Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

Danz-- I know some people may buy them for food and if that is the birds destiny then so be it. For now I am trying to work out a solution because I promised my kids. If it does not work I will post pics and info on who needs a home...... or dinner table... to call his own.
I always feel terrible when people take from their pockets to help me, but I accept it for my kids. I want to pay back people who have helped me and give to people like myself who struggle to survive. I know you understand how that feels. I am in a terrible situation right now and falling deeper in a hole. I wasnt able to buy groceries last week and cant until friday. I wont have much to spend on food, but hopefully enough to get us thru. It is depressing and it hurts. It is pretty hard but I have to force myself to be strong for my kids. I cant wait until I have chickens that I can butcher.

 

[sarajoy]

Oh MaidenWolf, so sorry to hear about your two little ones... that is so hard.... Sara

 

[sarajoy]

So sorry for your loss Candace... I don't "know" you yet, but I know the pain of loss... Sara

 

[sarajoy]

Mommahen - when we lived in town in Pittsburg, I was out strolling in the golf course (just west of our trailer court) and saw a mid-size critter - bigger than a monkey, smaller than an ape, also out for a stroll!! It was shocking. i didn't stick around long enough to get a better view. Ran home and called the police. Turned out it was escaped from a traveling children's zoo that had been in a nearby park. Don't remember what it was. It sure scared me!! Sara

<Lizzy, I can't imagine seeing a monkey out on it's own around here. That's crazy.>

 

[chicken danz]

Danz-- I know some people may buy them for food and if that is the birds destiny then so be it. For now I am trying to work out a solution because I promised my kids. If it does not work I will post pics and info on who needs a home...... or dinner table... to call his own.
I always feel terrible when people take from their pockets to help me, but I accept it for my kids. I want to pay back people who have helped me and give to people like myself who struggle to survive. I know you understand how that feels. I am in a terrible situation right now and falling deeper in a hole. I wasnt able to buy groceries last week and cant until friday. I wont have much to spend on food, but hopefully enough to get us thru. It is depressing and it hurts. It is pretty hard but I have to force myself to be strong for my kids. I cant wait until I have chickens that I can butcher.

I know the fear of not being able to feed one's kids. My kids and I lived on eggs and cheese for months once. Cheese was cheap back then and I had a sister who gave me eggs. Otherwise the kids would have had nothing to eat. Another time I only had $2 to buy food for the week. There was a sale on chicken noodle soup, 5 cans for a dollar, so I bought all I could and that is what my kids got to eat for that week. Luckily I only had two of them back then. The list goes on. I am so grateful to have food to eat and a place to live. I wish I was rich and could give you and your family all of your needs and desires.

I went out and took some pictures just for fun.
Here is a pick of my Sabastopols. Love these goosies!

Here are some pictures of my white peafowl, the one that has been raised as a pet.


Here is a picture of my four new ones.

 

[cherwill]

Candace, I'm so sorry for your loss. Life seems to make no sense sometimes. My parents lost a 2 yo son -- hit by a speeding driver -- and I know there's nothing anyone can say to make it better or make it make sense. All you can do is remember what a gift he was. If there's anything we can do, anything you need, please ask.

 

[JosieChick]

Thank you, we were at the sheriff office, picked up his personal effects. Makes no sense.
I thought about here last night - know there are people in different areas of KS here.
Depending on the paper the story was in, facts are messed up, he was just crossing a road, they are just trying to find out who/what. The person had to have been somehow inhibited, texting, drinking, night blind, they didn't stop or swerve or apply the break at all.

Candace- I am so deeply sorry for your loss. I hope that who ever did this finds it in their heart to come forward and give you some kind of closure. My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Danz- thank you you are really kind. I am thankful that I can get some things for them to eat. We get thru it a day at a time and are thankful for the little things that hold us together. You are such a kind and thoughtful woman, I am lucky to be able to call you a friend.
Your geese and peafowl are beautiful.

 

[JosieChick]

I know how hard it is with turkeys. I have a "meat" turkey running, or more like waddling, around out there that should have been butchered months ago but I just can' bear to do it. He is so friendly and sweet I just can't ever imagine eating him. Turkeys have a way of weasling into your heart....

