Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

Intermittent rain all day and a bit chilly at 14C. I got the foil on the underside of the nest box although from feeling the nest it's probably unecessary.
I'm stressed!
I haven't been this stressed about a sitting hen since Ruffles sat on her and Cillins eggs when there was only Fat Bird and Ruffles left in Tribe 1 and Cillin had only recently joined the tribe.

Just to add to the stress I found a badly cracked egg in the coop; not in the nest box fortunately. It was one of Frets and to make matters worse it was fertile and developing. I guess her, or Carbon accidentally carried it out at some point.
Fret is eating enough. She did this after I lifted her off the eggs for food this afternoon.
View attachment 3595447
That's pretty good for a hen of her size.
The nest is in good shape. The eggs had been turned since I looked yesterday.
She's got them all covered. Note this nest box would be on the tight side for a large hen. But, with a hen of Fret's size it does mean there is less chance of an egg rolling out from underneath her and going cold at nest edge.
View attachment 3595445
She did eat some mash while she was out but I hand fed her at the nest when she went back, layers pellets, cheese, chopped almonds and high protein bird seed which they all like.
View attachment 3595441
View attachment 3595449View attachment 3595453

Henry and Carbon spent about an hour and a half on the allotments.
View attachment 3595455View attachment 3595448View attachment 3595454View attachment 3595439

I'm getting two courgettes a day.
I pulled some onions to use tomorrow for a large pot cook. A couple for my eldest as well.
Going to have a good crop of apples this year but no plumbs on the plub tree.
I can't see these tomatoes rippening with the overcast and wet weather forcast for this month.
Everything is looking very green.
View attachment 3595450
View attachment 3595446
View attachment 3595452
View attachment 3595442
View attachment 3595440View attachment 3595443View attachment 3595451

The green tomatoes are very, very good fried.

They are to die for.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I can't wait to get down to highs in the 70's. How are you cooler in Florida, than I am in SC? LOL #WeatherEnvy

I really don't know.

Some days the humidity is not so high.

Today the temperature is in the 80s with the humidity at 81% and its hot outside.

 

[Shadrach]

I miss having a good stereo. I also miss going to the Grand Rapids Symphony concerts. There is nothing like live music. Good recordings are second best, but they fill a big gap.

If I could go to any concert, time travel possible and included, I would go hear the world premier of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. If I could give anyone any gift, I would give him the gift of never having lost his hearing. Recent research suggests it was caused by lead poisoning, not syphillis, as formerly thought.

Tax:
View attachment 3596485
Sunny wants to tell me something.

I had to sell my old stereo system when I moved to the flat. It was just too big for the space and the loudspeakers got damaged in the move from Catalonia.
I bought this. I made the speaker stands from a couple of motorway crash barrier support posts.
I've been really pleased with it. I spend a lot of time with that chair moved between the speakers. It took a while to set up properly with a measuring microphone. The large box on the adapted tea trolly is the sub base unit and integrating that into the system was quite difficult. The speakers are active studio monitors so all the amplification is in the speaker itself which save a lot of room.

 

[Shadrach]

The green tomatoes are very, very good fried.

They are to die for.

So I've been told. I'm hoping that August will bring some sun so they'll at least grow a bit larger. If they don't ripen properly I'll probably make a chutney if I get enough.

 

[TropicalChickies]

The green tomatoes are very, very good fried.

They are to die for.

Agreed. I almost always have to pick my tomatoes green because the bugs get into them as soon as they show just a touch of orange. They ripen all right on the window ledge, but I like them green and fried, or in a green tomato salsa is good too.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I really don't know.

Some days the humidity is not so high.

Today the temperature is in the 80s with the humidity at 81% and its hot outside.

I am in the upstate, about 2 hours east of Atlanta, I imagine being surrounded by ocean and the breezes help keep it cooler. Today wasn't too bad, it got really windy, so was a little cooler, high of 88, but cooled right down and the chickens think it is delightful. (under their shade cloth, it is 10-15 degrees cooler and with the breeze, it is downright comfortable.

 

[TropicalChickies]

The political climate has changed a lot since I've been here. When I arrived in 2015, the country was very stable and on an economic upswing under then President Rafael Correa. But he had already served ten years and couldn't run again. The two administrations after that have been utterly abysmal and driven the country to the state it's in now. But the thing is -- in Latin America -- politics is much more participatory and changeable. When people stage protests and uprisings, it really means something and changes things. Very different from the stagnant two party system in the US, the rule by corporations Dems and the rule by military spending Republicans.

I could go on about this, but it's super off topic. I wrote an article that many people appreciated about the protests in 2022 and the political history of the last few decades here in Ecuador, especially the influence of the powerful Indigenous Confederation CONAIE. Here is the link if you or your husband would like to read it.

https://www.sdvforest.com/sustainab...-want-a-revolution-this-is-what-it-looks-like

LOL My boys are grown, and while I help provide for my parents, I try to avoid talking to them.. LOL My husband was looking at Ecuador, but just concerned with the political climate, not that it is good anywhere other than, possibly Hungary, the enemy you know, seems easier to deal with.

 

[TropicalChickies]

My goodness, sounds like the rainforest here.

I used to love walking in the woods up in Connecticut, but don't here in NC for the reasons you listed, PLUS the undergrowth needs a machete trim before walking is possible. The vines are everywhere, plus many of them have horribly long thorns that can pierce clothing, even leather gloves.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Mine slurp them up like spaghetti

That's just how the little guy did it. I saw him running with the snake in his mouth and when I went to see what he was going to do with it, all I saw was the tail disappearing down the hatch

 

[TropicalChickies]

It's a bit like getting a sick chicken back to health. They know and don't forget.