BYC Café

[sourland]

Good morning, Trib. Happy anniversary. Any idea how your hens contracted illness?

 

[starbuck123]

What does the coconut oil do? The stuff I have here has no flavor and I use it instead of butter in recipes but I do not put butter in my coffee ??? Confused once again, must go get more hot coffee....

Some people do put butter in coffee -it sounds really weird- you can research paleo for that. I tried it and it was so-so. I'd rather use butter for other things. I didn't taste enough of a difference to switch from my usual coconut.

There's tons of info on the whys and hows of coconut oil - Weston Price is a good starting off point. In a nutshell it provides all sorts of good things for your body, it suppresses your appetite and also keeps things moving, if you get my drift. I started using it when I first starting restricting my carbs back in 2004 roughly. I found it hard to just eat it off a spoon and read about people using it in their coffee. You have to start with a small pea-sized amount (or you get serious runs) and titrate up from there. I'd say I use about 1/2T per day and it seems to really work for me. My weight has been stable for 11 years now - I lost about 30 pounds and now hover around 107 - 110. My body just seems to run better on low carbohydrates, few grains, low sugar and liberal fats.

I do read things out there that tout coconut oil as a cure all for everything - cancer, etc and I'm skeptical but I do know it has helped me feel better and I also use it externally as a lotion and my skin has never looked better. I chucked all of my creams and lotions a few years back and only use Dr. Bronner's or a friend's goat milk soap to wash and coconut oil as a moisturizer. Hope that helps!

 

[3goodeggs]

It also has caprylic acid in it. It is used for cleaning and disinfecting, it also kills yeast in your digestive tract.
Turmeric is another all around great gift of nature. It is a bit more difficult to get used to than coconut though....and it leaves everything yellow.



Happy aniversery Trib.
I hope you get to do more than just sit in traffic!

I hope the hen get better.

 

[KingOfFools]

Good morning, Trib.  Happy anniversary.  Any idea how your hens contracted illness?

Thanks. I'm not certain how they got it. We got three new hens a while back, but right before that one died of what I thought was an impacted crop, and another started an occasional sneeze/cough thing. Plus the three new hens, are doing better than the others by far. Our little Rhodebar doesn't even look sick at all. I considered one or all of them being carriers, but I'm not experienced enough, nor would it explain the occasional cough/sneeze thing in my other one.

We shall see. You know, after bragging about the weather last night, now it is dark and rainy! Deserve that I guess, lol.

Butter in coffee??? Oh Lord! Couldn't conceive of that. I'll stick to black with nothing but my ice cube. As a matter of fact, it's that time. Have a great morning. Don't get too Col up there!

(Sunshine for your chickens!).

Trib

 

[KingOfFools]

Awesome article:

Do you love coffee? You should probably be drinking even more

http://a.msn.com/r/2/BBhMPjD?a=1&m=EN-US

 

[3goodeggs]

I wonder what they consider a cup?
My grandmother's cups were six oz. a real cup is 8oz. and I think my normal cups hold 10 oz, but my favorite mug holds 14 oz.

My husband gets up early and makes the coffee. Sometimes I get a full cup, sometimes I get half a cup.
I am thinking about getting another pot and just writing 'mine' on it.

 

[KingOfFools]

Good question. I think that a "cup" on a coffee pot measures 3/4 of a normal cup, but I have nothing to back that up. I make 10 "cups," and try to leave half for my wife, then at work I'll have at least 2-3 more mugs. Then at home I'll sometimes have half a pot, more, though that is uncommon. Yup, if coffee was health food, I'm as healthy as an ox.

 

[KingOfFools]

Tumeric and coffee?. Sounds like a heck of a case of heartburn!

 

[krista74]

My chickens are all sick... Respiratory illness. I almost euthanized one this morning before work but the wife please, and as usual, she was right, as she seems like she still might make it. Her eyes and two others are so puffy and red, and they are all sluggish and coughing and sneezing. Looks pretty ridiculous. I feel like a bad chicken farmer. They've all pretty much stopped laying. My "queen bee" lays an egg every day, but that's about it. Poor girls. We gave them a powerful antibacterial by mouth (syringe), and will again on Sunday. Hope they all make it.

Hi Trib and all who follow

Trib, are you able to get some antibiotics and do a blanket treatment of your flock? Our vet was pretty good with that - I took one hen in for an assessment and she gave me enough to treat all of them. In 2 days she came good, and the others never got the infection. I doubt it's anything you did to make them sick, so you can flick that side of guilt off your saucer. Sometimes these things just happen - it's in the air and whatnot. Hope your girls make a fast recovery for you.

My wife and I celebrate our 6 year anniversary tomorrow (21 Feb)! We found a babysitter (thank freaking goodness) and from there I don't care what we do. I could sit in traffic for all I care, we need a break!

Planted our tomato plants, jalapenos, anaheims, lettuce, and wildflower last weekend. Already have some garlic and onions doing their thing. My wife's fodder system is working out great so far and our meal worms are about to hatch the first set of beetles.


Well, just checking in, for now. Hope to participate more soon. Stay warm and safe to my American friends that are shivering, and cool and dry to my Aussie friend (hope those cyclones went around you!).

Happy Anniversary! My hubby and I have only been married a year and a half, so I am a long way behind you! Had to laugh about the 'sitting in traffic' comment. Being that hubby and I have our first appointment with a fertility doctor next Wednesday to (hopefully) help us have a baby, I thought "Hmmm....this is not a glowing recommendation of parenthood, lol." But I do get it - sometimes I would rather sit in traffic than go home to my hubby (especially when he's being naughty!).

Our vegie patch is at the 'rip out and restart' phase. We had a productive Summer crop (tomatoes, beans, lettuce, corn, cucumbers, capsicum and onions) but now we have to plant in the Winter crop. This year we are doing broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, brussels sprouts, and broccolini. I love going out with a basket and harvesting a load of fresh vegies, and popping the fresh eggs on top. It looks marvellous. I am one of those people who thinks the closer to the ground you get the better - so I home bake biscuits and bread when I can, harvest my own fruit and vegies, and then there's the eggs of course. It makes me feel very fulfilled and happy.

The cyclone was in Queensland and I am in Victoria, so I was well away from the danger zone. Thanks for the concern though! It was a Category 5 when it hit land, and 550 houses were demolished in the storm. It must have been very frightening for the people up there. So far there are a couple of people missing but none confirmed dead. I am hoping to hear everyone is located and safe in due course.

- Krista

 

[krista74]

Good morning all!

I had a sleep-in this morning (very rare for a farmer's wife) but hubby can't complain too much as he is still asleep himself! We had a huge day yesterday, going to a farmer's show about 2 hours away, so we did heaps of walking and riving, all in 100F+ heat! I was hot, burnt, sweaty and exhausted by the time we got home. Just in time for all the computers to crash. You can imagine my reaction, lol. Anyway, all back up and running again today.

We have a day off today (again, rare for farmers!) so I am making use of it catching up on housework, cleaning out the chook coop and redoing the aforementioned vegie garden. I am hoping at the end of the day to feel I have achieved a lot. Mind you, again this will be in 100F+ heat so we will see!

Thank you to all of you for your kind comments about Momma (aka: Grandma Hen!) I do love her to bits and hope she does hang around for a while longer. We are in the exciting (read: terrifying) stage of integrating our three 'chicks' (17 and 20 weeks old) with the main flock at the moment. Momma has been helping a great deal with that. There must have been some interesting goings-on last night though, because Momma (who normally sleeps on the lowest roost) was up on top, and one of the head girls was on the roosting bar in the chick's pen! There must have been an up-rising!

- Krista