Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Crazy owl out during the day.

Creepy!! It doesn't even look real....

I have made teh decision to sell 2 of my tom turkeys. I just cant have them fighting and hurting one another all the time. It is constant. They need a home were they can be seperate from a bunch of toms. They are good boys and would make great pets, they love treats and attention and when I seperate them from the others they return to their friendly selves. If anyone is interested please pm me.
I also made a difficult decison to take out too roos, they were getting aggressive with the hens and anytime one moved they would grab her to mate and the other would see this and run to stop him and grab her after he let go so he could mate her.. They are chasing the younger ones off food and grabbing the younger males and pulling out their feathers and eating them, not sure what that is all about, today one of them dragged a hen out off the nest to mate. I dont know if I am making the right decision to cull here or is this just behavior I will see regardless?

I think you are totally making the right decision. I don't tolerate bad rooster behavior towards me or my hens! Boys should be gentleman, dance to hop on, find the girls food, protect them from danger. Rapists and cavemen roos are quickly removed from my pens, I have a zero tolerance policy for that kind of behavior. Those are not nice rooster behaviors. I have plenty of boys around here and they are all gentleman with their girlfriends.

So I candled the eggs that my silkie is sitting on and they are definitely NOT fertile. They were all completely clear, with the yolk just floating as I turned the egg. So, i'm going to get 3 fertile silkie eggs tomorrow and exchange these out. Hopefully my hen can't count days. LOL

For all of those that are asking, I've been feeling a lot better these past couple days. Knock on wood that it means the botox worked!

Bummer, that was going to be pretty incredible if they were at this point! It has been several weeks. Glad you found some eggs for her to hatch though.

Hens, especially silkies and cochins, are TERRIBLE counters!!!! They haven't a clue!!!

So glad you are feeling better! That is wonderful news.



Phew, it was a long day and I hardly got anything done. Spent most of the day wasted trying to apply to reduce my student loan payments. I don't want to consolidate yet because I am planning on going back to school after the baby but can't afford to pay $900 either! Lots of flaming hoops to jump through, sigh.

It is so stinking cold out right now. I went out and froze my butt off doing chores after the sun went down. It was miserable. I think it is just so shocking because it has been so nice, there was no transition to colder weather.
I am wondering when the growing jelly bean is going to start keeping me warm!! I was so looking forward to that but it hasn't happened yet..

I am a giant stress ball over the house. We are negotiating an offer and I hate this part. I just want to get it done so I can start making plans to move critters. I don't even know how we are going to do it all especially since I am getting less agile and won't be able to do as much heavy labor as I am used to being able to.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- When I first made mine everyone was kind of not sure but it is like any other new experience you never know if you will like it. You could always do just a couple for yourself, there are tons of other recipes using the flower if you google search it. The taste when fried is like a mild mushroomy taste, like a morel, but very lightly. When my kids see someones yard full of them they say man I wish that were our yard lol. My daughter just doesnt understand why people want to kill them out of their yards so bad she says "dont they know that is food?" I love it and I teach my kids other wild edibles so they can see how an everyday weed can be food and how to look for it. Turkeys did fine they dried off and went back to fighting badly. I have had to shut them in the hawk shelter at night and cover the entrance with plywood so they would stay and not go on the roof.. Goodness they are like a 2 year old at bedtime lol. We are going to turn the hawk shelter into a pen for them so they are safe and warmer at night.

I hate mushrooms-- the taste puts me off. If they taste like mushrooms, that might not be a good thing at all! LOL My tastes have changed over the years, and I am liking more and more foods that I didn't care for before, so I am "growing up". But I doubt mushrooms will ever become a food I can stomach. I'm pretty good at trying new things, too. Sounds like you have a plan for the turkeys.

Checoukan, surely Ivy will have to have chickens again. I can't imagine her being without them. Any news on the job she applied for??
Hawkeye just saw the pic of your Christmas lights. How cute! After you mentioned putting those up I told DH I was going to string lights around all the pens and buildings. He just gave me a look and didn't say a word. He didn't have to. I know that look. It mean, "I know you'll do what you want but maybe if I keep my mouth shut you'll forget about it! " I was just kidding but it would be a blast.
He just ordered the booster for the cell phones and internet. If it doesn't help we have 30 days to return it. If it does I will be one very happy person.
I am sure glad I do have a septic tank rather than a lagoon. I think I will have to replace the pipe from the house to the tank though. I wish it weren't such a long stretch. My BIL was saying the other day they were going to pump water to keep theirs from freezing and several people were already desperate to do so. I guess there all problems with every system. Even when I lived in town I had to excavate and replace a section of sewer pipe because they did some gas tests and found that where mine hooked to the city clean out it was leaking some gas. Of course it was probably a century old too, so not unexpected.

