Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[SegiDream]

If you post a few pics of "her" - a full body profile that shows shape and feathering, a good heat shot (full on and profile, if possible,) and one of her feet - I'm sure we can help you solve the mystery. If not, we'll all be in on the ultimate reveal (an egg or a crow) together. We LOVE a good mystery ... but mostly we just love PICTURES!

I posted about this one once and was informed definitely a pullet. I lean towards pullet too stance seems like a hen most of the time and the legs are thinner, it's just the coloration makes me wonder and the tail. Definitely has a dominant personality (not a meanie). Age is about 8 weeks now. Please excuse the poo it's time for a cleanout... and no cover for the feeder yet.

Edited to add this is supposed to be a dark brahma maybe pullet which came from TSC.

Bottom right corner I'm pretty confident he is a cockerel. Vert gawky gangly looking right now...

And the photo bomber:

And my buff laced pullet with the photo bomber again:

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Migraines!? Ugh!
My trigrrs? Sun light, murcery vapor lights, florescent lights. Driving toward the sunrise/set... Ohhhhhhhh boy these can be so harsh.. I have very light sensitive eyes too.

Yeah, migraines just suck. Period.

Haha. I was gluten free for a year, before it became so widespread and before there were so many gluten free labeled options available in the store. My mom is gluten free now and she complains about variety or not being able to find stuff sometimes and I just look at her. Like back in the day the only things I could ever find was gluten free frozen bread and red mill baking products, everything else I had to research and stick with those brands & products.

I have multiple autoimmune diseases, migraines are truly evil but just one of many nuisances that pop up. Speaking of triggers mine are usually triggered by weather changes but light and temperature fluctuations also do it too.

In other news, we let the chickens out of the run to "free range" the fenced backyard for the first time yesterday evening it was awesome! They were totally entertained. One followed me all around the yard and loves to be picked up so looks like I have at least one spoiled rotten chicken fan. I really hope she is a pullet and not a cockerel *fingers crossed*. I haven't seen any pics of dark brahma pullets that look quite like this one, I'm hoping it's just a poor TSC hatchery quality issue...

We've had to be gluten free since buck was a calf. My kiddo is a celiac. Back when we started (I'm also gluten free) there were no products, like you said...I might have been lucky to find one frozen bread. But as you know one might as well have been eating cardboard. Awful stuff! Just nasty.
Because my kiddo also has life threatening allergies I decided to just start from scratch and learn how to make everything. Like literally. And grow/raise nearly everything too.
Now I can claim to be a (self appointed) gluten free baking goddess, but it's taken me a while to get there. I can make stuff that will fool anyone who doesn't know it's gluten free.

lol pictures of what? Me with haphazard hair and a chicken on my shoulder while I'm saying oh god please don't poo on me?

Yes. Those.

My Amazing Graduate. I am SOOOOO Proud of this young lady!

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You should be proud, what a beautiful young woman!!
May to go Momma, you did a great job.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Even though I'm not on here often, I do think of you all. I hope all are well!
I can never fully catch up on all of the posts. LOL I try, but I miss so many pages of convos.

In chicken/duck news three out of five of my ducks are drakes :-/ so I will be rehoming them. Both of my Blue Swedish are drakes, and one of my three Cayuga's is a drake.

I had two known roos, and today I discovered that one of my favorite chickens (EE the one in my profile pic), that I thought was a pullet, is in fact a roo. I vowed to keep that one regardless, but I was hoping he/she would be a hen.
With the older ones (3.5 months old) and the babies, I have 47 chickens total. Four known roo's, one more possible roo. Plus who knows if/how many more will turn out to be roos. I have some Russian Orloff's and a few others that are going to be hard to tell until they lay eggs or start crowing. (Which is how I found out my EE was a roo. LOL

I will be giving a few pullets to a neighbor down the street who lost her barn in a fire recently, that killed most of her chickens, her barn cat, and she lost all of her horse feed, her tractor, and a truck, along with all of her and her daughter's horse tack.
I gave her some leftover tack that I had from my Dad. I inherited his property, and I still have some remaining tack from the estate sale.

