The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

Cheryl, I have found that dying hens smell really awful near the end. Their poop smells really putrid/rancid and it's almost like their skin stinks. It's truly the smell of death. Bless her heart, poor old gal. Those production hens go through a lot, don't they?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It takes awhile, but it's not as exacting as quilting. I can just sit with it and the pattern instructions in my lap and do it until I put it down, then go back and take it back up. This one has some stitches I've never even seen before in the pattern, but that makes it interesting.
This is the pattern, though I changed up some of the colors a little bit, not being able to find them all in Red Heart With Love yarn and having to substitute similar ones.
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/circular-fall-mandala-throw#

When I was a kid I had a couple of crochet ponchos that were similar to your circle, they had head and arm holes. I really like the look of it. Do you plan to use it like a blanket?

 

[h2oratt]

Yup, doing that now, with my Neocell Collagen 1&3 in it for my joints. When we were cleaning out the garden yesterday, I pulled a big clump of grass that the tiller missed and gave it a toss over the high fence. Something in the shoulder joint right in the front popped loudly and painfully, not the first time that's happened, so it's very sore this a.m. Hopefully, my daily collagen will help it heal up quickly. I quit taking my NSAID arthritis meds about a year ago when Ladyhawk suggested the collagen supplement her bodybuilding lady friends swore by. After a few months, I dumped the meds. My ankle quit swelling up badly and has lots more flexibility. That stuff has done so much more for my ankle (the one I broke badly about 7 years ago) than any twice a day NSAID, which would do nothing for my joints and tendons and may eventually hurt my liver. Anyway, enough commercials! We get enough of those on what my dad called the idiot box.

As far as heat for chickens, naturally a well-feathered chicken is well-insulated and needs no heat. But, a chicken with no feathers can't keep warm well. That's why last winter, I put one of Atlas's daughters in the hospital cage with a reptile bulb over her and a bed of hay until her feathers began to cover her. Didn't take long. She was almost completely naked. And, for example, Neela, one of the blue Rock hens, has severe arthritis in one hock joint, plus is so thin now, she is a bag of bones with feathers. I'm not sure exactly why. She has a cyst that blocks off one of her nares and one of those weird cyst things on her tush like my late Ellie did (I did a thread on what I found when I cut that open, very strange!). So, poor Neela gets at least one place she can sit under, if the mean ones like Wendy will let her. Her sister, Alice, is always by her side. I sort of expect to find Neela gone one morning. She is 7 1/2 so not young by any stretch.

Wow, am going to try that. Where is the cheapest place to get it.

 

[speckledhen]

When I was a kid I had a couple of crochet ponchos that were similar to your circle, they had head and arm holes. I really like the look of it. Do you plan to use it like a blanket?

I may give it to one of my sisters in law. I'm not sure yet. I made a couple of ponchos but I rarely wear them. These:

Wow, am going to try that. Where is the cheapest place to get it.

Check Walmart.com. if you can get it for less than $11 per 7 oz tub, that's an okay price. I usually buy them 3-4 tubs at a time and you can sometimes get better prices on multiples. There is a seller on Amazon called Daily Vita, who is also on Ebay and I've bought from them as well.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I may give it to one of my sisters in law. I'm not sure yet. I made a couple of ponchos but I rarely wear them. These:
View attachment 1185391 View attachment 1185392 View attachment 1185393




Check Walmart.com. if you can get it for less than $11 per 7 oz tub, that's an okay price. I usually buy them 3-4 tubs at a time and you can sometimes get better prices on multiples. There is a seller on Amazon called Daily Vita, who is also on Ebay and I've bought from them as well.

I would definitely be wearing one of those in my house, hmm, I have a friend who knits, maybe I can hit her up for one.

 

[speckledhen]

Lisa, if you want, I can send you one of those. I don't wear them.

Well, I can only find the blue one and one that I didn't show you. Getting a pic of it now. It's a more open Granny Square type one.

I must have given the other one to someone, but I can't remember. It's not in my closet.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Lisa, if you want, I can send you one of those. I don't wear them.

Well, I can only find the blue one and one that I didn't show you. Getting a pic of it now. It's a more open Granny Square type one.

That is a generous offer, and a beautiful poncho.

 

[speckledhen]

I may have worn the gray one but I don't recall wearing the blue one or the other one out anywhere. Hey, I know you don't like folks giving you stuff, Lisa, but it's just wasting time on a hanger here. I do this stuff to keep myself busy and I'd do it whether or not anyone bought it or wanted it. I bet your house is chilly in the dead of winter.

And, I have to confess, I was putting a box in the mail to you tomorrow anyway. I'll just have to slit the tape and stuff something else in there. I didn't even remember the ponchos until you mentioned them. So, which do you like best?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is chilly here, now you are making me think, and what are you up to???

 

[speckledhen]

It is chilly here, now you are making me think, and what are you up to???

Oh, you know horrible old me, always up to some criminal endeavor, at least according to some on this forum. LOL.

Oh, you're not the only one. I was feeling the cold just thinking about you and Mary out there in the single digits is all. So, she has a box coming, too.