Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Karen-SO glad you are starting to mend. That was a long bug to fight! How do you feed the fermented feed? In a bowl separately and do you keep the regular dry food out still or just feed a daily ration of fermented feed? Are you using a commercial chicken feed? Sorry for all the questions, I am curious.

Wow, guys! I'm really behind! I glanced through some of the thread and saw there are lots of great money-saving tips. Some, I've just started recently researching myself. Shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, and hand soaps have all been on my most recent recipe acquisitions. Then, I got sick. Once I have a bit more energy back I'm actually going to start making these products. I figure I can save a bundle with all these girls in the house!

The thing I did get started before I got sick was fermenting feed for my birds. I read one of Beekissed's threads about bringing a flock back to good health that had been ill kept and I was really impressed with her results. I just posted on the Aloha Chickens site the following info -- I thought you guys would find it interesting also. I'm able to use less feed with this method and I'm really pleased with the results so far. For those of you on both sites, sorry for the repetition.

Glad to hear that you are feeling better!!! Today is day three for me of no pain and no nausea, so I'm still hoping that it stays away. This has happened a couple times where I got about a week reprieve and the evil head reared itself again, so I'm not pushing myself at all, yet getting things done that I couldn't do otherwise. You'll get there. Just don't try to do too much or it will take more time!
So glad you are doing well and feeling better!

I got one silkie egg today! She said that her 12 silkies either only laid one egg, or the black snake is back. She's going to try to bring me more tomorrow. I'd love to have a couple chicks for her to raise, but I'm even just happy letting her have one Are hatching rates higher for using a broody compaired to an incubator?
I wouldn't set the egg until you have all the eggs and are ready to put them under her together. You probably already know this but if you put one under her now she could have a staggered hatch and get off the nest too early before the others are hatched or not take care of the early hatched babies because she is waiting for the rest to come along. I would def wait for more eggs, only one egg is not giving her very good odds. There could be something wrong with the one that causes it to not develop or hatch. A couple will increase your odds. I have had good luck with broodies but I don't know if their hatch rates are higher than mine in the bator. I think if they are local eggs that are fresh you can get a pretty good hatch either way but I have had better luck with a broody with certain types of eggs. I am a terrible artificial incubator of silkie eggs but my broodies have always done a good job. I also have better hatch rates with my seramas if I let a broody set the eggs.

Oh no, Medawinks, I am thinking of you and your little girl tonight and hoping she is going to make a speedy recovery. Such a tough cookie that girl!

Bummer on the pumpkins!

First and foremost we need your prayers. Talked to Medawinks, and as you might remember her daughter was supposed to have surgery tomorrow. Surgery isn't going to happen cause little S has pneumonia. It breaks my heart this little girl has to go through so much and she is such a beautiful soul. She never even complained or coughed. She just got sick.
I spent hours cutting up and preparing pumpkin today and feeding the seeds and stuff to the birds. Well I cooked a ton of it and I don't even think it is worth eating. It has very little flavor and it is pale in color. I am sure the pumpkins were ripe but maybe it was the kind they were. I think they were called Jacko-lantern. Maybe that type is grown for decoration rather than eating. It was an awful lot of work for something I don't even know if I can use. I thought about trying to make some thing with it to test it but I hate to waste the other ingredients if it isn't going to be any good.
Anyone else ever try doing home grown pumpkin before? I made fresh pumpkin pies years ago but it seems like they had lots of flavor when I got them cooked. I didn't get hardly anything done today I intended. I spent at least 2 hours cutting up the stupid pumpkin and getting it ready to cook.

I am so with you on this whole process - I just like things to be settled. The next thing you will be facing is the negotiations over selling your house. Honestly, that was worse for me than buying. As a buyer, if we couldn't reach agreement, I wasn't out anything - I would just keep looking until we found another property that met our needs. But as a seller it feels like there is more at stake because if you can't reach agreement with THIS buyer, who knows how long it will be before you even get another offer. A friend and I both listed our houses the same week and I was so lucky to get an offer within two weeks of listing the house, while she is still waiting, having to keep the house in show-worthy condition and never knowing when the next notification will come that there is a showing, and all the time waiting for someone - anyone - to be interested enough to even make an offer. I am not looking forward to listing this place. At least it is in reasonably good shape and there is very little that would need improvements or not pass an inspection.


Ned displayed this morning!!! Its the first time since his illness so I was really excited to see it.
Oh how fun!

