Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[ronott1]

Learned a lesson to share tonight:

Don't drop the flashlight when you're out in the chicken coop after dark.... Yes it turned off and I was left standing there in the dark and I no didn't find it when crouched down and started patting around on the ground looking for it. DH rescued me... He came down to see how I was doing sorting chickens and boy did he get a laugh when he found me stuck in the darkness with no light!

Silly chicken lady...

That is why I use a head lamp.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Learned a lesson to share tonight:

Don't drop the flashlight when you're out in the chicken coop after dark.... Yes it turned off and I was left standing there in the dark and I no didn't find it when crouched down and started patting around on the ground looking for it. DH rescued me... He came down to see how I was doing sorting chickens and boy did he get a laugh when he found me stuck in the darkness with no light!

Silly chicken lady...

Haha! I can't tell you how many times I've done that! Searching for it in the dark on the chicken coop floor can be pretty gross!

My latest mishap was dropping my flashlight into my bucket of water that I was collecting! What an oaf! I think I must have dropped it again somewhere because that's the last time I remember having it! Can't find the durned thing!

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

She was good friends with Haley who was my oldest sheep (born 1998)...the both of them (Haley on left, Looker on right) would slowly go out to pasture...I guess now they are both out to pasture but bounding about because their bodies are young again!


We lost Haley last July. She had the sweetest of smiley faces.

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Looker and her were friends and I suppose it was a bit lonely for Looker without Haley--good girlfriends.

Looker was born May 19, 2001...so she had a loooong good life for a sheep.

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Fixins joined us and we all said goodbye for the final time.

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Was a good thing for it to happen when it did and that is strange to say, isn't it?

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Buried her up by the three king trees that mark our graveyard--three poplar trees. The leaves are changing and it is getting on towards winter time.

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Might sound morbid but Rick dug two more holes...out by the one tree stump there that use to be a nest for the local wild wood ducks. It is a nice place...a most restful place. Rest in peace Looker.

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Another small hatch of chickens hatched over the weekend...more Chanteclers and a Booted in White.

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Rick made a trip to one of the local wood sawmills and brought home some more planks for the roof support on the Parking Building this past weekend.

Chore dogs were in attendance as always. Not sure the humans could do much of anything without them.

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At first Fixins had her outside dog bed put on top of a tarp to keep the bed drier...but there was yet another improvement in the makings...

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Rick put Fixins' bed on a small wooden pallet...an elevated sleeping arrangement for the retired Warrior Princess. Princess and the Pea...yeh...that bed time story seems to prevail here. She is quite finicky about the whole dog bed thingy...???

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Another portion of the wall built. This one will have an overhead hanging door that slides open for firewood transporting.

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Fixins and Foamy on the job site; two dog dog inspectors!

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Makes me laugh as tarp water is always viewed as the best kind of water EVER by dogs...tarp water...really??

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I got to bring some field stone from the Ram Pasture to help out a bit with the project...

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Used the rock to add fill around the end of the wall for more "ground" support.

Last piece of back wall awaiting the door to be constructed. Note how tired out Fixins is now!
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Quote:

BTW, is the earlobe not suppose to be much whiter in this breed??

To be perfectly honest, this male is not really doing too much for me as even his "comb" has my nickers in a knot (

)....not MY bird though, so like yeh...


ABA SOP for Blue Plumage in chickens:

Just our luck...them FTD's again! ​

Catch the potential FAULT in this Black hen...she has NO white flights...none... She's got her white bib but NO white in the wing a dings! Shape, size and temperament wise she is not half bad...one can potentially use her maybe for self Chocolates or even Blacks since white bib is a simple recessive...bred to a male Chocolate drake with NO bib...only half the progeny would statistically have the genetics for a white bib plus chocolate is gender linked...all the Choco ducklings would be females & all the pure for Black ducklings would be males!

ABA SOP for Blue in Call Ducks:
BODY PLUMAGE: Uniform bluish slate except for the back which is shaded with darker blue on each feather.

Barn fresh - back of a blue Call​

Besides things like environment, feed, hormones, sun exposure, age of the feather, etc. to affect colour and feather qualities...the kind of black in poultry feathers may be attributed to many factors. Autosomal red, impure male as in gold and Silver...wrong type of recessive blacks...many things may make or break a Black...even the black pigment used to be diluted to make Blues HAS to be the right kind of black.


Dr. Carefoot talks about the selection process of the correct blacks (page 19). Got that copy of his book out, now go to page 137 where he talks about his beloved Plymouth Rocks in Barred..."ghost barred with purplish blue bars interspacing those of beetle-green. These are not to be confused with the purple barring often seen in self black breeds; they are true bars of equal width to those which are beetle-green."

He is even instructing us to choose a blue black to make the white bars as white as possible (ever notice how white with a touch of blue is vividly white? Think old time laundry additives like blueing to make the whitest of whites!)...yeh...the colour of the sheen is most important in poultry and the correct black (to be diluted to the blue with an edging for laced blues) has to be selected for!


