Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Danz, I would only keep the breeds that sell well as far as breeders go for hatching chicks. You will have your rare breeds to pick up the slack for hatching chicks. Then keep the best layers if you intend to keep selling eating eggs. You want to get away from the mixed chicks for hatching, so any stray birds that you can't put in pens to keep the breed pure I would sell. I know you like the Seramas, but they aren't good sellers, so you should get rid of them & make room for something else in that pen. I really prefer the LF rather than bantams myself, but I know there are some people that like the bantams. The cochins are about the only bantams I might consider, I had some years ago. They're not good layers, but are good if you want a broody I guess, but then I have other hens that are broody all the time.

I'm thinking of selling off some of my layers later on after my new ones start laying. I have to figure out who the slackers are as far as not laying the best & sell those. I know not all of my hens are laying right now, they're starting to pick up a little now that it's cooling off some, but still there are a few that haven't laid for quite awhile. Everybody told me the Australorps were such great layers, but they have been broody more than they have laid I think. One of them just sits in the nest box all day long every day & night & has for weeks, I can't break her of it. The BC Marans lay beautiful dark chocolate eggs, they're from IVYWOODS, but they have also been broody a lot this summer. I will wait & see if they start to pick up later on or not. I just can't afford to feed a bunch of hens that don't lay. If they don't work they don't get to stay. I really do like the Speckled Sussex hens, they're so pretty & I have one that replaced the one that died from the heat & the other two I have will go into the breeder coop with their roo since I plan to raise them next year. I have one brown leghorn pullet that made it & I think one ancona pullet, these will replace some I have lost lately. I have 3 little Welsummer pullets in my grow-out pen that will go in my general laying flock. People have told me they are pretty good layers, so we'll see. I have one Buff Orpington pullet & a couple of lavender Orpington/porcelain Isabel pullets also to go into my general flock. I have never had Orpingtons before, so this will be a new experience for me with them & the Welsummers too. It's just kind of a waiting game with all of the chicks in the grow-out pen to see how they all develop & see what I keep & what I need to get rid of. I know there will be some roos in there to re-home or process one of the two. I really hate to have to eat those pretty lavender Orpingtons though. I'm kind of waiting too on my Swedish Flower Hen chicks to develop so I can pick who gets to go in the breeder pen. I think the extra pullets will get to stay, I'm down to 9 of those now that I lost another one yesterday. I want at least a trio in the breeder pen, but it may be smart to keep an extra roo too just in case. The little Cream Legbar pullet that I hatched seems to be doing OK out there in the pen now, she's growing, but that breed sure does seem to grow slow. I don't care if the people in the UK say our birds aren't the right color to meet their standards. Maybe we need to make our own standards here & allow gold hackles on the hens & more color on the cockerels. I don't know why they want to breed out all the color on these birds anyway, I think they're much prettier birds with more color. Maybe we can name our breed something different like Gold Legbars or something. Since we all have birds that are descendants of the ones from Greenfire Farms we have to work with what we have. They're way too expensive to just cull all the birds with gold hackles or too much rust on the roosters. I also really like the Salmon Favorelles, they're really friendly birds too. If I ignore Millie she will follow me & jabber at me, she did that to me last night when I went into the pen.

I had to run & get some plumbing strap to hook that other livestock panel onto the frame this afternoon. I have to say it's a lot harder to hook the darned things on standing on your head than to hook the panels onto the boards & then flip them over & hook the whole thing to the end pieces. It's really hard on my back to have to bend over that far for so long, ugh. Anyway, I got it hooked on & then hooked the back support frame on so the back is pretty stable now. I started to work on the front but my screwdriver batteries both died, so I had to quit. I took some pics with my new phone, so we'll see how they look. Josie, does this look anything like the pen you made?


Here is the front, the boards aren't hooked on yet, I just stood them up there to kind of get an idea how my door is going to work.


View of the back with the supports in place.


From the side it looks strange for some reason, but doesn't up close to it. You can see all of my cable ties hanging down that I haven't cut off yet.