I sure hope she got that job! If not, I hope another one pops up that she wants. Danz, my parents bought one of those cell phone boosters and it worked great for them. I hope yours works out well, too.

Liston I love you all. I have this dambed dial up and it takes for ever to do any thing. My heart is really strugeling with maiden wolf MO sorry dont have a quote to post to. Gosh yesterday Church; Northeren Uganda, intercity KCMO homeless, and those we know in trouble. Really sole searching. Madenwolf you are in my thoughts and prayers. If you were close I have access to resources that would make life beter. It takes a commuinity to raise a child and it takes a commuinty to save a faimly. America its self is struggeling and you are an example of what we all witness.If we were close I would empty my freezer for you and find something in my house for you. I dry all my clothes on a line. In the summer its on a line outside and in the winter its in the basement. It pays! Statistics say .50$ a load. Or you can consider one wheel barro of coal for every load of laundry. Sunshine is free. Humidity is needed in the winter to hold heat.

Ooooh, dial up. Darn, that stinks. At least you have internet, though. Very sweet; what you wrote!

That is interesting you can save that much on drying. Good idea!

Thanks! How is your silly broody silkie?

Yeah, they are super comfy. It is soooo nice. I tried one pair on and it was a bit loose (sliding down, DH said I looked like a gangster!) and I told him give it a month and they would probably fit!
So many cute clothes in there too, you are a lifesaver because I am not a shopper by any means so who knows what kind of fashion disaster I would be!
I was terrified to use the new car but we needed to move a bale and I didn't really want to go bother a neighbor. Hopefully at the new place my FIL will loan us his older tractor and we can get a bale spike for it! I am still so happy this foolish little hen is ok. I don't know where she went but I have lost so many birds this fall and I just thought she was a goner for sure.


I hate having the farrier over in the winter. Just because I hate standing out there freezing my bootie off. The up side is that their feet don't grow at fast when it's that cold, so at least it's not our regular schedule. We go every 6-8 weeks here. But in the winter, we cut that back, because they just don't grow. They are busy putting on thick coats and using energy to keep warm. This is the time I start to increase their feed a bit and put their coats on if it's going to be wet and miserable. So long as it's dry, they do pretty good. Good luck on the offer!

Yeah, It is funny because I was standing there shaking in my cover alls and wool socks and the trimmer is peeling off her sweatshirt! Difference between working and not! I can't cut back on my mustang because he grows granite hoof year round like its going out of style. I guess the mustang way of life does not allow you to stop growing hoof. I imagine traveling 20-25 miles per day on hard, rock filled soil just does not forgive slow growing feet so he grows foot like nothing I have ever seen and he does not chip, ever. They just grow and grow. His feet were so long because I got sick being pregnant and then couldn't get anyone to show up to trim for me! It was super frustrating so very glad to find this lady who did a really nice job, was good with the horses (can't stand the "If he kicks me, I'll kick him back" attitude from some of the men I have had out) and showed up on time and worked efficiently! Anyone who gets along with Denver is a friend in my book. I have always had quarter horses and you can make a QH do whatever you want but you don't make a mustang do anything unless you want to start world war III. It has to be "their" idea to do A instead of B. We us a lot of reverse psychology and it is easier to do what I ask of you and if you don't there will be work involved that you won't enjoy. My mom says if Denver has prepared me for having children. She told me if I can get a blanket on my hard headed mustang then kids will be a piece of cake!

Ok, I really need to get a move on! It is actually not too bad out right now so I need to go finish getting an extension cord run to the pea chicks and then start working on sorting boxes in the garage so we don't have to move a bunch of stuff we don't use! My DH cracks me up. He soooo wants to get rid of things and we moved way too much stuff the last time we moved and it is ridiculous. Well I agree with him but then we start going through stuff and he doesn't want to part with anything!!! I guess if he isn't here then he won't know.

