Consolidated Kansas

[mommahen10]

And... there is went again... my disappearing posts. Does anyone know if spamming is allowed on here? I'm not planning on spamming anyone, don't worry. I was just curious if it's allowed.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, my wounded chicken is doing better. She was just standing up when I went out there. I don't know what happened to her but I'm wondering if I caught it after it was already getting better. The smell is decreasing each time I check her, the wound appears to be closing and is no longer draining but still looks gross, I actually didn't smell anything when I cleaned her this morning. She seems to be getting more energy but I don't want to put her back with the others until she's completely healed up. She's improving so quickly I don't want to start antibiotics now but I intend to buy some to keep on hand, $11 bucks is reasonable.

Hawkeye, good luck on your trip and I'd love to see your dolls. I love to sew and I'm sure I'll be sewing again as it gets colder outside. OMGosh!!! I can't believe it's already 4:30pm. This day has gone by fast. I better get busy with dinner I'm behind schedule.

So glad your chick is doing better! Whew! That is good news about the smell, too. Keeping it clean and putting on triple antibiotic on it will really help it. I got one of the dolls sewn up last night and then started on one this morning. When I get a few more done, I'll take a picture! They are cute. I went to church last night and one of the people helping coordinate that effort was saying that the Dr's or nurse (or whoever) draw where the surgery will be on the doll and use it as a teaching tool. So neat! Plus it's something they get to keep.

Hawkeye, that's a good point about leaving provisions in your will about your birds, however I know that nobody will want mine when I'm gone if I still have them at that time. My son thinks I'm just crazy having all of these birds & animals here even though he grew up on a mini farm & we had chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, steers, goats, pigs, you name it at one time or the other when he was young. He seems to have no desire now to live outside the city & have any kind of animals besides a dog & cats. I do worry about my dogs though about what would happen to all of them since I now have two GPs & two little house dogs. The two little dogs are very spoiled & my son doesn't really like little dogs, so I worry what would happen to them if something happened to me. Hawkeye, you're still young yet, but you're never too young to make provisions for who is to take care of your children should something happen to you. I know it's a loaded subject, but something that really needs to be discussed & decided. Heaven forbid anything like that would happen, but it would give you peace of mind knowing you had a plan in place. I agree with HEChicken also that it's a good idea to have a living will & medical power of attorney so there is a directive should you not be able to tell anyone your wishes. We already had done the living will giving our directions about how things are to be handled, but now are going to look into the medical power of attorney. I told my DH today that we're getting to the age where we need to have one of those, but really anybody can have one. If your spouse is living it usually isn't a problem unless they're not able to make decisions either or if you're single then you need to appoint someone to make decisions for you should you not be able to. It's best to do those things when you're fully capable of deciding what you do or don't want & who you would want to appoint. Sunflowerparrot, in your situation you really need to be talking about things & get things in writing because yes it could be very sticky should something happen to Stephen, it could put you in a very bad place.

Yes, we had started to fill it in, and couldn't agree who would get the kids! LOL We can agree on everything else except that. Having 3 kids, it would be a big financial burden on anyone and a big decision. Both Dh and I come from engineers and lawyers-- My brother, grandpa, and many other various cousins, etc are lawyers.. everyone else are engineers. Same with Dh's side of the family, it's so funny how alike we are and how differently we grew up. Anyway, family reunions are funny-- everyone is always taking shots at the other for their career choice. I know if we need help, we have people to turn to. But even so, such a tough decision. We have really struck out on our own here with using more natural methods (like cloth diapering, nursing past a year of age, attachment parenting, and those choices continue in that vein as they get older, etc..) and of course, our food choices because we are not a fast food family. (we have gotten prodded and joked for going more natural) So there is never an easy answer to any of it.

I am so excited for you going to YOUR first show! I live vicariously through your show excitement. I hope this little girl I am bringing you makes the cut to go, she is lovely! I love the dolls for the hospital, what a wonderful idea.

Well I didn't get the jeep cleaned today. Sigh. I did get my brooders cleaned today which was long overdue. We have this little feral cat running around that I was going to trap and get fixed but it is fighting with my barn cat, Lily. Lily is the queen of the yard and this is her place. I don't want her to feel threatened by this new cat so now I don't know if trapping it is a good idea. I was thinking if I get it fixed it would maybe calm the territorial behavior.

