Sdwd

[Serrin]

OK, time for Stupid Question #658. Where do y'all buy your diatomaceous earth? Stupid Question #659: How much do you usually pay for it? And Stupid Question #660: What quantity do you buy?

For instance, I've found 50# bags for as much as $65 with shipping. Is that a good price? Is that too much to pay? Is that too much to buy? How far does this stuff go? I'd like to use it both internally and externally on my birds. I've heard that it will even wipe out internal parasites, but it takes a fairly long time to do so. But hey! If they're gonna eat it anyway, what could it hurt?

I'd like to put a good portion down in a special dust bath patch I'm planning on constructing in their covered run for the winter. The snows have started and it won't be long before the only bare earth they're going to be able to find will be that in their covered run. I just have no idea how much DE I'd need to be effective. I figure I'll put at least four or five 65# bags of playground sand in the dusting bed, maybe more if it's needed. So, I wonder, would maybe two 10# bags of DE do the trick? Or do I really need to be looking into the 50 pounders?

And all of those pesky little wild birds keep bringing in fleas with them!

I picked one off of myself just tonight after tucking the boys into their coop!! This was a real problem back in the early spring for the same reason it's starting to become a problem now. Those little birds ain't stupid by any stretch of the imagination! Back in the spring we got more than our usual amount of rain...waaaaay more than usual. The little wild birds decided that our covered run was the perfect place to hang out, keep dry and warm, and have a wonderful meal of layer crumble and scratch grains and even wild bird food from time to time.

With all of that yummy food around, and a roof over their heads in the bargain, you can best believe they won't be leaving any time soon! I just keep praying that fleas are the worst or only thing they're carrying with them.

Please give me your thoughts folks. I really feel like I've got to do something about this ASAP. *shuddering at the memory of that dang flea crawling on my head!**

 

[kathyinmo]

I buy DE at my feed store. If they are out, they order it for me. 50 pounds costs me $25. I go through 150 pounds a year, approx.

I only use it in the bedding (drying effects) and in the dust baths I make. I used to use it in their food, but stopped that when I read it is ineffective when wet.

 

[Cetawin]

Kathy...I am not strong, just very stubborn. Trust me...my body has and is still paying for it. Although I fell asleep in my hot bath...woke up when the water went tempid on me. LOL Then I just wrapped a towel around my and fell onto my bed and stayed there till 10 pm.

Amy I wish I could get her in another school but I can't unless I move to another county or another part of this one AND Cheyenne has a risk assessment and psychiatric evaluation. So, they can kiss my tan fanny! She cannot enroll in a county school until she goes through those so she is not enrolling....I will homeschool until she is able to attend the community college at age 16 for college prep.


Janelle we needs pics of this blue beauty...

 

[Cetawin]

BETH psssssssssssssssssst LQQKIE

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=421250

 

[Serrin]

Ooooh!! Now if I was in the market for a 'bator, I'd jump on both of those!

And the lucky wench gets a new cabinet bator out of the deal? Just doesn't seem fair somehow, does it Dellie family? Just think of all of the Del eggs we could hatch if each of us had a cabinet incubator!

Why, it simply boggles the mind, so it does!!!

Cetawin, you did take the opportunity to inform them that they flatter themselves in thinking that you'd keep Cheyenne in their little cesspool of a school system, didn't you? Gawds! I'd love to be a fly on the wall when they get word that Cheyenne ain't coming back! Though I'm sure once they know, it still won't be the end of the matter. FIDIOTS!!

So, what's the plan of attack for home schooling Cheyenne? Are there online courses available to you through the state education system? I know that if Annie had wanted to, she could have fulfilled all of her remaining required courses last year over the Internet, but she likes the social aspect of school so opted for conventional classes. She had so few remaining anyhow. Filled most of them up at the college through the Running Start program. If you guys have something like that in Kentucky, you should go for it! Things are so much simpler at the college level. Annie has cut the high school dramatics down to virtually nothing since she started last year. Pffft! I've always said that kid is way too mature for her years in many ways! I get the feeling that Cheyenne is very similar in many respects to our Annie.

Whatever direction you choose to go dear LH, I know you're going to do what's right and whatever it takes to see that Cheyenne gets a top notch education! Heck! If I know you dear, she's going to be three grade levels ahead of her former class mates by the end of the school year!

If only all parents took as much interest in their children and involved themselves in their child's life, we'd have a lot fewer drop outs and teen pregnancies. In my humble opinion at any rate. We've always known where Annie is, who she's with, where she's going, what time she'll be home, yadda, yadda, yadda, and I firmly believe that this level of involvement in her social life, along with getting involved in her choir groups and such, has made all the difference in the world. Besides, it's awful darn hard to have secrets when three of you are crammed into less than 300 square feet of living space for 5 years!

Kathy, I was doing a bit of reading up on that DE, and as near as I can tell, feeding it to the chickens won't hurt them, that apparently the abrasive nature of the DE acts like a scouring powder in their digestive system, knocking out all kinds of worms and other internal parasites. Then there's also the nutrition aspect of it all. Something like 14 trace minerals contained therein. That right there, I should think, would be ample reason to make it available to them to eat?

I'm gonna give my feed store a call tomorrow and see how much they want for a 50# bag. I sure hope it's as cheap here as it is for you! The best price I've been able to find so far, on the Internet, like I said earlier, is $65 with shipping.

