Nevadans?

[sherylreno]

Hi Everyone!

Sunny, I hope you enjoyed Eureka? Very quaint little town there. Way out there but really neat.

Whatthecuck & Whatthecluck, keep us updated with your little chickie there. ACV is really good for them as long as it's the kind with the Mother and not just the normal ACV. I had a couple of chickens get sick around the same age as your little chickie there. I'm not sure what exactly it was but I did find on BYC Wyandottes from hatcheries have issues around that time. I know you don't have a Wyanndotte but I do and they did. Did you use or are you using the medicated chick starter? If you are still feeding it to them then it can cause them to be under nourished because it blocks B1. You can help her by feeding her cooled scrambled eggs mixed with a bit of oatmeal and buttermilk. The protein will help her along with the B1 in the oatmeal and pro-biotics in the buttermilk. It's sorta a wonder food for them. She should like to eat it but if she doesn't then place a bit in her beak and she'll get the hint. The green poo is her bile from her not eating and it usually means she won't last much longer. I sure hope this helps you. The sooner you start the faster her energy can come back.

Missy, sorry about your loud duck. I would love to take her but my flock is sooooo nice and quiet now so I just can't risk it. Put her on craigslist, I'm sure there is someone out there who'll take her. I thought of Aubrey too with Mo but she didn't bite. I just don't think Mark will let her get ducks for some unknown reason. There are people out there who's afraid of ducks. The only one of my ducks making a racket when I come out with treats is Justin and with him being a drake it's only a slight noise and not loud at all. If only the drake was the one who laid the eggs then you would have it made there? My duck Misty is sitting on duck eggs. John and I have talked it over and we really need to build that duck pen faster and put her and Sierra with Justin together and they can raise some ducklings. Harmony and Mo can stay with the chickens. Justin isn't fighting with Mo any longer now that we figured out he was only trying to keep way from Misty. As long as Mo stays away from her all is well.

Elizabeth, I can only imagine with your big coop the job you had.

Ron, did you get more cornish crosses from CAL Ranch?

Okay, where is Seth and the pictures of those little cute bunnies?

 

[SunnyDawn]

Welcome to the thread and

from California

The Nevada thread is a very friendly thread and the people are so nice. I'm in California and still visit here.

What's going on with your bird?


OK Makayla let me know some of my birds were out. I caught the pullets, but my Sumatra roo is no where to be seen. I was just going to take pics of him and his looooong tail! OMG I hope he comes back looking for his girls and hasn't been caught by the neighborhood "Chicken Killers!"

Awww thanks Kim! I sure hope you find your sumatra!!! I love the sumatras! They are sooo pretty.

Quote: Thank you so much for the correct sentence structure! That is where I have most of my problems. I know if I spoke it all the time I would get so much better but don't know how to get there from here.

We had a very busy weekend but I'll tell that story at the end of this post. BTW how is the playhouse coming along? The kids probably don't even care if they have walls and a roof but they will enjoy it so much when it's done.

I don't live in Nevada, but I love to come read your thread! This is a lively place!

Hi Steffanie!!! Always so good to see you! How is everything going? Steve and I miss hanging with you and Tim. We should do a camping trip again! Ugh, I wish we didn't have to wasted a second summer in a row with moving! We are too old to be frittering our summers away on stuff that is no fun! lol

Quote:

I plan to plant asparagus (cuz I finally got some BIG pots to put them in), my lone artichoke (finding a permanent spot is tricky around here), and all the herbs I started from seed. Oh, plus I will plant the Chaparral Sage I found at Star Nursery that I've always wanted, and a bunch of hollyhocks that haven't found a home yet. I also need to start some plants to take to Utah when we head there for the summer. They're in the middle of Sprinter. You know, when Spring and Winter kinda combine together and you never know when it's safe to plant stuff. I think that's the kind of weather you guys get up there, right?

Hi! Yay! Las Vegans! I'm sorry to hear about your sick chicken. I so hate it when that happens! I'm probably not much help on that score but the roo....no I can't take him but I did write a few suggestions on the Las Vegas thread. I'm in the county and have processed my own chickens in my backyard. Actually, one night, which is the only time to do the deed in the summer cause it's so darn hot, we were getting ready to "dispatch" a few roos when a ghetto bird (aka police helicopter) started cruising our neighborhood. This is not a rare occurrence by any stretch in my area but surely an inconvenience at this time as they kept sweeping our yard with the spotlight. I swear, every time we reached for the ax, here they'd come! I can only imagine what they thought...!!! Actually they probably came back just to see what we were doing with the ax in the backyard at night! Lol! Anyways, Holly31 has made some of her excess roos into capons. I think, though if yours is crowing, it's probably to late for that.

