***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[averytds]

At least the show didn't get cancled even though there were a few hicups. Hopefully the kids will understand about the placings and kuddos go out to the gent that stepped in to help, that is the Fancy showing it's best side.



I don't really explain to the kids anymore. That's how the the judge they've had for the last 5 years or so always judges. I started taking them to opens to make it up to them and keep them from quitting, while trying to fix the problem here. This year was to be our first, where we proved to our extension agent why it mattered.

I guess the battle will continue. The guy that stepped up felt bad later, but I told him he didn't need to. Canceling would definitely have been worse. I hope he gets into exhibition poultry, or at least judging it as a result. Not sure how an adult goes about it. Contact the APA maybe? If nothing else, maybe he can help explain to our extension agent why it's important to have a knowledgeable poultry judge. Talking to him afterwords, it was clear he understood what we've been trying to explain for years.

Yep. We get our drinking water there. Wasn't too much of a line yesterday in the heat but usually there is. It's cheaper to drive out there and fill our bottles than to buy new or refill them in town and the water is so much better. We even got buckets of it yesterday to water our rabbits with.

Wait a minute???? This is like a public well or something? And people go there routinely for water because...???? I know its commonplace around the globe, but I've never seen/heard of that here. Is the city supply contaminated in some way or is this like an attraction type of thing?

Oh I had such a good laugh this morning watching my "chicken soap opera". Y'all know my Silkie I bought at POOPS is very weird, for a Silkie. She's quite aggressive, lays every day, and she apparently thinks babies are for losers, because she's shown no interest at all in going broody. Well, last night one of my little thirteen week old cockerels decided that he was mature enough to start topping the hens, and he picked out my Silkie. He chased her down, caught her by her topknot and held her down. He climbed right up on her back and dug in. . . and then I guess he couldn't figure out why the heck he was up there in the first place. He looked SO SILLY! He was just sitting on her like a kid sits on a pony and he was looking around like he was saying "Did I do it? Is this all there is?" Meanwhile she was squawking and yelling and mad as all git out. Jamie, my alpha rooster finally walked over and pecked the teenager on the head and ran him off. Well, Ushas, my Silkie was after that bad boy in a New York minute. She grabbed him by his comb and flogged the heck out of him. When he got away she grabbed him by his wattles. This morning after I moved the coop and let them out, the first thing she did was grab him and start flogging him again. He's my biggest, strongest young rooster, and all day long he's been hiding out trying to keep out of her reach. Just thought I'd share. Edit spelling.

With Teva's Caravan we pulled the rear seats and then layed down plastic and a thick layer of straw. Don't know how many birds we could have hauled but we hauled 5 bottle calves back from Kansas on a pretty regular basis!

I'm buying a pig from one of the fair kids. I've never actually bought from a grower before. Had to ask beforehand if I was going to be expected to just back the truck up or if they delivered to the processor. I'm so glad they said they'd deliver or I'd have been to afraid to buy.

is anyone else having issues posting and uploading lately?? i am reading but having a hard time posting-

birds are doing ok in the heat, but am dunking them a coule times a day and the big ones have good mud puddles

The kids are out dunking several times a day now. I think for next year we may try red or black broilers instead of the cornish x's. Hopefully they'll be a bit hardier.

 

[Ksane]

is anyone else having issues posting and uploading lately?? i am reading but having a hard time posting-
birds are doing ok in the heat, but am dunking them a coule times a day and the big ones have good mud puddles

Robin, those pictures I uploaded earlier took 3 tries before I finally got them to upload. I'm not even on my iPad, I'm on my laptop. So I think something's still really messed up with BYC.

 

[nnbreeder]

Man, why did you have to go and tell that to an auction junky like me? Now I'm off to find this journal...

On the economy, I was surprised since the economy tanked 4 years ago to see less stuff at the big equipment auctions instead of more. I figured people would be hurting and anxious to sell stuff, but I think it has just meant they aren't buying new and are instead holding on to the old, patching it up rather than selling.

Still plenty of good finds to be had, though.

Here is their website. It doesn't seem to have as many ads as the print copy though. There are only 25 ads for auctions on the site.

http://www.hpj.com/


For the best auto/truck deals GSA is the place to go. GSA vehicles are maintained under strict guidelines but there are others listed too like when states have the fire truck sales 6x6s and 4x4s are common as are pumps, generators and 500+gallon water tanks. And at times they offer crash-tested vehicles too for parts only.

There is even a NASA/Hubble catagory but they won't certify whether parts for sale have actually went into space.

