheaper, you could get two of those for what the Ecoglow costs. It kind of depends on what kind of brooder you're going to build. Have you seen the two I have in my garage yet? I kept them busy last spring & am thinking I probably will need another one for next year too.

I know this has nothing to do with chickens, but I got some devastating news this morning in a text from my son. His girlfriend was just diagnosed this morning with malignant cancer & they say it's already in her lymph nodes & possibly metastasized all over her body. She's a heavy smoker so I have no doubt the original site was in a lung. They don't know yet if there will be any treatment or not. She is so young to have to go through something like this & it's going to destroy my son. He finally found someone who treats him really well & he has been happy for once & now this. Please send prayers their way, her name is Dana & my son's is Kyle. I went through all of this with two people in my family from smoking, my late father-in-law & my late husband. They have a really hard road ahead in the next few months.

I have not seen the heaters you have - I will have to make sure to see them when I'm over again. OMG - I am so sorry to hear about your son's girlfriend... is this the same girlfriend that was just at your house last weekend? I am a cancer survivor! In 1990, I was given a 15% survival rate and that was with the chemo and radiation - I won I hope her outcome is even half of what I was blessed with.

 

[chicken danz]

I have an ongoing egg and chick business here. Chick sales have been really slow this year because of the heat and I kind of expect the effects from that to last a couple years. I have my egg laying flock and I have a huge group of barnyard specials that lay as well. But I want to start breeding all pure bred chicks instead of the guessing game. I have plenty of purebreds that hatch, but of course you have to hatch them and sometimes let then grow some before you can verify that. I have too much to handle and want to get things more organized.
Separating what I have for breeding groups is going to require me to give up some color choices. I don't have room to put in 40-50 separate pens for color varieties. I am getting some rare birds in hopes of making some good money off of them. I have to offset expenses some way.
But at the same time, I still want to produce my birds for local sales. I cater a lot to the 4H kids and to locals wanting layers as well as the fancy birds. Yes I am guessing I will have to do some shipping to sell some of the fancier breeds but I am prepared to do that I think.
Once I make some decisions on what to keep I may offer up some of my breeding stock for sale.
I've got a buyer that will be here in about an hour and hopefully he is going to take the bulk of my excess layers. That would be great.
What I am asking about is what I should continue to raise. I have cochins and polish in several colors and need to decide on which colors of each to keep. I think I plan to eliminate my Wyandottes because they don't seem to be a very strong breed. I will keep my Light Brahmas and Salmon Favorelles for sure. I have Pheonix which isn't highly requested but people fall in love with my roo and want them. I have cuckoo marans. I have Seramas. I love the tiny size but the market out here for them stinks. Everyone wants them shipped to the coast.
I have bantam polish which don't produce well but are winners when it comes to showing.
What colors of polish or Cochins would you keep?
I have red stars which are my main layers now.
I have Orpingtons and Sussex both for eggs and fancy breeding.
Some of the fancies I am accumulating are great layers but of course I can make more money selling hatching eggs than eating eggs initially.

 

[sharol]

I assume I would want an overhead mount? These are a lot cheaper in price than Ecoglow! I would be happy to get this instead due to price..

That is what I bought. I can adjust the height easily.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, unfortunately I have no experience with almost every breed you mentioned which is pretty amazing considering the number of breeds I've had over the years.

Quote: The only Wyandotte I had disappeared right as she was laying age. I now suspect the neighbor's dogs because months later they killed my Red Star but at the time her disappearance was a mystery. She had lovely markings and I loved her tail. I didn't notice any lack of hardiness, but then I only had her for 5 months as a Spring chick so never over-wintered her.

I have never had brahmas or Favorelles or Phoenix.

I do like my Cuckoo Marans, although she is hatchery quality. She was always rather reserved until the fox attack but has become very friendly since, almost as though she understands that my nursing care was what made the difference in her survival. I've been disappointed in her egg color - the eggs are dark brown but only a shade darker than some of my regular brown egg layers. But if yours are better quality, perhaps they lay a darker colored egg....

I've never had Seramas. I have a couple of bantams (Sultan and game hen, who is teeny tiny) but overall I prefer LF to bantams.

I've never had polish. I've seen Hawkeye's WCB polish and they are stunning to look at. She seems to like their personalities too. What colors do you have in Polish?

I've had red stars, orpingtons and sussex so I guess I've had more of your breeds than I thought

I do like the orpingtons. They are calm and decent layers, although perhaps a trifle aloof. Mine have all been buff, but I do like some of the colors I've been seeing more recently - the lavenders, chocolate etc.

I love the Sussex. In addition to being eye candy they are sweet natured, friendly birds.

I have not had Cochins. I had read that they are not that great as layers but are good as broodies and for that reason I've always been open to having some. I got a Cochin chick with my spring chicks this year but he quickly revealed himself as a boy and then was taken by the fox anyway. What colors of those do you have?