Highway robbery I tell ya!!

OK, I refuse to let insomnia ruin another night's sleep here kids. I'm heading for bed! May you all be blessed with sweet and wonderful dreams. I hope you all have a nice relaxing weekend. You've earned it folks!

Take care.................

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Amy, she was formally withdrawn from school a week ago last Thursday, her locker cleared out, books turned and and fare thee well of sorts from me...without hand gestures but loaded with adjectives.

Cheyenne was homeschooled for the 3rd and 4th grades when I was not satisfied with what she had learned that year and they were going to promote her anyway..so I withdrew her and re-did the 3rd grade with her...best decision I ever made. She went into 5th grade in Oregon reading at a 11th grade level and with like reading comprehension and her math was back on grade level and in some areas slightly above.

There are tons of online resources, plenty of curriculums I can buy, I remember when I bought the Sonlight curriculum for her 3rd grade it was around 900.00 for the year...most of it was not used aside from the math program which is her weakness.

So, as I believe that if you can read, comprehend what it is read and heard, do basic math, problem solve and focus you can learn whatever you want, I am taking a different approach with her at the 8th grade level...so she finishes out the year on par...

She is reading two novels per week, one classic and one of her choosing; she does a full book report on each

In addition, she must be able to explain to me;the plot/setting/storyline, the author's motivation, the characters, and articulate what she got from the novel.

For Math, we are refreshing basic skills and she is learning to balance a checkbook, set a budget and manage finances. I am only go to make her suffer through the basics of algebra...I see no reason to torture her with something she will never use. A good solid foundation of basics and principles will suffice. Later we will move into Geometry which is more useful to her now and will be in the future.

for science she wants to study astronomy so we will delve into that next week after I gather the materials I wish to use. As we are out of doors so much, we will work with some natural sciences as well.

She enjoys writing poetry so she will continue with that as well.

She is starting her first German lesson tomorrow...I am a lover of languages and she wishes to learn so we are starting with the language my husband is fluent in and which is far easier to grasp than T'salagi or the asian languages, which I speak.

She is continuing with her Saxophone of course and she is meeting her friends at the library on Tuesday evenings for several hours and there will of course be weekend socializing for her.

Meanwhile, we will decide what curriculum to purchase for next year or to devise ourselves.



On a funny and very cute note…there is a young man that is absolutely crazy about Cheyenne. Very polite, well-mannered young man who adores the ground she walks on. Well Tuesday at the library, week before last, he asked if he could invite Cheyenne and I to the movies to see the new Harry Potter movie…I told him I would discuss it with my husband but to not expect a positive reply because of her age. He has not yet turned 14 himself. LOL So…fast forward to last Tuesday at the library….he tells her that he cannot invite her to the movies this weekend because he is going camping with this new organization he just joined…the Cadet Corp. Cheyenne says “Wow, my dad is with the Cadet Corp…and officer of or something” Eli says “Oh great” LOL

So, I come home and wrap my arms around my husband’s neck and say “Baby, guess who you are going to be camping with this weekend?” Who? “Eli, the young man that adores your daughter and wants to take her to the movies….he is one of your new recruits” I get an “Oh really?” and the phone calls started flying…he wanted to know all about this boy…not my opinion because it is tainted as he is sucking up to me my husband says…LOL

He promises Cheyenne he will not hurt the boy and tells me that he will see how he handles himself with “the men” this weekend and the maybe give him permission to ask Cheyenne to the movies in my or our escort.

So I get the report tonight via text message that “he looks like a second year Harry Potter” and I laughed and texted back “yes and what do you think of him?” he sends back the message….”We all like the kid a lot…good kid…but I am not telling him so”

Daddys never change through the generations do they? hahahaha

 

[speckledhen]

Does Eli know he has to run the SDWD Gauntlet?

Cheyenne deserves the very best, you know. If he missteps, he may find himself in someone's chicken pen, hogtied and covered in spaghetti, surrounded by hungry beaks!.

 

[joletabey]

I, personally, am ready for that gauntlet with a BIG stick, and my friends here, with the sharp eyes- just LET the boy try to get past Ultrasuede and Emma!

Come here, boy, let me look at ya!

We will FIND you and we will PECK your eyes out!!!!

Actually, these are the reactions I got when I tried cabbage as a treat. They wanted their kale, none of that pale green smelly stuff. Do you like all the horse barn towels in the background? Makes the place look real classy, doesn't it?

I am on those 'bators!! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[Serrin]

Quote:

Woman! You positively crack me up!!

Love the pictures too by the way! Especially good to see UltraSuede! What a handsome boy!

Cetawin: You go girl!! I knew you had it in you, and I know Cheyenne will get the best education you and the Internet can produce. Definitely years ahead of anything the public system can offer. And look Ma! No FIDIOTS!!!!!

 

[Cetawin]

can see the headlines now....

"Local boy found pecked to death with remnants of spaghetti sauce located on the body, the investigation continues into this mysterious case of fowl play...more at 11"

Beth...Ultrasuede is sooooo handsome. My goodness he has that look like his daddy and my Thor

See:

For as long as I can remember that boy was always watching and on alert, noticed every little thing...man I miss him. Severus lets the girls run amuck and cannot control the chaos.