Consolidated Kansas

[OkieQueenBee]

The chicken coop is back on its foundation and the birds went back inside last night, although somewhat cautiously. Had more rain last night but only a little over an inch, still drizzling this morning. The great thing is that our ADORE1 auto chicken door is still functioning, I didn't have to go out in the rain to let them out. Our bee hives are all okay, some of them had a little water in them, but at least none of them blew over. Now we need some sunshine so they can get out and collect some nectar.
Right now the coop floor is just dirt, did I read somewhere about putting wood ashes on the floor to help with the smell and flies? I can't find the bag of DE that we have, we recently moved and can't find anything.
I am learning so much from everyone here on BYC and have a ton of questions still. It's been a number of years since I have had livestock, but reading about the adventures with the goats brings back fond memories.
Forgot to mention that the electricity has been off twice since we put the eggs in the incubator. Tomorrow will be day 10 so we will candle them and hope for the best. We are using one of the old Hova-bators.
Well off to finish the scavenger hunt.
Everyone have a wonderful day.

 

[Trish44]

Trish, we were getting ready to judge in the poultry barn when that storm hit yesterday. The chickens were NOT happy, but I think I saw some ducks smiling! They even postponed the arena for more than an hour because they didn't want kids moving animals in the lightning and rain.

Danz, hopefully your dad starts feeling better soon and the sale goes well.

Josie, we've all been there, but it still doesn't make it any easier. My 15-yr-old "baby" still functions better on her baby schedule (she was a 2nd shift baby--stay up late at night and sleep late in the morning like daddy). She can't wait until college when she can have all afternoon classes. Josie, if you want to sell some of your cochins, let me know. We'll come up.

OkieQueenBee, you are so lucky you didn't lose all your birds. I bet they were frantic!

Well with even more rain last night & more coming today plus what is coming from north of us the river is predicted to flood tomorrow at 21.3 feet, 18 feet is flood stage. The fairgrounds will be flooded & there will be probably two roads into or out of town that will be covered with water & unpassable. The road coming in from the west will most likely be closed & highway 77 north of town always gets water over it due to the low area there. Anybody living next to the river better be prepared too. There is this one guy who owns the car body shop & another business in town who built this new fancy house a few years ago right beside the river, not smart. Now every time the river comes out his house is flooded. The Walnut river floods regularly when we get the kind of rain we have been having, both in Winfield & Arkansas City. In Arkansas City there are places they have to close the roads because they're so low & there is always water over them. I guess we'll get to go look at the river coming out tomorrow. It's just amazing how a river that is usually so slow & lazy becomes a raging torrent that is several times it's width.

I need to get out in this lull in the rain & see if my wayward turkey hen has returned & my guineas, they will be wet birds.

OkieQueenBee, I'm glad you got your chicken coop righted & got the birds back in & your bees are OK.

 

[chicken danz]

I'd been complaining we hadn't been getting the rain the rest were but I guess now I am pretty content. I live so close to a creek it doesn't take a lot to get me flooded in from two directions. We got another rain this morning and it is a mud fest out there. But I am thankful we don't have the rain everyone south and north of us has gotten. My garden looks lush right now. However a lot more will be too much I'm afraid. I have hopes up to actually grow some veggies this year! I saw on the news that Cottonwood in Emporia is really flooded. For as close as that is there is a big difference in how much rain there is.
I failed to comment earlier when someone mentioned that people eat before chickens. I don't want to sound stiffey but I feel the need to clarify a little on my cucumber, watermellon, and pumpkin thing. I bought tons of packages of seed at the end of summer for 2 to 3 cents a package. Those are what I planted. If I am spending a fortune on regular bird feed that takes money off of my available funds for people feed. If I can supplement my birds' nutrition by using a little of my effort I am way ahead of the game. I get as much of this produce as I want to eat but in truth I put in the effort to grow it for the birds so I can save money plus make them happy. I can't use enough cucumbers or pickles to begin to use all I plant. My point on giving them to the chickens is that they love them and if you have gobs why waste them? And as I recently had to do... if I can't afford to feed the birds, then I have to sell some. I don't water unless it is from water that I am recycling like from my duck pond. So the only resource I am really using is my own work. And to be honest if someone gives me cucumbers or any other produce, I would use what I could and feed the animals the rest.
OkieQB glad you are recovering from the storm damage. It might be worthwhile to pound some steel posts down or something on each side of your chicken house since it doesn't have a floor or foundation it is attached to. We get some really high winds here at times. The post will keep it from lifting quite as easily.
We didn't get rain yesterday but the heat and humidity was stifling. I am really sick of being drenched in sweat. It feels a little cooler today and I hope it stays that way. I need a day to chill a little. I have just one person coming this afternoon and other than that I think I have the day free of obligations outside my ones at home. I am going to have a very very busy week so I need to rest my aching back for a day. Next weekend is again going to be crazy.
I had several little ducklings hatch this morning. I have quite a little group getting started again. Most of them appear to be cayugas. The last efforts of the ones that got picked off their nests by the owl. I guess I should try to sell them but not sure if there is much market right now. I really need to try cooking a couple that I butchered to see if I want to save a few.
Tweety how are your ducks doing now? Are their legs getting better?

