Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

It won't hurt the eggs or the people that eat them but it will hurt your chickens. They can also consume less feed if they aren't trying to compensate for worms. I don't remember how many chickens you said you had. If you don't want to deal with withdrawal period I'd recommend getting the pumpkin. You can feed the guts and make the rest into a Jack-o-Lantern so you won't feel like you have spent money for nothing. It's a coating on the fresh seeds that actually worms the chicken. The apple cider vinegar can also be used for other things as well. I planted a number of pumpkins this year just for the birds. I plan to do a little decorating with them as well but for the cost of a packet of seeds it was very economical.
A while back I bought a bunch of seed for things like pumpkin and melons on clearance to plant next year for the birds. It might even rain next summer which would help even more.

We are going to take a 12 hour trip today to get feed. I sure hope this works out the way I plan. I'm wanting to feed the my birds the highest nutrients I can for ultimate spring hatches. A person I know who produces top national show birds, feeds this way so I am hoping it works for me as well. I'm still battling in my head about how much to buy and where I can store it all. This is going to be a major expense but in the long run I hope it is worth it.

 

[mommahen10]

This is my 3rd try, same post. My computer restarted for updates, and I don't know what happened just a sec ago. I'm already over my limit for computer time so I have to be short and sweet.

Trish, that's a ton of books. I hope you never have to move, I can't imagine moving that many books. We have 2 big book shelves and I'm constantly straightening them out. Ours are mostly children's books and they enjoy looking through them. We've never wormed any of ours either. I don't see any problems with them. That's awesome that he decided to stay and work on the coop, that's the way to get things done. I love it when they do that. I always think it's so much more efficient if one person does the running around and the others stay on task but it seems that everyone here thinks that the running around is the fun job.

medawinks~ Beautiful egg. I wouldn't want to eat it, I'd have to stare at it for along time. I feel really stupid but what is an EE?

sapphireblu76~ We are building our own incubator too. We are using an old upright freezer, it's the smallest I've ever seen. We've already put in a window, we have a heating element and fans. We need to make some ventilation holes still, and I'm going to buy a thermostat and a hygrometer and lots of thermometers. I had great hatch rates earlier with my styro one but this last time it was terrible. I think the problem was that I had too many different hatch dates so I won't do that again.

HEChicken~ I'm carrying water too. I use 5 gallon buckets and fill them half way so I don't soak myself carrying them. That's even a bit too heavy for me. I'm looking at getting a wagon with the huge wheels because our coops are pretty spread out. Then I could make one trip to fill the water buckets and feed cans and keep all of the buckets and cans together. Sometimes I have to go looking for them so that would save time too to just keep it all together. I like your rain water idea, that's awesome. I need to replace some guttering on one of our coops but it's right next to the garden so that may proves quite useful to set up another watering system. We picked up a well pump from Craigslist, we don't even know if it works but it was a great deal. I hope it works, if we get that set up next year that's just another water source in another area of the property.

sunflowerparrot~ I wouldn't worry about large bodies of water. It's the stagnant water that is an issue.

chicken danz~ How are you holding up? Thanks for the advice about worming. We will work pumpkins in to our plan directly beside the chicken coop. We already have garden in that area. How do you use the apple cider vinegar? I have that here. That was a beautiful group of chicks. How many more did you get? What do you incubate with? I don't have anything in my incubator right now, but every single day I walk to it. I can't help it. I know there's nothing in it, but it's just become part of my day. I should move it so I don't see it constantly but I hope to use it again soon so I won't. Have a safe trip.

Yesterday my husband and boys built another coop, they just have to attach the gate. So far, we have 4 coops and we have spent very little. I will guess less than $50. We have used all of the used fencing materials we had so we will be on the look out for more incase we decide to expand more. I do have 2 more spots I'd like to go eventually. The new coop is empty, we need to finish the shelter for that one but it's well under way. I have one coop that I'd like to see the shelter reorganized, so we will move those chickens over there while we do that. Right now, if I kept every chicken I have there would be more than enough room for all. I don't plan on keeping them all though. Last night, we picked up some nesting boxes from someone on Craigslist, they're sturdy and were only $15. There are 10 boxes and I'm sure I will put them to good use.

I want to hatch again, but I'm trying to find a way to keep the eggs a consistent cool temp so I can hatch them all at once. Does anyone have any good advice? My cooler will keep at 62 degrees if I leave the top open and just add one frozen water bottle. Do they need ventilation at this point? What's the ideal temp to hold the eggs before putting in the incubator?

