Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chiques chicks]

Weather predicters spea up.
I know all reports are saying bad winter time weather.
Looking and paying attention to nature and livestock around me is saying otherwise.
What are others seeing.
The overproducing walnut trees are the only thing so far that would say bad winter, I still have broodies hatching, barn cat just went into heat again ( man is she ever loud ). The ducks that I processed lately do not have a very heavy down under the feathers

I'm not great at long term, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be anything like last winter.
Got a feeling it's going to be average, some brutal cold snaps followed by more average until the next cold spell. Squirrels don't seem as active as last year, haven't seen any praying mantis cases to judge snow depth.

Of course the chickens seemed to have good fat layers the other day, but some didn't.

My call: normal mixed bag of winter.

 

[barbiegirl]

I'm not great at long term, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be anything like last winter.
Got a feeling it's going to be average, some brutal cold snaps followed by more average until the next cold spell. Squirrels don't seem as active as last year, haven't seen any praying mantis cases to judge snow depth.

Of course the chickens seemed to have good fat layers the other day, but some didn't.

My call: normal mixed bag of winter.

How can praying mantis predict snow depth? I never heard of that one.

 

[chiques chicks]

How can praying mantis predict snow depth? I never heard of that one.

Theory is they will put their egg mass higher than deepest snow accumulation. Therefore higher of the ground means more snow.

Like everything else, just an old time idea. May or may not be accurate. I'm much better at smelling rain and such than I am at winter predictions.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Theory is they will put their egg mass higher than deepest snow accumulation. Therefore higher of the ground means more snow.

Like everything else, just an old time idea. May or may not be accurate. I'm much better at smelling rain and such than I am at winter predictions.

Todd is the one who kept finding the mantis eggs this year..I have to ask him , where on the plants he found them..interesting...

I have always been one to go by this, since well..i don't know..a long time..hahaha

..
.we are generally the opposite of the weather that ALaska is having..i know that may sound pretty funky, but if you go back and view past winters compared to theirs.. you will see what i am talking about...
(if their weather is atrocious, well..we are most likely more mild and visa-verse...*last year was a very good example, the people up there had more difficulties because of the mild weather than they are used to!)

been this way for quite awhile..not sure if it was because of the shifts to the air flows/oceans currents all that mess, but it has been a great way to judge our weather patterns, great comparisons....no kidding...

I believe, like you *Ray, that this year will definitely be a 'mixed-bag'...no warm by any means, but...the cold spells won't be as long-lived as last year..hopefully i haven't just stuck my foot somewhere most unfortunate..but , this is my theory...

I have a ton of acorns all over the yard. My cat is trying to fatten up for winter. She gained about 4 pounds during the last winter. Doesn't seem like that much but she is only about a 6 pound cat that had a broken hip and pelvis. Her hip bone never fused together and the bone migrated to her spine

this is a really dumb question...is she in discomfort..or has she adjusted...poor baby

..i hope she is not in pain..

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I've only seen my birds breathe this way when they are very hot and or stressed. I wish I had more help for you. How is he doing today? If he's better, maybe he had a scare that you didn't notice and was reacting to it. If he's still not well, I would separate him from the rest of the flock if you're able, until you figure things out.


@LMP thanks so much for directing me to that article. I hadn't read that one before. I'm not gonna lie, made me feel like donning a dunce cap, lots of technical and scientific wording there that went WAY over my head. But I did get some helpful info. Makes me lean more toward depopulating.... We get my daughter's pathology report tomorrow. If she needs chemotherapy then I will be depopulating.


@Lisa, the disease is spread through fecal matter. The danger to my daughter would be anything that's brought into my house, shoes, eggs, gloves, ect... As she would never, in my wildest dreams, be described as 'the outdoorsy type' and therefore does not venture any further outside than the deck. I have no idea how that happened, perhaps a mix up at the hospital..

We try to be careful, but there are always going to be tracings that find their way in. Example:

Me: 'Shane! Shane!...SHANE!! Take your shoes off!'

Shane: 'Okay, Grandmom.' -continues running through the house with shoes on.

**blarney..i hear ya on the "hey..shoes OFF!!"...we have those shoe-tray things right inside the enclosed back porch..all shoes come off, dogs feet get wiped..i know..so very OCD...I do have issues.
I truly hope your daughter's path-test comes back saying she does NOT have to have chemo...

...