 

[ashncarson]

Okiequeenbee-how are you doing? So sorry about the storm damage, how are the bees?
The weather man just said that Witchita and Hutch. have had 14 in. of rain while up here in KC area we've had 3.

Here in Hutch we ended up with 6-7 inches in a 90 minute period. It was a CRAZY storm. Its about 12 hours later and some roads are still flooded.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, I'm really sorry if what I wrote came out as a criticism - it was entirely unintended. I totally agree with you that I would give it to the chickens before I would waste it. I know they LOVE those kinds of veggies. It is just that for me, I always try to find a way for us to use it before I will consider giving it to the birds - and in this case the salsa is something we will really use and enjoy, so to me that is better value than feeding it to the birds.

That said, one veggie that is doing really well for me this year is my collard greens. They typically don't do that well as they will start out strong in the spring but don't tolerate high temperatures well so they bolt when it gets hot and then you can do a second planting in the fall and harvest some more. But this year since the temps have been lower AND there's been so much rain, they haven't bolted and they are growing like crazy - far more than we can eat. I offered some to my neighbor but she declined since their family doesn't eat those types of veggies. So you bet I am cutting some and giving it to the birds! The same with tomatoes. The rain has adversely affected them so they're all splitting and then the ants get into them. I'd rather have the birds eat them than the ants, so I pick those and toss them to the birds as well. I really like that they are eating my own home-grown, organic produce rather than have it go to waste.

Oh - and someone asked for the recipe for the salsa. I kind of didn't use a specific recipe - I've made salsa from other types of veggies before so I know about what it takes and just threw a few things together. Here is approximately what I did:

Cucumbers - about 6lb
Onions - I only had two and I used both, but you could add more
If I'd had hot peppers, I would have thrown a few of those in too, but I was out
We have an apple tree that has tons on it this year so I sliced up a few of those as well

On the cucumbers: I cut the ends off but left the peel on. Then I thinly sliced them (1/4" slices). The onions were also cut in thin slices, as were the apples.

I placed all of the veggies/fruit together in a large bowl and poured over 1/3 cup of salt, then stirred so it covered the veggies. Then I packed the bowl with ice, put the lid on, and left it to sit for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, I poured around 3 cups of ACV into a large pan and added the remains of a honey bear (a couple of tablespoons but quantity is according to personal taste). I brought the vinegar and honey to boiling, and while doing that, drained the veggies. Once the vinegar was boiling, I added the veggies, returned the liquid to boiling, and simmered for about 10 minutes.

I then took cupfuls and put in the food processor and pulsed until....it looked like salsa (a few seconds). Voila!

 

[chicken danz]

HEChicken I honestly don't think it was you that said what I was referring to. I believe it was one of the newer people. I didn't go back and scan posts. I just felt a need to explain that I am not feeding food that I need to feed my family to the birds. And honestly if I knew other people who need it it would go to them. I don't want anyone thinking I am superficial....because I don't believe I am. I work really hard to just provide for all of us...animal or human. I could use some salsa as well but it has never occurred to me to make it from cucumbers. I grow tomatoes and peppers for that as well as other dishes. I may have to try that.
So far I haven't gotten anything but radishes from my garden. Oh and I did find that the peafowl love the radish tops but not the radishes. I had some that got kind of woody and weren't good to eat. I also have an old apple tree that has some kind of fungus or disease so the fruit shrivels up and dies. I found the other day if I break the apples open before they shrivel so they can get to the insides that they peafowl and turkeys also love those. The geese picked at them a little but didn't really show an interest. Those have always gone to waste but now that I have found a use for them I will keep picking them and breaking them open. I thought of trying to pick some early and attempting to make some vinegar but I'm not sure I would stick to a project that long. When I pull weeds all of them go in one of the bird's pens. If they eat some of it great, if they don't it makes a good ground cover to keep them out of some of the mud.

 

[Trish44]

Well my turkey hen has not returned & neither have any more of my guineas, that is 9 guineas missing, arrrggghhh. I sure hope they all return to be fed, that will be the pits if I lose all my guineas now. I don't know why the one purple guinea returned by itself, but it is in the coop with the peafowl today. I don't know if all of my guineas went down to the neighbor's to join their flock or if something happened to them all. I sure hope that turkey returns & I can get the door on the new hoop coop tomorrow & move them all in there.

