Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

So far I'm up to 10(almost 11) chicks but there are probably over 20 eggs in there still. It's still not a very good hatch rate. In a little while I'm going to take out chicks and look for any signs of the others hatching. What's the likelihood of more hatching tomorrow? I put them all in at once. Unless the ones that weren't cooled before putting in the incubator got a head start on developing. The humidity in the house is at 60%, I'm actually concerned that maybe it's too high in the incubator.

One pen in the brooder room is ready to go. He used old refrigerator racks as doors and some plastic clamps that go around and screw into the wood on the bottom, then just a screw to hold it at the top. The plastic clamp has just enough give to let me lift it up and over the screw but it's a tight fit, I can pull it hard straight towards me and it doesn't budge. Next thing is adjusting the light, we have the brooder light on one end of this pen shining at a angle across the pen. I felt the floor all over there is one place it's a little more than warm but not hot, I felt the sides and the back and it feels warm. I could cover the doors if needed to prevent drafts in the really cold weather but I don't think that is necessary yet. We tried several angles with the light, if it's facing downward it gets too hot and only in one place. If this angle didn't work we were going to try a smaller bulb but I think it's fine like it is. I'm excited to try it out, but I will keep them in where we can have some fun with them for a while longer.

I hope your chicks hatch ok. I cant wait to hatch next spring

 

[mommahen10]

They are my own, there are 3 more pipped.

 

[Trish44]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye95

Well, I had an interesting evening. I had a pretty bad car wreck around 5pm yesterday. I was driving down the highway after taking the kids to the pumpkin patch and we were headed home. I was on 103rd St (highway). My brother in law was driving behind me with his family (we went to the pumpkin patch together). I was behind a big truck (I was driving my 2008 minivan). Well, the truck in front of me slows down and using NO turn signals starts to turn off the highway to our right onto a dirt road. I had slowed down because I was behind him and when he got onto the dirt road, I was about to speed up again to go on, and all of a sudden, he wheels around and flips a U turn and shoots across right in front of me! I T-boned his truck, I had no time to stop, and then did a "Dukes of Hazzard" fly into a ditch on the opposite side nearly hitting a telephone pole, but I was stretched over the air bags trying to see out my window so I could swing the car back down into the ditch as it was trying to pop up out of the ditch. I can't even believe I had the sense to do that!! I'm a little in awe of my own reflexes on driving and trying to steer around an inflated airbag.
Hawkeye, I've been out of town in OKC all day, but I did read about your accident on my phone & wanted you to know I'm glad you're all OK. That had to be very frightening for you. Having had a whiplash type of injury myself years ago I can tell you from experience that you have to be careful because my neck has never been the same since then. I did have some physical therapy at the time & muscle relaxants, but I couldn't stay off work very long & I don't know if that contributed to my problems all of these years or not. The accident was back in 1981 & my son was only 18 months old at the time. I was driving home from my sister's house in West Wichita to mine in Derby when it started sleeting & by the time I got just a mile from home it was a sheet of ice on the road. I came up on a hill & going down it lost control & slid across the road into another car & then was knocked around the other way & landed in the ditch. My car was totaled & my neck & upper back were hurt. The silly guy in the other car complained about his hand hurting when I couldn't move my neck. Anyway, my son was safely strapped into his little booster seat & the window on his side shattered, but he didn't get even one cut. There was no such thing as an air bag back then of course, but I always believed in seat belts & still do. At any rate take it easy & get the treatment you need now for it so hopefully you won't have the problems I have had all of these years.

We spent the day in OKC, we took our granddaughter & her sister down there to see my son & celebrate his birthday a few days late. He lost his job a couple of weeks ago, so he has been pretty down about that, but he is starting a new job tomorrow thankfully. At least the job market is a lot better down there than it seems to be here. We spent about all of our time down there shopping for the girls because one needed soccer shoes & the other wanted a Halloween costume, so that took up a lot of time just trying to find the proper indoor soccer shoes & a place open on Sunday that sold them. Then it took a lot of time for my granddaughter to find a costume that she liked & that fit her. Of course we had to go to a Halloween store to find one, geez I never had expensive costumes like that, $30 for a costume for a 7 year old. Yeah they had more expensive ones, lots more expensive ones, but her dad didn't have the budget for them. Anyway, it was nice to see my son & my granddaughter at the same time, but now I'm tired, it's been a long, long day. Oh & an update on Dana for those of you who know her situation. She did have the thyroid removed & the surrounding lymph nodes but now they are concerned about a mass in her lung & something in her kidney. They're still awaiting results & trying to decide what to do next, it all depends on what they find with the lung. None of it sounds good at all & she is a very heavy smoker, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if she has lung cancer also or if this is the origin of the cancer. It's such a shame because she is a nice girl.

maidenwolf, are you on FaceBook & if so have you joined the Kansas Poultry Swap? If you watch that & even the Kansas Farm Swap you might see turkeys pop up at intervals. I think Candace might have gotten those that were on there for the Topeka area, I saw she had posted that she wanted to pick them up. Anyway, if you're not a member come on over & ask to join & one of us admins will approve you. Also, there is a swap page for poultry for Missouri too.