LOL A baby gangster! Hey, whatever works, I'm sure you can rock that look, even if your pants are falling down! hehehe Nah, I bet those "big" jeans will be fitting in a few more months. Unfortunately. And I had to work up to 3 kids before the LAST pair of pants I got. There is one pair in there that is pretty much the same size as the others, but just really baggy. Hang on to that one! That one is good for baby #2 when your hips spread out fast (because they've done it before) and baby really takes a nose dive down low and is riding on your bladder. hehehe! Wow, I love those mustangs, but that is a real bummer to hear how fast their feet grow, even in the WINTER. ugh. Thinking a mustang is definitely not for me, especially if they are bull headed. "Regular" horses are already bull headed, as it is.

FYI for those of you that know Candace and wish to attend or just enter a raffle or donate. It has been 2 weeks since Candace lost her son - I know this continues, and will continue, to hurt more deeply than any of else will ever know.

Thank you Michelle for reminding us about Candace's son's memorial. So, so very heart breaking. I don't know how she is doing it. I'm sure this is taking it all out of her. Very nice of you to post this here for us.

The other thing about the smart phones that I read is that they are programmed to use wi-fi whenever it's available. That part is what why I decided against them. Why would I pay for wi-fi, then pay for the data package to use the internet I already paid for? The whole thing just sounds crooked to me.

Hawkeye, your coop looks amazing. The pic, that's beautiful. You're an amazing photographer.

I have a smart phone with the full data package with Sprint. LOVE it. The phone comes out of the box programmed to pick up wi-fi instead of using it's data package. You just shut that off, and it won't come back on again. No biggie. I have the plan that everything is included, so I can use my internet on the phone all day long and will never get charged extra for it. And I do, too. I use the internet on that phone ALL the time. Anyway, you don't have to have wi-fi to use the phone, depending on what service you use, will give you limits to how much data you can use per month. Which is why I chose Sprint-- no limitations. The others all have some sort of limit until you get to the top of their data plan, which then costs more than what I'm paying. I wasn't going to use Sprint, but before I bought this particular phone this summer, I went company to company (in store) and have them explain their data plans to me and was really disappointed until I got to Sprint. Glad I kept hunting. So far, no hidden charges, we check it every month and look the bill over. There was some initial thing that they tried to add on when I first got the phone. I noticed in about 3 days in and had them remove it and nix the charges it incurred. Thank you for the compliments-- like someone said, you take enough pictures... you get a good one.

Crazy owl out during the day.

This FREAKS me out!! This totally does not look real!! Eeeks!! That is crazy!! What is he doing out in the middle of the day? Sheesh! Great capture!! Were you really close or do you have a telephoto lens? We just got a telephoto lens for my SLR a few months back and LOVE it. The only down side is that it's HUGE!!!! A royal pain to tote along, but now I can go to Jon's runs and stand on the side and get great up-close shots of him even when he's 1/4 mile off yet.

I know for a fact owls have no problem going to the ground to engage my hens. Hawks on the other hand like to make that quick dive and fly off. I have seen several attempted attacks by hawks on my hens. The girls get to the fence and hunker down. The hawk can't get at the hen because there is no room to maneuver. I will have to remain extra vigilant this winter for predators.

I'm glad that hawks like a lot of room-- I think that's the only thing have have saved my girls recently. These hawks that have come in-- I have to do a double take, they look like they are the size of eagles!! They are HUGE! What are they? These are news ones that have come in. They are all white when they spread out to glide and I look up at them. That's a really great trick-- to blend in with the sky. As if they need more camoflauge or more help.

I have made teh decision to sell 2 of my tom turkeys. I just cant have them fighting and hurting one another all the time. It is constant. They need a home were they can be seperate from a bunch of toms. They are good boys and would make great pets, they love treats and attention and when I seperate them from the others they return to their friendly selves. If anyone is interested please pm me.
I also made a difficult decison to take out too roos, they were getting aggressive with the hens and anytime one moved they would grab her to mate and the other would see this and run to stop him and grab her after he let go so he could mate her.. They are chasing the younger ones off food and grabbing the younger males and pulling out their feathers and eating them, not sure what that is all about, today one of them dragged a hen out off the nest to mate. I dont know if I am making the right decision to cull here or is this just behavior I will see regardless?

