Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

Good Morning Chickeners . . . . I have so much on my mind to write that it would be silly to write any of it. Does that make sense? It is all quibble anyway. I am thankful this morning. And that comes from ejb's comment on breeding those pigeons. Who would think that a l l l l l this goes on? I mean, a normal person (no one like us) does not understand why some of us want to even think of these 'things' yet they deem themselves to be normal. Ha!
A mind, once stretched, will never return to its original dimensions.
I love that my mind is capable of being stretched.

Well, onward into a beautiful day ahead. Its all good for me and I hope that it is for each of you.

 

[jerryse]

Supposed to hit 65 here today . I see Longville is supposed to be 75 .

 

[lvie]

Supposed to hit 65 here today . I see Longville is supposed to be 75 .

Yes, we are experiencing very nice weather here. Lucky us!

 

[Siggie]

Good morning all! Supposed to be in the 60's here today as well!! I got half way done with all my raised beds in the greenhouse yesterday and will finish them today. Now I need to find some good dirt, my compost dirt pile isn't ready. Placed all my seedlings in the greenhouse last night and kept my fingers crossed...I am happy to report they are all still looking great!! Outside temp was 28 this morning but 34 inside my greenhouse. Finally I get my basement back!! I can shut down the grow lights and clean up the mess

Have a GREAT day!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Morning all,

@ejb3810 I am hatching turkeys, toads and I will hatch one more batch of legbars.

I have turned all the birds out to free range, except the toads and the few legbars I want to breed.


The ones I am breeding now are with the luck the parents of the parents of next years (2018) show birds.

I was not happy with the looks I got from the young this year. I had 3 roosters in a pen of 23 girls. it was a mismatch mating system. Well, it missed more than matched.

I picked the one rooster I really want to get color off from and some of the less gold girls and those with the combs most like what I want. I will leave them together a few weeks then hatch,

I have a lot of extra chicks I will be taking to the Amish sale.

I will be headed to Duluth on the `16th. I hope we can meet and I can give you your rooster and a Trio of Appletinis. (adutls).

I want to cut the numbers way down. I am not going to hatch any next year except for myself and prepaid birds. It is a pain dealing with chicken people, not worth the effort.


I do not expect to make money, but I am not enjoying it. I just got an email this morning from a guy that wanted 20 legbars, 3 weeks ago. I had them and waited all weekend for him to show...Nope, a no show.

This morning's email say he will be here on May 13th to pick up his chicks...I told him not to bother, they are gone.

I have your rooster in a cage now for cuddling practice. He has a limp that appeared yesterday, I cannot see anything wrong with his leg or foot, I assume the stupid roosters decided to have a fight.....Argggg....

 

[ejb3810]

Sounds as though you are on top of things Ralphie. The 16th looks like a day I will be available to meet you.

Hope all have a good and productive day.

 

[duluthralphie]

Judy is ok, but sore...That's the bad news..

The good news is it is our anniversary and she is in too much pain for me to have to go out and eat with her!

 

[Momof3plustwins]

It's a beautiful day in the Northland! Chickens are feed and a 1/3 have laid their eggs already and I discovered the easiest way to discover the innate fear of overhead flying objects in chicks that have never been outside before is to turn on the ceiling fan! I opened windows and turned on the fan because that many chicks in a shop has raised the humidity extremely high inside. Plus the smell needs to breathe! As soon as the fan started up they all freaked out and ran for cover! I chuckled at them and realize nature has a way to protect the young when moms are away. They have since settled down and the fan no longer bothers them. Maybe this is a bad thing and I am conditioning them to be Eagle Breakfast. Either way most of them are going to be supper in a few more weeks!

Our eldest DD has been making tremendous improvements in her races for track this last week. She is 13 and in 7th grade. Small school so she was asked to run Varsity this year. She ran Junior High last year. She does both this year. Her goal is to be great at the 800m run. Leave it to my daughter to choose probably the hardest race to run and make it hers. Her dad ran the 800m also. That explains it more than anything. She really looks up to her dad. And her dad would chose the hardest thing also because to him if your going to be good you might as well do it at something not everyone can be good at easily. Back to the story....She started out her first meet with 3:03 time in the 800m. She had 3 meets this week and dropped time each meet. She is now down to a 2:49. Still quite a ways to go but she is dedicated and works at home as well as at school. I can't wait to see what she does! She also dropped her 400m time to 1:09. She'll get there! The 4x200m relay is also decent with a 2:04 time. I am glad to see her so excited to work hard at something and then the pure joy and excitement she has when she sees it is working! I wish more kids could see the connection. Her hard work is also getting her confirmed at church a year early! Our kids normally go for 3 years but she has been at 90-100% on all her quizzes and work for the last 2 years and has known all of her memory work for questioning at a mastered level that the pastor said he was ready to confirm her now. It came a year before I expected so at least I didn't have to stress over it for a year! Next year will be hard enough with DS to get him to know his memory work! DD I never had to tell to do it. She just does her stuff. I just hope her attitude stays the same the farther into the teen years we go. To think I have to do all of this FIVE times! Children are a blessing, children are a blessing, children are a blessing. I must keep chanting!

On other great news. I have one class that posted grades already and I have my very first graduate school "A"! The remaining class to post I do not expect more than a B. I feel behind on my reading summaries and will have lost points there enough to drop me to a B. But I am still fine with that also. Graduate school, work, home life, kids and their activities and don't forget chickens, is a lot to have going on! 2 more years, 2 more years, 2 more years. Again I must keep chanting!

I moved the Dominique chicks out to the coop yesterday after school. I have a "crib" I put up made out of pallets with holes cut big enough they can go in and out but the big ones can't come in. They survived the night and once the hens are done laying I am sure they will venture out. Right now there are too many hens in the coop so they are hiding.

 

[Momof3plustwins]

Oh, and we are also leaving for Wisconsin today. My niece is getting confirmed on Sunday. I suppose I should get my brood all packed to go. I have time as I don't really expect to leave until the kids get home from school anyway. We have too many loose ends to tie up before we go to leave any earlier. I love non rushed departures.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I'm a chauffer. DS's golf sport is on overdrive here at the end of the week. Last night I picked him up after a match in park rapids. His team took first and he took Runner up over all with a 40. Three way tie for 1st place with 39s. He's pretty sure he should have had the win with two strokes which he said he should have made. He was kicking himself last night missing them.
Then on the road at 6:40 this morning to get him to the home golf course so he could get the suburban heading to Park Rapids again. Today is 18 hole invitational. I'm so proud of him and he really needs these boosts of confidence. So good for him. He's loving it.

I was going to make a mini fiesta tonight for Cinco De Mayo. But with DS gone, DH working late, and DD wanting to go to the H.S. baseball game it would be Solo Mio.

So will get some yard work started. Not sure I'll finish much. Sadie has 3 ankle breaker holes dug in my yard. I need to figure out how to deal with those and reseed so chickens don't eat the grass seed. Get my remaining bales up around the coop. They should be thawed off the ground by now, right? Clean up some landscaping. I should be about started with all of this before they call me for a ride home.

Glorious day up North.

Chickens love it.