Consolidated Kansas

[WichitaKidd]

OK. Ya'll need to slow down on the posting volume. Granted I haven't been on for a while, but over 1,000 posts to catch up on. Sorry...skipping ahead to the end.
Welcome to any newbies that may joined the list in the past month. I still try to pop in on occassion to see what's going on. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Stayed home from work today a little under the weather. It was a nice afternoon here in Wichita so I sat out on the deck & soaked up some fresh air & sunshine. Started thinking back to when I had my birds. *SIGH* Still trying to put that chapter in life behind me, but my will to get back into the game this coming spring is growing. For those who know the story, a brief update. The owner of the dogs was able to get one of their dogs back. Not sure what happened to the other one; honestly don't care. Decided not to press charges for a variety of reasons. Decided it was better to just move forward. BTW-Heather-how is Betty doing? Hope she is doing well. Did she ever lay? I've read that some birds who experience trauma never lay again. Not sure if that's true or not. I'm sure there are many more conversations I'm missing out on. Someone please remember to email/PM me when the next lunch get together is. I had fun at Karen's the last time even though I didn't get to stay very long. I'll try to weed back thru some of the posts to see if I can catch up when I get a chance. Need to wrap this up before the laptop dies. Low battery warning keeps popping up.

Wishing everyone only the best things in life.
David

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh my gosh, I don't know where to start!

Hawkeye, I think I'll start with the mattress city.

That would work on my DH! You crack me up! I am so going to do the cookie tin water heaters. My main confusion is getting electricity to all of them. I'll have to PM Danz to get it through my thick skull how to set it up!

Danz, What a mess, girl. I hope your basement woes are straightened out soon. That's just sad. Sorry about your hen, too. I bragged about not seeing hawks and wouldn't you know, there was a big flapping thing down low when I went out this afternoon. I'm not even sure that was a hawk because it was huge! Love your pics!

I hatched my first two ducks that were bred here and I swear, one of them is a pretty grey like Chopper! The other is a Cayuga! Woot! So cute! I have some Aloha chicks hatching too and seem to have a large share of blond chicks with partial pale chimpmunk stripes. Should be interesting when they start coloring up.

Welcome to those new to Consolidated Kansas!!!!! Great to have you, jump on in!

Countryboy tell us more about your ideal bird and we can give you more info from there. Swedish Flowers are my hands down favorites. They are so interesting to look at and are a dual purpose bird. That's why I'm working on a U.S. version, called the Aloha.

Tweety, love the pic of your granddaughter! Best of luck with your procedure!

Checoukan, you'll do great in spite of the jitters!!! Have fun!

WichitaKidd, great to see you here. It's ridiculously busy here!

Sunflowerparrot, Congrats, girl on your win! That is so awesome!!!!!!!!

KansasPrairie and maidenwolf, I forgot what I was going to say to both of you. It'll come to me while I lie in bed awake tonight trying to remember!

Trish44, your coop is looking great! Progress is wonderful, isn't it?

 

[cubbysan]

I keep on saying I'll post pictures of my coop, here it is right before move in day. Since these pictures, he has added railings to the ramp, so it looks like a ship plank, and is making flower pots and a mailbox.

 

[sharol]

I'm speechless. That is nothing short of amazing. Don't expect it to stay that clean though

I love what you did with the roof of the run. How tall is the run area? It is hard to get a handle on the perspective from a picture.

I keep on saying I'll post pictures of my coop, here it is right before move in day. Since these pictures, he has added railings to the ramp, so it looks like a ship plank, and is making flower pots and a mailbox.

 

[sharol]

Another Scout update:

I am in Reno for 2 weeks, and my DH is looking after the girls and Butch. Scout's leg is still pretty much useless (actually worse because it gets in the way of the other foot. On the bright side, though, her spirits are good. We brought down the hen hoop from the shed, and set her up in there. She can get out onto grass (and is doing so). She is able to get up into the nest boxes (about a foot and a half off the ground) and is sleeping in one of those), and she seems to be eating some.