Good luck with the gardens! I planted asparagus too, cause Ron had some he couldn't use, and the rabbits have been devouring it! I'll dig up the roots when we leave though and try again for asparagus. Didn't want to put another fence up right before moving but will surround the garden at the new place. Yes this time of year is tough! It can be so beautiful for weeks but you just know as soon as you give in and put things in the ground...

The ax story is hilarious!

I can just picture the cops having their next briefing and including you all in the update!

Yup, that's our crew! I really want to put it at the bottom of my page like I see so many of you have done, but I have no idea how. I tried going to my profile, but I'm not sure what to put it under. Perhaps dear hubby (aka whatthecuck...gheesh it does sound dirty!) will know how to do it. As for our poor Meg, we really don't know what's the matter. She used to be so cute and curious and come up to us when we came out. She'd give us that funny one-eyed stare that chickens are so good at. Now she mostly keeps her eyes closed and sleeps. She separated herself from the flock. She was one of our first two and the other girl stays by her side like the best of loyal friends. It's actually quite beautiful. She won't let the others pick on Meg and she lets her snuggle and keep warm since she won't hop up to roost. She has no sneezing, no mucous, no runny eyes, no breathing issues that I can see or hear. Her crop empties fine (once we realized where the crop was and how to check it). Her poo is runny and green, but she's not eating so we hear that's to be expected. It still has the white to it so I figure her kidneys are functioning ok. As hubby said we've tried sulmet and tetracycline and will be using a de-wormer today. No one else seems to have any symptoms. Maybe she ate something funky??? They pretty much just run around the yard like free spirits. I recently saw something that says to have city chickens they have to be in an enclosed pen all the time. Hmm...well, that's not really how we're set up here, so...yea. We did add ACV to their water and just added DE to their feed. Our 2 littlest chicks are about 3 weeks old. We hatched the silkie ourselves and then got the bantam to keep her company. Still not sure we made the right decision there, but we'll see. The 2 older girls (1 RIR and the Cochin?) are about 3 months old, and the 3 other RIR are about 2 1/2 months old. The pretty grey feather-footed that we're not sure about was about the same size as the older girls but her history is a bit vague so we're just assuming she's around 3 months old too. They are a fun bunch. We love to sit out and watch them. In fact we call it the "chicken channel" as it's taken over for our evening TV viewing. Our little girl can't get enough of them! Thanks for all the warm welcomes.

So sorry about your pullet!!! That is very sad.

Losing a bird every now and then is a normal part of chicken rearing but still so hard when it happens. Especially when you have a daughter that is attached to them! I sure hope she gets better!!!

Quote:

My youngest was born in Fresno, CA and he is forever saying what a cruel thing that was to do to him! We moved back to the Bay Area when he was 4 weeks old but now he forever is labeled with the "born in Fresno label"!

Yep we are more of those transplants. When we moved here several years ago the traffic shocked us since serious traffic jams are so few and far between. Even the few we get are nothing by comparison! When we would see a driver do something really stupid on the roadways it quickly became a joke for one of us to say "Geesh! They must be from California"!

Jeesh, is anyone else tired of these BYC formatting issues? I just typed up a whole paragraph about losing a hen today, and now that it wouldn't let me post, or even cut/paste to try to post again, I'm too cranky to type it all over again.

YES!!! I'm also tired of Verizon internet issues! They keep bumping me off the net every few minutes and between them and the BYC issues it's taking me an hour or more to answer 2 threads!

On the swap issue, it doesn't start for a couple of months and all the yarns in the list of possible choices are under $5. At least 1, 6" square is required for each participant though so, if life is busy, it might be better to skip it this time around. We have a couple a year so you can do another one when life gets a little less hectic.

BTW that cheese sounds amazing!!!

I agree with Elizabeth and vegaschick. No one should try to make you feel bad when you are trying your best to learn a new language. Unfortunately some folks are just rude that way. There are a lot of Americans that are terrible to people that can't speak english without a heavy accent. That doesn't make it right for them to give you a hard time though. Most spanish speakers I've met are sooo nice about my terrible spanish, that or they at least refrain from saying anything about it in front of me. haha

 

[SunnyDawn]

OK whatthecuck and whatthecluck12, I added you both to the opening post. I agree that first misspelling does sound a little raunchy but hilarious.