I think since I put that frame on the back like that I won't cut up a panel for the back, I will just use some other wire to close it in since I have more to hook to now. I will be making a door for the front for my access to the pen. It's a fairly decent sized pen, it's 4 times bigger than those little peahen chicks are in right now. I just want to put them in there until they get old enough to take care of themselves out free-ranging. They're really getting big, I will have to take some pics when I get this pen all done & put them in there. I've been calling them over in the evening to the side of the pen & feeding them sunflower seeds, so they kind of get used to me a little more. I love that little thing on the top of their heads, they're getting more color now.

Danz, if you end up with an extra white peacock I might be interested. Will these you're going to get be adults or young ones? I'll be coming up your way Sept. 10th when I go to KC to see my arthritis Dr.

 

[JosieChick]

I have more boys growing out-- have to wait to see how they turn out, hopefully they are all good and will leave me in a quandry on which one to keep! This one was an obvious fault.



Well.... if this lady shows up, I have my little cockerel sold on Craigslist! YAY! That was fast!!

Hawkeye- Keep me posted on any young men you have, I would like one without an attitude as well. Seems like all of mine have been feet attackers which is really annoying! Can you sell my blue cockerel for me? I posted him several times up here in KC but no luck. Not even for $5 and I think he is nicer than that!

Hawkeye, I hope your buyer shows up for your little Silkie cockerel, that would be awesome!

Josie, I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with posting on CL, I just don't get people, I guess they have nothing better to do. I was hoping someone on the Farm Swap would want her. There is someone on there with Antolian pups who has been having some trouble getting homes for them too & they're full blood Antolians.

Won't my DH be surprised when he goes out to work on the coop again to see a peacock pen taking shape, he won't be able to believe that I did that by myself. I'm kind of having a hard time believing it myself. I think it was sheer determination that kept me going tonight. I'm pretty stubborn about things when I start on something I usually find a way to do it if at all possible. I probably will be paying tomorrow for what I did today, but I'm so happy I got as far as I did. I should have this thing done I think by the end of the week so I can move my little peahens in there & then I can go get my peacock. I know they're molting right now, but from the pics the gal had she has some beautiful birds, I can't wait to see them. I will try to get some pics tomorrow of my progress on the pen so far.

Wow! You got a ton done on that pen, how exciting. I love getting stuff done and birds moved!

Josie! Wow!!! Your brooders look professional . Way cool!!
I guess maybe my pullets are pulling their own feathers out. If so they all should start laying soon !
Woot! Woot! Check out what we found tonight . My D'uccle and White rock joined Bloom in providing us with eggs!!! They are tiny and weren't where Bloom lays hers, but we're in nest boxes

Woohoo! How exciting! Congrats on multiple eggies! I remember how excited I was the first time I got more than one egg in the nest box or when new birds start laying and you get different colors.

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.

Trish- I am so deeply sorry. How terrible for them. My thoughts are with Dana and Kyle.

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.

Danz- I think you should separate out red stars, leg horns and anything else you have as heavy production laying birds and hatch pure chicks from them to sell locally to folks for spring or fall chicks. If you have buff orps those always seem to be a big seller in the spring too. I love my light brahmas but people don't seem to appreciate them? It seems like most folks want clean legged birds for backyard egg production. I would get rid of the cochins unless you are going to show and ship. Nobody around here appreciates cochins. Which is a bummer because I have a yard full of them but I love them so I don't care and I will eventually ship. I would keep your bantam polish since 4-H kids are always looking for them. The seramas are a complete waste unless you are going to extensively ship birds and eggs. Let me know if you bail on your serama project, I would love to come down and take a look at what you have before you liquidate.

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.

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?

Your orps are aloof????!!!! Are they hatchery orps? Good heavens, my black orp pullets are up my behind everywhere I go! I walk around the yard with 3-4 orp pullets in hot pursuit, they are the friendliest things. I have one buff orp that is hatchery stock and she is rotten and miserable. She hates me and bites me when I reach in to take eggs out if she is in the nest box! She also screams like she is dying when she lays an egg, it is kind of annoying.