Yesterday we moved all of our chickens around. It was cool in a way because I handled each one of them and got to look them over. I still can't tell the girls from the boys. There are a few that definitely look like boys, but the rest I just don't feel sure. Is there an easy way to tell? Just to say, I don't like to say roo but only because I call my 6yo daughter Roux pronounced roo and I feel like I'm calling her a chicken now. I know it's dumb but I just can't do it yet. Anyway, my 7 week old chicks look YUCK. Their feathers look yucky, they are missing feathers and it looks like they have dandruff. This group was my bigger group, and I thought when I moved them to the bigger pen the first time that they were just too crowded but it didn't get better. But of course they quickly grew and I again thought they looked too crowded, so now I moved them again to a bigger pen. Are they sick?

I better go get to work. Have a great day all!

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

I saw this on Craigslist if anyone is interested.
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craigslist > for sale / wanted > farm & garden - by owner


Broiler chicks, chickens - $1 (Manhattan)

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Date: 2012-09-21, 12:17PM CDT
Reply to this post [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]


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The KSU poultry farm has excess Cornish cross broiler chicks for sale from a teaching project. They are between 2-3 weeks old, around a half pound in weight. Good birds to feed out. All males. These types of birds are meant for meat, and are not good for small flocks or egg production. We have about 350, take as many as you want, 50 cents each. Call 785-539-5041 for more information.
• Location: Manhattan
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 3286918745

 

[mommahen10]

That's a great deal, I wish I were closer.

 

[cubbysan]

Hi Everybody,

Well this weekend was a successful one. My baby chickens are quickly outgrowing their brooder, and I was getting upset that the coop wasn't started yet. I wanted it started a couple weeks ago. I gave my husband some pictures of coops from BYC that I liked, thinking he would build on of those. I guess all this time he was trying to come up with his own style. He showed me the plans and started building it Saturday, it should be done next week, then we will need to worry about the how to design the pen. It is coming out adorable, looks like a children's playhouse. It is New England Cape style ( we are from the Boston area ), with a farmer's porch and railing for the chicks to sit on. It has 8 nesting boxes ( I warned him about chicken math ). I can't wait to post some pictures.

I have been putting my baby ducks in an ex-pen in my adult ducks pen, so they are separated by the fencing. We have done this three times. We have one female Cayuga that will not leave their side, trying to put her beak through the fencing. I decided to let her meet then without the fence, ( put the other ducks in their house ), and after 5 minutes they started biting each other pretty hard and I had to separate them. How long does it take to introduce them? My ducks are about 6 - 7 weeks old, they are a good size but not full grown, I don't think I want them with the males until they are closer to being full grown.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Josie, I did order a shock collar, so it should be here in a few days

I'm waiting on my fourth antibiotic to get here in the mail, something has to kick this stuff to the curb that my young birds have.

Good luck with the shock collar! I LOVE mine!! My little shih Tzu is bull headed and will not turn around or listen, no matter how loud you scream, and even if you are running after her! She will just run for all she's worth. Now, forget about it-- when she takes off, I push that button and she comes to an instant stop and turns around and looks at me. Then I can calmly yell at her to come back and she just trots right back. It used to be, I'd have to drive up and down the road calling to a dog that didn't want to come to me. Frustrating!!!! I think those collars are worth it, for sure!

I finally have 3 nest boxes put up in the coop

So - back to my question - do I need to do anything with the hens (5 months old)/boxes now that they are ready?

That's great! I put golf balls into my nest boxes. The girls were laying pretty well in my nest boxes and then all of a sudden started laying everywhere BUT the boxes. I went out and bought the golf balls at Walmart and they all started laying in the boxes again.

I've been out shopping all day and now I'm ready to go commune with my chickens. My Swedish Flowers are at that awkward stage where their feathers are coming in but they look really scruffy. Poor things. They sure are good flyers!

I'm Danzcizing again. I'm after some cream legbar chicks that should be shipped tomorrow. So exciting!

Silkies go thru a really ugly stage, I know what you are talking about! So you're not getting eggs... but CHICKS?? That is really cool!!! I hope they all arrive alive and well.

My lovely nest boxes The plan is to build another set of 3 on top of these early next spring.

Beautiful!

You know kids are excited when they rush to meet you before you can get out of the car!! The egg hunt was productive again today and our first EE to lay has added a light sage green egg to our egg basket of light brown, pink, light blue and chocolate brown

Great picture! Congrats on the EE egg! Those birds are so fun, I love their muffs!

Oh and someone asked what EE stood for-- it's an "Easter Egger". They are crosses, but often lay colored eggs if they have the right crosses in their breeding.

I met David yesterday and Betty has joined my flock. Her wounds are superficial and she is very interested in life, eating and drinking so I think she'll be just fine. She seems to be settling in well. It was fun to meet David too!

Madge, my RP hen sounded a little congested this morning.

So glad that Betty isn't injured any more seriously! I hope your RP will be okay! I wouldn't know what to do either, mine never got sick.

