My leukemia's back.

[LittleLakePhil]

We are desperate for rain.....we have so many fires all around us right now that we can't even see the mountains - and the Pryors are only 8 miles from my house. I have an appointment this afternoon with my primary to get stuff for my nebulizer and some Albuterol fast acting. When thunderstorms do roll in, we get verga, thunder, and dry lightening. Nothing like putting a match to tinder. I just wish the mean-well-but-don't-live-heres would understand that when an area of forest gets beetle killed, those dead trees are perfect for starting fires. And the irony is that the trees are dead before they LOOK dead, the beetles have long since moved on to healthy trees and it takes those newly infected trees a few years to die from the damage. In the meantime, the beetles once again move to a new area. If they would just allow us to clear out the dead, plus the an area around the dead stuff, we could really build up a strong healthy forest again without it costing so much in time, money, lives, and property damage to fight the resulting fires. Common sense is a dying art.

I just got a new nebulizer....mine was broke and i was a hurting puppy for a few days....something in the air has me all slimy inside....my lungs felt like i was drowning....but with a little bump in prednisone and a new nebulizer....and the temps are down into the 60's again. We have issues with the Emerald Ash Borer here also.....just terrible.

 

[N F C]

@ronott1 that picture Is heartbreaking. We have serious issues with Emerald Ash Borer Beetle & Long Horned Asian Beetles. The Ash Borer has almost wiped out all of Ohios old, giant Ash trees.

Here was the same pathway to the coop last night:



So, @N F C , what do we call these new type chickens/ducks? Chucks? Dickens?

Edited to add: Forcast is showing rain all weekend. Wish I could send it to y'all that need it!

I vote for Dickens!

Glad to see you're drying out

 

[lazy gardener]

Phil, I'm glad you're feeling better.

Those pics of the trees under attack makes me think that's what's happening in our area. All of the pine trees along one of the roads one town over have died. In my immediate area, all of the fir, and some of the spruce, as well as some of the hardwood trees are dead/dying. A lot of the trees have the bark falling off in huge planks.

 

[donrae]

hb, your bird is a cockerel. pretty boy!

We had some type of beetles along Highway 97, here up the center of Oregon years ago. it took years for them to clear all the trees.

Hot here, but no flooding rains and no fires right here. We did have one about 15-20 miles away, but it was quickly contained.

Good news, I've got someone coming out to BUY a rooster tonight!

Bad news, my Marans hens have pretty much up and quit, I think for the season. They're 4 years old and I don't know if they'll lay again this fall, or just call it for the year. I hatched a bunch of chicks earlier but apparently sold too many, I don't have any pullets and only one nice cockerel. I had two dozen eggs in the incubator and my thermostat went fubar and spiked to 116, so I'm pretty sure everything 's dead. Now, I've got this mean rooster I'm having bad dreams about, and hens that aren't laying. I think the rooster's leaving, and the hens will just be on hiatus until next spring. This is so frustrating! I guess I need to keep a better eye on what I'm keeping next time, breed for myself first.

Good news is I have the really nice blue copper cockerel, and I'm taking back another nice one for back up on Monday. It will also be nice to see how some of my pullets are growing out.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Hey...hi guys just stopping into say hi.....i have 16 call duck eggs in my Brinsea ....on day 4.
My wife is wanting to turn our little orphan duck and get a couple nigerian dwarf goats......i almost think she should be on BYC....good everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[donrae]

You know, chickens are considered a 'gateway" livestock. I'm thinking the same is true for ducks

So, after swearing the ******* rooster is going back asap.....I go out tonight and I have 4 lovely dark Marans eggs.

I wish these blessed birds would make up their minds.

I need to try toubleshooting my thermostat, or just chuck it and try my styrobators for a while. It's frustrating cause Honey paid a lot for that thermostat and it's only been in use a year or so.

The person buying the barred Rock Oops cockerel came through, and I actually got money for a rooster! Woo hoo! And, one less to butcher. I'm very proud of myself for finally being able to butcher my own birds, but I'd still rather not.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

"GATEWAY LIVESTOCK"....

 

[Outpost JWB]

You know, chickens are considered a 'gateway" livestock. I'm thinking the same is true for ducks 

So, after swearing the ******* rooster is going back asap.....I go out tonight and I have 4 lovely dark Marans eggs. 

I wish these blessed birds would make up their minds. 

I need to try toubleshooting my thermostat, or just chuck it and try my styrobators for a while. It's frustrating cause Honey paid a lot for that thermostat and it's only been in use a year or so. 

The person buying the barred Rock Oops cockerel came through, and I actually got money for a rooster! Woo  hoo! And, one less to butcher. I'm very proud of myself for finally being able to butcher my own birds, but I'd still rather not. 

