Kentucky people

[shelleyd2008]

Hey Cindy, here's Duchess...

Not a good pic, but she is very skittish. She is filthy dirty right now from her stint in dad's chickens' house.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
Coolness on Charlie's baby

he sounds interesting looking. You know, George's first baby was mostly white with some black on her - weird, eh?

Sorry to hear about the horrible hatch - my other eggs weren't any good either. But I have 8 babies (out of 50 eggs - not a good %

but at least I got me some cochins.)

Can't wait to see pics of your babies.

I have the incubator all cleaned up and ready to go again

I'm thinking I may need either a hatcher or another incubator

I simply cannot do the 21 day thing. I need to start staggering hatches so I can get my fix sooner - Plus, Cindy said she was bringing some cochin eggs, and I got the orp eggs coming - I have to do something about that.

Like I said, I have the styro cooler, I think I'm gonna try to make a hatcher. Plus, it'll keep my incubator cleaner (it was so icky this morning to clean

) Making one will be cheaper than buying another bator (especially since Hubby has no idea how much 4 flock blocks are gonna cost me on wednesday

he'd have a fit if he knew)
I can get a lamp kit cheap, and then all I'll need is the wire for the cage on the bottom. Jon probably has two fans I can get from him.

All I know is that I'm hooked on the incubating thing.

Hubby doesn't know what he got himself into buying me that bator. I guess it's a good thing I got my own hatching room where I can shut the door and he doesn't have to hear or see all those babies.

Now if I could just set up my computer in there, I'd be all set

He likes the little babies, though, he comes in to check on them once a day at least. I'll turn him into a "chicken man" before he knows it.

ETA I talked to spydertoys (over in edmonton) and she has large cochins - I'm gonna get some eggs from her in the spring when hers begin to lay and try the large cochins again then.

meri

I have a water heater thermostat I bought for mine, never even opened it. I paid $8 for it at Lowe's, if you want it instead of looking for one. I use a light dimmer switch in mine. With the heat running it keeps temps pretty good. Just some ideas.

Yeah, sounds good, I'll come out after it maybe wednesday when I go intot own to get the flock blocks (it might not be wednesday, but it'll be this week, I'll call ya first).

My mom is coming down saturday - so I'll be busy for a couple of weeks with her and Budd here.

which means I have to do what running I have to get done this week.

Thanks!!

meri

 

[cthrash1]

Meri
AHA!!! I knew you'd be needing a hatcher soon!!

Looksee what I just bought, This is the only big thing other than repairing my vehicles that I did for myself with my settlement money, course now I'm having buyers remorse, but you can't cancel an Ebay purchase

...The rest goes to paying medical bills and saving for next years taxes cause I'm sure it's gonna come back to bite us because of the settlement. Taxes are high enough as it is without the added income.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=350102241048

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
Now ya just need a cabinet bator

Nice brooder, btw.

I have no idea what a nightmare my taxes are gonna be this year. I don't even want to think about it.

btw - I would have answered this last night, but BYC didn't like me last night - tried to post three times, kept spinnign and no post.

happy it fixed itself today.

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Heya all -

Well, I went to Shelley's today, got the thermostat, so I believe I have everything I need to make the hatcher.

I stopped by Day & Day and got the flock blocks, too -

the only ones who are doign anythign with them are the spitzhaubens (I figured - they aren't afraid of anything). The others (the layers and the cochins) are just walking around looking at them like they're gonna jump up and bite them.

I got one for the banty coop, but I didn't put it int here, yet. I'm afraid I may have to cull the entire coop, and I don't want the flock block contaminated.

Double (one of the birchen oegb pullets) had a swollen face today

It's been two weeks since the last sickie, I was hoping I had missed the bullet - I guess not. On the other hand - rudy and diva are in the other coop - and no one down there is sick, so I don't think it came in with them. So far no chickens in the lower coop have gotten sick, (except James, and I got him out immediately) and none are sick now, so I am thinking perhaps I saved that coop (I hope).

Even James didn't have the swollen sinuses, he just had a snotty nose a little - and not even that bad at all, until I moved him to the banty coop to seperate him. That was when he got more sick. Maybe he had a simple snotty nose from dust and such, and moving him got him sick with whatever is killing the banties? It is very dusty down in the pasture where the other coop is.

I'm bummed, anyway, to think I'll have to cull the entire coop - but I can't introduce any new birds if they are carriers. Plus, I don't want it to spread to the other coop, and Obviously the disease, whatever it is, is still there. (that means the btw japs have to go

they are so pretty!!! I'm really bummed about it)

I'll have to clean it top to bottom and disinfect with bleach (I can't afford oxine - the price of that stuff is ridiculous!!)

On a lighter note - the buff orp eggs arrived today, all in good shape, a little cold, but packaged well, so maybe they were insulated enough not to make them too cold. I have 14 of them, and I'm hoping to have a better hatch rate this time.

