NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cass]

Evening all. Been working mad, crazy hours all over to the place. My cheeps are not happy about that. I did finally get the big coop cleaned out, sprayed, dusted and ready for winter. Just have to pick up another bag of shavings to throw in there. Hoping to get to the run tomorrow to fix the dirt in front of the door and rake all the leaves from the backyard into it. Still need to cull the last 6 out of that coop and combine the two flocks. I look at The Duke and he just keeps getting better every day. He is looking like the breed standard in type and coloring. He is gonna be something when he finishes growing up!

Had to pluck Legolas butt again. He is the only one that has a consistant mite issue, even if it is small. I bath him and dust him and apply ivermectin but they never all go away. Everyone else in that coop is clean. I go through them weekly, checking butts and tops and everywhere else. I guess some cheeps are just mite magnets and poor legolas is one of them. Good thing I keep stuff on hand for this issue.

My egg counts are back up despite the fact that molting is going on. I have a couple of barred rocks who look pathetic. Eowyn has gone broody again and I told her no babies yet. I am not having silkie chicks going into winter. Silly birds.

Hitting the holloween markdown candy on sunday for dh. Hunting season is coming on and he likes to have some with him. Hope he gets a deer as I am looking forward to canning some venison. I did make and can some chicken soup (and ate some for dinner, yum!) so we have it for those cold winter days. Looking to get some markdown meat to make beef stew and can it and maybe some chilli too. Always nice to be able to open up and eat something you made.

Anybody ever store dry goods for long periods of time? How do you do it? I am thinking of buying flour and such and storing it either in jars or vacuum sealed bags for emergency purposes. I will have to search the internet to see how people do it.

I hope all of you are well and your cheeps healthy. I will be on and off depending on my schedule. Its the busy season for us retail workers. I may not be on much but I do think of all of you often.

Ta for now my friends!

Search for "Dry Canning" or "oven canning" for your flour storage. It's as simple as putting the flour in jars with lids and putting them in the oven at a certain temp for a certain time. Seems pretty easy, but more expensive than using a vacumn sealer in plastic "bags", because the jars cost more. However the jars are reusable, the bags are not.

There are lots of good website out there for "preppers"....and you don't have to be in fear of a zombie apocolypse to store food for future use. The rapidly rising cost of food alone is good enough reason to do so.....not to meantion it is not unheard of for huge snowstorms to put power out in areas for weeks. Having food in the house that enables you to be self suffienent for 3 - 5 weeks makes should make you feel calmer, not more worried.

 

[armorfirelady]

Pharm- I have extra flour, sugar, brown sugar, etc in their original bags and put them in large lock and lock containers in my basement pantry for months with no problems. I got an early Christmas present of a food saver and use it to seal up all my meat for the freezer. (Ever try to put a 21 inch trout in one of those bags?

). I would assume you could use the seal bags for dry good also. They also make an attachment for my sealer for canning jars so you vacuum pack them as well for long storage

 

[Gramma Chick]

I know this isn't the "for sale" page, but if anyone relatively local to Albany, NY is looking for any Roosters, we've got them! 11.5 weeks old:



2 White Rocks Roos
2 Barred Rocks Roos
2 Black Star Roos (black sex-link)
$5 each
Pasture-raised, vaccinated for Marek's & Cocci, spoiled, and handled daily! Very friendly!
Albany, Averill Park, Selkirk, or Malta (Saturday 1pm only) pickups.

Pretty Boys ...Ive got a few of my own

 

[Gramma Chick]

I think there has been a coon in our garden ../ back of our yard ...I went out in the garden coz the chickens got in ..
Found the fence down , the pop corn stalks down & all the popcorn gone ...

They are welcome to take the corn ...much rather they have that then bother the chickens

 

[Gramma Chick]

Anyone browse Pininterest ?
Egg-xactly what you need

http://www.listotic.com/20-insanely-clever-gardening-tips-and-ideas/13/

 

[demp4]

I've been enjoying the pâtés as everyone works through their stuff. We have been besieged by ticks, or at least our dog has been. Have taken her in the woods a few times of late and yesterday I picked 8 ticks off her mostly the back of her neck/shoulders. Today 4 from around her right eye. Vet apt. Tomorrow, think we'll have a Lyme test, and maybe one in 6 weeks, these recent ticks won't register yet. Maybe I need fowl that will eat ticks and slugs. The chickens do well on earthworms, however. But I like earthworms.

Ticks are absolutely terrible this year!! We are getting some guinea fowl this spring for sure!
We had them at our old house and boy were they loud but I rather have loud then ticks.

 

[demp4]

I think there has been a coon in our garden ../ back of our yard ...I went out in the garden coz the chickens got in ..
Found the fence down , the pop corn stalks down & all the popcorn gone ...:/
They are welcome to take the corn ...much rather they have that then bother the chickens

Yes corn is better than chickens for the coon. Can you set a live trap in case it comes back?

Anyone browse Pininterest ?
Egg-xactly what you need

http://www.listotic.com/20-insanely-clever-gardening-tips-and-ideas/13/

Interest is a great resource. I would make a huge mess using egg shells to plant with though since my kids help me.

 

[AQHAchick22]

The first post on this page of this thread shows what one person came up with to heal a broken leg and it worked really well, so you might try it. If it's actually dislocated, it will need to be popped back in or you can hope she forms a false joint over time, but this usually requires surgery to happen so really you're looking at needing to pop it back in. If it's out, you should be able to see it by comparing the position of her hip on her good leg to that on her bad leg and seeing if they look the same or if the bad hip has a bump where it shouldn't, which would be the head of the femur not where it belongs.

Thanks!
I'm really not looking forward to this...it definitely seems to be dislocated. She won't put weight on it and when she does try and stand her foot rests on top of her other one. I'm going to stop on my way home and grab some popsicle sticks incase I need to make a splint.

I also think I'm losing a red comet This morning she was sitting all puffed up with her eyes closed. I got her to eat and drink but it's not looking good and it's very frustrating to not know what it is. I wrapped her up in a towel this morning and put her in a crate but I don't think she's going to be alive when I get home

 

[Beer can]

Ticks are absolutely terrible this year!! We are getting some guinea fowl this spring for sure!
We had them at our old house and boy were they loud but I rather have loud then ticks.

Until the last couple weeks I have never seen a tick, only when skinning deer occasionally, and I spend a lot of time in the woods and fields. I have gotten one on me two different times just walking outside my house. Maybe I'll get guinea's again this spring. I had a some before and they are awesome birds. But for some reason they like to get hit in the road. Our house, their coop a couple hundred yards from the road and huge fields all behind our house.
Why the heck do they play in the road?

 

[boskelli1571]

Until the last couple weeks I have never seen a tick, only when skinning deer occasionally, and I spend a lot of time in the woods and fields. I have gotten one on me two different times just walking outside my house. Maybe I'll get guinea's again this spring. I had a some before and they are awesome birds. But for some reason they like to get hit in the road. Our house, their coop a couple hundred yards from the road and huge fields all behind our house.
Why the heck do they play in the road?

Ticks are terrible this year! Our dogs are 'spot' treated, pill treated and wear a collar....they still bring ticks home!! Woke up the other night to one crawling up my arm, fortunately they don't seem to bite me - probably 'cos I'm old and bitter.....