 

[cubbysan]

I'm speechless. That is nothing short of amazing. Don't expect it to stay that clean though

I love what you did with the roof of the run. How tall is the run area? It is hard to get a handle on the perspective from a picture.

Yes, the ramp already needs to be power hosed. I am so happy with this, it is nothing like the plans I asked him to do, my limited imagination could have never gone this way.

The height of the roof on the run is probably six feet at its highest, where it slopes maybe a little more than 5' 5". I am 5' 5" and I can stand up straight in it.
The house itself is 8' x 5' and it is pretty tall. My daughter can walk around in it.

He used PVC for the roof and bird netting.

We are originally from New England, so he wanted to bring a little bit of New England to Kansas City.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

I keep on saying I'll post pictures of my coop, here it is right before move in day. Since these pictures, he has added railings to the ramp, so it looks like a ship plank, and is making flower pots and a mailbox.

WOW! You are going to let chickens poop in that? It's very nice! Please post more pictures of the inside, I'm very curious!! WOW!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Well the hawk is back and sitting in trees in the edge of my property making his hawk call. He is waiting,, so am I.... For real I have big plans today to beef up a "no predators welcome" security measure. No more of my birds are going to be taken..

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, that is so sad about the thefts at the Derby Atwoods. I was actually in that store a couple of weeks ago and I did notice that she picked up my bag of feed to look under it. I don't think that has ever happened at the other area Atwoods stores but now that you say it happens every time you shop there, I understand better.

Yeah, I'm actually friends with one of the ladies that works there. Without giving too many details about WHO did it (insert racial/economic profiling here) the men that originally started stealing from Derby Atwoods was buying sacked grains and stuffing TOOLS and all kinds of stuff in between the sacks! They got caught because at some point, they were coming back an awful lot AND the sacks were starting to bulge as they got bolder on stealing things that didn't fit well under the sacks. They also were refusing help out to the car, and everyone knows that at Atwoods, you don't have to push your cart to the car. I ALWAYS have someone push my cart and load up my grain sacks for me. (but I use those flat carts that are so difficult to handle) Anyway, ever since then, they now go through everyone's carts and lift things to see under them. I always help them because I usually buy 7-10 bags at a time and I feel bad for the girls at the check out-- it's something they are forced to do, and those bags are so heavy for them. If people were HONEST (*cough*-- insert crazy liar guy who refused to tell the truth about the U Turn he flipped in front of me) then the rest of us wouldn't get screwed over!

I'm still angry-- my insurance has given me a money amount for my minivan and I am refusing to accept it. I just put $800 tires on the van 3 weeks ago-- and they wrote out that they are buying them for $87, well, I'm about to call them today to tell them they can darn well keep their flippin' $87 and I am going to go take my horse trailer down and go get my $800 tires off my minivan. I HATE insurance and I have been paying a premium and full coverage for years to get treated like that. Also, I'm going to be arguing some other points too. NO WAY am I signing for the cash until they REALLY pay up. UGH. OKay... sorry, that had nothing to do with chickens, I'm just still very angry.

Yay!!! I know you've been working on that a while! When you think you are heading into town?

I'm not sure! I plan on working on the coop today! If I can get it finished, then I hope to get up there soon. I need to get the doors on. Good luck today!! I hope you will be feeling better pronto! Oh-- and I'll let you know when I head up your way. It would be fun to visit if you are available when I'm there.

Wow, I have been so busy that every time I do get to come back & read there are several pages to catch up on. I went this evening & picked up some used chain link fence & some other welded wire type of fence from the same gal I got the livestock panels from a week or so ago. The fence would have to be straightened out, but it was practically free, so how can you turn that down. I also got 25 cinder blocks & over 100 bricks I picked up & loaded all by myself. By the time I got all of it home & unloaded all of the cinder blocks & bricks I was pooped out. Then I had to still go & feed everyone after that & it got dark on me. My DH got about half of the roofing up today, he's so darned slow. We had some roofing felt in the garage, but he said it must have gotten wet at some point because it was sticking together, so he got aggravated & quit putting it on. Now the last he said to me was that he may go get some more tomorrow. If he could make up his mind about something it would be a miracle & it wouldn't take him so long to get things done either. He chews on things forever trying to decide how he wants to do something & by the time he gets it done I could have had it done already twice over. He aggravates me so bad, like today he didn't get out there to do anything until he had maybe an hour at most to work on it & he does that a lot. I went ahead & took some pics of what he does have done today just because it may be awhile again before he has a chance to work on it.

