I compost everything that is yard waste. That's leaves, grass clippings, dead plants, old flowers, twigs, palm fronds, manure, old potting soil, critter litter, etc. I don't put in cactus if it has spines or large branches since they take forever to disappear. I add coffee grounds, used tea bags and kitchen scraps too. Put it all in a large pile, wet it a bit, turn it once a week and it will heat way up, as in even in summer it will steam! That kills weed seeds and supposedly plant pathogens. It's done when it smells like good rich earth and is black in color. Depending on what was in it it might take 1-3 months if I'm actively turning it. It will take longer if left to it's own devices but the materiel will compost on it's own without being turned, it will just take longer, maybe a year (and it must have some moisture, like a wrung out sponge). I know some people fret about what ratio of carbon rich to nitrogen rich materiels go into the pile but I just throw in what I have and let it cook away. It comes out fine in the end. One thing you will never hear a gardener say is "darn, I have too much compost"! No matter how much you make you can always use more. Here's my girls helping turn the compost! This bin has almost finished compost, it's very black and most of the material has broken down so it's not recognizable for what it was.
I'm gonna have to let my birds get to work on the compost, seems easier than me going out turning it! Or do you still turn it often? I turn mine every other day.
It was an excerpt from "The Call of the Hen or, The Science of the Selection and Breeding of Poultry for Egg Production" written by Walter Hogan. (It was actually written in 1914.)
Gallo, your daughter is amazing! Yu must be so proud of her. I can't imagine the strength she has in her hands to do that! I watched the young men on Yosemite's El Capitan's face and can just imagine your daughter doing that.
Your veggies are beautiful! I'm constantly picking little green caterpillars off of my lettuces and cabbages. They are leaving my cauliflower alone, thankfully!
Thanks! The finger/hand strength is one of the hardest things to train and it takes years to fully develop to the level of someone like Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell who climbed the Dawn Wall in Yosemite. Interesting connection there, last year my daughter took a climbing clinic with Kevin Jorgeson and got lots of one on one instruction from him. She thought he was really cool.
Dang cabbage loopers! When they get bad and I think about it I spray them with Bt. Works like a charm but stinks something horrible though.
Sure! She might be competing (depending on the competition format) in Tempe at the Phoenix Rock Gym on March 7 and will definitely be competing at Arizona on the Rocks (AZR) in Scottsdale on March 28. These competitions are open and free to the public and anyone can come watch.
At 3 A.M. my husband awakened me to announce, "They're hatching. Two have already hatched!" Resting after all that hard work breaking free from their shells. I named this one Pippen. He's the first of the hatchlings. No name for my 2nd hatchling, but you can definitely see the naked neck. Over half of the remaining eggs are showing obvious signs of activity, but it's proving to be quite the waiting game.
My grandpa was a crazy chicken man. Must be where I get it from. He built a cabinet incubator to hatch his eggs in. My grandmother told me at thanksgiving that there was an incubator in the shed that had been there for 25 years. Best we can figure out is that he built it about 35 years ago. He died when I was 4, now I am rehabbing it to use again. We have to rebuild the cabinet as it has completely rotted. It is fully lined in galvanized metal inside and the workings and gutts are in great shape. I am excited for this project and to bring what I consider a family heirloom back to life! Pics to come as we work on it.
At 3 A.M. my husband awakened me to announce, "They're hatching. Two have already hatched!" Resting after all that hard work breaking free from their shells. I named this one Pippen. He's the first of the hatchlings. No name for my 2nd hatchling, but you can definitely see the naked neck. Over half of the remaining eggs are showing obvious signs of activity, but it's proving to be quite the waiting game.
Congratulations! Hope they all make it out ok. Four chicks have hatched out of seven eggs here. A fifth pipped but hasn't come out yet. Looks like two duds but I'll leave those in the hatcher for a couple of days just to make sure. Waiting for the slowpoke. Hope he manages to get himself out.
At 3 A.M. my husband awakened me to announce, "They're hatching. Two have already hatched!" Resting after all that hard work breaking free from their shells. I named this one Pippen. He's the first of the hatchlings. No name for my 2nd hatchling, but you can definitely see the naked neck. Over half of the remaining eggs are showing obvious signs of activity, but it's proving to be quite the waiting game.
