Texas

[hensfortherapy]

Thanks all for the condolences.
It is odd feeling there is some sort of predator in my backyard. I am thinking a raccoon. I will definitely be out there when they go to roost. Probably when the door opens in the morning too. I knew we had coons, but the girls are usually safe and sound in their coop whenever the coons are around. Somehow they switched up their schedules.

 

[hensfortherapy]

Coyotes sound scary Hung. Do they take the whole chicken or do they leave parts?

 

[bosingleton]

Coyote still visiting my yard, kept losing 1-2 per week... Set traps, but not yet got the culprit.

This fall I was losing chickens from 5:00AM-8:00AM, caught this:



The next weekend, I caught this with the same bait:



It was the first time I've ever caught a coyote in a live trap.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Could not find my Scrambled this morning when I went to feed the girls. Went back out to check their water again and she was still missing. I found her...headless. Some animal had gotten her.
I don't know if it got her last night or this morning. I did not go out and check that they all made it in last night. The automatic doors closed and they had been so good at all going in. I am kicking myself, but it probably just means I would have found her last night. I think I will be packing when I put them up tonight. Don't predators tend to come back? This is my first loss to an animal.

Gosh I am so sorry about your loss. It was my fault that my bunny got out...I thought I had latched both the locks on their door and I didn't latch the bottom one good and he pushed until he got out. Kicking myself all up and down

 

[hungnguyen]

Quote:
When I moved I lost my large trap. Now I missed it, the small one can only catch coons and skunks. The large one now costs $330 ... an arm and a leg.

 

[hungnguyen]

Enjoy my QA article. Have a safe evening.

BRANDED FOR QUALITY
Contributed by Hung Nguyen


“In God we trust”, this is what printed on the US dollar bill. However, when placing an order, many of our customers cannot see or touch the products. But they still choose to invest their money on Thermon Electrical Heat Tracing products. In many ways, the customers are saying “in the brand Thermon, we trust”.

Clearly, no one can underestimate how important the brand name is to a product. In 1996, I visited a small country in Southeast Asia. One day I walked downtown and saw a pair of Nike soccer shoes displayed by a street vendor. The seller asked me for $10. “Pretty cheap for sport shoes,” I thought. At that time, I played soccer in the US and knew that the same pair would be about $40; this would be a big savings for me. Price negotiation is always a routine part of a deal in Southeast Asia so I started to deal “how about $6?” The seller laughed out loud and countered with “$8. That is the least, take it or leave it.” I was about to raise my offer to $7, but I changed my mind. “Well, I can only give you $4 for this pair,” I said. The seller was stunned, his jaw ground. He angrily asked me why I’d lowered my offer. Smiling, I pointed out to him that these were fake Nike shoes. The front part of the shoes displayed “Nike”; however, the back heels read “Mike”. An extra line had been added to the “N”. Apparently some local factories fabricated this product but stole the Nike logo to fool the buyers; they used an altered name to avoid legal troubles. To make a long story short, I purchased that pair for $5, just to use them to make a point in some quality classes I hosted.

Research conducted by Takeichi and Quelch (1983) concluded that customer perception of quality is divided into three phases – before purchase, at point of purchase, and after purchase. Regarding “before purchase”, the factors involved in customers‘ decisions are previous experience, opinions of friends, store reputation, published test results, advertised price for performance and, most of all, the company’s brand name and image, just like the above case of Nike shoes.

Here at Thermon, our facility is certified by many regulation bodies such as ISO, FM, CSA, IECEx etc. With these certifications, our Quality Management System (QMS) is structured to meet all requirements set forth. The system focuses on building quality into our products and services. We place the certifications, along with our Thermon logo, on our website, in our publications and in our documents. When referring to Thermon, folks are looking to a leader in the Electrical Heat Tracing (EHT) business. When placing an order with Thermon, our customers are putting their trust in the name Thermon. In good faith, they believe that the company has a culture of well trained workers and staff and tight process control with quality testing. They are confident that the Thermon system results in reliable products and a high level of warranted performance. The customers expect our products to meet all product specifications and that they will continue to service well for years to come. Clearly, they do not expect nor can they afford any defects or flaws in the products and their performance; any unexpected failure is extremely costly. A quality expert has estimated that the cost of finding and correcting a defect could increase by a ratio of ten for each major stage the product moves to from production to the customer. In our plant, that means if it costs $1 at material receiving inspection, the cost increases to $10 at extrusion completion, $100 when it reaches our warehouse storage, and $1000 at the installation site.

Keep in mind that “It is the policy of Thermon Manufacturing Company to deliver to our customers timely, error-free, cost-effective products and services that meet their requirements.” We put our pride in the Thermon name and logo appearing on all our Thermon products and services. You are a part of the Thermon QMS system. Just like the above picture said “What if our products had Your Name on them”, will you make them The Best Quality on earth?

In closing, let’s join the “Shaolin Soccer” movie at the end. Just imagine I had worn the above Mike shoes and was playing in a championship soccer match. With time running out, I dribbled the ball to the opponent goal area and was about to shoot to win. All cameras were following my move, all eyes were widely open, all bets were off, and the entire field was silent waiting for “The Shot” … that is, until the sole detached from the shoe and flew off. Wow, we all can hear someone screaming “Which brand of shoe is that!” I will let you imagine the rest of this Kodak moment story.

 

[granthamkk]

Could not find my Scrambled this morning when I went to feed the girls. Went back out to check their water again and she was still missing. I found her...headless. Some animal had gotten her.
I don't know if it got her last night or this morning. I did not go out and check that they all made it in last night. The automatic doors closed and they had been so good at all going in. I am kicking myself, but it probably just means I would have found her last night. I think I will be packing when I put them up tonight. Don't predators tend to come back? This is my first loss to an animal.

I am very sorry for your loss. I hope this doesn't happen again to you. Are the others okay? Do they seem frazzled or upset? I wonder if he was seen by the other hens.

 

[granthamkk]

Yup. Trouble has to go. And I don't think she is best suited to be in a small coop... she pecked a hole in one of my other chickens necks. If anyone wants her for a free range flock please let me know. granthamkk. I am not sure you would want to add her to your flock after this since you keep your two girls in a coop and run durng the day, it is still up to you though if you want her, i just wanted to give you a heads up. She is free to a good home.

Poor chicken. I think you're right. Trouble needs more room than I can guarantee. Or at least the other hens need more room. maybe if you can find someone who has a breed similar to what she already knew? Or a very dominant hen.

 

[granthamkk]

Hung - I really enjoyed the story about Mike shoes. My dad was stationed for a year in Korea in the 80's and I remember all the things he brought home.

 

[granthamkk]

I was taking some photos of the coop for a friend and my two hens followed me around the entire time. The Murphy wanted to see what the camera was and if it tasted like mealworms. She was not impressed.