NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Those are the best chickens to have. Quiet, not messy & they do not each much

They also don't lay much. Got them in Homewood, Alabama. Sweet Pea garden shop. I love the place. Homewood has some nice shops.

 

[rancher hicks]

Yesterday I had a physical, tried to get out of it, but they said to come in and reminded me that they are used to sick people. My doc helped me, by explaining about the use of antihistamines and expectorants. My head was so congested it was hard to understand...but I feel much better! And I am very alert, as 24 hour claritin does that. And now I'm having coffee! So gonna clean the deep litter a bit today, using the plastic sled to haul it to one of the gardens.

I've been doing much better since I'm on a n allergy pill. Used to suffer terrible. Of course I no longer work so not around sick people much either. Employers who make sick people show up make me sick. No pun intended. Well maybe just a little pun intended.

I have alcohol wipes next to the computer for wipe downs. Shared computers are the worst. That and phones.

 

[rancher hicks]

Morning All.
Trying to get in the mood to get ready and head down to CT. Just went out and poured water in all the water bowls and changed out the chickens frozen waterers. Thinking of making a trip to the feed store before I leave. I'm just not in the mood for anything today.

DH did our taxes last night we are getting nothing back. Maybe 400 bucks. I'm just disgusted at that. I really wanted to pay off his car and have no car payments since I'm no longer getting paid my severance. Don't wanna pull from our savings to do it either. So now hopefully in May we'll be able to do it.

I'm nervous about leaving all the animals. I cannot believe that I have gotten this bad about going to CT. I used to LOVE going to visit family and friends. Now I count the days as to how long it'll be before I'm back home. It's awful.

On top of that when I return this weekend DH has to leave early Sunday morning to go to Brooklyn for three days to help them with their beer dinner because they couldn't come up with a good enough menu! Really???? So annoying.

Guess I gotta look at the bright side. When I return I'll have a coop waiting for me to be built. And I'll have ducklings coming next week on Wednesday. Oh and hopefully I'll be able to pick up my three silkies on my way home. (Haven't heard back yet from the woman getting them from)

So that's my morning, sorry for the rant but I had to vent.

Vent all you want. You know what I'm going through. She doesn't listen about such things and should see the Doc.

Good to get it off your mind

I know how you feel. I had to go home to England last year for a month!! Missed the entire family here something awful. To make it worse, I had just ordered bees - they arrived a week before I left so they were on their own. The chickens actually seemed to miss me and were very vocal when I came back! Anyway, hope you get your silkies ok - try and enjoy your trip............

Now I hear that about missing things. I went to AL last year for 5 wks and it was fine as long as I could keep busy. Still my allergy meds where no match for their cats and a messy house. I also needed more money to spend on paint and what not. Plus couldn't take the kids anywhere by myself since they weren't completely potty trained. My son and I had a long talk about that too. Still I did get to know my DIL better so we had an understanding. Can't understand how folks treat their kids sometimes or figure out why they had them in the first place. Specifically her mother. What a nut job. I love my daughter in law though. We get along good. She's a good learner too.

Before and after. Next time down I'm going to resurface that table. One thing about the South is you can pretty much paint and do stuff all year.







Plan is to go to FL in April but how can I leave my chickens and chicks? Just had my DD and her Doofus come over to let them out and give them water. Came home and no water and no food in some of the runs. He, I'm assuming it's him, broke the ice out right inside the runs! They say girls marry a man like their father. Well if that doesn't make me want to jump off a cliff!!

On a more positive note, did our taxes too. Getting something back but never enough. We've always claimed zero during the year to offset having to pay if we can. I do our own using Turbo Tax. If you can read you can do yours too. Ever since Jackson Hewitt made mistakes two years in a row, I've done them myself.

 

[JLaw]

Well I think this hatch is a bust. We lost power again yesterday morning from 6-1030ish. Incubator got down to 74 and I don't know how long it was that low I had a cover over it. After a few hours I candled one and saw alittle movement so put back and closed bator. Today is day 21 so going to give a few days extra because of the lower temps we had in house and bator along with the power outages.

Well off to try and snow blow some even though it's melting it's still piled up from wind storm yesterday.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I think this hatch is a bust. We lost power again yesterday morning from 6-1030ish. Incubator got down to 74 and I don't know how long it was that low I had a cover over it. After a few hours I candled one and saw alittle movement so put back and closed bator. Today is day 21 so going to give a few days extra because of the lower temps we had in house and bator along with the power outages.

Well off to try and snow blow some even though it's melting it's still piled up from wind storm yesterday.

Chin up. You've nothing to lose by letting them go and hoping for the best.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I have my Mom do our taxes. We got them done on the 8th. We got our Federal return yesterday and are scheduled to get our state return next week. We don't get back to much either. My sister gets close to $11,000 back, that is almost half of their yearly income. Her husband is the only one that works and doesn't make that much working at a gas station. They get the Earned Income Tax Credit and have 2 kids so I guess that is how they get that much. He's a deadbeat but that is a rant for another day.

