Michigan

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Funny you should mention The Bieber. I gave my 5 year old a Beatles shirt. She looked at their faces and said, "Justin Beibers!" We don't own a televison, so I don't know where she gets this stuff. School, I suppose. Although, instead of Justin Beiber, she asked if our dog could be her boyfriend. I told her dogs make loyal boyfriends. My dog is a knucklehead, though.

We lost a silkie to a raccoon. My hubby had done some work on the coop, and left a gigantic, gaping hole along the run roof. That coon probably just waltzed in there, and instant chicken buffet. So, today he spent his day making if Fort Knox, and even built me a new duck haus. A nice one. Although, now that we finally have a proper duck overnighting location, our duck can't walk his one-legged self up the ramp to get inside. Poor little guy. So disappointing. I've been in this position before, and then, I found that having one solitary duck was worse than keeping the injured mate around. Ducks get lonely. Lonely ducks are irritating. Still undecided about the fate of Oreo. He was hatched by a homeschooling family, and then played with by the kids for a week before we got him. He is utterly imprinted on people, and that's hard to replace.

RaZ- You motivated me to clean the hives today. From 6 deep hive bodies, and 9 shallow ones, there were only 12 frames that were not a sticky, moldy, gross mess. So, I am going to chuck all the frames, and order new ones for one hive only. After all that, I should probably wait until next spring to properly get bees that won't starve over winter. I wish I had gotten around to that earlier.
 
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I feel exactly the same way Miyashi. I haven't done it yet, but when I post my CL ad I'm going to state that I reserve the right to refuse to release my chickens at any time if I feel uncomfortable with the purchaser or feel they are not the best home. I guess if people are PO'd with that or if they aren't nice people who have the best intentions, they won't call or email about the chickens. I have screened people for years regarding Doberman Rescue and can get a pretty good feel for what kind of people they are in a few minutes on the phone. If I don't feel right about them they won't get my chickens. That's why I would love to find good homes with BYC people that I know care.
 
I have to tell a really cute story. I hope I can tell it as cute as it happened!

Almost 3 months ago, I purchased what I thought was 5 EE pullets and a bantam for my daughter. The bantam died in a freak accident/killing. It turned out that one of the 5 EE pullets was actually an Old English bantam.

Not long after bringing them home, only one of the chicks I incubated survived...sort of...because there was a strange increase in temp in the incubator. The chick was small and weak but I put it in the tote (because at the time we didn't have the brooders set up in the garage) with the OE. She took on that chick as if it was her own! She let it curl up under her wing and if it flipped over (as it did often), she would nudge it to help it up. If the baby did flip over or wouldn't get up, she would cry really loud. The chick died a few days later and the OE chick didn't stop crying for a couple of days!
Fast forward several weeks. I had the OE chick staying with the surviving 2 EE chicks and I had 15 chicks hatch. I sold all of them but 2 because my daughter wanted her own since hers died. Aric then built the brooders in the barn and I put the OE chick and the leftover bantams in one of the brooders together. Again, she took on the chicks as if they were her own! They curl under her wings and stay there all day, and if she walks away to get something to eat or drink, they follow her!

Last weekend I had 7 more bantam chicks hatch. Yesterday I figured while I was outside, I'd put last weekend's chicks in with the OE and other two together to see how they do. The OE "mama" didn't really pay attention to them, but the 7 seemed to like it in there. So today I put them in there again and she would check them out, but the other 2 seemed upset when she'd pay attention to them lol.

I've checked on the 7 now and then through the day to make sure there was no fighting. Tonight about 11 I went out there to see how everyone was doing. "Mama" and her two "children" were in the upper left hand corner and the 7 were in the lower right hand corner under the heat lamp. I walked up to the rail to look in more and the 7 ran up to "Mama" and tried to get underneath her.

Now this is the part that proved to me that some chickens are smart! I'm not kidding....after the babies crawled under her wings, she ran over to the corner with the heat lamp and stood there and waited til the 7 got there then turned around and went back to her corner with the other 2 chicks!!! It was like she led them to where they had to be under the heat lamp and went back to care for the older 2 she had been with!!!

