Michigan

[teeville5]

teeville - gorgeous goats! How do you keep that cat from lunching on your chickens? Or is he all watch, no action?

Absolutely all watch, no action! I have 5 barn cats lounging around all day. The only 2 that really do any hunting are the girls and one is currently sequestered with her kittens. Here's a few more cat/chicken pics.





and here are my babies. There are 6, but one silkie is in between the 2 tan ones.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

What makes an uggo an uggo?? Are they mutts?

OK, I've been lurking for a while again and haven't posted but I wanted to share a cuteness overload picture! These are some babies that were hatched out by another very nice family...I just love fuzz-butts!

Can't wait to pick those eggs up from you!! You got some cute lil peepers there!

 

[NovaAman]

Yup, Moms uggos are mutts.

 

[Opa]

Chicks have been hatching for eons and nature has a pretty good system worked out. When proper incubation conditions are met for the required amount of time, the chick uses a temporary protrusion on its beak(egg tooth), to first perforate the egg sack to gain access to the air cell in the end of the egg. It next uses that tooth to break the egg shell. At hatch the muscles in their neck are probably their strongest. Breaking the shell in a circular pattern to allow egress takes time. It s can take anywhere from a few minutes to over 24hours. Chicks that fail to execute this maneuver are usually weak and fail to thrive. This is just one more example of natures mandate that only the strong survive.

What might appear to be a "stuck" chick is often a resting chick and during this time they are finishing absorption of the remaining egg yolk. Helping them is a mistake that often results in a chick being fatality injured. Since I want my birds to be a strong as possible I accept what nature has pre-ordained and never try to save an inferior chick.

I may seem callous to some but nature's plan has worked well since time began.

 

[b737drvr]

b737drv! Welcome back. I was going to ask after you... My 20 month old has been keeping me unable to do anything lately aside from follow her around, deal with disaster after disaster, get her down from high places, take away things that she should have or been able to access, and I don't even want to talk about the constant ripping off her diapers so she can do unspeakable things in inappropriate places. I swear to gods I am going to start duct taping them on her. I hope you will post pics of your coop and run when you've finished!

Boy I hear what you are saying...our youngest hasn't figured out how to take off his diaper yet, but we use a lot of those onesie things. We also have to keep him mostly covered because he itches his skin so badly due to his allergies. Also saw your little homeschooling icon. We do that with our twiins as well. They just finished kindergarden. They will have a couple of weeks of reviewing the school year, and then will be on summer break. Mom can't wait! Will post some more pictures of the coop hopefully soon. Hope to take pics of the chicks when the get here next Wed or Thurs.

Alright I have been lurking long enough and it’s time to introduce myself to everyone.

Welcome Scott. Guess you have figured out that it takes a lot of time to keep up w/ this chatty bunch. I grew up in KS as well. What part are you from? I am from and my parents still live in Emporia.

 

[Olive Hill]

And as a result of the Olive Math I need to fence off the garden.

Gotta get my money off to school, and then head down to here chicky chicky!

 

[teeville5]

There's been so many posts the past 2 days that by the time I read them it's way past when the were originally posted. That said, I just want to catch up a bit by saying congrats to anyone on new chicks, jobs, pigs, grandchildren and more. Sorry for any losses or injuries. Happy birthday silly. Great pics, even your wintry one Taprock! And hello to all the newcomers.

I'm sure there's more, but just too much to remember.

Now, DH has a new question he would like me to ask. This time it's about hogs. He would like to know if anyone uses a natural type of parasite control for their hogs? Have you found it to be very effective? Is it just as or nearly as effective as using standard ivomectrin (sp?) He's asking because his concern is that by using the ivomectrin that the parasites would become resistant to it over time and become 'super-parasites', if you will.

eta- Olive, DH really likes your pigs and is thinking about them for our next ones.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Boomer and Bailey

Ha! Our goats have a 6 foot chain link fence, with pine tree posts, and yet we have one that constantly escapes! This year he has discovered that if he pushes hard enough at the bottom of the fence, he can get out......even if it's only a 12 inch gap! Last year he just plowed right thru the gate, and jumped over the fence......

Sushi is always ALWAYS positioning herself above my head...for example, I am sitting at the computer desk- and my camera is RIGHT HERE...I just now grabbed the camera and pointed it up and snapped a picture to prove my point:

Oooooh! I ablolutely love this cat! Looks just like a bit hairier version of my tiny cat i used to have, she was a watcher too. If i live in an area long enough, black kittens seem to find me.......

Someone once told me they are good luck. i had to give mine up to go spend a few months with DH's mom before she died.

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

Thanks Nova!

Juise & B737... I am interested in home schooling my son in the future... Where do I start? I found this site a few weeks ago... Maybe you already use it!

www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com

Speaking of teaching children...

So Cheerios has books in the box right now and my son got one called "THE NEW GIRL AND ME" by Jacqui Robbins. I am very disappointed they they would put this book in there, or maybe I should have read it alone before reading it aloud to my son... Allow me to quote...
"...and one boy named D.J. who calls Shakeeta Mosquita until she says, 'I'll punch you in the head!'"...
"I want to know about Shakeet...a and her iguana. But I do not want to get punched in the head."...
"Maybe now Shakeeta would like for me to show her around. Maybe she will punch me in the head."...
"I can't help it. I laugh at Shakeeta's iguana's silly name. Now she will punch me in the head."...
After the first round of "punch in the head" my son was like "why?...why?...why?"
DANG YOU CHEERIOS!!! DID I REALLY NEED TO EXPLAIN TO MY SON WHY IT IS NOT OKAY TO PUNCH PEOPLE IN THE HEAD BECAUSE SHAKEETA WAS GOING TO???? HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO EXPLAIN AN EMPTY THREAT TO A 3YEAR OLD?

 

[Olive Hill]

eta- Olive, DH really likes your pigs and is thinking about them for our next ones.

Awesome! If he wants AGH he'll have to contact Daron. We're restructuring (I've reduced our stock 75% over the past month!) and that group was actually the last of my Guinea Hog breeding stock. I still have Tamworth, Gloucestershire Old Spot and a Large Black Boar for TamxLB and GOSxLB... but no more AGH.