Search results for query: *

Quote: I admit to being pretty surprised how fun the chickens are. My wife talked me into it and I thought it would be more that I'd tolerate them. They're really a hoot! As for being ready for the snow... meh. I'm at work right now wondering if I'm going to make it home. We were in ice storm...

Weird! Our 3 girls just started laying 2 days ago. Maybe NH chickens have to be chilled first like tulip bulbs.

Quote: There is no such thing as a "warming" spice, if by that you mean one that actually increases heat production. If it causes a sensation of warmth by dilating skin capillaries, it will actually decrease body temperature by hastening heat loss.

Quote: The reason it seems weird to you is that it's flat wrong. It takes no metabolic water at all to melt snow after you eat it, so there's a net fluid gain, not loss. What it does take is a fair amount of heat. When you burn fat to produce heat, one of the products is a small amount of...

Every egg, whether found on the coop's floor or somewhere else (including at the megamart) came from a hen's cloaca. It's really not going to be any more exposed to chicken fecal bacteria on the coop floor than it was in the cloaca in the first place. For bonus points, who remembers what...

We bought our girls a Purina Flock Block. They sit on it. We keep trying to convince them it's food and they keep not believing us.

We were sure our birds would love the seeds from a papaya. They hated them. Took one bite and shook their beaks off. They weren't interested in the fruit, either.

Quote: It is unbelievably unlikely that this is true. What is the source of your claim that asbestos has ever been used to coat rice? For that matter, what evidence do you have that ANYTHING has ever been used to coat rice other than rice powder and B vitamins? The only possible reason to...

We just got one of those galvanized bases, since once it's below about 20F the double-walled fount freezes in a couple of hours and as noted above is extremely difficult to de-ice. We had been swapping a couple of founts out over the course of the day but realized if we were gone overnight the...

Quote: If you read some old textbooks or pamphlets, you'll see that those that were in the chicken business planted feed for their chickens. There were various recommendations for planting and different strategies for different times of year. The usual goal was to use the minimum acreage to...

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay : Typical NY Times Op Ed: long on speculation and innuendo but sorely lacking on facts. That's pretty much the definition of "opinion and editorial." If something is heavy on facts, then it's referred to as "news." Are you saying that other newspapers typically...

Quote: 1) "Colds" have nothing to do with weather or temperature. 2) "Colds" are caused by viruses. 3) Antibiotics treat bacterial infections and are useless against viruses. 4) Chronic use of antibiotics is a great way to induce resistance to antibiotics. 5) A vet might be a better source...

Since when are either zinc or rust in water harmful?! All metals are toxic at some dose, but most of the ones you can build stuff out of are not especially soluble in water. (Metals such as sodium, calcium, and potassium are actually pretty dangerous in their metallic form due to their...

Quote: I've got to know: Did you make her save up her egg money, or did you let her use your card?

Quote: They really shouldn't eat any poisonous plants at all! Sorry. Couldn't help myself. I figure that my chickens will know better than to eat anything bad for them, but maybe they don't? Given what I've seen our birds eat, or try to, I would never make that assumption, myself.

Rhubarb leaves contain lots of oxalic acid, which can combine with calcium to form calcium oxalate crystals in the kidneys. Low serum or urine calcium levels will help reduce the formation of calcium oxalate, so it's possible that laying hens that are directing more calcium to shell production...

Of course, I've eaten tofu that's months past the use-by date and it was perfectly good, especially the aseptically packaged type.

We've got 3 barred rocks in the 4x8 coop and they've got tons of room. All 3 snuggle up in the very corner of the roost box on the end of the roost pole. There's probably room for another 6 birds on that pole with room to spare. Now, our birds don't really spend a moment in the roost box when...

Quote: We've been going nuts trying to find a lid for our hanging metal feeder. Where did you find yours?

Our girls love wasps and fight over them. Maybe they taste spicy, what with the stingers.