The other thing I have been wanting to do is set up a rain barrel and catch the rain that comes off the coop roof.

What a fantastic deal!!! I want a rain barrel (or 2)!! I should really hook one up on the back of my house. We saw them at the Garden Show last year and they are usually right about $100, so we passed. But wow, if they are that cheap, I might run out and get one, too!

The rain barrel has a very fine mesh screen over the opening in the top, and the gutter system will come down to sit on top of that and deliver the water. There shouldn't be a way for mosquitoes to get in to lay their larva.

My chicken coop fence shares a fence with the lagoon but I didn't see a single mosquito at the coop this year. There are TONS of frogs in the lagoon and I suspect in their tadpole state they eat any mosquito larva that dare to try to live in it. We also have a good-sized pond and I was concerned about mosquitoes there too, but there are a large number of water fowl at it all the time. Once again, there are tons of frogs so I suspect that any mosquitoes who lay their eggs there, the tadpoles eat the wrigglers, and the herons, egrets, ducks and geese eat the frogs. Its kind of neat how the ecosystems work! We actually had fewer problems with mosquitoes this year, with bodies of water so close, than we did in the city.

The rain barrels I've seen-- the fitting you use from your gutter to the barrel-- there is NO way a mosquito could get in there. These barrels are AWESOME!!!! I've never had a mosquito problem in my lagoon. Perhaps your eco system idea really does work well. I've never had any troubles with our lagoon, everyone down here has a lagoon-- they are really, really easy and don't cause problems. BUT-- you do have to be careful not to erode them with animals inside them. We have ducks that live in ours (wild) and while they do nothing for the weeds, I'm guessing they eat frogs, etc and it's a safe place from the coyotes because of the chain link fencing around it.

Now I'm sneezing and such.
I noticed my cuckoo Marans rooster is sneezing too. Crum! I sold my back up young roo so he'd better get over this. I sure don't want to deal with colds again this year. Maybe it will get cold enough to get rid of some of those viruses.

Oh no! I hope you are feeling okay today. NO good about the sneezing roo!! My big layers and the Polish are always healthy and never sick. But my silly Silkies are so darned delicate-- they are always sneezing. I give up on them! I think I could drug them all year round and it won't matter. They never have any discharge or any drainage from eyes or nose... so I figure they are just delicate birds. So I haven't bothered treating them anymore. No one has really gotten 'sick' or looks bad. Other than hearing a sneeze in their pen now and then... I guess that's just the way it's going to be with them. I wonder if they even have allergies or are more sensitive to the dust, dirt... I mean, I know they are chickens, but they don't seem as hardy. And on all of my silkie boards that I've joined, everyone has the same comments-- and most people don't even keep them outside. Everyone has built these silkie mansions for them and have them indoors 24/7 to keep the wind, rain and temperature swings off of them. I hope we don't deal with colds either this winter, though.

I gave my husband some pictures of coops from BYC that I liked, thinking he would build on of those. I guess all this time he was trying to come up with his own style. He showed me the plans and started building it Saturday, it should be done next week, then we will need to worry about the how to design the pen. It is coming out adorable, looks like a children's playhouse. It is New England Cape style ( we are from the Boston area ), with a farmer's porch and railing for the chicks to sit on. It has 8 nesting boxes ( I warned him about chicken math ). I can't wait to post some pictures.

Take a picture and post it!!! I must see!! I LOVE chicken coops!!! Big coop fanatic here!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Guys this chicken math is not making since to my DH so I sent him here to read a few threads.. We are building a better/bigger coop next spring and he kept asking why it needed to be bigger than the square footage required for our flock and well that is what led me to send him here lol. He thinks it is silly but he isnt an animal person anyway... At least he gets why it needs to be larger now and says he will make accomidations.. Cant wait to start building

I also read about the pumpkin seed thing but I believe it is only a preventative. I use safeguard to worm my flock and it is a great product. There is not a long hold time if you worried about that, growing up it is what the gparents used and we always ate the eggs, did not toss them after use. I of course read up on it alot and found it is not going to hurt you in that small of a dose and hey you will be parasite free as well

LOL I know I am going to get it for this post....

 

[sharol]

I used Wazine followed by Ivermectin last spring. It improved the productivity of the girls, and the two that were looking scruffy looked better almost immediately and started laying again, so I guess we had a parasite problem. That is my understanding of pumpkin seeds too, though if it were a light parasite problem, they might resolve it.

We ate the eggs through the wazine treatment with no ill affects, and only withheld them for a week after the Ivermectin. I didn't let my grandaughter or pregnant daughter eat them, though. No point in taking chances.