Now all things said...there is the possibility that a green sheened tailed Black male with lacing could make up perfectly proper Laced Blues--pending how well he nicks with the girls (and the girls he is bred to could make all the difference on how the offspring turn out, right?). I do not want to offend anyone so can only speak for myself here...

I would probably be too chicken myself to attempt it and therefore I would go off on a wild goose (or is that gander?) chase to find a navy blue sheened male, but that is just moi. Each to their own and all the blessings of good luck and much fortune...because there is just no telling the possibilities that can happen. Try and fail, but keep on a trying and one may succeed despite all the nay sayers!

I gave up on our first line of Silver Pencilled Bantam Brahmas...15 years ago had lightening bolds for pencils. Told Rick there was not enough years left in me to fix lightening bolts--so there...I am a quitter when I see the task is too long and drawn out...not meant for me to do! So we hunted and found the line we have now and I got to play with already pencilly Brahma chickens for the past 15 years addressing other things I wanted to make improvements (my opinions at least!) on. Thing about markings on feathers...takes one generation to louse up decades of work. ONE generation...agh!

Splash drake​

What is my saving grace is that I know these Splash ducks came outta well Laced Blues...so I can go back to the parent stock (the potential grandparents of the breeding I am pondering) and SEE that these Splash would likely have the correct edging colours I am hoping to achieve in Blue Laced progeny.

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Now if I had this Splash hen (photos above and below)...looking only at her colour with no history on where she came from...yeh, blah! She has a few scattered darker edged feathers but nothing like I would want to see in a decently Laced Blue duck.

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Lacy Blues said:
Tara, (just as an aside) do you know if a black bird grows feathers really fast or slower? The blue and splash birds, are they faster or slower? I wonder this because I can breed black birds that have really good feather quality and width but the blue birds tend to have narrow feathers.

As far as speed...I do know that black pigments are produced faster and put in the feather quicker than red pigments.

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MDF Booted Vulture Hocks (wanted in this breed)...see the white no pigment, then the black and then finally how the "red" pigment is slowest to be turned on when the feather is told to do pigments. How I remember which colour pigment is fastest.

Feather growth speed...width, texture, pattern expression...HUGE HUGE topic. Once again, I will direct you to a book by Sigrid, this time her extremes edition...she has an ENTIRE chapter on feathers...hard versus soft feathers....fray, frizzle, naked neck, featherless/scaleless, silkie/hookless, wing patch and shredder, henny, ragged, matted or ropy or even stringy down, sticky feathers, woolly, sunsuit, wiry, ragged wing, long philoplumes, feather growth, sex linked slow feathering, nakedness, tardy feather growth, and feather distribution...you tired yet...I am from typing out just the sub headings to the chapter...LOL

As far as I understand...feather growth and shape, etc. is dictated by tons of differing genetics (past other influences that are not genetic!)...fast feathering and slow feathering can even be gender linked and used to sex day old poultry. HUGE topic. What is our saving grace though...make it very simple...take birds you LIKE and breed them together to compliment each other AND produce more of what you LIKE. Simple solution...select what you want and breed more from the same. "Like begets like."


Not sure why your Blue birds don't have the feather type you like...so cross the Blacks in for the feather type you do like. So long as the Blacks come outta a line of Blue Laced birds...they should have all the genetics for good lacing you like, even if hidden from view.


I do know that the strongest feathers are feathers with NO pigment and why the Australian Black Swan has white primaries...not black feathers. They may not migrate like other swans do...but they still fly and white feathers are the strongest ones, well suited for flight...colour wise (or NO colour since it is NO pigment = white!).

Strong white feathers to fly with!​

The male and female's chest feathers in the drawing appear the same...where the male differs in feather hardness/softness...is where we are less able to see any lacing exhibited--less contrast to show them laces off!

Getting the lacing on a firmer feather...not more difficult to get the actual lacing/edging on it than on a softer feather. Now by the very colour that blue dilution is able to express in a firm feather...there could be more difficulty in SEEING a dark coloured lace/edging on a firmer feather because the part that should be diluted to a lighter blue to highlight the darker lacing better is not as light as on a softer feather. So blue dilution on a firm feather like the saddle of the male above would not show off the dark edged lacing as well as the cushion feathers on the above female (softer cushion feathers = better dilution of the black to a lighter blue colour shade). It is all about contrast and the most vivid of all contrast has to be the colour extremes of black versus white...a slaty greyed blue with a navy blue edge...OK...a dark blue ground colour with a dark navy blue edge...not visible so much now is it?

I feel very much like a dog chasing its tail here. Round and round and the more I gnash and hash this over...the more my tail hurts & the dizzier and more ditzy I feel I am! LOL

Quote:
Originally Posted by scottcaddy

Tara,
That Carol Burnett link just killed most of an hour and I can see more time wasted watching more clips later.
Thanks Much!!
BTW thanks for the Blue Call lesson, is it the same for chicks?
Scott

So Scott...you killed "most of an hour?" Laughing I hope...not wondering why anyone would find that group of Carol's funny...right?