Our furnace is working again. I am actually feeling very cranky about the whole thing. If you remember, I mentioned that the previous owner of this house worked for an HVAC company? So you'd think he'd know how to install the dang things, right? Well, Kansas Prairie had me look at the flame sensor since the symptoms I was describing matched a flame sensor that doesn't work. Following her guidance, I located it and "cleaned" it. At the time I noted that it didn't look dirty at all but....I don't know how fast they get dirty so I didn't know what to think about that. Also, since the system was just installed in Sept '10, I figured maybe it hadn't had enough use to get dirty? Well, I was right on that last part. We had a technician out today and it wasn't hooked up right so there is no way the system has EVER run. Seriously. An HVAC employee who doesn't know how to install a furnace in his own home correctly? I need to find out the name of the company he works for and make sure I never inadvertently call them out here. Sheesh. So after paying for a service call, we now have a furnace that runs. I guess last winter was so mild that they heated solely with the heat pump and the fireplace - maybe they never even knew the furnace didn't work?

The other thing about this that has me hopping mad is we paid for an inspector to do a "thorough" inspection of the place but he didn't notice the furnace didn't work? What were we paying him for anyway? I always worry about this. Our first home inspector was like that, I don't know what he inspected but he missed a lot. Now I follow the inspector around everywhere and ask nine million stupid questions in hopes that they won't miss anything!

So the furnace has kept me busy but my car has also had me away for a few hours. I came out of the grocery store yesterday to find a tire so flat the wheel was sitting on its rim. I went to put the donut on, only to find that since I've never had to use it in the 8 years I've had the car, it was flat too. Sigh. Luckily the grocery store has a gas station in the parking lot and the gas station had air so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I was able to pump up the donut and put it on the car. Today I was already scheduled to get the oil changed so I just added on a tire repair, and said as long as you're at it, go ahead and rotate the tires. Its probably a good thing I did, as they found the front brakes were practically metal on metal so I had to replace the brakes as well. So a simply 30-minute oil change turned into 3 hours and a $300 bill. Oh well, in the 8 years I've had the car, all I've done is oil changes and tires, so I guess it was due a little TLC.
I hate taking cars into the shop, that always happens!

Josie, I thought I'd update you on the Silchins. Now that they've matured a little - I guess they are like 10 weeks old now? - I can tell they are split 50/50 on gender. The one you thought was a Mille Fleur is gorgeous and I'm so happy she's one of the girls. Being a creative pet namer, I've named her Millie. LOL - 'nuff said. Big Blue is also a girl and one of the little splashes that is almost white is a girl and has a very pretty face - I really like her. The boys, well, you warned me the Silchin boys have 'tude and you weren't wrong. There is another almost white splash, almost identical to the girl and the other day when I was carrying him to the chick pen, he just reached out, grabbed a pinch of my skin with his beak and didn't let go until we arrived. It was like "Put me down. I'm warning you. I'm not letting go your skin until you PUT ME DOWN". All the boys peck as I reach to pick them up almost every time - I've never had chicks like this before! They really just make me laugh though as they are such tiny little bundles of fluff and if I didn't see the pecks, I'd never know they happened, they hurt so little. I'm so excited for spring and all of my new "incubators".

Oh so glad the mille fleur is going to be a girl! I was really hoping, I love my mille fleur cochins. I imagine she must be 3/4 cochin and 1/4 silkie. I think the silchin boys get their attitude from the black silkie hen. She is the naughtiest little thing and screams and fights like the dickens if you pick her up! It must be hereditary and only passed to the boys! Sorry they are so rotten, it doesn't seem to matter how they are raised either, hands off, hands on. They always wind up being little turds! None of my purebred cochin boys are like that so I am thinking it must come from that silkie hen! She did survive a cooper hawk attack though because of her attitude so that is one plus!


Well we heard back on the house. Not the best news. The seller couldn't come down on the price anymore so I guess we are buying it at her first counter offer price. But if all goes well with the home inspection we are on our way to being residents in rural Towanda! I am pretty excited to get everyone moved and to have a nursery for the baby! Just want to get going on it but you know how that goes. All the paperwork and stuff.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Wow, thank you so much for this. I've been reading a bit of that thread about the lice, mites etc., when I have a spare minute or two and had meant to check out the thread on fermenting feeds but don't seem to have enough time to focus on research these days. I really appreciate you simplifying it down here for us, and especially the tip on the ACV.