Congratulations! Hope they all make it out ok. Four chicks have hatched out of seven eggs here. A fifth pipped but hasn't come out yet. Looks like two duds but I'll leave those in the hatcher for a couple of days just to make sure. Waiting for the slowpoke. Hope he manages to get himself out.
Congratulations ladies on your new hatchlings!! Lord willing, I'll have the seven new hatchlings in possibly 2 to 4 days. Lockdown is supposed to be in two days, I'm still not sure quite what it is but I will just sit and wait to see what happens in the incubator, lol.
"Lockdown" is a BYC term meaning "Keep your hands off the hatcher until the process is over." It is awfully tempting to keep opening the hatcher to check on the process. Opening the hatcher causes temperature and humidity fluctuations that can disrupt the hatching process. It's best to set the eggs in the hatcher, adjust the humidity at the start of the process, and forget it until all the eggs that are going to hatch have hatched.
"Hatcher" means an incubator used for hatching chicks. It may be the same incubator you used from the beginning, or it may be a different incubator that is specifically set up for hatching. I use one incubator for eggs and a separate one for hatching. The eggs get moved from incubator to hatcher three days before they are due to hatch. That last three days is the "lockdown" period.
Chicks spend the first day or so absorbing their yolk sac and gathering strength. They don't need food and water right away. It is ok to leave them in the hatcher for the first 12-24 hours. I usually pull all the chicks at the end of the main hatch after they have dried off and rested a while. I leave any remaining eggs in the hatcher for a couple more days just in case an egg hatches late.
"Lockdown" is a BYC term meaning "Keep your hands off the hatcher until the process is over." It is awfully tempting to keep opening the hatcher to check on the process. Opening the hatcher causes temperature and humidity fluctuations that can disrupt the hatching process. It's best to set the eggs in the hatcher, adjust the humidity at the start of the process, and forget it until all the eggs that are going to hatch have hatched.
"Hatcher" means an incubator used for hatching chicks. It may be the same incubator you used from the beginning, or it may be a different incubator that is specifically set up for hatching. I use one incubator for eggs and a separate one for hatching. The eggs get moved from incubator to hatcher three days before they are due to hatch. That last three days is the "lockdown" period.
Chicks spend the first day or so absorbing their yolk sac and gathering strength. They don't need food and water right away. It is ok to leave them in the hatcher for the first 12-24 hours. I usually pull all the chicks at the end of the main hatch after they have dried off and rested a while. I leave any remaining eggs in the hatcher for a couple more days just in case an egg hatches late.
Thank you so much for posting this!!! It never even occurred to me that a separate "hatcher" could be used in conjunction to the primary incubator. (Then again...this is my first hatch.) So far we've managed to hatch 8 of 16 eggs successfully, though #8 required some extra TLC. It hadn't completely absorbed its yolk, and once it had opened its shell but not fully emerged, it rested so long that the yolk solidified and glued it to parts of the shell, the incubator floor, and itself. It had been very noisy inside the incubator and seemed to be breathing regularly, but we could tell something really wasn't right. I had to peel it off the incubator and gently bathe it....at about 1:00 A.M. (It was a long night.) I'm thrilled to say that the little guy pooped almost immediately after his bath, drank water...and this morning he's doing great!
The remaining 8 eggs are proving rather stubborn. Most of them wiggle around in the incubator a lot and we can hear the chicks inside peeping, but not one of them has broken through the shell since last night. I'm leaving them locked down in the hopes that at least a few will still find their way out. There's two right now that I'm pretty much writing off at this point. No "wiggling" this whole time.
Here's Chick #3. This little guy (smallest and yet the heaviest) is a lovely mix of gold and silver with flecks of gray in his feathering. Very unique!
A side view of Chick #3 showing a bit of the feathering colors in the wing.
Chick #4 - All golden, obviously naked neck, and has feathering on its feet (as does Pippen, chick 1 from yesterday's photos.)
Chick #5 - This one cracks me up! Look at how little feathering is on the head, but all around the eye. It looks like it's wearing a white mask of feathers!
And Chick #6. Another golden. I have a lot of blondes in my new family.
Another shot of Chick #6 showing its naked neck glory. At least it's got a good hat.
Congratulations ladies on your new hatchlings!! 
Lord willing, I'll have the seven new hatchlings in possibly 2 to 4 days. Lockdown is supposed to be in two days, I'm still not sure quite what it is but I will just sit and wait to see what happens in the incubator, lol.