Tim Conway was my fav of all...and when they did that skit with Tim as Mr. Tudball and Carol as his secretary (Mrs. Wiggins--he says HHHHwiggins!)...I just lost it. Now I never even knew I would take the surname Higgins at the time but you can only imagine how much fun my younger sister had when she heard I was dating a fellow named HIGGINS...yeh...I got ribbed endlessly and asked if I was going to grow out my nails...I do chew gum...and wear a blond wig! It has been forever since I have seen an episode but I seem to recall something about pencil sharpening bring me to utter mirthful tears of hilarity (the Black Sea?)...enjoy Scott! Very slap stick and be careful where you view these as they may make you giddy in a place you might not suppose to be laughing!

http://wn.com/the_carol_burnett_show__mrs_wiggins'_lunch_date_with_rock_hudson_part_2

Again, I don't watch videos on the Net but this is one of the skits...there are tons and each one...has the ability to make me laugh so hard I tear up...not good to witness...

Some definitions & tips from the SOP on lacing and on blue.

Blue x Splash Parents (see, I used a drake this time...this match made in heaven might work?)​

results in progeny (offspring, the kids) percentages of​

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Two Blues (50%) and two Splash (50%) ​

Then we have the last blue dilution type breeding...

X ​

Blue x Black Parents (two girls again!)​

results in progeny (offspring, the kids) percentages of​

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Two Blues (50%) and two Blacks (50%) ​

Quote:
Originally Posted by Northie

Learned a lesson to share tonight:

Don't drop the flashlight when you're out in the chicken coop after dark.... Yes it turned off and I was left standing there in the dark and I no didn't find it when crouched down and started patting around on the ground looking for it. DH rescued me... He came down to see how I was doing sorting chickens and boy did he get a laugh when he found me stuck in the darkness with no light!

Silly chicken lady...

So sweet to be rescued...love your story!

No flashlights or head lamps for moi. Rick has installed motion lights and those go POOF and blind me...still might find me down on the ground but just from the "surprise!"

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I would like to further investigate solar motion lights...that I think has been invented now but not sure on price and how bright and therefore useful they are!

OK>>>just did a quick search on the Net and yeh...even come in LED now...about $50 each and solar AND LED...now that is purdy nifty. If our need replacing...there's a great plan!



Made spaghetti sauce yesterday and using that sauce to make lasagne tonight; comfort food as it is a drizzle day today!

Higgins Lasagne
In a large fry pan put:

Fry pan mixture
Hamburger - coupla pounds, brown up & drain fat off (this time I used two pounds HB and no stew beef!)
one pound Stew Beef in small chunks

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Put meat in crock pot.


1 - 2 cups sliced mushrooms (this time two kinds, white and brown) or canned sliced mushrooms (put drained juice in crock pot mixture)
1 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
one large or two small onions sliced & diced (used five garden ones this time!)
one celery center sliced & diced
one red and green (if you likes those) pepper cored, sliced & diced

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Add this mixture to fry pan and cook until onions are clear.

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Put in crock pot along with the meat and put on low setting with lid on.

Add to the mixture...

Crockpot mixture
two 28 oz. cans of chopped tomatoes
two cans tomato soup
(optional, did not use this round) two carrots peeled & grated
fresh tomatoes (used roma and reg ones) diced up
one bottla beer (if you wanna, adds a nice flavour)

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Cook in crockpot all day and serve on cooked spaghetti with garlic toast. What we had last night!

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Cookin' in the crock pot...​

Spaghetti din and garlic toast last night ​

LASAGNE
Today I will cook up the...<<drum roll num>>

Lasagne noodles - about 9 or so pending on the pan you wanna make the lasagne in...you want noodles to make three layers.
Cook as per package but add 1 tsp oil to water. Drain, rinse in cold water and put in fridge to wait for sauce to cook.

Cottage cheese - 750 grams

Grated Mozarella cheese - 4 to 5 cups or so...LOTS!

Take the sauce and in a long pan, put some grated cheese, some sauce down, do a layer of lasagne noodles, then sauce, noodles, then cottage cheese layer, then noodle layer, then sauce and a whole buncha grated Moz cheese for the top.

Bake in the oven at low heat (about 350 F or so) for an hour (long enough to do night chores) or until top is browned up, bubble and delish.

Pending how hungry your crew is, you can add a nice green salad and a loaf of garlic toast (for dipping, first night lasagne is more drippy but sets up by the next day, but only IF you made enough for two days).

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Really pleased with how well the pasture I seeded is growing...

Even some alfalfa in there!




Bit patchy but next spring...will be delicious for the ruminants to munch upon​

So I continue to do the Fall things...no, not fall down but close!

