Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

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.

Hahahaha! The chimenea! That is a clever place to lay their eggs.

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 have one GLW and can't stand her but with that said the lady I bought my brahmas from had SLW that were non hatchery birds and they were stunning! Enormous, fluffy and sweet. She said hers were very good natured. I think there in lies the fault with hatchery birds. They are just looking for carbon copies of parents but they don't breed for temperament. I don't keep mean roos in my bantam cochin pens for that very reason. Banty cochins are supposed to be very easy to handle and gentle birds. Mean birds that bite or are otherwise nasty are not tolerated and sold or culled. But a hatchery wouldn't know that because they don't handle their birds as pets and in a large operation that is not a priority. I have several hatchery birds that I love to pieces and several that I can't hardly stand because they are just so darn crazy.

Yes--- LOVE, LOVE my polish!!!
I had a pair of buff laced polish and I sold them last fall because they were being picked on. I still regret it. The hen was frizzled and they were beautiful little birds. Went to a nice 4-H family but I wish I had kept them.


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???

I don't mind a little but this blue boy turns around and pecks me hard when I pick him up. It is annoying. Boys!!

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.

Oh I am so sorry for your wife and your family. That must have been terrifically difficult, I can't even imagine.

Well, I finally got my dog run finished last night. Oh this sounds like it was an ordeal! Glad it is coming together, I hate having missing parts!

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.
What colors do you have? Most people seem to like BBS and Buff a lot. I personally love the laced and partridge standard cochins but the pattern is terrible to work on and get it right. I love my bantams too though and would love to get white but they would be filthy here. My LF cochins are terrible layers and lay the tiniest eggs ever. I was actually thinking about selling my two blue hens because they are such poor layers and I don't have room for another project.
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.
Does he throw white chicks over colored hens or are they colored? I would love some whites. Shoot, DH will kill me.........
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.
YIKES! Be careful! That is scary. We have copperheads around here but I have only seen one and it was gone before I could deal with it. Our neighbor shoots them! I have yet to see a rattler and I hope I don't!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I love snakes but I would jump a mile if I encountered a rattler - sounds like you were very self-composed, but yeah, I'd also worry about him coming back and getting those peachicks. How scary he was that close to them all along - its amazing he hadn't already taken them.

Oh, Josie, I meant to say I laughed again at your secret ninja broodies!

 

[JosieChick]

If anyone knows of someone looking for a LGD there is a GP on craigslist today. http://wichita.craigslist.org/grd/3224308959.html

 

[chicken danz]

Josie, I had my white Serama roo separated with all white hens for some time. After I sold 50 breeders I just put them in with the general population again. So I don't know if he throws white chicks exclusively or not. I did have one white hen with a black tail. One of their offspring I kept as a hen has a single black tail feather. I only kept one pair of really irridescent bluish blacks that even have black in their combs, Several white hens and a white rooster. A buff hen which died in the heat and a silkie hen that died in the heat.( She was only 5 ounces, laid regularly but never produced a fertile egg.) Sad! I would have loved to have some of her offspring. I have one silkie rooster with excellent stance. One speckled rooster with excellent stance.(he used to throw some excellent mille fleur looking chicks when bred to the red/buff hens. He also has thrown several almost barred but splash looking chicks when bred to a white hen. I have a few newer off spring. I have one young black copper cockerel. I've sold or traded many of the white chicks because people want to show them. I would prefer to sell them all as a group. I wouldn't ask too much for them.

All of my cochins are LF. I had one pair of bantams and didn't like them much. They really do lay well for me and quite often go broody. My partridge cochins are beautiful, but then I lost my breeding rooster. I have one young one that I believe is a partridge roo but they are kind of hard to tell. Anyway I have gold laced, black, partridge, red, buff, and one white hen. My white hen produces barred chicks when pared with my black. She is the prettiest female I have. She also lays an egg about 6 days a week. She has a special spot she lays so I always know.
l did have silver laced Cochins but I sold them because they didn't impress me and had lousy foot feathering.
As far as Wyandottes go, it isn't that they aren't winter hardy. It just seems that they aren't a strong breed. I've lost several of them to heat. They are beautiful but they aren't anything I really care for. I had some from a few different sources and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I can't individually make sure they have the right conditions so they don't work well for me.
It's just so hard to decide what to keep especially since I've taken a huge interest in the rare breeds.
Trish, are you going to cover your hoop to add a house or build something that attaches to it?

 

[Trish44]

Josie, you should snatch up that GP yourself if she's been with chickens, that's a really good price for her.