I have those eggs in the bator for the silkie cochin chicks but I also have a first generation silchin pullet sitting on a pile of eggs she is hoarding!! Stealth ninja broodies! So they are proven!

Well I should head to bed. Went to Andover today on a last minute trip to visit DH and give one of the dogs a haircut. We went to lunch over at the park in Andover and there were six domestic ducks on the pond that I have never seen before so I was afraid someone dumped them. We stopped into city hall and got the number for the park maintenance to find out if they belong there or not and if not I have a friend down there that will go start feeding them so maybe we can get them up on shore and rounded up. I am afraid they will get eaten by someones dog out there or starve this winter. Why do people think its a good idea to just leave flightless ducks on a pond in a city park?? You wouldn't go to a park and leave a bunch of chickens that you no longer wanted...

 

[pikeman94]

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.

Danz - FYI, I have a friend that is going to get into the chicken realm in the spring. He is looking for broilers and layers. I don't know how many he will want to start out with, but I am sending him your way.

 

[pikeman94]

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.

Trish - I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. My family doesn't like the "C" word. My beloved lost both of her parents to it several years ago. She is an only child so it was very hard on her. I am hoping that it is something they can rein in.

 

[pikeman94]

Danz, I would only keep the breeds that sell well as far as breeders go for hatching chicks. You will have your rare breeds to pick up the slack for hatching chicks. Then keep the best layers if you intend to keep selling eating eggs. You want to get away from the mixed chicks for hatching, so any stray birds that you can't put in pens to keep the breed pure I would sell. I know you like the Seramas, but they aren't good sellers, so you should get rid of them & make room for something else in that pen. I really prefer the LF rather than bantams myself, but I know there are some people that like the bantams. The cochins are about the only bantams I might consider, I had some years ago. They're not good layers, but are good if you want a broody I guess, but then I have other hens that are broody all the time.

I'm thinking of selling off some of my layers later on after my new ones start laying. I have to figure out who the slackers are as far as not laying the best & sell those. I know not all of my hens are laying right now, they're starting to pick up a little now that it's cooling off some, but still there are a few that haven't laid for quite awhile. Everybody told me the Australorps were such great layers, but they have been broody more than they have laid I think. One of them just sits in the nest box all day long every day & night & has for weeks, I can't break her of it. The BC Marans lay beautiful dark chocolate eggs, they're from IVYWOODS, but they have also been broody a lot this summer. I will wait & see if they start to pick up later on or not. I just can't afford to feed a bunch of hens that don't lay. If they don't work they don't get to stay. I really do like the Speckled Sussex hens, they're so pretty & I have one that replaced the one that died from the heat & the other two I have will go into the breeder coop with their roo since I plan to raise them next year. I have one brown leghorn pullet that made it & I think one ancona pullet, these will replace some I have lost lately. I have 3 little Welsummer pullets in my grow-out pen that will go in my general laying flock. People have told me they are pretty good layers, so we'll see. I have one Buff Orpington pullet & a couple of lavender Orpington/porcelain Isabel pullets also to go into my general flock. I have never had Orpingtons before, so this will be a new experience for me with them & the Welsummers too. It's just kind of a waiting game with all of the chicks in the grow-out pen to see how they all develop & see what I keep & what I need to get rid of. I know there will be some roos in there to re-home or process one of the two. I really hate to have to eat those pretty lavender Orpingtons though. I'm kind of waiting too on my Swedish Flower Hen chicks to develop so I can pick who gets to go in the breeder pen. I think the extra pullets will get to stay, I'm down to 9 of those now that I lost another one yesterday. I want at least a trio in the breeder pen, but it may be smart to keep an extra roo too just in case. The little Cream Legbar pullet that I hatched seems to be doing OK out there in the pen now, she's growing, but that breed sure does seem to grow slow. I don't care if the people in the UK say our birds aren't the right color to meet their standards. Maybe we need to make our own standards here & allow gold hackles on the hens & more color on the cockerels. I don't know why they want to breed out all the color on these birds anyway, I think they're much prettier birds with more color. Maybe we can name our breed something different like Gold Legbars or something. Since we all have birds that are descendants of the ones from Greenfire Farms we have to work with what we have. They're way too expensive to just cull all the birds with gold hackles or too much rust on the roosters. I also really like the Salmon Favorelles, they're really friendly birds too. If I ignore Millie she will follow me & jabber at me, she did that to me last night when I went into the pen.