OMGosh, I'm soooo jealous! I want a load of bricks something fierce! LOL

OK, here are a couple pics of the new coop progress: The first one is the front facing out where the pens will be. You can kind of see the roofing on this one on the right half. The open space in the middle is where he's going to put the skylights. It's not exactly how I told him I wanted it, but he already did it that way.


And this is the back with all of the people door openings & my DH getting down off the roof to quit for the day.


So, there's been a little bit accomplished since the last pics.

This is looking fantastic!!! I am so excited for you!! Great job and kudos to your DH for the great workmanship!

Here is the mask. It flashes and has glitz- totally made her giddy! She def has a mind of her own and a big sis who loves to make her happy

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cute!! The mask looks great! I bet that was so much fun for her!

OK. Ya'll need to slow down on the posting volume. Granted I haven't been on for a while, but over 1,000 posts to catch up on. Sorry...skipping ahead to the end.
Welcome to any newbies that may joined the list in the past month. I still try to pop in on occassion to see what's going on. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Stayed home from work today a little under the weather. It was a nice afternoon here in Wichita so I sat out on the deck & soaked up some fresh air & sunshine. Started thinking back to when I had my birds. *SIGH* Still trying to put that chapter in life behind me, but my will to get back into the game this coming spring is growing. For those who know the story, a brief update. The owner of the dogs was able to get one of their dogs back. Not sure what happened to the other one; honestly don't care. Decided not to press charges for a variety of reasons. Decided it was better to just move forward. BTW-Heather-how is Betty doing? Hope she is doing well. Did she ever lay? I've read that some birds who experience trauma never lay again. Not sure if that's true or not. I'm sure there are many more conversations I'm missing out on. Someone please remember to email/PM me when the next lunch get together is. I had fun at Karen's the last time even though I didn't get to stay very long. I'll try to weed back thru some of the posts to see if I can catch up when I get a chance. Need to wrap this up before the laptop dies. Low battery warning keeps popping up.

Wishing everyone only the best things in life.
David

David, so great to see you pop back on! Sorry you were under the weather yesterday, but what a great day to sit out on the porch and enjoy the weather! With only the one dog left, it might not be so inclined to run around and get into things. Usually when they pack (2 or more) is when they really do stupid stuff. Hopefully they will keep it locked up. After losing one dog, maybe they can see the seriousness of the issue. At least, maybe they don't want to lose THAT dog. I know everyone here would love to help you get started again in the spring!

Oh my gosh, I don't know where to start!

Hawkeye, I think I'll start with the mattress city.

That would work on my DH! You crack me up! I am so going to do the cookie tin water heaters. My main confusion is getting electricity to all of them. I'll have to PM Danz to get it through my thick skull how to set it up!

Danz, What a mess, girl. I hope your basement woes are straightened out soon. That's just sad. Sorry about your hen, too. I bragged about not seeing hawks and wouldn't you know, there was a big flapping thing down low when I went out this afternoon. I'm not even sure that was a hawk because it was huge! Love your pics!

I hatched my first two ducks that were bred here and I swear, one of them is a pretty grey like Chopper! The other is a Cayuga! Woot! So cute! I have some Aloha chicks hatching too and seem to have a large share of blond chicks with partial pale chimpmunk stripes. Should be interesting when they start coloring up.

Welcome to those new to Consolidated Kansas!!!!! Great to have you, jump on in!