Also, on a side note, there is something I just need to tell everyone because I realize I haven't really made the announcement. I have left the audiology program at KU. It was not for me and I felt like I didn't fit in. They have a fabulous program it just wasn't a good fit for me. I really enjoyed the therapy sessions in undergrad so I think I am going to re apply to speech language pathology programs in a year. The other side of this is that we have been trying to find Lucie a home and it has not gone well. I have had a ton of interest but nobody that follows through. So the other night I was driving home from Wichita and thought a lot about why Lucie was still around. I have talked in the past about working with a therapy dog with DH and he loves the idea. We really don't have a house dog that fits the bill so I figured when we were closer to that time we would look for a retriever type pup to start training. Then a light went off in my head, LUCIE! She loves kids, is very gentle and quiet and has a high drive which makes her very trainable. She LOVES obedience work. What little I have done with her she has picked up super fast so I think she will do very well. I also really like her ability to be such a big dog and yet soooo gentle with children. She doesn't bounce and waggle and jump around little kids so I think she may be it and she has been sitting in front of me all along. I just didn't see it. So she is coming back and we will start training and getting ready for taking a canine good citizen test to work in therapy!

I'll take plenty of pics at the show!! I sure can't wait to see that little pullet! I'm hoping she can go with me! It's still a month away yet--- BUT I have to turn in the form and mail in my 90 Day Certification with the registration and money by the 12th of October. So am looking forward to seeing Danz work her magic on my birds and bleeding them so I can have a bit of fun! LOL I can't wait to see how all the dolls turn out either! I agree with you, that you will get more money if you sell your Jeep privately! Also, you tend to be able to work a better deal when you don't have a trade in. They don't come down as much when you do. We have never done a trade in either. We've bought a lot of cars, and have figured out what you did. VERY cool about the new direction in your career! So do you need any more classes, or does your Degree already cover what you are thinking about getting into? I know with nursing, you can get into different "fields" just by taking CEU's or extra credits. I think that is a great idea for Lucie. I sure hope she will work out perfectly for that. I'm pretty good at house training, so if you have any problems, I'd be happy to tell you my tricks! I've always adopted older un-broke dogs from the humane societies, and have managed to train the un-trainable! Last year I brought home a dog that even stated on the form I signed, that she was not broke and was untrainable and had indoor issues. I had her potty trained in a week flat.

Dogs are much smarter than some people give them credit for.

....................
I really do look forward to reading what each and everyone of you has to say. Sometimes I come off sounding like a know it all or kind of bossy and I don't mean to. I learn every day .... but at the same time am anxious to help anyone I can.
I promise I will try to do better.

Personally, I've seen nothing that would lead me to think that you were intentionally doing anything on purpose. Secondly, I don't see it. You've had a rough time lately, and I know where your heart is. You care for others and don't wish them hurt and are a protector.

You're a great friend, Danz.

OH I am so shaky. I am the original arachnophobia kid!! I just had spider crawl across my desk. I tried to swat it and it crawled into my key board. I used the vacuum cleaner to try to suck it out but have no idea where it went or if I got it. I am scared to touch my keyboard. I swear my hands are shaking between letters.

OMGosh!!!!! YIKES!! I HATE SPIDERS!!! There, that is me yelling, because I can NOT stand them! eeeks! I would be freaked out too! So shake that keyboard around.

I shook it and everything. I even ran a metal ruler along the keys while I vacuumed.
So I went outside just in case he managed to stay in there and collected my mouse traps. I nearly reached half my goal. I caught 49 mice! I had two traps that had nothing in them at all. Obviously I placed them in the wrong spot. I had one trap where there is tons of activity that only caught one mouse and it was my fault. I shoved it under a low building and got dirt in the mechanism so it wouldn't keep them in. Every ounce of the bait was gone so I guess the mice think I was providing treats. I'll move the two undisturbed traps to a higher traffic area tonight,and reset the ones that caught a lot in the same place.
Here's a lesson I learned on these. You don't want them where dirt will get in them easily. The trap I set by the lady Amhurst pen was the fullest. The guineas are extremely happy now with very full tummies. They normally fight over a mouse and they all had plenty this time!! What a treat for them!