Good for you! Those roosters will NOT get any better. And that is not right that they are tag teaming the girls and hurting them, keeping them off food and nesting-- ridiculous. Those girls are going to have bloody backs before you know it. Then you'll be treating for infections if you don't get them off of the girls, and that could go really bad. I would eat them for sure, and since you need the meat, I'd say that's an easy decision! Chicken noodle soup!!! That's what I'd make! The older birds are much better in soup! Plus it goes a lot farther!

So I candled the eggs that my silkie is sitting on and they are definitely NOT fertile. They were all completely clear, with the yolk just floating as I turned the egg. So, i'm going to get 3 fertile silkie eggs tomorrow and exchange these out. Hopefully my hen can't count days. LOL

For all of those that are asking, I've been feeling a lot better these past couple days. Knock on wood that it means the botox worked!

Sorry they aren't fertile, that's a real bummer. Glad you have a friend that has fertile eggs to throw under there. When you switch them out, make sure the eggs are somewhat warm-- at least room temperature and not freezing cold. If your silkie is anything like mine-- she will sit for the next 3 months until something hatches. She's not counting, that's for sure! LOL I sure hope that botox is working!! Crossing all fingers and toes for you!!!

I think you are totally making the right decision. I don't tolerate bad rooster behavior towards me or my hens! Boys should be gentleman, dance to hop on, find the girls food, protect them from danger. Rapists and cavemen roos are quickly removed from my pens, I have a zero tolerance policy for that kind of behavior. Those are not nice rooster behaviors. I have plenty of boys around here and they are all gentleman with their girlfriends.
Bummer, that was going to be pretty incredible if they were at this point! It has been several weeks. Glad you found some eggs for her to hatch though.


Phew, it was a long day and I hardly got anything done. Spent most of the day wasted trying to apply to reduce my student loan payments. I don't want to consolidate yet because I am planning on going back to school after the baby but can't afford to pay $900 either! Lots of flaming hoops to jump through, sigh.

It is so stinking cold out right now. I went out and froze my butt off doing chores after the sun went down. It was miserable. I think it is just so shocking because it has been so nice, there was no transition to colder weather.
I am wondering when the growing jelly bean is going to start keeping me warm!! I was so looking forward to that but it hasn't happened yet..

I am a giant stress ball over the house. We are negotiating an offer and I hate this part. I just want to get it done so I can start making plans to move critters. I don't even know how we are going to do it all especially since I am getting less agile and won't be able to do as much heavy labor as I am used to being able to.

Agreed, my boys dance and drag their wings. Not that they can get to any girls right now. But they sure do enjoy courting them thru the fencing! hehe! And when they were together, the boys would put up a show, not just jump on and be mean. Sorry about the hassle with the student loans. What are you wanting to go back to school for? A masters?? Another bachelors?? Jon and I are out of debt on schooling, I forget about people still paying on that. No fun. My brother really racked up the bills-- he got two degrees at KU, then went to Washburn and got the equivalance of a doctorates for law-- they call it something else, he would totally cringe if he heard me say that. The point is, he will be paying for quite a while. Bummer.

Yeah, I did all of my chicken chores just a bit ago-- freezing cold and pitch dark out there. I'm glad I fed horses before I left for Piano tonight. I hate walking out to the barn in the dark. It's not that far, but it freaks me out. My DH needs to get that remote working again so I can turn on all the barn lights from the house again. I keep thinking a coyote is going to get me! LOL

Good luck on the house!!!! Praying for you!!!

 

[cherwill]

Well, congrats on the less-a-predator! That just wasn't very smart to be hunting in the day light! Dumb bird. BEAUTIFUL birds you are talking about!!! WOW!!! They make me want one!! (or two or three....) I don't need another project, but those are stunning! I hope you are able to hatch out TONS of them as soon as she starts laying! Good luck to you!!
x2 on all of that.


