Nevadans?

[vegaschick]

Sunny - I forgot to add that I always sacrifice a few small stuffed animals and add perches for the chicks to get off the sand if they need to. They love to pile on the stuffed animals and crash out. The perches are for the more adventurous.

Missy - I'd be interested in swapping some seeds. I have done viability checks on almost everything I had a large portion of which was 15+ years old. I was amazed that basil packed in 1993-4 had 100% out of 10 seeds. AMAZING! I keep my seeds in paper envelopes in the fridge to prolong freshness but I don't even know where I got some of the packets I have. The chickens got everything that didn't germinate and I got more room for seeds. I also have a tendency to harvest seeds of plants I like, just to try my luck. I have a big, beautiful Mexican Bird of Paradise I grew from seeds harvested from the UNLV campus. I've also had success with Fairy Dusters, Chaste Tree (or Vitex) and Cat Claw vine too. Oh, and the Hollyhocks. I'm gonna try a viability test on some BOSS cause that would be awesome!!! Also, a friend of a friend just donated several boxes of clay pots to the little garden club I started with some people from church. We're gonna try to make some ollas and I'm gonna try to plant in some recycled grocery bags and homemade bags made out of old jeans, weed barrier cloth, and feed bags. We've gotten about 15 buckets from Burger King and are still collecting while drilling and planting what we have. We are using primarily 1 bucket systems by using the lids to make the reservoir and by using colanders and water bottles. I'll have to take some pics to show you.

Dee - I finally took some pics of the chicks. I can't believe that they're 2 months old already. The little boy I kept has been trying to crow for about 3 weeks. He's very pitiful. VERY! I haven't tried uploading anything since the change over so here goes...

The giant blue things are chair legs. They're handy for me and the chicks think they're comfortable too.
Wheaten Marans pullet.


Salmon Faverolle pullet.


The whole group that I ended up with. Just 4 out of 18 chicks. The chairs stay tipped so the seats aren't poo'd on.



The Marans are very comfortable on the perches. I never have seen the Faverolle up there. Hmmm.
I love the story these pictures tell. She wants closer to that cute boy.


Not too happy with the forward little strumpet ...


She may not have gotten the seat she wanted but she did split them up so...mission accomplished!


The set up, kinda. The board is to keep them from falling through the top of the brooder box.
Check out the waterer. This is how it's supposed to be used





See, like this.




NOT like this! No, it's not wrong, just awkward.







So, there they are. My most recent news is that I may have a broody. I'm gonna be searching for eggs before Easter!

 

[Penturner]

Daniel... Do you have the reference where it talks about dogs barking for 15 minutes? I believe you, but I have a friend who's dealing with a nuisance dog and could use a municipal code for leverage.


6 days until I have my chicks! Two weeks until the duckies hatch!

Well they must have changed the definition and removed that 15 minute thing. Here is the NRS on it now. Notice they now just say it has to do with "Duration or Frequency" They used to define Duration as 15 minutes. Under these rules it could be claimed that an animal is an annoyance if they ever hear it at all. So I am not sure where I saw it that Duration was more specifically defined as 15 minutes.
This came from Las Vegas and Reno Animal Control Ordinances.

7.36.010 Noise annoyance.
It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to wilfully permit or allow any animal kept, possessed, maintained or otherwise controlled by such person to engage in continuous barking, yelping, braying or the creation of other loud noise. A noise is “continuous” for purposes of this provision if, because of its duration or repetition, a reasonable person would consider it an unreasonable invasion of the peace and quiet of a neighboring resident.
(Ord. 4029 § 1, 1996: Ord. 3618 § 151, 1991)

 

[Penturner]

We are getting about 6 eggs a day from our 8 hens. 5 are blue the other one is green. I don't think our brown egg layer has kicked in yet. We are already starting to get buried in them though. We have 5 dozen eggs in the fridge between the hens and what my daughter gets from WIC.

Good news on the Rocket Mass Heater. We got a new 55 gallon barrel and the larger vent pipe yesterday. so about $100 later we are building a full scale heater. and it worked like a charm. I can't believe that the larger version has so much more draft.

What this means is I have all our old barrel and vent pipe to do a demonstration with. The parts are small and it requires far less brick to build with the smaller version. The down side to this is the smaller version works, but not as well. Hopefully we can have our bigger heater built and running so people can see the difference for themselves. Then use the smaller one to show how the part go together and show that it really does work. and why. I am also really good at showing a stove that does not work, he he.