I'm with you there! I can butcher my own, but if I have extra money and a lot to butcher (over 10), we have a local farm that will process them $3 each. You bring your cooler, ice, and live chickens. Drive up to 1st door, unload. This is where they have stainless steel cone station. It holds something like 15-20 birds. Then you drive around back. They process your birds, call your name when they are done (usually takes less than 1/2 hour). The facility is clean, well kept, I want to live there!

They also show goats and Great Pyrenees. Even at the cheap price of $3 a head, I still argue with myself that it's wasting money because I COULD do it myself. But they have the wizbang pluckers, the scaulder machines, just all the fancy "make the job 100% easier" tools that I don't have. And I rationalize by knowing I am helping support a local farmer.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hey...hi guys just stopping into say hi.....i have 16 call duck eggs in my Brinsea ....on day 4.
My wife is wanting to turn our little orphan duck and get a couple nigerian dwarf goats......i almost think she should be on BYC....good everyone is having a great weekend.

Phil, tell your wife to join us. We'll just call her Mrs. Phil. How did you make out on your last duck hatch??

hb, your bird is a cockerel. pretty boy!

We had some type of beetles along Highway 97, here up the center of Oregon years ago. it took years for them to clear all the trees.

Hot here, but no flooding rains and no fires right here. We did have one about 15-20 miles away, but it was quickly contained.

Good news, I've got someone coming out to BUY a rooster tonight!

Bad news, my Marans hens have pretty much up and quit, I think for the season. They're 4 years old and I don't know if they'll lay again this fall, or just call it for the year. I hatched a bunch of chicks earlier but apparently sold too many, I don't have any pullets and only one nice cockerel. I had two dozen eggs in the incubator and my thermostat went fubar and spiked to 116, so I'm pretty sure everything 's dead. Now, I've got this mean rooster I'm having bad dreams about, and hens that aren't laying. I think the rooster's leaving, and the hens will just be on hiatus until next spring. This is so frustrating! I guess I need to keep a better eye on what I'm keeping next time, breed for myself first.

Good news is I have the really nice blue copper cockerel, and I'm taking back another nice one for back up on Monday. It will also be nice to see how some of my pullets are growing out.

My motto is: hatch for me, sell the excess from the hatch, and sell off the older hens. So far it's working pretty good. Though everybody wants to buy the one year olds, and not so much the 2 year olds.

You know, chickens are considered a 'gateway" livestock. I'm thinking the same is true for ducks

So, after swearing the ******* rooster is going back asap.....I go out tonight and I have 4 lovely dark Marans eggs.

I wish these blessed birds would make up their minds.

I need to try toubleshooting my thermostat, or just chuck it and try my styrobators for a while. It's frustrating cause Honey paid a lot for that thermostat and it's only been in use a year or so.

The person buying the barred Rock Oops cockerel came through, and I actually got money for a rooster! Woo hoo! And, one less to butcher. I'm very proud of myself for finally being able to butcher my own birds, but I'd still rather not.

What are you using for a bator? for a thermostat? I think my home made styro with bi metal thermostat is more reliable than the coolerbator with the digital. But, I spent hours working on the styro, tweaking the thermostat setting, and putting in all kinds of heat/air baffles to hopefully eliminate hot spots and direct more heat to the cool spots. Need to do the same with the coolerbator.

 

[donrae]

Here's pics of the incubator...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1023565/is-too-large-a-fan-an-issue

The thermostat is The Incredible Incubator Thermostat from Fall Harvest. I'm too late today to call, but I can't even find the thermostat on line on their site anymore. Makes me wonder.

Not sure that mean rooster is even worth it. I tried candling eggs last night and there's a lot of clears. The spike in temp would have killed off embryos, but they should have been at 10ish days incubation, so there should have been something.

I brought home a cockerel I'd sold as a straight run chick today. He's flat beautiful! I'll try to get a pic up sometime. I don't know if he's prettier than the one I held back, or if he's just older. I'll have to get the two side by side and see how they compare. anyway, I'm excited to have him, that mean guy is going. Little guy is probably too young to breed, but if mean guy isn't even doing the deed, what's the point? I'll put Tom, the blue egger rooster, back in with the Marans hens and set Olive eggers, I can sell those all day long.

Good news on Big Boy

. This doctor asked something no one else had asked....have you been exposed to any other fumes? Sounds like a no-brainer, but I'd never thought to ask, and he's never thought to bring it up. He's been using this..

.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...312-06&usg=AFQjCNFIoW5RXIbQaELEaffsAgRrrgyMSQ

to clean the grill at work (McDonald's). Symptoms started at work. Everyone asked about smoking, no one asked about other fumes, etc.

Good news is, it's short term exposure with basically mild symptoms. He thinks just not being exposed again, and the steroid inhaler to calm the lungs for a while, and in 6ish weeks he'll be good as new.

Thank you Lord.

Hey Phil, do you have call ducks? do you have pics?