Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Hawkeye, sorry about the disappointment with your new boy - I hope you are able to make him work anyway.

What a gorgeous day today! After my post earlier, lamenting how little I had accomplished, I popped in to say hello to DH and he asked what I was up to. I told him what I told you guys, about not getting enough done and told him I was headed out to check on painting supplies and you know what he said? "Its too nice a day to be painting. You need to go get your Kindle and go and sit with your birds and enjoy the day". So I did. Without guilt. Because its what he wanted me to be doing

(And with an enabler like THAT is it any wonder I don't accomplish enough?)

My broody game hen is sitting solidly on her 3 Aloha eggs. Every morning when I go down there she is slamming herself against the wire cordoning off the broody area, frantic to get out. Whoever said chickens have no sphincter control never saw a broody hen. She doesn't want to poop in her broody area so by morning is desperate to get away from it so she can empty out and then refill. She then wants to go to the preening area and do a thorough preening job before returning to her broody duties. I hope she knows what she's doing. This morning she was gone for a good long while and I was concerned enough about the eggs getting cold that I let another hen (who wanted to lay an egg) in to sit on the nest and keep the eggs warm until broody hen was ready to return. Once she is back in, she is happy to stay there until next morning so I guess it is really her only time off the nest for 24 hours & its no wonder she needs to take a goodly break.

 

[medawinks]

Ok... For some reason I thought about this on and off today.... What exactly are chipmonks? Those little squirrelly things that sing? I know Sera will want to drive down to the bird farm now!!! If they are birds, though, she prob still will want to see new critters!

My dad was the dean of the at college as I was growing up. We never had pigs, but I used to go visit the barns outside of his office. I have seen my share of mean pigs..... Pot belly pigs are sweet though Good thing the mean ones aren't even cute after they are big. Makes it easier to eat them!!

Hawkeye, those heavy costumes that zip are top notch here! I found a bunch on sale and we have plays here regularly knights, dragons, damsels, pirates.... Pirate dragons, knight cows...... The fun never ends! I have quite a few my kids have outgrown if anyone is needing some. The home made costumes do make the best memories though I love the ones you did! Cute!!

My oldest loves her face paints..... This is what she played with just for fun last night. Just makes me feel OLD!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Karen -- thanks it felt good to get it done for sure. I also am great at being behind on posting any of those 100's of pics I take

Medawinks-- You have a very beautiful daughter. I think due time to start cleaning that shotgun

or buying one if you dont own one yet. Mine is only 8 but I know it wont take long before I and my DH will be at the ready lol

 

[Trish44]

Well I just got back awhile ago & sat down to eat. I had just left my hairdresser's house when my DH sent me a text & wanted me to go look for something for him, so I ended up at Target in Derby looking for his stuff & of course had to look around while I was there, I don't get there very much. Then I went to Lowe's & looked at wood for a shelf I need, but decided to wait until I measure again & make sure I get the right thing. While I was there though I went out to the garden center, somewhere I shouldn't go, but did anyway, & found several bushes on clearance & some plants too. I just couldn't pass them up they were so cheap. They always have some good bargains when it's the end of the season, so if anybody needs bushes now would be the time to go. I lost several bushes this summer to the darned terrible heat & drought, I just couldn't keep every thing alive, so I was thrilled to find a couple of really nice big butterfly bushes & a snowball bush for $5 each, that was less than a third of normal price. Then I found several perennial flowers I wanted too. I ended up spending about $30, but got about $80 or more worth of plants & bushes, so it was a good deal. Then after that I went to Wal Mart & did my grocery shopping & ended up finding a few more plants on clearance there, so I'll be able to replace some things that totally died this summer. I will have to start over in some places because things just didn't make it this year. I just gave up at one point because I would water & it wouldn't even look like I had. I was surprised that some things after a few rains have come back up though, pretty amazing.

Wow, Hawkeye you have been busy, I had been wondering about you also. Things are getting more & more crazy here too the closer to November it gets. From the first of November until the end of the year it's going to be really busy for me too. I'm still trying to finish up putting up the tarps & plastic I need to get up on the pens outside. I got two more smaller tarps today & another roll of plastic so hopefully I can finish the pens tomorrow. I at least had gotten the major ones up before that cold snap & before we went out of town, so that helped, but there are still some backs of pens I need to finish up. I don't think I want to completely close the fronts & all in so there won't be condensation in there & they can still see out. I think if the back & sides are covered I would think that would give them enough shelter, what do you all think? I didn't close in the front of my pen the Ameraucanas are in last year & they did fine, of course we had a mild winter too. If we happened to have a bad winter it might not be enough. I do want them to be able to see out though, I think they would go stir-crazy in there if they couldn't. the pens all except the hoop house have a dog house in them so the birds have that to get in too if they need to. My DH was asking me if I was going to put a shelter in there for the guineas & peafowl, but I told him no, that the top is covered all the way the whole length of the top & down the sides with a huge tarp & I'm putting plastic over the rest of the way down the sides & will have it on the back too. I don't plan to close in the front of their pen either, it faces west, but they are in a very sheltered spot back under the trees, so I don't think they even get too much wind in there.

There is no way I can go back & reply to everyone at this point either, there are too many posts. Danz, we want to see pics of those little chipmunks when you get the cage all set up. Is there a FaceBook swap page for your county for pets? You might check because there are many pet swap sites on FB & I know a lot of counties have them. That is an excellent place to find things like the habitat you're talking about finding used. I find a lot of things like crates for really good prices, I just got another one today because I use the plastic crates for a lot of uses like transporting rabbits & chickens, so now I have at least one in about every size.