I've been a bit MIA the past couple of days. Every time I tried to read and get caught up, I got called away again so I'll keep any updates short.

Ned displayed this morning!!! Its the first time since his illness so I was really excited to see it.

Our furnace is working again.

My barn isn't heated, does the fermenting work in these cold temps? I sure don't want to bring feed in the house to get it warm enough to ferment. I sprout wheat in the house in the winter. I have a basement window that allows light in just right, but there's no smell.

Glad to hear NED is displaying, he must be doing much better!

Glad your furnace is running! That's a very efficient furnace & should be much cheaper to run on propane than running it on electric heat all winter. The savings on electric bill should help offset the cost of calling out a tech, glad you got a tech that knew how to install it correctly.

 

[medawinks]

Thanks all, very much!! In a rush to get the day going at home and here, but little Miss will be fine I am sure. She has good docs and the best attitude possible She is a trooper!


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[HEChicken]

Glad your furnace is running! That's a very efficient furnace & should be much cheaper to run on propane than running it on electric heat all winter. The savings on electric bill should help offset the cost of calling out a tech, glad you got a tech that knew how to install it correctly.

Thanks! I'm sure you're right and we'll be happy with it now its working.

Thanks all, very much!! In a rush to get the day going at home and here, but little Miss will be fine I am sure. She has good docs and the best attitude possible She is a trooper!

So sorry that Sera is ill - hopefully this will be short-lived and then they can reschedule her surgery.

Tweety - so glad you are finally feeling better!

 

[chicken danz]

Medawinks I hope S gets well soon! It's unfortunate that you have to postpone the surgery but getting her well is the most important thing. What rotten luck. She is such an inspiration; anytime I start a self pity, I think of that big smile and the obstacles she has faced and has to face in the future. What a precious gift she is.
I have a hatcher full of ducks this morning. I need to find another chick waterer and get these guys moved to the duck shelter. I think I counted about 25 viable eggs and they might have all hatched. I can't see for sure through the door. I think I have another smaller batch to go in the hatcher Friday and one more right after Thanksgiving. These are all for my duck buyer. I can't figure out where my pekins are laying. They were laying in the old garage until I closed in the pen outside of it and I haven't found an egg from them since. I think somewhere around here there's probably a big pile of frozen eggs.
I was struck with terror last night when I realized it's only one week until Thanksgiving. I was thinking it was two. I have really got to get my act together some how. I still need to get pens up and separate chickens for my buyer on Friday too. I have a few more of them to catch too that are still free to roam in the mornings. I am either tons slower or I have definitely over estimated how much I can get done in a day. Probably both!
I have a big pot of older locker meat and rice cooking that I'll add pumpkin to later. The dogs will have a feast this evening.

 

[pikeman94]

First and foremost we need your prayers. Talked to Medawinks, and as you might remember her daughter was supposed to have surgery tomorrow. Surgery isn't going to happen cause little S has pneumonia. It breaks my heart this little girl has to go through so much and she is such a beautiful soul. She never even complained or coughed. She just got sick.
I spent hours cutting up and preparing pumpkin today and feeding the seeds and stuff to the birds. Well I cooked a ton of it and I don't even think it is worth eating. It has very little flavor and it is pale in color. I am sure the pumpkins were ripe but maybe it was the kind they were. I think they were called Jacko-lantern. Maybe that type is grown for decoration rather than eating. It was an awful lot of work for something I don't even know if I can use. I thought about trying to make some thing with it to test it but I hate to waste the other ingredients if it isn't going to be any good.
Anyone else ever try doing home grown pumpkin before? I made fresh pumpkin pies years ago but it seems like they had lots of flavor when I got them cooked. I didn't get hardly anything done today I intended. I spent at least 2 hours cutting up the stupid pumpkin and getting it ready to cook.

Idk, but maybe the bigger they get the less flavor they have. I am getting ready to use a small pumpkin for some Pumpkin Ale. Most brewers specifically mention using the 3 lbs variety.

 

[sharol]

Congrats on the house. As long as you don't pay more than it is REALLY worth, you will be OK. There is always a trade off between what one wants to pay and what something is worth in resale.