Some of you might want to come and just see if you get any ideas on how to use one of these to heat a chicken coop, garage or shop.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

vegaschick, what are you interested in growing? My list is huge, but includes wild lettuce, 4 short-season winter squash varieties, 3 eggplants, kale, 3 peppers, 4 carrots, cucumbers, 6 tomato varieties, snap peas and bush beans, and I have an overwhelming quantity of spinach and swiss chard seed. I also have 4 varieties of morning glory to add some prettiness around the place.

 

[StevieNay]

Wow! So much going on with everyone!
Sunny, I'll have to write a lizard story sometime. I don't have anything quite like a little lizard pet, but I did get followed by one of the animals I was studying. She just kept popping up around my site. She was supposed to be returning home! I also worked at the SD Zoo last summer and one of the groundskeepers, Chet, had clicker trained a fence lizard. The lizard would run out when Chet called her and when he clicked the clicker she would run into his hand for mealworms. It was pretty fun to see! I'm leaving to do field work for the next few months, so I'm sure I'll have many silly chuckwalla stories coming.

We rehomed our suspected roo chicks (these guys had huge combs that were pink/dark pink, and were MUCH larger than the only pullet we are sure of). A man picked them up after we listed them on Craigslist, it took less than an hour. I'm happy because he said he had lots of hens, and a lamp for the boys at night.

With 5 chicks rehomed, that meant we needed some pullets... We went to Green's Feed Chick day. We got two BOs and three Cinnamon Queens, and they're too sweet! We got there at 8:15 and were among the last to get chicks. They went so fast! I guess chicken math is always at work.

Congrats on all the good going for everyone! Eggs, chicks, ducks, family, gardens, and coops!

Happy Monday Everyone!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Sunny - I forgot to add that I always sacrifice a few small stuffed animals and add perches for the chicks to get off the sand if they need to. They love to pile on the stuffed animals and crash out. The perches are for the more adventurous.

Missy - I'd be interested in swapping some seeds. I have done viability checks on almost everything I had a large portion of which was 15+ years old. I was amazed that basil packed in 1993-4 had 100% out of 10 seeds. AMAZING! I keep my seeds in paper envelopes in the fridge to prolong freshness but I don't even know where I got some of the packets I have. The chickens got everything that didn't germinate and I got more room for seeds. I also have a tendency to harvest seeds of plants I like, just to try my luck. I have a big, beautiful Mexican Bird of Paradise I grew from seeds harvested from the UNLV campus. I've also had success with Fairy Dusters, Chaste Tree (or Vitex) and Cat Claw vine too. Oh, and the Hollyhocks. I'm gonna try a viability test on some BOSS cause that would be awesome!!! Also, a friend of a friend just donated several boxes of clay pots to the little garden club I started with some people from church. We're gonna try to make some ollas and I'm gonna try to plant in some recycled grocery bags and homemade bags made out of old jeans, weed barrier cloth, and feed bags. We've gotten about 15 buckets from Burger King and are still collecting while drilling and planting what we have. We are using primarily 1 bucket systems by using the lids to make the reservoir and by using colanders and water bottles. I'll have to take some pics to show you.

Dee - I finally took some pics of the chicks. I can't believe that they're 2 months old already. The little boy I kept has been trying to crow for about 3 weeks. He's very pitiful. VERY! I haven't tried uploading anything since the change over so here goes...

The giant blue things are chair legs. They're handy for me and the chicks think they're comfortable too.
Wheaten Marans pullet.


Salmon Faverolle pullet.


The whole group that I ended up with. Just 4 out of 18 chicks. The chairs stay tipped so the seats aren't poo'd on.



The Marans are very comfortable on the perches. I never have seen the Faverolle up there. Hmmm.
I love the story these pictures tell. She wants closer to that cute boy.


Not too happy with the forward little strumpet ...


She may not have gotten the seat she wanted but she did split them up so...mission accomplished!


The set up, kinda. The board is to keep them from falling through the top of the brooder box.
Check out the waterer. This is how it's supposed to be used





See, like this.




NOT like this! No, it's not wrong, just awkward.