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Here's me multi tasking with one of the carts...water hose to go to shed...dog food to go to Foamy...extra windboards to go down to be stored away...and way in the background thar...Rick's leaf blower, on stand by for tidying up all the falling leaves.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Lacy Blues]

Heel low:

Cinnamon buns turned out fab...all gone too...a baker's dozen and SLURPED up quickly, eh!

YUM YUM!


There is a very good definition in the ABA (American BANTAM Association) SOP regarding Blues...there are many types of BLACK in poultry from lustrous to dull, with the lustrous black that has a sheen that is green, blue, brown, purple...yeh...black is black but complex too!

Correct me if I am wrong but as far as I know, the Andalusian Blue edging on the feathers is suppose to be a BLUE black. Colour of the Female... "sharply laced with bluish black" "lustrous bluish black" ...

Typing directly from the standard: male head: glossy black; female head: bluish slate; male hackle: even shade of clear bluish slate distinctly laced with glossy black; female: same except that the black is not glossy. Front of neck on both to match the breast. Male and female back and saddle: same as hackle. Male and female main tail including main and lesser sickles and covers same as hackle. Wings on both clear bluish slate distinctly laced with black, no gloss required on male wings at this point. Male and female breast: clear bluish slate with a distinct lacing of black. Body, fluff and legs the same... clear bluish slate distinctly laced with black.

Issue that is leaping to my attentions...I am seeing with the Black roo...wrong "black" for an Andalusian BLUE! His tail feathers have a beetle green sheen...not what they should be! Needs to be blue (some even go so far as to call this edging/lacing DARK NAVY BLUE as I am posting text below from Australia!), the lacing is a blue black!

Yep, this male is hatchery bred, there may be some minorca in the mix and I don't like him either. I only showed him because it was a handy picture of a black bird that showed lacing. If you breed two black andalusians together for some time, you can get a beetle green sheen on them. It's beautiful but it's not "glossy." Glossy would be a white shine on the black feather or portion of the feather.

By David Plant
http://www.rosecombs.ca/rose_blue.html:

BTW, is the earlobe not suppose to be much whiter in this breed??

Yes, the earlobe should be whiter, which could happen with maturity. This bird was pretty young in this photo.

To be perfectly honest, this male is not really doing too much for me as even his "comb" has my nickers in a knot (

)....not MY bird though, so like yeh...

Can't blame you for that.



Yes, your bird DOES show off some nice blue lacing! Lucky you...nice blue colour with a dark lacing!

Since I mostly try for Laced Blue ducks...the Splashes I am getting are not exactly exhibiting ALL the colour or consistency of the lacing I can expect and would want on the Blues. I am looking for a distinct properly coloured lacing throughout the bird (the expression varies on different parts of the bird!)...I cannot judge how lacing will be expressed on the entire bird when the parent is a Splash (or a Black for that matter!). Even in your Splash chicken...you may judge the leaked thru Blue Laced feathers, but you get a more rounded and full judgment on a Blue Laced than on a Black or Splash, even from Blued Laced lines!

Yes, I have gotten my blues too dark over the years and in talking with some well-versed blue breeders, I have found that I need to use well-laced splash birds together with my well-laced too dark birds to lighten them up and keep the good lacing. I do have some well laced blues, I was just showing the black and splashed as that is what you were talking about at the time. I was showing how to find lacing in the black and splashed birds.


Not sure why your Blue birds don't have the feather type you like...so cross the Blacks in for the feather type you do like. So long as the Blacks come outta a line of Blue Laced birds...they should have all the genetics for good lacing you like, even if hidden from view.

Some do. I'm noticing this on one bird in particular, that she is growing in some nice wide feathers with her molt. I'll have to show pics of before and now. In checking real quick though, I may have to go back a bit in my files. I thought I remembered having thin feathers on this particular girl but a cursory search showed that last year she had nice wide feathers too. Maybe it was the year before. I'll have to search to see if I can find when she was younger. I'll show it if I can find it.






Let me ensure you have this correct...blue dilution, the diluting part...works better in soft feathers. The harder or firmer feathers do not dilute (get lighter from a black to the grey) as well as soft feathers. Explains why the firmer male feathers on a bird are much darker than the females express in their softer feathers. Soft feathers are diluted or oxidized better by blue dilution...therefore are diluted more than firm or hard feathers.

Take a hackle feather and bend it...you will see the harder feathers have the webs on the feather sticks right out...the softer the feather, the more the web sticks together and is not all separated. That's an oldtimer poultry person's trick or even a fly tyer's trick for judging how stiff or firm a hackle (or saddle or whatever feather they are evaluating) feather is. Old time poultry masters also bend feathers in half to judge how much down is on the chicken feather...in the APA SOP...have a gander at the diagrams of feathers from varieties...lots to learn from those black and white plates my Dear!

I never said the "lacing" was more difficult or easier to get pending softness or firmness of a feather...what I need to clarify is that the blue diluter does not work as well on firmer feathers. A soft feather will dilute and a harder feather will stay darker to the wants and ways of blue dilution.