We bought our berm house in 2005 when my DH and I got married (in our late 50's). It was a disaster. It hadn't had any cosmetic work since it was built in 1986. The outside looked like a wrecked trailer house had been robbed of its siding (everyone called it the "ugly white underground house on hwy 99") and the inside was all paneling (dark -- not ugly exactly, but dark and busy). The carpet was 20 years old and looked it. We thought we bought it worth the money on 14 acres, and then we put another 50,000 in it to build an elaborate fence, reface the outside (with cedar and stone) and redo all the popcorn ceilings and the floors and finish the sheetrock for painting. That included an attached garage added and 2 bathrooms and a kitchen completely redone, so we didn't feel like we overspent (and, honestly, didn't really care at the time). We put down cork floors in part of the house and a combination of porcelain tile and tumbled slate in the rest and invested (not an overstatement) in granite counters in the kitchen. It took almost 4 years to get everything done, but the wait was worth it.

I don't suppose we will get out of it what we have in it, but it suits us down to the ground. Our goal was to have a place to grow old together, and that is what we have. It is all on one level without a stair anywhere to be seen. We heat with a small, catalytic Earth Stove, so our heating bills are very small, and because we are earth sheltered on 3 sides and the roof, our cooling bills aren't bad either (this summer we got over $200 one month for a record high for us. We are all electric, so gas isn't an option, but that isn't a problem at this point.

I will keep my fingers crossed on the inspection. Enjoy your new home and make it your own over time. You will forget the initial price before you know it.

Well we heard back on the house. Not the best news. The seller couldn't come down on the price anymore so I guess we are buying it at her first counter offer price. But if all goes well with the home inspection we are on our way to being residents in rural Towanda! I am pretty excited to get everyone moved and to have a nursery for the baby! Just want to get going on it but you know how that goes. All the paperwork and stuff.

 

[mommahen10]

Yesterday we went to Pittsburg to deliver some eggs for a lady to hatch at a school. I'll get the chicks when they hatch. We stopped at the Verizon store to talk to them about releasing my dd's number so she can use her number on her new plan with her dh. It was a huge ordeal, we were in there and the guy was on the phone with Verizon for probably 30-45 minutes. I was sitting on the floor playing with the little ones just trying to keep things settled because it always takes so long there. For some reason, it will cost $54 for her to keep her number. What I don't understand is that had she taken her number to another company it wouldn't have cost anything to keep her number. The man at the store was getting frustrated with the guy on the phone and he finally just told him that he was going to let him talk to my husband and explain everything because none of it was making sense. My husband wasn't on the phone with him long, he's not the most patient person anyway. He said that the man on the phone was very rude and he wasn't interested in anything other than finding a way to charge him. It makes me wonder if they work on commission too. My dh was already sick of waiting and doing nothing and when they guy got rude on the phone, he dished it right back to him. I heard him say something to the effect that if this is how they are going to reward their loyal customers (12 years) then we will be making plans to shut off our phones and take our business elsewhere. It's not the first issue we've had with them so it didn't take much to push my dh over the edge anyway. So, we left the store and went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, another story in itself, and my phone wasn't working in the store. I thought it was just the store, but it wasn't. That guy on the phone disconnected my phone, shut it off completely. GRRRR, I was relying on that to stay in contant with my kids. We went from Pittsburg, then home to unload groceries, then to Iola to go to the store again. We did get my phone turned back on, and they are offering me another $100 of a smart phone as a compensation for the trouble. I'm so tempted, it would be more convenient, but I don't want to be tied to them for another 2 years when we've had so much trouble. At the same time, my phone is going on 3 years and is messing up and I don't want to wait until it dies to do something. We never did get my daughter her number back, and now that won't be happening. It was a very long day, and I was so tired last night I couldn't even get through all of the posts so I saved it to finish this morning.

Grocery shopping, we went to Dillon's in Pittsburg. I felt so lost in a grocery store, we just don't have real stores and even at that I'm not normally the one who goes. I told my dh that he was going to have to bear with me because I felt like I didn't know what I was doing. We got some things, and we got a discount to use for gas and it ended up being less than $3 per gallon for gas. I was happy about that. But, when I got home my dd told me that she could have got me a better deal on the ham and turkey. I should always consult her before buying groceries, she works at the little Save A Lot and she stays up on everyone's prices in town. I should just hand her the grocery money and let her do it.

maidenewolf, that's show my kids are with the sweet potato fries. I can't keep cooking them fast enough. The royal palm is pretty too, is he the mean one? He kinda has a mad face.

I'm so sorry Josie, that's just too much. I don't like adding anything to the schedule at Christmas time because it's already stressful enough as it is.