It's just a muddy mess here & it's raining yet again. We just haven't had enough of a break from the rain for so long that the ground can't even begin to dry out. My yard looks like a jungle again, but it's too wet to mow. I have water standing & gucky mud in some of my pens, it's just nasty. When I try to go into the turkey pen they're in right now I sink. I just went out a bit ago & pushed the water from the remaining half of the tarp over the turkey pen & got myself soaking wet, it sure was cold. I had to come in & take a shower after that. If it ever stops raining long enough for that pen to get dried out a bit I will go out & fix the top of it with the pvc pipe I got, but right now there is just no way to do it. I need to push the fence back in where it belongs & put the bracket back on too to hold it better, but at present it is buried in the mud. I checked on my chicks in the growout pen & they seem to be doing OK with getting up out of the water, so that's good. I'm going to have some places to fill with dirt when this all stops & dries up. What a mess, I don't ever remember having a summer like this. This usually happens here in October, but we're having it early this year. I sure hope it doesn't happen in October too.

No food goes to waste here, if we don't eat it all I have to do is open up the front door & throw it out & it's gone in seconds. Either the dogs, cats, or chickens get it before it hardly hits the ground. The chickens especially love it when I have lettuce left over that is not as fresh as we would like but they don't mind & gobble it up as fast as they can. I crumble up the egg shells from the eggs we use & feed them back to the chickens & they love it. I figure it's some good calcium for them. I have a clay pot saucer that I use to put the broken up shells on & it works great for that in the run.

I did let the chickens out today, but they're not too crazy about getting wet so some went back in I think. You can stand down in the wooded area & the tree cover is such that you don't get as wet as if you were standing out in the open unless it rains really hard.

HEChicken, your salsa sounds pretty good, I may have to try some of that. We also have an apple tree here & it is just full of apples this year.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I give leftovers to the chickens here and always have. We share what we grow and I do not have a problem with that, they are making me food so why not help fuel that with some nutrition straight from mother earth and not processed in a factory. When you have a bounty of produce and it is going to go bad before you can consume it, my animals are also family so they get some too.
It sure is a muddy mess here. I need to get it cleaned up but we are supposed to get more so I may need to wait. Hope everyone isn't getting flooded out.
I have guineas moved out and brooder cleaned and disinfected, not I have my cornish cross in one and man are they growing fast and SMELLY

And they other brooder has my lavender orp, lemon cuckoo orps and Swedish flower chicks they are so cute. I am going to post some pics soon so I can get opinions and help identifying a couple. The lavenders are obvious but I am not sure on a couple others.

 

[ashncarson]

I have a question about our coop building process (or lack of, due to the rain)

We have the chance to go pick out our chickens this coming weekend, if we are not ready for them yet,she will continue to keep them.....

But my question is about the flooring of the coop. I read that some people like to put vinyl down to help with keeing it clean, but that is honeslty just another expense..could we just use a sheet of plywood on the base we have (which is 3 boards, screwed onto a base) or is having a vinyl floor really a plus?

 

[chicken danz]

Ash, I honestly don't like the vinyl flooring as well as plywood. I just make sure to paint the plywood with a good outdoor paint. I normally use barn paint cause it is self priming and dirt cheap. The paint just helps keep the floors from retaining moisture so they will last longer. The coop that has a vinyl floor stays too wet for my tastes. I like one that air dries out quicker. Also it can be a little too slick for baby chicks if there isn't a lot of shavings in there. The reason I have used vinyl flooring is where I have used recycled wood for flooring that had bigger gaps and holes in it. It helps get rid of some of those drafts. It is easier to clean I suppose but I use deep litter in most of my coops so it really isn't that big of a deal to me. It makes a cute house but cute only counts until the poo builds up anyway!!

Trish I sure hope your guineas are just holed out for the weather to let up. I can't imagine loosing that many all at once. I have a bunch of new keets if anyone is interested by the way.
I do hope your hen comes back. I'll just bet she has a nest somewhere. I just let my midgets out. They hate being penned especially when it is muddy.
Maidenwolf can't wait to see pictures of your babies.
Another thing I do is save seeds from my produce. As long as it isn't a hybrid it does very well. I have a ton of seed left from last year. I planted sweet pumpkins this year and will save some of that seed from the later ones. The earlier seed will be fed to the birds as wormer and a treat. Last year I was dumb and just planted ordinary pumpkins meant for jack-o-lanterns and although the birds would eat it it certainly wasn't good for human use. I plan to can or freeze some of my pumpkin this year for desserts.
I plan to have real home grown pumpkin pie and home grown turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas with canned
grown green beans and home made bread. ...and anything else I can come up with from my own resources.
It's kind of funny how things have gone full circle for me. In the 70's as a young mother I made all my bread, butter etc from scratch. I grew my garden and canned most of my food, ate my own meat and tried to make do with what I had other than sugar, flour, coffee, and other essential staples. I am coming back to that. Except now I have a grinder so I can grind my own flour as well. I would have to buy wheat though cause my farmer didn't get any planted last fall. I really love fresh home grown food because it has so much more flavor.

I just had the last of the people come get their two lavenders. Now it's time to get one half of the brooder house ready for the chicks I have in the house. I don't have very many in here. Just a few special breeds I just started hatching. Woot!
I hope to shut one more incubator down this week. Then in two weeks it will be time to start loading them up again. Not much of a break.