See here below...the hackle, saddle, wing bows, and tail feathers of the male are harder than the females...and therefore are DARKER and less diluted by blue dilution. Blue dilution does not work at diluting firmer or harder feathers as efficiently as softer feathers. The girls have softer feathers thus they have more insulative feathers...simply to therefore make eggs more efficiently than wasting efforts trying to maintain a steady body temperature...less food wasted on keeping proper body temperature...plus the hormones of females are not as prone to making HARD feathers...lots of things in play here like she is the setty hen (even in non-setting breeds!) that will brood chicks so needs softy downy coverings to do just that.

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The male and female's chest feathers in the drawing appear the same...where the male differs in feather hardness/softness...is where we are less able to see any lacing exhibited--less contrast to show them laces off!

Getting the lacing on a firmer feather...not more difficult to get the actual lacing/edging on it than on a softer feather. Now by the very colour that blue dilution is able to express in a firm feather...there could be more difficulty in SEEING a dark coloured lace/edging on a firmer feather because the part that should be diluted to a lighter blue to highlight the darker lacing better is not as light as on a softer feather. So blue dilution on a firm feather like the saddle of the male above would not show off the dark edged lacing as well as the cushion feathers on the above female (softer cushion feathers = better dilution of the black to a lighter blue colour shade). It is all about contrast and the most vivid of all contrast has to be the colour extremes of black versus white...a slaty greyed blue with a navy blue edge...OK...a dark blue ground colour with a dark navy blue edge...not visible so much now is it?

I feel very much like a dog chasing its tail here. Round and round and the more I gnash and hash this over...the more my tail hurts & the dizzier and more ditzy I feel I am! LOL

Here is a picture of an Australian bred Andalusian. I have a "mate" over there who has birds from this line and he/they are a sight to behold.

STUNNING, yes?

I think the only improvement needed on the male is lacing on the tail feathers.

This is my goal!

 

[drumstick diva]

Lacey blues what stunning birds, love the lacing.



Tara, I often think about Mr.Tudball and Mrs.Wiggins - my brother likes to imitate Tim.

 

[LindaB220]

I love my bread maker!!

Can't remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread and as I type, dough for tonight's hamburger rolls is being 'spun'

I'm thinking of buying myself one for Christmas.

 

[CanuckBock]

This is my goal!

Can't blame you for that.

Yes, I have gotten my blues too dark over the years

And what a group of gorgeous Blue Laced chooks! I love when you see birds so magnificent...the background fades away, pales in comparison and these ones glisten like...like ROCK STARS! Those are some of the BEST Blue Laced I have ever had the pleasure of getting to look at...what they must be like in the flesh...simply unreal magnificent. Thank you for sharing those!

I DO hope you reach yer goal.

So glad you were not upset with me that I did not really love that male...hee hee...

In regards to your blues being too dark...I had a good giggle on that! Since blue dilution is an OXIDIZER...all that good food, good care and attentions you lavish on your birds...you must stop that immediately! At least the part about feeding them good ANTI-oxidant foods...like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries (no more breakfast smoothies, eh?), broccoli...heck, no more Italian foods for the chickens...garlic is a good anti-oxidant! <--I am SO pulling yer chicken legs!!

Speaking of garlic...

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Just made up a crock pot of Chili with some cloves of garlic...gotta remember to take the cloves out after she is done...done like dinner tonight! VBG

Tara, I often think about Mr.Tudball and Mrs.Wiggins - my brother likes to imitate Tim.

Imitates Tim...oh my...I would be in stitches of laughter ALL the time with a bro like that! Lucky you...

I'm thinking of buying myself one for Christmas.

Yah...bread machine...do you want the one that makes a loaf shaped like a loaf of bread or a round cylinder loaf making machine?


What a fun two day weekend (got four days off next and should be WAY tired...way! Monday the 13th is our Canadian Thanksgiving Day).

Several hatches last week--just dribs and drabs--nothing much serious as the hatches are so close to season's end for us. Artificial hatching with Buster the Bator winds to a close...

Some chicks (Oct 2) and two turkey poults (Oct 4th)...jest a few more...
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And a coupla updates on some growing up babies...

Oct 1 - Dad's Turkeys are growing like bad weeds...still!​

And remember the two very colourful bantam Wyandottes...if not, here they are again on July 23 as day olds.

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And now yesterday...

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Kewl eh? Grew into Laced feathers...with barring/cuckoo too. See the neck hackles are not "diamond hackled" but "bar" marked! Cute as buttons those two males and full of attitudes too.
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Lots of growing up to do still but certainly not chicks no more's, eh? I am truly UNdecided as of yet, if one male has one barring/cuckoo and the other has two barring/cuckoo alleles and that BOTH are forms of expression in Blue dilutions!