They are personable. If I go outside and yell "turk turk turk turkey" (that is my call for them lol) they come running as fast as they can. I bought them originally with the intent of breeding "dinner" next year. I know it will be hard but such is life and I will have to muscle thru it. I started the whole chicken operation to feed my family,I also knew I loved chickens from working with them on my gma's farm every weekend and summer growing up and I wanted to teach my kids this experience. It is important to me for them to learn how to raise their own food. My DH hunts and so do I (time permitting) so they know were it comes from because we process our own game. But to raise it from start to finish is something I want them to experience also. I also have alot of people that help me finiancially and with food and I will never be able to repay the money but I can give fresh eggs and fresh chicken to say thank you. I plan on passing along some eggs and meat to a local family or 2 that may need help as well. There are so many ways raising these animals can help. Some are pets, some serve as sentrys to incoming predators, some give life sustaining meat, some are so beautiful they win awards for their owners and others live soley to give eggs. They are amazing creatures and certainly makes it hard to serve them on a platter..

You could always list them as pet only. I am sure you could find good homes. I sold all four of my royal palm turkeys to a good pet home.

My orps are all large fowl. In fact my imported english orp boy is getting ENORMOUS! He went through this ugly duckling stage where I thought, oh my, what did I blow my money on but now he is starting to fill in and looks pretty good!

The red star project would be a good place to start playing with a breeding program and seeing if you like it. Plus the market up here is always looking for layer/butcher birds so they chicks would be very sale able along with started birds. Plus, if she likes it she could always pick another breed/color to work on too. Most of the purebred birds are not going to bring much money unless you can mass produce a really nice heritage breed chick. I see people in the spring selling buff orp, RIR, barred rock etc chicks straight run but a lot of people don't know the difference between a hatchery bird and a heritage bird so they don't understand the price difference. If you want to have fun and make some $$$ I would try the red stars out and see how you do selling them.

I am sure people would line up to buy any of your turkeys but you have to keep in mind they might be eaten. I hope it works out for you. I for one would love to find a butcher turkey since I sold my excess Toms as breeders. I couldn't eat mine either. Some people would really buy them for pets though.
Thanks Josie for answering those questions. I know you can explain it all better than I. I understand, but sometimes to explain it I have problems.
Josie, are your Lavender orp roos LF or bantam? I wasn't sure since I know you have several bantams. Mine are LF. If you have some to donate that are ready by all means do so.
Mammahen, The white rocks and the New Hamps is a simple breeding project with a means to easily produce meat and egg birds. The red stars that result are color sexed and it makes it a satisfactory project. You need to use the white rock pullets and red Hampshire roos to get the right combination. The result is the opposite. The reddish chicks are the pullets and the white chicks are the cockerels. I think this is an excellent place to start a breeding project myself. You end up with egg layers that you can keep or sell as pure bred sex linked chicks. You end up with cockerels that you can cull, sell as meat birds, or raise yourself for meat.
You should get up to 3 years of breeding from the same birds easily and that is a lot of chicks you can produce over a period of time. It sure beats paying $3 or so a piece for chicks that someone else produced. I also believe with grain price increases the cost of chicks will raise this spring....as well as the feed too. So being able to raise or sell your own is profitable.
Yes hatchery birds are fine for this project. You aren't breeding for show.
You can try color breeding and more long term multi generation projects but you have to have a goal in mind and study the genetics. It can be quite costly.
For instance with the Aloha project you could buy 25 of several types of chicks. Not cheap. Breed those, cull the undesirables, then breed those to yet a few more kinds of chicks. It could take years to perfect to what you want and countless expense. I have to admire Karen for sticking with it and investing all the time and money she has. She has produced beautiful birds but it is an ongoing project.
The same applies with simple color breeding. If you want to produce a particular color it can take several generations and you always want to have several birds and genetics to choose from to get the desired outcome. It makes it a lot easier if the colors you are seeking are in the same breed or have similar characteristics to get back to the SOP in the resulting bird.
HeChicken, I just thought breeding Red Stars was an excellent place to start that wouldn't take a huge amount of investment. Also any resulting offspring beyond the original red stars wouldn't necessarily be color sexed but they should still be good layers. I have some red star X brahmas that I think will be excellent dual purpose birds. I don't market them as pure breds. I just plan to use them as brown egg layers.

