Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

I won't be moving. The flat I was informed about was not the flat I was offered finally.

Classic Bait and switch. :-( Hopefully this just means that you will find something better, in the long run.

 

[Shadrach]

Four hours today. Eldest husband is testing negative now so I went round for tea and a chat mid afternoon.
Damp and dismal today and much cooler.
Carbon is looking very sorry for herself. She's still moulting. The chicks seem fine. They're getting more adventurous by the day.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Er, this is the same guy who launched a military invasion against the very not terrifying island of Granada, so ... as they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Just because this quote may be an accurate assessment of government competence doesn't mean Reagan's clock wasn't broken.

Besides, the legacy of Reagan's rule as being governed by laissez faire principals is mostly myth. They used Milton Friedman as poster boy for free markets while the Federal Reserve manipulated the economy -- and the fate of millions -- via interest rates. There was actually an extreme amount of government maneuvering in the private sector during the Reagan years, it just was directed more to the benefit of corporations and less at social welfare.

I'm not arguing that one is "better" than the other. Merely saying that the widely cherished belief that Reagan reduced the government is not accurate. He only reduced it in some areas to grow it massively in others.

I personally feel that they are all self-serving crooks. That is why the walk away as part of the billionaires club. ;-) but that quote is accurate.

 

[MrsNorthie]

With Covid natural immunity was not the key.

Natural immunity has seen me through years of working in the healthcare industry, school age kids and covid. I am not an anti-vaxer, but I just don't need it.

 

[ManueB]

Hey @Molpet your hoop coop is on front page !

Barley and wheat berries are not always easy to tell apart for example, but my birds like one much more than the other, and that one is more expensive than the other, so I'd want to know if it includes barley, and if so, how much relatively speaking.

I was told recently that the grain my birds leave out from the mix I buy is barley (I thought it was the oat. I never saw oat or barley grain before ). Either dry or fermented they don't like it.
It's a good green manure cover crop so when they leave it out dry we can use it in the garden.
They like the wheat berries, but only up to a point. If the mix has more than 25% they leave some.
I stumbled randomly upon this belgian website for pigeons and it's something else than french stores- they have something like 100 different kinds of mix for pigeons . But almost no simple grains or peas unfortunately ; i’m still looking for a good source. Many of the peas you mentioned using don't seem to be common here in either birds or pigeons feed.

There are other housing providers and I will look into them.

It's interesting. It would seem that being a sheltered housing complex for people over 55 years old, some assumptions have been made about their lifestyles.
The bathrooms are quite large and this is because some people who will choose this type of accomodation need some help with bathing so the space is needed for that.
The living rooms it seems have been designed on the assumption that the occupant leads a solitary life, probably watches TV a lot and would want a comode and perhaps a fridge within easy reach and a comfortable chair to sit in and not much else. There are people like this where I currently live. However, not only do I invite people for lunches and supper, I have furniture, don't watch or even have a TV and have had six people in my flat at one time.
The housing providers perception/knowledge of how older people live may well have been different in the 1970's when the flats were built. I think around half the people who live in the complex I live in (all over 60 years old from what I gather) are very active, some with large families. Even those with limited mobility wish to go out and have family visit. The complaint I hear most often is the living space in the flats here is not big enough. The rest of the flats are fine most think. Some, and I agree with them think the bedrooms could have been made smaller. Lets face it after 50 years or so of sex, should the oportunity arrise some extra space in the living room might come in handy. After all, those walking frames take up a lot of space and one has probably got very bored of being in bed.
I like my flat. I get sun through large windows in the living room and bedroom and I look directly onto a tree out of my kitchen window where I watch the birds come and go. The soundproofing is above average and that means I can play music at a reasonable level without disturbing others, which given the amount of time I spend listening to music is important. I'm also fond of the things I've accumulated over the years and I've been through the thinning out process quite a few times and I'm at minimum now.
I have a friend who lives in a similar complex but built within the last five years. His bedroom is very slightly smaller than mine but his living room is perhaps a third bigger again and the place is light and airy.