What I do know is that they are NOT as black black as my usual regular Silver Laced Wyandottes...sometimes Blue dilution is expressed darker or lighter...dark enough and light enough you can be easily fooled especially when dealing with a single or double dose of barring/cuckoo in male chickens! Hee hee...They are pretty...at least that is not up for debate!



And this morning...what did I come home to after my bus run...yeh...heaven sent indeed!

255.4 grams of blue green glory!​

Black Pearl (PearlaGirl) and Stove Pipe (Piper) have once again brought me the swanny eggs from Eden--right on schedule too...October is Swanny Wanny eggy time--you can take the Australian outta Oz but you cannot switch off their SEASONAL time clocks...spring time in Australia is NOW!

This time Piper is NOT moulting and well uh, yeh I have been spying on them a bit and see there has been lots of time spent TOGETHER on their pond. So this time, unlike May 7th and the eggs after that...this time, maybe the eggs will be fertile! Piper is in full pretty feathers like Pearl is now and well, maybe there will be a few Australian Black Swan...some cygnets, perhaps? But best not to count our cygnets by the eggs produced...nope, don't count your swans before they hatch now!

New development on the dark legs and mottling in the MDF Booted's...there is some discussion on The Coop that maybe it is the Fm (fibromelanotic) that is allowing the mottling to make a sorta "hole" in the dark pigment ("From experience, mottle does interfere with Fm expression") ...anyway, there are two really kewl photos in the explanation of a mottled Black naked neck male with dark pigments ON "his bald of feathers" red neck skin...magnificent and interesting! So much fun trying to figure this out.

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A line of dark skinned Booteds...only bird with light skin is the one on the far left...and that one with the light skin...

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At this very young age, is expressing a white dot on a feather each side of them...one single white dot on each side!

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The dark skinned Booteds seem to be taking FOREVER to develop or express mottling...see how much older this female bird is on the far right and one...ONE white spangle on a feather...ONE you could miss if you blinked! I expect she will continue to get more spangles...more and more white diamonds.


Anyway enough about the birds! Things going on besides just THE BIRDS...

This weekend, so much got completed...

On the Saturday, Rick got three shelf units started to be put together and then he hauled them into one of the C-cans early Sunday morning.

Beauty! I can see cleaned and painted vehicle parts in these...all nicely stored for assembly!

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Then on to the work bee on the Parking Building...Buzz buzz BUSY!

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So last week, he had the last of the wall assembled (photo above shows section) and after his work week...he would do up the door; a nice over eight feet wide sliding door for going thru.

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Built the door and lifted her up and began to permanently fasten the whole heavy section to the rest of the existing back wall.

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Long and big and scary (to me!! at least)....

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But not to retired Princess Warriors...Fixins, always in the middle of the goings on...inspecting! She has NO FEAR!

Unless of course she is a tad cold and needs to sit wrapped up in her sucky suck blankie...then she don't seem so TOUGH!

Yeh, nice BLANKY Fixins...did yer "Mommy" put that on you to keep you cosy??

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So Rick secured the last portion of the back wall...

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Rick has taken measurements and there's no going back now...he's ordered the metal for the back wall..."YEE HAW and slop the chickens!"

Icky icky poo poo!

Rick brought me a bale out to the Ram Pasture after dumping my two Duck Barn bins for composting.

Round bale, away...way down to the Ram Pasture!
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I did up a bit of tidying around some of the Birch split piles on Saturday...

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The Parking Building will dump a whole mess of snow off the roof when it gets assembled and I did not want the birch bark buried...Rick likes using it to start fires...burns awesome and hot and gets the fire going very nicely!

And on Sunday (because we worked and were good "kids" all week)...we went for a pure Loser Lap in the '84 Red Chev to Red Deer...

Lovely Fall colours...​

And still warm enough for the Bikers to be out...but not for too much longer!

The large building in the background is the Ronald McDonald house for sick children...a nice charity that helps out families in need.​

So that be that fur now.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[vehve]

That's a good looking chili, Tara. And what a whopper of an egg! Your build seems to be advancing nicely too.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

So expecting to get pretty busy in the next little while...so do a post of some interesting things from here (I think at least!) and then a post about inheritance of gender in birds...

That should fill you guys up and give you some stuff to digest while I am gone...

That's a good looking chili, Tara. And what a whopper of an egg! Your build seems to be advancing nicely too.

Thanks Vehve...

Yeh, 255 grams is a honking big egg for an omelet! LOL

I hope but won't set us up for disappointment but would be very nice if the roof trusses were on the building along with the metal. Now if it don't happen, we are fine as it is all weather and work reliant...no sense setting yourselves up for a VERY bad time. If it happens, great, if not, spring is not so far off, now is it? Always need projects for spring, eh?

Chili was good and there is at least two more meals in the fridge...

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But for tonight...

Pork ribs fer tonight...

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Boiling on the stove now.

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A few pics of the changes in the seasons...

