Sally's GF3 thread

[Sally PB]

I made it rain!!! It is pouring right now, because...

You guessed it. I have laundry on the line. Second rinse.

I was thinking the garden could use a drink while I was weeding.

 

[pertnear09]

I made it rain!!! It is pouring right now, because...

You guessed it. I have laundry on the line. Second rinse.

I was thinking the garden could use a drink while I was weeding.

Lol, annoying but they will dry. Happens to me occasionally.

 

[Sally PB]

Quite the downpour, too. Nearly an inch of rain in the cart. The laundry is wringing wet. I could bring it in and put it through the spin cycle to dry out.

A nice drink for the garden. No heavy wind, so nothing is flattened.

I was hoping for rain; it's in the forecast for tomorrow evening. The uphill garden (heavy soil) was looking a bit peaked, and the IBC tote is nearly empty.

 

[Sally PB]

I gave my neighbor 7 eggs for her broody hen. She wanted 4, but I told her when I look for fertility, I see some definite yes, some maybe, some I don't think so.

4 Got cracked/broken in the first two weeks, leaving three.

Today was hatch day. No chicks. I don't know if they were clears, DIS, early quitters, or what. She said she didn't candle them at all.

I feel badly for her son, as the chickens are his responsibility. But I feel worse for her hen.

 

[Iluveggers]

I gave my neighbor 7 eggs for her broody hen. She wanted 4, but I told her when I look for fertility, I see some definite yes, some maybe, some I don't think so.

4 Got cracked/broken in the first two weeks, leaving three.

Today was hatch day. No chicks. I don't know if they were clears, DIS, early quitters, or what. She said she didn't candle them at all.

I feel badly for her son, as the chickens are his responsibility. But I feel worse for her hen.

I posted this advice for someone in another thread. After my hen went broody for the THIRD time, I decided to try something different. The first time all eggs got scrambled. Second time a few developed but air cells were all detached, and nothing hatched. The third time, I gave her fake eggs, and put 4 eggs in the incubator. No worries if she switched nests, or if someone stole them, or if any eggs got mixed up (if they were real, I pulled them.) When each egg pipped (small external or internal, checked when I could hear chirping in the incubator), I put them under her. She isn’t a picky broody. She successfully hatched all 4, finally. She is a great momma.

 

[Sally PB]

I posted this advice for someone in another thread. After my hen went broody for the THIRD time, I decided to try something different. The first time all eggs got scrambled. Second time a few developed but air cells were all detached, and nothing hatched. The third time, I gave her fake eggs, and put 4 eggs in the incubator. No worries if she switched nests, or if someone stole them, or if any eggs got mixed up (if they were real, I pulled them.) When each egg pipped (small external or internal, checked when I could hear chirping in the incubator), I put them under her. She isn’t a picky broody. She successfully hatched all 4, finally. She is a great momma.

If my neighbor wants to do this again, that's what we'll do. Thank you.

 

[Sally PB]

@aart, does this garlic look ready to dig?

We had 3/4-1" of rain yesterday, so should I let it dry out a bit (though we might get rain tonight). It's in my sandy soil garden, so it drains very well.

 

[aart]

@aart, does this garlic look ready to dig?

I can't tel by that pic....you've got to look closely at the bottom of the stalk, maybe even dig down a bit, and look for remnants of leaves.

 

[Sally PB]

This is a story about Pip.

I ordered 3 Bielefelder pullets (and 1 Blue Australorp pullet) from Mt. Healthy. I received 4 Bielefelders and one 1 Blue Australorp. All healthy, happy chicks.

My reason for ordering Biels is because they are sexable at hatch. The pullets have the chipmunk striping, the cockerels are blond with a white headspot. So there should be no problem with sexing them, and the Blue would have been the 90% accurate vent sex.

Picture of the 4 Biels.

Yes, very obviously females. Pip is probably the one facing to the right; she's always been smaller than the rest.

A few weeks ago, I saw a thread about how Mt Healthy mis-sexed a lot of their birds this spring. Nope, not mine; they're sexable at hatch. (I'm confident that the Blue Australorp is a pullet, and she's not part of this story. Sorry, Button. Your story will be told soon.)

I posted this picture of Pip.

Pip at 5 weeks. And someone said, that's a boy. 100%. That comb, beginnings of wattles, no doubt. But... but... sexable at hatch...

But... but... if it's the "extra" chick, it might not be a Bielefelder. How many breeds have the chipmunk look as chicks, male and female? Uh... several.

Someone else quoted Mt Healthy as saying that any extras would be the breed and gender you ordered. No, I didn't verify this. Because now it means nothing, really. Pip is what Pip is.

Someone else said, not so fast. Pip has skinny little pullet legs, so there's hope.

The next day, Pip tidbits a bug for one of the other girls. Can I hang my hope on skinny legs?

Pip at 6 weeks. The legs are still skinny, anyway...

Pip about 4 days later.

I didn't get a good picture today. I'll try tomorrow. They're 7 weeks old now.

But I am feeling better about Pip being a Bielefelder pullet. The other three have combs about the same size, so maybe Pip's popped early.

And they all have skinny legs.

 

[Sally PB]

I caught 45 Japanese Beetles today. 11 times what I got just three days ago. We had heavy rain last night -- nearly an inch! -- so maybe that slowed them down somewhat.

Very grateful for the rain. We've had about 3" in the last two weeks. We're still about 3" below average, but the surface is nice and moist now.

And the bugs are coming out. Including the Japanese Beetles.