Feels warmer this morning. It'll be a nice warm up even if it is only for a few days, back to cold temps on the weekend. I just keep telling myself that it isn't for to much longer. I got my special seed order yesterday. Got some cool flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and they put in a free packet of some type of melon. Non-GMO heritage seeds. Cool company, will have to see how the seeds do this year, may order all from them next year. I ordered some from a few different places. Can't wait to see hoe they do!

Started to work on my new bantam coop yesterday. Can't wait to get it done. I cleared some room in the garage for a work space. It was easier to make room in there then on our porch. Everything on there is froze to the ground in a few inches of ice. Not sure that DH will like what I"m doing in "his" garage, but it is attached to "my" house. I told him when I talked to him the other day that I was working on a project. I'm sure when he gets home he'll be surprised as to what my project was. I just need to get it done soon so I can bring my frizzle pair home. So excited..Then my baby ducks come next week. Was thinking about making a different brooder instead of digging out the one that I made for the chicks. I may just dig out the big rubber made tub and use that instead.

 

[horsekeeper]

Second day with no heat other than a kerosene heater and fourth time the furnace has quit. This is getting old in a hurry! I am so glad I exercised a bit of self control and didn't order eggs or chicks yet.

 

[rancher hicks]

I have my Mom do our taxes. We got them done on the 8th. We got our Federal return yesterday and are scheduled to get our state return next week. We don't get back to much either. My sister gets close to $11,000 back, that is almost half of their yearly income. Her husband is the only one that works and doesn't make that much working at a gas station. They get the Earned Income Tax Credit and have 2 kids so I guess that is how they get that much. He's a deadbeat but that is a rant for another day.

Feels warmer this morning. It'll be a nice warm up even if it is only for a few days, back to cold temps on the weekend. I just keep telling myself that it isn't for to much longer. I got my special seed order yesterday. Got some cool flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and they put in a free packet of some type of melon. Non-GMO heritage seeds. Cool company, will have to see how the seeds do this year, may order all from them next year. I ordered some from a few different places. Can't wait to see hoe they do!

Started to work on my new bantam coop yesterday. Can't wait to get it done. I cleared some room in the garage for a work space. It was easier to make room in there then on our porch. Everything on there is froze to the ground in a few inches of ice. Not sure that DH will like what I"m doing in "his" garage, but it is attached to "my" house. I told him when I talked to him the other day that I was working on a project. I'm sure when he gets home he'll be surprised as to what my project was. I just need to get it done soon so I can bring my frizzle pair home. So excited..Then my baby ducks come next week. Was thinking about making a different brooder instead of digging out the one that I made for the chicks. I may just dig out the big rubber made tub and use that instead.

Yes my daughter doesn't work and they do okay too. My single daughter had a fit since she works two jobs and no kids. I did tell her to go and have more money withheld since the new withholding cuts have made for more people paying than getting a return.

Our system is set up to penalize those who are ambitious and those who might move to a higher tax bracket. Point being don't be to angry with your sister and hers. There's no such thing as a little help. It's all or nothing. We were always in a position of making just enough to keep from getting help, but not enough to get us over the hump.

Too there will always be those who will never earn enough. We can't all be Doctors, lawyers and nurses. Some folks just don't have the IQ or personality for such jobs. The factory jobs of the past are mostly gone. These were the jobs your brother in law might have had. The middle class is becoming an endangered species.

Moving on

 

[JLaw]

Second day with no heat other than a kerosene heater and fourth time the furnace has quit. This is getting old in a hurry! I am so glad I exercised a bit of self control and didn't order eggs or chicks yet.

I hear you and hope it gets better soon. We have been heating with space heaters past 3-4 weeks now. Such a pain when heater goes down. We was looking at kerosene heaters but with how much kerosene cost wasn't worth it. We figured it costs like 1-2 dollars per heater for 24 hours using a 1500watt heater. Running 5 heaters is cheaper than running our propane furnace sadly.

Chin up. You've nothing to lose by letting them go and hoping for the best.

Yeah hoping they hatch, really stinks to loose 50 dollars because of loosing electric for hours. Then again my son didn't help unplugging cords while I was at work one day.

 

[rancher hicks]

Second day with no heat other than a kerosene heater and fourth time the furnace has quit. This is getting old in a hurry! I am so glad I exercised a bit of self control and didn't order eggs or chicks yet.

We replaced our furnace two years ago. I kept fearing it blowing up or killing us all. We did it near tax time so we'd get an no payment or interest on it. After we filed our taxes we used that money to pay it off. This is why I always say to claim zero dependents on your W-2. Sure you'd get more money during the year if you didn't, but if you know you won't save the money, (there's always something) you at least won't end up owing Uncle Sam.

Plus like I said before they've reduced our withholding so much that more people I know are paying out than getting returns. Seems to me getting back $400 is better than owing $400.

Hope you get the furnace fixed asap. You have friends here who care.