Coffee's ready...

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Had a lovely st pats day! Dug burned cleared brush.Drank only coffee.No alcohol at all.Went to church.No cabbage or corned beef.I was at the store grabbed a head went to find the wife there was no beef.Dropped the head in the lettuce compartment and went home in defeat.Ate only steak and spaghetti all day.
My grandma was Irish like her DA.He drank himself off 3 railroads and ended up living in her basement.He would take my DA around to the pubs with him and give him a nickle to keep quiet about it .She always smelled the whiskey on him and gave him what for over it.He would just pull his coat up lower his head and go down the basement to sleep it off.Dad liked the nickles!
God Bless!

 

[oesdog]

Glad to see everyone is having fun in the coffeehouse - I mean whisky distillery!
The weather here is dreadful with bitter cold and driving rain. There is a line of white at the fence where it has tried to snow and pitch but as we are right on the beach we don’t usually get snow. If we do it doesn’t last. It is extremely wet again so much for planting out ? I am not holding my breath for a half-decent harvest this year. I have another sick hen in the shed and I noticed another isn’t sounding too great when I put them in last night. The damp is getting to them – I can see me losing a few more before the weather lets up. It seems to be attacking the PRs more than the other rare breed girls. The production reds don’t have much bulk on them so I guess they must feel the cold more. The others are duel purpose and so tend to have a bit of fat coverage. The PRs all seem to molt at the worst possible time of year too. Thankfully they are getting feathers back now. It is all a bit grim here – Need sun or at least a good shot of Whisky in my coffee mug! Medicinal of course to keep the cold out!

OES

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Oes I see your agony.It is to snow here again Sunday.My younger brother is retired military and looking to come home and convince his California born wife to move here,And we are to have snow!
Well they wont be retiring here, I'll bet.
My nephew is 3 or 4 and he will be with them ,maybe he is old enough to milk the cow?He will love the kitten dogs,and cattle.
Good visit in store at least.
God Bless!

 

[oesdog]

OMG - It is soooo cold and terrible winds. The dog went mad and I looked out the window to see the felt fly off the roof of the shed. Seconds later it took the wooden roof and spireled it into the greenhouse! Had to rush out and take it off the greenhouse. We were lucky and only lost one piece of glass would you believe. However we had to go find some wood to plug the hole or the wind would have gotten into the greenhouse and exploded it! Then we managed to rescue all the electric goods from what was left of the shed! Mower etc.
Took the pair of us then to hold onto the shed it was soooo bad. We had to go get a crow bar and hammer and take the thing down in the middle of all that gale and freezing driving rain. We managed to get the thnig down without any more damage not sure how! I am just glad no one got shredded with glass! As the shed ( What was left of it) was right next to the greenhouse! It is very large with lots of glass. Not good news. - The little shed was where the hens used to sleep thank the lord they were not in it!

I went round to the coop and run and there was three hens still out in the hale and wind so I just opend my arms and they came running I think they were frightened because they never fussed at all as I lifted all three and litterally threw them into the coop and banged the door closed. I have put bolders on the roof to stop it taking off. Honestly it is really awful here. - DH has gone for chips! lol - would have been chinese but its too far to go in the rain!

Everyone is safe and ok but the fence is bracking up at the base think one of the uprights has snaped off at the base. The other shed is looking a bit worrying too - Drumstick is in a box in there getting over being ill!

It is just mad here.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
We had a lot of snow on Sunday.8 inches accumulated I would guess.I was working on the fences on Saturday,It was 50 degrees out,I forgot to close the window of my truck.We went to the theater for my boys birthday,I did not even think of it until this morning and I had a cab full of snow.What an idiot I feel like.Slipping and sliding for a few days and then back into the 50's by wed.Global warming!!!!!!!
Science?What is it all about Alfie?
God Bless!

 

[oesdog]

Lost another hen today

Drum-stick died - so I have lost two already this year as Dorothy died end of January.

Oes

 

[quercus21]

@oes - sorry to hear about all your troubles you are having. I am hopeful spring is right around the corner for you.

 

[Gargoyle]

Lost another hen today

Drum-stick died - so I have lost two already this year as Dorothy died end of January.

Oes

you've been having a rough year!

We're getting worried about one of ours; her eggs have always had some sandpaper like calcium deposits on them, but the past week she's been laying really thin eggs that break when she steps on them or when I pick them up. The other three girls lay good hard eggs, so they is enough calcium in the general diet; just seems that she isn't absorbing it properly. We'll try giving her extra calcium and vitamin D3 starting tomorrow,I hope that helps...

 

[oesdog]

Some of mine do that from time to time. It is quite frustrating when you lift an egg only for it to desolve! This usually happens in the Molting time so I am not too worried about that.
Like you most of the other girls have good thick shells on their eggs so general diet is fine. It si just the odd hen and once they are out to free range it usually sorts itself out.
Though I think Dorothy was the one that mostly laid those eggs here and she is gone now. Drum-stick laid everyday most of her life and her eggs were really thick strong shells. I think she just got old and died it was all very calm and nothing horrible. She just got weaker from not wanting to eat and then went to sleep soon after she died. Dorothy wasn;t as easy a death as she had a respiritory infection that wouldn't shift. She seemed to get it every winter and would recover with the good weather but this last year has been prticularly cruel weather wise.

A lot of folk say those Production reds only last 3-5 yrs and both those girls were getting on for 5 yrs.

Oes

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Sorry you lost your good layers O.This late winter is hard on all the animals here also!
I'm back! I just bought 20 rocks,for meat.The tractor supply was hot to get rid of them.I got them for 1.50 apiece.They are so big that they are getting their feathers.
I'm gonna get it set up tonight.Brooding should only be about a couple of weeks.Then 2 mos. to butchering day.I'm hungry for a frier already.
Cattle chickens and potatoes this year.Well about 7 acres of hay also.
Y'all got your gardens planned?
God Bless!