Hi Everyone!

Sunny, I hope you enjoyed Eureka? Very quaint little town there. Way out there but really neat.

Eureka isn't as quaint as it used to be. Actually it is far from my favorite coastal town but the trip is always special cause I get to see my brother and he is awesome!!!

So the rest of the story on the trip to Eureka to deliver the piano...

My brother threw us a wrench at the last minute, calling us when we were less than an hour away (after a 9 hour drive that included several stops to tighten ropes and a very nervous, sloooow drive, on extremely curvy mountain roads) and saying "Um the new apt is upstairs, is that a problem? OMG!!! Moving a 450lb piano upstairs?!! NO WAY I said! I then promised to smack him as soon as I got there (he just laughed, he's my baby brother and we all spoiled him to death so he knows I'm kidding). Then he said he had a full crew so I told him to run to Home Depot and get 4 - 2"x12"x10' boards to act as a ramp over the stairs to push the furniture dolly over.

I still can't believe those guys pushed it all the way up though! They were really straining with every muscle they had! I had 2 of the guys stand at the top holding a rope wrapped around the piano then around their waists to brace it just in case the guys slipped on the way up but I don't think they were braced very well and I was very glad the guys below did not lose their grip so we didn't have to find out if they were holding on. It was seriously scary to watch! I guarantee this is the last time I ever volunteer to move a piano!!! I've done it too many times in my life already but this time really showed me just how old I really am getting!!! I am sooo exhausted right now!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

OK whatthecuck and whatthecluck12, I added you both to the opening post. I agree that first misspelling does sound a little raunchy but hilarious.

Eureka isn't as quaint as it used to be. Actually it is far from my favorite coastal town but the trip is always special cause I get to see my brother and he is awesome!!!

So the rest of the story on the trip to Eureka to deliver the piano...

My brother threw us a wrench at the last minute, calling us when we were less than an hour away (after a 9 hour drive that included several stops to tighten ropes and a very nervous, sloooow drive, on extremely curvy mountain roads) and saying "Um the new apt is upstairs, is that a problem? OMG!!! Moving a 450lb piano upstairs?!! NO WAY I said! Then he said he had a full crew so I told him to run to Home Depot and get 4 - 2"x12"x10' boards to act as a ramp over the stairs to push the furniture dolly over.

I still can't believe those guys pushed it all the way up though! They were really straining with every muscle they had though. I made 2 of the guys stand at the top holding a rope wrapped around the piano to brace it just in case the guys slipped on the way up. It was seriously scary to watch! I guarantee this is the last time I ever volunteer to move a piano!!! I've done it too many times in my life already but this time really showed me just how old I really am getting!!! I am sooo exhausted right now!

Thank goodness for big, strong guys to help you move! Wow!

Most of my garden is done. I got Garden #3 completely done, Garden #2 all done except for the pole beans and 7 more winter squash, Garden #1 done except for about 10 winter squash, 4 canteloupe, 4 cucumbers, and 2 beds of basil. I need to get 4 more tomato cages, and to put tomato mulch on 10 more plants. I got most of the bucket planters done, except for 7 peppers. And I need to plant 5 more eggplant. I should be done in a couple days, if nothing crazy happens. When all this is done, I'm going to count the number of plants I have... well, except maybe every single corn, bean, and carrot. I'd be in the thousands if those all sprout and grow.

We lost a hen today. Shawarma the buff orpington, one of our favorites. I'm pretty sure she was egg-bound, and it took her fast! Yesterday I held her and didn't notice any difference in behavior. This morning, I saw her dancing around in the nest a few times, but that's pretty normal behavior here as the hens are returning to production after the illness. I went to work on the other two gardens at 11am, and by 3:30pm I found her dead. It looked like she had been dead awhile, so I must have lost her right after I left. From the looks of her hind end, she died trying to push something out. I just never knew it could take one so fast, especially when she doesn't have such obvious signs and I'm paying attention to other stuff.

Good news on the duck, though. Lacey wants her. Sahara is VERY happy that her duck is going to such a good home. I told her that Lacey had mentioned wanting to get one of those ducks that lays black eggs, so she'll be used for eggs instead of meat.