Danz, I'm planning to put a tarp over the top of the hoop, I bought a really big one last night & that will provide shelter. Do you have a building for your peacocks? I would think since people just leave them out to roost in trees that they shouldn't need that much shelter. That woman that Sunflowerparrot & I visited with the 15 males just leaves hers out year round & they seem to be doing just fine, they were beautiful. She feeds them of course, but other than that they're just out there living in the trees. We have a whole wooded area in the front of our house & more trees down on the front 5 acres. I would hope they would stay up here closer to the house to roost & maybe they would if I feed them here. It will be awhile before I let them loose anyway because these are still babies yet, although they're growing fast & when I get my male I would like to make sure he knows this is home now & will stay here. I will have to take some new pics of my hens when I get the pen all done & get them moved in. I think they will be happy in there, it's a lot shadier in this spot than where they are & they will be able to see all around them. One question for you, do you think I need to put that netting over the top of the hoop & then the tarp or do you think since the tarp will be cinched down with cable ties that it will make the top secure enough? It's long enough that I think it will cover the whole top length-wise of the hoop. What are you having to pay for these white peachick babies if I may ask? It's too bad you can't tell the sexes of them like you can other colors, but I really wouldn't mind having either sex, I think the whites are really pretty too. I wonder if they will be more prone to predators though since they really stick out.

Thanks for all of your kind words about the hoop coop. It's not a real easy task doing that by yourself, it's doable, but just takes some elbow grease. I have one corner in the front that isn't quite perfectly square, it tilted just a tiny bit, it was the first corner, but I have it secured with 3 screws so it should be OK. I'm going to go out & work on the front supports this afternoon & get those attached & then figure out if I have anything to make my door out of. I know I have wire, but I don't know if there is any wood out there for it. I wasn't sure how the door was going to come together, but after seeing some pics of other people's hoop coops I figured out how they did it. If anybody wants to put one together I can tell you that the metal plumbing strap is another thing that is awesome to use to hook the hoops to the frame. I saw someone else using those too & went & got some. You can't really pound staples into the frame well if you don't attach them first before hooking your frame together. I used the fencing staples for the first 3 hoops because I hooked those onto the side boards before hooking those to the ends, but then when I got that all standing up & the frame on I couldn't pound the staples into the fourth hoop so I had to use the plumbing strips & just cut pieces & screw them on. That really worked out OK though for the back because I have that big support structure back there that makes it stable. I wouldn't have known how to make any of this if I hadn't studied pics & pages & pages of other people's hoop coops before I attempted it. My DH still hasn't been out there yet to see what I have done, he hopefully will go out to work on the other coop tomorrow, which is right behind this one out there. He won't be able to miss seeing it. I haven't even said anything to him about working on it at all, I kind of wanted it to be a surprise. He knew I bought materials for it because he was mad at me for making a special trip to Derby to get them. He thought I should have waited until we went again for supplies, but I wanted to get this thing done. These birds are starting to get pretty big & they're going to outgrow the pen they're in very soon. I will have to keep that little pen too because it has been awesome for putting small birds in to grow & it has a house attached too so they have some shelter. I just have to move it somewhere else before time for my DH to load up wood in his shed because he says it's in his way.

Oh & Danz, yikes about the rattler! I would have had a heart attack if I had encountered that, I hate snakes for the most part anyway but a rattler oooohhhh! I know we have them around here & I have been told we have copperheads too but knock on wood I have not seen either so far in the 14 years I have been here. We have all of these rocks all over the hill behind our house, just snake heaven up there & I don't go up there except after the snakes are hibernating usually. I would be concerned if you don't kill that thing that it will come back & eat your little peas & any other chicks you have out there. If you start losing chicks you probably will know where they went. Do be careful moving things around!

 

[JosieChick]

Josie, I had my white Serama roo separated with all white hens for some time. After I sold 50 breeders I just put them in with the general population again. So I don't know if he throws white chicks exclusively or not. I did have one white hen with a black tail. One of their offspring I kept as a hen has a single black tail feather. I only kept one pair of really irridescent bluish blacks that even have black in their combs, Several white hens and a white rooster. A buff hen which died in the heat and a silkie hen that died in the heat.( She was only 5 ounces, laid regularly but never produced a fertile egg.) Sad! I would have loved to have some of her offspring. I have one silkie rooster with excellent stance. One speckled rooster with excellent stance.(he used to throw some excellent mille fleur looking chicks when bred to the red/buff hens. He also has thrown several almost barred but splash looking chicks when bred to a white hen. I have a few newer off spring. I have one young black copper cockerel. I've sold or traded many of the white chicks because people want to show them. I would prefer to sell them all as a group. I wouldn't ask too much for them. Let me know, I may be interested. I have to see what DH thinks. I don't really have room for a whole bunch of cockerels right now because my one guy is a scrapper and he always is on the losing end. I hate him getting bloodied up! I would love to come down and look at them if you decide to part with them.