I believe this is true for all ages. The way we live and how we like our living space has changed considerably, even recently. Flats from the 70s and even 80s no longer suits our living styles.

I live in a mountain house from beginning 20th century which has more rooms dedicated to food storage than to people . We are in the process of rethinking rooms and their access to suit us better, it's not simple !

It's too bad for the waste of your time and having been led to believe it would work, but still, you are lucky to be living in a place that suits you. If you can't find a place nice enough closer to the allotment and your daughter, it is definitely better to wait.

 

[Perris]

But almost no simple grains or peas unfortunately ; i’m still looking for a good source. Many of the peas you mentioned using don't seem to be common here in either birds or pigeons feed.

It took me a while too; I guess it's a sign of how few people use plain agricultural products. However, with the global push to get us all to eat more plants and less meat, and pulses' relatively high protein levels, there should now be more growing where the environment is suitable, so there will inevitably be more 2nd grade stuff that becomes available for animal feed. On the pea names and synonyms (and nutritional values), the feedipedia site is quite useful
https://www.feedipedia.org/node/264

 

[Molpet]

Hey @Molpet your hoop coop is on front page !

Thanks
This is the 2nd time.. I guess they like it

 

[TropicalChickies]

I personally feel that they are all self-serving crooks. That is why the walk away as part of the billionaires club. ;-) but that quote is accurate.

I just watched this excellent music documentary on the life of Bob Marley, the roots Rasta movement in Jamaica, and how every bid for independence and peace the Jamaican people endeavored to make was strangled by "the tentacles of the CIA." Reagan proudly and publicly proclaimed his alliance with Edgar Seaga, the pro USA candidate for prime minister who commanded the gang style assassination attempt on Marley. The concert footage is fantastic.
.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9046548/

It's an interesting look at just the tip of the iceberg of how the US government used the cold war as an excuse to get all up in everyone's business for their own ends. And of course continues to do so.

Regarding some of the discussion here about whether any government is more trustworthy than another, I would say look at what that government does when confronted by Big Bully Uncle Sam. Not to pick on Australia -- it's just an example -- but why is the Australian government allowing one of its own citizens, Julian Assange, to be imprisoned, tortured, extradited and tried for treason under US law? Can one really trust a government that won't claim or assist its own citizen, who has committed no crime under their law, just to avoid the wrath of the U.S? Hmm.

Tax. Dusty's chicks at 8 weeks taking an afternoon break on a hot day under a Jamaican mint bush

I think they are both cockerels now. And one of Tina's looks like a cockerel too. If so, that would mean 7 out of the 9 chicks hatched here recently are male. Right now, I already have two roosters for just 5 hens and 2 pullets. I think this deck is fixed!

 

[TropicalChickies]

Interesting that there was a piece on NPR just today about the 2nd amendment. Turns out it isn't in the Constitution so people can protect themselves but to keep the southern states from torpedoing the whole thing. They needed the guns to keep the slaves controlled. Way more slaves on the land than white folks.

Personally I'm all for giving every single American man, woman, and child as many 1780s era rifles and musket balls as they want. Hand'em out on every corner. I doubt we'd see a mass shooting every day and we'd still be honoring exactly what the founding fathers intended in their historical context. Although emergency rooms would probably be overflowing with people wounded from backfired muskets... There's a reason those rifles came with bayonets.

Edited to say that the rifles and muskets would be in replacement -- not addition to -- the semi-automatic spray guns currently available and so popular at the daily mall/school shooting.

 

[Molpet]

Personally I'm all for giving every single American man, woman, and child as many 1780s era rifles and musket balls as they want. Hand'em out on every corner. I doubt we'd see a mass shooting every day and we'd still be honoring exactly what the founding fathers intended in their historical context. Although emergency rooms would probably be overflowing with people wounded from backfired muskets... There's a reason those rifles came with bayonets.

Such a different world today
During hunting season guns were brought to grade school so we could hunt on the way home. Never heard of anyone shooting up the place or each other.
High school most took a bus and I don't remember seeing any guns except for hunter education and skeet shooting.