I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying this, but I've never seen a hornworm. What do you do about them? Are they like the potato bugs that infest my eggplant, where you just keep picking them off until eventually you get them all?
I just give the plants a thorough going over every evening now that I know they're there. Last night I only found one but I'm sure there are some I'm missing. I look for an area where the leaves have been stripped from the stalk as usually that is a sign that something is eating them. They are the same color as the plant so they blend in really well but you just have to look for a stalk that is thicker than it should be. I'll try to remember to take my camera next time and snap some pics. The one I found last night was a monster but....it was turkey food this morning.
Does anyone have any experience with, say, 15 chickens in the space for 12? Can we make this work?
You've seen my set-up. The coop part of my coop building is 10x10 and at one point this year I had close to 100 birds housed in it. The recommendations of 4 sq ft per bird are based, I think, on set ups where the total space they have is limited - i.e., that the coop opens onto a smallish run. In my case, since they have the run of 10 acres by day, I figure they only go into the coop a) to sleep at night (in which case they are up on the roosts taking up only about 12 linear inches apiece, and I have TONS of roost space in my coop), b) to eat - and only a few birds at a time are eating, or c) to lay their eggs. As long as they can get into a nest box, they're happy.
Of the space in my coop, I agree with Danz that the roosts are additional space. I have ducks who sleep on the floor, while the chickens and turkeys are up on the roosts, essentially doubling some of the space. My silkie also sleeps on the floor and juveniles sometimes do too, until they feel confident being up on the roosts with the older birds.
With this set up I've had no issues no matter how many birds I've added. There is a little bickering at night as they all vie for the best roost spots, but once they've all figured out where they're sleeping, the bickering stops and they just go to sleep. I heard just as much bickering when I only had 5 hens.
I see no way around having to sell this one peacock.
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match.....Let's see. Trish has an extra peacock, Danz thinks she can find an extra peahen and Tweety WANTS peafowl....
Heather- Love your turkeys, wish I had more time as I would love to have them again but alas I am still cutting back!
Sorry to everyone with allergies! I think we are in the same boat, baby and I have both been coughing and sneezing. At first I thought we caught something but I don't "feel" sick and I don't think she is either. DH has terrible allergies right now.
I might try going to the TSC swap in East Wichita this Saturday with a bunch of broody hatched chicks. I have got to crack down on these cochin girls setting!
I really like my turkeys. If they laid throughout the year like chickens do, I'd be tempted to have more turkeys than chickens.
I haven't had allergies since we moved here last summer but they're hitting me just a little at the moment - it must just be a bad year for them.
I also wore my babies, but in Australia I think perhaps that is more common as I don't remember thinking twice about it or ever having anyone even comment on it. I mowed the lawn and cooked dinner and walked to the store and did just about everything with a baby strapped either to the front of me while they were little or on my back when they were bigger. The babies were calmer and less bored that way, as they could look around and see what I was doing. Though my son was a little twit when he was about 10 months old and I tried to decorate DD's birthday cake and he discovered that his arms were *just* long enough to reach over my shoulder (he was on my back) and scoop up little bits of frosting *just* as I got it perfect.....
Awwww....so fun to see Bandaid and Essie and the peachicks!
Anyone have a favorite shade screen idea that's fairly cheap and 20x20ish for a pen?
When and where is the sale in Wichita this Saturday?
I bought some shade cloth on
eBay that was too pricey. I don't remember either the price or the dimensions but it came with grommets already sewn in so it was ready to hang. I had been shopping online for awhile and found some sellers on
eBay who were much cheaper than any other merchant. Shade cloth comes in lots of different grades and you want to look at the shade percentage. You can get some that only provides about 30% shade, while others go up to 80-90%. Naturally its more expensive the better shade it provides. I think what I got is around 70% shade. I actually bought two sections of it and hung one so the sheep would have additional shade and one in front of DH's office, and he reported an immediate difference in how hot it was in his office.
There is a sale in Gardner that I believe is this Sturday. I'd love to go but can't justify the drive since I'm not looking for anything in particular. There is also a Farmer's Market and mini swap at the
Tractor Supply on East Kellogg.
But it does really work. Buy it in health food stores, or like I do, online. I buy it at Vitacost online, I use Nutribiotic, but there are others. It is kind of pricey, but it only takes a drop or two then rub into a wound. I use maybe two bottles in 18 months, and I use it on everything. I read somewhere that tests indicated it causes cataracts in dogs, so they don't get any...but I tend to think that may be off. Why would it do that just to dogs? I grew up in the 60's I Question Authority. 