Oh COOP Group! That's terrible! Is there anything you can do to change the restrictions?

Wow! I've never had roosters get that aggressive, even when we had other roosters in our big layer coop there was only one of the young ones I even saw trying to get to the ladies, the others hung out to themselves. They are all in the boy pen now. What about processing them and then leaving the in the freezer for a while. We ate one that had a name last week, I had to tell the boys not to refer to it by it's name anymore, I needed it to be just a chicken. I had a harder time than the kids.

Hawkeye, I caught on that the Silkies skin was black but the meat is black too?????? How could you disguise it?

Thanks for the info Karen, I will difinitely check that out. I'm glad to hear that you are doing better, that must have been one heck of a bug.

Danz, I'm so sorry about your pumpkin. We've eaten those before, I just stick with the smaller ones. They don't have as much flavor, but they do have more flavor when you add to them. Pecan pie for the chickens?????? It would never get that far around here. I bought the big bag of pecans from Sam's and I just found that they are nearly gone. How am I going to make the pecan pie for Thanksgiving? That's so sweet that you cook for the dogs. I don't even know what to say about the cost of insurance going up. I don't know how anyone retired is going to survive. How are you supposed to live on a set amount that was determined before this extreme inflation of everything. Everything is going up and so fast. I bought a block of cheese at Walmart for $15 last month and I tried to buy the same one and it's over $18 now. I bought dewormer medicine for the dog at Orcheln's about 6 months ago and it was under $10, now it's $16. I mean really, everything is going up so rapidly the changes that are sure to come for everyone is a bit scary. I'm sorry that you are having to deal with the insurance hikes, but it's really not just that. It scares me and we're all going to be in your position at some point dealing with Medicare. What's corid?

Goodness HEChicken, you have been raked through the coals with the repairs. I'm glad to hear that you got everything fixed and running again.

Tweety, I hope and pray that you feel better much longer than a week this time.

Medawinks, I'm so sorry to hear that she is sick and her surgery will be delayed. That's a bummer. I hope she has a speedy recovery.

Hi Lori!

If you have a bad rooster that means they will always be bad? I thought that if they were put in a different environment they could change. Like if there wasn't so much boy competition.

If anyone is interested, Harvesters is Saturday. I don't go, sometimes my dh goes and meets his parents there so please call and get the info. I'd hate for someone to travel and not have what they need. I don't know how it all works.

 

[chicken danz]

OH I forgot. Congrats on the house Josie! I am so happy for you! What's a little money anyway???

When do you think you will close on it? I can't wait to see pictures. I have some cages you could use to transport some birds if you need them. You could just return them when you are coming back up to get more stuff or something. Just thought I'd mention that.
Mammahen, no the pecan pie is for my kids... the chickens won't ever get anything that pricy to make unless it goes bad for some reason.

I buy my pecans from Sam's as well. It's the cheapest place but the last time I priced them I almost fell over. Unbelievable! I really need to make a trip up there soon cause we are getting low on many of our staples.
I got the vacuum sealer I ordered yesterday. Just now opened the box. More instructions to read. I hate reading instructions!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Mommahen- You can take a rooster who was a problem for one person and he could be the sweetest thing in another flock. Sometimes it changes and sometimes not. I guess it would depend on if the other person would want to try to calm him down, I had a squirley roo I adopted who got put in check by by ever mighty sebrite Blaze and now he is quiet and loves attention. So who knows but the changes I think are greater that he may not settle down so quick. The palm is a palm/chocolate mix, but a mix I love I call them tri colors, I have a female to match him and wanted to breed them iin spring. When there are too many males they fight terribly. It is worse than chickens because with turkeys they are violent and crash into things, no one backs down they mean business. Seperate they are fine or even just 2 males are fine. They will always have small scuffles but not as intense or as often. He is a good boy too who loves attention. He followed me around this morning as I was making my rounds and when I would stop he would display harder and drum.


Tweety- I am jumping for joy that you are progressing.

So my dd made an xmas list and of course clothes and shoes and a few toys were on there and also, chickens-- no boys- mille fleur duccle just like my sunshine and a girl cochin just like beast. She asked if santa could bring chickens lol.. Now the hunt is on. Oh and DH said uh no chickens dont you have enough and she said yes but since sunshine died katana is all alone and needs a friend and beast is pretty and needs a girlfriend lol.