So, there they are. My most recent news is that I may have a broody. I'm gonna be searching for eggs before Easter!

Ha ha Love the pics! How cute are they? That cardboard box with the stick pushed through the side looks very familiar. A commonplace thing in this household. You and Genny have the same spoiling technique. Stuffed animals just for the chickies. I always put roosts in early. Otherwise I find them roosting on the waterers and feeders and pooping in them while they are at it. Yuck!

Speaking of Dee... I miss her! I think I remember her saying life was gonna get busy but c'mon. Stop and say "Hi" anyway.

We are getting about 6 eggs a day from our 8 hens. 5 are blue the other one is green. I don't think our brown egg layer has kicked in yet. We are already starting to get buried in them though. We have 5 dozen eggs in the fridge between the hens and what my daughter gets from WIC.

Good news on the Rocket Mass Heater. We got a new 55 gallon barrel and the larger vent pipe yesterday. so about $100 later we are building a full scale heater. and it worked like a charm. I can't believe that the larger version has so much more draft.

What this means is I have all our old barrel and vent pipe to do a demonstration with. The parts are small and it requires far less brick to build with the smaller version. The down side to this is the smaller version works, but not as well. Hopefully we can have our bigger heater built and running so people can see the difference for themselves. Then use the smaller one to show how the part go together and show that it really does work. and why. I am also really good at showing a stove that does not work, he he.

Some of you might want to come and just see if you get any ideas on how to use one of these to heat a chicken coop, garage or shop.

Oh good! I was hoping you'd go bigger on the 2nd one. I've been devouring info on these mass heaters since you first mentioned them and there were many references to the bigger heaters running more efficiently. Really excited to see how the barrels are capped off. Can't tell how this is done from the sites I've visited. We are ready to get muddy! My back won't haul anything but I can spread mud around (or stomp some cob mud) really well.

I thought Ron was wanting to see this as well? Where's he off to now?

vegaschick, what are you interested in growing? My list is huge, but includes wild lettuce, 4 short-season winter squash varieties, 3 eggplants, kale, 3 peppers, 4 carrots, cucumbers, 6 tomato varieties, snap peas and bush beans, and I have an overwhelming quantity of spinach and swiss chard seed. I also have 4 varieties of morning glory to add some prettiness around the place.

I have a bunch of stuff too. All here waiting to be planted. I want to sew some now but I always get in trouble starting my seeds too early and having to haul way too heavy plants back inside at the last minute. Now that the last kiddo is gone I better behave myself or I'll be trying to move them alone.

Missy I'd love to trade some of my seeds for a few of those eggplant seeds! I only got one variety this year. A small italian variety that is supposed to be very sweet and nearly seedless. Oh I forgot I was gonna give you some potato "seeds" anyway. If you have a few extra egg plant seeds that would be great. I haven't gotten my potatoes yet though.

Wow! So much going on with everyone!
Sunny, I'll have to write a lizard story sometime. I don't have anything quite like a little lizard pet, but I did get followed by one of the animals I was studying. She just kept popping up around my site. She was supposed to be returning home! I also worked at the SD Zoo last summer and one of the groundskeepers, Chet, had clicker trained a fence lizard. The lizard would run out when Chet called her and when he clicked the clicker she would run into his hand for mealworms. It was pretty fun to see! I'm leaving to do field work for the next few months, so I'm sure I'll have many silly chuckwalla stories coming.

We rehomed our suspected roo chicks (these guys had huge combs that were pink/dark pink, and were MUCH larger than the only pullet we are sure of). A man picked them up after we listed them on Craigslist, it took less than an hour. I'm happy because he said he had lots of hens, and a lamp for the boys at night.

With 5 chicks rehomed, that meant we needed some pullets... We went to Green's Feed Chick day. We got two BOs and three Cinnamon Queens, and they're too sweet! We got there at 8:15 and were among the last to get chicks. They went so fast! I guess chicken math is always at work.

Congrats on all the good going for everyone! Eggs, chicks, ducks, family, gardens, and coops!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Looking forward to hearing any interesting lizard stories! Congrats on the new chicks!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Ok, this is what I have:

Eggplants: gretel, swallow, fairytale. All are early, maturing at 4-6 inches. Gretel is white, eggplant is dark purple, fairytale is purple/white striped. I could only spare a few of these, since packets contain 15 seeds and I ordered 2 of each packet. I would love to trade for the Italian variety.