I've been looking at possible Delawares to breed with them as meaties - I like how the delies look, too. They are harder to find, though, than the rocks. I'll throw in some rocks, too, of course, any early maturing dual purpose bird is fair game in my meat bird experiment. Maybe a mix of the three will produce what I want. (and it'll make a pretty flock, too).

Hubby ticked me off today - but I let him know it fast, and he backed off. Here's the deal - he's always complaing we need to stop spending so much money, and I agree, but when we need soemthing, it's not the same. So, I have this hoodie I use for a jacket outside, and I had told him when I got it I wa gonna buy a vest for it when I foudn oen I liked - so I did. (the only other coat I have is a full length leather trench coat - very cool coat, but not suited for farm work

)

So today he looks at me (I've bene wearing the vest for two days, he didn't say a word) and he says "so ya bought a vest, hunh? been shopping a lot lately." I said "well, I needed something more than a hoodie. I can take it back if ya want, though, instead of us going to the tractor place to get your parts for the tractor that you don't need to run it." (all he was buying was parts to make the dash lights work, the fuel guage, etc... it runs, just doesn't have guages)

He shut up about it after that.

THEN !!!!.... he says (after we get home) "I didn't know you bought more eggs". I said "I told you I bought more eggs, two or three times, I even told you this morning to keep an eye out for the mailman while I was gone."

He can't afford to complain about my spending when he is worse than I am.

Anyway... gonna go make dinner, I guess. He'll be over it by tomorrow morning, and if not, well then he can go sleep with his donkeys.

ETA - there's a lot of typos in this post, and I don't care

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Ok, was I complaining too much about no access to cochins?????

http://bgky.craigslist.org/grd/925021149.html

I am soooo tempted to call this place. They are in Edmonton - 12 miles form me. That columbian roo is gorgeous!!!

I wish I knew what the deal was with this sickness - if I had a clean flock, I'd go buy them tonight.

She has both bantam and large cochins. (even has a blue pullet in there).

7 dollars each!!!!

stop me.....

meri

 

[cthrash1]

Meri, I'm so sorry you have another sicky, now's the time to try that Tylan and see if it helps at all for this illness. Just treat them all at once in that coop. If you do a gallon a day you should have enough there for 5 days which the directions states is the maximum length. If worse comes to worse and you have to cull I have a bottle of oxine not the gallon but the smaller one you can use some of it to spray down your coop with after you clean it. I keep a mix in a spray bottle and mist the coop and over the chickens at night about once a week. And I also bought some turmeric powder...you mix a small amount equivalent to 1%, I think it is, in their feed and it builds up their immunity. Hope your baby girl get well quickly.

On a much lighter note, will be bringing your other chickies next week on my way down to my moms if you don't mind me stopping on my way through Thursday. Then I'll stop again on my way home with some Cochin eggs. There will be 12+... Might have you meet me that leg at the gas station there by the parkway if this is okay.

I'll be sending healing vibes your way... Get some sleep, Cindy

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I can't find the tylan you gave me

I don't know if I had it in my pocket and it fell out, or what - do you remember what I did with it when you showed it to me? (or did you accidently put it back in your bag?

) Did I take it into the house even? I know it was in a pill bottle, and I remember you telling me how much to use, but I don't remember taking it out of your hand, even. My brain is just so fried the last two weeks - unbelievably stoopid, aint it? OH! maybe it's in the bag the pads were in, I didn't check there.... just a sec....

Ok, found it

now, how much is it per gallon again? 1 tsp?
(see, told ya I was losing it

)

That'll be cool about stopping, and yeah, I can meet ya in town, just call me when your getting close and I'll meet you there. It takes me about 12-15 minutes to drive in.

Ok, I've been so spacey lately - tell me again how old the other two are? And how old are these ones, and what are they?

I'm hopeless lately. (and the holidays are just starting - I'll be a basket case by Christmas.)

I was wondering if putting the bleach water (or oxine) into that room humidifier and then shutting the coop up and misting the whole place would help or if that would even do the job properly (not the bleach on the chickens, of course, I meant if I had to cull). I also have hubby's weed sprayer (big jug with a sprayer end on it - he uses it to put wood sealer on the buildings.)

btw, where did you find a smaller bottle of it? All I've seen is gallons and it starts at 51 bucks (cheapest place I found it) and goes up from there (not including shipping).

Oh, btw, what time thursday? I want to make sure I'm out of bed

, I know you other folks are early risers

.

Of course, being as it is Thanksgiving, I'll probably be up early anyway. Although I'm gonna try to do as much as possible before that day happens, and just do the turkey and veggies then if I can.