Did you give them the drowned mice? Did they not mind eating them that way? I wouldnt think you'd release them alive in their pen-- they would get away, right??

Danz, I haven't noticed anything either! I think we all benefit from and value your wealth of knowledge.

49 mice....[shakes head]. My stupid mousetrap arrived on Tuesday and as of yet has not killed a single mouse. I'm going to be ordering a couple of those Victor traps like you have. If you have a couple spare, I would buy them from you but if not, let me know and I'll just go ahead and order them.

Speaking of electrical hazards....on Tuesday I went out my backdoor and was walking to the coop when I saw a plume of thick black smoke. I would have figured it was someone burning off except right then I heard sirens. It looked REALLY close, so I got in my car and drove toward it and one of my neighbor's houses was completely engulfed in flames. I don't know what started the fire but it certainly is my worst nightmare.

Holy Smokes!! That is just terrible that their house was on fire!! What a nightmare! I hope everyone was okay.

In the 4 years my husband and I have been married, we've lived in 4 different houses. The two we lived in prior to the current one were both in town. At both of those places, we had a neighbor whose house burned to the ground. Both times, it was the neighbor 2 doors down. The first one was when we lived in Cheyenne, WY. You could see the smoke almost anywhere in town, even though town was huge (I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so it doesn't take much for me to think a town is huge. At the time, I believe Cheyenne's official population was ~50,000). My husband called me before I left work to let me know about it so I wouldn't think it was OUR house that was on fire when I turned the corner towards the house and saw the smoke/flames and fire trucks. This fire was started by a squirrel who built a nest in the exhaust for the furnace (or was it the dryer??? I don't remember for sure).

The 2nd time, was about a year ago. We were home when the neighbor's house caught fire. We were cooking supper, and apparently so was the neighbor. The wife was at work, and the husband was cooking supper for the two kids. He had something on the stove and stepped out the door to apparently call the kids in for supper. When he came back in, the kitchen was engulfed in flames. After the family got outside, the husband called his wife at work to let her know what was happening... I saw her arrive at the scene. The obvious shock/grief/raw emotion she showed when she arrived at the scene is a sight I won't quickly forget.

Both houses were trailer-type houses and became engulfed in flames incredibly quickly and burned VERY hot. Both houses had a detached garage that suffered superficial damage from the heat. To my knowledge, neither house was rebuilt.

The good news: We live in the country now, and we've only got one neighbor within a mile and only two neighbors (total) within 2 miles. I have no idea where "two doors down" would be here.

I didn't sleep well for a week or more after each incident. I felt horrible for both families and kept wondering "what if it were me?" It's scary enough to hear about such things from other people or on the news. It's a completely different story seeing the reaction of your neighbors as they watch their house and all their belongings burn. The comforting thing to me now, is that my house is a stucco house with several of the inside walls being concrete as well(from where the original outside walls were prior to some additions). I don't think the house would burn well or quickly, thanks to what it is made of. However, it is an old house (originally built in 1910 and added onto multiple times since) so I worry about the quality of the electrical wires in the house. In addition, we've currently got an extension cord running our big freezer since we were having problems with the underground wire that was powering the shed we keep the freezer in. With it being so dry this year, I am definitely concerned about the what-ifs. We've got quite a few cedar trees around the house, so if something caught fire, everything would likely go up before we could do anything about it.

You have some baaaaad experiences with the 2 houses down. Hopefully nothing will happen like that ever again.

Thanks everyone for their support of Lucie! I am pretty excited. She will be moving indoors to work on all the things she may encounter in therapy situations and to ensure house training is good. I have a wonderful black heeler mix but people are very intimidated by him so I think Lucie is going to be easier on the eyes. Plus she just is such a goof about kids, she kind of squishes down so they can pet her easier. I think it will be a great fit for her.
I have run extension cords on the ground outside during the winter. I just make sure to wrap the juncture of what ever I am plugging in and the extension cord with electrical tape so water or moisture can't get in there. I haven't had any problems yet with them but I desperately wish I had electric out to my coops!
Danz, we all love you and understand you have had a really tough time the last week.