Sharol

Guys this chicken math is not making since to my DH so I sent him here to read a few threads.. We are building a better/bigger coop next spring and he kept asking why it needed to be bigger than the square footage required for our flock and well that is what led me to send him here lol. He thinks it is silly but he isnt an animal person anyway... At least he gets why it needs to be larger now and says he will make accomidations.. Cant wait to start building

I also read about the pumpkin seed thing but I believe it is only a preventative. I use safeguard to worm my flock and it is a great product. There is not a long hold time if you worried about that, growing up it is what the gparents used and we always ate the eggs, did not toss them after use. I of course read up on it alot and found it is not going to hurt you in that small of a dose and hey you will be parasite free as well

LOL I know I am going to get it for this post....

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh bummer! The guy who was hatching the Cream Legbars contacted me and said somebody messed with the bator and the temp was sky high for a long period and ruined the hatch. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, right? Oh well, I'll live and I'm $300 richer. I decided I'd rather pay the big bucks for chicks than try to buy multitudes of hatching eggs that were shipped through the post office. Who knew it was this difficult, either way?

Life.

Have a great day!

 

[Trish44]

Hi Everybody,

Well this weekend was a successful one. My baby chickens are quickly outgrowing their brooder, and I was getting upset that the coop wasn't started yet. I wanted it started a couple weeks ago. I gave my husband some pictures of coops from BYC that I liked, thinking he would build on of those. I guess all this time he was trying to come up with his own style. He showed me the plans and started building it Saturday, it should be done next week, then we will need to worry about the how to design the pen. It is coming out adorable, looks like a children's playhouse. It is New England Cape style ( we are from the Boston area ), with a farmer's porch and railing for the chicks to sit on. It has 8 nesting boxes ( I warned him about chicken math ). I can't wait to post some pictures.

I have been putting my baby ducks in an ex-pen in my adult ducks pen, so they are separated by the fencing. We have done this three times. We have one female Cayuga that will not leave their side, trying to put her beak through the fencing. I decided to let her meet then without the fence, ( put the other ducks in their house ), and after 5 minutes they started biting each other pretty hard and I had to separate them. How long does it take to introduce them? My ducks are about 6 - 7 weeks old, they are a good size but not full grown, I don't think I want them with the males until they are closer to being full grown.

Your coop sounds adorable, we want to see pics!

Good luck with the shock collar! I LOVE mine!! My little shih Tzu is bull headed and will not turn around or listen, no matter how loud you scream, and even if you are running after her! She will just run for all she's worth. Now, forget about it-- when she takes off, I push that button and she comes to an instant stop and turns around and looks at me. Then I can calmly yell at her to come back and she just trots right back. It used to be, I'd have to drive up and down the road calling to a dog that didn't want to come to me. Frustrating!!!! I think those collars are worth it, for sure!

Yeah, I hope the thing gets here soon because I want to start working with Jasmine & the guineas. I want to be able to let them out to range & eat ticks like I got them for in the first place. I was watching her this morning, she was laying several feet from the peacock/guinea pen & they were making some noise over food I had put in. I looked at her & she looked at me with really sad eyes like she was remembering getting in so much trouble. She is like that, so I'm hopeful that the shock collar will teach her even if they're making a racket to leave them alone. I still credit my Big Red RIR rooster that I had for teaching these dogs to leave the chickens alone because Jasmine still will make a wide path around the roos even with him gone, she did that this morning too. Sunflowerparrot, it what you're saying about Jasper continues & he's really protective of his hens then he will probably correct Fern too if she gets too close. I just let mine do his job & it sure did teach these dogs not to mess with the chickens at all. They can range around them all day long & they won't go after them. They do still pay attention to any unusual noises they make like an alarm for some reason, they go to investigate.

Well we didn't quite get the job done on getting the windows for the coop as of yet. We went & got some, but when we got back last night & started checking them out to see if they opened well & all & noticed one of them is missing the mechanism to open the window & some other bars, so I called the guy back & he's supposed to be looking for another window for me. Darn, now we have to wait again to get that end framed & put the siding on, grrrr. I was so happy to have found those windows, I sure hope he can find me another one to use on there.

Danz, I'm sorry you're not feeling well, I hope you feel better soon. This weather going back & forth isn't going to help anybody either, it was so cool this weekend & now today & tomorrow are supposed to be in the 90s again, blah.

HEChicken, is the turkey sneezing or anything, do you think it's a respiratory thing? I would use the Denagard if it's respiratory. I wouldn't wait either, I would go ahead & put some in their water & head it off.

KarenS, sorry about your CL chicks, you might check with Elaine & see if her folks have any, but you may be better off right now. I'm not having a great time with these imported birds lately, they're not acclimated to our bacteria & environment & they're not faring that well. I've been fighting this illness with them for weeks.