Yeah, I think the mattress city would get his attention! LOL I am going to see if he will hook up the auger to the tractor today-- he said he is going to come home early! yay! If not... I'm going to need a lot of mattresses.... You're going to love those cookie tin heaters! Just run a super long power cord from your house out to the chicken coops. Lowes has all-weather extension cords. They aren't super cheap, but they work great! I wrap duct tape around the plug in's on the ground to keep it cleaner and rain/moisture off of it. You could also run a bit of tubing over the joint area if you have any around.

I keep on saying I'll post pictures of my coop, here it is right before move in day. Since these pictures, he has added railings to the ramp, so it looks like a ship plank, and is making flower pots and a mailbox.

I think my jaw dropped when I saw how ADORABLE this coop is!!!!

Seriously, totally LOVE this coop!!!

Where did he get the idea for it? Do you have any pictures of when it was being built?? I'd love to see some "progress pictures" before it got to this point! Congrats on the coop!! What a great idea for the run to put up the PVC piping like that. How wide is the run-- what length did you need for the pipe? I would love to do something like this on mine, but I'd like an idea of how far apart it can be before it won't be structurally sound. Where did you get your roofing?? I bought my shingles at Lowes and I didn't see anything like that there! I just got the regular stuff to roof mine with. But I love the color of the coop-- I painted mine almost that exact same yellow!

Another Scout update:

I am in Reno for 2 weeks, and my DH is looking after the girls and Butch. Scout's leg is still pretty much useless (actually worse because it gets in the way of the other foot. On the bright side, though, her spirits are good. We brought down the hen hoop from the shed, and set her up in there. She can get out onto grass (and is doing so). She is able to get up into the nest boxes (about a foot and a half off the ground) and is sleeping in one of those), and she seems to be eating some.

Poor chickie. I'm so sorry she isn't doing any better. Is that her only symptom? I was wondering if it could be Mareks? Usually leg paralysis is the first symptom, and there are 6 different kinds of it, so they don't all play out the same way for each bird. With all of the migratory birds and everything right now... I wouldn't rule out anything. Here are the 6 kinds:


There are six syndromes known to occur after infection with Marek's disease. These syndromes may overlap.

• Classical Marek's disease or neurolymphomatosis causes asymmetric paralysis of one or more limbs. With vagus nerve involvement, difficulty breathing or dilation of the crop may occur. Besides lesions in the peripheral nerves, there are frequently lymphomatous infiltration/tumours in the skin, skeletal muscle, visceral organs. Organs that are commonly affected include the ovary, spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, proventriculus and adrenals.
• Acute Marek's disease is an epidemic in a previously uninfected or unvaccinated flock, causing depression, paralysis, and death in a large number of birds (up to 80 percent). The age of onset is much earlier than the classic form; birds are four to eight weeks old when affected. Infiltration into multiple organs/tissue is observed.
• Ocular lymphomatosis causes lymphocyte infiltration of the iris (making the iris turn grey), anisocoria, and blindness.
• Cutaneous Marek's disease causes round, firm lesions at the feather follicles.[2]
• Atherosclerosis is induced in experimentally infected chickens.[3]
• Immunosuppression – Impairment of the T-lymphocytes prevent competent immunological response against pathogenic challenge and the affected birds become more susceptible to disease conditions such as coccidiosis and "Escherichia coli" infection .[4] Furthermore, without stimulation by cell-mediated immunity, the humoral immunity conferred by the B-cell lines from the Bursa of Fabricius also shuts down, thus resulting in birds that are totally immunocompromised.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Yes, the ramp already needs to be power hosed. I am so happy with this, it is nothing like the plans I asked him to do, my limited imagination could have never gone this way.

The height of the roof on the run is probably six feet at its highest, where it slopes maybe a little more than 5' 5". I am 5' 5" and I can stand up straight in it.
The house itself is 8' x 5' and it is pretty tall. My daughter can walk around in it.

He used PVC for the roof and bird netting.

We are originally from New England, so he wanted to bring a little bit of New England to Kansas City.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ETA: tell him to get started on mine! hehehe