I had to run & get some plumbing strap to hook that other livestock panel onto the frame this afternoon. I have to say it's a lot harder to hook the darned things on standing on your head than to hook the panels onto the boards & then flip them over & hook the whole thing to the end pieces. It's really hard on my back to have to bend over that far for so long, ugh. Anyway, I got it hooked on & then hooked the back support frame on so the back is pretty stable now. I started to work on the front but my screwdriver batteries both died, so I had to quit. I took some pics with my new phone, so we'll see how they look. Josie, does this look anything like the pen you made?


Here is the front, the boards aren't hooked on yet, I just stood them up there to kind of get an idea how my door is going to work.


View of the back with the supports in place.


From the side it looks strange for some reason, but doesn't up close to it. You can see all of my cable ties hanging down that I haven't cut off yet.

I think since I put that frame on the back like that I won't cut up a panel for the back, I will just use some other wire to close it in since I have more to hook to now. I will be making a door for the front for my access to the pen. It's a fairly decent sized pen, it's 4 times bigger than those little peahen chicks are in right now. I just want to put them in there until they get old enough to take care of themselves out free-ranging. They're really getting big, I will have to take some pics when I get this pen all done & put them in there. I've been calling them over in the evening to the side of the pen & feeding them sunflower seeds, so they kind of get used to me a little more. I love that little thing on the top of their heads, they're getting more color now.

Danz, if you end up with an extra white peacock I might be interested. Will these you're going to get be adults or young ones? I'll be coming up your way Sept. 10th when I go to KC to see my arthritis Dr.

Trish - So far my SSX from KarenS have been super layers! I think I have been getting about an egg a day from each of them since they started laying. Granted they lay in the chimenea, but they are still laying!

I agree with all that you have said in your post about breeds to keep so there is no sense in me re-hashing.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Medawinks-- congrats on the new eggs!! So exciting to have the girls start laying!

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.

Congrats on being a cancer survivor!

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.

I don't like my Wyandottes, I wouldn't do that again. I would, however, keep my barred rocks if I had it to do over again. They are laying machines.. they NEVER stopped ONCE this summer!! They are still laying strong. My poor Polish were laying good, but then got really ify there at the last in the insane heat. I think they are just stressed. But I don't care, I love how goofy and fun they are. I think Josie has a better idea of what you have and what you could think of doing. What colors Polish do you have? I'd keep them, because they are perfect for 4-H'rs and project birds. I LOVE the WCB. But if I were to choose another color, I love the silver laced, too. I'm not too fond of the Buffs, but I did see a gorgeous one at the county fair-- and I had to reconsider. I don't usually see really GOOD ones.

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?

Yes--- LOVE, LOVE my polish!!!

Here is the front, the boards aren't hooked on yet, I just stood them up there to kind of get an idea how my door is going to work.


View of the back with the supports in place.


From the side it looks strange for some reason, but doesn't up close to it. You can see all of my cable ties hanging down that I haven't cut off yet.

I think since I put that frame on the back like that I won't cut up a panel for the back, I will just use some other wire to close it in since I have more to hook to now. I will be making a door for the front for my access to the pen. It's a fairly decent sized pen, it's 4 times bigger than those little peahen chicks are in right now. I just want to put them in there until they get old enough to take care of themselves out free-ranging. They're really getting big, I will have to take some pics when I get this pen all done & put them in there. I've been calling them over in the evening to the side of the pen & feeding them sunflower seeds, so they kind of get used to me a little more. I love that little thing on the top of their heads, they're getting more color now.

