Nevadans?

[laceynoelle]

I quilt and love it! $5 - $8 per yard is pretty standard and probably the cheapest you'll find. You might try hitting a sale at Joann's, plus perhaps what Missy is able to get for you.

If you want something to do, I'm part of a group on BYC that needs one more person. This time we're all doing the same block and any color of green and white. The instructions are on the first page of this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/749908/june-1st-quilt-block-exchange/170#post_10816913

Please come over soon and/or let me know if you want to do this as people are starting to talk about having to make extra to meet the 16 person close-out. It would be really nice to have one more person.

I'd love to do something like this in the future, but not right now. I first want to make sure I actually like quilting, and that I can make an acceptable square before committing myself to 16 squares.

It would be really neat to do that though, I bet it'd be a cool community thing.

Cute pics Missy!!

Chictaw, if I remember correctly, stressed or over crowded chickens may pick at each other too, according to hearsay. Lacey Blue's link is a good one, with those little plastic things that you clip on their beaks. I've never used these, but one of my grandma's friends used to raise pheasants, and he swore by using a anti-picking devise that was a mix between ^^^ that and a blinder. In the mean time, is there anything stressing them out that you can think of?

 

[Chictaw]

that's my problem... they should be happy. I have eight girls in a 4 x 6 house, with a run of 12 x 24. We use to let them run in the yard, but they tore it up. They were still pecking each other in the yard. We have tried the plastic blinders and it worked for awhile. They learned how to get around them...so that didn't work. They have been doing this for about a year. One of my barred rocks started it and it is like she taught they others how. We have two of our barred rocks that is the worst ones. We separated them for a long while, but they went right back to doing it again. We are at the end of our ropes. We have read and studied and tried everything we have learned but nothing seems to work. Do we get rid of the ones that are the worst and hope for the other ones to stop. The only problem is we are attached to them all. They are all spoiled and maybe that is what is wrong. My husband brings them treats and they are always fighting over them. They wait at the gate for him everyday. At least they don't eat the feathers anymore since we been giving the lots of protein. Think they were lacking that.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Have you heard of dangling a head of cabbage from a rope? I haven't tried it, but am considering it since there's no greenery yet to just toss into the yard. I've heard it helps with the boredom. In the summer, we like to dump our lawn clippings into their yard and throw a handful of scratch grain into it. Keeps them happy for hours.

 

[Lacy Blues]

In the link I provided, a "bit" of sorts is shown. It clips into the chicken's nostrils and also goes between the beak to keep them from being able to clamp down on a feather to pull it out. It does not restrict eating, though they may have to master the task again and it does not keep them from seeing directly in front of themselves like the blinders do.

I am going to give them a try. I have one pen where all the girls look terrible.

 

[NevadaRon]

Isn't there some kind of blue ointment (sorry I don't remember what it is called) that you can put on them that will stop the others from picking at them? I read about it in the Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying forum. Have you looked over there Chictaw?

 

[Peep_Show]

Hi there, Everybody!

The bunnies and chickens are SO cute! (had to laugh about the babies wanting nothing to do with the cold eggs) Isn't it interesting how many people on this thread have similar interests in quilting, gardens, rabbits, canning, art?

First and foremost, I want to say "Thank you" for all the nice thoughts and sentiments regarding Mom. We're not through it yet as we have her memorial services on April 13th...and judging by what a lifelong fixture she was in her hometown and all the stuff she was involved in it will probably be a huge gathering.

Since the 20th I've been dealing with all things funereal and estate paperwork. Mom, it turns out, was not a tidy bookkeeper and it has been a bit of a forensice family docs hunt. I know we all do not like to think about the inevitable, but I beg you PLEASE get your affairs in order and let your kids or trustees know where the vitals are kept. You can never be too efficient in this department. Luckily, I had a heads up on her passing and got the burial arrangements done beforehand, but the aftermath has been a tidal wave of bureaucracy...and there's nothing worse than trying to find something when you're bawling away. Mom before she died apologized for the mess she was leaving me; I just thought she was talking about clutter. Silly me.

I'm back in NV this week. There's a mega-huge Glass and Bead Expo at the South Point and, of course, I signed up for it eons ago (non-refundable) and so am very much looking forward to immersion into all-day semi-private tutorings by some of the lampworking pros. I realize there's so much I don't know and an immense amount to learn...but I enjoy the process and it is good therapy to do artwork. I truly am contemplating if/when I have a glass workshop naming it Happy Idiot Studio as I truly sometimes have no idea what in the heck I'm doing and probably backwards in my techniques....It's just fun for me.

And then back to CA next week for a bit (a few weeks) to deal with all things legal. Lawyers, accountants, appraisers! Oh, my! Lawyers, accountants, appraisers! Oh, my! (that's a reference for all you Wizard of Oz fans) Buzzards all. If one more person says "So sorry for your loss" and hands me a biz card or a bill, I'm liable to chew it into confetti. Sadly, all the settlement stuff is not like the movies where you're dabbing your eyes at the funeral, the next scene is the gathering of the family at the attorney's office and then a quick cut-away shot to cocktails on the French Riviera. Nope. Long and drawn out, tedious. Sigh..... (btw, not headed to Cannes. Headed back to the farm life with -- at last! -- chickens) There is light at the end of the tunnel, but not before the mucky quagmire of probate, etc. (Again, see the reference in blue above!)

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say I love you guys. Reading the posts have been a nice vicarious escape. Hatch on!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Dee, you've been in our hearts! I'm glad you can get a reprieve with the lampworking show. That sounds like a blast!!!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Latest thoughts on my mind...
You know my seedling project I have every year? Well, it's totally exploded. The seedlings are about 2 inches tall, and 270 of them have been pre-sold, including some that Sunny donated to my cause. I have 100 left, and I expect the rest of the tomatoes to completely sell out today or tomorrow. I told friends about my little sale, and the reservation list, and they jumped on it! Like crazy! So it got me thinking... Renting a commercial space would be more money than I would actually make, unless I managed to do this on such a huge scale that it was my full-time gig. But what if we did a Nevada BYC Cooperative or something? Seedlings plus eggs plus baby chicks plus crafts or jams/jellies? I dunno... This is really just how my mind works. Something is successful, and my brain goes crazy about it.

Russ and I decided that, in the very least, we'll do the seedlings next year and all profits will become "fun money," divided among the family by whoever does the most work.

 

[Chictaw]

Thank you all for your advise. I appreciate it so much, but we have tried it all even the stuff NevadaRon has told me about. We but it all over Sweetpea, but you have to keep it on her forever or they just go start on one of the other birds. It is called "Pick-No-More". Lacy the new bits for their mouths you told me about may work. Let me no when someone gets them...I will try anything. I am so glad to hear you all have some problems too. I thought I was the only one with naughty birds. Thank you all for being there for me.

 

[Chictaw]

I forgot I am going to try some off these things like putting things in their run for them to pick on. Like more grasses and clippings from my yard. I have a lot of winter to clean up. My husband is joking with me that he is going to put them on a stick and sacrifice them to the golden eagles we have out here....NOT FUNNY!!!!!!