I posted this on my Silkie facebook page, but figured I'd share here. Remember I said I had put up lights on my chicken coop? Well, I tried taking pictures before and they came out too bright, too dark, or whatever. Last night, I went out several times to take pictures and finally hit upon the right lighting, I think. I already deleted out the too light ones-- where you can't even see the lights are on. I love seeing the lights in the backyard. All the neighbor kids have come over to look at it and think it's pretty cool too. Of course, my kids think we're awesome for having lights up on the CHICKEN coop! LOL Anyway, this has brightened up my nights and putting me in the holiday mood. Last year, I wasn't feeling it, and this year, I figured I really needed to get on the ball. There are a couple of barred rocks that got up high on the roost to look out at me. They knew I was out there and were talking to me.
I just called my husband over to look at this and told him we totally need to put lights on our coop. That looks so good.

No answer on my hens today.

One of the neighbors is protesting and saying they will take legal action if I pursue, claiming I will be in violation of our HOA regulations so I had to continue the meeting to December. I have been talking with our HOA president since early on and she was unaware of any chicken restrictions for our hoa and her copy of the declaration of restrictions has been missing. Someone found it and sent it to the city in opposition of my wanting hens. Does any one know for sure if the declaration of restrictions is the same as the deeds and covenants. The wording is strange, but our HOA is optional so some of the rules are set by the developer and must be followed and some are only required to be followed by members. I don't think I can attach a copy of the document. I think it looks like I am not going to be allowed to keep hens though.

I hope it isn't as bad as it sounds and you can have your hens. I wish people would find out the facts before they get all obnoxious and threaten legal action. Why should it matter to them when there will be very little noise and no smell?

Crazy owl out during the day.

That's a great picture, but I don't like to look that owl in the eye for long!

So I candled the eggs that my silkie is sitting on and they are definitely NOT fertile. They were all completely clear, with the yolk just floating as I turned the egg. So, i'm going to get 3 fertile silkie eggs tomorrow and exchange these out. Hopefully my hen can't count days. LOL That's too bad, but I bet you can fool your hen with new eggs.

For all of those that are asking, I've been feeling a lot better these past couple days. Knock on wood that it means the botox worked! Great news!

We have Net10 smart phones. DH wanted to get rid of our land line. I was on a Sprint monthly plan and he was using a TracPhone. He was sure we could save money by switching. We're definitely saving money on my phone; it's $10 a month cheaper than Sprint and I didn't even have a data plan with Sprint, just unlimited texting. It was going to cost us an extra $50 a month to get a 2-phone plan with Sprint. DH's phone costs a little more, but it's hard to say how much because he'd been using the TracPhone more and more each month. We got rid of the land line but lost our bundle discount, so we were only going to save $10-15 a month on that, and then cable went up and the bill is only $5 less than it was before. I would guess that our net savings after all those changes is $15 a month (not counting the increased cost of cable, which would have happened anyway). However, my phones were always free with Sprint if I signed a 2 year contract and the Net10 smart phone was $180. I haven't actually done the math to figure out how many months it will take to break even. The non-smart phones are $80. All the non-contract phone services have similar areas of coverage. We picked Net10 because it was the cheapest phone + monthly card price. I think one had a phone that was $10 cheaper but the minimum unlimited data card was higher. I ported my Sprint number over with no problem and it was a local number for all my family. It took DH about a month to get a local number. The prefix they kept giving him was one they said was local, but it wasn't. It was for a nearby town. My grandmother won't pay for long distance service on her phone and we're who she calls when my parents are out of town, so it was important that we have local numbers. He ended up waiting until we got rid of the land line service and having that number ported to his Net10 phone. The $50 monthly cards we get for our phones are for unlimited everything except international calls, and you get a $5 discount if you sign up for the automatic renewal online. We're happy with our phones, but the service calls when he was trying to get his phone number squared away were very hit and miss about getting someone who had a clue.

We got nothing done today except go shopping with my parents -- Hobby Lobby, Aldi's, Menard's and Sam's. I'm all shopped out; I don't want to see another store any time in the near future!

 

[mommahen10]

Hawkeye, to get a smart phone with Verizon you have to get the big data package, they don't give you a choice. Since I rarely leave the house, it would always be using the wi-fi, which doesn't hurt me anyway other than the fact that I would have to pay for the big data package. It's like paying for internet twice. I have an ipod that can do the same as the smart phone. Don't get me wrong, I think the smart phone would be way more convenient because everything is in one device.

Cherwill, I need to spend some time checking out all of the phone options again. I've never heard of Net10 but I will be sure to look.

Has anyone heard from Trish?