Oct 7, 2014​

We got some decent ice on the ponds on September 30th...you can see the pile of ice (on the top left) I dumped when I refilled the ponds!

Sep 30, 2014​

Got a bit of a dusting of snow when the month changed over. Much more seasonal for now. We often if not always have a snow dump for Halloween which is fine. I remember living on the WEsT Coast and we always seemed to dress as "fallers/loggers" because there was a deluge of wet rain for the trick er treater event. Nothing like donning the woolen outfits to

at the terrible weather! Even wet you were still relatively warm!

No matter where you reside, winter is colder or cooler than summer and it is all relative to what you are use to. Humidity plays a big part too on how comfy the cooler temps are. Mostly we are a dry climate...so -10C on the Coast with humidity is very, very much like -50C here when it is dry!

Oct 1, 2014​

Not much of a leap of faith for why Rick liked the Ruddy Shels...his dog Fixins is the same shade of evil red...plus the pair Honks and carries on...charges in where sane beings fear to tread...yeh, that would suit Rick's ideals--bwa ha ha!

Oct 7, 2014​

Went to the garden to see if there were any nice fresh greens. I know that I have lots of Swiss Chard in white and red stems but the Black swans adore spinach...more tender than Chard leaves.

I was faintly hoping for some spinach and was delighted to see some of the plants I had harvested leaves from but left their roots intact had grown out some more leaves. Harvested them and had enough to fill a small white bucket quite full. Took it to Pearl and Piper (no worries, Ember and Smoke got some too--they could be the next eggy couple...yeh never do know!).

We sure want healthy cygnets if the eggs Pearl is producing are fertile!

Nothing like homegrown greens!​

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Piper is pretty shy but even HE comes out from the house to check out the greens...wonder if Pearl will share any...such a black piggy with feathers, eh!

Pearl is pretty intent on building her nest...Piper is kewl about it...

Really sweet how he is settling in to sit and watch her rearrange bills full of straw for her nest.


At least she is not asking him to do much past observe and be near her ​

Some expectant females get right into work-a-thons...painting the nursery...rearranging the furniture...

"I want the grand piano upstairs..." <<lug lug>> "Oh, no, that won't do...now I want it downstairs..." <<wrestle wrastle>> "Uh, maybe it would be better in the basement...!!!"

Got a huge regiment for fall on the go...Rick got a call that the square bales of oat straw will be done up this weekend...yee haw...250 squares to tuck away. We will need to also get four totes (very heavy ton each one...) of whole oats and wheat from the same supplier--me and the five gallon bucket brigade need to step up. Then the bagged species specific rations will need to be pre-ordered, picked up and stowed away in the Feed Room ...turkey, duck, chicken and cracked corn (I have just three 55 pound bags of yellow corn left now...talk about knowing how much to bring in for a year, eh!). Ah to run outta chicken candy corns...my name would be mud...indeed, some even do pronounce Tara as Terra so I guess mud is OK...sometimes??

I am looking forward to T-Day this weekend with the family...T as in turkey. Picked out the heritage tom that will supply the center piece for dinner. Sigh, I never enjoy this part of raising your own food but such is what is done. We like them at minimum of 16 months of age...quite ready at just 9 to 10 months but the turkey flavour is much more pronounced in older specimens. The gravy is beyond belief...as is the soup stock I make from these allowed to live a bit longer enjoying themselves turkeys.

Got some health issues that showed up last Friday; could be something, might not be but Rick is freaking out on me so he is making me go to the Doc for a full physical on Thursday. See how long I have left on the Earth to continue to bother the rest of the world...or not. Might be off to the real paradise sooner than later; or not...maybe I am destined to that hot place. Oh well...it's been lots of fun getting to go to either final destination. Bus stops HERE!

Not expecting much since I do go for work physicals...think it is every two years but an ounce of prevention is better than a pounding from some nasty kinda cure...hee hee. Nuff on that...


Now let's dig in to the gender genetics of birds...

Now of course, I will use ducks to demo...but this applies to ducks, chickens, turkeys, swans, pheasants, peafowl, partridge, quail, turkeys, etc. ...birds in general plus some reptiles, Komodo dragons (way kewl!), some fishes, some prawns, some insects, even moths and butterflys...yada yada yada

What is called the ZW system...go to the Wikipedia link to read a bit more...only what, four paragraphs...so not too overwhelming!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZW_sex-determination_system


We should know that gender is not determined the same in birds like in mammals (that's the XY system, not the ZW system!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system

Course this above link is longer than four or so paragraphs...but of course it is about humans, so we tend to go into more depth on, well...us!

Now it is a no brainer (or should be I expect) to follow along the first bit here...

A Mom and a Dad will have a 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl baby...whether fruit fly, human or bird!

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So there is a Punnett Square...don't let it flub you up...it is a useful tool...get to know it and use it. After you master the Punnett Squares...then items like the chicken calculator make lots of sense...but for now, we are crawling here...before we run...run along head long into TROUBLE! LOL

I have had seven year old kids get Punnett Squares...it is like a GAME...so make it a game and enjoy it for the FUN it may be!


