Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

@RoyalChick ~ TY for synopsis! Your tech savvy job is better than this old lady could ever do

 

[Sylvester017]

We are actually almost on a fault line! I was so asleep I didn't feel it, haha

The whole earth is a giant fault line!
https://map.motivasi.my.id/

 

[Sylvester017]

This was Ruth with her frog

That was great for a good belly laugh! They love to run w/a catch to flaunt it in front of other chickens so a fun chase ensues

 

[Sylvester017]

Prayers for my best friend neighbor. Was sent to hospital today. She had blackouts and called me instead of calling emergency. I believe I saved another life today.

We can't save the world, but we can always help at least one person at a time

 

[TOMTE]

The guts of hornworms are so dark green-black that a squashed worm will stain cement. One worm alone can destroy a single giant tomato plant & fruit if not removed early & those horny little devils blend w/ tomato leaves so well you can't see them! The tomato plants need to be bird-netted to keep the giant moth from getting to the young leaves to lay her larvae. The plants we netted were free of hornworms but the un-netted plants were found w/a hornworm in each plant. You know you have a hornworm when you find little round black turds around the base of a plant, then start searching the plant for a baby worm before it eats itself into a thumb-sized hornworm!
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Lucky for us, we have a natural solution! Parasitic wasps such as the Braconidae lay their eggs inside the young caterpillars, which then hatch and eat the caterpillar from the inside but keep it alive by avoiding essential organs... So the caterpillar continues to feed and grow (though I've noticed, at a significantly slower rate compared to a non-parisitized caterpillar)... Until the wasp larvae emerge to pupate on the surface of the caterpillar. At that point the caterpillar has climbed up the plant as high as it can and gone into a paralyzed state and it eventually dies.

This is what that looks like.

If you see that^ on your plants, leave it! Let the wasp larvae pupate and "hatch" out to produce another generation of hornworm (and other pests) killers!

There was a boom in hornworms a few summers back, and consequently, the next couple years after that there was a boom in braconid wasps. This past summer there were barely any hornworms on the tomato plants (though I'm sure the chickens are partially to thank for that).

Other wasps, hornets, spiders, assassin bugs, etc. also feed directly on the caterpillars or feed them to their young. Birds too. I find that letting nature do its thing works best. With supplemental hand-plucking and SAFE alternatives to chemical pesticides (like DE and neem oil and the netting you mentioned) when necessary.

 

[LhickenChicken]

This was Ruth with her frog

I am so glad I wasn't that frog!

 

[Sylvester017]

Jeez— I have a phobia of whales and this sure doesn't help

I love them but they scare me because of their size. And because things like this can (rarely) happen and there's not really much you can do about it

I don't like the ocean...period! Salty, gritty sand-filled shores or very rocky, stinging jellyfish or pinching smelly shellfish, huge waves, horrible storms causing sinking ships or seasickness, tidal waves, giant whales, swordfish, sailfish, food-stealing seals, gulls, pelicans ~ the only decent sea creature sometimes are the dolphins & even that rarely. Nope, I'm a landlubber!

 

[Sylvester017]

Yes you are correct. I know one thing for sure, if I had any unwanted cockerels my Grandmother would have had them in the freezer fast! According to Mum, Grandma had one of Mum's 'pet' chickens for supper and Mum wouldn't eat it.

Mum used to have three she called Dick, Jane, and Sally (those of us older enough will know these primers youngsters read in school - maybe...?), she would put them in the stroller and push them around hahaha.

I guess I need to get a Dick and Jane, had a horse called Sally, not sure I want a chook called that just yet.

I REMEMBER ~ & SPOT too

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry. Didn’t mean to trigger. I just thought it was a pretty amazing story.

It is amazing anytime someone survives disaster ~ it was a miracle for this one young guy. For myself ~ I stay out of oceans, rivers, or lakes. That's just me.

 

[Sylvester017]

Beach day as a kid ~ hated it.
c.1946