She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[WVduckchick]

Yeah he milled it and built it practically from scratch. He made one each. It is really fun. I haven't practise on a hay bale yet but, it's here if I need too.

Sweet!

 

[meganhundley]

I'm glad I went with the Mossberg youth model. The barrel is the same length, it's the stock that's shorter. She's not reaching for the trigger, and all I have to do is hold my elbow to my side. It's a great little gun, and suits the exact purpose I bought it for: grab, point, and blast, without having to mess with the scope. The time from seeing the hay bale to mulching the hay bale was probably 3 seconds. It's going to be a great yard gun that we both can use, so tell your husband it has the scflock stamp of approval. I'm 6'2", and I love it
ETA $189 at Academy. Cheaper than my Gamo pellet rifle

My husband is 6'2 also, maybe I can convince him to get me 1! I've been using either my son's 20ga or a high powered Gamo (2200fps with balistic pellets, Black Ops edition, looks like an assault rifle and has a bipod and upgraded scope, sweet, sweet gun!!), it's really, really heavy though and the pellets are so small that you have to have spot on aim, but if you can manage to hit your target it will take it down. It's about as powerful as a .22, we shot at an old junk camper in our back yard and it went through 1 side and came out the other. We got it from Walmart years ago. It's a fun little gun and legal to shoot inside city limits. Most cities anyway. We live out in the sticks now but used to live in Williamsburg, VA. We've had alot of hawks flying around out here since my Silkies have been outside. They haven't got any of them yet, knock on wood, 1 did get taken but we don't know what took him, pulled him right through the wire, but our hawks aren't as brave as yours seem to be. My husband shot at 1 a couple weeks ago that was flying kind of low and eying our chicks, we'd been watching him circle for a while so we brought the 12 gauge out and when he came within range he shot at him and knocked a puff of feathers off and he was flying crooked for a minute. We didn't see him anymore that day, lol. I've noticed they don't come as close since then. I do think 1 has been landing on our chick run though, the wire is smashed down all over on top.

 

[meganhundley]

Are you candling down into the egg from the air cell end? If you are candling from the bottom up, you won't see the air cells, but if you hold the flashlight on top of the egg where the air cell shuold be and candle down into the egg, you should see air cell-but new eggs it should be quite small.  I use a small LED flashlight as well and cup my hand around it and the egg. 

No, I was candling from the small end up. I'll try that now. Thank you, I'm so new at this, lol.

 

[lazy gardener]

Megan: Pulling a chicken through the wire and smashing down the wire on top of the run both sound like a coon's handiwork. Evil creatures they are. They are capable of opening any latch that a 2 year old child could manage. They can tear chicken wire to shreds.

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

You could be right, but at this point I don't really care.

Solo was living in a box in the back room and would freak out whenever I put her in the playpen in the run. She really needs to learn how to be a chicken and have pals to hide with when it's time to integrate with the big flock. I only bought 2.

Once she's in with the crowd, I can always take them back to the swap and sell them cheap if they end up being cockerels. (Or, as previously mentioned, I can marinade them!)

Solo with her new friends:


Better pic of the light one (Frick)



And the more gold one (Frack)

For a second I thought you were semi-cursing(frick and frack). They're adorable!

GA: Mercury bulb thermometer left over from the days of raising babies... 30++ years ago. Just for grins and giggles, I did a google search, and they are still available... if you want to shell out $35 or so for one. They are accurate... but the down side is that you have to shake the mercury down every time you want to use it, the up side is that they will over time, give you an indication of what your highest temp has been in that one spot. I like the oral digital thermometers, and drop one through my vent hole. If you mount it on a light ga. wire, you can then move it around to get readings throughout the incubator. The down side of them is that they have a short on time, so by the time your bator gets back up to temp after opening (if you need to do so to put one in), you won't get an accurate reading. Then, there's the more expensive (too much money for my budget) forehead thermometers that are designed to take a temp reading from the skin. Those would be great for doing an egg surface reading. IMO, medical thermometers SHOULD be most accurate, as they are depended on for accuracy when treating illness. Most are guaranteed at +/- .2* accuracy.

I've been wondering about medical thermometers, but the short time span is what stops me from using them. Analog meat thermometers it is!

I can leave several in the ventilation holes and always have an accurate reading, which is good-- cause I am always staring.

Worked on a new coop at camp for the lavenders today. Might finish the coop part tomorrow, probably wont finish the run for another week or so. But I'm hoping to move them within the next few weeks.

I've got this love/hate relationship going on though... I HATE mosquitoes, but they LOVE me.

Don't you just hate those kinds of relationships? Seems like the other party is always sucking you dry. We grow mint and if you take a bunch, crush it up, cover it in olive oil and soak it for a day or two, then press it out through a cheese cloth or gold coffee filter, it makes a great mosquito repellent without all that nasty DEET stuff. It smells great, too, and if it gets in your mouth, your tongue doesn't go numb.

You can repeat the soaking process with fresh leaves for a few days if you want. Store it in whatever, but I keep it in the fridge so the volatile oils remain in the olive oil.

Ravyn, yes mine is the older model LG which I'm kind of glad of since Amy has such good hatches with hers and she can give me advice on what to do. Amy, I think the temp is pretty accurate but I'm worried just incase it is off a degree or so. I have 2 thermometers, 1 digital and 1 analog and they are both reading right at 101. On a positive note...

That IS a positive note when dealing with an LG!

Good luck on your hatch.

Right now, I'm carrying a pistol. I've used it a couple of times to warn off some hay bales, but know there's no way I could bring one down with it. Mostly... it's just a noise maker. But makes me feel better to have something on me. Recently a fox passed through the woods below my coop, and I know he lives in the area. Hubby took out a ground hog with the shot gun. IMO, predators gotta go. It doesn't matter whether they are preying on my cukes or on my chickies!

Hear, hear!

Nice!

x2!

 

[meganhundley]

Megan:  Pulling a chicken through the wire and smashing down the wire on top of the run both sound like a coon's handiwork.  Evil creatures they are.  They are capable of opening any latch that a 2 year old child could manage.  They can tear chicken wire to shreds.

I'll have to keep an eye out for coons, I know there's plenty around.

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

I'll have to keep an eye out for coons, I know there's plenty around.

Tell me about it. . . or bobcats.. . maybe foxes

Snap trap is on it's way. That and fly bait.

 

[meganhundley]

No, I was candling from the small end up. I'll try that now. Thank you, I'm so new at this, lol.

Just tried it and still can't see anything. I think the speckles are throwing me off. I thought I saw an air cell on 1 but after I looked real good I think it was just the coloring of the egg. I'm terrible at candling!! I wish 1 of you guys was hear to help me

 

[FridayYet]

Just tried it and still can't see anything. I think the speckles are throwing me off. I thought I saw an air cell on 1 but after I looked real good I think it was just the coloring of the egg. I'm terrible at candling!! I wish 1 of you guys was hear to help me

Are you in a really dark room? (might be a silly question).

 

[BlackwoodHollow]

Just tried it and still can't see anything. I think the speckles are throwing me off. I thought I saw an air cell on 1 but after I looked real good I think it was just the coloring of the egg. I'm terrible at candling!! I wish 1 of you guys was hear to help me

Are you in a really dark room? (might be a silly question).

What are you using to candle?