Surviving Minnesota!

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie, you need to design one that rotates and has the plucking fingers in a cork screw pattern. The objective is to drop the bird in the top, and have in descend to the bottom from the cork screw pattern with an opening at the bottom for the bird to fall out once it is plucked.

I want one where the chicken walks in one end and comes out packaged on the other.

 

[duluthralphie]

The video won't connect for me but I read about this chick issue--star gazing is it? Part of wry neck? Idk I can't remember.


Couple you tube videos later guess who fixed the washing machine (well so far so good-no error message 30 minutes into a test cycle) draining & spinning. Found this lovely thing in the drain boot (talking all professional now- lol)

Sports bra insert. But these are in lots of swim suits too. I hate 'em. Now I really do.
I know way too much about washing machines.

DH out catching walleyes with DS on lake WishUKnew.

About 3-4 inches new snow out there.

Underwires from them are horrible, when we had the laundromat 90% of all breakdowns were underwires stuck in the drain valve.

 

[duluthralphie]

There appears to be an extreme lack of posts this morning...


Cold, snow to finish plowing and birds wanting out, Yet here I am drinking coffee.

 

[KlopKlop]

There appears to be an extreme lack of posts this morning...


Cold, snow to finish plowing and birds wanting out, Yet here I am drinking coffee.

I am up and at 'em but have been working on starting deviled eggs and butternut squash rolls for a family Christmas gathering today. Finally getting some coffee made up and catching up here!!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I didn't check the impeller of the drain pump. It required me to remove another clamp on the drain boot. And I'm feeling like I should have right now. I was nervous about getting the boot back onto the drum at the time. I found 75 cents too but it's possible more was in there.shoot. Well as it is-- it works. Thank goodness. A person takes for granted how important it is having that machine working in the house.

-3 right now. Have not went to coop yet. Have not turned on heater this year. That sparkly bubble wrap is working. But I can feel the coop is not as dry this year. But also know temps and wet weather have contributed to that too. We're still in experiment mode yet.

 

[duluthralphie]

G'morning Kloppers..


I have been putting a little Worchester sauce in my deviled eggs since you mentioned it. Everyone really likes them, they all tried to guess the flavor, but none have so far. They even think I am using a different mustard.

 

[KlopKlop]

G'morning Kloppers..


I have been putting a little Worchester sauce in my deviled eggs since you mentioned it. Everyone really likes them, they all tried to guess the flavor, but none have so far. They even think I am using a different mustard.

Glad you like it! I am going to do that today as well. My favorite is to add a tablespoon or two of sweet pickle juice (not relish) but I am out of pickles.

 

[KlopKlop]

I didn't check the impeller of the drain pump. It required me to remove another clamp on the drain boot. And I'm feeling like I should have right now. I was nervous about getting the boot back onto the drum at the time. I found 75 cents too but it's possible more was in there.shoot. Well as it is-- it works. Thank goodness. A person takes for granted how important it is having that machine working in the house.

-3 right now. Have not went to coop yet. Have not turned on heater this year. That sparkly bubble wrap is working. But I can feel the coop is not as dry this year. But also know temps and wet weather have contributed to that too. We're still in experiment mode yet.

yes the warm wet weather suuuucks! I was hoping to make it to spring to scoop out my deep litter coop but it has gotten so wet! i will probably be doing that this week sometime. I was going to this weekend but just stayed too busy. Fortunately not wet enough to cause foot, comb, or wattle issues but damp enough to have compaction issues. When i scoop it out i am going to replace it with a straw and sawdust mix instead of just sawdust and see how that does.

Speaking of frostbite issues, Conrad's wattles are progressing quickly. I can tell the arent bothering him much. they edges are starting to dry up so I imagine the damaged bits are about to fall off. Hopefully this will prevent further damage for him. (in case i have forgotten if I told you guys or not, Conrad has mild frostbite on the bottom edges of his gigantic wattles and I suspect it is due to them dipping in the water when he drinks. still trying to come up with a better drinking solution for him without breaking the bank or making too much work for us to keep them thawed)

 

[duluthralphie]

If it is working the valve is underwire free.

6 degrees here right now, so we are warm!!

I went into the coop last night to talk with the chickens, and check for eggs. No one pooped on my head so I had a good day. I noticed Blackie was sitting on the edge of a nest box with is head in the box. I picked him up and looked at him. He appeared alright except the tips of his comb are frostbit!


This dang warm wet weather we have had took it's toll. I feel bad for not having noticed that before. He is not friendly enough for me to catch him and Vaseline him, so there is not much I could have done. I guess in retrospect I saw a few black spots a few days ago, but I thought they were just bruises and scabs from the Turkey/rooster fights.

I think the turkeys want to be ahead of Blackie on the pecking order. Young Toms are pains in the butt. There is a special place awaiting most of them in my freezer soon. My toms refuse to use the nice new Turkey House I built them unless I run them inside. Then half leave as soon as I turn my back. I am thinking of kicking the Toms out of the pen and forcing them to fend for themselves.

It is time to get the undesirable Toms away from the girls. I would only put JJ in with the girls now and then. Do you think JJ could handle 11 girls by himself?

It appears I am going to be down to only 8 hens come hatching time, SOMEONE has requested Porter and 3 girls!!! With luck (well luck from my point of view) it will be after I get enough eggs before they get the hens. They should take Porter first so he gets time to bond and become a lapper. Right now he is somewhere between a belly button and a tolerant. He is a big boy though and should throw huge babies. I bet he is 6 inches taller than JJ and 3 inches taller than Sidekick.

Oh, Back to the frostbite. I went and checked the creamers after seeing Blackies frostbite. The young rooster there has some too, DANG moisture. I do not think it is the coops as they are unheated and well vented. I only have 12 birds in a 8x16 coop with them blocked out of the top of the coop and well below the vents.


The coop blackie is in, is 16 x 24 and has about 24 birds in it, it is very tall and has an open door front, and huge vents too. I thought I was going to be frostbite free this year. Bert Jr, has a tad too and he does not really have a coop. As a Cx (toad) they can handle the cold as if it is not there. He has hardware cloth sides and roofs with a few places plastic covered on the top and one side to get out of the weather and a couple "brooders type coops" with lots of ventilation. Bert and his girls stay out most of the time, they actually thrive in the cold, I think..

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Vaseline does not work on combs and wattles. I think bag balm helps Ralphie.

The moisture and wattles dragging are definitely hard to deal with. I will tell you kloppers that my roo lost about 2/3 of his wattles and comb his first year. And the next winter there were no issues. Winter dubbing is a Minnesota fact of life if you don't heat. Just keep him clean and the girls may help with picking off the black eschar. Poor boys.

Ralphie you have beautiful turkeys and I'm not surprised you have sold some. Exciting to know you have some beautiful big prospects in your future.

That washing machine has new noises I think. Idk. It works but maybe I'm paranoid for not checking.