All of my cochins are LF. I had one pair of bantams and didn't like them much. They really do lay well for me and quite often go broody. My partridge cochins are beautiful, but then I lost my breeding rooster. I have one young one that I believe is a partridge roo but they are kind of hard to tell. Anyway I have gold laced, black, partridge, red, buff, and one white hen. My white hen produces barred chicks when pared with my black. She is the prettiest female I have. She also lays an egg about 6 days a week. She has a special spot she lays so I always know.
l did have silver laced Cochins but I sold them because they didn't impress me and had lousy foot feathering.
As far as Wyandottes go, it isn't that they aren't winter hardy. It just seems that they aren't a strong breed. I've lost several of them to heat. They are beautiful but they aren't anything I really care for. I had some from a few different sources and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I can't individually make sure they have the right conditions so they don't work well for me.
It's just so hard to decide what to keep especially since I've taken a huge interest in the rare breeds.
Trish, are you going to cover your hoop to add a house or build something that attaches to it?

Josie, you should snatch up that GP yourself if she's been with chickens, that's a really good price for her.

I

I know! But I don't think Molly would accept an intact female adult dog and she comes first here. I don't want fighting and she is very dominant. I am leaning towards a male pup next time around and still need to find a home for Lucie...

 

[JosieChick]

Danz- Will you remind me of the name of the phone company you use again? Sorry, I can't find it and we really need to have them out. I can't stand this cell phone nonsense anymore. I can't make or receive phone calls half the time.

 

[Trish44]

Josie, what cell phone company are you with? You might check with your company & see if they have a booster they can provide you with. That's what we had to do here & they provided it to us for free. Otherwise we could hardly get enough of a signal any more to make a call & they dropped all the time. I didn't think about your female GP not accepting another adult, yeah that may be an issue. Candace should be having some more pups before long I'll bet if you check with her.

 

[JosieChick]

Josie, what cell phone company are you with? You might check with your company & see if they have a booster they can provide you with. That's what we had to do here & they provided it to us for free. Otherwise we could hardly get enough of a signal any more to make a call & they dropped all the time. I didn't think about your female GP not accepting another adult, yeah that may be an issue. Candace should be having some more pups before long I'll bet if you check with her.

Hi Trish- Thanks we have a cell booster, it doesn't work very well though. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. There is a rural telephone company up here but I can't remember their name and we are going to have a home phone installed. Our house is in a valley and is 2 feet thick stone so cell phones are very unhappy here.

I appreciate the recommendation for a GP pup but I am actually in touch with a lady down in Springfield that has working show pyrs. I really want another Molly and her dogs are very similar in size, appearance and personality. Molly is pretty territorial and she can get snippy even with Lucie who is very submissive with her so I would be scared of introducing an adult female. I read in the book I have about LGDs that it is best to have 2 dogs of the opposite sex but I thought if I got Lucie as a pup it would work out ok and they are most of the time but if Lucie challenges Molly she gets her butt kicked!

Well when it rains it pours right??? So I have two families interested in Lucie. One family has 3 boys, lives on 10 acres and wants an outside dog for the kids to play with and just act as a general protection dog. They seem very nice and responsible. Family number two is a couple that has 10 acres, just built a house on a dead end road and are getting some nigerian dwarf goats. They want a farm dog that will keep coyotes away from their goats. Sigh. What do I do?? Both situations sound good but I am concerned that family number two may get goats, get sick of them and then have no need for the dog.....

 

[chicken danz]

I KNOW I posted a lengthy response and it isn't here. It disappeared!!! If it shows up this will be a lot of repeat.
The phone company we use is Century Link. It was Embarq before, and Sprint before that. They keep selling it out I guess. Kind of like some of the banks do. Their number for new service is:
1-800-788-3500
If I didn't have a land line I would be in the same fix. We keep calling for cell problems and they keep saying they'll fix it but they have done nothing. We are in a low area too so I think the signal just goes over the top of us or something. We had great service before Altel sound to Verizon.
Josie I will send you a PM later re: the Seramas.
Trish I have no idea what I am going to pay for the peachicks. I am still waiting to hear from him. If they are very high I probably won't buy them. What did you have to pay for yours? I know yours were a little older.
I checked the babies while ago and they are doing fine. The mama peahen is really a good mother. I like the mothering sounds she makes. It's much different than chickens. I didn't find the snake yet again. Of course I wasn't looking much since I had on slide sandals.
All my chicken catching last night wore me out. I look around today and see that I sure missed getting several I should have sold. I was in the garage catching. I wonder if some flew out of the pen so they wouldn't get caught. I still put out as much feed as usual. I guess I'll just see how much disappears. I need to catch a bunch of these young wilder ones and pen them so I know what I have around here. Easier said than done. Downsizing is under way though. It feels kind of nice.