I just had to share that because I thought it was just so cute!
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You know, I haven't had chickens for very long now, but I have decided after watching them every day that I would not be insulted at all if someone called me a chicken. They don't miss a thing! They see the tiniest little bug yards away, a hawk that is only a pin point in the sky and they actually look at something and size it up before they make a move. I am so impressed with how smart they are. That is the cutest story Keyt, and I can totally see her doing it!
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Hey saddina, aren't you going to miss the ocean and all the California stuff when you move to Michigan? Not to mention our 6-month-long winters? Forgive me for asking and please tell me if I'm being too personal, but aren't you afraid of being in deep water if you don't have the use of your legs? I mean, what if you capsize?? Deep water scares the poop out of me, and I can swim OK. Anyway, so glad you've joined us on this thread and looking forward to meeting you at next year's Chickenstock!
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Hey saddina, aren't you going to miss the ocean and all the California stuff when you move to Michigan? Not to mention our 6-month-long winters? Forgive me for asking and please tell me if I'm being too personal, but aren't you afraid of being in deep water if you don't have the use of your legs? I mean, what if you capsize?? Deep water scares the poop out of me, and I can swim OK. Anyway, so glad you've joined us on this thread and looking forward to meeting you at next year's Chickenstock!
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That;s a fair question. I spent my summers in the desert, so i'm comfortable here, but mr saddi has been overheated since i mooved him out here after 10 years, it's his turn to be comfortable. Winters... yeah that'll be new, honestly, I work online, and schedule postial pickups, so I actually don't need to leave the house. The kids are homeschooled and mr saddi wirks online as well. so i expect we'll not go out much, we don't now. The water thing, I started surfing at 10, i'm just as comfortable in water as on land. Took about a year to relearn how to swim (I use a modified back stroke and tread as needed. it's slow, but i can get myself in/out and around. Last summer a kid was going under at the community pool, I was the only adult, and went in after him. I got him out, to the edge and dragged out, but needed 2 weeks of bedrest after. If i capsize, i flip back up on the board. We'll most likely take a vacation in mid spring for a week or so to somewhere warm (work has a holiday surge).
 
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Today is going to be a little on the damp side but that is a good thing. Rain is always more effective means of watering the garden. Rain will also keep the grandson indoors today which will make it less physically demanding on these old bones. I had already hung a swing from a tree in the yard when I made the mistake of installing a teeter totter. What was I thinking? For that to work it requires someone on each end. Care to hazard a guess as to who he thinks should be on it with him? There is a finite number of bends old knees can make before they start to protest and even though Hope's knees are much younger than mine, hers are protesting as well. I hate thinking "how much longer til your Dad gets here" but.
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In exactly one week the aroma of wood smoke will waft through my neighborhood as I prepare the Chickenstock birds. After brining the chickens in a ice water solution of salt, maple sugar, and spices overnight I place each bird in a mesh bag and allow them to hang in the warming smoker oven until they are completely dry. Once that is accomplished I increase the temperature of the oven to 200 degrees and start the smoking/cooking process. Apple wood smoke gently curls around each bird slowly turning them to a wonderful amber color. While the flavor penetrates the meat it also seals the surface locking the moisture into the the slowly cooking birds. Internal temperature probes allow me to gauge the progress of the cooking without having to open the smoker and it normally takes ten to twelve hours to bring them to a fully cooked state.

Once the proper temperature has been reached they are cooled as rapidly as possible and then the most difficult part of the whole procedure begins, taking them out of the string bags. Removing requires a gentle touch to loosen the string from the skin without tearing the bird apart, but the hard part is to not start eating them as you work. Have you any idea of how difficult that can be with salivary glands working overtime?
 
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Sam- reading your post made my stomach growl....YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. I cant wait. Thank you so much for your wonderful contribution to Chicken Stock!

I understand grandsons and knees...one better..get him a slip n slide...hahahahahahaha we made that mistake with my grandson. He is two so he wanted someone to slide with him, Not this Gramma- running and sliding on the ground is something I try and avoid at all costs.His laughter is contagious and I love to hear it, but a broken hip/ribs would have wrecked the fun. Thankfully, he was happy to have Tiffany slide with him.

Its raining here. It is proof that Mother Nature has a sense of humor. I have spent the past two days draining my pond. I only have a small amount left on the bottom. I give up on getting it clean any other way.

Everyone have a wonderful day. I have to work this afternoon, but I have tomorrow and Saturday off.
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Morning everyone!
Nice showers for lawn and gardens but...geez...now we are stuck inside! I may be forced to CLEAN THE HOUSE! Rats. No excuse now.
I may spend the day looking out the window watching things grow!
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