I agree that white dogs will be less scary than black or dark colored dogs. I'm not a fan of great big dogs, they just put me on edge a bit, unless they are obviously friendly and tail wagging. I can handle small and medium size dogs fine. But larger dark colored dogs just make me nervous. I think white dogs look friendly and happy. Good luck on the indoor training! I hope she does fabulous!

 

[chicken danz]

To prevent mice from getting in your house or to make them leave your house try this: take cotton balls and dip them in peppermint esscentual oil, then put them in the places where you find them. I place them in my closets, behind my couch, in some of my cabinets. The smell will be strong, but I tried this last winter, and all signs of them disappeared. It might be too strong to place near the chickens though, but it doesn't seem to affect my housepets.

I went and bought the oil at a health food store, and funny thing, the store itself smelled like peppermint - they were using it to keep the mice away too.

I've also read that planting peppermint along the foundation will do the same thing. The problem with peppermint is that the bees love it too. I finally had to get rid of what I had because you couldn't get near it after it bloomed. I have some areas where nothing grows along the foundation due to the heat. I might try that next year again.
Originally Posted by lizzyGSR

I try my hardest to check and recheck electrical stuff because of the fear of losing what little I do have. My pets and kids are most important and I cant imagine............... That is why I worry so much. So Chicken danz I may be pm-ing youthiswinter and next spring whenit is time to build my bigger coop,,, gotta love chicken math,,,, I need an electrician lol

I'm certainly not an electrician but I did wire both of my last two houses.... save the electrical panel. I got shocked once in a 220 panel so I get really nervous in them. Even if I know the power is off it makes me shaky.
The first house was a complete rewire and I wasn't very smart when I did it. I made some errors. This one had a 2 strand wire with no ground so I added grounds where I thought I needed them, added lights and outlets and had more amperage run to the house. I still have almost all of the basement to rewire, but my remodeling down there is on hold for heaven knows how long (money + energy!) so I'm not ready to do the wiring.
I really need to crawl up in my attic. I just removed three sets of lights in my kitchen and bought recessed fixtures to install in place of them. I don't mind doing that either, but I can't stand being up in the fiberglass. I also need to run outlets out in my new peafowl building. I really want to run an underground line out there but I don't own a trencher. I've got to get that done before winter though. Just some more of my half million incompleted projects. Why didn't I just buy a house and place that I didn't have to remodel???
Originally Posted by JosieChick

On a similar vein, cinnamon works great to eliminate ants. Find their trail and figure out where their entry point to the house is, sprinkle a little cinnamon there, and by next day they will be gone, never to return. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't try it and it worked!

I use vinegar for ants. Sometimes it takes a day or so to work but it works. I see them on the kitchen counter. Wipe it down with vinegar and it must mess up their trail or something.
I could never be a foster. I would fall in love with every animal and want to keep it.

Rosie that is crazy. That is 3 people today having trouble with BYC. I have lousy internet so I can't imagine any ones being worse.
Yep Hawkeye, they were drowned mice. I don't touch them until they are dead or very close. Then I wash my hands over and over and over!

 

[checoukan]

Well we mentioned spiders, mice, but no-one has mention CRICKETTS!!!! I will tear my house apart looking for one of those dang things!! Makes my hair stand up on my back, and then light it on fire!!!! Those are definatly out of pandora's box!!
Spiders aw just smash them.
Mice nasty little buggers. My daughter Michelle, when we first moved here would go out in my barn that has the chckens in, and she would take a flash light. Could not figure out what she was doing. She took her BB Gun and flashlight, and would go out in the barn, hold the flash light in her left hand, bb gun in the right, and shoot mice! Now let me tell you, she is now a dead-eye shot!!
ANyway she sure did a number on the mice around here!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Mommahen -- maybe I should look up info on them first then..

Josiechick-- thanx I feel better about using extension cords, I will wrap the ends with electric tape for sure

HEchicken -- I like the idea to make it less slippery but if they are toxic maybe I can go with the slip resistant mats you put in your cabinets

Chicken Danz -- You know alot more about electric than I that is sure. I dont know the least about it. I can turn on a switch and make light appear that is about it.. I do know it is dangerous work though.