 

[sharol]

Isn't the Menard's store nice? We found some fencing for the compost heap there very cheaply during their opening, and they have "Pill Pockets" for my elderly Golden's meds a bit cheaper than the vet. Not worth a special trip, but if we are there anyway... We always hit Sams for certain items. I love fruit, and their berries are very good and cheaper that anywhere else most of the time.

We got nothing done today except go shopping with my parents -- Hobby Lobby, Aldi's, Menard's and Sam's. I'm all shopped out; I don't want to see another store any time in the near future!

 

[Kansas Prairie]

I have made teh decision to sell 2 of my tom turkeys. I just cant have them fighting and hurting one another all the time. It is constant. They need a home were they can be seperate from a bunch of toms. They are good boys and would make great pets, they love treats and attention and when I seperate them from the others they return to their friendly selves. If anyone is interested please pm me.
I also made a difficult decison to take out too roos, they were getting aggressive with the hens and anytime one moved they would grab her to mate and the other would see this and run to stop him and grab her after he let go so he could mate her.. They are chasing the younger ones off food and grabbing the younger males and pulling out their feathers and eating them, not sure what that is all about, today one of them dragged a hen out off the nest to mate. I dont know if I am making the right decision to cull here or is this just behavior I will see regardless?

I think you are making a good choice to reduce the number of males. It's nice to have less drama!

 

[Kansas Prairie]

double post

 

[chicken danz]

Sounds like your neighbor needs some education about chickens and being a good neighbor.

We still have an Altel plan on our phones too. They keep trying to get us to switch to their plans and we've refused.
The booster we are getting isn't an Verizon one. The one they have is a rip off.What should I mix the soy meal in? Just put some in with their regular feed. It is high protein. The Olandsk is absolutely gorgeous! I look at the price for selling and I think that's awesome, but the hit you take when you lose them and that's scary. Do you think they are more fragile? I'm so glad there is one less owl to worry about, that was so gutsy to be hunting during the daylight.
They seem to be tough little burgers. It's just that they are so small when they are young it is easy to get them chilled when they get shipped.

I found the owl on the dewlap goose at NOON one day. There is nothing in nature set in stone. I worry about the birds on overcast days, not only because of the owl I saw out, but also because that is when the trapper said they will hunt because of the dimmer light.

I agree!

I think you are totally making the right decision. I don't tolerate bad rooster behavior towards me or my hens! Boys should be gentleman, dance to hop on, find the girls food, protect them from danger. Rapists and cavemen roos are quickly removed from my pens, I have a zero tolerance policy for that kind of behavior. Those are not nice rooster behaviors. I have plenty of boys around here and they are all gentleman with their girlfriends.
X2

I am a giant stress ball over the house. We are negotiating an offer and I hate this part. I just want to get it done so I can start making plans to move critters. I don't even know how we are going to do it all especially since I am getting less agile and won't be able to do as much heavy labor as I am used to being able to.

You have friends that will help! Count me in.

We just got a telephoto lens for my SLR a few months back and LOVE it. The only down side is that it's HUGE!!!! A royal pain to tote along, but now I can go to Jon's runs and stand on the side and get great up-close shots of him even when he's 1/4 mile off yet.

Hawkeye back when I used to actually really decorate I learned the best lighting for taking pictures of Christmas lights was right at dusk. You don't want it dark and you don't want it light. Just enough that the lights shine but you can still see what they are on. Even a very overcast day works sometimes.

Sharol, I love Menards. They have some awesome deals. That is where I have been buying my dog food. My dogs are picky and they really like their high protein food. And it's cheap. It's in smaller pieces and although my dogs are big they hate dog food in big chunks. I should have bought more things when they had their grand opening. They had some awesome specials.

I am way behind on posts. I was on the run all day yesterday. I went to town and got eggs delivered and then back home to finish feeding and watering everyone. Then we went to Emporia. DH had some part to pick up and some shopping to do, and I had a growing shopping list as well. I bought a turkey. That's so dumb when I have so many out here. I just don't want to eat my midgets until I am sure of who is who. When they are strutting and gobbling you can pick them out one by one but when they are just being their normal sweet selves they all look the same.