An open air type trailer eh? 16x6 bumper pull stock trailer. Put water tanks, pumps and cabinets in the wasted space of the curved nose. Pull off the back gate and replace with a ramp. Sheet the floor with plywood so dust doesn't come up in the trailer and install drop-down windows on the sides, closed for traveling, open for processing. Much cheaper then a concession type.trailer. Install a power inverter for refrigeration while hooked to the truck and a generator when the trailer is being used.

 

[nnbreeder]

Here is a link to the APA website. They do have a list of judges by state and as far as someone getting licensed any judge or official at the APA can give you the skinny on it.

http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/


The well that we are talking about is an Artesian well and the water is naturally soft. Some of the only water that I have seen that is truly oderless and tasteless as water should be. The first time I stopped there was in about '76. I've had well water from the area too and it is different then that at the Artesian well.

Before we had a trailer we would haul weanling pigs in 55 gal. drums, 4 pigs to a drum, 5 drums in the back of the truck. By the time they were butcher size we at least had stock racks in the back of the truck.

 

[TheBarnSwallow]

HELLO EVERYONE

How are all of you? I know I dont get on here as nearly as I once was back in the early days.. and even before we moved away.. but I do still keep some of you in my thoughts.

Do tell me does Buster52 still get on here? Aleisha has been asking about GIGI... (our beloved goat we gifted him) she is anxious to know if she were bred and had any babies we could steal.. ha ha ha..

Kids and I are keeping very busy... LoRd willing Jason should be returning home from deployment in December...


I do hope you all are staying cool.. I hear the temps are pretty bad again this year.. I know we have been hitting some warm weather... the state is in a burn ban until October... which I understand does not happen often..

 

[Tony O]

Quote: Do you know what breed, or breeds they are?

 

[averytds]

Thanks Les, I'll let him know. Well, I'll let his wife know. I see her more often because she teaches at the kids' school. It would be really great if he follows through. He seems really nice and even though he was nervous, I think he had at least a little fun.



I think I'm becoming food snobbish or something. Since we started buying our beef/pork from the processor and raising or own meat birds, the stuff at the grocery store kind of grosses me out. I had never thought about getting it straight from the producer. A whole new world is getting opened up to me.



Interesting about the well. I've been to many places where a lone spigot in town was the only water anywhere around and found it exhausting and time consuming. Its hard for me to picture it as a voluntary thing, even if the water tastes better.

My DH always complained the water here was awful. After I quit smoking and my taste buds came back

I installed one of those filtering systems. Maybe tasting it would make me a believer. I guess if you're not having to haul your washing and bathing water too, maybe it's not such a big thing.

 

[erinszoo]

Interesting about the well. I've been to many places where a lone spigot in town was the only water anywhere around and found it exhausting and time consuming. Its hard for me to picture it as a voluntary thing, even if the water tastes better.

My DH always complained the water here was awful. After I quit smoking and my taste buds came back

I installed one of those filtering systems. Maybe tasting it would make me a believer. I guess if you're not having to haul your washing and bathing water too, maybe it's not such a big thing.

The well has been spewing out water since the 1950's and the man who found it set it up to provide water to anyone who might need it at any time no matter who owns the land. All you have to do is take your containers and fill them up. We actually did a water taste test with an OHCE group I belonged to and we had water from 5 different sources - the well, the city, a water supply company, wal-mart spring water, and distilled water. Hands down without any doubt everyone (15 people) voted the well water was the best. In our town we had a zinc smelter that has involved a lot of pollution cleanup over the past five years. Lawsuits are ongoing, payouts remain to be seen but city water is often contaminated with high counts of arsenic, lead, and cadmium. There's an underground lake that they are pumping out because it is so highly contaminated. We decided when our kids were small that we weren't taking a chance on it and would buy our drinking water. Once we found the well, which is out by the Salt Plains State Park, and determined it was as cheap if not cheaper to drive out there and get the "good" stuff, we've been doing it ever since ... about 9 or 10 years now. We just look at it as another chore that has to be done and don't think about it. It only takes us about 30 minutes to fill our 90 gallons, one gallon at a time. Some people fill 5 gallon bottles.

 

[erinszoo]

Quote:
I have a silkie bantam roo that gets picked on really bad in the coop so he's become a "house" chicken. We take him outside to run with the other birds during the day because they don't bother him in the yard and then he comes inside at night. He's my little buddy, however I understand the insane part because even when we take him outside (and he's not even blind) if one of the other birds approaches him, he runs under my feet and wants me to pick him up. It's cute and annoying at the same time. And he talks to the TV too especially if there's music playing.

 

[jcatblum]

Just was talking to the kids about how it is cooling down this weekend to 100 degrees & we really needed to use the cooler temps to plant some more fall stuff. Both kids laughed at me!