The info on that site was a little science-stuffy..but I think it was pretty easy to get the gist.....options are there, if they are something you want to 'deal' with ..under your current circumstances...i totally understand going with the de-populating...would be the "easiest"..now i say this with no-emotion involved...as far as to just get rid of the issue.....then deal with re-populating when the time is more conducive to do so...
there would be a LOT of work to keeping them..yes..it is a completely personal decision...noone else would have/has to care for potentially sick animals and all that the bio-sercurity has to demand..
Always here for you Blarney..everyday, sending positive thoughts to you & yours

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

got outside for a few minutes today...actually got something accomplished!!
Cut herbs and hung them in coop and put in nest boxes, sure does make things smell really good!
Have been trying to figure a way to get the egg shell & grit cups hung, most of the coop is brick wall, the wood areas are higher up except below the windows..my brain de-fogged long enough to come up with this for now....gosh, everything is going in slow-motion..
now back to sitting on the couch, seems all i have the energy for anymore...

this should work for now..unless they decide to dance on them..which they have been known to do

...
The birds have been so layed-back and calm ..all were busy getting their feathers "did"..haha..and look at those little ones that aren't so little anymore..geesh...
should have eggs in a month or so..should, but of course they have the say in that

..



everyone is a bit raggedy right now..feathers are every where..
all that 'stuff' in the run is the last of the garden.. pepper plants..sweet & jalapeno..they had a good time with that!

 

[dheltzel]

Got 9 eggs today from some of the pullets. The Barred Hollands are doing especially well (big shout out to msladyhawke), 3 eggs today from them, and they just started laying. Also 3 BCM eggs (I think they are BCM's, there are Welsummers in there too, but these have no speckles at all).

I've always associated white eggs with the high strung Mediteranian breeds, like legorns, but the Barred Hollands are as gentle as our Welsummers. None of them like being picked up, but they BH hens settle down and let even my youngest niece hold them. But according to my niece, the Welsummer hen she was carrying yesterday wins the prize for "softness", LOL.

 

[barbiegirl]

Todd is the one who kept finding the mantis eggs this year..I have to ask him , where on the plants he found them..interesting...

I have always been one to go by this, since well..i don't know..a long time..hahaha

..
.we are generally the opposite of the weather that ALaska is having..i know that may sound pretty funky, but if you go back and view past winters compared to theirs.. you will see what i am talking about...
(if their weather is atrocious, well..we are most likely more mild and visa-verse...*last year was a very good example, the people up there had more difficulties because of the mild weather than they are used to!)

been this way for quite awhile..not sure if it was because of the shifts to the air flows/oceans currents all that mess, but it has been a great way to judge our weather patterns, great comparisons....no kidding...

I believe, like you *Ray, that this year will definitely be a 'mixed-bag'...no warm by any means, but...the cold spells won't be as long-lived as last year..hopefully i haven't just stuck my foot somewhere most unfortunate..but , this is my theory...
this is a really dumb question...is she in discomfort..or has she adjusted...poor baby

..i hope she is not in pain..

That happened to her when she was a year old. We think someone kicked her really hard or ran her over with their car. She didn't have any road rash on her so we will never know what happened. She is 4 years old now. She used many of her 9 lives. We found her almost dead with her litter mates by my front porch at around 2 weeks old. We kept her as an outside cat to keep the mouse population in check. After her accident, I tried to make her an inside cat, she hated that and tried to kill all the humans. She is much happier as an inside/outside cat. She doesn't seem to be in pain and still jumps and climbs. The only place that bothers her is the bone that migrated to her spine. We just don't touch that spot. She seems to be pain free and doesn't limp at all. I am glad I didn't listen to the first vet and put her to sleep. She just doesn't trust people now.

 

[stake]

I need some help. I was out with my chickens and I noticed my rooster was breathing with his mouth open, so I picked him up and I could hear him breathing. He is eating and drinking and is acting normal. Yesterday I added a bale of pine shavings. Could the dust from that affect him? Lots of times he does not shut his mouth fully. He is a salmon faverolle I got from Beaglady and is around 22 or 23 wks old. This the first I have had any problems with my chickens. I tried to look in his mouth but he didn't cooperate and of course bit me. His comb and wattles are bright red like normal.

LDM:

I have seen some of my birds do this....mostly in the summer....started looking for problems...gape worm came up....turned out it wasn't...maybe worth a look...but mostly the greedy chooks were eating so fast they needed to take a 'breather'.....also, chickens also have allergies just like dogs and humans...maybe a head cold....my two cents...

 

[stake]

Theory is they will put their egg mass higher than deepest snow accumulation. Therefore higher of the ground means more snow.

Like everything else, just an old time idea. May or may not be accurate. I'm much better at smelling rain and such than I am at winter predictions.

humm, seems like they set their eggs and if set too low, they get snowed under....has any scientific types ever studied this?