Danz, if you end up with an extra white peacock I might be interested. Will these you're going to get be adults or young ones? I'll be coming up your way Sept. 10th when I go to KC to see my arthritis Dr.

Trish-- GREAT job!! It looks fantastic! I'm so glad you posted pictures! I would love to build one of these too... but I've got enough on my plate for now. Maybe next spring! I'm really sorry about Dana. I hope she is going to fight it for all she's worth and quit smoking, too. I have had two grandparents die because they smoked. Just cuts your life short, it's a real shame. I prayed for her, but will continue to do so!

Hawkeye- Keep me posted on any young men you have, I would like one without an attitude as well. Seems like all of mine have been feet attackers which is really annoying! Can you sell my blue cockerel for me? I posted him several times up here in KC but no luck. Not even for $5 and I think he is nicer than that!


Well I should head to bed. Went to Andover today on a last minute trip to visit DH and give one of the dogs a haircut. We went to lunch over at the park in Andover and there were six domestic ducks on the pond that I have never seen before so I was afraid someone dumped them. We stopped into city hall and got the number for the park maintenance to find out if they belong there or not and if not I have a friend down there that will go start feeding them so maybe we can get them up on shore and rounded up. I am afraid they will get eaten by someones dog out there or starve this winter. Why do people think its a good idea to just leave flightless ducks on a pond in a city park?? You wouldn't go to a park and leave a bunch of chickens that you no longer wanted...

I will keep you posted! My rooster will get a bit crazy and sort of go for my feet. BUT-- he doesn't really have his full heart in it. I think he can't see well, and he is nervous. When I reach down and touch his back and talk to him (while he's acting a bit crazy) he calms right down. I pick him up and part the feathers so he can see me and then he relaxes and snuggles down and talks to me. He's a real sweetie, but he will attack before he finds out it's me. And honestly, the kids have kind of harassed him a bit. Sigh. But if his offspring is as nice as he is, they should be pretty good boys. I think I will trim up his beard so he can see. I will no longer be showing him. I don't know how it was so easy to get him sold.. luck? Although, I better not count on it yet--- she said she's coming out on Friday, so she could let it go. So sad about the domestic ducks! What on earth are people thinking???

Trish - I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. My family doesn't like the "C" word. My beloved lost both of her parents to it several years ago. She is an only child so it was very hard on her. I am hoping that it is something they can rein in.

Oh wow, that is really horribly sad she lost both her parents to it. I'm so very sorry. I can't imagine being parent-less right now.

 

[pikeman94]

Oh wow, that is really horribly sad she lost both her parents to it. I'm so very sorry. I can't imagine being parent-less right now.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone. If it wasn't for the fact that our daughter was born 5 months before her father died I would have lost my wife to depression. DD had needs that helped DW keep moving. It still sucks because I really miss both of in-laws. They were both top notch people in the character department.

 

[HEChicken]

Your orps are aloof????!!!! Are they hatchery orps?

No, I got them from a local gal many years ago when I first got back into keeping chickens. She had hatched them from her flock (showed me the rooster and hens), but of course I have no idea where she originally got her stock - THEY could have been hatchery. Really, I have no complaints about my orps other than they haven't been super friendly. Henrietta was my eldest hen, as she was a month old when I got her, while the rest were day-old chicks. She was a good layer up until she threw an ovary but although I had always said I would be practical and not keep hens who weren't laying, I broke my word and kept her because she was a great flock leader. She was the head hen but was always so calm and gentle with the others - she didn't rule by being a bully, and I liked that. All she had to do was walk up to a feeder and the rest moved aside to make room for her so they definitely respected her "status" but at the same time, the brand new pullets who were being integrated could eat right alongside her and she would never chase them away from the feeder, even though some of the lower status birds would, so when I saw that, I appreciated her even more. She never went broody but always kind of took the young ones under her wing and let them forage alongside her without harassment. Anyway, she died a few months ago (cancer, I believe, possibly related to the ovary issue), and her "sister", Scramble, who was a month younger, is now my head hen. She remains a good layer, has never gone broody, and is also not a bully. Both orps have been great squatters, so I was/am always able to handle them even though they are aloof and don't really seek me out to be buddies with me, follow me around or talk to me. But all I have to do is walk near them, they squat, I pick them up and can handle them all I want so they're not like a couple of my crazy birds who I think would rather die than be handled by a HUMAN.

