Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Oh Karen I am so sorry. Why don't you order some on the drug to have on hand for the future. I think I will. My heart is breaking for you. That is so sad.
Quote:

Notiones; As to raccoons I kill them any time I can. I dont hate them I just know what they can do. There is no shortage of them anywhere in the US. In fact numbers are greatly increased because of humans. Where I live my neighbors could not do any thing unless I were crule or inhumane. Live trap them and drown them. Burry them in the garden or bag em for the dump. It may be against the law to relocate them. They are the biggest preditor on my chickens, and while I have remorse I deal with them any chance I get. Now another question: does any one know how long it takes a hen to lay again after molt? I am sure this would be effected by season but I am just wondering if anyone had any idea? Thanks Mike

Most hens start laying within a few weeks of getting all their feathers back in in my experience. And when they do they lay with a vengeance. Bigger and more frequent eggs. DH was just showing me yesterday where egg producers will force a hen into molt to get them to produce more. It's pretty cruel. They withhold food and most of their water for a couple weeks. I would never do that for the sake of eggs.
I also figure coons who are invading your property are game. They have huge raccoon hunts near here and they have literally hundreds of carcasses piled up for a furr buyer for weeks. It seems it is about this time of year they do that.
Raccoons are not only dangerous for your flocks but they can be mean vicious animals and can harm you or your family, as well as carry disease.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Oh Karen I am so sorry. Why don't you order some on the drug to have on hand for the future. I think I will. My heart is breaking for you. That is so sad.
Quote:
Most hens start laying within a few weeks of getting all their feathers back in in my experience. And when they do they lay with a vengeance. Bigger and more frequent eggs. DH was just showing me yesterday where egg producers will force a hen into molt to get them to produce more. It's pretty cruel. They withhold food and most of their water for a couple weeks. I would never do that for the sake of eggs.
I also figure coons who are invading your property are game. They have huge raccoon hunts near here and they have literally hundreds of carcasses piled up for a furr buyer for weeks. It seems it is about this time of year they do that.
Raccoons are not only dangerous for your flocks but they can be mean vicious animals and can harm you or your family, as well as carry disease.

Yes coons are a nuisance. Once they start coming around they will show others were to come and it is a vicious cycle. Kill on sight.
The thought of forcing one of my girls into molt is horrific. I cant believe some of the things that people do to their animals.

 

[HEChicken]

Thank you!!!
Technically, a raccoon is considered a fur-bearer, and there is a season for them (as well as a license). See here for more information: http://www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/Hunting/Hunting-Regulations/Furbearers. If you're having problems with coons, you should call your local sheriff. He may be able to give you options for how to get rid of it legally.

Any fur bearer can be legally killed at any time of year if it is a direct threat to your livestock. I looked it up after the fox attack in July, because I didn't want to be posting all over the internet that I had killed a fox, if it was illegal for me to have done so. Because the fox was on my property, actively hunting my poultry, it was legal for me to kill it even out of season and with no license.

I've put this off long enough so just want to let you know Tookie didn't make it. I never imagined a turkey could break my heart. She was such a special bird and I'm going to miss her terribly. I have some people coming this evening with my brother who are new to raising chickens and wanted some information. I'm focusing on their visit but my heart is certainly not in it.

Karen, I am so, so sorry. I know how special Tookie was to you and how hard you work with all of your animals to provide for their every need. You couldn't have done more to save her.

I agree with Danz that it would be a good idea to have some on hand for future use. I think I may order some to have on hand too.

Now another question: does any one know how long it takes a hen to lay again after molt? I am sure this would be effected by season but I am just wondering if anyone had any idea? Thanks Mike

They generally stop laying to molt for about 6-8 weeks. It can be either side of those, but that is the typical time frame.

 

[mommahen10]

Danz, I'm so sorry someone misunderstood you. We all know that you would never be dishonest and that you have put so much effort into helping everyone there is no way you would do something like that. What this person is saying isn't going to affect your reputation at all with those of us who know you. Can you go back and see where you posted the info to her and quote it into another post in your own defense? I'm sorry that people do stuff like this, it makes you feel like you get slapped for tryiing to be helpful. That's just plain mean. I'm glad to hear that your olansk is doing better, that has to be a relief. Yeah, I think the ones that looked fully developed probably could have made it had I helped, but maybe not becuase they had huge yolk sacs too. Also, 2 of that 4 the air cell was gone and the chick filled the entire egg. Another things I noticed is that I've been getting 1:10 chicks are white/yellow chicks and 9:10 black. The white/yellow I've noticed in the past seem to have a harder time hatching. In my brooder there are 14 chicks, only 1 is yellow/white. In the 4 that were dead, 1 was yellow/white and 3 black. In the 5 that were still alive, 3 were yellow/white. I attempted to help the live chicks, as soon as I got the membrane loose, like I pulled it up and let air go in, they gasped and started breathing. So I let them rest, no major bleeding. One just breathed a few breaths and died, I waited a bit and removed him and he had a huge yolk sac. 1 breathed for a few minutes and then died and it looks fine, I don't see anything wrong, one breathed for about 10 minutes and then died. There are 2 left in the incubator alive, strangely both are white. They are half out of their shells and resting but breathing well. One has a super crooked beak, major cross bite, the other has a significan yolk sac but I had one with more that made it. I will leave them until they dry and then try to get some sugar water down them to see if they perk up. I bought 2 more regular thermometers during this incubation the new thermometers always showed way higher than the one that came with it, but they are harder to read, way higher as in almost 10 degrees higher. I bought a digital thermometer/hygrometer and I have been adjusting them temp according to it. I agree the one that came with it has to be bad. This new thermometer, it is a thermometer/hygrometer indoors and thermometer outdoors. I couldn't see how or where to put it to put the whole thing inside of the incubator, it was already lockdown when I got it so I didn't want to play around with it. So I just put the tiny cord down the vent hole so I could see the inside temp, I put the cord at the level of the middle of the egg and it was nice to be able to just walk by and see the temp. Do they make a hygrometer with just a tiny cord too? I could only find ones that had this big transmitter thingy that looked like a remote control. It's so big I didn't buy it. I need to look some more. I know this hatch had some big temp variances, from the first day when I went out of town and my dh didn't finish turning it up, then the cord coming unplugged, then the furnace going out we had big temp changes as well as humidity changes in the house.