Maidenwolf I would so love to buy one of your turkeys but I would want to butcher it and I know they are pets, so I wouldn't even ask. I was reading on the turkey thread yesterday that when you butcher a fresh turkey you have to instantly dip them in a cooler of ice water. Supposedly a refrigerator won't cool them fast enough to prevent bacteria growth. I wonder if that has to do with their size?? Then you don't eat them but you let them set for 3-4 days or they will be tough. I had never heard that before either. I did read the cooling thing on a web site is a government mandate but they use some kind of cold blaster. I need to do some more research on the letting them set thing. (someplace other than BYC) That part I don't understand. I don't know why they would be different than chickens. Of course I never eat chicken for a few days after butchering because I can't due to the smell. I wonder if it is like hanging meat?
Anyway next year I assume we will have turkey several times. I kind of have a waiting list for my babies.
I've got to get some boxes ready to go out in the mail. I threw away most of my spare boxes when I cleaned out the sea van to store the bird seed so I am going to have to hunt for something that will work.
I hope to finally get some cleaning done today or at least start. I am so far behind.

 

[chicken danz]

Mikesfarmer, I forgot to mention. That was very nice. I know you have struggled yourself. You are right. That is where this country is. And it is so close to us that we don't realize. There was a thing on the Topeka news just a couple nights ago honoring a guy who put a group together to bring food and things to homeless people.. I guess what really brought it home wasn't their efforts but that there were complete families living under the river bridge. I always thought most of the homeless around here where drunks or drug addicts but that isn't the case at all any more. It's the kids that break my heart.
I am so thankful to have a place to live and be able to eat. I just got notice my health insurance is going up another $90 Jan 1st. That makes a $300 increase in health insurance counting being forced to go on medicaire for the past 12 months. I keep thinking, for that I could be driving a decent car!!! And my coverage is worse than it was. I wonder how many years it will be before I am without funds to live on at that rate. Every increase like that takes more money out of my pocket I could use to live on.
I've been reading up on making my own chicken starter. Seems fairly straightforward other than I would need to put Corid in their drinking water. That would be a real pain. I haven't gotten to the point of figuring up costs yet but I may have to do that in the future.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Hawkeye- the mushroomy taste is more because it is a earthy flavor not fungus flavor. Alot of people hate mushrooms and I am married to the biggest mushroom hater of them all. I love mushrooms but I dont use them anymore because he just cant make himself eat it. Anyway he devours the dandelions when I cook them. Between him and my 2 kids there is not any left by time I take the next batch out of the fryer lol.

About the roosters, I have 10 boys out there and all of them are nice to the ladies they dance and stomp their feet and protect them, except these two. They are well like stated cavemen roosters. They just grab any hen walking by and force her to the ground. The hens are terrified of these two and run and scream when they are near. They do not do this with the other boys. My favorite little guy and golden sebrite names Blaze. He is the sweetest and most gentle boy ever to my mille d'uccle Katana, she is Sunshine's sister the one Iost to a hawk in my avatar. He will not let Katana out of his sight and when one of these bullies comes near he goes all ninja on him and boy does he chase them away even though he is small. He brings her food and doesnt eat until he thinks she has had her fill, he makes nests for her and takes her to them and when there is a hawk call he pushes her back to the coop and wont let her out until all is clear. He is in constant communication with her. When he is eating or occupied he has a second in command my buff columbian d'uccle Red, he will take over all Blazes duties finds her food, makes nests keeps her safe, but try to mate with her and the attack is on lol. What a super boyfriend.. I wish all of them could be like this. Anyway, my fear is that Iwont be able to do it. I didnt buy them with the intent to eat them. I do know however that I cannot let them continue like this, my girls will not be hurt. The turkey situation is different I do have one available for butcher, this one is just mean. He grabbed my welsummer roo and he is a big guy, by the comb and shook him like a rag doll twice yesterday he was bleeding pretty bad. All the roo was doing was eating scratch, so aggression over food. The other well he is a turkey we saved this year. When we got him he was so thin and very sick I thought he was not going to make it but we pulled him thru. He is a beautiful narragansett around 6 months. He loves treats and the ladies lol. He is a really nice boy but we got the others first and they are the ones we all picked out indivually.

This is Colt the narragansett up for sale hopefully as a pet?

Not the best pic but here is blaze and off in the distance you can see Red.

Here is the other turkey up for removal he is a royal palmx