Tomatoes: pineapple, cherokee purple, early girl, indigo rose, maskotka, tumbling tom yellow. Pineapple and cherokee purple are heirlooms. Early girl is an early red hybrid. Indigo rose is an open-polinated variety just released this year, red on the inside and dark purple where the sun hits it. Maskotka and tumbling tom are especially for containers.

Peppers: sahuaro, sweet spot, mucho nacho. Sahuaro is a high-yielding Anaheim. Sweet spot is a sweet banana pepper that yields up to 35 per plant. Mucho nacho is a jumbo jalapeno. Again, I can only spare a few of these, since the packs are small.

Squash: small wonder, carnival, hunter, bush delicata, small sugar pumpkin. All are early season, about 80 days each, and grow to a personal eating size. Small wonder is a spaghetti squash, carnival is a striped acorn, hunter is a butternut, delicata is similar to spaghetti, and small sugar is the pie kind.

Lettuce: wild garden mix, organic and open-polinated.

Carrots: deep purple, atomic red, black knight, scarlet nantes. Nantes is actually a dark orange. I haven't grown any of these before, so I don't know how well they do.

Corn: painted mountain. It's a short-season Indian corn that can also be eaten fresh, but isn't as sweet as most fresh corn. It was bred in Montana, but is too short for a 3-sisters planting.

Spinach: space hybrid. I have tons of this!

Chard: bright lights. Again, I have tons, and it's a cut-and-comeback plant.

Kale: winterbor hybrid. I'm mostly growing this for the chickens.

Cucumber: spacemaster. Bush-habit, good for slicing.

The peas and the beans I'm growing are all common varieties, like Kentucky Wonder and sugar snap, that can be found at Walmart.

Potatoes (which won't be here until mid-April): yukon gold, purple majesty, mountain rose, yellow finn, purple sun. I've only grown the yukon gold out of all of these, so I can't vouch for how the rest will do. Purple majesty is dark purple inside and out, mountain rose is pink inside and red outside, yellow finn is deep gold, purple sun is purple outside and yellow inside. These will be a bit more expensive to ship down to Vegas, though.

For anything that I have limited varieties of, a trade for a food type seed would be awesome. I can put a bunch in an envelope and send them off for the price of a stamp.

 

[justbugged]

How exciting Christina!!! I had to laugh though when you said you were hoping for no troubles. New dog, traveling, airports etc, etc. Sounds like a hitch or two is inevitable but you sound more than able to handle a challenge or two. Anyone adventurous enough to travel by plane to go pick up a new shelter pet must be made of pretty sturdy stuff! I will keep my fingers crossed for your trip to progress as smooth as silk though! Hey, it's not been my experience with airlines but it could happen!

I just wanted to check back in, and let you know that I made it home earlier than first planned. I had more than enough time to make up for a couple of my mistakes. (leaving the cell phone in the rental car, and loosing my boarding pass more than once in my handbag.

) The dog is fabulous. Given the breed (Black Russian Terrier) I was rather nervous about things. Jet is smaller than I thought he would be, and is only 72lbs. So he is much easier to handle than one of my Komondork would have been in the same situation. Now we all just need to figure out how things are going to be around here. Jet is doing very well so far with all the changes. He is a very happy and very intelligent dog.

 

[justbugged]

Why is it so hard to ignore the word ignore? Now I really want to know what I'm supposed to be ignoring!

I think that eenie114 was trying to give me her support. Eenie's dad lives in the same sub-division as I do, so she visits from time to time. I agree though about being told to ignore something. I always want to know more. The words "never mind" are just as bad.

 

[horseshowmomnv]

I have spent way too many hours researching all sorts of information about chicks, chickens, coops, runs, grit, bedding... I will start out that I think sometimes we over think things, myself included. My chicks are a week and a half old, they have had two days where they were outside for about 20 minutes. Our lawn is dead right now so they pick at the soil. I have seen posts about sand vs pine, I went out side to my horse arena gathered some sand and put into their brooder, they love it. Some of it is pretty fine dusty stuff would this be considered grit? I know they don't need it unless they are eating other foods or treats. If I put that in my brooder would the whole grit issue be resolved? Seems people spend alot of money on commercial grit products when it could be as simple as the sand in my arena.