We did end up watering our sweet potatoes a little but it was more just what ran to them from the tomatoes, we watered from the pond this year but we ran out of water and had to stop watering even at that. I will remember that about the sweet potatoes helping with stomach troubles, I like mashed potatoes when I have a stomach ache so I totally believe it. I just want to make sure we use them before they go bad. I have 2 laundry baskets full of huge sweet potatoes and I canned all of the smaller ones. I don't like to use the big ones for mashing or pies because they have stringy things in them. They work great for baking and sweet potato fries.

That's interesting HEChicken as one of my hatches was 9 pullets and 1 rooster a few months ago.

notiones, I've seen coons out a lot lately but they haven't bothered us. My dh told me that you could get them if they are being a nuisance or getting livestock. I will ask my ds because he sits there and reads the rules on all of that stuff.

Awww, I'm so sorry Karen. I hope you get through this visit so you can have some time to grieve this loss.

Mike, I don't know how long it takes for them to start laying again. I have so many chickens I only notice that they're molting but not who's laying and who's not and when. It kinda works out because I still keep getting consistent eggs and for some reason they don't molt at the same time. One year they did at the same time, that was a feathery MESS. My yard looked like it had trash blowing all over and it was just feathers. I hope you get it figured out soon so you can get some eggs.

Lizzy, that makes it sound like it's okay for us to not have a license. It does say that we need it if we want to sell the fur. It doesn't cover not for furharvesting, surely there is something that applies to predators that threaten livestock, isn't there? Anyway, I say do what you have to.

OMGosh! I've never heard of forcing a molt but I would NEVER be able to do that, that's mean.

I'm off to check on those 2 chicks.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy, that makes it sound like it's okay for us to not have a license. It does say that we need it if we want to sell the fur. It doesn't cover not for furharvesting, surely there is something that applies to predators that threaten livestock, isn't there? Anyway, I say do what you have to

I'm sure there has to be something, somewhere that says that you can kill coons/possums/coyotes that are on your property and threatening your livestock, but I haven't found it yet. I'll post it when I find it. I don't mean to be misleading. I'm just re-posting what I found in the handbook. Those handbooks can be so confusing sometimes!

 

[lizzyGSR]

I'm sure there has to be something, somewhere that says that you can kill coons/possums/coyotes that are on your property and threatening your livestock, but I haven't found it yet. I'll post it when I find it. I don't mean to be misleading. I'm just re-posting what I found in the handbook. Those handbooks can be so confusing sometimes!

I think I finally found it. http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_32/Article_10/32-1002.html. PLEASE read through the whole thing before doing anything, but here is a quote from the document that seems to apply to dealing with coons that are threatening your livestock:


Quote:

 

[Joe Jordan]

Beautiful warm fall day here. I'm thinking about taking my chicks and ducklings outside to experience grass for their first time today. Its so hard to get anything done inside on days like today. Hope all is well with you all!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Beautiful warm fall day here. I'm thinking about taking my chicks and ducklings outside to experience grass for their first time today. Its so hard to get anything done inside on days like today. Hope all is well with you all!

My chicks have been out all day and loving it, good luck and have fun with your little ones today

 

[HEChicken]

Beautiful warm fall day here. I'm thinking about taking my chicks and ducklings outside to experience grass for their first time today. Its so hard to get anything done inside on days like today. Hope all is well with you all!

I love their first excursions outside - they are so excited to run around and try everything. These warm days for late October are a gift - so nice we can let the little ones have time out of the brooder! I have some 9-day-old chicks that haven't been out yet but tomorrow is supposed to be 88 here (eeek) so I think I'll let them have some time outside.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote: Thanks Lizzie. I kind of have to shrug my shoulders about (C). Trap and release is illegal so I'm not sure what other means they have in mind. I already had a fence up to keep my birds on my property - the fox laughed at the fence and climbed right over it. Try reason and logic? "Here Fox. Now look - there are rabbits everywhere. Why don't you catch and eat them instead of going after my chickens?" Yeah...I guess I should have tried that first. You never know. It *might* have worked.

Interesting about (B) though. Everyone said afterward that I should have used the pelt. Frankly, I didn't really want to touch the thing, it was so full of ticks and fleas, so that didn't hold a lot of appeal. But according to (B) it wouldn't have been legal for me to use the pelt anyway. While I don't like anything to go to waste, I can see the logic there - that way they don't have people hunting them for the pelt and then saying "Oh, I had to - it was destroying my property".