Well, I finally got my dog run finished last night. This was quite the saga and I'll try not to bore you all but it started with needing somewhere to be able to segregate birds, whether it is new birds, or birds I want to breed, or birds eating a different type of feed or whatever. So I found one on CL but the pics showed it already taken down. I called the guy and specifically asked "does it have ALL the brackets/hardware I will need to put it back together?" He assured me it did, so I bought it from him and then set about trying to put it together. That literally took days (a little at a time) because without a picture of what it should look like, we just couldn't figure out how it went together. We would start in the early morning hours but then the sun would get hot the same time our frustration was building so we'd hang it up for the day. Finally Trish was able to help by sending pics of her dog run and once we realized how it was supposed to go, we had the frame put together in about 10 minutes. Anyway, then we unrolled the chain link only to find that no, it didn't have ANY brackets, AND one of the tension bars was missing. There was a tension bar threaded through one end of the chain link but at the other end there was no way to attach it to the frame. Grrrrr. I didn't want to make a special trip to the store to get what I needed, so waited a few days until I was going there anyway and then I got all the brackets I would need along with the missing tension bar, got home and felt like an idiot because I forgot to get bolts to go through the brackets and did not have any of that size in my stash of nuts and bolts. So I had to wait a few more days until I was making another trip to a store that would carry them. I finally got to Ace yesterday morning, got the bolts, and last night when it cooled off, set about attaching the chain link. I used cargo straps and they made the job really pretty easy. After stretching the wire as far around the frame as I could by hand, I attached the cargo straps and started ratcheting them down. Two are really essential (3 would have been nice) because I had a big enough gap to close that all of the strap would get rolled up into the ratchet, and I'd have to release it to start over. So one would hold the tension on the wire while I released the other to reset it, and vice versa. I had to reset each about 3 times but by then I had closed the gap and it was then a pretty simple matter to attach the brackets on that side and I was done. I tell you, when a job has taken as long as this one did from start to finish, it is a VERY good feeling to look out and see it is finally done

My next step is to fix chicken wire to the base (I have some 2' wire that should work great) to keep smaller chicks in. I am also going to try to stretch some chicken wire across the top. I'm hoping that if I can get it stretched tight enough, it will help to hold up the tarp over the top and keep it from sagging in the middle. Then I'll only need to add roosts (I have a large tree branch that might work great) and a dog kennel. Since the kennel isn't in there yet, I'll have to have DH help me to pick the whole thing up and lift it over the top of the dog kennel. Trish did warn me to put the kennel in before putting it together but I didn't think about it last night when putting on the chain link. Then it will be all set to accommodate some birds.

 

[HEChicken]

I will keep you posted! My rooster will get a bit crazy and sort of go for my feet. BUT-- he doesn't really have his full heart in it. I think he can't see well, and he is nervous. When I reach down and touch his back and talk to him (while he's acting a bit crazy) he calms right down. I pick him up and part the feathers so he can see me and then he relaxes and snuggles down and talks to me.