From my website, Tales from Rat World page...genetics definitions:

When Mom (pink) is bred to Dad (blue) you may see the phenotype (what they look like!) of the kids will be two blue boys and two pink girls. There is a likelihood of 50% girls and 50% boys! Pretty simple, eh.

I expect most all of us can guess at this part...as to the outcome. What is more difficult and why I am doing this is the genotype (the genetics that command what happens) is the more difficult part! So let's get that part under our belts...


In birds, the Mom determines the gender...unlike in humans (mammals) where the Dad determines gender.

A girl human is XX and a boy human is XY...the Y makes the boy, a male!

A girl bird is Zw and a boy bird is ZZ...the w makes the girl, a female!

Pink girl duck MOM is Zw and Blue boy duck DAD is ZZ​

So let's work this out on the Punnett Square...so we may show how the genetics of gender are inherited in birds...yee haa!

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So we fill in the Punnett Square...the female (Mom) is on the right side and since she is a Z and a w...we put one Z in one side box and one w in the next side box as the P1 gametes for the female parent...she is Zw and is able to give her offspring one of either sex chromosome...a Z or a w.

Now for Dad at the top...a boy (Dad) is on the top and since he is a Z and a Z... we put one Z in one top box and one Z in the next top box across as the P1 gametes for the male parent...he is ZZ and is able to give his offspring only one of the sex chromosomes...a Z or a Z.

So got that...Zw split into a Z and a w for Mom (pink duck) and the ZZ split into a Z and a Z for Dad (blue duck).

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So we go across from Mom and take her Z across on the first line in two places for each kid in the F1 generation.

Her w across the second line in two places.


Now Dad extends his Z down the first two boxes for each kid he sires and then his second Z down the second two boxes...joining the Mom's...

So we have F1 kids that are ZZ, ZZ and Zw, Zw...these may also be written Z/Z and Z/Z and Z/w and Z/w.

There we explained how what we already know to be true in the phenotype in the GENOTYPE!

Are you proud...are you understanding this...I sure hope so!

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And we can now fill in the ratio of the outcome in the kids (progeny or F1 generation).

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There on the bottom of the matrix (Punnett Square) is the word "RATIO:"

ZZ / ZZ / Zw / Zw = 50% / 50% = 1:1

The ratio is 1 to 1 or half girl and half boy babies...

Information on the longer male Z chromosome may contain genetic instructions but on the shorter female w chromosome, there is no room for any information...

The boys in the bird world have bigger WALLETS than the boys in the mammal world...the purses in the bird world for the girls totally suck. No room fer nothing...no bandaids, no antacid tablets, no safety pins, no pain killer aspirins, no change for the parking meters, no lighter, no flashlights, pens, pencils, notepaper, no mini-tool sets...nope, the girl bird's purses are useless to hold anything... In the bird world, the boys have HUGE wallets for holding all that stuff.

Stuff like some of the information on the male Z chromosome can be things like barring/cuckoo, the colour chocolate, silver or gold colour in the S-series, skin colour like Id or W, speed of feathering, ...etc. We can go into that later but for now...that be that!


Here is a photographic review, ducks again (go figure, eh?)...Rubber Duckies no less.

How can anything that can be explained using WUBBER DUCKIES be difficult...

This is kid's play, easy peasy...fun fun FUN stuff I say!

Rubber Duckies...now sing along with me!

Phenotype of P1 Parents - Mom & Dad

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Mom is Zw and Dad is ZZ​

Rubber Ducky
You're so fine
And I'm lucky that your mine
Rubber ducky I'm awfully fond of you

Mom is w and Z / Dad is Z and Z
​

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Extend the gender alleles for Mom and Dad in the Punnett Square matrix...fill in the F1 generation, the kids, the progeny...

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There we go...Zw is girl duckling, Zw is girl ducking for the first line, second line is ZZ for boy duckling and ZZ is for boy duckling!


Now did you catch that--tricky/tricky! I reversed the gender alleles on the Mom...for it to be the same as the first example I used...

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I would have just put the Z first and the w second on the left side of the matrix for the Moma Duck...the outcome in the ducklings is still the same ratio...two boys, two girls...

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Ribs are boiled enough now to be tender and ready for BQ sauce slathering and crisping up later in the oven for dinner!

Sept 30th​

Ah yes...time to go. Before I know it, there will be a nice sunset to enjoy whilst tossing a toy for Fixins...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[vehve]

I usually just do ribs in the grill on low heat, no boiling, glazing them with BBQ sauce throughout the cooking.

We had horse steaks yesterday, that was a new experience, delicious. Today was rabbit.


Karin was in charge of cooking today, turned out excellent.

I hope the health issues are just a scare, and it's better to be on the safe side.

Not enough energy to read through the genetics, have to come back to that.