Emeril made this great twice baked potatoe stuff, might try that - it has cheese, onions and bacon in it. You can do it all up before-hand, then just put it back into the oven in a casserole dish the day ya want it cooked the last time. (I love watching Food Network

)

That reminds me, I may have to grab another small waterer

I got another today for the BR and Jap, since I have two cages of babies - but if I got more coming, unless they are similar in size to the newbies, I'll need to put them into another cage. Not that I mind

I just want to be prepared. I'll be putting the orp eggs into the bator tomorrow, and I'll have the hatcher done by the time they need to go into it. (yaaayyyy, now I can do staggered hatches!!)
We'd have had it done tonight, but hubby needs some stuff that is up at the barn, and I'm not going up there to search for it in the dark (the milk barn up by the road, not the horse barn). I also need the wire snips - and those are out in the shed - it'll wait til tomorrow - I have almost three weeks to get it done, and it'll only take a couple of hours to finish it up (then test it for a day or two).

And - no one has bought those other cochins eggs, but I really can't - not after arguing money with hubby tonight

. Besides, I'll have plenty of babies to play with once the orps and banty cochins hatch. Poor hubby is gonna have chickens in the house until spring. Oh well, he'll live.

I did call on the cochins in Edmonton - but got the answering service and they didn't call back, so maybe someone else got them before me (lucky, actually, I said no more strange chickens - but I'm so weak.)

I need to figure out what to do with the bachelors before I can use their coop for babies. If they had their way I'd just turn them out to run all over - (well, Hoss enjoys his heat lamp, he'd probably not like it much

) I can try putting them in with the cochins, I guess, if the spitzs will be nice to them. I'm amazed they like Hoss so much, because they really don't care for the other chickens. Maybe it's cause Hoss was so nice to them when they first got let out of the brooder cage in the main coop. They've been hanging with Hoss from the time they all got out together.

I was gonna go to bed about an hour ago.... Man am I rambling....

I better go to bed and read this over again tomorrow morning....

Peace -
Meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Nice day out today!!!! Woohoo !! not freezing !!!!

I let the spitzs and Hoss out today to run around.

- they are currently circling the lower coop, scratching and trying to avoid those nasty guineas. They haven't travelled very far from "home" at all, just exploring in the safer areas. They are so funny looking, bobbing and weaving among the weeds grown up behind the coop - getting their top feathers stuck in the wild rose bush... (ouch).... Well, ya gotta learn somehow, I guess

.

I am trying to regulate the dang bator, so I can put those orp eggs in, but hubby forgot to turn the furnace back on last night, so when it came on (when I turned it on) this morning it ran and ran - so the temp keeps spiking to 104 in the bator. They can sit on the shelf a day longer, if necesary, though.

Little explanation ....

the furnace was off because hubby was running the woodstove, and for some reason he turned off the furnace - I've told him not to do this, as he always forgets to turn it back on... but, well you know.... The temp in the brooder room was 75 even without the furnace running, because of all the heat lamps, so maybe I need to close off that vent partially so the full furnace doesn't get into the room.

HOWEVER.... the temp in my bathroom when I got out of my nice lovely warm bed this morning to go get dressed was not quite so warm as 75 degrees.

My dogs are being ignorant today, barking at everything that moves out there. (I go out to look and I can see absolutely nothing) I think they know something is up (Grandma is coming). How do dogs always sense that sort of thing? ... it's like they are out there looking for her

she isn't due til saturday evening.

They get company, too, mom's dogs are coming along.

Oh, just had a thought - her dogs might chase my free rangers.... hhmmmmmm..... I may have to lock them up while she's here. They're not gonna like that at all. Mom has those little yappy butt dogs - a dashound and a nonsense.

No chickens or guineas were out the last time they came down - the guineas hadn't gone out of the coop yet then. Maybe I'll see how they do on the guineas, and then decide if the chickens should come out - of course, the chickens don't know enough to be afraid of dogs (stoopid chickens) because they walk all over my dogs and mine just ignore them.

Bummer for the chickies, I guess it's hen jail for a couple of weeks.
I'm gonna miss my morning routine with them following me around, waiting til I'm done so I can give them their daily treats. It'll be like sending your kid to summer camp - not knowing how to do your routine while they're gone, having too much time on your hands, and wondering why ya can't just enjoy the peace and quiet

Oh, but Miss Celie won't go into the coop - I may have to catch her and put her in. hhmmmm gonna be an interesting two weeks, methinks.

Well, better go check on the boys again, make sure the guineas don't have them held captive somewhere.

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:

I had Miss Celie in the coop the one night (that I put her in) and then she went right back out to roost on her pile of wood.

I've discovered just how stoopid the spitzs are

. They are all walking around, jumping at everything (because their top feathers on two of them hang over at least one eye, and they scare themselves). Two of the hens came over for treats by them, and instead of doing the manly thing, they chased them off.

I have housework to do, too - I've been trying to ignore it, but it isn't going away.

The bator is now holding pretty well, I shut down the vent in the room. Room temp is 81 and the bator temp is 100 with 35% hum.
I had to take all the water out of the bator, too, to get it low enough. Wish it would make up it's mind if it wants to be high hum or low hum. Room hum is normal, about 31%. With water in the bator the hum inside was running about 51%.

Well, guess I ought to go do dishes

meri