The weather here (eastern WA, I'm east of Spokane) has been crazy. The past two days have been mid to high 80's and humid (usually pretty dry here, then last night we had a major thunder/lightening storm roll in (central WA was to get it worst). I haven't seen t-storms that big since I was in Colorado, 18 years ago. There were some pretty big rumbles, some I waited to see if it was actually a quake. At least the downpour all night prevented fires, as far as I know.
Today's high is supposed to be 64, with intermittent showers, and still windy.

I have been wondering if I could keep one of the drakes. Do any of you successfully keep a drake with a large chicken flock? Do the roosters keep the drake in line and away from the hens, or is it a bad idea to even consider?
I'd love the idea of hatching some ducklings with my two hens. If it's not a good idea, I won't, but if it's possible, I'd be happy to keep one of the drakes. So far everyone is doing pretty good together, but I know for sure I won't be keeping all three drakes.

I suppose I should do something productive. This week is split days off, so I have a lot to do in one day.

I used to keep all my birds together- chickens, ducks (with a drake) and turkeys. All were housed in the same space at night and fed together, but I did have plenty of outdoor space. However my tom turkey and the drake used to argue over who was king of the yard, especially in the spring and early summer. The hens/females all got along and one time even this happened- (all 3 egg types are under there!)

 

[NWHeather]

Obviously haven't started being productive yet LOL

I did strict Paleo for several years back when I was active in CrossFit (yes, I drank the koolaide, until I injured my shoulder). I still think CF is a good program, if done smart. Many don't make sure to take rest days, they push themselves too much, to the point of injury. I learned that the hard way.
I have not been so good in the past few years.
I felt so much better being GF. I could tell whenever I ate anything with gluten in it. I do not have celiacs, but it does have a negative affect on me. I later came back as having a gluten sensitivity when I did one of the DNA tests.

Some of my coworkers have decided to do a 30 day challenge at work, and I am going to join in. We're going to each put into a pool, and the person who loses the most weight after 30 days wins the pool. We start on Wednesday.
I turn 50 July 8th, and this is good motivation for me to try and drop some weight before that milestone.
I was in such good shape 10 years ago! After I hurt my shoulder in CF, I couldn't do most of the CF workouts, so I got into TKD for a couple years, until I injured my knee. A little while later, I herniated 2 discs, lifting stuff without having the core strength I used to have.
One of the Drs I went to put me on high dose gabapentin for over a year, and I gained 60 lbs, and on top of that, I was still in a high stress sedentary job (emergency dispatch), so I continued to gain weight.

After I moved to eastern WA, and changed careers, I now walk around all day, and dropped 15lbs the first month. Then my body plateaued and I haven't lost any more.
I'm pretty active both at work and with all the work on my new farm, but I need to get back to clean eating and start using weights again. I want to start doing yoga/stretching, but I have to finish unpacking/organizing the boxes in my living room so I have space to do it. LOL
My goal is to lose 50-60 lbs ideally.

Approaching my 50th birthday has weighed on my mind recently, especially being so overweight. My Dad's side of the family has a history of heart problems, and I know I need to take charge of my health soon. My sister got tested, and I need to, once I can get into a Dr.
It did give me a spark of happiness when I was carded for alcohol last night though

 

[NWHeather]

I used to keep all my birds together- chickens, ducks (with a drake) and turkeys. All were housed in the same space at night and fed together, but I did have plenty of outdoor space. However my tom turkey and the drake used to argue over who was king of the yard, especially in the spring and early summer. The hens/females all got along and one time even this happened- (all 3 egg types are under there!)


View attachment 2170319

"Used to", does that mean you no longer do? Is that because of the tom and drake?
I don't have any turkeys, and don't plan on getting any.
Do you think if everyone remains pretty neutral it could work?
They have a 20 x 8 ft coop and will have a large outdoor enclosure once I get it finished.
I have 2.5 acres, and might let them free range at some point.