 

[chicken danz]

Ha! Ha! DH was doing that in his shop just the other night. He got bored I guess and was popping them with a pellet gun. He was so proud of his kills he left them there till the next morning so I could see them! My luck if I shot at anything it would ricochet and come back to hit me!!!
Electricity is dangerous if you get careless, and many things hold a charge that people don't even realize. You can totally shut off all power and if there is a capacitor in what you are working on, it can still give you a deadly shock. We used a live dead live test before we touched anything electrical at work. Of course some of the equipment had as high as 1380kv. Needless to say if you made an error it would be your last. I always test at least twice before I work on something and I normally tape the breaker switch if anyone is in the house besides me. No reason to take chances. I am a big chicken when it comes to electricity. I would much rather give advice than work with live wires!!! I really enjoying wiring up things though before it is hooked to the power source. It's kind of like hatching chicks when you flip the switch or plug something in and it works. Makes you feel successful.
I have made some mistakes though. I was repairing a coffee pot once and got distracted in the middle of rewiring it. I hadn't tagged it or written down what went to what. When I plugged it in, it not only shot out fire, but it melted the wall switch!!!!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Chicken Danz I can just picture a very startling morning cup of coffee coming out of that. That is a jolt that will wake you up..

 

[medawinks]

Danz, my kids and I all love you and we have all felt so badly for your recent loss. In no way did I take any offense at anything said. Promise Andy and I are redoing chicken shoes tonight and enjoying the chicks immensely! We feel very blessed to have connected with you!

Hawkeye, please share some pics of your doll it sounds like you have had fun with this, and knowing how creative you are, it has to be adorable!!!. My youngest got something similar on one of her surgery trips at Shriners.

I don't tolerate mice, crickets or reptiles!!!! I can semi handle spiders, as long as they are OUTSIDE but reptiles.... And rodents..... I absolutely freak!!! I shouldn't, though. I spent and entire year in college stressing rats, chopping their heads of and dissecting their brains in a psych lab.... It's just different when they aren't under my control I guess... YUCK!!! I am going to the health food store this weekend and getting peppermint oil!!!

We had a couple of new eggs tonight One was what looked like a silkie egg, but my buff Orpington was walking around the nesting boxes....So who knows! I guess I will have to catch them in the act! My Marans eggs are still really speckled. We have 2 EE laying now as well as an ameracauna. It's odd though, because I can barely tell the difference in the egg color. The EE eggs have a slight brownish tint on the blue green, but otherwise we now have three turquoise egg layers

 

[medawinks]

Oh no.... This is the part about baby chicks that breaks my heart!

All of our chicks were fine this morning before school and just after school when Andy checked on them. Now, though a smaller chick is not standing up. There is no bloody poop, no overly ruffled feathers. It had not been quiet before.... We have gotten it to drink some electrolytes solution and eat some baby parrot food.

Any ideas????

 

[mommahen10]

checoukan, my kids would so enjoy that and it would give them great practice for the bigger shooting. That's a great idea, now I wish I had been seeing mice.

danz, that's kinda funny about the coffee pot, I'm just glad you didn't get hurt. One time I took apart a camera and the battery wasn't in it and it shocked me and it even hurt. I was so surprised though because I had taken the battery out so where did that come from?

medawinks, I'm so sorry about your chick. I hope it recovers but it seems like when they go down it just happens so fast.

hawkeye, we do extended nursing and attachment parenting too. To this day when they need me I stop for them but it seems to make them more independent because they just don't act like they need me. My youngest is 4. My older kids that are moved out will call and talk to me about things I would never have thought they would call me about and it makes me really happy that they will talk to me. I did cloth diapers but I cheated more than I should have, we rarely do fast food but I can't say we never do. We limit sugar to a point, we splurge for birthdays and if we go to town which isn't very often. We don't have pop or koolaid in the house. In general, I say if we want sweets bad enough to make it then it's okay. Do you ever whisper to your kids to get them to listen? It works great and teaches them to tune in to you. Also I'm a ridiculously early potty trainer. My mom always said they're not potty trained I am and our dr. gave me a hard time because I had a 9 mo old pee in a cup. There wasn't ever a battle with it, or even any stress. It's just what we did. We have a lot of fun and I'm so proud of all of my kids.