Howdy to all you lovers of everything feathered and furry! It's been awhile, so I thought I'd drop by to let everyone know that I'm alive and well. There's been a lot of real-life stuff going on in my house over the past couple of months, so I've been a bit preoccupied. Things have finally smoothed out, but I still have tons of stuff to do. It's been quite awhile since I incubated any eggs, but I peek in on the thread every chance I get. I know I won't be incubating any more until the spring, so I thought I'd give an update on the birds I'll be using for breeding. They're still young, and they will go through a lot of changes between now and breeding season, so it'll be awhile before I can start picking out who will be bred, who won't be bred, and who will be bred with whom. Some of you may remember, I have two families of HRIR. I see potential in many of these birds, and I'm hoping to get a trio from each side. Quads would be nice, but I can raise a lot of babies even if I only have two decent pairs. They look a little rough around the edges right now since they're in the middle of molting, and the cockerels have hit a growth spurt that's made them slender. This intense southern heat isn't helping much, but I know they'll grow into their new bodies pretty soon. I'm really looking forward to see how they look as adults...
I've been doing a lot with my grandson lately.
Fishing....taught him to ride a bike.....took him to Fayette state park
(Google it....it's a cool old ghost town).....fishing again today.
And have a full schedule between today and Tuesday when he goes back home.
My Call duck eggs are coming along well
(The ones that actually started....still have too many clears)
I'll check back in soon.
It was so hot today, I did not achieve quite what I wanted to but thats how it usually works right?
Goat pen is almost ready, I need to stack wood in the wood shed yet, and make a door early in the morning.
The grooming table is done, this is before its painted
Lil Luke was so proud! This was the first I let him do all the measuring, cutting AND the assembly. Thank GOD for driver drill for weaklings like me and Luke, I wish I could have afforded one years ago oh wait we didnt have cordless crap back then!! DOH
I have a yoga mat for on the table after the paint dries.. Maybe trim dogs tomorrow
Thank you everyone!!! This being my first time incubating/hatching has been very stressful! And I'm sure I've done a dozen things wrong,besides making my own bator, but I am so happy that 2 have made it so far, and I'm trying to be patient on the other 5 (even the one that is day 23 today) I have a few more sleepless nights that's for sure! But watching my 2 little red fuzz balls make it all worth it
First time running this big ol girl. Making 1/4" deep cut across steel 5"x10". Made nice deep blue chips almost 4 " long, that burned right into skin and clothes. The chips sounded like keys hitting the floor. So love this mill!
My broody is done with her hatch. Started with 12 eggs, 1 got crushed and died, 1 missing completely (think a snake got it), the remaining 10 hatched. 9 are with broody mama and doing great, 1 in the house with me ... Praying it survives!
@BantyChooks
Good mornin', all you late risers. Hope your day starts off well and you accomplish all you want to.
Me, I'm heading out & fire up the screw gun & circular saw soon as I finish off this cup of coffee.
thanks J! Its much nicer painted and on the back porch!! for 7 2x4s its worth it Too bad I dont have hydraulics to lift the dogs up! I was thinking about just putting pulleys on the porch rafters and just hanging them
@h2oratt
Could you mount small pulleys on the top beam with cleats lower to anchor the dog? Maybe add a second pulley lower to make it even easier? Cleat on the side maybe? I didnt want the pulleys, I used hooks, and for what reason they make hooks weird these days I will never figure out, couldnt even get a screwdriver to twist them in... look how dumb they are! I have two hooks up top and I may do a pull out drawer with a plastic container for tools, I will use plastic heavy duty chain with part of dog leads on and a pipe insulated strand to go under belly.
with this type of simple drawer on small scale of course lol
these are the new type hooks
do you know its ALL they had!! shaped like this!!
We see those type of hooks, but still have the other type available too. Use hooks for the rope on my pop up doors and hang chain for waterers. Use a closed wrench to turn em in, works great. Put closed end on the stem so it catches end of hook and wa-lah , turns with some effort but doable. I was checking out the simple little cheap washline ones, but I really want to be able to connect disconnect if I am doing certain areas and I think a chain and clip will be much quicker, but time will tell
Hope it works for you! You have a great mind for building things as it is. Just thought a pulley would help lighten a few of the larger ones for you. It can't be easy to hold a dog up there and secure them in. My dog needed muzzled before putting her in sling, so she no longer goes to a groomer. We do it ourselves on a table or tail gate. Fiesty 11 yrs old Cairn who is going blind, poor girl.
My dogs listen pretty good, its not a fight unless I am trimming feet so securing them wont be an issue, goats I may end up using milk stand. not sure.
My side is death. 
Stuffed animal.
You caught me. Mornin MC