 

[Sequel]

There are unfortunate dark sides to that coin. The selfish, self centered Manic, depressive type people, who thrive on others like us, without a hint of gratitude, or understanding.

Some people believe that no good deed should go unpunished!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

@NWHeather
Goodness...you need bubble wrap!

(Kidding! I've been very hard on my body too and am a gimpy scar covered mess)

Dispatch **shudders** I only did it as fill in for when someone was out sick, but yeah....
Hats off to you for that and I'm glad you have a job that is more active now, and hopefully less stressful.

 

[SegiDream]

Yeah, migraines just suck. Period.

We've had to be gluten free since buck was a calf. My kiddo is a celiac. Back when we started (I'm also gluten free) there were no products, like you said...I might have been lucky to find one frozen bread. But as you know one might as well have been eating cardboard. Awful stuff! Just nasty.
Because my kiddo also has life threatening allergies I decided to just start from scratch and learn how to make everything. Like literally. And grow/raise nearly everything too.
Now I can claim to be a (self appointed) gluten free baking goddess, but it's taken me a while to get there. I can make stuff that will fool anyone who doesn't know it's gluten free.

Yes. Those.


You should be proud, what a beautiful young woman!!
May to go Momma, you did a great job.

My hats off to you! Food allergies are terrible and thankfully we have not had to deal with that. DH is the cook in the family and we learned how to cook without gluten, baking was a whole nother ball game though! And you're right most of that gluten free bread was terrible, dry crumbly and bland yuck. I'm probably also celiac or at least gluten sensitive, I tried to get tested for it years ago but the doctor I saw didn't even have a clue what tests to run. So I went gluten free for a year it did resolve some issues but not all and that's how I figured out other things must be going on too.

I'm working on my first real attempt at a garden so hopefully I can join the ranks of those who grow their own food not only chickens who lay eggs but veggies too lol!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

"Used to", does that mean you no longer do? Is that because of the tom and drake?
I don't have any turkeys, and don't plan on getting any.
Do you think if everyone remains pretty neutral it could work?
They have a 20 x 8 ft coop and will have a large outdoor enclosure once I get it finished.
I have 2.5 acres, and might let them free range at some point.

Used to because my turkeys lived out their lives to 8 (very old for turkeys) and after selling that farm and moving here (recent change) I haven't got the same set up, or good fencing for a large mixed flock. Yet.
I'd love to have them again! If you get the right breed they are like big feathered puppies. One of my hens would follow me all over the place whenever I was working around the barnyard and steal stuff out of my pockets. I really miss her and my tom who was wonderful!

The ducks would probably take off down the creek here. I have a year round creek but no way to fence it off well (bird proof) because the water levels are constantly changing with the weather.

I do think it could work fine for you, honestly. Having said that though, mine were muscovies, which are usually pretty laid back kind of ducks. My first coop was 8 x 8 and the second, more often used coop, was 14 x 8 maybe. There was also the main barn which is where the moms would go broody.

 

[NWHeather]

Goodness...you need bubble wrap!

(Kidding! I've been very hard on my body too and am a gimpy scar covered mess)

Dispatch **shudders** I only did it as fill in for when someone was out sick, but yeah....
Hats off to you for that and I'm glad you have a job that is more active now, and hopefully less stressful.

LOL I'm not sure bubble wrap would have prevented the injuries.

Thank you! I loved emergency dispatch, and have no regrets. (I was a Firefighter/EMT for a few years prior). During the last few years, I knew it was taking it's toll on me. I had hit burnout, but I had to hang in, until I could get moved over to my Dad's property. It was the light at the end of the tunnel for me.
I was in the hiring process for a small center in Idaho, but I was stressed through the whole process, so I made the decision to change my path. It was the best decision I could make.
Eighteen years in dispatch was long enough for me. LOL
I really enjoy what I do now, and I don't know if it will be long term, but at this point I have no plans to do anything else.