 

[chicharomirinda]

I didn't get the poop boards done today but I did get quite a lot of planting done as well as catch up on laundry, etc around the house.

We had a very busy weekend but I'll tell that story at the end of this post. BTW how is the playhouse coming along? The kids probably don't even care if they have walls and a roof but they will enjoy it so much when it's done.

OK whatthecuck and whatthecluck12, I added you both to the opening post. I agree that first misspelling does sound a little raunchy but hilarious.

Eureka isn't as quaint as it used to be. Actually it is far from my favorite coastal town but the trip is always special cause I get to see my brother and he is awesome!!!

So the rest of the story on the trip to Eureka to deliver the piano...

My brother threw us a wrench at the last minute, calling us when we were less than an hour away (after a 9 hour drive that included several stops to tighten ropes and a very nervous, sloooow drive, on extremely curvy mountain roads) and saying "Um the new apt is upstairs, is that a problem? OMG!!! Moving a 450lb piano upstairs?!! NO WAY I said! Then he said he had a full crew so I told him to run to Home Depot and get 4 - 2"x12"x10' boards to act as a ramp over the stairs to push the furniture dolly over.

I still can't believe those guys pushed it all the way up though! They were really straining with every muscle they had though. I made 2 of the guys stand at the top holding a rope wrapped around the piano to brace it just in case the guys slipped on the way up. It was seriously scary to watch! I guarantee this is the last time I ever volunteer to move a piano!!! I've done it too many times in my life already but this time really showed me just how old I really am getting!!! I am sooo exhausted right now!

wow! that was quite the task! I can't believe they got that up there.

Thank goodness for big, strong guys to help you move! Wow!

Most of my garden is done. I got Garden #3 completely done, Garden #2 all done except for the pole beans and 7 more winter squash, Garden #1 done except for about 10 winter squash, 4 canteloupe, 4 cucumbers, and 2 beds of basil. I need to get 4 more tomato cages, and to put tomato mulch on 10 more plants. I got most of the bucket planters done, except for 7 peppers. And I need to plant 5 more eggplant. I should be done in a couple days, if nothing crazy happens. When all this is done, I'm going to count the number of plants I have... well, except maybe every single corn, bean, and carrot. I'd be in the thousands if those all sprout and grow.

We lost a hen today. Shawarma the buff orpington, one of our favorites. I'm pretty sure she was egg-bound, and it took her fast! Yesterday I held her and didn't notice any difference in behavior. This morning, I saw her dancing around in the nest a few times, but that's pretty normal behavior here as the hens are returning to production after the illness. I went to work on the other two gardens at 11am, and by 3:30pm I found her dead. It looked like she had been dead awhile, so I must have lost her right after I left. From the looks of her hind end, she died trying to push something out. I just never knew it could take one so fast, especially when she doesn't have such obvious signs and I'm paying attention to other stuff.

Good news on the duck, though. Lacey wants her. Sahara is VERY happy that her duck is going to such a good home. I told her that Lacey had mentioned wanting to get one of those ducks that lays black eggs, so she'll be used for eggs instead of meat.

oh, I'm so sorry!

you just can't catch a break lately. you will be able to write a book on chicken maladies after all of this. the BOs are such sweeties.

I'm glad Lacey will take your duck! that's a little good news anyway. good job on your gardens!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: I am so sorry about Shawarma! I had no idea they could suffer such a quick death from being egg bound either!!! That is terrible.

I'm glad the duck is going to such a great home though!

My plants are all still under grow lights with a few exceptions because of the move. Some of the tomatoes and stuff are ginormous now and may not make it but I can hope. We have already been harvesting a bunch of salad greens and they are sooo delicious!!! I think I will forever grow my own salad greens under grow lights year round now! This has been a very cool crop of unique "greens" (half of the lettuces and 1 type of spinach were actually purple or red varieties and are scrumptious) this year and sooo easy to grow indoors! I don't have anywhere near the variety you have though. You'll have to let us know what you liked the best so we can add some of them to our gardens. I am especially curious about that new basil you mentioned getting at the coop market. I love basil!

That goes for all of you gardeners out there!