Wow HEChicken, my DH would never tell me to take my Kindle out & enjoy the day, what a sweetheart, you need to hang onto him! It was an exceptionally beautiful day today, I had wished I didn't have to spend it out running errands & shopping, but that's what I had to do. I hope tomorrow is equally as nice so I can get some things I need to do outside, but I do have more running to do in the afternoon after my DH goes to work. I've got to get to the CO-OP for feed, I've been scraping by & am just about out of everything. I also have to make a run to Arkansas City tomorrow to pick up some free bricks & some paint I found on one of the swaps cheap that I'm going to use for the inside of my new coop. It really is nice to have local swaps online now, I do find some really good bargains once in awhile that I just can't pass up. I also get free egg cartons a lot of the time from freecycle online for my town, so that thrills me when I can find things like that.

 

[BamaProud]

Just wanted to say "hello" to everyone.Hope everything is going great for everyone and the chicken math hasn't hurt anyone too bad.LOL I'll post more after I get caught up some.

 

[HEChicken]

Just wanted to say "hello" to everyone.Hope everything is going great for everyone and the chicken math hasn't hurt anyone too bad.LOL I'll post more after I get caught up some.

Hi BamaProud!

Trish, congrats on getting the plants at such a good deal. I haven't figured out what to do out here yet. I'd like to plant some fruit trees but I have too many things on the to-do list yet so I think that will have to wait until next year. It sounds like you are getting all set for the winter.

I went to get everyone sorted out this morning and while letting broody hen out for her morning reprieve, I heard a squeaky little growl from the brooder containing 1-month-old chicks. I thought it strange but was too busy to see who did it. Then I heard it again, and again and again. Yup - a 1-month-old silchin is crowing! I even saw who did it. Josie it was the smaller blue. The larger blue - is that one older than the rest by chance? So far it is not showing any signs of being a boy but is so much bigger than the others, so I am hoping it is just older and that's why it is so much bigger. Anyway, I've been suspecting the small blue of being a boy for a few days and he confirmed it this morning. OMG what a tiny little sound - I didn't even recognize it as a crow at first. DS laughed really hard when I told him and suggested I try to get a video of it. It will probably have to wait until tomorrow morning because now they're out in the chick pen and he probably won't do it all day long.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

HEChicken WOW! Sounds like your DH is a keeper!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

HEChicken --that is cute, I love first crows they are great. And then the mystery of who done it..

But you already figured that one out.

Just thought I would post some pics of our chicken tractor

 

[HEChicken]

Maidenwolf, your tractor is coming along nicely too. I'm curious why so many of the tractors are A-Frame. Is there a specific reason for that?

 

[mommahen10]

*****please advise*****
Last night when turning eggs I found one to be seeping a very sticky substance, it didn't stink, I even put it to my nose to smell. Upon candling, it looked like the liquid was extremely liquid, not thick at all, and the air cell was kinda moving however I moved the egg. I saw no more veining. I discarded the egg but didn't go really look at it, it still bothers me to see them half developed and dead. This morning, when I went to turn the eggs one was stuck down a little when I turned it. I didn't force it or anything, I just turned it as usual but I could feel it was stuck. Well, a piece of the shell stuck to the wire, just bigger than I pencil eraser perhaps. My first thought was that the egg was bad, but I had to candle it first to ease my mind about throwing it out. It's not bad, there is a chick in there and it's moving around, there is more fluid than I would expect for day 16 but I'm just learning and I don't have anything to compare it to. What do I do with this little baby? Will it survive with a piece of the shell removed, is there anything I can do to help? I plan to lock down Thursday evening.

maidenwolf, your tractor looks great and your dd, she looks like a natural poseing there.

HEChicken, that's so funny about the baby crowing. I'd have cracked up so hard.

We are still having fun with our new chicks that are supposed to be Ameraucana, I think I spell that wrong every time, sorry. I don't think they are, I looked them up and they're more solidly colored, I think they're just EEs. Regardless, they're tons of fun, extremely entertaining. These creatures, they're so social and smart. They're eating from our hands and it's only been a few days. Did anyone see that shark feeding frenzy a while back on yahoo? We put mashed sweet potatoes in their brooder yesterday and they would grab a piece and run so there were just chicks running every direction as fast as they could. They would try to hide in a corner but of course that it's possible so they would just keep running everywhere. It was so sooooo funny. We won't do that too much, they may just get hurt. The one with the hurt eye seems fine, it's opening that eye now, it's hard all around it and the fuzz is matted down around it and won't come loose. I've been dabbing it with olive oil to see if I can get it loosened up but it won't. I still wonder what happened to her. I'm sure she's not seeing through that eye by how she behaves, she's a little smaller than the others but she's still eating and active. I feel like it's a catch 22. If I put her alone so she doesn't have to be so worried about what's coming she'll adapt less. I feel like leaving her where she is will give her the best chance later. We will have to see how this plays out.

Also, the hatchery that these chicks came from, Heartland Hatchery, I can't find a website for them. I wonder what's up with that. I was hoping they had a site that could give me more information about these chicks.

Josie, what does LGD mean? Did you get Lucie's staples out? What do they do when they perform a necropsy? Just check for germs?

Danz, are we gonna get to see pics of the chipmonks when you get time? I'd love to see them.