 

[HEChicken]

HeChicken, items made by lemax are decorative items. Have you ever seen these little Christmas villages with houses, people, different store fronts trees all kinds of different things. Usually they are all early type 1900's style. I have a large set, I love it, but I have not set it up in a couple of years.

Ahhh gotcha. I hadn't heard that term before but now that you describe them, I think I have one. It is a church with a little light bulb inside so you plug it in and it casts a nice glow wherever it sits.

Can't remember if I mentioned last week that I had lost one of my Barred Rock pullets to something respiratory. Well, the next day I lost my SLW roo, too. I got everyone's water medicated with the Duramycin and everyone seems to be doing better now. Now more sneezing.

So sorry to hear about your losses. It seems like there is more going around this year than usually, or is that just my imagination?

I've been out digging and stuff in the garden. Trying to get what I can out of it for now. When the pumpkin vines freeze for the final time I'll till it up. Anyway I finished digging my sweet potatoes and just had to share this! This sucker was over 15 inches long, 18 inches around and weighed 6.8 pounds. If you look carefully you can see the weight on the scale.I'd nver seen one even close to this size before. I made my own Sweet potato starts from some eating potatoes I got at the grocery store. I only had like 3 potatoes I cut up. I got a nice bounty of them. What would I have gotten if I watered them?

That sweet potato is amazing. I have never grown them but you've inspired me to learn more about them.

Quickly, I'll say that Tookie is still alive but I believe it's only because of the cayenne pepper/antibiotic combination. She is in the craft room in a big dog kennel with a heat lamp. The kids saw her up and drinking on her own once this afternoon. I wished I had seen her up on her feet but I missed it. She is a very sick girl. I've been all over the planet trying to buy some Fish Zole before one kind soul told me they aren't allowed to sell it anymore. Cripes. You can still get it online but I should have had it on hand prior to needing it and I wouldn't be in this horrible fix with poor Tookie. She really is just the biggest love. Anyway, the brand name is Flagyll and my last hope is to check with our veterinarian tomorrow and see if he will prescribe some for Tookie. I don't know that she will make it on just the cayenne pepper alone but we're doing our best. The kids have been so sweet with Tookie, I'm really proud of them.

I am so sorry to hear that Tookie is not better. Okay, now Flagyll I am familiar with. Hopefully the vet can help you acquire some more quickly than placing an order and waiting for it to be delivered.

They are my own, there are 3 more pipped.

Congrats on the ones that have hatched so far - hopefully there will be more by morning!

Hawkeye, it occurred to me to wonder how that other driver thinks anyone will believe the version of events he is presenting, since you t-boned him (which should be obvious by the damage to both vehicles). So, by his account, you pulled out to pass him and then did a quick 90 degree turn and plowed into the side of him after pulling alongside him? Is that what he seriously expects them to believe????

I was in the Derby Atwoods this afternoon and saw something I've never seen before. They are selling buckets that have nipples already attached to them. They have a 1-gallon for $18 and a 3.5-gallon for $25. Way more than it would cost to make your own with nipples purchased off eBay but I was still interested to see them. I wouldn't mind giving the nipples a try but I hesitate because I have everything from birds the size of a turkey down to my little game hen who is the size of a 6-week-old chick, and it would be next to impossible to pick a height that would work for all of them.

Speaking of my game hen, she is broody right now and I took this photo this morning of her on her nest. Without something to compare size, its hard to see how tiny she is. Just imagine a 6-week-old chick going broody.....this morning I found her sitting on 8 eggs! Yesterday someone knocked down the wire barrier that is supposed to segregate her, so they all kicked her out to lay their eggs. I didn't want to disturb her last night to collect eggs, so waited until she got up from her break this morning to find her sitting on - and successfully covering! - 8 eggs!

 

[Trish44]

HEChicken, that is a tiny little hen, how cute! I have lost my little hen that I got in Yates Center, I just never found her at all, so since she was a wild spirit & never would go into the coop at night it's not surprising, but kind of sad. She was a very unique little thing & I enjoyed hearing the funny little sounds she made.

