Dixie Chicks

[vehve]

Interesting. Either Wilma laid two eggs today within an hour, or then I missed her egg from yesterday. But if she did lay yesterday, it had to be pretty late, and then this egg would have been about 18-19 hours from that. But the egg I fetched an hour ago felt warm too. Super freaky. Odd thing is, I think I did check the nests earlier this morning, but now I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Karin if she checked in the morning.

 

[Mahen100]

If she'd laid one late yesterday, after you collected, then sat on it and laid one shortly before you checked to find the two warm eggs,, that'd explain it. I do know they can lay more than one a day. I just read somewhere the record was three in one day.

 

[vehve]

I read 7 in a day I think, but still, I'd expect one of the eggs to be smaller if she would have laid two today. These were both normal though, 60 and 62 grams. The sitting on it and heating it up is more likely, but I think I did check the nests earlier. And Karin usually checks in the morning too. But maybe I'm wrong, it's so routine that I don't have a clear memory of doing it.

The snowfall has stopped, and all that fell on the grass melted, luckily. Here's the front yard, the back yard has even less snow.

 

[Mahen100]

A good rain would probably wash the rest of that snow away. We have more ice and snow predicted here Wednesday evening. Today a moist warm front is coming up from the gulf coast, and it will "soar" into the 60'sF, rain a couple of inches, then temps plunge into "wintry mix" for Wednesday. I am so very tired of that weather pattern.

I once had a dozen hens that laid through the winter. In the spring, I began giving eggs away to neighbors, having plenty. I had gotten a dozen eggs the day before, and had collected them and given them all away to a neighbor. That evening when I returned from work, I had nest boxes FULL of eggs. I had to get a giant bowl to collect them all. I was certain I had checked the nests at dusk the prior evening. I had twenty five eggs. I was convinced a neighbor had played a trick on me and returned eggs to the nest for a joke. Nope, she hadn't. For about a week, I never got that many again, but I was getting more eggs a day than I had chickens.

 

[vehve]

Now that's a nice surprise.

It started raining last night, and then it turned to snow for a couple of hours today, but it has melted a lot of the snow, I think we still had double that amount yesterday. I'd prefer a few days of sunshine though.

 

[NotAFarm]

Sprouts turned out to be a bust again, I don't know what to do anymore. The tower might need some more drain holes.

V, Here is a post I put on the fodder thread in answer to the question below. I will post a picture of my shelf system at the bottom

Nobody has any input on how they deal with keeping the mold at bay?

Key things for me were:

• sprouting a single kind of grain/seed, not mixtures of grain/seeds
• start with sterilized equipment and keep it that way between each use
• cleaning the seeds of debris that may hold moisture around the grain/seeds - I use a colander that has small slits/holes and shake the grain/seeds to sift out small particles - large stalk pieces and husks come to the top and I hand remove them
• rinse the grain/seed really well before soaking them
• when soaking lightweight debris floats and I remove it
• don't soak them too long - I soak wheat/barley/kamut for 4-5 hours and black oil sunflower seeds for 8 - rinsing when I think about it
• don't make the layer of grain/seeds too thick in your tray/container
• completely rinse the sprouts in the trays/container twice a day
• make sure you have lots of drainage in the bottom of whatever you are using for trays/containers
• I grow only during the winter in my house that has gas forced air heat so not a humid environment but if you have too much humidity that can be a problem
• we keep our temps inside at 65F at night and 68F when someone is home during the day but the sprouts are kept in the utility room with the furnace and hot water heater so probably around 70-72F most of the time

There are many people that sprout grain/seeds and you will probably find an equal amount of ways to accomplish the task. What works in one situation may or may not work somewhere else. Keep trying....eventually you will find what works for you!


This pic is from two years ago. I do not grow the greens this big any more....I feed them at the day three or four stage. Day one after soak on lower left, moving right day two and day three. shelf above left day four, day five and day six.

 

[NotAFarm]

Woot! Science is catching up with us wise coffee drinkers...."new research" (didn't say who sponsored the research) finds that those who drink 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day are much less likely to develop calcium deposits in arteries that leads to heart disease. So...drink up! I am.

That is great news!

 

[vehve]

NAF, thank's for the instructions. That's pretty much what I'm doing though. I think I would need a bunch of plastic colanders to do the growing in, the flat surface of my boxes isn't enough to drain them. Or then I should just take them out of the boxes and rinse in a colander properly every time. It's pretty high maintenance though. You've got some pretty rapid growth going there, I've only gotten to about 2 inches in five days. Since most of the snow has melted, there's not much point in sprouting anymore, they can eat green stuff straight from the lawn now. I would have been nice to get the sprouting to work though. I'm thinking a plastic grill or mesh on the bottom of the boxes could help, it would allow air to circulate under the grains.

 

[Outpost JWB]

That is great news!

I love this little guy! Our new coffee pot says 10 cups, but really

it's like micro cups or something! I made 2 pots this morning because I'm off work today. @Amberjem , response to your post yesterday, yes, I start bank job on Monday. Super excited. I went yesterday and dropped off I9 forms and all needed documentation to work in the US. LOL! Friday is my last day at Lowe's. Done by design to have the weekend off

. Yesterday I got my schedule for the next 4 weeks from new job, including going to another branch for 2 days, paid mileage and drive time, and FREE LUNCH! Yeah! My schedule has me scheduled off every Saturday (at least the 4 weeks) and of course I am off Sundays! I am totally looking forward to catching up on some much needed fishing this summer. I think that's one of the reasons DH married me.

I can bait my own hook & pull the fish off! I do love fishing. Last year we only went once because of work schedules. So, we have no fish in the freezer.

Let the roosters that are on death row out this morning and they would not move from their chicken tractor. They kept jumping onto the tire and back to the tractor area. Acting like they are allergic to snow. @vehve , I'll trade you yards! Ours is layers and layers of snow, ice, snow, ice, crunch, crunch, yuck!

 

[vehve]

JWB, I think you'd get the short end of the stick - our yard is pretty small.