The Front Porch Swing

[Windy Bay Farm]

.Thank you everyone, I am not even able to process this yet. I have friends and family with me for awhile, I will post when I can, I do feel you are my porch family. Your prayers are appreciated,
Deb W

rrrmamma... I am so, so sorry for your loss and please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. May The Lord bless and keep you close and wrap you in His loving arms.

Thanks to all of you who asked and were concerned about Hurricane Arthur. We got struck dead on, the storm made landfall literally 10 minutes from where I live. By the time it reached our shores here in Nova Scotia, it had been downgraded from a Cat. 2 Hurricane to a post-tropical storm, a very potent post-tropical storm at that. We had winds here that were sustained around 60 mph with gusts to 75 mph - one wind gust recorded in the province was clocked at 87 mph. Lots of downed power lines and trees around here. We only lost power for a few hours and praise the good Lord for that, however there are others in the province that are still without it since Saturday morning. The clean-up in the area is well underway with folks clearing and cleaning up lots of downed trees and some minor damage to buildings.

Once again, thank you all for your prayers and concerns. God Bless.

 

[ducksanddoxies]

Duck question:: I'm thinking of adopting a welsh harlequin duck about the same age as my duck and drake. Is this going to totally mess up their mojo?

 

[perchie.girl]

Duck question:: I'm thinking of adopting a welsh harlequin duck about the same age as my duck and drake. Is this going to totally mess up their mojo?

I have no clue.... but cant wait for the answer... because I eventually want ducks.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Hey I finally drew up the last sketch for my Chicken House... and now that I can go up there and spend a day or two .... Like OVERNIGHT... woohoo. I can get started on the projects that have to happen before building... I hope to take pictures as I go.

Here is the new layout. The foot print is 24 x 24. The guinea wall will adjoin Katees Pipe corral... She loves guineas... they are silly and she will stand hours on end with her nose next to their coop.




The last partition named chicken next to the big access door will be fittted to handle goats....

here is a three dimensional picture of the mainly dog kennel construction. AND Yes... I have enough dog kennel panels to do the whole thing including a roof if I have to.



I will be doing a shed roof sloped toward the prevailing wind. Very shallow slope. Like six inches in 24 feet.

For what its worth I have enough materials to do the whole job. Salvaged garage doors for walls Salvaged fence. As well as roofing material enough to do 16 x 24. I just have to buy 8 x 24 worth of new material to finish it. I can do all the work a bit at a time. With the exception of the roof.

edited to add: Yeah I am dreaming to think guineas will lay eggs in a nest... But that portion of the coop will be darkened down with branches walls and screening materials. guineas in the wild lay their eggs in Brush piles that they have scraped a hollow out in the dirt.
deb

 

[suyoder]

Thanks to all of you who asked and were concerned about Hurricane Arthur. We got struck dead on, the storm made landfall literally 10 minutes from where I live. By the time it reached our shores here in Nova Scotia, it had been downgraded from a Cat. 2 Hurricane to a post-tropical storm, a very potent post-tropical storm at that. We had winds here that were sustained around 60 mph with gusts to 75 mph - one wind gust recorded in the province was clocked at 87 mph. Lots of downed power lines and trees around here. We only lost power for a few hours and praise the good Lord for that, however there are others in the province that are still without it since Saturday morning. The clean-up in the area is well underway with folks clearing and cleaning up lots of downed trees and some minor damage to buildings.

Once again, thank you all for your prayers and concerns. God Bless.

Wow... Thats scary! But im glad that you were kept safe! Thanks for sharing.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Quote:
It looks like ya'll had a wonderful time celebrating the freedom of our wonderful country!

 

[lovingmyhens]

Quote:
Getting the chicken coop done is quite an accomplishment! Cross it off the list and let's move on!!!

 

[lovingmyhens]

I have hardly slept the past couple nights... I don't know if you have heard, but in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, there is a missing 5yo and his grandparents, disappeared for a week now. Mom took her son for a sleepover, dropped him off, and went to pick him up the next morning and everyone was gone. It looks like they e-registry.ca taken. It's a very odd case because the family in question is the most upstanding family with no issues. The most likely scenario is a robbery gone wrong.

Anyway, my heart goes out to the family.

On top of that, the little boy looks so much like my son in his photos that it is even harder. I had to stay upstairs in the kids room last night with the phone and Pepper spray to get any rest.

I had not heard of this...but I am in south Texas. There is so much bad in the world and here at home that we don't even hear of the stuff that goes on even in Dallas or Austin (which are both just 3-5 hours away). I know that in the 30 minutes of our newscast they don't put half of the stuff that if really happening here in Houston. There is just not time for it. Thank God this is not our home and that our real home will be free of all this heartache.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Looks like a lovely time! The grins on the kids' faces are priceless!

Got two eggs today - Ida laid her usual little brown grape. When I went in to clean the poop board this morning (or the "poop deck", as Katie calls it!) there was a perfect little blue egg waiting to be discovered! I have no idea which of the 5 Easter Eggers laid it during the night, but I suspect it was Mathilda since she's been acting like she was the closest to laying. I was so excited. Oh, I giggled....I almost danced a jig! I oohed and ahhed at it's beautiful color and perfection, even though it had poop and PDZ stuck to it. Then I broke it.

Yep, I did. I was trying to pick up between my thumb and forefinger so I wouldn't get too yucky and it squirted right out, hit the edge of the poop deck and then the coop floor, and that was that.

Well that has happened many times to my daughter and myself...even picking up eggs that have a thinner shell and they just crack in your hands. There will be more!

 

[lovingmyhens]

Doesn't that just toast your tail feathers?!? And your first dropped egg is the first from an EE!

I usually use a paper towel to pick up a dirty egg since I don't have a desire to get it all over my hands any more than you do.

I managed to crack one just yesterday. I'd taken the metal compost bin out to dump it, then went to the coop to get the 6 eggs I had in the wicker basket I use if there are more than two (1 per hand!) and/or I'm not going back up to the house right away. I didn't use the wicker basket since, what the heck, I already had an empty container with a handle in my hand, no need to take two things up the the house when one would have to be brought back eventually anyway. I didn't quite get a grip on one of them when I was weighing the eggs and it hit the bottom hard enough to put a 1 1/2" crack in the shell. Still usable, I put tape over the crack so it wouldn't separate and put it in the refrigerator but still, I HATE it when I am responsible for a cracked egg. It means I wasn't careful enough.

Bruce

If I crack an egg just a little, I usually go ahead and crack it all the way and put the yolk in a container in the fridge so I will remember to use it first.