I didn't get the poop boards done today but I did get quite a lot of planting done as well as catch up on laundry, etc around the house.
Quote:
That is so cool that they are already enjoying it! I know you'll get it done once your to do list gets a bit more manageable.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

My plants are all still under grow lights with a few exceptions because of the move. Some of the tomatoes and stuff are ginormous now and may not make it but I can hope. We have already been harvesting a bunch of salad greens and they are sooo delicious!!! I think I will forever grow my own salad greens under grow lights year round now! This has been a very cool crop of unique "greens" (half of the lettuces and 1 type of spinach were actually purple or red varieties and are scrumptious) this year and sooo easy to grow indoors! I don't have anywhere near the variety you have though. You'll have to let us know what you liked the best so we can add some of them to our gardens. I am especially curious about that new basil you mentioned getting at the coop market. I love basil!

I was just on the Tomato Growers site, looking at all the different breeds! Planning for next year! I don't know if I want to focus on color again next year, or practicality. A good friend grows for preserving... sauce breeds and drying breeds... and doesn't focus on flashiness like I do. And as a result, her cupboards and freezers are filled by October.

I will forever more grow salad greens! Each time I harvest, I weigh it, then compare it to the closest thing I can find at Savemart. I have a chart going, trying to reason with how much money we're actually saving by growing our own produce. So far, we have harvested $100 in lettuce and spinach... and that's going on the "closest thing" available at Savemart... mixed baby greens. That's not "organic wild lettuce". We don't have too much room for stuff under grow lights, but maybe in the winter I can do something in a corner of the furnace room. I'll probably have to mist it often, though, to compensate for the dryness.

If anyone wants to try a huge range of varieties next year, I'm in! I see at least 15 tomato varieties I want to try, and don't want to buy 15 packets of seeds. Right now I have 5 others that I didn't plant, because a friend traded seedlings with me. Russ and I will have to see what worked out for us this year, since I anticipate a dry but good growing season, and decide what we'll do differently next year.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: You know I am up for some seed trading or just splitting an order! I am big on the OMG tasting tomatoes so the "purple" and "black" varieties are some of my favorites. I also grow chocolate cherries for salads and sides and slicers for sandwiches (brandywine, mortgage lifter...) but my favorites are the fresh eating tomatoes. I have this thing about plucking a tomato off the vine, running in the house, cutting out the stem and then I just munch on it whole with just a little salt and pepper added.

Yes there are a bunch of other things I use my maters for but, as simple as a plain tomato is... IDK I just love them this way!!! It's a great afternoon snack, so the really flavorful fresh eating varieties are my favs.

Have you seen the Robeson (Paul Robeson) tomato anywhere in seeds? I found them easily last year but not this year and they are one of my favorites for afternoon garden raiding!

Oh I do like to add something colorful like the pineapple tomato to serve at parties. They are nice for color and they have a bright flavor that most people like with a bruccheta or just sliced and layered with olive oil, a great cheese and some basil leaves. I don't can so if you are interested in Romas and stuff you'll have to get more folks in on this too so you can reduce costs further on your order.

 

[whatthecluck12]

Walmart does carry de-wormer's. You can get a tube of Zimecterin place a very small pea size amount around bread or roll it in corn meal and see if she will eat it or place gently in the back of her throat. She should swallow it. In 10 days repeat. Wazine only kills round worms but Zimecterin will kill all worms including tape worms. Are you sure she doesn't have a sour crop? Possibly an impacted crop? How long has she been feeling this way? What color is her droppings?

We got her dosed with the Zimecterin. We don't smell anything bad coming from her mouth and her crop is usually so empty it's recessed. We've been hand feeding her and using a dropper to give her electrolyte solution. She's been like this for a little less than a week. Droppings are white and green-ish...sometimes loose and sometimes bulkier. We're trying like crazy to make her get better, but we aren't super hopeful at this point. It feels like a pharmacy around here with all the meds we've gotten, but at least they'll be on hand for other illness we're bound to encounter. Who'd have thought chickens would be so fragile? Whenever I think about them I think of farms where they are running around and people are just kicking them out of the way all casual-like...they seem so hardy. She does have moments where she's more fiesty and tries to resist our "ministrations". She looks just awful--hasn't preened in days. After feeding her tonight I sat and rubbed her feathers out for her. I figure if she's going to the big farm in the sky she should look good for it.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote: Awwww! That is so sweet of you! I wish I had the perfect advice for you but it doesn't sound like anything I am familiar with at all. I haven't had to deal with a lot of illness here but I did have a roo break his neck today. It was one that was due for processing anyway so no biggy but he apparently just flew hard into the light fixture and snap! Why do they do that?