I think vision is a big issue with silkies. My two were a splash and a blue. The splash had an eye issue - it was always weeping and I tried every product under the sun to try to help him but none of them had a long-term effect. The result was the feathers around his eye were always a little matted with gunk, but that kept them from fluffing up and impeding his vision, and he never once attacked me. My blue though, was super silkied and was literally just a little puff ball. I couldn't see his eyes and that meant he couldn't see me either. I think because of his poor vision, he didn't like to go into the coop at night - navigating the door was just too difficult for him when he couldn't see. So every night I had to go out and put him in the coop after the door had closed. He attacked me a couple of times until I realized it was because I scared him, just grabbing for him out of nowhere. I started talking to him as I approached, and telling him "JB, I'm going to pick you up now" as I reached for him, and he never attacked me again after I started doing that. Once he knew I was there, he didn't mind being handled at all.

Oh, Trish, I meant to say what a great job you are doing on that hoop house - I am really impressed. I've always thought I might try to put one of those together one day, although I don't have any cattle panels just lying around - I'd need to buy them and get them here on the roof rack of our car LOL.

 

[chicken danz]

What an evening I had. I sold 42 young hens last night. I ended up selling several I wanted to keep and have several I wanted to sell let over. Anyway the guy got a good bargain and I have a lot less mouths to feed. I may end up really short on eggs in the next few months especially when the older girls go broody. I have a bunch of young pullets left that I would like to move but I need to somehow figure out how to count them. I sold several of my Salmons, and Marans I wanted to keep. But I kept telling myself I had the opportunity and I needed to sell what I could.
As far as selling chickens go, I have to keep my cochins. I love those birds. I don't know how many people come here and say,"What is that?" and then ask if I have any for sale. I just need to decide which colors I can keep. They are said not to be good layers but my girls seem to do an excellent job. And some of them lay pink eggs which is awesome. Their eggs are big too. I asked DH last night his opinion about what colors and he just suggested I divide my runs a few more times. He is such an enabler! I have automatic waterers to set up and I only have 10 of them to install in the chicken trailer. If I divide runs that means I would have to buy more. They are not at all cheap.
I really love the silver laced and gold laced LF Polish. The silvers are gorgeous and have full beards but I had several of my hens disappear this summer.
I am keeping the red stars and I have several babies from them now which are crossed with a big light Brahma rooster. I think they will be awesome layers as well. And the brahmas are a must have. They are one of my favorites. I did sell several brahma hens yesterday though. I have quite a few.
I am loving my orpingtons and sussex. They are all young but are great layers. The eggs are still small but that will improve with time.
Yeah Josie I am seriously thinking of selling my seramas. I kept my best breeders who are mostly B or Cs but consistently produce A or B babies. I love the novelty of those tiny birds but I am too far from the city to sell them. Most of them I've sold have been from KC or Wichita. Most of mine came from a champion breeder in Texas. My white male is not all that good. I accidentally sold all my awesome whites, but this guy throws some great chicks. He has an extra point or two on his comb for the standard. It doesn't seem to carry over. I'd rather use their house for the Orlandsk dwarfs I think.
Trish your hoop house looks great so far. I'm very proud of you for getting so much done by yourself. I'm thinking that might be what I'll do to grow up some peachicks. The whites I am trying to buy are babies I believe hatched this summer. I am still waiting for details. The guy wrote DH late yesterday and said he'd get back with him today. I have my fingers crossed!! Sure wish there was a way to sex the whites while they were young short of paying to have DNA testing done.
I had quite an experience yesterday. The one peachick that got out of the wash tub with it's Mom couldn't get back in and the other one couldn't get out. So I decided I was going to have to take a chance and move the nesting material out of the tub and hope she handled it okay. I did it, upsetting her greatly. Then I picked up the washtub to carry it out and there was a rattle snake under neath it!! I've never seen a rattler around this place before. It quickly moved out and I ran for a hoe but then couldn't find it again. I think it probably went under a pile of lumber I had sitting there in the rest of the building. Needless to say I was a little reluctant to start moving lumber by myself. It really worries me. I am so afraid it will come back and kill the chicks or the hen.... or worse yet, if my dogs find it, bite one of the dogs. Now I'm going to be nervous until I locate it again and hopefully kill it without getting bitten.
I need to go out soon and check on my babies too. I repositioned her nesting material and I hope she used it.