I forgot to say KarenS, I sure hope Tookie improves, that's so sad. Yes, I do think we are already seeing more illness than usual & haven't even gotten into winter yet. It really makes me nervous with all of these pens of birds I have now. I was not here all day to see how my birds are faring, so I guess I will find out in the morning, I hope they're doing OK. I hate leaving when I have sick birds, but I couldn't not go today because we were celebrating my son's birthday.

 

[sharol]

I've noticed too that people who usually don't have illness problems are struggling this year. Maybe winter will clear out some of the migratory birds and help.

I actually ordered some Oxine yesterday "just in case" I need it this fall. I got straw, too, yesterday from a neighbor. He has chickens and guineas running into and out of the barn where the stuff was stored. I'm planning to spray/fog the straw bales with Oxine before I let them near my chickens. His chickens seem perfectly healthy, but.... My husband is SO understanding. When we were on the way home, I told him I wanted to store it in the Quonsett until I could get it treated, and he just said OK, no problem even though it means handling it an extra time.

sharol

HEChicken, that is a tiny little hen, how cute! I have lost my little hen that I got in Yates Center, I just never found her at all, so since she was a wild spirit & never would go into the coop at night it's not surprising, but kind of sad. She was a very unique little thing & I enjoyed hearing the funny little sounds she made.

I forgot to say KarenS, I sure hope Tookie improves, that's so sad. Yes, I do think we are already seeing more illness than usual & haven't even gotten into winter yet. It really makes me nervous with all of these pens of birds I have now. I was not here all day to see how my birds are faring, so I guess I will find out in the morning, I hope they're doing OK. I hate leaving when I have sick birds, but I couldn't not go today because we were celebrating my son's birthday.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Trish I found the missouri one and joined, I will look for the kansas one too thank you so much.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, that is a tiny little hen, how cute! I have lost my little hen that I got in Yates Center, I just never found her at all, so since she was a wild spirit & never would go into the coop at night it's not surprising, but kind of sad. She was a very unique little thing & I enjoyed hearing the funny little sounds she made.

I forgot to say KarenS, I sure hope Tookie improves, that's so sad. Yes, I do think we are already seeing more illness than usual & haven't even gotten into winter yet. It really makes me nervous with all of these pens of birds I have now. I was not here all day to see how my birds are faring, so I guess I will find out in the morning, I hope they're doing OK. I hate leaving when I have sick birds, but I couldn't not go today because we were celebrating my son's birthday.

Awww...I'm sorry you lost that little hen - a campine, if I remember correctly?

I just brought the broody hen's eggs in to candle and see movement in all 3, which is amazing given her lackadaisical attitude to the whole thing. When I go down there in the morning she is off the nest, rushing the wire to be let out. But rather than a 10-minute, eat/drink/poop/now-let-me-back-in, she isn't ready to go back on the nest for up to 2 hours. If I try to catch her to put her on sooner than that she screams and refuses to sit on the eggs. So I finally gave up and let her do her thing. When I let her out in the morning, I leave it open and the other hens go in to lay their eggs. I figure at least they're keeping the eggs warm while she's not. The problem is, when she is ready, she can't get back in because the other hens who are laying are higher than her in the pecking order. So sometimes it is hours before she gets back on the nest and who knows how long they are sitting unwarmed in between laying hens, and the broody finally being allowed back on her nest? So I figured there was a good chance the eggs weren't developing, and I'm pleased they are despite everything.

But doesn't it make it all the more frustrating that we struggle and struggle to get incubating conditions "perfect", and feel frustrated when we have a poor hatch, while this broody hen leaves her eggs for hours at a time, and hers are all developing just fine?

 

[HEChicken]

I actually ordered some Oxine yesterday "just in case" I need it this fall. I got straw, too, yesterday from a neighbor. He has chickens and guineas running into and out of the barn where the stuff was stored. I'm planning to spray/fog the straw bales with Oxine before I let them near my chickens. His chickens seem perfectly healthy, but.... My husband is SO understanding. When we were on the way home, I told him I wanted to store it in the Quonsett until I could get it treated, and he just said OK, no problem even though it means handling it an extra time.

He's a keeper! I'm thinking I should order some Oxine too as a "just in case". I must admit, I've been ramping up my pharmacy the past couple of weeks so that I'll be prepared if necessary. Just in the last week I've added probiotics, Tylan 50 (along with needles in various sizes - I already have syringes), and Oxy-Tet.

I'm hoping that by having them all on hand I won't actually need them.

Karen - how is Tookie this morning?

for good news...

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Lizzy,
Your pictures are great! I love the one with the man and little girl by the water!