The silver laced Wyandotte lays a brown egg of a decent size.

I heard that he was hit in Manhattan. Was that something incorrect on the news as well? Candace my heart goes out to you and Kelsey. I've been praying that the person that did this has conviction in his/her heart and will come forward. It angers me so that someone could have been so preoccupied with whatever else, that they could hit a human being and not even notice them. And worse yet that they could just go on and leave. I am so sorry for your loss. May you find peace knowing that his life touched so many people.

That is very noble of you. I love to hear when people who have little are still willing to give to others.

I have more chicks to take out of the hatcher this morning. Some more Marans and barred rocks. These birds are all 4th generation off- spring in color breeding programs to produce blue barred rocks and blue copper marans. It is still being perfected. Just an illustration of how long it can take to get what you want. Problems are loosing barring and having to reintroduce barred rocks to get the barring back, which results in some black barred chicks. And in the Marans, having black copper and splash chicks show up. The blue copper Marans problems could easily be eliminated but in order to maintain different blood lines there are lots of birds that are changed out to keep some diversity. Eventually they should all be blues.

Danz-- I know some people may buy them for food and if that is the birds destiny then so be it. For now I am trying to work out a solution because I promised my kids. If it does not work I will post pics and info on who needs a home...... or dinner table... to call his own.
I always feel terrible when people take from their pockets to help me, but I accept it for my kids. I want to pay back people who have helped me and give to people like myself who struggle to survive. I know you understand how that feels. I am in a terrible situation right now and falling deeper in a hole. I wasnt able to buy groceries last week and cant until friday. I wont have much to spend on food, but hopefully enough to get us thru. It is depressing and it hurts. It is pretty hard but I have to force myself to be strong for my kids. I cant wait until I have chickens that I can butcher.

Maidenwolf- Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you. Send me a PM if you need anything. Milk, bread, to vent. Whatever you need.

I have a bunch of extra cockerels to butcher and our freezer is quite full so if you are interested in those let me know. We would be happy to donate them either live or dressed. If we do them here we would have to piece them all out but if you could take them whole that would save us a lot of trouble and work. Let me know if you are interested.

I know the fear of not being able to feed one's kids. My kids and I lived on eggs and cheese for months once. Cheese was cheap back then and I had a sister who gave me eggs. Otherwise the kids would have had nothing to eat. Another time I only had $2 to buy food for the week. There was a sale on chicken noodle soup, 5 cans for a dollar, so I bought all I could and that is what my kids got to eat for that week. Luckily I only had two of them back then. The list goes on. I am so grateful to have food to eat and a place to live. I wish I was rich and could give you and your family all of your needs and desires.

I went out and took some pictures just for fun.
Here is a pick of my Sabastopols. Love these goosies!

Here are some pictures of my white peafowl, the one that has been raised as a pet.


Here is a picture of my four new ones.

How old are your new peas? I love the things on top of their heads! I wish mine would grow those, they keep picking them off each other? Isn't that strange....

 

[COOP Group]

Good afternoon everyone!

I love looking at the pictures you have all been posting of your chickens! It makes me want my own even more!

I am writing to ask for some help getting my application approved for hens in Overland Park. My Planning Committee meeting is Monday November 12th at 1:30 and I have been told that comments of support may help increase the chances of my permit being approved. I don't know if it matters if you are an Overland Park resident or not but comments can be submitted on the city's website at: http://apps.opkansas.org/Doing-Business/odc/Case/View-CasePLN.cfm?case=SUP2012-00024. It would be even better to have supporters come to the meeting but they put it at 1:30 on a Monday so that's a little hard to accomplish! Anyway I would love any help I can get so thanks for your time and pass the word on if you can. Please keep the chicken pictures coming!! Any coop pics you guys have would be cool too! Thanks again!

~Natalie